“What in the fuck are you doing here?” I growled as I strode up to Dylan. “I thought you were in California.”

  “Such a warm welcome from my twin brother,” Dylan said dryly. “It’s good to see you, too, Damian.”

  “Now probably isn’t the time to fuck with him, Dylan,” Leo warned. “We’re looking for some sign of Nicole. Have you seen her?”

  “Tall, beautiful blonde in a red dress, wearing Gran’s jewelry?” Dylan questioned.

  “Yes,” I ground out. I needed to be civil with Dylan until he told me everything he knew.

  He continued. “She barged into a…brief liaison I was having with an old girlfriend. I invited Nicole to join us, but I’m guessing she isn’t the type to play.” Dylan’s nonchalant tone was more than I could take.

  I snapped, and fisted the T-shirt he was wearing. “She thought you were me, didn’t she? Nicole thought I was shagging another woman when she was right here in this house.”

  The fact that Nicole had actually believed my twin was me was almost inconceivable, but what else was she supposed to think? She didn’t even have an inkling that I had an identical twin.

  Dylan raised his brows. “Technically, we weren’t shagging. Just a little foreplay.” He hesitated before he added, “Apparently, this woman means something to you.”

  “Yes, she means something to me, you bastard,” I snarled. “I fucking love her, and just the thought of her fleeing this house in tears, upset and alone, makes me completely insane.”

  Dylan grabbed my hands, and I let him go because I wanted to do it. Maybe I did want to kill him, but I was more interested in getting to Nicole. I could deal with him later.

  “She thought I was you,” Dylan confessed. “She said your name when she saw me. It was like she had no idea that you had an identical twin.”

  “She doesn’t,” I rasped. “She has no idea. If I’d just fucking told her, she wouldn’t have run off that way. She would have known that it wasn’t me. But I didn’t tell her because of the goddamn promise I made to you.”

  I had absolutely no doubt in my mind that if Nicole had known I had a twin, she would have instantly recognized the fact that it wasn’t me in that bed.

  I hated myself for never telling her, for allowing her to think for one single bloody second that I’d be fucking another woman when all I’d ever wanted was her.

  “Dylan, I want you to leave,” my mum said sternly. “Get your things, and get out of here before Damian tears you apart while we all cheer him on for doing it.”

  Dylan scowled. “You invited me here.”

  Mum shot him a disgusted look. “Not so you could cavort around with women. Or ruin the best thing that has ever happened to your brother.”

  “You invited him here?” I glared at my mum.

  “Yes, but he arrived earlier than I expected. I was hoping he was ready to come home. Obviously, he’s not. I’m sorry, Damian. I asked Dylan to stay out of sight.”

  “I did,” Dylan snapped. “She walked into a private room.”

  I ignored Dylan, and looked from my mum to Leo. “I have to find Nicole. She could be getting close to Heathrow by now. I’m not letting her leave England until she knows the whole truth, and exactly how I feel about her. Once she knows, she can make her own informed choice about whether she wants my sorry ass or not.”

  “Let me call her,” Bella offered.

  “I’m going to try to get in touch with her on the way to the airport,” I barked back at her as I headed toward the door.

  “I’ll try to find out if she’s there, and if she has a flight out tonight,” Leo called after me. “You’ll have to drive. I sent Nicole in the Phantom.”

  I dug into my pocket for my mobile as I made my way downstairs.

  I cursed and shoved my phone back in my pocket when she didn’t pick up.

  Of course it went to voicemail. I was probably the last person she wanted to talk to right now.

  She hated me, and worse yet, she was under the impression that I’d betrayed her by grabbing the first available woman at this gala, and taking her to bed.

  Nicole should know better, but could I really blame her?

  This was my fault because I’d had my head up my ass when it came to my twin brother.

  I reached for my keys as I exited Hollingsworth House, grateful that I’d driven myself here in my Ferrari.

  I was going to need a fast Italian sports car to get my ass to Heathrow if I was going to catch the woman I loved before she ran away back to America with my goddamn heart.

  “Damian!” I heard Dylan yell my name, but I didn’t stop.

  He caught up with me just as I got to my car.

  “I’m sorry,” he said, panting from the effort he’d made to chase me.

  “Not good enough.” Jesus Christ! Did Dylan really think I wanted to talk to him right now? “You hurt the woman I love, and if you ever do it again, twin or not, I’ll lay your sorry ass up in the hospital. And just for the record, I’ve kept my promise, but two years of doing it is more than enough.”

  “You really do love her,” Dylan said, sounding astonished.

  I turned to face him. “More than anyone else in this world, and that includes you, brother. I’m done covering for you. I’m done giving a damn whether you decide to join our family again. You crossed the line with me tonight, Dylan, so don’t expect me to ever welcome you back with open arms unless you stop being a prick and start being a brother to me again. Even then, I may not forgive you if I lose Nicole. I won’t give a damn about anything.”

  Every word I said to Dylan was true. I’d loved the man he used to be, but I despised what he’d become, and if Nicole did decide to forgive me, I’d never put this wanker’s needs before hers. Ever.

  “What can I do to help?” Dylan asked sullenly.

  “Stay the fuck out of my way.” I didn’t give two shits about Dylan’s problems right now.

  I pushed by him, got into my car, and never looked back to see the dismal look on Dylan’s face as I focused all of my attention on getting to Heathrow before Nicole could board a plane that would fly her right out of my life forever.

  CHAPTER 34

  Nicole

  I’D FOUND A seat in economy for a Transatlantic Airlines flight that was leaving early the next morning.

  And bonus! I was booked in an aisle seat, so I wouldn’t have to crawl over my fellow passengers every time I needed to pee.

  I tried to make myself comfortable in the chair I’d found not far from my departure gate. There weren’t any flights scheduled out of this particular gate right now, so it was quiet, and devoid of other travelers.

  The perfect place to spend the night wallowing in self-pity and misery.

  I’d spent over an hour talking to Kylie on the phone after I’d booked my flight. I was pretty much cried out, and all that was left was my desolation and my desire to get back to California so I could step back into a normal life again.

  However, I knew nothing would ever be quite the same for me again.

  Damian Lancaster had changed the way I saw myself so profoundly that I knew I’d probably never look at myself in a mirror the same way again.

  Okay, maybe that was a good thing, so after I put my heart back together again, maybe I could find one positive in my fling with Damian Lancaster.

  I took a gulp of the enormous coffee I’d purchased. There was no sleeping for me tonight. Unfortunately, I was going to have way too much time to think since I didn’t have my laptop or anything else to occupy my brain.

  Maybe I could find something to do on my phone, but it was currently next to me, charging.

  As I glanced at the table where my phone rested, a discarded newspaper caught my eye. I picked it up, hoping the royals had created some kind of scandal to distract me.

  My breath hitched as I stared at the front page of today’s paper, and saw the headline.

  IS IT LOVE AT HER MAJESTY’S THEATRE?

  I ignored the cheesy headline. I didn’t really care about the article, either, but my eyes were instantly drawn to the two side-by-side pictures of me and Damian.

  A photographer had caught the moment when Damian had picked me up after I’d stubbed my toe. The first image was almost mesmerizing. With a snap of a shutter, someone had captured the concern in Damian’s eyes as he’d looked down at me with an expression so full of affection and warmth that it made my heart race.

  The second one froze Damian and me while we were in motion, sharing that brief but incredibly tender kiss before he’d placed me in the back of the limo.

  The tear ducts that I’d thought were completely empty suddenly pushed a bucket of moisture into my eyes, and my vision clouded.

  I’m not imagining things. He really does look at me the way I remembered. I don’t understand how he could care about me, and still act the way that he had in the east wing.

  Two huge droplets led the march down my cheeks, and the rest followed like another dam had broken.

  I slapped the paper back onto the table, making sure the images were facedown.

  It doesn’t matter how he looks at me when he’s fucking any woman he can find after that.

  I was angry at myself, and I was brutal when I swiped all the tears from my face like I was trying to scrub away every memory I had of Damian.

  Trying desperately to put him out of my mind, I watched people rush down the throughway from my seat outside of the crowds.

  I found it interesting that people in airports always seemed to be in such a big hurry, trying to get to where they were going in as little time as possible, only to arrive at security or at their gate and…just wait.

  I closed my eyes and tried to wipe everything out of my mind. I breathed in slowly, and then out.

  Although I’d never been able to meditate like Kylie could, I was willing to try almost anything at the moment to erase the image of Damian naked and in bed with another woman completely out of my head.

  I couldn’t believe he’d actually had the gall to call me beautiful while he had his hand under the skirt of some stunning brunette!

  Had I been starting to forget that he had his picture taken with an entire bevy of gorgeous nude women at an orgy?

  How did I ever allow myself to forget that, or let myself believe the excuse that it was all a setup?

  Why? Why? Why?

  It was the answer I’d wanted immediately after seeing Damian half naked, seducing a female who wasn’t…me.

  I guess I still wanted that answer.

  I mean, seriously, the man had to be some kind of nymphomaniac or sex addict. Damian and I had barely let a couple of hours go by without having some kind of sexual encounter. To be honest, we’d been fucking like bunnies the entire week because we couldn’t seem to get enough of each other’s bodies.

  “Dammit!” I said out loud. This whole meditation thing didn’t seem to be working. At all!

  “I hate to intrude on whatever it is that you’re doing,” a smooth baritone said from the chair next to me. “But I really do need to talk to you, love.”

  My eyes popped open. I turned my head and groaned. Not that I didn’t know exactly whose voice I’d just heard, but the verification was painful.

  “Well, I don’t want to talk to you.” I hated the fact that I sounded like a spiteful child. “I have a flight to catch. I’d appreciate it if you’d just…go away.”

  Damian was still dressed in his tuxedo, just like I was still wearing my formal gown. I planned on changing into the jeans and top I’d worn to Bella’s this morning before I boarded my flight.

  “I can’t let you go until you hear everything, Nicole, and then I’ll let you make your own decision. I won’t promise that I won’t try to change your mind if it isn’t the resolution I want, but if you really want to board that flight, I’ll let you.”

  “You’ll let me? Excuse me if I was under the impression that England was still a free country.” My voice was oozing sarcasm, but anger was the only thing that was going to stop me from breaking down in tears, so I’d use that outrage.

  He shrugged. “I do own the airline you’re flying, so I could very easily keep you from boarding that flight.”

  Had he really just said that? Had he actually threatened me to get me to listen to him? Bastard!

  I glared at him. “Oh, my God. You’re such a…wanker.”

  His lips turned up in a sad smile. “Well done, beautiful.”

  Ugh! “Don’t ever call me that again. Not after you used that ridiculous pet name to invite me into a threesome.”

  “Did I?” His expression looked troubled.

  “Yes!” I snapped. “You’ve forgotten already?”

  He shook his head. “Then I’ll never use it again, love. I promise.”

  I let out an exasperated breath, not sure if the current pet name was better than the old one. He didn’t love me, so it was as artificial as his apparent concern. “I’ll give you five minutes, but only because I want to get on that plane, and then I’m done. If having your say will make you leave, then by all means, go on. But I’ll probably go find security when your five minutes are up.”

  “And do what, gorgeous? I’m the owner of one of this airport’s busiest airlines.”

  There was nothing I wanted more than to slap that smug look off his face right now. He was damn lucky that I didn’t have enough serious anger issues to make me resort to physical violence, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t tempted.

  The thing that really pissed me off was that…he was right. It would be my word against the word of the CEO and owner of Transatlantic Airlines. Security was more likely to boot me out of Heathrow than Damian.

  And God, just the fact that he carried that much weight and power had steam coming out of my ears.

  “That doesn’t make it okay for you to harass me.” My tone held more fury and bitterness than I’d heard come out of my mouth in my entire life.

  Dammit!

  “I didn’t say it did,” he acknowledged.

  I crossed my arms over my chest. “The clock is running. Four minutes.”

  “Don’t rush me. I want to say this right. I have a feeling I’m only going to get one chance,” Damian said in a husky, unusually hesitant tone. “I feel like my entire life depends on whether or not you believe me right now, Nicole.”

  “Why don’t you just try being honest?” I suggested wryly. There was something about his desperate expression that almost got to me, but I tamped that shit down in a hurry.

  “Honesty it is then,” he said grimly. “I should have been completely honest with you from the moment we met. I don’t know much about that encounter in the east wing because the man you saw in that bed wasn’t me, Nicole. It was my identical twin brother, Dylan.”

  As I tried to let his ludicrous explanation sink in, Damian reached for his wallet, took a few things out, and handed them to me. “These are a few photos that Barnaby took at Mum’s birthday party three years ago. I have more, but not with me. I’ll provide anything you want as proof. Our birth certificates, more pictures, even family videos of the two of us together.”

  My hands began to shake as I looked at the small photos. As incredulous as his scenario seemed, I was looking at pictures of Bella, Damian, Leo, and the guy who must be Dylan right next to Damian.

  Damian wore his hair cropped a little shorter than Dylan, but otherwise the two of them were like mirror images of each other.

  “This can’t be possible,” I whispered as I traced the outline of Damian in the picture.

  “You know which one is me?” he asked curiously.

  “Yes, now that I know that someone exists who looks just like you.” I pointed at Damian in the photo.

  I couldn’t put a finger on why I knew, but I was pretty sure it was the eyes that gave Damian away. He looked so serious next to his twin, who had a different, devil-may-care expression on his face.

  Damian was smiling in the picture, but his eyes were thoughtful, like he had the responsibility of solving every world problem in existence.

  Dylan looked just the opposite, like he didn’t have a single worry in the entire universe.

  “My mother and Leo are the only ones who can usually tell us apart.” Damian pried the photos out of my hands and put them away. “I’m older than Dylan by a matter of minutes. We’ve always been very different, but he was my best mate, anyway. Until about two years ago. Something happened to Dylan. He lost someone he loved. My brother suddenly dropped out of his life, became reckless and started doing some crazy things that he would have never even contemplated doing before. He’s out of his mind on alcohol the majority of the time. In the beginning, I gave him space, let him act out without suffering the consequences. He wanted me to help him disappear completely from the public eye, and I did everything I could to make that happen.”

  My mind was reeling, trying to take in everything Damian was telling me.

  Why would he lie about something like this? But I knew Damian wasn’t lying this time. All of the information was too easily verified not to be the truth.

  And yet, my brain was having a difficult time accepting it.

  “So are you trying to say that the orgy picture was Dylan and not you?” I scrutinized his expression, trying to read his eyes.

  He nodded. “Yes. I gave Dylan my promise that I’d keep him out of the public eye. I thought he might be getting better when I saw him at our residence in Beverly Hills, so I didn’t want to out him. This Dylan isn’t the brother I knew, Nicole. Dylan used to be a man I respected; a man worthy of everyone’s trust. I wanted my twin brother back, the man he was before he went off the deep end.”

  I lifted a brow. “So you took the blame, and didn’t feel like you could trust me with the truth?”

  “Yes… No… Fuck! I don’t know what I was thinking, Nicole. You and I barely knew each other. And I’d given Dylan my word that I’d do everything possible to make him disappear while he was trying to get his head on straight.”

  I kind of got what he was saying. Damian had no reason to trust me back then. One slip to the media, and reporters would have been all over Dylan like rabid hounds.