The Final Seduction

‘And what’s wrong with the car?’

‘Nothing’s wrong with it,’ he shrugged. ‘It’s just a bit of a cliché, isn’t it?’

She knitted her carefully plucked brows at him. ‘You’re calling one of the most aerodynamically superior vehicles in the world a cliché?’

‘It’s nothing but an executive toy,’ he said damningly. ‘It reeks of flash and cash, but without much substance. So what was it, Shelley? The pay-off?’

The most galling thing was that he had shrewdly hit on a nerve. ‘Mind your own business!’

‘Is it all over between you?’ he persisted softly. ‘Why isn’t he here with you?’

Well, she supposed that it was going to come out sooner or later. ‘He isn’t here because, yes, it’s over.’

‘You won’t be going back?’

‘No.’ The word fell heavily, like a stone into a pond.

‘So what happened?’

She looked at him in surprise. ‘I don’t have to answer that.’

‘No, you’re right.’ His eyes glittered. ‘You don’t. But you might want to answer this—which is whether you were intending to come back to a house that hadn’t been aired for years, with no running water or electricity. You can’t have a bath. You can’t flush the loo. You can’t even heat yourself a can of soup.’ He gave her a look of cool mockery. ‘That wasn’t very clever of you, was it, Shelley?’

‘I left Italy in a…hurry.’

‘So I see.’ His eyes flicked over the crumpled linen suit. ‘Kicked you out, did he?’

She turned away, but not before he had seen the tears well up in her eyes. Tears of fatigue which made her feel like some sad, foolish little cast-off. She swallowed them down. ‘Why are you here, Drew—just to insult me? To rile me? Because I can do without it at the moment, if you don’t mind.’

‘I’ll tell you exactly why I’m here,’ he told her quietly. ‘Because not only is it Sunday, it is also late October. Now, you may have pushed all memories of Milmouth away during your three-year absence, so allow me to remind you that the weather isn’t particularly welcoming by the sea at this time of year. There’s no way you can stay here tonight. You’ll freeze. And you won’t get water and electricity connected until tomorrow at the very earliest.’

His cool logic made her want to scream at him—mainly because he was right. ‘If you’re expecting me to fall to my knees in front of you and beg you for help then I’m sorry to disappoint you.’

His eyebrows disappeared into the honey-tipped hair. ‘Fall to your knees in front of me any time you like, kitten,’ he said deliberately. ‘You don’t even have to beg!’

Her cheeks flared at the sexual insinuation, but she still managed to meet his gaze with defiance. ‘I’ll find myself a hotel room for the night!’

‘Have you booked?’

‘Oh, yeah, sure!’ she smiled sarcastically. ‘I just came here first to go through the whole pantomime of pretending to turn the lights and the water on, while all the time I knew that I had a lovely, warm hotel room waiting for me!’

‘You sarcastic little bitch,’ he whispered softly. ‘I don’t know why I came over here with some outdated idea of responsibility. Maybe I should just leave you here on your own.’

‘Well, why don’t you?’ she challenged.

‘Because, Shelley—unlike your previous lover—I happen to have a few values, that’s why! And not only would I steer clear of muscling in on another man’s fiancé—I’d kind of have a problem sleeping easily if I knew that a woman was spending the night alone in a cold and inhospitable house. Even if that woman was you.’

Ouch! ‘Don’t tell me—you’re offering me a bed for the night?’

At her words he stilled, and his eyes glittered with dazzling blue light. ‘Oh,’ he murmured. ‘Is that what you’d like, then, Shelley? A little body warmth, huh? A little skin on skin? Maybe create a little friction together—though I wasn’t thinking of the boy scout version of rubbing sticks together—’

‘You’ve been reading too many pornographic magazines!’ she suggested tartly.

‘I don’t think so,’ he murmured, his eyes flickering over her in a way which appalled her. ‘I never got my kicks that way, kitten.’

‘Don’t look at me like that, Drew. I don’t like it.’

‘Liar!’ he taunted softly. ‘You love it.’