“Alyssa? Is that what you think?”
Looking at him, hearing the taut anger in his words, she didn’t know what to think. All she was sure of was that admitting doubt would be a sign of weakness.
“What I think,” she said evenly, “is that I’ve made a terrible mistake.”
He looked at her for a long moment, his face stony. Then he nodded.
“I agree. It was the worst possible mistake. Unfortunately we cannot undue it.”
“No. We can’t.”
“I took your virginity.”
That was what he said but the words sounded wrong, as if he meant something entirely different.
“I should have believed my grandfather when he told me you were intact.”
Color flooded her face. She supposed the term was correct but it sounded cold, as if it were a description in an auction-house brochure. The piece for sale is intact…
“And now you’ve lost your bargaining chip. Deliberately, but you’ve lost it, nonetheless.”
Alyssa blinked. “My what?”
“Ah, chica, it’s too late for that innocent look. You know damned well what I’m talking about. Felix’s values are those of another time. He saw your virginity as a requirement for your bride price.” Lucas’s mouth thinned. “But I don’t give a damn whether a woman’s a virgin or not and most certainly, I am not looking for a bride.” He flashed a thin smile. “Which is why, I suppose, you felt desperate enough to toss me this morsel.”
“You think that I…?” Enraged, Alyssa flew at him, hand raised, but he caught her by the wrist and twisted her arm behind her back. “You were only in this bed because I felt sorry for you, and God knows why I was that stupid! You were the one who turned an act of—of kindness into a—a lesson in seduction.”
“Seduction?” His teeth showed in a lupine smile. “What happened in this bed is the same as what happened the day we met. You couldn’t control yourself here any more than you could control that horse.”
“Bastard,” she hissed, “you no-good, egotistical—”
She went for his eyes with her free hand. Lucas caught it, drew it behind her where he manacled both her wrists. The action lifted her to her toes.
“Do you take me for a fool, chica? Nothing you do will persuade me to honor the stipulation you keep insisting you don’t want me to honor.”
“I’d sooner marry a—”
“So you have already said.” He smiled, though his eyes remained cool. “I have known many clever women, too many to be taken in by you.”
“I wouldn’t doubt that for a minute,” she panted as she struggled to free herself from his grasp. “I saw one of them, remember? That—that wind-up toy with the bleached hair, big boobs and a brain the size of a walnut!”
Lucas grinned. “An excellent description, amada. But at least she admits she’s after something when she lures a man into her bed.”
“Pig!”
“Is that the best you can do?” He let go of her and strode to the door. “Tomorrow,” he said grimly, “I will speak with my attorneys.”
“It’s today,” she said, flinging the words at him. “And at least you finally said something intelligent.”
“Here’s something even more intelligent. I am sure they will see that the entire contract is a farce and I am liable for nothing.”
“You are liable for the money you owe me!”
“My corporation owes it, and not to you. To Norton, as executor.”
“Dance around all you like. Your grandfather made a deal and you’re stuck with it.”
His eyes flashed. “But not with you, chica.”