The Outback Marriage Ransom. Emma Darcy

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ in her hand felt like dynamite, the fuse already lit and nothing was going to stop it burning to a dreadful explosion. Even if she was able to block publication of the photo, Gary would hate anyone knowing about it and Ric Donato knew. She shrank from facing the knowledge in his eyes—dark eyes—like dark brown velvet, she had once thought, caressing her, making her feel…

      She shuddered, automatically trying to shake off the memory. No point in it. Too much water under the bridge since then. She’d only been fifteen, Ric sixteen. It had been a wildly romantic fixation…a crazy dream…Romeo and Juliet…ending because it had never had a chance of surviving in the real world.

      And surviving was what it was all about, Lara thought grimly.

      She pushed herself out of the rocking chair. Mentally bracing herself for the inevitable meeting with Ric Donato, she made a quick trip to the downstairs powder room to check her appearance. Make-up almost hid the discolouration around her eye. Carefully drawn lipstick minimised the puffiness of her mouth. Her long blond hair, as always, was a smooth, shiny fall to her shoulders. Even around the house, Gary expected her to maintain an impeccable appearance.

      She wore stone-coloured designer jeans and a long-sleeved brown and white striped shirt. The cuff covered the bruise around her wrist. Nothing showed except…she put on a pair of sunglasses—perfectly reasonable to wear them on the patio, considering the sun glare from the swimming pool.

      Probably stupid pride, she mocked herself. Ric Donato was not about to be deceived. He hadn’t come to be fobbed off, either, though why he had come…Lara took a deep breath in a desperate attempt to calm her inner agitation. He had to be faced, regardless of what motivation had brought him here.

      She carried the envelope and its too revealing contents out to the patio, trying to quell the fear that was making mincemeat of her stomach. He was already there, standing under the sails that shaded the outdoors dining setting, gazing out at the sparkling blue waters of Sydney Harbour.

      She was surprised to see him wearing a suit. The fabric and cut of it sharply reminded her of who Ric Donato was now—a man who could afford as many beautifully designed and tailored suits as he cared to own—a man who had the power to broadcast her private secrets to a gossip-hungry world. Over the years she’d read quite a few articles about him—prize-winning photo-journalist, moving into business with a network of photographic agencies around the world.

      Yet she found herself staring at the black curly hair that was still worn long enough to dip over the back of his collar, remembering a much younger Ric Donato, remembering her fingers threading through the tight corkscrew curls…

      One kiss.

      That’s all there’d been between them.

      Just one kiss…

      He turned abruptly as though suddenly sensing her presence. She couldn’t look into his eyes—eyes that had to know where she was at now. Shame curled around her heart, squeezing unmercifully. How had her life come down to this hopeless prison of fear? It had been like a slippery slide…once on it, no way back.

      ‘Hello, Lara.’

      The soft deep voice caused her pulse to flutter. Still she couldn’t bring herself to meet his gaze. She stared at his mouth—a full lower lip and an emphatically curved upper one. Sexy and sensual. An oddly compelling contrast to the strong chisel chin and the very masculine Roman nose.

      She remembered how he’d kissed her…slowly, and oh so seductively, wooing the romantic soul she’d had then. If only she could go back to the past, make different choices, take different paths…

      ‘Ric…’ she forced herself to say with an acknowledging nod.

      He gestured to the envelope in her hand. ‘It was taken at the airport and sent to my Sydney Agency this morning. For sale to anyone interested in buying.’

      ‘You haven’t sold it on yet?’ she pleaded in a frantic rush, unable to contain the flooding well of panic.

      ‘No. And I won’t, Lara,’ he assured her. ‘In fact, I’ve just called my executive assistant who told me she’s secured the copyright.’

      ‘I’ll pay whatever the price was.’

      He shook his head. ‘It’s irrelevant.’

      Lara gestured haplessly. ‘I don’t understand. Why have you come if not to…’

      ‘Make good on my investment?’ His mouth quirked into an ironic grimace. ‘Oddly enough, I came for you.’

      ‘Me?’ It came out as a squeak. Her throat was almost choked by a huge lump of chaotic emotion. She dragged her gaze up to his. Was it caring in his eyes? They burned with some indefinable purpose which certainly encompassed her, making her feel weirdly skittish.

      ‘Take your sunglasses off, Lara. You don’t have to hide from me.’

      ‘I’m not…’ She bit down on the lie, but to show her naked face…it was too humiliating. ‘Can’t you leave me with some pride, Ric?’

      ‘This isn’t about pride. It’s about truth. Just between you and me,’ he stated quietly, giving a promise she instinctively believed.

      Besides, he had the photograph. Which he’d effectively quashed from publication. Didn’t that prove he was keeping her situation under wraps?

      With a defeated little shrug of resignation, she removed the glasses, revealing the swelling that reduced one of her eyes to a narrow, bloodshot slit. ‘Black truth,’ she said self-mockingly, fighting back the pricking of tears.

      He nodded. ‘I never told you my mother was a battered wife.’

      Lara flinched at the brutal labelling of what he was seeing.

      ‘She died of injuries my father inflicted when I was eight,’ he went on, hammering home what could happen. ‘As many times as I tried to protect her, to get in the way, to deflect his violence, I couldn’t save her.’

      ‘I’m sorry. I…’ She shook her head, swallowing hard to hold back the threatening tears. ‘No, you never told me,’ she choked out, trying desperately to hang on to some dignity.

      ‘But I can save you, Lara. If you want me to.’

      ‘Oh, God!’ Control was beyond her. She moved blindly to the closest chair, dragged it out from the table, collapsed onto it, and covered her face with her hands, propping her elbows on the table for some solid support as she wept over the impossible prospect of being saved from a husband who was never going to let her go.

      She was horribly conscious of Ric Donato watching her, waiting. At least he didn’t try to touch her or speak comforting words, which would have been unbearable. He remained on the other side of the table, as still as a statue, saying nothing, doing nothing, just giving her time to get herself together again. Which she did eventually, pride in terrible tatters, but as Ric had already said, this wasn’t about pride.

      ‘Thank you. But there’s nothing you can do.’ She lifted her head, letting him see that stark truth in her eyes. ‘Except what you’ve done…with the photograph. I’m very grateful to you for…for blocking it, Ric.’

      Still that dark burning in his eyes. ‘At the airport…you СКАЧАТЬ