of red satin slung over the settee, had recognised the young, drawling tones responding enthusiastically to the Mayor’s encouragement and cold revulsion worked its clammy way up her spine.
Because it wasn’t Grace that Mayor Goldfinch was entertaining. It was Rachael Delaney!
She almost cried out with the shock, but a large firm hand clamped down over her mouth, rendering her mute. Under cover of the noise of the couple’s latest activities, Loukas had the door pulled open and whisked her back outside before she could react—and before the couple could know what was happening.
She burst free from his grip and threw herself along the passageway, gulping in great mouthfuls of air, trying to clear her lungs of the filth of that room.
‘Jade!’ she heard him call. ‘Jade!’
She couldn’t answer—wouldn’t stop as she fled. She wanted to go upstairs to her suite but, knowing Loukas might follow her, she made for the safety of the crowded ballroom. Did Grace have any idea the man she was hoping would propose was busy slaking his lust on one of her guests? Did she have any idea the man she was hoping to marry was such a low-class act?
She had to get away. Away from the betrayal going on behind her. Away from the cheap act that she herself had been about to take part in.
Loukas had said he wanted to make love to her, and she’d let herself be swept away—yet it wasn’t love that people made in secret trysts like the one they’d just happened upon. There was no love involved. It was just sex—pure, unadulterated animal lust—and she’d just about let herself cave into the same base desires.
She felt sick to the stomach.
A steel band took hold of her arm, wheeling her around. ‘Stop.’
She looked up into his eyes, wanting but unable to contain her desperate need for oxygen.
‘Let me go,’ she insisted.
‘You were happy for me to touch you before.’
‘That was before. I’m sorry. I made a mistake. I should never have gone with you. I should never have led you on like that.’
‘You didn’t lead me on. We both wanted to make love. Still want to make love. You can’t deny that.’
‘No,’ she said, shaking her head wildly, as if to shake out the soiled images and damning sounds that replayed endlessly through her mind. ‘Not like that. That wasn’t love that was being made in there. I was wrong. I’m sorry.’
‘Come with me, then. We’ll get out of this rats’ nest and talk.’
‘No.’ She held one hand up as she backed away. Her skin burned with both humiliation and embarrassment. It was bad enough having lived through the experience without having to analyse it. ‘I’m sorry, Mr Demakis. There’s nothing to talk about.’ Then she turned and fled into the ballroom.
‘This isn’t over!’
There was no point arguing with him; she just kept right on surging away from him. He’d picked the wrong woman, that was all. No more explanations necessary.
If it was just quick sex he was after she had no doubt he’d find someone else for the night—a woman who would be more accommodating and who had less hang-ups, who wouldn’t be fazed about sharing a room with another couple hard at it, a woman who would happily look elsewhere if she was in that situation. And there was every chance he’d find that woman here.
With his looks he’d have his pick. And she’d almost fallen for him—hook, line and sinker. To think he’d swayed her so much with that line of his—‘I came here to meet you.’ She’d played right into his hands. Thank God she’d had enough sense not to take him upstairs to her suite—there would have been no escape then.
No, he’d find someone else in short order, and there was no chance she’d ever see Mr Loukas Demakis again.
The rush of relief she felt at that prospect evaporated the instant she noticed the last person she wanted to talk to right now heading straight for her.
‘Oh, Jade,’ Grace said, casting her eyes all about the room. ‘You haven’t seen Mayor Goldfinch anywhere?’
Jade stood blankly, her stomach lurching as she fought to raise her eyes above shoe level.
‘Only I wanted to show him the clinic’s latest plans for expansion, and he seems to have disappeared.’
‘I can’t help you,’ Jade insisted, her heart breaking for the older woman even as she lied. Grace would have to find out the truth at some time, but not now. Jade couldn’t bear to spoil her otherwise perfect night. ‘Have you tried the garden?’ she added, taking her by the arm and steering her towards the French doors to ensure she couldn’t stumble into the library and discover the Mayor’s sleazy betrayal herself. Because while half of her wanted Grace to find out what kind of man he really was, the other half wanted to protect her friend from the pain of knowing the whole sordid truth. ‘I’ll help you look.’
The young girl looked up, her kohl-rimmed eyes hopeful and expectant as Jade entered the consulting room. While outwardly Jade acknowledged both Grace and the client, inwardly she sighed. Despite the heavy make-up, Jade knew the young waif-like blonde was barely eighteen years old—and yet already Pia Kovac was a regular customer at the clinic—too regular for her liking.
‘Thanks for stepping in, Dr Ferraro,’ said Grace. ‘Pia has asked us to consider doing a few extra little things for her. Seeing as a couple of them will require your deft touch with the laser, I thought you should sit in on this consultation.’
‘No problem,’ Jade responded, taking a seat in one of the velvet sofas surrounding the plush coffee table set-up when what she really wanted was to go back to her apartment at the mansion and let herself slip into a long soaking bath.
How did Grace do it? She looked at her now, as she outlined the procedures Pia had in mind, and could only marvel at how fresh and bright-eyed she looked even while she still managed to retain an air of serenity and calm about her. No doubt about it—the woman was amazing. Jade would be up to her neck in bubbles right now if she hadn’t been called in to this consultation.
Today had been too long—a full day of laser surgery punctuated only by an hour-long luncheon meeting with Grace to discuss the financial results from the Gala.
As expected, the evening had been a runaway success in raising both funds and the profile of the foundation. Months of planning had paid off, and Jade was now feeling the anticlimax of masterminding and carrying off a successful event seeping through her bones.
But that wasn’t the only anticlimax she was feeling. Ever since that night she’d felt strangely let down, and it all had to do with the larger-than-life memories of one tall, dark stranger. And yet nothing had happened between them, really. Nothing compared to what might have happened. Right now she could be filled with regrets about crazy actions and impetuous desires. She could be cursing herself for giving in to nothing more than base lust.
Instead she should feel proud of herself for having had the strength to get out of the situation. She should be feeling relieved she’d come to her senses before it was too late—even if it had taken a philandering mayor to wake her up to what she was doing.
So
