Daniel replied, ‘She called to ask me how to get to Brick Lane—she said she’d read about it in a book—so I gave her directions….’Sebastian didn’t hear any more of what Daniel said. He remembered his security guard’s awed reaction to seeing and meeting Aneesa that first day. She was one of Bollywood’s biggest stars and she was headed to one of the busiest hubs of Anglo-Indian life in London.Real fear curdled his insides as he slammed down the phone and bellowed to his PA to get his car brought around. With his heart hammering Sebastian cursed the fact that he hadn’t even thought to get Aneesa an English mobile phone, and prayed that today of all days she was wearing a baseball hat and sunglasses.Aneesa had got off the tube and was wandering along the main street of Bethnal Green, looking for Brick Lane, happily browsing through the stalls, soaking up the atmosphere and loving the colourful vibrancy of the area. She’d spotted a DVD shop that had a poster of one of her movies on the d
WHEN Aneesa woke the next morning and went to get some breakfast, she wasn’t surprised to see that Sebastian had already gone to the office. Daniel passed on a message to say that Sebastian would be working late, so not to wait up. Aneesa sighed deeply. They’d gone about five steps forward and three hundred back. All night she’d had broken and disturbed dreams about a small boy standing distraught in a dark corridor while people rushed past, ignoring him.Great, she thought to herself as she poured some tea, now I’m even taking on his nightmares. But there had been something so sadly poignant about the image … and even now she silently vowed to protect her own child from any similar scenario.After breakfast she went into Sebastian’s study which he told her she could use to make calls home or for the Internet. Feeling determined, she sat there for hours and trawled the Internet for every bit of information she could find about the Wolfe family. She managed to find out a lot more this t
INARTICULATE rage boiled upwards within Sebastian. ‘How dare you go through my personal things!’Aneesa stood before him, pale and intensely vulnerable- looking but with an unmistakably determined glint in her eyes. Her chin came up. ‘I dare because as your own brother just told me, I’m a part of your family now and will be for a long time to come, thanks to our baby.‘Tell me,’ she asked conversationally, colour returning to her cheeks, ‘was last night just a quickie before you asked me to move out, or were you planning on taking your fill before my body becomes too rounded and repulsive to you?’‘Stop it,’ Sebastian said curtly, the thought of her body growing more rounded having the complete opposite effect on his body. And before she could say anything else he asked, ‘What did you mean about my brother?’Aneesa leaned back against the desk, still holding the wedding invitation and the brochures. ‘Jacob just called. He wants to know why he hasn’t been able to get in touch with you
He’d grown up learning to duck from his father’s loose fists. He’d invariably been protected by one of his brothers and witnessed them getting a dose of physical violence, but none more so shocking than his beautiful older sister, Annabelle, the day their father had whipped her mercilessly, leaving her with permanent scars. He’d been too small to step in and help her and that sense of ineffectualness had stuck with him, heightening his sense of isolation. And his sense of fear that perhaps he couldn’t protect his own child.When they’d bought his suit for the wedding, he’d led Aneesa to a well-known designer shop on Bond Street, but on the threshold she’d pulled back and he’d looked down to see her face, puce with embarrassment. He’d frowned. He would have thought she’d have been running in, eager to indulge. But when she’d refused to budge she’d finally admitted, ‘I don’t have enough money to pay for a dress here. Let’s go somewhere else. Please.’And gruffly, he’d assured her that h
An enigmatic look had passed between Sebastian andLucas.Through it all Sebastian had his arm clamped aroundAneesa’s waist and her face was starting to hurt from smiling so much. And then she felt him tense rigidly. She followed his gaze to see a man approach them, the man she’d guessed was Jacob in the church. Tall with thick black hair, dark eyes like Rafael. And a grimly determined look on his face. Aneesa could feel Sebastian’s urge to turn and walk away and she silently willed him to stay. He did.But as the two tall men squared up to each other the lengthening silence became unbearable. Aneesa might have been invisible for all the attention either man gave her, and then abruptly Sebastian issued a tortured sounding, ‘I can’t do this.’ And letting Aneesa go, he strode away and out of the reception room.Jacob’s black eyes followed his brother and Aneesa could see the sorrow in them. She tentatively touched his sleeve and he looked down at her, finally focusing on her. Apologisi
ANEESA was sitting beside Annabelle at one of the round tables where they’d just finished coffees. She didn’t need to look around to know that Sebastian hadn’t reappeared. She was trying to concentrate on the conversation but was still smarting from his cruel words.She was also reeling with the knowledge that this beautiful, immaculately turned-out woman had been so horrifically beaten. Annabelle was being very sweet and explaining that her twin brother, Alex, was a racing car driver based in Australia, and couldn’t be there.Aneesa put a hand to her bump, only realising what she’d done when she noticed Annabelle follow the movement. She grimaced. ‘It’s still small, but it seems to be getting bigger by the day now.’Annabelle smiled politely but then looked away with a small frown forming between her grey eyes. ‘Jack should be here too, our elder brother, but I haven’t seen him yet. I know Jacob wants to talk to him….’Annabelle’s eyes snagged and widened on something or someone else
A house, a country house; it had to be. Where his mistress lived. Feeling nauseous, Aneesa instructed the driver to stop in a lay-by where she was just out of sight of Sebastian’s car. She paid him and got out and watched him drive away. Feeling utterly ridiculous now, on wobbly legs she walked around the corner of the hedge fully prepared to meet a locked gate when she walked slap-bang into a solid wall of muscle.Hard hands held her, blue eyes as cold as ice blistered down into her shocked ones. ‘What the hell do you think you’re playing at following me in that cab like some character in a bad movie?’Too shocked to do anything but blurt out the truth, Aneesa just said, ‘I thought you were going to meet a mistress or a lover so I followed you.’Aneesa could see the play of emotions cross his face and even a glint of humour. She could deal with his anger better than pity. ‘Don’t laugh at me.’Sebastian’s face sobered and his hands became gentle on her arms. ‘And what exactly were you
Her eyes narrowed. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’He looked away and shrugged, cursing himself for showing that it bothered him on any level. ‘You always said you would want to go home.’He could feel her penetrating look and tensed. She sighed. ‘Yes, I did. And I think the time to go is before I turn into a total caricature of some kind of jealous lover.’Her honesty surprised him. He was so used to women being vague, indirect.Before he could dwell on the significance of that, she stood and said breezily, ‘You made it very clear what would happen here. What you wanted. So I really don’t see the point in prolonging my stay. Things should have died down at home, and I need to get prepared for the baby coming.‘That is—’ her voice suddenly became more hesitant ‘— unless things have changed for you …?’Sebastian looked up at her. The sun was behind her and all he could see was her narrow framed silhouette. She had to be referring to the fact that he seemed to turn into a walking human e