Bridal Bargains

She was going to walk away! Shock lanced through him. Didn’t she care one way or another if he took her with him or not?

‘Nell …’ He rasped out her name not sure if it was said in anger or appeal. Then he took a step forward to catch her arm and the explosion erupted. She swung back, green eyes alive now and flashing with rage and biting contempt.

‘What do you want from me, Xander?’ she lashed out at him. ‘Do you expect me to smile happily as I wave you off? Do you think I like knowing I’m a prisoner here, that I can only leave this island at your behest?’

‘It’s for your own safety.’ He frowned darkly.

‘For your peace of mind, you mean.’

‘I have enemies! How do I know that your Frenchman isn’t one of them until I locate him so that I can find out?’

‘You mean—you’re actually looking for him?’ Her eyes went wide with shock.

His hooded. ‘My people are.’ He made yet another terse gesture with a hand. ‘Your fate lies in what he has to say for himself.’

But his people hadn’t found Marcel yet, Nell surmised from that and could not keep the relief from showing on her face.

Xander saw it. His own face hardened. ‘You know where he is!’

She went to turn away again but his grip on her arm spun her back round. Defiance roared through her system. ‘Don’t manhandle me,’ she protested angrily.

‘Tell me where he is,’ Xander hissed.

‘Where’s Vanessa?’ she retaliated.

‘This is not about Vanessa!’

‘Well, I’m making it about her!’ she flashed. ‘Tit for tat, Xander,’ she tossed back. ‘You tell me all about your mistress and I’ll tell you about my—’

‘He was never your lover,’ he derided before she’d even got the final word out.

But he wasn’t denying that Vanessa was his! ‘Not physically,’ she conceded. ‘But emotionally? How would you know if I love him? You wouldn’t know about emotional love if it jumped up and bit you!’

The scorn in her voice had him tugging her towards him. Even as she landed hard up against his chest she was registering that something inside him had snapped. With ruthless intent he caught hold of the silken knot holding her hair up and used it to tug her head back then capture her angry mouth.

Titian silk crackled when it tumbled over his fingers as they strained against each other right there in the hall. Thin cotton beachwear was no barrier to hide what was happening to him but Nell was determined she was not going to give in to it. He was equally determined that she would.

A sound somewhere close intruded on the struggle. With an angry growl Xander scooped her up and swung her into his study, kicked the door shut behind them as he strode across the room to drop her on the soft leather sofa then followed her with his weight.

There the struggle continued. She plucked at his skin through his thin clothes with angry fingers, he forged a path with urgent fingers between her thighs.

‘Stop it,’ she gasped as his touch set her sobbing because she could feel herself responding even though she hated herself for it.

‘Why?’ he breathed tensely. ‘This is not emotional enough? You think I go crazy like this for anyone? You think that you would feel hot and as willing as this for your Frenchman’s touch?’

That he did not want an answer showed in the way he crushed her mouth open and plundered its sensitive interior. He was jealous of Marcel. He was doing this from the burning depths of a jealous rage. If she didn’t stop him he was going to take her like this with none of the preliminaries then hate himself for it afterwards.

Closing her fingers in his hair, she pulled his head back to free her burning mouth. ‘I think I’m pregnant,’ she told him shakily, and watched as shock totally froze him, the colour draining out of his face.

In the pin-drop silence that followed neither of them took a single pounding breath, then Nell’s mouth gave a vulnerable little quiver and he jackknifed away from her, landing on his feet by the sofa with his back towards her, muscles flexing all over him as he came to terms with what he had just been about to do.

Nothing like a good shock to turn the heat down, Nell thought bitterly and sat up, shaking fingers pulling her sarong back into place.

‘Sorry to spoil your farewell,’ she heard herself add with the slicing cut of embitterment.

His dark head jerked as if she’d hit him. In many ways Nell wished that she had. She had never felt so shocked and shaken. Without saying a word he just walked from the room.

Nell couldn’t move. She thought he’d tau