Slave to Love

His eyes darkened, the tension in him so palpable that Roberta thought she could actually taste it. Then he lowered his dark gaze from her, thick lashes sweeping the passion out of his eyes as he said flatly, ‘Yes. Of course I’ll come. I’ll catch the next flight out of here.’

And she turned away and walked out of the room.

Three days? she was thinking bitterly. He couldn’t even give me one! Going over to the courtesy bar, she picked up a miniature bottle of French brandy, poured it into a glass, and swallowed it down in one fiery go.

‘I’m sorry.’ His voice came, quiet and protracted, from the bedroom doorway. Roberta turned to look at him. He was dressed again, looking as if he had never been out of those clothes tonight.

She turned away, the bitterness welling up inside her, too poisonous to give vent to.

‘For goodness’ sake, Roberta!’ he rasped out harshly. ‘I have no damned choice!’

/>

‘Choice? We all have choices, Mac,’ she said flatly. ‘And you’ve just made yours.’

‘And that’s it?’ he bit out. ‘Because you can’t have all of me you want nothing at all? Doesn’t that make you greedy, Roberta? Damned bloody selfish in fact?’

Did it? She supposed it did. ‘In other words, unless I’m prepared to do all the compromising, I’m being selfish. Is that what you’re saying?’

‘No,’ he sighed out heavily. ‘I’m saying that the commitments that half rule my life are my problem to deal with as best as I can. But your insecurities about our relationship are your problem, sweetheart, to deal with the best you can.’

‘My “insecurities”, as you call them,’ she flared up in derision, ‘lie mostly in the fact that you still continue to deny my existence! Have you any idea how cheap and insignificant that makes me feel?’

Angry mockery scored across his face. ‘So you would rather I told my distressed daughter to call back when I’m finished making love to you, would you?’ he threw back scathingly.

‘You had finished,’ she reminded him. ‘Then the phone started ringing, and you were back to denying I was even with you once again.’

‘Oh, God,’ he sighed, scoring a weary hand through his hair. ‘I can’t fight you on this one just now, Roberta. I have to go. Which doesn’t mean I want to go!’ he thrust out tightly at her bitter look. ‘Only that I have to go! You have my complete loyalty in every way that is important to us, but I cannot pretend I have no family commitments just to ease your possessive streak. They’re there. I have to deal with them. I can’t offer you any more reassurance than that!’

And wasn’t that right—how it should be? She censured her own resentfulness. Wouldn’t she actually feel ashamed of him if he chose the other way? Of course his family had to come first. They were family! Flesh of his flesh! Just because her own family didn’t have a nurturing gene between them, it did not mean she had the right to begrudge those who did!

‘Then take me with you!’ she pleaded impulsively, her face unknowingly vulnerable as she stared at him across the full width of the room. ‘If you don’t want to leave me, then take me with you! For goodness’ sake, Mac!’ she cried, when she saw the angry refusal already forming in his eyes. ‘Give me something other than your body that says it’s worth carrying this relationship on!’

He knew she meant it, too. There was a new light burning in her eyes that warned him that this time—this time she would not let him seduce her out of her resolve. It was up to him now to decide whether he was prepared to offer her more of himself than he had been doing or, more importantly perhaps, if he cared enough about her to offer her more.

‘My God,’ he sighed, flashing her a hard, impatient look, then, ‘All right!’ he surrendered. ‘You can come!’

Her heart leapt, her chest expanding on a swell of triumph. ‘Thank you,’ she whispered shakily.

‘Don’t thank me, Roberta,’ Mac answered grimly. ‘I am doing this under protest, as you well know. You want more from me. You’re getting more from me. But it’s going to cause problems that I could well do without right now.’

He meant his family, and her leaping heart sank when she realised how much he resented her pushing him into a corner like this. But it was now or never, she reminded herself grimly. He might be right, and her timing was lousy, but would there ever be a right time for her to make a stand? Her experience to date said no, never—not while his family demanded more from him than possibly was fair.

Her chin came up, determination glowing in her green eyes to hold on to this bit of new ground she had won for herself, whether he liked it or not.

‘And the Brunner deal?’ she asked as calmly as she could. ‘What do you want me to do about that, now we are both leaving Zurich?’

Mac paused as he was about to throw open the door, and she sensed a sudden tension in him before he turned back to glance at the file. ‘Pack that,’ he commanded. ‘Joel won’t be free to come here for a few more days so he can bring it back with him when he does.’

‘And the calls?’ she asked. ‘Do you still want me to put through those calls to Brunner?’

‘No.’ He turned away again. ‘Forget them. Forget the whole damned thing for now,’ he decided impatiently. ‘I’m going to find out the times of the London flights,’ he said, then paused again, his gaze fixed on the still unopened door. ‘Is this enough of the more you’ve been demanding from me?’ he asked huskily.

Her chin came up, ‘No,’ she answered bravely. ‘But it’s a start.’

‘As I said,’ he sighed, ‘you’re a greedy woman, Roberta.’

‘But still your woman,’ she countered. ‘As you like to claim.’