Brotherly Love - Part 2
By: Ashley
E-mail: nuriko56@hotmail.com
Rating: PG-13
Serena's first response was a bitter resentment. Who did he think he
was, forcing another kiss on her when he knew she hadn't wanted him
to kiss her at all?
But as those determined lips moved over hers a second time,
Serena's resentment was shattered by an astonishing discovery.
Darien's mouth on hers was not an entirely unpleasant experience.
Of course, I'm not really enjoying it, she kept telling
herself for several totally bewildering seconds.
When Darien made no move to end the kiss, the pressure of his
mouth increasing, if anything, Serena began to panic. The kiss was
slow, thoughtful, tentative, as he moved his mouth over hers in
gentle exploration. Her eyes closed. Strength, warmth. For the first
time in weeks she felt safe. A subtle eroticism hearted her body and
rattled her senses. She opened her lips to the gentle probing of
Darien's tongue, and it slid unhindered into the sweet cavern of her
mouth. Pleasure radiated outward as her emotions whirled and
skidded. She had no idea a simple kiss could make one so giddy.
Slowly her body softened and melted to his, wringing a groan from
Darien as he responded by wrapping her in his arms and pulling her
tightly against him. His kiss deepened. Blood pounded in her brain,
leapt from her heart and made her body weak. What must the others be
thinking?
Her eyes, which had closed at some stage, flew open, flashing
outrage. But Darien was already turning away to shake the
celebrant's hand.
"I never tire of seeing couples genuinely in love," the man
said, pumping Darien's hand. "But if you don't mind, Mr. Parnell,
could we sign the appropriate documents straight away? I really must
dash."
Darien turned back to Serena then, his eyes and demeanor as
unflappable as ever, while her face was burning up, her heart still
beating madly in her chest. How dared he presume to kiss her like
that?
Not that she didn't know what lay behind it. Frustration. He
was frustrated with the situation his deathbed promise to Seiya had
put him in. a kiss, Serena imagined, cold be an expression of anger
as well as love--both emotions capable of evoking a fiery passion.
It just showed what kind of man Darien was. Nothing like Seiya
at all! Seiya would never have kissed her out of anger or
frustration. Why, Seiya hadn't even kissed her at all till that
fateful night. Even then, she'd been the one to initiate the first
kiss. Not that he hadn't kissed her back quickly enough, cupping her
cheeks and covering her face with gentle kisses.
Her eyes misted with the memory of the sweet pleasure they had
evoked, of how they had fulfilled all those wonderfully romantic
dreams she'd been harboring about Seiya for such a long time.
"Serena."
The impatient calling of her name snapped her out of her
daydreaming, as did those harsh blue eyes glowering at her blurred
vision.
"W-what?"
"Good God," Darien muttered darkly.
"You have to sign the marriage certificate, Mrs. Parnell,"
said a gentler male voice beside her. "It's all set up in darien's
study."
She glanced over her shoulder up at Allen Taylor's smoothly
urbane face. In his mid-twenties, Andrew was as fair as Darien was
dark. Apparently, he had inherited control of Taylor and Sons--
Solicitors, around the same time Darien took charge of Parnell
Properties. He and Darien had gone to school together, both of them
excelling in their duties. But he possessed none of Darien's hard-
edged strength, either in his face or his nature. He was a charming
man, but a little weak, Serena suspected.
Still, it was good to feel a kind hand on her arm for a
change, and she liked the way he was looking at her. With admiration
and respect. Not like her pretend husband. His eyes carried nothing
but an ill-concealed exasperation.
"Best you bring her along, Andrew," Darien said with a
sardonic twist to his mouth. "You seem to have the right touch.
Mother, you can help Molly with the way. Setsuna! You have to come
with us, being one of the witnesses. This way, Mr. Weston. The study
is just across the hall…" And he was striding away from them without
a backwards glance.
"Yes, commamdant," Setsuna saluted to Darien's rapidly
disappearing back, and marched off after him.
Serena couldn't stop a giggle from escaping her lips.
"You should take a leaf out of Setsuna's book," Allan
whispered as he ushered Serena in the secretary's wake. "Darien
can't hurt you if you don't let him, Serena."
Serena lifted startled eyes. "Why should you think he can hurt
me at all? You better than anyone know this isn't a real marriage.
Darien and I will be divorced as soon as the baby is born."
"That is your intention now, I'm sure, but Darien is a very
attractive man. What if you fall in love with him? What if he
decides having a wife who looks like you is just what the doctor
ordered?"
She ground to a halt in the doorway of the study and stared at
Allan, his last remark not even registering after his first
ridiculous suggestion. "I will never fall in love with Darien.
Never!"
When Allan suddenly frowned, his eyes darting to a spot behind
her left shoulder, she spun around to find a stony-faced Darien
standing there. "Do you think we might get on with signing these
papers?" he rapped out.
"Sure thing," Allan agreed smoothly, and waved Serena into the
room.
She hesitated, her emotions seesawing between embarrassment
and guilt. Yet why should she feel guilty at Darien's overhearing
her assertion? He already knew her feelings about falling in love
again, and while she could concede she might love another man at
some point in the far distant future, that man would never be
someone like him. She could only love a man who made her feel good
about herself, who made her feel special, not gauche and stupid.
"Serena," Allan murmured, and urged her into the room.
But as she made her way across the polished parquet flooring
on to the richly patterned rug that lay in front of the huge oak
desk, flashes of the first time she'd stood in front of this desk
jumped into her mind.
It had been the day after Seiya's funeral, a cold, wet, windy
August morning on which she hadn't been able to drag herself out of
bed. She'd been lying there, watching the rain slap against the
window, when Molly had come in with the message that Darien wanted
to see her in his study when she finally did get up.
A guilty embarrassment had propelled her out of bed
immediately, hating for Seiya's brother to think she was going to be
lazy house guest. Showering hurriedly, she'd thrown on a pair of
jeans and a pale peach sweater, put a few vigorous brushstrokes
through her long blonde hair, subdued its thick waves into a single
plait then practically ran downstairs, only ten minutes having
passed since Molly had come into her room.
Her knock on Darien's study door had been timid. Not so the
barked, 'Come," from within. Taking several hopefully steadying
breaths, she'd gone inside, shutting the door carefully behind her.
Her sideways glances had been nervous, however, as she'd hesitantly
approached the desk, the room being as intimidating as its owner.
Wood-paneled walls, masses of bookshelves filled with heavy-looking
tomes, dark curtains at the windows blocking most of the natural
light form entering. Not a welcoming room at all.
"You...you wanted to see me?" she asked, feeling like a
recalcitrant student who'd been hauled in front of the headmaster
for misconduct.
When Darien looked up from his paperwork, he leant back in his
chair, removing himself from the circle of light from his desk lamp.
His face fell into a shadow, making him appear more menacing than
usual.
"Pull up a chair, Serena," he ordered. "We have things to
discuss."
"D-d-discuss?"
He sighed. "Perhaps it would be better if you just sat down
and listened."
Serena agreed wholeheartedly, despising herself for stammering
all the time. She couldn't understand why he had such an effect on
her. She'd never stammered before in her life. There again, she'd
never had anything to do with anyone quite like Darien Parnell
before.
She settled into a large brown leather chair, happy to fall
silent.
"I'm sorry to intrude on your grief," he started, without much
apology in his brusque voice. He wasn't even looking at her, some
papers on his desk holding his attention. "But there are legal
matters I must make you aware of. Seiya's will--made a few years
back unfortunately--leaves everything to his wife. The one who
didn't even bother to come to his funeral yesterday," he muttered
before glancing up and giving Serena a long, hard look. "Though
perhaps it was as well she chose not to show up..."
He sighed a weary sounding sigh. "Whatever, Seiya left her his
entire estate, which includes the home at Roseville he once lived in
with Mina, and which she had been occupying since he disappeared,
plus its contents, as well as a third share in Parnell Properties,
all up valued at approximately fifteen million dollars."
Serena simply gasped. Seiya had been a millionaire? And yet
he'd lived so poorly during the years she'd known him, never buying
any new clothes, growing his own vegetables, cutting firewood form
dead trees. It had been a hand-to-mouth existence, his only
extravagance being his art supplies. She'd often teased him about
what he could do with the money when he became a famous painter. Now
she understood why he'd brushed aside her fantasies, telling her
instead that money didn't bring happiness and never to believe it
could.
"My solicitor informs me, Serena," Darien went on, "that you
could contest the will on the grounds that you lived with Seiya as
his common-law wife for at least sic months proceeding his death,
and are expecting his child."
Serena opened her mouth to protest that first assumption, then
closed it again. She had lived with Seiya, she supposed. What
difference did it make that they hadn't consummated their
relationship till that last night? Still...contesting Seiya's will
didn't fee right. He'd had enough time and opportunity to change his
will, if that was what he'd wanted to do.
Seiya's words came back to her about money not bringing
happiness and she knew then that she didn't want any of the money
he'd left behind, the money that had obviously made him miserable.
But before she could open her mouth again, Darien preempted her.
"Knowing you," he drawled, I'm sure you don't want to do that
any more than I want you to. Besides, Mina is not the sort of woman
to go quietly in matters of money. Any contesting of Seiya's will
could get very nasty and very expensive. There's no guarantee of
your winning, either. So I would not advise that course of action.
Seiya entrusted you to me, knowing I would never see you destitute,
so I have set up a trust fund for yourself and the child, in
exchange for which you will sign a legal waiving of your rights to
Seiya's estate and any more Parnell money. How does that sound to
you?"
She hesitated. How could she refuse financial security of her
child and herself? That would be crazy. And it wasn't the same as
fighting for that obscene amount of money. Darien obviously wasn't
talking about millions, just enough for her to live on.
The only problem was that it was Darien's money. Serena hated
feeling obliged to him for more than he'd already given her. Dear
heavens, he'd spent a fortune on her already, having Setsuna select
her a new wardrobe and a host of other things. Still, she supposedly
he must be very rich too and wouldn't really miss it, so she
swallowed and nodded her assent.
"Good," he muttered. "For a second there, I thought you were
going to be stubborn and foolish. Again."
Serena blushed, knowing he was referring to her distress over
the price-tags on some of the clothes Setsuna insisted she buy.
Serena had telephoned Darien at his office in a panic, only to have
her protest swept aside with total exasperation. Instead of his
admiring her for not wanting to spend his money, he'd seemed angry
at her worrying.
She'd since leant not to complain when he ordered her to but
something he thought she needed. Her dressing-table was covered in
jars of cosmetics and bottles of perfume she'd never opened, her
drawers full of expensive and very delicate lingerie she felt it a
sin to wear on an everyday basis. As if she'd been interested in
material things, anyway, when her Seiya was dying.
Darien came forward on his chair and cleared his throat. "Now
along to the matter of our getting married..."
Serena sat up straight. She'd been wondering when he'd get
around to that. Of course, he wouldn't want to go through with it.
No one could condemn him for that. People said anything to make a
person's last days happy.
"If you'll just sign where indicated," he said, picking up a
sheet of paper, turning it around and facing it towards her, "we
should be able to get married next month."
"You mean you...you still want to m-marry me?"
His coming forward in the chair to pass over the document had
brought him into full light, so that she saw the hard glitter in his
blue eyes. "The word 'want' does not come into it, Serena. I have no
other option. I could not live with myself if I did not fulfill my
promise to my brother, for it was the first and only thing he has
ever asked me to do for him. I realized I am not the sort of man you
would choose for a husband, but we only have to go through the
motions. It will not be a real marriage. Later on, we can secure a
discreet divorce."
Serena gulped when he directed a pen her way.
Her hand had trembled as she took it, her signature wobbly.
Now, five weeks later, she was signing her marriage certificate on
the same desk, and her hand was shaking just as much.
When she'd signed for the last wobbly time, Serena heaved a
sigh of relief and gave the pen to Setsuna who stepped forward with
her usual brisk confidence. Dressed in a severely tailored brown
woolen suit with black patent accessories, her straight black hair
cropped mannishly short, she still exuded a strength of personality
that was oddly attractive. In seconds, she's whisked her distinctive
signature in the allotted spaces, followed by an equally dashing
Allan.
Serena watched them both with a degree of envy. One day, she
would be like that, she vowed. Undaunted by any situation, and
totally in command of herself.
Her sigh carried a certain amount of disappointment in herself
that all Seiya had achieved with her had turned out to be an
illusion. She'd mistakenly believed he'd turned her form a shy,
ignorant girl into a culturally informed young woman who would not
have been at a loss in any company.
But she'd been wrong, realizing within days of her arrival in
the cosmopolitan city of Sydney and the elegant grandeur of Rarnell
Hall that she was still a country bumpkin, with a few real social
graces and no style at all.
Setsuna had done her best in the dress department--she'd
certainly been given enough money to squander--but a presentable
face and good figure could not disguise Serena's innate lack of
sophistication. Her recognition of her failings had obliterated her
self-confidence, everything only made worse by her unfortunate
reaction to Darien's bossy, almost bullying nature.
Perhaps if he'd been a bit more like Seiya...
She signed again, thinking to herself that she'd never known
two brothers less alike.
All the formalities over, Darien saw the hearty Mr. Weston to
the door while the rest of them returned to the sitting-room where
Molly was still laying out the buffet supper she'd been preparing
all afternoon. Ivy was standing around, looking lost. Setsuna
immediately pressed a sherry into her hands, Serena declining. Allan
moved off to pour himself a drink from the selection of crystal
decanters lined up next to the food.
"I wanted to tell you how beautiful you look today, my dear,"
Ivy complimented Serena.
"Blue's not her color, though," Setsuna joined in tactlessly
before Serena could say a word. "She'd have looked much better in a
cream with her fair coloring, but Serena thought it was too close to
white."
"I can understanding her not wanting to wear white," Ivy
murmured. "If only poor Seiya could have been here..."
The words hung in the air, the group falling silent as the
wretched reality of the occasion sank in.
"Then there wouldn't have been a wedding at all, Mother dear,"
Darien inserted dryly into the emotion-charged atmosphere.
All heads turned to stare at him, Setsuna recovering first.
"Hardly a fair thing to say," was her tart comment,
"especially when Seiya isn't here to defend himself."
"Oh I have no doubt that Seiya meant to marry Serena," Darien
elaborated, that sardonic edge still in his voice, "but he was, at
the time of his death, still married to Mina. It take twelve months
after the initial application to gain no-fault divorce in this
country and Seiya had instigated nothing in the three years he'd
been away."
"Do we have to talk about that today, Darien?" Ivy looked
quite distressed and Serena's heart went out to her. "We all know
Seiya meant to divorce that woman."
Darien, however, was not about to be swayed.
"He didn't divorce her, though, did he?" he drawled. "But that
was just like Seiya, wasn't it? Always meaning to do something but
never getting around to it."
"Darien, don't," his mother cried brokenly, a hand coming up
to flutter at her throat.
"I'm sorry, Mother, but I'm the one who's always had to pick
up pieces whenever Seiya decided to run away from real life and
embrace one of his fancies."
Serena sucked in a sharp breath, but Darien swept on,
seemingly intent on assassinating his brother's character.
"The man never grew up, never developed a sense of
responsibility. I'm prepared to forget his business fiascoes, but
when it comes to his personal life I find it hard to be as tolerant.
Mina might be a spoiled, mercenary bitch, but she didn't deserve
being walked out on without a word. She'd been in limbo for three
years, for God's sake. The least Seiya could have done was give her
a divorce. Then what does he do? He takes up with a girl almost
young enough to be his daughter and makes her pregnant when he knew,
he knew dammit, that he was dying. What kind of selfish stupidity
was that, I ask you?"
A hushed silence descended on the room once Darien ran out of
steam, and it was while in the air vibrated with everyone's tension
that Serena stepped forward and slapped him hard around the face.
The sound of her hand cracking across his cheek echoed with the
gasps of shock her action produced. But she heard nothing, saw
nothing except a haze of red-hot fury before her eyes.
"Don't you ever," she launched forth, her voice and body
shaking with emotion, "call my Seiya selfish or stupid again, do you
hear me? He might not have been perfect. He probably made mistakes.
But Seiya would never deliberately hurt another human being. He did
whatever he did because he had to! As for his callously making me
pregnant, nothing could have been further than the truth! During the
time I knew Seiya, not once did he make the improper advances to me,
even after he took me in when I had nowhere else to go. "If you must
blame someone for my pregnancy, then blame me. I went to my Seiya's
when he was obviously distraught and I comforted him the only way I
could think of. Neither of us thought of the child we might have as
a consequence, but do you know what? I'm proud I'm having Seiya's
baby. Extremely proud. He was a fine man and would have made a fine
father. But I'm not proud of being your wife, Darien Parnell. The
day cannot come quickly enough that I have done with you!"
So saying, she burst into tears and ran from the room, dashing
up the stairs and along the hall into her bedroom where she threw
herself on to the bed, weeping copiously into the green silk quilt.
Downstairs, Darien was still staring after her, his face
ashen, except for the bright red mark on his cheek.
"Well, Darien?" Setsuan mocked. "I see that much vaunted
Parnell charm is still intact."
"Go after her, man," Allan advised. "Apologize profusely. Beg
her forgiveness."
"Please, Darien," Ivy pleaded. "She's going to have Seiya's
child..."
His eyes turned slowly towards his mother, their expression
haunted. "Must I spend the rest of my life paying for the dubious
privilege of being born in the image of my father?" he muttered.
When no one commented further after this cryptic statement, he
whirled and strode from the room, mounting the stairs two at a time
till he disappeared from the viewers' view. Molly returned from the
kitchen at that precise moment to find three silent, drooping faces.
"What is it?" she demanded to know. "What's happened?"
"Darien said something that upset Serena," Setsuna
volunteered.
"Oh, no, not again! What's wrong with that man? Can't he see
what a prize that girl is? Why, if he had any brains he'd snap her
up for himself good and proper."
"Life isn't that neat, Molly," was Allan's wry remark.
"I don't see why not," the old lady muttered crossly. "She's a
beautiful girl. He's a handsome man. They're married now. Why can't
nature take its course?"
"She's having his brother's baby, for pity sake," Setsuna
argued. "Give the man a break. This hadn't been easy for Darien.
Besides, Serena is still very much in love with Seiya."
"You're right," Molly sighed. "I'm just a silly old fool,
thinking things can be all tied up with oink bows. So what are we
going to do?"
"I know what I'm going to do," Allan said, lifting his whiskey
and draining every drop. "I'm going to have another drinks."
"Good idea," Setsuna agreed. "I'll join you."
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