Free Irresistible You by Victoria Connelly Page B

which was lucky, she knew. Maybe she’d subconsciously chosen three very understanding men but, with Reuben’s arrival, it seemed that things were beginning to unravel and that her past might be about to catch up with her. It was something that certainly seemed to preoccupy Rosanna.
    ‘What the hell is going on here?’ she’d hissed under her breath as soon as Reuben had disappeared to get dressed.
    ‘Shush! He’ll hear you!’
    ‘I don’t care. I think he should be made aware of what’s going on here - whatever it is!’
    Elena pushed Rosanna to the far end of the living room and they sat down on one of the enormous sofas.
    ‘Just listen - quietly! ’ she said.
    ‘You lied to me, Elena! You lied to your own sister!’
    ‘I didn’t lie to you,’ she said, trying to remain calm. One of them had to be calm.
    ‘How can you say that? How can you try and cover one lie with another? You told me you were engaged to some guy called Mark - some teacher at your school. That’s what you said! You think you can play games with me? You think you can make fun of me?’
    ‘I’m not! Rosanna - just listen, will you?’
    ‘And then you tell me that this Reuben is your fiancé! And he’s under the impression you’re engaged too.’
    ‘We are engaged,’ she said quietly.
    ‘So why did you say you were engaged to this Mark person, then?’
    ‘Because I am.’
    Rosanna blinked and then her eyes stretched wide and her mouth fell open. ‘What are you saying?’
    Elena took a deep breath before she answered very slowly and very calmly - to make sure that she was understood this time. ‘I’m saying that I’m engaged to Reuben and to Mark.’
    There was a dreadful moment of complete silence.
    ‘Say something,’ Elena said at last.
    ‘What do you want me to say?’ Rosanna said in a voice that was so cold and quiet that it made Elena’s whole body chill in response. ‘You’re about to become a bigamist - what is there for me to say?’
    Elena sighed. ‘I’m not going to become a bigamist! I’m only engaged to them. I’m not going to marry them both!’
    ‘Then what do you think you’re doing? I don’t understand it! I don’t understand you! ’
    ‘Do you think I did this on purpose?’ Elena asked. ‘You think this is some sort of game of mine? Well, it isn’t! It’s just a situation I got myself into and I thought you might be able to help me out of it. That’s why I came here in the first place. I wanted your help . I was going to tell you about it all. I’d never lie to you, Rosanna!’ she said, wincing at her hollow words as she thought about Prof and how she hadn’t dared to reveal his presence in her life yet.
    ‘You want me to help you with this mess?’ Rosanna asked and her tone was finally a little calmer and a little less chilly.
    ‘Yes,’ Elena said, appealing to the virtuous side of her sister’s character; the side that would want to save her soul at whatever cost to herself. ‘I’ve messed up - big time - and really don’t know what to do. I love them both, you see.’
    Rosanna’s forehead crinkled and Elena could almost read her thoughts: her shock, her anger, her great disappointment and, finally, her musings as to how she could save Elena from yet another sinful situation.
    ‘Are you sure?’
    Elena nodded. ‘It is possible, you know.’ Rosanna shook her head but Elena took her hand in hers and repeated, ‘I love them both.’
    Rosanna looked completely stunned for a moment, as if she couldn’t have been more surprised if Elena had told her she was really a mermaid and that her time had come to head back out into the lagoon. But she didn’t get a chance to respond as Reuben, fully clothed, walked through from the bathroom.
    ‘Ready?’ he asked, walking towards the sofa.
    Elena let go of Rosanna’s hand and, for a moment, she sat perfectly still and Elena half-feared that she was going to say something.
    ‘Are you all right?’ Reuben asked Rosanna with a gentle