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  Devil's Bride

  MARGARET PARGETER

  2296

  $1.25

  "You're too dumb to be a

  conspirator!"

  Stein's sarcasm lashed her harshly and Sandra almost collapsed as he jerked her closer to his strong body.

  “Shall I show you how I knew you weren't Alexandra?” Before she could evade him, his mouth came down with force on hers. Then as he crushed her to him he lifted his head to say: “The girl I'm engaged to doesn't have curves like this! There are some things a man doesn't need eyesight to judge!”

  Against his brutality Sandra seemed to have no defense. “Please let me go,” she begged desperately, trying to break free.

  “Why should I,” he said, “why shouldn't you be prepared to pay for your deceit? Now telI me—who the helI are you?"

  The Devil's Bride

  by

  MARGARET PARGETER

  ©

  HarkqimtBoOs

  TORONTO^ LONDON NEW YORK* AMSTERDAM SYDNEY • HAMBURG •

  PARIS • STOCKHOLM Original hardcover edition published 1979 by Mills & Boon Limited

  ISBN 0-373-02296-4

  Harlequin edition published in November 1979

  Copyright© 1979 by Margaret Pargeter.

  Philippine copyright 1979. Australian copyright 1979.

  All rights reserved. Except for use in any review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, Is forbidden without the permission of the publisher. All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

  The Harlequin trademark, consisting of the word HARLEQUIN and the portrayal of a Harlequin, is registered in the United States Patent Office and the Canada Trade Marks Office.

  Printed in U S.A

  THE DEVIL'S BRIDE CHAPTER ONE

  'WHAT you ask is out of the question, of course.' Sandra, short for Alexandra, Weir spoke slowly but distinctly, the calmness of her clear young voice belied somewhat by the expression of startled amazement in her wide green eyes as she gazed blankly at her cousin. 'You're suggesting I take your place, pretend to be the fiancee of a man who can't see? Why, you must be mad to even think I would do such a thing!'

  'Well, I am suggesting it!' Sandra's cousin, who was known as Alexandra, as she had been named first, stared back at her dispassionately, her thin brows lifting. 'You always were too impulsive, my dear. If you'll just hear me out you might realise that my crazy idea could actually be the solution to all your problems. About the only solution, so far as I can see.'

  Heedlessly Sandra interrupted, not prepared at this stage to admit the enormity of her problems. Certainly the fix she was in was entirely her own business, unfortunate as this might be. Angrily she asked, 'Whatever made you think of me?'

  'Several things.' The girl opposite spoke with a coolness Sandra envied. She even paused to yawn delicately behind long, elegant fingers, as if the whole traumatic situation merely bored her, as did the necessity of having to visit this shabby, old-fashioned cottage in such a quiet country village. Her veiled glance played idly over Sandra's shocked face before she went on, 'Quite frankly I was in a jam and already looking for a solution when I heard of Gran's death, but it wasn't until I was told we'd each been left a hundred pounds that I decided to come and see you. I mean,' she excused herself neatly as Sandra's expression changed to one of disgust, 'there didn't seem much point in visiting Gran these last few years. She never approved of me, especially after I went in for modelling. One would have thought I was in league with the devil!'

  'Alexandra, please!'

  'Oh, all right! I suppose Gran's opinion can't matter any more so, as you're so clearly getting impatient, I'll get back to all this money she left. A hundred pounds! I estimated, even used carefully, that it would scarcely keep you more than two or three weeks, and before long you were going to find yourself destitute. Then, although you might not immediately follow, we both have the same Christian and surnames. It seems rather ludicrous that we were both named Alexandra by parents who fondly imagined this would lead to our inheriting Gran's fortune. The fortune she so stupidly lost through foolish investment!'

  'It wasn't altogether Gran's fault,' Sandra cut in hotly.

  'Okay, keep your hair on!' her cousin exclaimed crudely. 'Anyway, it seems a bit late to debate the point now. Possibly, in spite of the fact that she died leaving you practically nothing, you might still have something to thank her for. Our names being the same, for instance, simplifies everything regarding passports and such. That Stein calls me Alexandra is neither here nor there. I'm sure he would be quite willing to shorten it to Sandra, if you found it confusing. He considers Alexandra too much of a mouthful anyway, so this should be no problem, if you consent to taking my place.'

  Sandra ignored this. It seemed too wildly incredible even to contemplate. 'You can't realise what you're saying,' she gasped, rising, in her agitation, to poke the fire for which she had little fuel left. 'Why can't you just tell Stein frankly you want to marry another man? I don't know him, but you did once send Gran his photograph. I'm sure a man who looks as arrogant as he does would be able to take it, whether he can see or not!'

  'That's just it,' Alexandra frowned quickly. 'I'm not sure he can. He's young enough, still in his thirties, to be able to face most things without going under, but lately he's been rather peculiar in a terse, bad-tempered sort of way. It's not so long since his accident, so I expect he hasn't really had time to adjust, not properly. His doctor says his nerves aren't too good, not as good, anyway, as Stein would have people believe, and I must be extra careful. This is why I feel I can't take any risks by springing my change of heart on him suddenly.'

  'But if this other man you want to marry, this Arnold, really loves you, wouldn't he be prepared to wait?'

  'No!' For the first time since she had arrived Alexandra appeared agitated. 'Arnold does love me and I mean to have him. I can't help wondering, though, should Stein be driven to doing something desperate because of me, if Arnold's love would stand the test? He may be a millionaire, or almost, but he has an absolute abhorrence of scandal. I would lose him for sure!'

  'But if Stein only wants you to spend a few weeks with him on this Greek island to see if you can really put up with his blindness, doesn't this suggest he has doubts himself? About your future relationship, I mean?'

  'I don't know.' Alexandra sounded curiously reluctant to discuss this question any more than she had done. 'The thing is that though I still think Stein adores me, we weren't all that compatible even before his accident. Not that,' her laughter rang out, brittle and confident, 'we wouldn't have been all right if it hadn't happened, but unfortunately one can never put back the clock. You must believe Arnold won't hear of me going off with Stein, no matter what the circumstances. He's quite willing to give you five thousand or more to take my place, to break it to Stein gently, but he quite frankly declares if I go myself he's finished!'

  Sandra blinked, struggling to free herself from a maze of contempt. 'Arnold surely can't love you very much if he doesn't trust you?'

  Her cousin's face changed bitterly, 'I think it's Stein he doesn't trust. One only has to look at him to see that even blind he's still quite a man.'

  Sandra's breath caught painfully in her slender throat and for one moment she was tempted to capitulate. One half of her was enthralled by the exciting dark image
of a man whose likeness she had held in her heart for a long time, the other half, her conventional, unawakened half, appalled.

  Shivering but unable to restrain herself, she asked, 'If I went with Stein Freeman to this island how can you be sure he would be willing to let me go? An island can't be the easiest place to escape from.'

  'I can promise Stein would never keep anyone against their will. He has too much pride for that.' Alexandra sounded cynical, but she moved so restlessly that instinctively Sandra knew she wasn't going to hear the whole truth. 'We've had rather an unusual engagement,' Alexandra continued. 'I had a small part when they were filming his latest book. It was the first part I'd ever managed to get and you've no idea how wonderful I felt. Unfortunately the assistant producer took a fancy to me and the great fat slob couldn't seem to understand why I didn't fancy him! This was when Stein came to my rescue. He more or less took me over. I've always maintained a few tears never came amiss. Actually I think Stein had his own personal problems just then, though what they were exactly he never told me, but perhaps this made him more sympathetic towards mine. He suggested, eventually, that it might be a good idea to become engaged.'

  'Didn't he love you? Was his offer simply to protect you?'

  'No!' Alexandra protested angrily. 'Of course he loves me — this is why I'm so afraid. Too scared of the consequences to just walk out on him.'

  Sandra stared at her frowning, trying in vain to sort it all out. Her beautiful, sophisticated cousin more than confused her. 'Did you stop loving him after he was blinded?' The flush that mounted Alexandra's face was vindictive. 'You always did try to show me in a bad light, didn't you, Sandra!' Then, as if realising she couldn't afford to offend, she muttered a reluctant apology. 'To tell you the truth,' she said ruefully, 'I don't think I ever loved Stein all that much. Certainly I couldn't give him the depth of passion he sometimes seemed to expect. Once I remember him saying— I thought sarcastically— that if a woman couldn't be generous with her heart there was always her body.' Sandra's traitorous pulse jumped fearfully, 'What did you

  say to that?'

  'Trust you to want to know! Already you have a much more sensuous look about you than I'll ever have. If Stein could only see I'm sure he would appreciate it!' Alexandra's hard laughter rang. 'I didn't tell him I'd never cared for that sort of thing. I simply pretended I was keeping myself for marriage. Naturally I didn't want him to think me frigid as he was, still is I suppose, an extremely good catch.' 'Yet now you think Arnold might be even better?' Sandra couldn't keep the coldness from her voice.

  Alexandra, however, seemed not to notice, so absorbed was she in herself. 'Arnold's everything in a man I've ever dreamt of. He's much more malleable than Stein. Neither is he so physical, if you know what I mean?'

  Alexandra wouldn't care for that, Sandra knew. Curiously she wondered if either Stein Freeman or Arnold had guessed at Alexandra's coldness when they'd talked of marriage. She said hesitantly, 'I still can't understand how you can contemplate deserting Stein like this, no matter what Arnold's attractions.'

  Seeing Sandra's contemptuous expression, Alexandra retorted harshly, 'I do wish you'd take that self-righteous look off your face and try to understand. I'm a model, used to having men appreciate me. I simply couldn't face a future tied to a man who couldn't see me. I think it was only my beauty that appealed to Stein — now he can't see me any more it's rather like being engaged to a stranger. He very rarely so much as tries to kiss me nowadays, and, when he does, there doesn't seem to be anything between us. You're only twenty-one, Sandra, eight years younger than I am, so you can't realise how time is important. My chances of making a good marriage can only get slimmer.' This made no sense to Sandra, but she remained silent as Alexandra sneered, 'It's pretty obvious you don't think I'm justified, but there's Stein's work too, you see.'

  'His work?' Sandra repeated blankly.

  "Yes," Alexandra's thin lips curled. 'He used to do most of his own typing. Now it's suddenly occurred to him that he won't be able to continue without a secretary. Actually he's already had three from an agency, but each one left in tears. So he insists I must help him. Me!' Dramatically, her pale eyes widening, she held up her hands. 'I can't even use two fingers properly, and he suggests I practise! This is where you would fit in nicely, as haven't you already worked part time for a writer at the other end of the village, before he went abroad? Gran told me about it once, when she wrote.'

  'But I was never properly trained.' Startled, Sandra spoke hastily. 'I just did it to try and earn a little money while I looked after Gran. To begin with I don't suppose I was any better than you. You could easily learn to work with a writer. Mr. Lawrence said I caught on very quickly and didn't obtrude.'

  Alexandra grimaced unkindly. 'That's understandable, my dear, as you're so young and retiring. I'm not trying to be deliberately cruel,' she added, as Sandra's cheeks went pink, 'but, as I'm a model, men find me distracting.'

  'But Stein can't see you?'

  'That's half the trouble,' Alexandra grumbled. 'Now he can't see me it's as if he were looking for a mind, rather than a body, and it's just not on, not as far as I'm concerned.'

  This, Sandra guessed, with sudden clarity, was where her cousin would fail. Alexandra was crafty rather than intelligent, though people rarely saw the difference. She had also a kind of superficial gaiety which relied a lot on rather exaggerated facial expression. Sandra could see how a man with Stein Freeman's disability might find himself groping after something which had only been an illusion. It could be dreadful for him to discover that the Alexandra he sought simply did not exist!

  Yet for Alexandra to suggest she might take her place was plainly ridiculous. It could border on insanity to consider it, even if it was possible. 'I couldn't do it,' she heard herself whispering fearfully, while feeling herself tom desperately with compassion. Not just for Stein Freeman, she mentally corrected herself warily, for any man in such tragic circumstances. 'I still couldn't do it,' she reiterated, distractedly.

  Sharply, her eyes fixed comprehendingly on her cousin's disturbed face, Alexandra prepared to take every advantage. 'I think,' she said smoothly, 'if you take a good look at your present situation you'll find you haven't much choice. You've looked after Gran since you left school. Now you're left with scarcely a penny in a house which the owner wants to sell, but which you couldn't afford to live in even if you were able to —not with the unemployment position regarding untrained girls the way it is. And if you couldn't make ends meet here, how long do you think you'd last in London?'

  'I don't know.' Sandra went white, her green eyes haunted. Alexandra was only putting into words problems she had been worrying over for days. To bring them out into the open seemed only to emphasise them!

  'You'd probably starve,' Alexandra retorted bluntly. 'Even if you're fully trained it's not easy to find anything.

  If you went with Stein to Kalnos it would give you time to decide exactly what you want to do, and then you would have Arnold's money to help you train.'

  Nervously Sandra clenched her hands. She didn't want to look at her cousin, hating her as she did for putting temptation in her way. But the biggest temptation, she realised, was Stein himself. Ever since Alexandra had sent his photograph he had come between Sandra and everything she did. This, if she could have taken it, might have been a chance to get rid of a foolish infatuation, because that was all it could amount to! One didn't fall in love with a photograph, however attractive. When Alexandra had first told her of Stein's accident, the irreparable damage to the optic nerve, Sandra had almost wept, feeling, as she had done, the pain of his affliction in her own eyes and heart. She had felt a deep pity, an urgent need to give him comfort, but she wasn't naive enough to imagine he would welcome either her or her pity. It was Alexandra he naturally wanted.

  'Are you listening?' Alexandra asked coldly.

  "Yes," Sandra returned dully. Suddenly, recklessly, she cried, 'I'll admit to feeling tempted. In my position,' she laugh
ed bitterly, 'who wouldn't, but what you suggest is so impractical I doubt if it would ever work. I know one reads of this kind of situation, but there's a vast difference between real life and fiction. How would I know, for instance, what kind of man Stein really is? How he reacts to situations? I'm not only a total stranger, I'm younger and not so smart as you, as you've already pointed out.'

  Alexandra stirred cautiously, as if sensing that which she had hoped for was almost within her grasp. 'In many ways,' she said dryly, 'Stein is still something of a stranger to me, so I don't think this would present much of a problem. 'I'm older than you, but because of my career I've kept slim. Our height and weight must be about the same, although your curves are more pronounced. You just wouldn't have to get too near him, that's all. I'll admit that otherwise we don't look alike, but a blind man wouldn't see that your eyes are a different colour and your mouth too sensuous for your own good.' Alexandra's eyes were full of light mockery. 'Poor Stein, what a shame he won't know what he's missing!'

  Sandra gasped, her cheeks hot, 'My hair isn't quite so fair.

  Alexandra merely shrugged. 'Stein is perfectly aware that I have mine tinted. If anyone should point this out he would simply conclude that I don't any more. I'll not deny I haven't your look of young innocence, or that my skin has no longer the satiny texture of yours, but a blind man, my dear, is scarcely likely to notice.'

  Sandra winced. For a moment Alexandra had sounded almost cruel. 'My voice?' she whispered, trying to ignore Alexandra's hardness along with a growing conviction that every question she asked was getting more incredibly stupid!

  'Your voice?' Alexandra smiled brightly. 'Oh, I don't think you need worry about that. After all, we both come from the same kind of family and went to the same school. I suppose with Gran being so ill for so long you've had to learn to tone yours down, but I will, over the next few days, endeavour to speak softly to Stein. Don't forget, my dear child, that as well as being a model I've had some acting experience.'