The Sex War

'Seven? Fine, see you then.'

'I think you're fantastic,' said Aston, and she smiled.

'Same here.' Her voice had lifted, become confident and intimate, there was something exciting about talking to Aston while Daniel listened and could only hear half the conversation. Aston blew her a kiss and she laughed.

'Bye, see you soon.' She would have liked to send him back a kiss, but she didn't quite dare with Daniel listening, which was ridiculous, because why should she be inhibited by his presence? She put down the phone and turned to feel a shock of alarm as she met the fixed stare of his dangerous grey eyes. Her smile withered and she flinched, then rallied. How dared he look at her like that? He had no right to resent another man's interest in her, they weren't married any more, she was a free agent.

Managing to smile brightly, she said: 'Aston just wanted to ask me out to dinner.' He needn't think she was going to hide her relationship with Aston from him, because she certainly was not going to, she had a right to a love life, as much as he did. She could be quite sure Daniel had dated other women since they broke up, why shouldn't she do the same?

'Tonight?' Daniel asked, and she nodded. 'Sleeping with him?' he asked, and her nerves jarred, she flushed.

'Mind your own business!' Then she spoi

lt her offended attitude by demanding crossly: 'Who are you sleeping with?'

Daniel's smile mocked her. 'Tonight? Who knows? Are you offering?'

Crimson, she snapped: 'You've got to be kidding! I'm not into masochism.' She sat down in a chair and began to pour the tea. Daniel sat down on the couch and took the cup she handed him, sipping the tea thoughtfully.

'What did you want to talk to me about?' Lindsay demanded.

'Stephen's bankrupt.' The statement was flat and cool, and Lindsay heard it with shocked incredulity.

'Bankrupt? But surely if he raises a loan to pay off the bank…'

'Nobody with any commercial acumen would lend that firm a brass farthing,' Daniel said brutally, and she winced. 'Stephen owes more than he owns, for the past two years he has been running at a heavy loss and he's used up all his spare capital. He'll have to sell up, even the house will have to go.'

'Oh, no!' Lindsay breathed, paling. 'Poor Alice…'

'The firm does have some potential,' Daniel told her. 'It will need a large influx of capital to make it viable, but with the right management it could become profitable in a few years.'

Lindsay looked at him with bitter anger. 'You, you mean?'

'I could make something of it,' he agreed coolly, watching her stormy face, then added with a shrug: 'It would hardly be worth my while, though—I wouldn't get much of a return on my time, trouble and money.'

She trembled with contempt, her green eyes shooting sparks at him. 'That's all you think about—making money!'

'Not all,' he said in a silky voice, smiling. 'I might be persuaded to make an investment in your brother's firm on the right terms.'

'What do you want? Blood?' Lindsay muttered scathingly, and he laughed.

'No. You.'

She almost dropped her cup and saucer. Slowly she put them back on to the tray, her eyes fixed on his bland face, her body rigid and chilled.

'What's that suppose to mean?'

'Don't pretend to be dumb, Lindsay, you know exactly what it means. You're even sexier than you were when I met you.' His assessing gaze moved down over her without haste and she felt her skin burn as though he was actually touching her. Her mouth went dry and a quiver of nervous reaction went through her. Daniel's eyes were undressing her, and she hated it and was excited by it all at the same time.

'You lecher!' she burst out, her voice shaky. 'No way. You can forget that idea—I'd rather die!'

'Would you? I wonder,' he said drily, and laughed, which made her feel about two inches high.

Scrambling to her feet, she stammered: 'Get out of here before I lose my temper!'

Daniel rose and she backed, very much aware that they were alone, her hasty movement making him smile in sardonic enjoyment. He strolled towards her and she looked around for something to hit him with if he touched her, but he pushed his hands into his pockets as he halted and tilted his black head to one side, amusement in his lean face.

'I'll give you twenty-four hours to think my proposition over,' he told her as lazily as though it had been a formal business offer.