Pieces of Dreams Read Free Page A

heart.
    “Melly!”
    That voice. Her name, spoken in syllables that held accusation, disbelief, disapproval. Yes, and pain.
    It was the last that reached her. The pain.
    She pushed free, stepped back, though she had to hold to the arms of the man she had just greeted for balance. Turning her head slowly, she stared at the person who had called to her, the man who now moved from behind the first to enter and then stopped at his side.
    It was the same as seeing double. There were two of them, two men of devastating power and appearance, two men dangerously alike.
    And the second, the latecomer, was Caleb, her future husband.
    Melly's heart sank, shivering inside her, as she saw what she had done. The first man through the door had been Conrad. It was the second who had called her name.
    She had kissed the wrong twin brother.

 
    Chapter Two
     

     
    “I'm sorry,” Conrad said in husky tones as he gazed down at Melly. “I—I didn't mean, that is, I just—” He stopped and took a deep breath to prevent himself from stammering like a school boy. “It was the surprise.”
    The apology was a sham and Conrad knew it. He had taken shameless advantage, and he didn't regret it for a minute. In fact, he'd do it again, given half a chance. If that made him a low-life, then so be it. He wasn't a man to turn down a taste of heaven when it came his way.
    And it had been heavenly. He would never forget the intoxicating taste of Melly's lips, that fresh and tender assault on his senses. Not if he lived to be a hundred.
    He hadn't seen it coming—how could he have? For a single instant he had thought it was just plain surprise that caused him to react with such stunning intensity. But that wasn't it at all.
    Melly was what had shook him, left him wanting more. Melly herself—the rich welcome and joy in her eyes as she came toward him, the entrancing shape of her face, the slender curves of her body pressing against his in a fit so right, so perfect it was as if he had been born to hold her. She had stolen his breath and his common sense, knocked his notions of proper behavior for a loop. For a single instant she had made him forget who she was, who he was—forget, in fact, that he was not his brother.
    He had kissed Melly, his twin's promised wife. God, how stupid could he be?
    Caleb, he saw, was mad as hell, and who could blame him? If Melly belonged to him and he had seen Caleb kissing her, he would be ready to wear the mark of Cain right square in the middle of his forehead.
    That was, of course, one of the major curses of being a twin. It was too easy to put himself in his brother's place. Far too easy.
    “Come in here, you rapscallion!” Aunt Dora cried, stepping forward to envelope him in a quick, well-padded hug. “Have a seat, both you boys. Have a cookie while I bring two more glasses. Mercy above, Conrad, if it's not just like you to drop in out of the blue!”
    “Not quite,” he offered with a grin. “I only stepped off the steamer, like anybody else.”
    “Which is still enough to give a body heart palpitations when we thought you were on the other side of the world. You might have let us known you were coming! Though I expect we should have guessed you'd not let Caleb marry without you.”
    “So you should,” he said promptly, his gaze bright.
    “Cheeky as always, Conrad. But maybe we should be calling you Captain Conrad now?”
    His shook his head and tried to look doleful. “Not when you'll probably have me swabbing the deck before the night's done.”
    “Now when did I ever do such a thing?” Aunt Dora demanded, setting her fists on her hips in mock irritation.
    “Often!”
    The older woman laughed. “Maybe so, but I'll let you off tonight, seeing as how you're the prodigal. But I make no promises about tomorrow!”
    Conrad was grateful for the teasing welcome masked as scolding. It was exactly what was needed to ease the strained atmosphere and return things to normal. More than that, it made him feel