eighteenth birthday had been something special… a beautiful gown, friends, music…and Wolfe. She’d felt incredibly grown up. Mature. A flute of champagne on an empty stomach, followed later by another, had provided her with the courage to turn a fleeting, solitary kiss to her cheek from Wolfe into something else as she’d turned her head and met his lips with her own. Emboldened, she’d lifted her arms and linked her hands together at his nape, pressed in against him, opened her mouth and sought his tongue with her own.
She felt his initial hesitation, followed by the involuntary sweep of his tongue against her own…then he slowly lifted his head and gently put her at arm’s length.
His quietly voiced, ‘Meet me later,’ sent her heart soaring, and she was hardly able to wait until the evening came to an end.
He was going to take her in his arms and kiss her again…really kiss her. And it would be everything she’d imagined, and more.
Every nerve-end throbbed into awareness, and she became supremely conscious of every breath she took…its jagged quality as she failed to control the excitement flooding her veins.
Dimmed lights provided the grounds with a shadowed illumination as he led her beneath the spreading branches of a magnificent jacaranda tree.
It was there Wolfe drew her into his arms and brushed his mouth to her own, deepening the kiss as she sighed and sought the play of taut muscle and sinew beneath his cotton shirt.
Pleasure, sweet and evocative, took hold of her vulnerable emotions and captured them. She couldn’t think…and knew she didn’t want to…as his tongue met her own, traced its outline, then began a sensual exploration that promised heat and passion. Everything she’d dreamed a kiss could be.
Her lower body arched involuntarily against his own. Seconds later the breath hitched in her throat as he plundered at will.
Oh my God.
The earth moved…she was willing to swear on it, and she lost all sensation of time and place, for there was only the man and the intense sexual awareness he aroused.
She didn’t want it to end, and a faint protest escaped her lips as he lifted his head, and her eyes widened into huge, dark pools as he put her at arm’s length.
Dear heaven, please, she silently begged in a desperate need to feel the warmth of his mouth on her own. The heat, the intense emotion he managed to arouse without any seeming effort at all.
Had she said the words out loud?
She didn’t know as Wolfe grasped hold of her chin and lifted it high.
‘Very pleasant. But…just for the record…I have no intention of following Darius’example by becoming involved with his second wife’s daughter.’
Harsh, angry words that tore her vulnerable heart apart and left it raw and bleeding.
Didn’t he know he’d succeeded in branding her his own with that erotically evocative kiss?
She felt cold, so cold her body shook with it.
How could he?
It was pride and pride alone that wrought her response. It cost dearly to summon cynicism, but she managed it…just. ‘So, what was that we just shared? A lesson in futility?’
His eyes were dark, slumbrous in the moonlit night.
‘Yes, damn you.’
Humiliated beyond measure, she turned and walked away from him, uncaring whether he followed her or not. And indoors she met Darius, momentarily paused, saw his eyes sharpen at her obvious distress, then she gave a choked cry and ran quickly upstairs to her room, removed her clothes, took a leisurely shower…and wept until there were no tears left.
‘Please. Sit down.’
The words brought Lara slamming back to the present, and for a brief second her eyes widened as Wolfe indicated the leather-buttoned chair close to his own.
How long had she been locked in the past? Dear heaven, hopefully only a number of fleeting seconds. Years had passed since her eighteenth birthday…ten, to be precise…and she was no longer a sexually vulnerable teenager, prey to burgeoning emotions.
Lara chose the chair furthest away from Wolfe, unsure whether it was a minor act of defiance or the need to put some distance between them.
The lawyer crossed behind his desk, collected a file and opened it as he sank into his chair.
There was a discreet knock on the door, and an assistant entered with a tray containing a steaming pot of tea and coffee together with the requisite cups, saucers, milk and sugar.
The norm? Preferential treatment for important clientele, or an offering in preparation for unexpected news?
Whatever…she held the hope it wouldn’t involve too much time, for she was due to begin the afternoon shift a few hours from now.
Lara took her tea strong, and she endeavoured to still a slight shaky feeling as she sipped the brew and waited for the lawyer to begin.
Legalese tended to be long-winded as various clauses sought to cover every contingency. Darius’ will cited numerous issues, bequeathing Suzanne the use of their principal residence and a generous income from certain allocated personal assets…such assets to be held in trust for his only son, Wolfe Ignatius Alexander.
The remainder of his personal estate was to be held in trust and released to Wolfe upon the event of Wolfe’s marriage and the issue of children.
Darius’ business assets, comprising the Alexander Conglomerate and its various companies…bequeathed to Wolfe and Lara in equal shares.
Lara opened her mouth in disbelief, then closed it again as the lawyer continued.
Wolfe’s fifty-per-cent share conditional in the event he relocated to Sydney and took control as head of the directorial board. If this was not met within three months of Darius’ demise, Wolfe’s share of the Alexander Conglomerate and its various companies would be sold and the proceeds donated to several nominated charities.
Lara’s fifty-per-cent share to be held in trust for her children, with Lara receiving dividend income from those shares.
Suzanne’s insistence on a pre-nuptial agreement that allowed her the use of one residence together with an annuity should Darius predecease her was something Lara had known about for several years.
If Wolfe was surprised by the existence of a pre-nup at Suzanne’s instigation, he gave no evidence of it as the lawyer condensed the contents of Suzanne’s will.
Personal effects, items of jewellery and any cash held in Suzanne’s bank accounts went to her only daughter, Lara Anne Sommers, together with Suzanne’s annuity in perpetuity to Lara, the use of Suzanne’s principal residence to pass to Lara during her lifetime, with any remaining assets to be held in trust for Lara’s children.
Darius had been a generous benefactor, gifting Suzanne an enviable lifestyle, comprising frequent travel, a more-than-generous allowance and numerous gifts of jewellery, ensuring Suzanne had wanted for nothing.
