lowered his head and kissed her hard on her astonished mouth before turning to Corinne. “I know you’ll be happy for us, but I have to ask you a favor. Papa doesn’t know yet. We’re going to tell him at lunch.”
His smooth shaven jaw brushed against Andrea’s cheek. Despite the chaos of her emotions, the feel of his skin sent a curling warmth through her body.
“I’d like the two of you to become good friends. In the meantime I hope you’ll forgive me for interrupting, but something has come up. I need to talk to Andrea alone.”
He grasped her hand and started walking toward the door. Corinne stared at Lance in anguish before leaving the room ahead of them. She disappeared down the hall with her suit jacket flapping.
Lance headed for the staircase. He tightened his grip, letting Andrea know he had no intention of allowing her to break free until they’d reached the third floor.
ANDREA walked in her room ahead of Lance. After shutting the door, he leaned against it while she went over to the bedside table and took another pill with a glass of water.
“You deserve an explanation for what happened just now, and you’ll get it. Just hear me out before you consign me to hell for a second time.”
She rubbed her forehead where she could feel a headache coming on. “I’m listening.”
He began pacing, then stopped. “I had no idea Corinne had arrived. Thank God Henri told me he saw her head for the library. I had to get you out of there fast. There was only one way to do it. For once I was able to strike the death blow before she could see it coming.”
Andrea swung around. “It was a death blow to her,” her voice throbbed. “I’ve never seen anyone so crushed in my life. By now she has probably run to your father and told him everything.”
A cruel smile broke out on his lips. Only moments ago she’d felt them on hers and was still weaving from the effect.
“She would like to, but she won’t dare because she’s unsure of her ground at the moment.”
Andrea’s temper flared. “Perhaps you’ve forgotten I’m a guest in your father’s home. He has allowed me to sleep in this incredible room and use his library. Even if I’ve agreed to marry you, for you to draw me into some kind of intrigue that involves your stepsister is hardly the way to repay him.”
“Have no fear. He knows you’re the innocent here. My issue with her goes back years.”
Their eyes met. His had darkened until there was no more blue left to be seen.
“Lance—”
“Do me a favor and sit down while I talk to you?” he said emotionally. “After your emergency visit to the clinic the other day, this is all you need to suffer a relapse. If anything happened to the baby because of me—”
The fear in his eyes and voice drove her to obey his suggestion. In truth, since the ugly confrontation with Corinne, she felt drained.
After she sat back against the pillows, he leaned over to ease her legs onto the bed. Every touch increased her awareness of him.
Like before, he drew the chair close to the bed and sat down. She watched him run a hand through his hair in a gesture that could have meant resignation or defeat. Andrea had the impression he was tired, as if he’d been wrestling with the same nightmare for years.
It brought out her compassion, a reaction she fought against, yet she doubted he was aware of its effect on her.
His head reared. “Where to begin,” he muttered.
She moistened her dry lips. “Try the beginning.”
A nerve hammered at the corner of his mouth. “In the beginning, there was a happy family of three. I was halfway through my engineering studies at the University in Rennes where I was living in an apartment when mother came down with the flu. She had a low immune system, and it took its toll on her.
“Rennes is only a forty minute drive from here, so I moved back home temporarily. Papa and I watched her like a hawk, but we couldn’t prevent her from catching the pneumonia that took her life.”
“How awful,” Andrea whispered. A tight band squeezed her lungs to think Lance had come home from the military to discover his father suffering from the same condition.
“It was a hellish time.” His eyes had a wintry look. “Life wasn’t the same for either of us after that. I went on to finish up my degree, but Papa fell into a decline. When I graduated, his closest friends Helene and Yves Dupuis gave a party for me.
“It was there my father met an attractive divorcée named Odette de la Grange. She was from Paris. According to Helene, Odette’s husband had divorced her, but left her well enough off.
“Her daughter Corinne was reputed to have suffered from the divorce and had been in and out of several unsatisfactory relationships. A strong hand was what she needed. She was twenty-two at the time, two years younger than myself.
“Papa was lonely. In his vulnerable state both needy women brought out his protective instincts. So he married Odette who it turned out had no money left. Papa didn’t worry about that. He was much more concerned about taking care of them and being a good father to Corinne.”
“Your father’s a sweetheart.”
Lance grimaced. “Unfortunately he had no idea how much more his ambitious stepdaughter wanted from life.”
“You mean she wanted you.“
There was a sustained pause before she heard him say, “Yes.”
Andrea took a fortifying breath. “She’s a beautiful woman.”
A strange sound came from his throat.
She locked her arms around her knees. “What did Corinne do?”
“What didn’t she do—” he bit out. “Everywhere I turned, there she was. To please Papa, I made an effort to be her friend, but she had something else in mind. She was like my shadow. I couldn’t shake her. Before long she became repugnant to me, but of course I didn’t want to tell him.
“It had taken him so long to consider remarrying, the last thing he needed was to find out Odette’s daughter had problems only a psychiatrist could help her solve, mainly abandonment issues.”
Andrea nodded. “While we were downstairs, she mentioned that her father had left her early in life.”
Lance used the heel of his hand to rub his eyes. “About a week before my father’s wedding I was invited to spend a few days at Mont Saint Michel with a girlfriend whose parents ran a restaurant there. I needed the break and told Papa where I’d be if he needed me.
“The next thing I knew, Corinne showed up alone with her usual sob story of feeling left out. Could she hang around with us?
“To
