Read Online His Diamond Bride by Lucy Gordon - Free Book Online

himself hidden. He’ll flirt and play the passionate lover, but that’s not love. Not really. He doesn’t like getting close in other ways.’
    â€˜Perhaps he doesn’t trust the idea of love,’ Dee said thoughtfully.
    â€˜Why should you say that?’
    â€˜I mean after what happened in his childhood—his father leaving and his mother being so withdrawn, you know.’
    â€˜No, I don’t know. What are you talking about?’
    So Mark hadn’t told Sylvia what he’d told her, Dee realised. He’d hinted as much but she’d thought that resolution would change as he grew closer to her sister. But it seemed they hadn’t grown closer at all.
    â€˜Maybe I’d better ask Mark,’ Sylvia said shrewdly.
    â€˜No,’ Dee said quickly. ‘I wasn’t supposed to repeat it. I forgot. It’s just that—’
    Briefly, she outlined what he’d told her about his lonely childhood, and the dog his selfish mother had got rid of without even telling him.
    â€˜That woman sounds hateful,’ she finished. ‘However unhappy she was, she had no right to take it out on a child. No wonder he grew up cautious about getting close to people.’
    â€˜So that’s why he doesn’t open up to anyone,’ Sylvia mused. ‘Including me. But it seems he talks to you.’
    â€˜Because he sees me as a sister. A sister can’t hurt him like you can, so he feels safe talking to me. But don’t tell him I told you.’
    â€˜All right, I promise. I’ll keep hoping that he’ll tell me himself, but he won’t, I know that in my heart. You see, I don’t matter to him, or not very much. The other night we were going to meet for a date, and he was nearly an hour late. He made some excuse but I think he was with another girl. I’m sure I could smell her perfume.’
    â€˜You’re imagining things,’ Dee said, unwilling to believe the worst of Mark.
    â€˜Am I? Maybe. But I resent the time I spend worrying about him. I once thought that he and I would walk off into the sunset and live happily ever after. But now—’ She gave an awkward laugh. ‘If I don’t matter to him, there are plenty of other men who think I matter. I’m going to bed. Goodnight.’
    When Dee finally went to her own room she was puzzled. Whatever Sylvia said, Mark was surely under her spell, even if it was only her physical beauty that had drawn him there. She recalled her mother’s teaching on the subject.
    â€˜They all start off wanting just one thing,’ Helen had said. ‘A clever woman uses that to get a ring on her finger.’
    It was the wisdom of the time. Any woman of Helen’s generation, or even Dee’s generation, would have said the same. The idea of risking the wedding ring by playing fast and loose with his affections was sheer madness. Dee knew that she could never have done so if she’d been lucky enough to entrance Mark.
    â€˜But that’s not going to happen,’ she told her reflection. ‘He’s never going to gaze at you as if the sun rose and set on you, so shut up, go to bed, forget him and get on with your life.’
    Sometimes lecturing herself helped. Mostly, it didn’t.
    What did help was walking in the evening with Billy, now their mutual friend. ‘You’re crazy about him too, aren’t you?’ she asked the dog as they strolled along.
    Billy gave a soft grunt of agreement. The next moment it had turned into a yelp of delight as a motorbike turned the corner of the road. Even in goggles, it was clearly Mark, and Billy shot ahead so fast that the lead slipped out of Dee’s hand.
    â€˜Billy, no!’ she shrieked as the dog went bounding into the road, straight into the path of the speeding motorbike, and to inevitable disaster.
    It was all over in a flash. One moment the bike was bearing down on the dog; the next moment there was a crash