'I did,' she protested, but he ignored her. She watched the deft way he wound a crepe bandage around her arm. What would he say, she wondered, if she told him exactly what she had been thinking of? White bandage and brown fingers transposed until her vision became a blur; the silence grew shrill and insistent in her ears.
'Luke…'
The sensation of being carried by a pair of male arms close against a hard torso had an addictive quality. Hazily she knew she ought to open her eyes, but it seemed a shame to break into this delightful interlude.
'Emily, are you awake?'
The irate tone dispelled the nice fantasy of being cradled in a lover-like embrace. 'I think so,' she admitted guiltily.
'It speaks! Then for God's sake open the bloody door.'
She snapped her eyes open. 'There is no need to swear,' she croaked.
'If I drop you on the floor I can open it myself.'
'I find that scenario preferable.'
And he did; he actually did! She sat in stunned disbelief on the bare polished boards of the hallway. 'How dare you?' She picked herself up and strode into the room. 'You're a barbarian!' she yelled after him. Then she froze. 'What are you doing?' Her voice came after a breathless interval. She couldn't tear her eyes away; he seemed to her the essence of sensuality. She turned her head away as he unbuckled the leather belt around his waist, but she could still hear the rustle as he removed his jeans.
She felt frantic to escape the room—just looking at him made the nerve-endings pulse with painful life beneath her skin. The dragging sensation was truly magnetic; it made her feel as if she was being pulled in disparate directions.
'I'll leave you to it, then.'
'To what, exactly? Another sleepless night?' he enquired with heavy irony. 'To wonder what stunt you'll come up with next? Maybe drive into the nearest loch?' he suggested. 'I wouldn't put any stupidity past you. I mean, if I hadn't been here, what exactly would you have done about the scald, and who would have stopped you smashing your skull on the stone flags? You literally jumped into the loch. I've seen kittens with more sense of self-preservation,' he stormed.
'I don't faint!' she insisted, ignoring the evidence to the contrary. 'Besides, if it weren't for you I wouldn't be here to scald myself or faint. And I fell, I didn't jump,' she reminded him. 'I have no suicidal tendencies.' She gave a gasp of instant regret and took an impetuous step towards him. 'Luke, that was…' His expression didn't encourage her to go further. 'I'm catching this bloody disease,' she said, furious and ashamed of the malicious retort that had sprung to her lips. 'I won't waste all my energies on spite,' she told him soberly. 'You're dominated by it, it motivates everything you do, even taking me to bed. It's twisting you. Tell me, what's your incentive for getting up each morning if it's not to plan the next move in your grand scheme?'
'Tomorrow is already planned,' he said, his voice cold and passionless. 'We go to London, at which point we can announce to our families—or should I say family—the news of our impending nuptials.'
She shuddered, feeling despair—not that she'd expected anything she said to alter the course of events; she was a minor player…cannon fodder. 'I don't think Dad will be exactly surprised. He rang today.'
'You told him?' His incredulity was obvious.
She gave a small, grim smile. 'I wouldn't deprive you of that pleasure,' she said bitterly. 'Let's just say I implied…things.’ She gave a helpless shrug; she could hardly tell him what she had said. 'Would you really tell him the lies about me—us?' she asked tremulously.
'It would be the ultimate humiliation, wouldn't it?' he mused. 'To imagine I had seduced his baby girl and discarded her…while he was in the house. I think that would be a nice touch. I could have, Emily, couldn't I?' he tormented her coldly. 'It's a tough decision but on the whole I think an entr6e to the charmed inner circle and smiling acceptance through clenched teeth might be even more amusing. "My son-in-law"… I can hardly wait.'
Seething, burning hatred was easier to contemplate than this calculating war of attrition she was forced to participate in. 'The marriage will be a mockery,' she protested huskily. It was all so sordid, so ugly; but she still loved him despite all logic and she suspected she always would.
'And what would your marriage to Gavin have been?' he demanded tautly. 'This marriage will give us both things we need.'
She gave a scornful laugh. 'Sex, you mean,' she said disparagingly.
'You certainly respond to me on that level, and it does seem to be preying on your mind, infant,' he said softly. 'As a rule women do respond to me on other levels.'
'I hate you and I wish you'd stayed away!' she spat at him. 'Four years—I thought you'd never come back.'
'Is that why you were marrying Gavin?'