He laughed and leaned towards her, and she couldn't stop herself tensing, moving further away, an agitated pulse beating in her throat, at her temples.
'No?' he drawled, his mouth curling with derision.
Caro stared straight ahead, fighting with panic. 'The lights have turned green!'
Gil laughed. 'What a relief! Saved by traffic-lights!' But he turned his attention to the road all the same, and the car smoothly rolled away.
Caro stared at the orange street lights on either side of them, her eyes dazzled by the brilliance. She was furious, both with herself and Gil Martell. She wasn't naive enough to imagine he was interested in her as a woman. She knew she wasn't sexually attractive; she had learnt that very early in her life, been bitterly convinced that the only reason a man might pursue her was for her father's money, especially a man like Gil Martell, who could pick and choose his women.
He fancied women like the Countess of Jurby— blonde, fashionable, skinny as boys. He had been teasing her, just now, using his sexual power as a weapon in this war against her and her father, and she had been stupid enough to let him see he could reach her. She had to do something about her spring fever in a hurry. She didn't know why Gil Martell affected her the way he did, but it had to stop at once.
They were in the leafy streets of Regents Park, just a few minutes away from her home. From the zoo in the park itself could be heard strange, distant, animal sounds which, at night, sounded oddly menacing and yet mournful. She shivered as she heard them; they seemed to echo her own feelings.
Gil drove past his grandmother's house, then suddenly braked with a screech of tyres on the road, sending Caro tumbling forward. Her seatbelt saved her from injury, but she turned an angry face towards him.
'What on earth are you doing?'
He didn't answer; he was too busy staring at a car parked on the driveway—a red Porsche, noted Caro. She watched Gil curiously.
'What's wrong?'
His face had a dark, brooding impatience. 'It's Miranda's car,' he muttered. 'I told her to go to her mother's—why in the name of all that's holy didn't she do that? If Colin comes looking for her and finds her here, he'll kill both of us.'
'Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad idea!' Caro said, feeling vicious all of a sudden, but he did not seem to be listening to her, he was much too intent on his own thoughts. If he hadn't been, he wouldn't be blurting all this out to her, of course. He wouldn't have breathed a syllable if he weren't so taken aback.
'But why come to my grandmother?' he thought aloud. 'And what is Grandmother up to, letting her stay?'
'She could just be having dinner here!' pointed out Caro in a flat, cool voice, and he looked sharply at her, this time as if he actually saw her.
'Which means my grandmother invited her! But why should she do that? She can't stand Miranda.'
'When you've dropped me off at my home you can come back here and find out!' she said, glancing at her watch in a meaningful way. 'As you say, it is dinnertime, and I am hungry.'
His dark eyes narrowed on her, his mouth indented. 'Yes,' he said slowly, and Caro was not too happy about the way he said that, or the way he was watching her. There was distinct calculation in his deep voice, in those gleaming eyes. 'You're hungry,' he repeated, and she nodded.
'Very, and my father likes his dinner promptly at eight, which was five minutes ago, and I'll be too late to eat with him if I don't get home soon, so could you
please--- ' Her voice broke off as Gil started his engine again, but instead of driving on he swung the wheel and reversed over the pavement, into his grandmother's driveway, parking alongside the red Porsche.
'What are you doing?' Caro bust out in alarm.
'Taking you to dinner with my grandmother,' he blandly informed her, sliding out of the driver's seat and coming round to open the door for her.
She shook her head in violent refusal. 'No, I can't... she didn't invite me... Don't be ridiculous...'
Gil leaned over her and she shrank back from him, confused and flushed, but all he did was unbuckle her seatbelt.
'Out you get!' he briskly ordered.
'I'm not coming in, take me home! Go away!' Caro didn't know how to deal with the situation. Gil had an obstinate look to him. He tried to take her arm and pull her out but she pushed him back. 'Will you leave me alone?'
His answer was to take hold of her waist in both hands; before Caro could do anything to stop him he had lifted her, in spite of her struggles, out of the car.
'I am not going in there!' she shouted at him, glaring up into his face.
'Yes, you are,' he said with every sign of assurance.
'I won't, and you can't make me!'