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“She’s really going to be upset.” Hannah wouldn’t meet Caroline’s eyes. “She’ll blame herself.”
“Cancer?” Caroline breathed, closing her eyes to block out Hannah’s flinch.
“You can’t tell anyone, not even Simon.” Hannah grabbed her arm, the tight grip betraying her anxiety. “It will just upset everyone. It’s a mild case of cervical cancer. The doctor wants to take the baby early. He thinks everything will be fine. But I don’t want anyone to know yet. Promise me you won’t tell.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if your family knew? They could help you get through this.”
“I’ll tell them, but not yet. After Christmas. Before Sarah and I head home.”
“Oh, all right. I won’t tell.”
“Thank you.” Hannah’s smile reemerged like the sun coming from behind a cloud. “I’m really glad you’re going to be my sister.”
Except that was never going to happen. Caroline reeled as guilt struck her anew. Oblivious to the trauma caused by her declaration, Hannah turned the conversation back to the reason she’d searched out Caroline in the first place. With the burden of another Holcroft secret weighing on her mind, Caroline struggled to keep her wits about her as Hannah probed for more details on Caroline’s relationship with Simon. By the time the petite blonde left, Caroline was more exhausted than ever.
She was staring at her pale face, bare of makeup, when Simon appeared in the bathroom doorway. He had entered the bedroom a few minutes earlier and changed his clothes before coming to find her. Now dressed in an elegant charcoal suit and bright red tie, he leaned his shoulder against the doorjamb and surveyed her.
Caroline applied concealer to mask the faint shadows beneath her eyes, and then applied foundation. She looked wrung out both physically and mentally.
“Did you sleep?”
“No.”
Simon pushed off and came toward her. Caroline set down her lip liner. It would be foolish to try to apply it while her hands shook. As he stepped up behind her, she met his gaze in the mirror.
“About earlier. I’m sorry. I should have told you about Francine. But you were looking forward to coming here with me. You know you were,” he inserted as she opened her mouth to deny his statement. “I think you are too responsible for your own good.”
His earnest apology unraveled some of her resentment. When his arms closed around her, she relaxed in his embrace.
“I wouldn’t have survived without being responsible.”
“I know. But the time has come for you to do more than just survive. It’s time for you to live a little.”
“And coming here is going to help me do that?”
A grin broke out. The man could not stay somber for long. “I would say you’ve tossed your hat in the ring.”
He tugged her robe off her shoulder and lowered his head. His lips traced a path along her skin, revisiting all the sensitive areas he’d discovered the previous two nights. Caroline trembled, growing hot in places that demanded his attention. He dipped his hand into the robe’s V and found her breast. She moaned as her nipple hardened against his palm. If she didn’t stop him soon they wouldn’t make an appearance downstairs for some time.
She shifted restlessly in his embrace. “I really should get dressed for your mother’s party.” She sounded breathless and uncertain as if begging him to talk her out of going.
“It’s an open house.” He fanned his fingers over her stomach and pulled her backside against his erection. He nipped at her neck, and then laved the spot. “People will be coming and going all night. No one will miss us.”
“Your mother,” she gasped as his hand slipped into her panties. She closed her eyes, better to savor the pulsing throb of hot desire. “What will her friends think?”
“We’re supposed to be engaged. Let them think what they want.”
The words “supposed to be” hit her like a slap. Her eyes flew open. She saw her robe hanging open and her bra askew, baring one breast. Her lower lip was full and bruised from where she’d bitten down. Her earlier paleness had been replaced by a surge of crimson. The wanton that stood almost boneless in Simon’s arms stared back at her in gr
owing dismay.
“But we aren’t engaged,” she said, a chill replacing the warmth rushing through her veins a moment before. She moved his hands aside and closed her robe. “We’re just pretending.”
His eyes narrowed at her abrupt mood change. His neutral tone gave no clue to his thoughts as he said, “Is that what we were doing last night?”
Flinching away from his question, she sidestepped him. “I have to get dressed.”
She retreated to the bedroom and fumbled into her clothes, acutely aware of his angry presence a few steps away. A short time later, they descended the stairs. As they passed the towering ten-foot Christmas tree, Caroline scrambled to make sense of her tumbling emotions. The beautifully decorated tree and all the holiday joy it represented no longer made her smile. Her heart sat in her chest like a brick, hardened by Simon’s deceit.
