Forbidden Surrender by Carole Mortimer Page A

would be at home.’
    After what had just taken place between herself and Dominic Sara wasn’t sure she would even be able to face Marie.
    Luckily she had to visit her aunt and uncle first, which helped to banish Dominic from her mind somewhat. It seemed her father was right about there being no resentment, because Aunt Susan and Uncle Arthur greeted him politely enough.
    ‘Now that we’re here I think I’ll change, if you don’t mind,’ she spoke to her father.
    ‘Go ahead.’ He seemed quite at ease. ‘I’m sure Susan and Arthur will keep me company in your absence.’
    Sara hurried to her room, changing from the denims and tee-shirt she had hastily donned that morning and putting on a silky summer dress with a halter neckline and shaped in at the waist. Its tan colour suited her golden skin, making her look cool and composed. At least now she looked more in keeping with a guest of Michael Lindlay.
    She hurried downstairs, intending to rescue her aunt and uncle from what could only be an embarrassing meeting, even though they appeared to be putting a brave face on it.
    ‘Sara doesn’t know about this, does she?’ she heard her aunt say, halting her entrance at these puzzling words. What else didn’t she know?
    Michael Lindlay sighed. ‘It isn’t something I find easy to tell anyone, but especially Sara.’
    ‘It’s unbelievable,’ her uncle said emotionally. ‘Poor Sara, I don’t think she’ll be able to take it. First her mother and stepfather, and now—–’
    ‘Ssh, Arthur!’ his wife told him. ‘I think I heard Sara.’
    Sara sighed her frustration. What had her uncle been about to say? First her mother and stepfather, and now—–? Now was her
father
going to die too? Oh God, surely not! But what other explanation could there be?
    She forced a bright smile to her lips as she breezily entered the room. ‘I’m ready,’ she announced generally, looking at her father with new eyes. If he was dying, and there could surely be no other explanation, then of what was he dying? He was only in his forties, what could strike a man dead at that young age? A weak heart, a terminal disease? The list was endless. And it made her continued resentment of him seem childish and cruel.
    Her father stood up. ‘And looking very nice too.’ He turned to her aunt and uncle. ‘Can I persuade you to join us?’
    ‘Perhaps another time,’ her aunt refused.
    Sara studied her father on the drive to his home. He didn’t look ill, a little strained perhaps, but not ill. Still, some illnesses were like that, the person looking completely normal until it was too late.
    Unless she had it all wrong. But what else could have been meant by that conversation?
    ‘Sara!’ Marie ran out of the house to greet her as soon as the car drew up outside. She pulled Sara’s car door open, tugging her out on to the gravel driveway. ‘I couldn’t believe it when Daddy rang to say you were coming to lunch.’ She hugged her tight. ‘After yesterday I didn’t think you would ever want to see us again.’
    Sara gave a tearful, smile. Marie’s pleasure was completelygenuine. ‘Not want to see my own sister?’ she choked.
    ‘Oh, Sara!’ Marie hugged her all the tighter. ‘Isn’t it fantastic?’ She put her arm through the crook of Sara’s. ‘We’re going to have such fun together,’ she told her, taking her into the house.
    ‘Hmm-hmm?’
    They both turned at the rather pointed cough. Marie grinned at her father’s pained expression. ‘Okay, Daddy, you can come too,’ she permitted graciously.
    ‘You’re so kind,’ he grimaced, a lithe, attractive man who didn’t look old enough to have twenty-year-old daughters.
    Lunch was a lighthearted affair, with Marie and her father doing their best to make Sara feel at home. And to a certain degree they succeeded, all of them greatly enjoying the staff’s amazement at there seemingly being two Maries. It took a bit of explaining, but everyone was very welcoming once they