Staring into her beautiful blue eyes, he could vividly remember every single second he’d spent with her.He still had explicit dreams of their lovemaking, of her long limbs entwined around him, his whole being immersed in her scent.
When he’d walked out of Hannah’s life and away from his job as a fashion photographer, he figured he’d never see her again in the flesh.Her face would be everywhere—she was the new darling of the catwalks, of magazines, after all.Her picture graced covers, posters, even lit up some buildings.
He never meant to buy all the magazines with her on the cover and was amazed by the stack in his bedroom.
And then, in a cruel twist of fate, two of her sisters and one of their best friends were now married to his three brothers!It was so bizarre.He had still been trying to come to grips with the fact that his big brother Don had fallen for Caitlin, Hannah’s older sister, when Dale started acting all weird and out of sorts, until he put his ring on Zoe, the other sister.And if that hadn’t been enough, David had found his soul mate in Dana, Caitlin’s best friend.
Uncomfortable, Darryn shifted on his chair.After all this time, after everything he knew about her, Hannah still managed to get him all hot and bothered.He still couldn’t believe she’d slept with Stephen White, of all people.There had been times over the past two years when he’d wondered if the guy had told him that out of spite, but then he remembered the damn tattoo.There was no way anyone could know about the tiny butterfly without having seen it.
Ever since he’d joined Don and his brothers at the firm, he’d made a conscious effort to date as many women as possible in the hope he’d find at least one who might pique his interest.But to no avail.None of them had been able to even vaguely interest him, let alone make him forget Hannah.
And ever since Don and Caitlin came together, family meetings tended to include the Sutherlands as well, and that meant Hannah was suddenly part of his life.
He still wanted her.Despite knowing she hadn’t been honest when she’d said she never slept with photographers.The fact that she’d jumped into bed with Stephen bloody White wasn’t something he could get his head around.The guy was plain creepy.
He had tried to warn Don and Dale not to trust the Sutherland sisters.Of course, nobody listened to him, and he had grudgingly come to realize just how wrong he had been about his new sisters-in-law—they were in a league of their own.And this, of course, led him to wonder whether he’d been correct in his assessment of Hannah.
But how else would the guy know about the tattoo?
He was desperately trying to hang onto his anger and hurt; he kept reminding himself she was not who he’d initially thought, but his body completely ignored all his rational arguments.
Whenever he got close to her, his cave instincts kicked in, and he wanted to protect, to possess, to claim, to kiss.Damn it to hell, what was it with this woman?
The more he saw of Hannah, the more he realized he liked her.She was quiet, listened rather than talked, and really cared about her family, about his family.The only time her smile slipped was when her gaze landed on him.
Watching his brothers was not helping his frustration.They were all blissfully happy.
Sickeningly so.They all obviously adored their wives.And he had started to look forward to the many family gatherings.He liked his new sisters-in-law and had become a huge fan of Brenda, the mother of the three sisters.
Could he have been wrong?Maybe he should do what he should have done two years ago and ask Hannah about the whole thing.
Frowning, he closed the file.That was, if he saw her again.She hadn’t been around over the last few months.She hadn’t even gone to David’s wedding to Dana.And damn it to hell, he missed her!
And the strange accidents that kept happening around her had him on edge.Every single time he heard that Hannah had been in or near an accident, his heart seemed to stop.It scared the living daylights out of him that something might happen to her.
At first he’d thought she was just careless, but he was worried enough to ask security to make sure she didn’t leave the hotel unattended while she was on the island of Mahé in the Seychelles.And of course, she and Zoe managed to ditch them and slip away.That was the night Zoe had nearly been trampled by a crowd.And he then realized there was more to it than what Hannah wanted to reveal.
He’d asked her sisters; they were as worried as he was, but she hadn’t told them anything he didn’t know about.
Shrugging, he opened the file he was supposed to be working on.She was probably being wined and dined by some billionaire.
But half an hour later, he was still staring at the computer screen, not having done a thing.
*
With trembling fingers,Hannah locked the door of her Paris apartment behind her when she got in and, frantically pulling the scarf from around her neck, leaned against the front door for a moment.The despair she kept pushing away soared to the surface and, for the first time in two years, the tears she’d been battling to keep down spilled over.
It was never going to stop.When Stephen White had threatened he to make her life a living nightmare two years ago, he hadn’t been joking.
What he’d failed to mention at the time was that she would never feel safe again.And, as she had discovered to her horror, neither would people close to her or even colleagues who happened to have a similar build to hers.
Poor, poor Sophie.How was she to know the reason she’d been shoved in front of a car and nearly run over was because she had been mistaken for Hannah?
Hannah and three other models had just finished a shoot and were crossing the road.They were all dressed in jeans, white T-shirts, and bright yellow scarves.Sophie, who had a very similar build to Hannah, had been walking slightly in front of the rest of them.
Hannah had bent down to adjust her shoe when she heard Sophie’s scream and the sound of a car skidding to a stop.She looked up just in time to see Sophie’s yellow scarf falling, falling, falling.
And she immediately knew what had happened.Stephen had to be around and had mistaken Sophie for her.That was why Sophie had been shoved in front of the car.If the driver hadn’t swerved…
