The Blackmailed Bride Read Free

her life to addiction.
    â€˜We’re going to pay Luis a visit.’
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    Kate Anderson tried not to show her shock as she flicked through the pile of grainy, slightly out-of-focus photos her younger sister had silently handed her after she’d asked, ‘Surely they can’t be that bad…?’ Now she knew they weren’t talking a couple of topless shots on the beach which even their conservative parents could have laughed off.
    â€˜It could be anyone…?’ she croaked, trying desperately to put a positive slant on a very negative situation as she handed them back to her sister, who tore the incriminating images into shreds and let them drop to the floor.
    While the negatives were not in their possession, both sisters knew this defiance was just an empty gesture.
    â€˜It’s not anyone, it’s me! You’ve got to help me, Kate! You have to do something, ’ Susie added, her expression an accurate reflection of her total faith in her sister’s ability to extract her from this present dilemma. After all, she’d been doing it successfully for the past twenty years. ‘You can’t let mum and dad find out… I’d die… ’
    Kate thought it was much more likely she’d have her generous allowance cut off, but then as far as Susie was concerned that probably amounted to much the same thing!
    â€˜That would be…awkward,’ Kate admitted thinking of her parents’ faces if confronted by semi-nude photos of their younger daughter. She didn’t want to think about the consequences if they actually got into the hands of the press. She could think of several tabloids that would love to print compromising shots of a high court judge’s daughter.
    â€˜What if he sends those photos to Chris… ? He’ll never believe I wasn’t sleeping with Luis.’
    â€˜You weren’t?’
    Susie’s wails got louder. ‘See? Even you thought I was. Luis was someone to hang around with and go clubbing, he was fun… You don’t believe me,’ she accused. ‘I can tell…’
    â€˜I believe you. Now hush, Susie, I’m thinking…’ Kate pleaded as she concentrated on the problem facing them.
    The frown line between her feathery brows, which like her lashes were dark in dramatic contrast to the silver-blonde hair colour both sisters had inherited from theirmother, deepened as she caught her lower lip between her even white teeth.
    Unlike her sister, Kate’s features weren’t strictly symmetrical; her mouth was too wide and full and her aquiline nose had never inspired men to poetry. Her almond-shaped brown eyes, without a doubt her best feature, were unfortunately more often than not concealed behind the round lenses of her wire-framed spectacles.
    With or without specs, the first impression people received of Kate Anderson was that she was a young woman with a lively intelligence, sharp wit, and boundless reserves of energy.
    â€˜Susie got my looks; Kate’s the sensible one.’ Kate had lost count of the number of times she’d heard her mother explain away her supposed deficiencies to people.
    â€˜What she lacks in looks she makes up for in personality,’ was her father’s kinder assessment.
    Kate knew these were essentially accurate assessments, and she hadn’t done so badly out of the deal. Sensible had given her a lifestyle she enjoyed; but just occasionally, especially when she saw the way men reacted when Susie entered a room, she wished that she’d been standing a bit closer to the front of the queue when they’d handed out the sex appeal factor.
    A spasm of sulky annoyance passed over Susie’s pretty face at this impatient dismissal; her tears in general evoked a more sympathetic response.
    Kate dropped down into the wicker chair and pulled her knees up to her chin; her irritation bubbled to the surface. ‘What on earth possessed you to get involved