An Old Enchantment (Harlequin Treasury 1990's) Read online

  It seemed it was destined to be a day of shocks, for as Maxi stared at the man who as a boy, she now recalled, had bedevilled her early school days, he was gaping at her. Her fame, it seemed, had gone before her.

  ‘So you’re...’

  ‘The black sheep of the family,’ Maxi finished for him, finding defence in attack.

  To her surprise he shook his head and smiled broadly. ‘Actually I was about to say that you’re the famous model we see everywhere. I never connected the name with the terror I knew in school,’ Andy declared, and reached out his hand. ‘Pleased to meet you.’

  One out of five wasn’t bad, Maxi thought wryly, shaking his hand. Yet she wondered. Could he really be that genuine? Could he really not know who and what she was, what she had done?

  ‘She’s changed a lot,’ Kerr observed drily, releasing Maxi to go and greet his brother’s fiancée.

  ‘I’ll say!’ Andy declared with an infectiously boyish grin, to which Maxi couldn’t help responding with a laugh, and Fliss with a wailing cry as she tore herself away from Kerr and fled indoors. ‘Fliss?’ Andy called to her departing back. ‘Darling, what’s wrong?’ When he received no answer, he turned to his brother for elucidation.

  Kerr obliged with withering scorn. ‘Andy, for a doctor, you can sometimes be a totally insensitive clod. Maxi is Fliss’s sister. Her only sister.’

  Maxi’s smile was instantly wiped away, and, even though her shoulders wanted to sag tiredly, she braced them into something worthy of an army recruit. If there was any advantage to be gained by getting in first, she was determined to take it.

  ‘Andy, what your brother can’t wait to tell you is that I’m the one who stole Fliss’s other fiancé from her, virtually on the eve of the wedding.’

  CHAPTER TWO

  THERE followed another of those fateful silences, which seemed to drag on until Maxi’s nerves were at screaming pitch. She was very much aware of her mother’s anxiety and Kerr’s amusement. What she didn’t expect was Andy’s matter-of-fact question.

  ‘Do you make a habit of stealing other women’s men?’

  Taken by surprise, she gave a delighted laugh before uttering an amused denial. ‘No!’

  ‘I’m glad to hear it,’ he replied soothingly, ignoring his brother’s snort of disgust. ‘Now, wouldn’t you be better sitting down? You appear to be in some discomfort.’ An observation which immediately made her the cynosure of all eyes as, with his help, she hobbled to the nearest chair and sank on to it gratefully.

  ‘Why, Maxine, you’re limping!’ Lady Ambro declared in concern, and Maxi, who hadn’t wanted to call undue attention to her injury, hastily reassured her.

  ‘It’s nothing to worry about, Mother, just the lingering results of an accident I had a few months ago.’

  ‘Were you prescribed pain-killers?’ In the blink of an eye, Andy had donned his doctor’s mantle.

  ‘I have some in my bag,’ Maxi confirmed, looking around for it before she remembered Kerr had left it with her case.

  He was ahead of her, a wintry smile curving his lips. ‘I’ll go and get it for you. Andy, I suggest you stop fussing over Maxi and go and see what’s happening to Fliss.’ It was a gentle enough nudge, but Maxi heard the steel behind it. He didn’t want his brother within a country mile of her.

  Andy took it at face value. ‘You’re right, I should have followed her. But I could see Maxi was in pain, and I was distracted.’

  An unfortunate admission at which Kerr’s expression became grim. ‘Well, by all accounts, Maxi always was a distracting little devil. However, you can safely leave her to our tender mercies and go take care of my future sister-in-law.’

  Although Andy grinned, he must have picked up something in his brother’s tone, because the smile didn’t reach his eyes. ‘Big brother has spoken. I’ll see you later, Maxi. You will be staying, won’t you? We’re going out to dinner tonight, and there’s a party tomorrow. All the family are invited.’

  Though she couldn’t explain why, Maxi automatically glanced at Kerr. There was absolutely nothing to be read in his face, and that was telling enough. He wanted her to refuse. He wanted her gone, but a perverse devil wouldn’t let her make it that easy. It had taken a lot to come here, knowing how she might be received, and he certainly had no authority to insist she go. Therefore she sent Andy one of her famous smiles. ‘I’d be delighted to join you,’ she agreed, and watched him hurry away, aware of the contained anger of the man at her side.

  ‘Well, you certainly know how to break up a party,’ he said shortly, and it didn’t take much for Maxi to mentally add on the rider, As well as marriages. ‘I’ll go and get your bag.’

  ‘Bring it to the rose bedroom, Kerr. Maxine needs to rest,’ her mother called after his retreating back.

  Maxi sighed. It hadn’t been an auspicious start. Her father had turned his back on her, Fliss had departed in tears, and Kerr Devereaux had disliked her on sight. Strangely enough, if the first two had served to undermine some of her confidence, the latter had had the reverse effect. He was the only one who had no right to judge her, yet he had and was at pains to let her know it. Which was a very big mistake on his part, because now more than ever she was determined to stay.

  Pushing herself to her feet, she smiled wryly at her mother. ‘He’s blunt to the point of rudeness, isn’t he? He wants me to go, and he has a point. Was it a mistake to come? Would you rather I left, too?’ Mr Holier-than-thou Devereaux couldn’t chase her off, but she’d go if it was what her mother wanted.

  However, Lady Ambro shook her head adamantly. ‘By no means! I know it gave me a shock to see you, Maxine, but that was because I’d more or less convinced myself I wouldn’t see you again.’ With a watery laugh, she hugged her daughter to her. ‘I’m glad I was wrong. I missed you when you cut yourself off so completely.’

  Swallowing back tears, Maxi found her voice. ‘After what happened, I thought it was for the best.’

  Holding her at arm’s length, her mother sighed. ‘I understood that, but when you went to the trouble of writing to tell me of your divorce I thought you’d surely visit.’

  Maxi shrugged helplessly. It was hard to explain when there was so much she couldn’t say. ‘At first I wouldn’t, and then, later, I couldn’t. I’m afraid I was a coward. I knew I’d hurt you all, but although I wanted to come home, I couldn’t face the thought of being turned away,’ she admitted honestly.

  Her mother clucked her tongue sadly, not denying the truth of the statement. ‘What made you change your mind?’

  Automatically Maxi rubbed her thigh. ‘The accident. It made me realise how precarious life is. Had it been worse, I might never have had the chance to come back and say how sorry I was. It was time to stop being so cowardly. So I made the decision, and here I am.’

  Linking her arm through her daughter’s, Lady Ambro shook her head chidingly. ‘You, a coward, Maxine? But you were never one to back away from a fight! Nor have I ever known you to fail to do what you knew to be right, whatever the cost,’ she declared in surprise. ‘That’s why you came today, and that’s why I won’t let you go again so easily. Yes, you hurt us, but you’re still my daughter, and I love you.’

  ‘Oh, Mother, you make it sound so easy, but you know it isn’t going to be,’ Maxi exclaimed with a shaky laugh.

  ‘Of course it isn’t, but you were already prepared for that, weren’t you? Both Felicity and your father will come round in time,’ she pronounced positively, leading them slowly into the house to where the graciously curved staircase swept upwards to the second floor.

  About to mount it, footsteps behind them made them halt and turn around. It was Kerr with her luggage.

  ‘I’ll look after Maxi, Bernice. There’s no need for you to struggle upstairs just to show her her room.’

  Maxi’s heart gave a severe jolt at that, but there wasn’t time to refuse, because her mother was already releasing her.

  Lady Ambro sent him a warm smile. ‘That’s kind of you,
Kerr. As a matter of fact, I would like to go and find John. We’ll have a talk later, darling,’ she promised, smiling at her daughter.

  There was nothing Maxi could do but put a brave face on it, and allow Kerr to take her arm in an altogether different sort of hold. She had the uncanny feeling he was debating the possible repercussions if he tossed her down the stairs! It wasn’t a comfortable sensation, and she tried to defuse it. ‘Why didn’t you want Mother to go upstairs?’ she charged curtly, and received a scornful glance.

  ‘Had you bothered to keep in some sort of contact, you might know your mother suffers from arthritis. It’s playing her up today, although she’d be the last to admit it.’

  He had the damnable knack of hitting her where it hurt most, reminding her just how little she knew about her family now. She was left grinding her teeth in impotent rage as they reached the landing and turned down the corridor. If she was silent, Kerr was disposed to be chatty.

  ‘You realise your father was very hurt by what you did, don’t you, Maxi? Your whole family were. He couldn’t get over the disgrace of knowing a daughter of his could cause such a scandal. The consequence, as you saw for yourself, was that he swore he would never speak to you again.’

  Maxi halted abruptly, sending him a killing look. ‘I realise you don’t like me, but there’s no reason to sound so pleased about it!’ she muttered, using anger to mask her hurt. God, he was enjoying himself!

  His mouth twisted mockingly. ‘I’m surprised it bothers you. You are, after all, a totally selfish, amoral little bitch. However, this isn’t meant as a condemnation, merely filling you in on a few things. You see, I’m afraid his anger didn’t stop there.’

  Maxi lurched from one breathtaking insult to another like a piece of disintegrating flotsam. Finally she rallied with a determination never to let him see just what damage he was causing. ‘If you mean he had my name expunged from the family bible, I’d pretty much worked that out for myself!’ she retorted with an edged smile, which told him to do his worst but not to expect blood because she was impervious to his cuts.

  Eyes gleaming, he took up the challenge. ‘Did he? I wasn’t aware of it, but it doesn’t surprise me.’ Going to a door along the corridor, he pushed it open. ‘The rose bedroom,’ he introduced, standing back to allow her to enter, his whole attitude one of anticipation.

  Maxi stepped forward before comprehension struck her. She was only grateful he couldn’t see her face when she realised the rose bedroom had once been her own. She halted in the doorway, aware that more than the name had been altered. It was a beautiful room, but nothing remained of the former occupant. Not only had the décor changed, but so had every stick of furniture.

  ‘He had it done straight away. There was no stopping him.’

  Her heart squeezed painfully at the realisation of just how hard her father had tried to wipe away the memory of her. It made no difference that she had known how much she would be hurting those she left behind; she had never expected to see the result of it. But she had, courtesy of Kerr Devereaux. She could never hate her father for what he had done, but she could and did experience a great welling of hatred towards the man who waited silently behind her.

  Walking inside, she carefully composed her features before facing him. ‘You know, you missed your calling,’ she declared conversationally, as if she found him amusing. ‘I imagine you would have been a whiz as a torturer. You get such pleasure from your work!’

  ‘Marriage to Ellis wasn’t all you expected it to be, was it?’ he said by way of an answer, following her inside and closing the door.

  Maxi gasped, then simply had to laugh at his sheer effrontery. She could never remember anyone speaking to her like this in her whole life! She stared at him in awful fascination. ‘Doubtless it won’t astound you to hear it was no bed of roses?’ she queried wryly. She had, after all, gone into her marriage with her eyes fully open, and it had lived down to her expectations of it. ‘A piece of news which will cheer Fliss up no end!’

  ‘Not nearly as much as to know that you’ve gone,’ he rejoined instantly, and once again she was forced to laugh.

  ‘She certainly has a champion in you, doesn’t she? Are you sure you’re not the teeniest bit in love with her yourself?’ she taunted, and had the satisfaction of seeing him breathe in sharply for a change.

  Kerr’s wrath spanned the space between them in a flash. ‘That’s about the level of remark I’d expect from a woman who’d steal her sister’s fiancé.’

  Maxi went to the window, brushing aside the net, feigning an interest in the view. ‘As you’ve assumed you can say what you like to me, I’ve taken the same option myself. If you begin to find it irritating, you can always stop,’ she advised, letting the curtain drop and turning to lean casually against the frame.

  ‘I take it from that remark that you’re staying, then?’ he observed caustically.

  Clearly he wasn’t about to take the hint and put up his weapons, and she found his continued animosity very wearing on her nerves, not to mention her temper. ‘It would seem so,’ she replied with a bland smile.

  Grey eyes narrowed. ‘What have you come for, Maxi?’

  This time she raised both eyebrows in mocking rebuke. ‘Surely that’s my business, and my family’s?’

  He shifted his weight, and the act of slipping his hands into his pockets drew her eyes to his legs and the way the material stretched across powerful thighs. To her chagrin, deep inside, the feminine core of her twisted in instant response. Defensively she averted her eyes, annoyed that a reaction she hadn’t experienced for so long should have been brought about by him. It also left her with a much more rapid pulse, and she desperately hoped she hadn’t betrayed herself in any way. It appeared not.

  ‘You’re forgetting that, as of today, our families are linked,’ Kerr reminded her unnecessarily, coming a step closer.

  It produced an unnerving reaction in her, making her suddenly feel as if she was being hemmed in, and that there was very little air in the room. She was forced to turn away, making quite a performance of opening a window, thus giving herself time to recompose her features. ‘All right, I’ll rephrase the question. Why do you think I’ve come?’

  He didn’t hesitate. ‘To cause trouble.’

  Her laugh was brittle even to her own ears, revealing just how much her response had shaken her. ‘Thanks for the vote of confidence! Is it so impossible to imagine that I’ve simply come to see my family?’

  ‘Frankly, yes. You’ve already proved yourself to be a calculating woman when you stole your sister’s fiancé. And don’t pretend you couldn’t help yourself. You knew what you were doing, every step of the way,’ Kerr insisted derisively.

  If she had any explaining to do, it most certainly wasn’t to this overbearing stranger! Her chin rose an inch. ‘You’re absolutely right! I wanted to take him from her, so I did!’

  Kerr shook his head slowly, eyes registering a boundless contempt. ‘You’ve no remorse, have you?’

  Her lashes dropped, shielding her thoughts. ‘None. What else would you expect? I will never, ever, be sorry that I took him away,’ she added for good measure, knowing that, in his blindness, he would never think she could be sorry for anything else. Besides, her statement was true.

  ‘And you want me to believe you haven’t come to cause trouble?’ he sneered, and Maxi clenched her hands into angry fists.

  ‘Actually, I don’t expect you to believe anything. What you do or don’t think is totally immaterial to me.’

  He took a threatening step towards her, finger stabbing out to emphasise his words. ‘Maybe so, but remember this, I’m not about to let you start another scandal. So if you’ve got it in mind to have yourself a little fun at other people’s expense, do yourself a favour and forget it. Try anything, and I promise you’ll live to regret it.’

  Arms akimbo, she squared up to him. ‘Just what do you think I’m going to do? Didn’t you hear me tell your brother I don’t make a habit of taking
other women’s men?’ she charged.

  ‘Women have a habit of saying one thing and doing another,’ Kerr pointed out tersely, and Maxi sent him a withering look.

  ‘You’re saying men don’t? I know someone who’d give you one hell of an argument!’ She’d spent a lifetime with him, the summer of their brief marriage. Colin Ellis had had one unbreakable rule: never tell the truth unless it was unavoidable.

  Kerr seemed unimpressed. ‘Let’s just say I’d be more inclined to believe a man than a woman.’

  A statement that explained a lot. ‘What happened? Did a woman let you down? With your attitude, I can’t say I blame her!’ Maxi jeered.

  There was a fleeting instant when he looked positively murderous, then it was gone just as quickly, leaving her wondering if she’d imagined it. ‘You’d like that to be true, wouldn’t you? However, before you get into your stride, it’s only fair to tell you you’re barking up the wrong tree,’ Kerr denied smoothly.

  Maxi raised her eyebrows sceptically. ‘Really? I don’t believe you. You see, I’m more inclined to believe a woman than a man.’

  He smiled, but without a trace of humour. It more closely resembled devilish delight. ‘Personal experience?’

  She pulled a face. ‘There’s nothing like it.’

  Reaching out a hand, Kerr trailed a finger along the curve of her cheek. ‘Poor Maxi. From pampered pet to the school of hard knocks. Why do I find it so hard to feel sorry for you?’ he derided.

  Feeling bombarded from two very diverse directions, Maxi jerked her head away from a touch which had seemed to scorch her flesh. ‘The very last thing I’d want from you is your pity! Now, if you wouldn’t mind leaving, I’d like to rest.’

  Much to her relieved surprise, he turned on his heel without argument, only pausing at the door to let off his parting shot. ‘I’ll go for now, but I’ll be watching every move you make until you leave,’ he warned, and went out.

  A fact Maxi didn’t doubt for one minute. She only began to relax when the door closed behind him, acknowledging with a shiver how tense the atmosphere in the room had been. His animosity was almost a palpable thing, leaving her in little doubt of his feelings. She didn’t like to be so deeply disliked, especially by someone who didn’t know her, but, as her feelings virtually mirrored his, this time she didn’t care. Kerr Devereaux could go to hell with her compliments!