A No Risk Affair (Presents Plus) Read online

  He gave her a resentful glare, turning away abruptly. ‘I’d been caught in a trap once before, I didn’t intend for it to happen a second time,’ he muttered in a barely audible voice.

  Robyn tensed expectantly. ‘Yes?’

  He turned on her angrily. ‘We can’t all have this paternal streak you revel in,’ he bit out accusingly. ‘Children just don’t, and never have, entered into my plans. And so when Tina told me she didn’t want children either I—’ He broke off with a rueful sigh.

  ‘Yes?’ she prompted again, more warily this time, not liking where this was leading at all.

  ‘Some women will tell you anything they think you want to hear,’ he muttered. ‘And then when you’re well and truly trapped they do an about face.’

  ‘I hope you aren’t implying I did that?’ she stiffened indignantly.

  ‘No,’ he sighed. ‘We just didn’t get around to discussing the fundamental requirements of our marriage until it was too late. With Tina I was taking no chances. I already have two children, I don’t want any more,’ he shook his head. ‘This weekend was a test for Tina, to see if she really meant what she said,’ he admitted reluctantly.

  Robyn could hardly believe what she was hearing. ‘You’re saying you used the twins as guinea pigs?’ she said with slow incredulity.

  ‘It wasn’t like that—’

  ‘That’s exactly how it was,’ she stormed, her eyes blazing. ‘Did your girlfriend pass the test?’ she scorned with disgust.

  ‘Robyn—’

  ’Did she?’ she repeated with furious control.

  ‘Yes,’ he muttered.

  ‘How?’ she asked through gritted teeth.

  ‘Robyn—’

  ‘Will you just answer my question!’

  He shrugged at her aggression. ‘She was polite to them, even friendly, but it was obvious she wasn’t comfortable with them. I asked her to marry me last night, and she agreed on condition I never ask her to cope with the twins like that again.’

  ‘And you agreed to that?’ she prompted in a hushed and disbelieving voice.

  His expression was even more resentful. ‘Yes.’

  ‘You actually agreed not to have them stay with you ever again?’

  ‘Yes!’

  ‘You unfeeling bastard!’

  ‘Now, Robyn—’

  ‘The twins worship the ground you walk on,’ she advanced on him angrily. ‘And you used them in that cruel way, making them thoroughly miserable in the process. Oh yes,’ she scorned at his surprised expression, ‘they aren’t just wooden objects to be pushed and shoved about, they were both very upset Sunday evening. That’s how I found out about Tina Fowler; they didn’t want to come and live with you either!’

  ‘Then that’s just as well, isn’t it,’ he bit out without regret. ‘Because Tina and I will be moving to New York after the wedding; her father has offered me a top job on one of his newspapers over there.’

  ‘You didn’t waste any time,’ Robyn said with distaste.

  ‘Why should I?’ he said resentfully. ‘What’s the point of marrying the boss’s daughter if you can’t take advantage of a little nepotism? And don’t worry that my remarriage will affect you at all, the old boy would never see you homeless or jobless,’ his mouth twisted.

  ‘The Colonel?’ she frowned.

  ‘Mm,’ Brad grimaced. ‘At least my marriage to Tina means I don’t have to try and keep in his good books any longer; Tina’s father could buy him out several times over!’

  Robyn was learning several unpleasant facts about her ex-husband this morning that she would rather have remained in ignorance of, being shown irrefutably that he was a self-centred bastard of a man. To use the twins in that despicable way—! And after the comments he had made lately about being the Colonel’s only male heir she should have realised his feelings towards his uncle were purely mercenary.

  ‘You sicken me, do you know that,’ she grimaced her distaste, feeling as if she had a nasty taste in her mouth.

  He gave her a pitying glance. ‘And do you realise I don’t give a damn what you think or feel,’ he scorned. ‘I’ve only kept up appearances with you and the twins for Henry’s sake, once I’m in New York I can forget you even exist!’

  ‘And the twins too?’ she asked through stiff lips.

  ‘I’ll remember them at Christmas and birthdays, like other divorced fathers do. At least I’ll only have to remember one birthday date,’ he derided harshly.

  She could accept everything but his deliberate disregard for two children who loved him very much, her hand coming up to catch him forcefully on the side of his face.

  ‘You little bitch!’ he sprang back, a hand up to his face. ‘You caught my eye, damn you,’ his expression was belligerent. ‘It will probably be black and blue tomorrow,’ he accused.

  ‘Good,’ she said with satisfaction, looking at him with dislike. ‘Try explaining that to Tina!’ She didn’t wait for his reply but turned and walked out of the flat, moving with dignified calm.

  She rested her head on the steering-wheel of her car once she got downstairs, waiting for the nausea to pass. Brad had to be the most despicable man alive, using everyone, even his children, as only a means to an end.

  The way she felt right now the best thing she could do was go home and lick her wounds, feeling as if she had indeed been in a battle. But she owed it to Sin to let him know that everything was all right, that she was grateful for what he had tried to do for her, but it was unnecessary.

  The address she had for him showed a block of flats very much like the one Brad’s was in, although Sin had the penthouse apartment, the man behind the desk in the lobby asking for her name before calling up to Sin’s apartment, allowing her to go up in the lift after a brief conversation with him. At least Sin hadn’t refused to see her!

  As she stepped out of the lift into the thickly carpeted hallway a woman was coming out of the door opposite, a tall glamorous blonde, her eyes wide as she spied Robyn, filled with a warmth that was intensified as she smiled.

  ‘I’m Kay Thornton, Robyn,’ she put out her delicate hand in a friendly gesture. ‘As soon as you and Sin have sorted out this ridiculous mess you’ve made of everything perhaps you would like to come to dinner with Adair and me?’ she invited brightly. ‘And the children too, of course. My two will love meeting them.’

  Robyn had eyes only for the man who had appeared in the doorway behind this beautiful butterfly of a woman, barely registering what was being said to her as she took in Sin’s strained appearance, the tousled blond hair, the dullness of deep blue eyes, his clothes once again looking as if he had slept in them.

  ‘Robyn?’ Kay Thornton prompted softly.

  ‘Er—Of course,’ she dragged her gaze back to the other woman. ‘Thank you.’

  ‘That’s perfectly all right,’ Kay Thornton grinned. ‘And I’ll call you later in the week and tell you what you just agreed to,’ she said knowingly before turning back to Sin. ‘Call us as soon as you feel like being sociable.’ She touched his arm gently before stepping into the lift Robyn had vacated and going down to the ground floor.

  Sin looked at Robyn uncertainly. ‘Would you like to come in?’

  ‘Thank you.’ She stepped past him, instantly liking the relaxed atmosphere the cream and gold decor aspired to, finding the lounge she had entered comfortable rather than ultra-modern, despite its size and obviously expensive furnishings. Sin liked to be surrounded by nice things, but he certainly wasn’t obsessed with them.

  ‘Is anything wrong?’ Sin had followed her, standing dangerously close. ‘Are Kim and Andy all right?’ his voice sharpened with concern.

  Her mouth twisted wryly. ‘They’re fine. And you’re the second man to ask me about them today, but I have a feeling you really mean it.’

  ‘Brad?’ His eyes had narrowed.

  ‘Yes,’ she sighed. ‘I—Would you mind if I sat down?’ she looked at him appealingly, reaction setting in from the unpleasant scene she had had
with Brad.

  ‘As bad as that?’ Sin frowned.

  ’Yes,’ she confirmed huskily, sinking down into the soft brown chair.

  She watched as Sin moved to pour her a brandy, not refusing it as she would have done normally, in need of something to steady her nerves. She also took the opportunity to look at Sin unobserved, struck by the difference in him in only a matter of the few days she had known him, the charming rake of their first meeting seeming to have gone for ever.

  She sipped the brandy, feeling its warmth in her bones. ‘I hope I didn’t call at an inconvenient moment?’

  ‘Kay?’ his brows arched questioningly. ‘She’s my sister-in-law, remember?’

  She did vaguely remember him mentioning the other woman. ‘Adair is your brother?’

  He nodded impatiently. ‘You’ve seen Brad today?’

  ‘Yes,’ her voice shook slightly. ‘You’re right, he is going to marry Christina Fowler.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘But he doesn’t want the children.’

  ‘No?’

  Sin didn’t seem as surprised by this news as she had expected him to be, and she frowned her confusion. ‘I just thought you would like to know.’

  ‘Thanks,’ he nodded, swallowing down some of his own brandy, grimacing slightly.

  ‘Sin?’ She was hurt by his lack of response.

  He slammed the glass down with barely controlled force. ‘What do you want from me?’ he ground out, his eyes glittering dangerously. ‘Congratulations? Commiserations? What?’

  ‘Sin!’

  He gave a heavy sigh at the pain in her voice. ‘Why did you come here, Robyn?’

  ‘I just told you—’

  ‘I know what you told me!’ His control snapped. ‘But have you ever taken the trouble to listen to anything I’ve told you?’

  ‘Sin?’

  ‘Will you stop saying my name in that appealing way!’ he groaned, his eyes closed. ‘Don’t you know yet what it does to me?’

  She swallowed hard, not understanding him at all at the moment. ‘Why are you so angry?’ she asked in a pained voice.

  ’Why?’ His eyes widened angrily. ‘Because I’ve done everything I can think of but get down on my knees and tell you how I feel about you, and all you can do is throw my feelings back in my face! I knew Brad wouldn’t want Kim and Andy if he married Tina—’

  ‘How could you know that?’ she gasped.

  He grimaced. ‘I knew Tina very well myself once.’

  ‘Oh.’

  His mouth quirked without humour. ‘Her attitude towards children and animals disgusted me, she gave the impression both should be drowned at birth.’

  ‘Then she and Brad make a good couple,’ she said bitterly, remembering Brad’s solution to her early pregnancy.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘But I still don’t understand why you would tell me Brad would want the children?’

  He gave her an angrily impatient glance. ‘Because I love you, you little idiot, and I thought then you would turn to me—’

  ’Don’t call me an idiot!’

  ‘No,’ he sighed. ‘I should be calling myself one. Because it made no difference, did it? I offered myself to you and all you could do was tell me you would rather lose Kim and Andy than marry me!’

  ‘You didn’t ever explain—’

  ‘Explain what?’ he rasped. ‘I’ve loved you almost from the first moment I saw you, certainly from the moment you opened the door to me in cut-off denims and that provocative sun-top, and your two little replicas bounded down the stairs on that first evening. I looked at you and I loved you, and when you asked me later if I had any children I wanted Kim and Andy to be mine!’

  ‘Not at the moment’ he had said in answer to her question! ‘Sin,’ she said slowly. ‘I’ve left one man walking around London with a black eye, and if you carry on the way you are you could be number two!’

  His anger seemed to be in check for the moment. ‘What did Brad do to deserve that?’ he mused.

  ‘I’ll tell you that later,’ she dismissed. ‘First of all I want you to listen to me carefully. I—love—you. Did you get that, Mr Thornton? I—love—’

  ‘I got it!’ he ground out fiercely, pulling her into his arms. ‘Did you mean it? You meant it,’ he grinned ruefully as he just stopped her fist making contract with his face. ‘Then why haven’t you told me before now?’

  ‘Why haven’t I?’ she gasped. ‘You haven’t exactly been shouting about your own feelings.’

  ‘I’ve done everything else but shout them! The fact that I didn’t just want a sexual affair with you should have told you how I felt. I even arranged with the Colonel for you to help with my research so that you would understand my work better—’

  ‘And I do,’ she told him hastily. ‘I think your writing is wonderful.’

  ‘Well at least that worked,’ he grimaced. ‘The trips I planned with the twins, designed to show you I intended being about for a long time to come, only resulted in my being accused of wanting to confuse Kim and Andy when they already had a part-time father! And I wanted to be a full-time one!’

  ‘Well I wasn’t to know that,’ she protested indignantly.

  ‘Because you wouldn’t give me a chance—or yourself the opportunity to feel something for me. Even after we made love I tried to push you into admitting you cared for me; you just said you wanted an affair with me, one the twins wouldn’t have to be aware of.’

  ‘Sin, I had no idea you loved me!’

  ‘Wasn’t I obvious?’ he said disgustedly.

  ‘No,’ she shrugged. ‘Especially when the only reason you wanted to marry me was for the twins’ sake.’

  ‘I’d want to marry you if I had to crawl down the aisle with broken legs!’

  ‘You never mentioned the subject of marriage until this situation with Brad arose!’

  He scowled at her. ‘A man needs a bit of encouragement, you know.’

  ‘And going to bed with you wasn’t encouragement?’

  ‘Not when I wanted so much more than that!’ Confusion suddenly flickered across his strong face as they glared furiously across the room at each other. ‘Why are we arguing when we’ve just admitted how much we love each other?’ he asked dazedly.

  Her’ own anger began to fade, her breasts stopping their heaving up and down as her breathing began to steady. ‘I don’t know,’ she finally grimaced. ‘All I want to do is make love with you.’

  ‘Kim and Andy?’ he hesitated.

  ‘I’ve arranged for them to go to a friend’s house for tea; I had no idea how long I was going to be. I have to pick them up later.’

  ‘Then we have all day,’ Sin took her in his arms.

  ‘How about a lifetime?’

  ‘Does that mean you will marry me?’ His gaze avidly searched her face as she looked up at him trustingly.

  ‘If you won’t mind being married to an idiot.’ She smiled tremulously.

  He kissed her gently. ‘I’m sorry I called you that—even if you can be a little dense at times.’

  This was more like the man she had first known. ‘Did you tell your sister-in-law about me?’

  He nodded. ‘She knows me too well not to realise something was wrong when I stormed back to London this morning. But could we discuss our respective families a bit later?’ he groaned raggedly. ‘Right now I badly need to make love to you!’

  * * *

  ‘Please don’t be angry, Sin,’ she begged him as she lay beside him in the huge circular bed in his bedroom, leaning up on one elbow to look down at him, over two, hours having elapsed before they felt in the mood to discuss their families, Sin absolutely furious about Brad’s behaviour concerning Kim and Andy. ‘He’ll be going to New York soon, and now that he doesn’t have to try and impress his uncle with what a loyal family man he is I doubt we’ll see much more of him.’

  ‘I’d like to black his other eye!’ Sin stated grimly.

  ‘It’s over now, Sin, let’s not spoil what we ha
ve.’ She smiled. ‘The twins are going to love having you as their father.’

  ‘And I’m going to love taking on that role.’ His smile was gentle. ‘Am I allowed to take them on that skiing holiday now?’ he teased.

  She smiled. ‘As long as I can come too!’ She played with the softly curling hair on his chest. ‘What was it you once accused me of wanting, “a no risk affair”, wasn’t it?’ she mused.

  He nodded. ‘At the time it did seem to be all that you wanted.’

  ‘Well,’ her mouth quirked, ‘it may have escaped your notice, Mr Thornton,’ she teased, ‘but we have taken several “risks” in the last few days.’

  For a moment he looked stunned, then he grinned. ‘So much for being a responsible adult. In that case there’s something I think I should tell you.’

  She sobered at his suddenly serious tone. ‘Yes?’

  ‘You remember I told you I’m the baby of my family?’ he quirked blond brows.

  She frowned. ‘Yes.’

  ‘Well it’s true, I am,’ he nodded. ‘But only by about five minutes,’ he admitted reluctantly.

  Robyn looked down at him in stunned surprise for several seconds, blinking rapidly. ‘You’re a twin?’ she finally managed to squeak. ‘There are two of you?’

  ‘Afraid so,’ he grimaced. ‘Although we aren’t identical.’

  ‘Thank God for that!’

  ‘I’m the handsome one,’ he claimed innocently.

  ‘I’m sure Kay considers Adair is that!’

  ‘Talking of Kay …’

  ‘Yes?’ she sighed. Surely he couldn’t have any more surprises for her!

  ‘She mentioned that she and Adair have two children …’

  ‘They aren’t twins too?’ she croaked disbelievingly.

  ‘Mm,’ he nodded, looking at her appealingly.

  ‘Oh God!’ She fell back on her pillow, staring up at the ceiling.

  Sin leant over her, gently caressing her cheek. ‘Would you mind having my children?’

  ‘I’ll love it,’ she answered truthfully. ‘But the possibility of another set of twins is a bit of a shock,’ she admitted ruefully.

  ‘How do you think I felt the first time I saw Kim and Andy?’ he derided. ‘I knew my fate had been sealed from that moment on.’