Undying Love. Carole Mortimer

       CHAPTER ONE

      THE first person Shanna saw when she entered her brother’s spacious lounge was Rick Dalmont. And that was enough to make her want to leave again!

      But she met that black-eyed gaze without blinking, nodding cool acknowledgment before turning to talk to her sister-in-law, Janice. But she knew those strange dark eyes still watched her, was always aware of Rick Dalmont’s gaze on her whenever they happened to meet. And that had been all too often lately as far as she was concerned.

      ‘I’m so glad you made it,’ Janice said with some relief; she was a small blonde-haired woman, married to Shanna’s brother Henry for the last ten years; their two offspring, a boy and a girl, were fast asleep upstairs.

      Shanna didn’t need to question her sister-in-law’s feeling of relief; she knew the reason for it—Rick Dalmont. Half Spanish, half American, the black-haired, black-eyed business tycoon had made no secret of his pursuit from the moment they met two weeks ago. Until that time a young up-and-coming actress had shared his life; she had been asked to leave the night Rick met Shanna for the first time. A lot of women would have been flattered by the almost single-minded pursuit by such a man—Rick Dalmont was a very eligible bachelor—but Shanna would rather he turned his attention elsewhere. Ricardo Dalmont, to give him his full name, wasn’t her type at all. His reputation with women was no secret, his method of ending those relationships was not always gentle. In fact, it was very often cruel; the women were simply replaced, without notice.

      But that wasn’t the reason for Shanna’s lack of interest, she simply wasn’t interested in any man at the moment. Clinically she could admire Rick Dalmont’s looks, the over-long black hair, the hard tanned face, the jet-black eyes that revealed none of the man’s thoughts; his mouth was a cynical twist, his tall body leanly muscled, his sexual magnetism tangible even to the immune Shanna. But as a person she disliked him intensely, disliked all that he stood for.

      ‘For goodness’ sake get him away from Henry,’ Janice pleaded with her. ‘This is supposed to be a party, not a business meeting,’ she groaned.

      ‘I’m sure Henry doesn’t mind,’ Shanna said dryly, knowing her brother’s preoccupation with business. She hadn’t reached the age of twenty-five without learning that of her older brother.

      ‘He probably introduced the subject,’ the other woman nodded. ‘But he suddenly seems to have lost Rick’s attention,’ she mocked dryly.

      Shanna followed Janice’s amused gaze, her green eyes clashing with his black ones. She had never seen eyes like Rick Dalmont’s before, so dark a brown they appeared black. That dark gaze moved slowly over her body, from the smoothness of her straight shoulder-length black hair with the feathered fringe from a centre parting, her green eyes surrounded by dark sooty lashes, the small straight nose, the bright lip-gloss on her slightly pouting lips, the slenderness of her throat, the perfection of her body in the clinging knee-length red dress, her long legs thrust into black high-heeled sandals, adding to her already considerable height.

      She met that intimate gaze with a challenge of her own, and made herself return the inventory, the over-long black hair swept back from the wide intelligent forehead, the harsh features carved as if from stone, the animal elegance of the powerful body beneath the black evening suit, the material stretched over wide shoulders, tapering to a narrow waist and powerful thighs. Rick Dalmont was a magnificent specimen of manhood; and he left Shanna cold, both physically and emotionally.

      And he knew it too, had known of her coldness from the beginning, and it only increased his desire for her. She should have known such a man would consider her a challenge, that he would meet that challenge head-on. If she had known of his presence here, at what was primarily a private party for a few friends of her brother’s, she would have refused the invitation. That was probably the reason Henry had remained silent; her brother was well aware of her feelings in regard to his new business acquaintance.

      The newness of Henry’s apparent friendship with the other man bothered her somewhat. Rick Dalmont wasn’t a man’s man, his relationships were mainly sensual, his many business interests seeming to be his only other occupation. The Dalmont fortune had been made by Todd Dalmont, Rick’s father, originally in oil, but since Rick Dalmont had taken over fifteen years ago he had diversified the family fortune, successfully, into a number of different industries. A man like Rick Dalmont would be successful at anything he set out to do, from winning the woman of his choice to getting the best deal for Dalmont Industries!

      And that was what bothered her. Henry and Rick had absolutely nothing in common socially. Henry was a staid family man, very much in love with his wife, whereas Rick Dalmont had made his opinion of marriage known on more than one occasion; he approved of it for other people, but not for himself. So that only left business that Henry could have in common with the other man, and yet even that didn’t seem plausible, for as far as Shanna knew Rick Dalmont had no interest in the newspaper business, and as Henry ran and owned one of England’s biggest newspapers…

      ‘He’s coming over,’ Janice whispered softly.

      She had been expecting it, could sense his presence even now, was aware of the warmth of his body as he came to stand beside her, could smell the spicy aftershave that was exclusive to him, as were the cheroots he smoked.

      ‘Shanna,’ he greeted in a voice of gravel and honey. She had been surprised by that voice the first time she heard it, had never heard such a smoothly seductive voice cloaked in such husky tones, his accent softly American.

      ‘Mr Dalmont,’ she returned smoothly, knowing he found her distant behaviour amusing.

      ‘Could I get you a drink?’ he offered gruffly.

      ‘I’m sure Henry——’

      ‘Rick knows the way to the bar,’ her brother dismissed unhelpfully.

      Shanna gave a haughty inclination of her head,