Passionate Scandal. Michelle Reid

Vicky was rushing across the room to fling herself into her arms. ‘Oh, you beautiful, beautiful creature! I have missed you so!’ She pressed a satisfying kiss on Madeline’s cheek, then leaned back to stare at her again. ‘Goodness me, but you’ve changed,’ she told her. ‘You look so—so...’

      ‘Grown-up?’ Madeline solemnly supplied when at last Vicky floundered. ‘You too,’ she smiled. ‘You look quite the hot-shot executive in that pin-striped suit!

      ‘It comes with the job,’ Vicky explained the severe tailoring of the suit which accentuated every nuance of her hour-glass figure. ‘Specially made for bottom-wiggling at the—’

      ‘Judith, have you heard from—?’

      Silence fell like a stone. Vicky’s excitement switched off like a light as she spun round to stare in horror at her brother while he fixed his narrowed gaze on her best friend.

      The very air in the foyer began to tingle. And so did Madeline’s senses as she stared at him without even managing to breathe.

      Meeting Dominic on a dark moonlit night bore no resemblance to meeting him like this, in broad daylight, where there was nothing—nothing to help mute the effect he had upon her senses.

      Four years, she thought desperately, four years of quelling the aches, sealing up the wounds, learning to come to terms with the public rejection and humiliation he had forced on her, and it had all been for nothing. She had suspected it last night when he had caught her so unawares. But it was only now, as she stood face to face with him in the cruel light of day, that she had to accept that no amount of self-discipline was ever going to erase the profound effect he’d always had on her. And all she could think, and bitterly at that, was—thank God for Boston! Because she knew that, whatever turmoil was wringing at her insides, her face remained supremely calm and composed.

      ‘Hello, Dominic,’ she greeted quietly, accepting that it was for her to break the silence since nobody else seemed capable of it. ‘You’re looking—well.’

      ‘Madeline,’ he acknowledged huskily, running his narrowed gaze over her as if he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. ‘And you,’ he returned equably. ‘Very different, in fact,’ he added on a note which told her he was talking about last night, not four years ago.

      ‘M-Maddie is taking me out to lunch!’ Vicky put in with a voice so high-pitched that it hovered just this side of hysterical. Then her poor friend began talking quickly, saying things that no one else listened to. Even Judith, the receptionist, was too busy flicking her eyes from Dominic’s face to Madeline’s in wide-eyed curiosity to hear a word Vicky said.

      ‘You’ve not returned to Boston yet, then,’ Dominic drawled across his sister’s nervous chatter.

      Instantly recognising the dig, she moved her chin upwards in mild defiance. ‘Since I only arrived home yesterday, I’m not likely to be rushing straight back, am I? Though,’ she added exclusively for his benefit, ‘once England begins to pall, no doubt I shall go back—home.’

      In his turn, Dominic did not miss her own subtle meaning in the final word. And his mouth tightened on it.

      ‘I th-thought you were out today,’ Vicky rushed in agitatedly. ‘Y-you said you were—all day—out at some meeting.’

      ‘I changed my mind,’ Dominic informed Vicky while not removing his eyes from Madeline. ‘And aren’t I glad I did?’ he added silkily. ‘A Gilburn in our bank again; quite a surprise, Vicky. How did you manage to do it?’

      It was time to put a stop to this, Madeline decided angrily as she saw Vicky’s hands clench convulsively at her stomach. It was one thing him wishing to mock her, but quite another to use his sister as a tool to do it with.

      With a slight lifting of her chin, she held Dominic’s gaze for a short second which felt more like an hour in the throbbing tension, then slowly closed her dark lashes over her eyes. When she opened them again, she was looking directly at Vicky. ‘We’ll lose our table if you don’t hurry,’ she reminded her friend softly.

      With a silent ‘O’ formed by two Cupid’s bow lips and a pair of rounded eyes which showed a horrified appreciation of the way Madeline had just discarded her brother, Vicky turned and shot back into her office. She must have dived for her bag, because she was back with them before anyone had a chance to move.

      With all the cool aplomb her mother had instilled into her, Madeline smiled pleasantly at the hovering receptionist, sent Dominic a cool nod, then was turning towards the lift, ignoring the hot needles of fury that impaled her as she went, chatting lightly to a wholly absorbed Vicky.

      ‘God in heaven!’ Vicky literally wilted against the panelled lift wall. ‘That was just awful!’

      ‘Not—pleasant,’ Madeline drily agreed.

      ‘He’s an arrogant swine!’ Dominic’s sister ground out. ‘Sometimes I—’

      ‘He was taken by surprise, that’s all,’ Madeline put in, surprised by her instant rise to Dominic’s defence.

      ‘Taken by surprise, my foot!’ scoffed Vicky. ‘He knew damned well that you were coming here today—I told him! Made him promise to stay out of the way! God,’ she choked, ‘I could kill him for doing that, the rotten devil!’

      The lunch was not the resounding success it should have been. Madeline’s confrontation with Dominic had helped spoil it, but it was the feud between their two families which completely ruined the day.

      ‘It’s crazy,’ Vicky agreed. ‘They don’t seem to mind that you and I stay friends. But my father will have nothing to do with yours, and vice versa.’ She grimaced, ‘It’s made the last four years damned difficult for me if you must know. I daren’t speak to your family because it would upset my lot, but I can’t just snub people who have always been warm and caring towards me. So I stay out of the local social scene for most of the time. That way I don’t get pulled in two different directions.’

      ‘Is there no way you can think of that would put an end to it?’ Madeline asked anxiously.

      Vicky lifted her face and smiled rather cynically. ‘Not unless you and Dominic fancy getting back together again— No,’ she then said quickly when Madeline stiffened up. ‘I didn’t mean that seriously. It’s just that...’ She sighed, frowning. ‘He was sorry afterwards you know. He tried to see you, but...’