Hold Back the Night (31 page)

'Witch?' Sander's brows lifted. 'I don't think that describes Nicole too well. She does have some merits, you know. There's a will-o'-the-wisp quality to her, the kind of thing that can captivate a man. She's very flighty, very charming, very amusing. Oh, a little hot-tempered, too, but that only adds to the spice ... or sorcery, if you prefer. I'd be lying if I pretended I'd never been under her spell.'

'Really, you needn't justify your actions to me. I don't give a damn what you felt for Nicole. Or did with her on the night of the opening.'

His eyes glinted silver, perhaps paying Domini back for her ready suspicions. 'Good,' he said coolly, 'because what Nicole asked for was a nude sculpture. She was intrigued to learn I now work with my hands and she intends to model for it herself.'

Enraged, Domini started to fly off the bed altogether. Sander caught her and flung her back against the pillow, pinning her very effectively in place, laughing down at her with an easy male arrogance. Breath knocked from her body, Domini glared at him, panting, unwilling this time to forgive.

'You might ask me what I told the ... er, sorceress when she made her suggestion.'

'I won't!'

'Stubborn woman,' he murmured, still shackling her. 'Do you really think I can still care, even in the smallest way, for some woman who left me to my damnation as she did? I thrust Nicole from my mind years ago. She loves too easily, and only in fair weather. Nicole may still be a sorceress, but her spells will never again work on me.'

Gradually Domini subsided. After a moment she asked unwillingly, 'What did you tell her then?'

'Something not very polite. To put it euphemistically, I told her to … ah, vanish in a puff of smoke.'

Domini laughed and instantly forgave him all over again. If Sander had done that three weeks ago, not knowing her whereabouts or whether he would ever find her again, then he must indeed have put his former love out of mind. Perhaps, after all, the spectre of Nicole could be laid forever to rest.

He released his hold and smiled down at her, so warmly and tenderly it almost seemed he could see the lovelight in her face. 'Do you think I don't know how you've stood by me, Domini? I didn't lie when I told Tasey I hung on to thoughts of the unicorn after I lost my sight. Because I couldn't bear to think of Nicole, I used to think of you, a device to blot out the despair and bitterness I felt. You became my lifeline, a sort of icon against the dark. I can't pretend I truly loved you then; that would be an oversimplification. But you did help me through some hard times. I didn't expect anything from you, because I knew I'd treated you unkindly, with a great deal of anger. At one time, when I hoped the clinic in Germany might be able to restore my sight, I intended to make amends as best I could. But then...'

For a moment painful memories crossed his face.

Softly Domini said, 'That time I phoned to ask about your operation... why did you lie?'

'What part of the truth should I have told? That I lived in a world of perpetual night? I didn't want your pity. That I was alone? I didn't want you leaving the safety of your father's house, where I believed you were at the time. That there were creditors banging at my door? I didn't want your money. By then, Domini, I had learned of the way you tried to help me through my dealer. I was touched, but I didn't want you doing anything so foolish again. I wanted you to stop thinking about me.'

Domini was deeply moved. She sensed that it must have been very difficult for him to lie at that time, spurning the very thing that had become a lifeline for him in his darkness. And more recently it must have been equally difficult for him to spurn her proposal, judging by the emotional truths revealed in his simple story to Tasey. How lucky she was to be loved by a man of Sander's calibre and courage, a man who stood tall among men.

'And yet you hadn't stopped thinking about me,' Domini murmured proudly, wrapping her arms around his neck, putting all of herself into his keeping, for all time.

'No,' he said huskily, 'and I never, never will. I suppose I should thank fate for giving me a visual image of you. I have a golden memory of you, Domini.'

'I'll grow grey some day,' Domini whispered against his descending mouth, 'along with you.'

'Not to me,' he breathed as he moved his lips gently across the temples of gold he saw with the eyes of his heart. The words that stirred her hair were hushed, almost reverent. 'Never to me.'