Filed to story: A Matter of Sin and Love Novel Read Free Online
Impotent fury blindsided her. He’d stolen from Rob but still expected her to help him!
Trust him to realise her feelings for her siblings was a weakness he could exploit.
She’d felt profound relief that Fuzz and Rob had finally broken from their father’s slimy influence. He’d poisoned their lives too long. If they lost this chance to build something for themselves… Elena shrank inside. Rob might be okay; he’d shown unexpected steel in walking away from all their father offered. But Fuzz had done so little for herself. Despite her sister’s air of casual unconcern Elena knew she had deep-seated self-doubts. A setback like this—
Elena stiffened her shoulders like a prisoner facing a firing squad even as everything inside screamed in protest.
‘All right,’ she bit out. ‘I’ll meet him.’
But only to explain that her sister, Felicity, was no longer part of the business deal.
It would be straightforward. What sane man expected marriage to cement a business deal?
* * *
‘Here she is at last.’ Her father’s voice vibrated with bonhomie. ‘I’d like you to meet my daughter Elena.’
For a moment longer she stood, watching the dying sun turn Sydney Harbour to a mirror of peach and copper. Then with a swift, sustaining breath she made herself turn.
‘Elena, my dear.’ Her father’s greeting made her blink. It was the first endearment he’d ever given her. She stared blankly. Once she’d have given anything to hear him address her with approval and pleasure.
The realisation made something long-forgotten crumple inside.
He spoke again. Elena heard the name Christian Edwards and pasted on a smile. She turned to the man beside him, looking up, then up again.
Something jabbed hard at her insides, a blow that all but rocked Elena back on her feet after the shock of her father’s words.
The man before her didn’t belong at one of her father’s parties. That was her first thought.
These events teetered on the borderline between trendy and louche. This man was too…definite to be either. Elemental was the word hovering in her head. He was like a force of nature, a leader, not one of the led.
Beautiful was her second thought.
Even the thin scar running up one cheek emphasised rather than detracted from the powerful beauty of that face.
It was beautiful in the way a remote mountain crag was, its icy peak compelling to climbers yet treacherous. In the way a storm at sea was beautiful in its lethal magnificence.
Which led to her third thought: dangerous.
It wasn’t just his utter stillness, his total focus as he scrutinised her like an amoeba under a microscope. Or that his spare, gorgeous face was hewn of slashing strokes and planes, not a curve to be seen. Except for that thin, perfectly defined mouth that drew her gaze.
In her profession she’d seen lips curved in smiles of joy or relief, drawn tight or stretched in pain or grief. She’d never seen one like this, hinting at both sensuality and cruelty, the grooves around it all about control.
Danger. It was in the air around him, the way it thickened, alive with his presence, enveloping her, drawing her.
That beautiful hard mouth moved, articulating words Elena couldn’t catch as her brain blurred. Then it curved in a smile and everything sped up, her pulse, her thoughts, her breathing.
‘I’m sorry, I missed that.’
‘I said it’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms Morrison.’ Once more those lips curved up, but Elena knew with absolute certainty it wasn’t pleasure Christian Edwards felt.
That was confirmed when she met his eyes, dark denim-blue beneath sleek black eyebrows that winged upwards. His look was assessing and…annoyed?
‘It’s good to meet you too, Mr Edwards.’
‘Mister, Ms, there’s no need to be so formal.’ Her father spoke and Elena had never been so grateful for his presence. He seemed almost benign by comparison with the man beside him. ‘Call her Elena, Christian. We don’t stand on ceremony here.’
The tall man nodded and she told herself the perfect fall of his smooth, dark hair did not shine with the blue-black gloss of a raven’s wing. Just as that wasn’t the hint of a cleft in his chin. Or a flare of understanding in those deep-set, remarkable eyes holding hers.
The idea of being read and understood by one of her father’s associates was too extraordinary to consider. She’d never fitted into George Morrison’s world. She’d been the cuckoo in the nest, unfathomable and uninteresting.
‘Elena.’ Christian Edwards’s voice was deep, with a resonance that trawled through her insides, leaving her strangely empty. ‘And you must call me Christian.’
Perhaps it was the gleam in his eyes, the satisfied twitch of those lips, or the fact she’d finally got over his shocking first impact on her, but suddenly Elena was herself again.
‘That’s kind of you… Christian.’ Something in his eyes flickered and Elena felt a throb of satisfaction. He was human after all. For one stunned moment he’d seemed larger than life.
‘I understand you’re from Melbourne. Are you staying in Sydney long?’
‘That depends—’ a look flashed between him and her father ‘—on a number of things. For the moment I have no definite plans to return.’
Elena nodded easily, as if those plans didn’t include marriage to George Morrison’s daughter.
That was not going to happen.
‘Let’s hope the weather stays fine for your visit. Sydney is a city to be enjoyed in the sunshine.’ As if she spent her days lolling on her father’s motor cruiser, quaffing champagne or indulging in long lunches.
Elena pressed a hand to her empty stomach. Fuzz had left mere hours before this party to honour the man their father wanted her to marry and George had summoned Elena straight from work.