Forbidden Surrender Read Online Free PDF

confirmed vehemently.
    ‘Right, then let’s go in and dazzle the crowd.’
    ‘In that case I’d better take this off first.’ She whisked the cape off, and her blonde curls cascaded down one shoulder and over the breast, pinned by a comb at the nape.
    ‘Wow!’ Pete gasped his appreciation. ‘Dazzle is the right word. Come on,’ he took her arm, ‘I’m going to enjoy this.’
    Sara walked beside him into the entrance hall of the house. ‘Do I really look like this Marie Lindlay? My aunt and—no, just my aunt, she thinks that it’s probably just superficial.’
    ‘Well, I hope you don’t have Marie’s nature. She can be a bit of a flirt on occasion, or so I’ve heard. But as far as the face and body are concerned you’re identical.’
    She shook her head. ‘It’s hard to believe.’
    ‘But true. I looked out some photographs of her today.’ He shook his head. ‘It’s unnatural. Let’s go inside, then you can see for yourself.’
    The long room they entered was crammed full of people, all of them talking in loud refined voices, and sparkling with diamonds. Several people turned to look at them as the butler showed them in, and a tall redhead broke away from the crowd of people she had been talking to and made her way towards them.
    ‘Our hostess,’ Pete had time to mutter before the woman descended on them in an expensive cloud of perfume.
    ‘Peter darling!’ she cried before hugging him, kissing him lightly on the cheek. ‘And I see you’ve brought Marie with you.’ Her tone cooled somewhat. ‘What have you done with Dominic, darling?’ she spoke to Sara, her blue eyes hard.
    ‘I—’
    ‘This is Sara Hamille, Cynthia,’ Pete interrupted.
    The blue eyes became even harder, the beautiful face assessing. ‘What game are you playing, Marie?’ she finally asked.
    Sara looked confused. ‘No, really, I—’
    ‘A change of accent doesn’t make you any less Marie Lindlay,’ the woman scorned. ‘And Dominic is going to be furious when he arrives. Oh well,’ she said dismissively, ‘it’s your funeral. Drinks are over there,’ she waved her hand vaguely in the direction of the bar. ‘Help yourselves to food.’ She moved gracefully back to the people she had previously been conversing with.
    ‘You see?’ Pete dragged Sara over to the bar. ‘If you can fool Cynthia, you can fool anyone. She and Marie have been friends since boarding-school.’
    Sara grimaced. ‘Are you sure ‘‘friends” is the right description?’
    ‘They’re like that in this crowd,’ he dismissed. ‘They stab each other in the back every opportunity they get. For instance, they’re probably all looking forward to the scene between Dominic Thorne and the supposed Marie Lindlay.’
    ‘How nice!’ she said with unconcealed sarcasm.
    ‘Come on, let’s have a drink,’ Pete encouraged. ‘We might as well enjoy ourselves now we’re here.’
    An hour later, when Dominic Thorne and Marie Lindlay still hadn’t put in an appearance, Sara was beginning to wonder if they were coming, and she said as much to Pete.
    ‘Don’t worry,’ he assured her gaily, ‘they’ll be here. It’s only just gone ten o’clock.’
    ‘I wouldn’t mind,’ she grimaced. ‘But everyone here seems to think I really am Marie Lindlay. A couple of people have turned nasty because I refuse to admit to being her.’
    ‘Then they’re going to get a shock when the real one walks in. Have another drink.’
    She was beginning to think they should leave. It was all turning out to be very embarrassing, these people convinced she was the other girl trying to make a fool of them, so much so that she was even beginning to doubt herself. Cynthia Robotham-James, their hostess,had become very annoyed with her a few minutes ago when she had again insisted her name was Sara Hamille.
    ‘Here we go,’ Pete suddenly whispered in her ear. ‘Look over at the door,’ he said fiercely.
    Sara looked. Dominic Thorne was instantly recognisable in