Free Forbidden Surrender by Carole Mortimer

Dominic?’ he demanded to know.
    ‘Not guilty.’ Dominic shrugged resignedly. ‘I thinkyou’ll find it’s not been the conscious act of anyone, just a coincidence.’
    Brown eyes narrowed. ‘You mean that after all these years Sara just turned up here by accident?’
    ‘Not by accident, but
because
of an accident,’ Dominic corrected softly. ‘Rachel is dead, Michael. She died six months ago in the same accident that killed her second husband and left Sara badly injured.’
    Michael Lindlay swallowed hard. ‘Rachel—dead?’ he repeated raggedly.
    Dominic nodded. ‘I’m afraid so.’
    He turned to look at Sara. ‘Is it true?’
    She frowned her puzzlement. ‘Yes.’
    ‘Oh God!’ her father groaned. ‘And you were badly injured. Are you all right now?’
    ‘Yes, thank you,’ she answered in a stilted voice, still dazed by this whole affair.
    ‘Did Rach—your mother,’ he swallowed hard, ‘did she suffer at all?’ There was raw pain in his eyes.
    Sara shook her head. ‘The doctors said not.’
    ‘And Richard?’ A certain coolness entered his voice.
    ‘The same,’ she answered abruptly. She turned to Dominic Thorne. ‘Could you please tell me what’s going on? How can my father—Mr Lindlay,’ she felt guilty as she saw him wince, ‘how can he still be alive when my mother always told me he was dead?’
    ‘For the same reason,’ Dominic answered her, ‘as Marie was always told her mother was dead.’
    Sara gasped. ‘Are you saying that my mother was also Marie’s mother?’
    ‘I’m saying more than that,’ he frowned. ‘You still haven’t realised, have you?’
    Now it was her turn to frown. ‘Realised what?’
    ‘That Marie isn’t just your sister, but your
twin
sister.’
    ‘No!’ she cried, her eyes wide with horror, looking in desperation at her father’s grey face. ‘That isn’t true! Tell me it isn’t true,’ she pleaded.
    He seemed unable to speak, and it was left to Dominic to answer her once again. ‘I’m afraid it is true, Sara.’
    ‘But it
can’t
be! Tell him,’ she grabbed her father’s arm. ‘Tell him he has it all wrong!’
    Michael Lindlay looked at her with tormented eyes. ‘But he doesn’t, Sara,’ he choked, turning away to stare out of the window, his back rigid.
    Dominic picked up a sheet of paper from the desk, obviously the report he had received about her. ‘I was suspicious from the first,’ he told her. ‘But I was thrown by the fact that you seemed to be an American. And then there was the fact that you said
both
your parents had been killed in the accident.’
    ‘I always called Richard Dad,’ she said stiffly.
    Dominic nodded. ‘Well, on the basis of those two facts I concluded that your likeness to Marie was just a freak of nature. Then the other day you told me you were twenty-one next month—so is Marie. That was too much of a coincidence for me. Here,’ he handed her the report, ‘read the last paragraph.’
    Sara took it from him. The last paragraph was short and to the point. ‘And so we have proved beyond doubt that Sara Hamille is in fact Sara Lindlay, the daughter of Michael Lindlay, and the twin of Marie Lindlay.’ Her eyes went to the name printed at the top of the sheet; the reputation of the firm was indisputable. She looked up at her father with an agonised expression, having read the information to herself. ‘But why?’ she groaned in a choked voice. ‘Why did you do it?’
    ‘Here,’ Dominic picked up the sheet and held it out to his partner. ‘You’d better read this too.’
    Michael Lindlay made no effort to take it. ‘I can guess what it says,’ he said dully, a haunted expression to his face.
    Dominic shrugged, dropping the report back on to the desk. ‘Then I second Sara’s query, why?’
    ‘Why did Rachel take Sara and I take Marie?’
    ‘Exactly!’ Sara said bitterly.
    Michael drew a ragged breath. ‘I think Marie should be here to listen to this,’ he sighed. ‘I only want to have to