Wife By Deception. Donna Sterling

have no problem brutalizing men much bigger than him—possibly several of them at a time—let alone one weaponless woman.

      His stare alone frightened her. It seemed to have a disarming power of its own….

      She looked away, pierced with a sudden, uncomfortable awareness of him as a man and the suggestive intimacy of the setting. Her bedroom. He believed her to be his wife—a woman he had once loved. At the very least, in the physical sense.

      Flustered, she turned to the dresser drawer she had opened, anxious to finish her packing. Hurriedly she tossed jeans, shorts and tops into her suitcase. She then pulled open another drawer, and paused. Self-conscious warmth seeped beneath her skin. Calling herself a fool, she tried to ignore his infernal presence as she packed her panties and bras.

      “Are those yours?”

      The surprise in his question drew her glance back to him, then down to the cotton, pastel-hued underwear she’d just placed in the suitcase. The warmth in her face intensified. “Who else’s would they be?”

      He lifted one brow. “No black satin or red lace? Your taste in lingerie has, uh, changed.”

      “That’s none of your business.”

      He almost smiled. “Amen.”

      Pursing her mouth, she shoved her underwear beneath the other clothing in her suitcase. She’d never bought the sexy kind of underwear Camryn had favored. Kate preferred the comfort of cotton to lace. Besides, who ever saw her in her underwear, anyway? Her work and her studies—and then Arianne—had dominated her time. She hadn’t had a steady man in her life since her undergrad days.

      Though she didn’t care at all what this big rude lug thought of her, his comment had made her feel frumpy. In self-defense—and maybe to extinguish the mild amusement she seemed to have afforded him—she coolly remarked, “I try to please whatever man I’m currently involved with.”

      “Since when?”

      She raised her brow at the chiding retort. He apparently didn’t believe that Camryn had tried to please him. Kate was glad her sister hadn’t wasted her time. She doubted there would have been much reward in the venture—other than, perhaps, in a strictly physical sense. That thought, however, brought to mind the possible physical rewards a man as blatantly virile as Mitch might confer upon a women…a subject she certainly didn’t want to think about.

      Abruptly she averted her gaze from him and continued packing.

      “I hope whatever fool you’re dating is the patient type, for his sake,” Mitch said in a pleasant tone. “You’re going to be gone for a while.”

      Kate halted in her work and frowned. “How long of a while?”

      “A week or two…possibly longer, depending on what the judge decides.”

      Her stomach tightened with anxiety. Mitch clearly had every confidence that the court proceedings would go his way. “Where exactly are we going?”

      “To the judge who married us, finalized our separation and granted us joint custody.” He hadn’t, of course, answered her question, although he probably thought he had.

      “I have to tell certain people I’ll be gone, or they’ll worry.”

      “Too bad you didn’t think of that when you ran away with my daughter. You just disappeared.” He leaned forward, his arms resting across his knees. “I wouldn’t trust you to call anyone, Camryn, so you’re going to just disappear again. Shouldn’t surprise anyone who knows you. You can spin whatever crazy tale you’d like when you get back.”

      Resentful at the control he had over her, Kate flung more clothes and a pair of shoes into the suitcase. In actuality, there wouldn’t be many people who would miss her. Her parents had been dead since she was five years old, and she had no close relations left. She supposed that her neighbors might get curious about her extended absence, her friends might wonder where she was and her lawyer might leave messages on her answering machine, but no one would raise an alarm. She’d taken a leave from work, which meant co-workers wouldn’t note her absence. She was entirely on her own. A sobering thought. She could disappear from the face of the earth and very few people would notice.

      She stalked to her closet and rifled through her dresses and suits, looking for just the right one to wear into a courtroom.

      “Don’t tell me those are yours, too.”

      She jumped at the low, gravelly voice that came from right behind her. She hadn’t heard him move from the chair, but now he stood peering over her shoulder at the neatly hanging garments in her closet. She understood his comment perfectly. She doubted that Camryn had ever worn a tailored suit or conservative dress in her life. Kate affected a nonchalant shrug. “So my tastes have changed.”

      He let out a laugh and wedged a broad shoulder against the wall beside her closet. “I get it now. The puzzle pieces are beginning to fit. You’ve got some rich fool believing you’re a real prim and proper Miss Priss.”

      “Miss Priss!”

      “With your practical underwear, your tailored suits, your hair all pinned and braided.” He slipped his thumbs into his pockets and ambled across her room, nodding at the shelves that lined one side. “Leather-bound books in your bedroom, a piano in your living room.” He looked genuinely amused. “So your new man’s fallen for it, has he? Obviously so, since he must be paying the bills.”

      Jamming her balled-up knuckles onto her hips, Kate cast him a withering stare. How she hated his implication that Camryn had been living with a man for his money! “How do you know I haven’t worked for everything I have?”

      “Come on, Cam. Even if you worked long enough to earn a little cash—which is doubtful, since you’ve only been gone for six months—money slips through your fingers like water.”

      He clearly thought very little of Camryn. The fact that he was basically right about her character did little to ease Kate’s resentment. “Maybe I got financial help from my—” She stopped on the verge of saying sister. Did Mitch know that Camryn had a sister? If so, he clearly wasn’t aware that they were identical twins. Perhaps it was better not to mention anything about sisters. Prudently, she finished with “My family.”

      “You told me you didn’t have family.”

      A surprising pain accosted Kate. So Camryn hadn’t acknowledged her existence at all. Pushing the pain aside out of pure necessity, she pursed her lips as if she’d been caught in a fib. “Okay, so maybe I don’t have any blood relations. But I do have people who care about me enough to extend a loan.”

      “Maybe so. Maybe you borrowed the money to feather your elegant new nest. Won’t your new boyfriend be surprised when your true colors shine through?”

      “You know nothing about my life now. Nothing.”

      His lips curved in mock appreciation. “You’re good, Camryn. You’re really good. I like your lady-of-the-manor act. I like your upscale clothes, and your sophisticated new look.” He stopped beside her, leaned in too close and inhaled deeply. “And your expensive new perfume.” His nearness sent a frisson of awareness through her bloodstream. “I even like your smooth new way of walking.” His gaze roamed her face. “It’s all very effective,” he whispered. The odd intensity in his golden-green eyes suddenly cooled, leaving only contempt. “But you can drop the act with me, chèr’. It won’t do you any good. In case you’ve forgotten, I caught the last show.”

      Thoroughly shaken, Kate drew back from him and gripped the edge of the dresser for support. Her hand itched to slap him. He’d invaded her personal space in a way no one ever had; in a way that disturbed her just as much as his earlier manhandling. She would resist the urge to slap him, though. He might kill her. Or, he might leave. Then what would the future hold for Arianne?

      Only one thing Kate knew for sure—she needed more information.

      She’d play the role