‘That’s a rather odd word to use, though—incubus,’ he mused thoughtfully. ‘Are you sure you’re not getting mixed up with something else?’
‘I know what an incubus is,’ Vanessa snapped. Now he was calling her ignorant on top of everything else!
‘So do I. A demon who makes love to sleeping women. Is that what you’re accusing me of—taking advantage of you while you slept?’
‘I’d been drinking—you must have realised that; if I’d been in my right mind I would never have acted that way—’ Out of the corner of her eye she saw Richard turning away from the tubby figure of Nigel Franklin and his two Asian guests.
‘Acted what way?’ Benedict persisted.
She glared at him, conscious of Richard’s approach. ‘If I knew that I wouldn’t be worrying about it, would I?’
‘Worrying about what?’ He continued to be deliberately obtuse as he followed her gaze, watching Richard dip and curve between the tables, pausing to murmur a friendly greeting here and there.
‘For goodness sake, what do you care?’ she said, smiling brilliantly in relief as Richard neared the table.
‘You’d be surprised,’ Benedict murmured, turning his back on the other man and rising to his feet to block his view of Vanessa’s face. ‘But you’re right, this isn’t the time or place. We’re too exposed here.’ He let her savour her brief taste of freedom before adding succinctly, ‘What we need is a bit of natural cover.’ He raised his voice and extended his hand. ‘Dance?’
Before she could refuse he had reached down and pulled her out from the banquette, whisking her past the surprised Richard and through the archway into the adjoining room. Applying a delicate pressure to her captured elbow, he spun her deftly against his body and began to move to the throbbing music that poured out of discreetly placed speakers. Several young couples were rocking freely to the beat but Benedict ignored them as he wove a more conservative pattern across the floor, one hand cupping her shoulder-blade, the other firmly pressing hers against his chest.
‘But I don’t want to dance!’ she objected, unobtrusively trying to wrest herself out of his grasp, pushing against his shoulder with her free hand.
‘Would you rather I invited Richard to join our fascinating reminiscences about our activities in bed?’
Vanessa slumped in his arms, her physical submission contradicting her defiant words. ‘You wouldn’t!’
His feet slowed. ‘Is that a challenge?’
She turned her head and looked grimly past his right ear, searching for retaliation. ‘Don’t you feel silly, dancing with a woman who’s taller than you?’ she said sullenly.
‘No. It just means I have a better view of your breasts.’
Her head furiously jerked back and she flushed. He wasn’t even looking down into her open cleavage; he was mockingly enjoying the bristling outrage on her face.
‘Stop trying to make me feel small. Or rather—smaller than I already am,’ he added with rather enchanting diffidence. ‘I’m not going to let you dominate me mentally as well as physically. We move well together, don’t you think?’
Vanessa’s wide mouth thinned stubbornly. ‘No.’
His thigh slid between hers as he whirled her around. ‘Doesn’t this bring back delicious memories?’
‘Memories?’ she echoed hollowly.
‘Of the way we moved together in bed.’ The arm across her back tensed, drawing her torso closer so that the tips of her breasts brushed his snowy white chest with every step.
‘Stop it!’ She arched away and only succeeded in thrusting her hips against his in an even more evocative movement.
‘You don’t remember, do you?’ he taunted huskily, his words blending with the low, sexy throb of the music. He laughed, infuriating her with his perception. ‘That’s why you were so loath to confess...you didn’t know what you’d be confessing to. You don’t know what you did during your alcoholic blackout, do you, Vanessa?’
‘It wasn’t a blackout. I don’t know what you’re talking about—’ she ventured wildly.
‘I’m talking about your waking up and finding me naked on top of you...’
Her fingernails dug involuntarily into his jacket. ‘You weren’t on top of me!’
To her horror he grinned wickedly. ‘No, that’s right—you were on top most of the time, weren’t you? Hmm, so you do remember something?’
He was enjoying himself hugely at her expense, extracting what, if Vanessa had been in a reasonable frame of mind, she might have acknowledged was a truly fitting revenge. But her frame of mind was anything but reasonable.
‘I don’t remember anything, damn you!’ She was driven to admit what he wanted to hear through clenched teeth. ‘Nor do I wish to!’