Crescendo

Gideon looked at her coolly. 'Coffee?'

'What are you still doing here?' She was breath­less and angry, her eyes dark.

He didn't answer that. Pouring some coffee, he pushed the cup across the table. Ruffy came out from a corner and leapt up at her. Absently she patted the dog's rough white coat, her eyes still fixed on Gideon and words churning uselessly around her head.

'Where's Grandie?'

'Playing chess with the vicar,' he said in a normal conversational tone. 'You must be hungry. What would you like to eat?'

'Does Grandie know you're still here?'

Gideon looked at her without answering, his ex­pression mild and slightly sardonic.

It had been a stupid question. Of course Grandie must know he was still here! Why had Grandie gone out, leaving him alone in the house with her? Gideon had always been able to make other people do as he wished, turning the magnet of his will­power on them and coercing them without difficulty. She had thought that Grandie hated him as much as she did, that he would fight Gideon's will, but Grandie had gone out and left her undefended.

Gideon was watching her, reading her thoughts, the black eyes glittering with a mockery which lay along the hard curve of his mouth too, telling her that her rebellious stare was amusing him.

'Yes,' he said softly, 'Grandie has abandoned you to me. This is one battle you're going to have to fight all by yourself, Marina.'

'Don't think I can't,' she retorted fiercely, her chin raised in defiance. 'I told you to go and I meant every word of it. I don't want you here.' She took a short sharp breath. 'I don't want you,' she emphasised.

His dark eyes took on a cool glimmer which did not betray his thoughts. 'What do you want to eat?' he asked again. 'It will have to be something simple. I'm no great cook, but I can do you anything with eggs—boiled, fried or scrambled.'

'I'm not hungry,' she told him shortly.

His glance was derisive. He moved to the stove and began to make scrambled eggs while she watched him, seething.

'Drink your coffee!' He spoke over his shoulder without looking at her.

Marina sat down at the table and drank the coffee slowly. Gideon turned and placed the scrambled eggs and toast in front of her. 'More coffee?' He did not wait for her to answer but took her cup and poured some coffee for both of them before he sat down opposite her.

'What are you doing here?' She could barely taste the food; her mind would not adapt to the ordinary functions of life. She was too much on edge, her stomach churning. 'I told you, I don't ever want to see you again.'

'I know what you told me.' He sounded indif- ferent and that infuriated her. He sat there, totally at ease, those long legs stretched out casually, his body lounging in the chair, a dark green sweater covering his deep chest, the rollneck ruffled where his dark hair brushed against it, his face expression­less beneath the rough tangle of those black curls. He looked as though he had been walking out in the wind, his skin glowing from long struggles with the elements. Marina ran her eyes over him with dis­like.

'Get out and don't come back!'

'Eat your eggs.' He was taking no notice of any­thing she said and her hands clenched at her sides. She wanted to pick up her coffee and throw it at him.

'Go back to Diana!' she flung, and at once wished she had not mentioned that name because the black glitter of his eyes filled with amusement and a sort of satisfaction, and she knew she had betrayed some­thing of her own inner turmoil, her confused emotions. She wanted him to believe that she was certain and clear about what she wanted, and that stupid slip had told him she wasn't.

She got up, and Ruffy lifted his ears alertly, ob­viously hoping she intended to take a walk. 'Get out!' She stared at Gideon as she shouted the words, but his manner did not change.

'I'm not going anywhere.' He leaned back in his chair, his hands linked behind that black head, giv­ing an elegant and powerful line to his long body which she wished she did not instinctively catch her­self noticing. She did not want to notice him, to feel the desire he could arouse throbbing away in her own body. 'I'm staying right here,' Gideon ended coolly, smiling faintly.

'How can you be such a swine?' Her voice shook as she demanded that and he smiled tormentingly.

'I work at it.'

He had no sense of shame. He had betrayed her with that woman. She wouldn't be surprised if he had done so throughout their marriage. Now he was forcing her to accept his company and angrily she had to recognise that there was no way in which she could force -him to go. Gideon had always been strong-willed, assertive. She stood there, staring at him with hostility, trembling.

'Your eggs will get cold,' he said.

She looked at the food and felt nausea, but if she ran away now she would convince him that she was still vulnerable, still wide open to him. Slowly she sat down again and began to eat, forcing the food into her mouth although she felt sick. How dared he sit there like that, mocking her, laughing at her, those dark eyes filled with wicked amusement? After all he had done to her, he felt he could still charm her back into his arms.

He had reason for his optimism, of course. Dur­ing her lost months, her desire for him hadn't faded. As soon as he came back into her life Gideon had realised that he still attracted her. That night when he had deliberately caressed her and aroused her, it had been she who had gone to him, not the other way around. Gideon had known very well what he was doing as he held her on his lap and fondled her, kissed her in that coaxing, passionate way. He had reached into her subconscious to re-awaken her de- sire for him and he had succeeded. She had sleep­walked to him because at that hidden level of her mind she had known precisely what she wanted.

Was it any wonder that now he refused to go? Without knowing what she was doing she had be­trayed that sleeping passion to him. She finished her unwanted food and drank the last of the coffee.