To Marry McKenzie

Logan paused in the open doorway. 'Lock the door behind me when I leave,'

he advised. 'I can't say I'm exactly happy at the thought of you alone in this

big house all night.'

Well, the obvious alternative wasn't acceptable, either!

'Believe it or not, Logan, and despite what you may have thought to the

contrary, because I happen to be staying here with my father at the

moment—' she resorted to sarcasm to dispel her feelings of awkwardness

'—I've actually been taking care of myself for some time now!'

His gaze was scathing as it moved over her face. 'Then, on the evidence

I've seen so far, you aren't doing a very good job at it!' he rasped.

Darcy drew in a sharp breath. 'I'm sure a lot of people are interested in

your opinions, Logan—but I don't happen to be one of them!'

'Lock the door anyway, hmm?' was his parting shot before he strode over

to unlock his car.

Darcy didn't wait long enough to see him open the car door, let alone start

the engine and drive away, slamming the front door behind him, being

deliberately noisy as she turned the key in the lock.

She leant weakly back against that closed door. How could she have let

that happen? she berated herself with a self-disgusted groan. Not only had

Logan kissed her— again!—but he had touched her more intimately than

any other man ever had, too.

Every time she thought of those intimacies, Logan's hands and lips on her

body, she wanted to crawl into a corner and hide! And she didn't even

have the effect of his smile to claim in her own defence; Logan rarely

smiled, and she didn't think she had seen him laugh once.

Possibly because of that unhappiness she had sensed between him and his

mother? She simply didn't know.

Just as she didn't know how on earth she was going to face him again

tomorrow, this time possibly in the presence of his mother...!

CHAPTER EIGHT

LOGAN was not looking forward to this meeting. But it had nothing to do

with his mother being there—and everything to do with Darcy's presence!

Logan had done as she'd asked, and telephoned his mother this morning—at

a time he knew she would be up. After years of working in the theatre,

mornings were not Margaret's best times. Except that he knew she was

filming for a television series at the moment, so her hours were not quite so

antisocial; in fact, she sounded quite cheerful when she took Logan's call.

Logan wished he felt as cheerful. But, after a virtually sleepless night, he

was feeling tired and bad-tempered. He had laid awake for hours thinking

about Darcy Simon, trying to fathom out why it was she affected him in the

way she did. It did not help to improve his temper this morning that he

simply hadn't been able to come up with an answer!

Blaming his reaction on a smile just wouldn't do. For goodness' sake, it was

only a smile!

Darcy was nothing like the women he was usually attracted to: beautiful,

self-confident, emotionally independent women. Darcy was only beautiful

when she smiled— and that wasn't too often when around him, thank

goodness. Her self-confidence could do with a little working on too. As for

her emotional independence—he had lost yet another handkerchief to her

tears!

So why was it that he couldn't get her out of his mind, that even last night,

when he had gone to the restaurant, it had been in an effort to make sure

everything was once again right with her world?

Then to cap it all, he had deliberately set himself up for yet another meeting

this week with his mother—for Darcy's sake!

He closed his eyes momentarily. A pint-sized girl, with smoky grey eyes,

and hair the colour of a fox's fur in the rain filled his mind; a girl, moreover,

who had kicked him in the shin, and threatened to throw a glass of wine

over his head! Come to think about it, his personal life had been in an uproar

from the moment he'd first met her!

No doubt his secretary, Karen, in light of her view that his life lacked

surprise and spontaneity, would consider Darcy's unpredictability to be

good for him. She would be wrong! He wasn't at all comfortable with the

twists and turns things were taking at the moment.

'You're frowning again, Logan,' his mother remarked at his side as he drove

them both to the hotel where they were to meet Darcy for afternoon tea,

Logan having picked her up from her apartment ten minutes earlier.

'If I am it's because I do not appreciate being dragged into the complexities

of your personal life,' he clipped. After years of avoiding his mother's

turbulent private life, he was not amused at being thrust into the centre of it

in this way.

His mother shrugged. 'You arranged this meeting, Logan, not I.'

'Because Darcy asked me to, and for no other reason.'

'Hmm,' his mother murmured thoughtfully. 'I may have asked you this