Despite everything. A kiss from him was more than enough to make her knees turn to jelly and her heart beat faster, as it always had done with the man Dominic now called his father – Michael Walsh. Her feelings for him had always haunted her, always been there in the back of her mind no matter how many times she’d tried to move on. Because the real reason why she could never seem to move too far was because she’d never really gotten over Michael. But she’d honestly thought that Dominic could have been the one to finally break that spell, the one to make her realise that life without Michael really could exist. Only, he was Michael, to some extent. Wasn’t he? He was a connection, a blood relative. A part of him. And that was far too close in India’s eyes.
‘We are so good together, baby,’ Dominic whispered, his mouth still close to hers and it was all she could do to not to reach out and touch him too, but she was stronger than that now. Where Michael Walsh was concerned she’d learnt one lesson too many and this time she had to step away. She had to let Dominic go. For her own good.
‘I can’t do it, Dominic, I just… I can’t do it. This is all wrong…’
He closed his eyes, resting his forehead against hers, tiredness and frustration sweeping over him. ‘I love you, India.’
She felt an overwhelming pull on her heart as she heard those words from him, his body so close to hers, so close she could feel the heat. But she had to dig out that strength and push him away, before this mess got any bigger.
Resisting any urge she had to kiss him again she took a deep breath and stepped back from him, confusion and anger and a pain so raw she could feel it burning up inside her over-ruling anything else she was feeling. She just needed him to go.
‘So, it’s over? Just like that?’ Dominic really hoped this would just turn out to be some cruel nightmare that he’d eventually wake up from, leaving him another chance to put this right, to stop it from happening.
She nodded, folding her arms across her chest again in that defensive manner, silently telling him not to come any closer. She was done. ‘It’s the way it has to be.’
‘Why? Why does it have to be that way? Surely we can… You and me, we still have that thing in common, India. That shock of finding out who our real fathers are… You know how that feels, and I can see what an idiot I’ve been…’
‘I can’t do it, Dominic. It’s too late, okay? And if you want to find out the real reason why, try asking your father.’
Dominic looked at her again, her beautiful face masked by an expression he knew she was trying hard to make him believe was real, but he could see underneath that hard exterior. He knew she was acting a role she was having trouble keeping up with. But it wasn’t her best work, and she certainly wouldn’t win any awards for this performance.
‘Okay. You want me to go, I’ll go. But you can’t avoid me, India. We still have a movie to make; we still have to work together. Like I said, this is a situation you can’t run away from.’ He began to walk towards the door, turning back to look at her one more time. ‘And one day you’ll have to face up to those real feelings, honey. One day.’
CHAPTER 23
Due to the press intrusion on the Vegas film set, and The Amber Palace itself – not to mention Las Vegas in general – following the revelation that Michael Walsh was Dominic MacDonald’s real father, filming on the movie had been put on hold for a few days. It was a much-needed and necessary break to give everyone time to take in the news, to deal with the repercussions, and to hope that – once the press and media had got the story out of their systems – everything could settle down and filming could resume.
But could things ever really go back to normal? Was that ever going to be possible now? What had happened wasn’t just some piece of gossip that would be touted round town for a few days and then be forgotten about in favour of the next rumour. It was something that had changed things, big time. For