She tried to make the muscles move, and they did a bit, making the smile a travesty. She’d wanted to keep Taylor away from Sydney, and when her half-sister had come in, she’d known, deep down, that it wouldn’t be possible. Very well, then. She said mildly, “This is my fiance, S. C. Taylor. Taylor, this is my half-sister, Princess Sydney di Contini.”
“Taylor,” Sydney repeated, staring at the man. She was shaking her head as she said, “Are you really engaged to Lindsay? No, come on now, it’s a joke, right? What are you doing here? Are you here to fix the heating? Are you gay? Is that why Lindsay let you stay here?”
Lindsay heard the absolute incredulity in Sydney’s voice. She’d even called Taylor gay to try to justify his presence to herself. It was too much. What would he do? What would he say? She looked from Taylor to her sister, who was regarding him in helpless wonder, looking so beautiful that no man could resist her. She felt jealousy, ugly and deep, knife through her. Was it really so absurd a notion that a man could be engaged to her? Yes, it was.
Now Sydney was staring at Taylor, her hand held out to him, her body leaning forward, that soft invitation in her expression. Taylor, to Lindsay’s relieved astonishment, looked at the vision who was Sydney and merely nodded. “Lindsay’s half-sister? A pleasure, ma’am.”
“Ma’am? What a horrid thing to call me. Like I’m an old bag or something equally distasteful.”
Taylor merely continued his slow perusal, and Sydney, unnerved, looked toward Lindsay, who was looking for the world as if someone had slapped her silly. She looked confused and vague and stupid. “Wherever did you two meet each other? And why didn’t you say anything about him, Lindsay? I was with you yesterday, for goodness’ sake.”
Taylor said easily, “Why don’t you sit down? Since you’re her half-sister, I guess it’s okay to tell you that I met Lindsay on a job a couple of months ago. I was hired to protect her. Now I protect her for free.”
“You’re a kind of bodyguard? Well, I should have guessed that. Just look at you, after all. Did you become engaged after you found out she was so very rich, Taylor? This all came about last night?”
“No, Sydney, it didn’t just come about,” Taylor said and smiled at her.
Sydney knew with sudden insight that she’d made a very big mistake. “I’ve heard a lot about you, Sydney,” he said in that mild voice, as if she wasn’t worth yelling at. “I can see that you’re excellent at what you are. You man all your gun ports, firing at random. An interesting approach. I wouldn’t employ it myself, but perhaps you’ve found over the years that it tends to work. Those occasional hits must be pretty destructive to the enemy.”
“You’re being quite silly,” Sydney said, but Lindsay saw that she was looking a bit wary now. How could Taylor know about Sydney? She’d never said a word about her. Yet he knew, he recognized what she was.
Sydney continued quickly, “Lindsay wasn’t wearing an engagement ring in San Francisco. If you were indeed already engaged to her, then why wasn’t she wearing the ring?”
Lindsay said, “I took it off because I didn’t want any questions. We were all there for the funerals, not celebrations and congratulations.”
Taylor wished she’d worn the damned ring. She’d been too afraid to own up. She’d been too afraid of the attacks, the questions, the mocking. He wondered how long it would take to change that.
“But there was so much more, wasn’t there, Lindsay? Have you told Taylor exactly how wealthy you really are?”
“Look, Sydney, I’m sweaty and tired and I imagine that you have lots to do. When are you going back to Milan? When is Father expecting to hear from you?”
Sydney didn’t immediately answer. She was staring at Taylor, frowning. “Did you say you were protecting Lindsay?”
“That’s right.”
“Are you a private investigator?”
“That’s right, among other things.”
“My God, you’re Valerie’s Taylor!”
Taylor felt the big punch right in his gut. He wished this damned woman would just shut her mouth, get up and leave, but he knew it wasn’t to be. No, he was about to be pinned.
Again his voice was mild, bland with disinterest. “You know Valerie Balack? I’m not really surprised. The two of you are really quite similar. I dated Valerie for a while there, nothing more, nothing less.”
But Sydney was staring at him and he knew at that moment that she and Valerie shared confidences and he’d been one of the confidences. His performance? Both in and out of bed?
Sydney sent a sideways glance at Lindsay, who was standing now to Taylor’s left, stiff as a cane. She smiled, a pitying smile that made Taylor want to smack her. “Perhaps I should introduce Lindsay to Valerie. The two of them could compare notes. Women enjoy doing that, you know. Valerie was always impressed with your endurance, that, and your ability to bring—Well, never mind that. What do you think, Lindsay?”
Lindsay stepped forward now and Taylor had no idea what would come out of her mouth. She said again, “I’m very tired, Sydney. I would like to take a shower. Are you here simply to make me change my mind? If you wish, you can leave your legal papers here. I will read them and think about it. Could you leave now?”
“You are smelling sweaty, Lindsay, and you do look on edge with your hair plastered against your head. But, my dear sister, your fiance here and this whole business with Valerie—”
“What Taylor did with whom before we met is his business. It doesn’t matter to me. Get on with it, Sydney. Do you have anything else to say? Do you want to leave the papers?”
Sydney looked to Taylor, then shook her head. “No, I won’t leave the papers today. I’ll call and we’ll arrange a meeting between the two of us.”
“Fine. Good-bye.”
“My, but you seem to have gained a modicum of confidence with your guy sitting here. Actually, you showed some guts in San Francisco. I admit to being surprised. Father was quite hurt. Because of the hunk here? Is that why you’re going to marry him, Lindsay? Because he’ll protect you when you can’t do it yourself?”
Taylor rose quietly. He even smiled toward Sydney. “There you go again, firing at random. No hits for you this time. Perhaps you’ll excuse us now, Princess. We’re both very tired. I’ll see you to the door.”
Sydney looked triumphant and Lindsay wished Taylor had stayed seated, his mouth shut, and let her deal with Sydney. She could have dealt with her this time. At least she could have tried. At least Sydney hadn’t ground her under this time, despite her salvos, her random hits, as Taylor called them. Lindsay fought the familiar tug of the loser, the way she usually felt around Sydney. When would the feelings go away? When could she face Sydney and simply not care what she said? She watched Taylor escort Sydney out of the living room. She heard her sister’s heels click on the marble entrance tiles. She could picture Sydney smiling up at Taylor, giving him a look that would turn most men into slave material. But not Taylor.
She heard Sydney laugh, heard her say, “This is a beautiful place, Taylor. Will you let Lindsay pay for all of it now? And that diamond! Goodness, that must have set you back. Valerie told me, though, now that I think about it, that you weren’t poor—not up to our standards, certainly, but not poor by any means. And now you’re hooked up with my little half-sister. My very rich little half-sister. Has she let you take her to bed yet?”
Lindsay closed her eyes and waited. She heard Taylor say in his easy way, “Good-bye, Sydney. It was interesting to meet you. Family members can be such a treat. You should be careful, though. That strategy of yours becomes old very quickly.”
The front door closed. Sydney was gone.
Lindsay eased down into the chair Taylor had vacated, her hands clasped between her knees, staring down at the exquisite golden oak floor. She saw a dust mote. She frowned at it.
“I find it interesting that your half-sister knows Valerie Balack, but not incredible or overly coincidental. They’re remarkably alike, they run in the same social circles, so it makes sense that they’d hook up, both of them beautiful, confident, smart, rich. Both with no mercy, both certain that everything and everyone is here just for their pleasure.
“I hate to say this, Lindsay, but your half-sister isn’t going to be my favorite person in the future. Is your father even worse? No, you don’t have to say it. He is infinitely worse. Now, come here and hold me. Your sister is a harrowing experience. I feel shaky. I need some reassurance. I need to know you’re still here for me and that you’ll take care of me.”
She looked up at him and frowned. “ Reassurance,” she repeated, then rose and walked into his arms.
“Jesus, sweetheart, I need you.”
She accepted him and she accepted his words. “It’s all right, Taylor,” she said, patting her hands on his upper
