A Savage Adoration

Amanda wasn't with him, but Christy could see quite distinctly the smudge of dark red lipstick staining his mouth. Amanda's lipstick.

Her whole body seemed to seize in one vast, agonising surge of pain so intense that it rooted her to the spot, unable to drag her eyes away from Dominic's face and that tell-tale scarlet brand.

'I think it's time we made a move.'

'I'll go and get my coat and meet you downstairs.'

She moved away from him like an automaton, passing Amanda on the stairs. Triumph gleamed febrilely in the older woman's eyes, and Christy knew that that smear of lipstick was both a deliberate declaration and a warning.

There was no doubt that Amanda wanted her to know that she considered Dominic to be her property. Well, she was welcome to him, Christy told herself bitterly; more than welcome.

CHAPTER EIGHT

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'Dominic, what are you doing? You've just driven straight past my parents' gate,' Christy protested sharply, sitting up straighter in her seat.

'They won't be expecting you yet. I thought you might like a nightcap.'

She was too bereft of words to speak, simply staring at him as he skilfully turned the car into the drive of his own home.

That he should have brought her here instead of taking her straight home was the last thing she had expected. In fact, she had half imagined that once he had delivered her

home safely he would drive back to the Manor and Amanda's undoubtedly welcoming arms.

'Don't be ridiculous,' she told him crossly. 'I don't want another drink. In fact, I don't want anything at all from you.'

'You don't?' His face was in the shadows as he leaned forward to silence the engine. 'That wasn't the impression I got earlier tonight,' he told her cruelly. 'However, I haven't brought you back here to make love to you, if that was what you were implying, Christy,' he added derisively.

'I didn't think you had,' she retaliated instantly. 'After all, you've got Amanda for that, haven't you?'

There was a moment's tense silence and then he was opening his door and sliding his lean length out.

'Let's get inside before we both freeze.'

She wanted to refuse, but the implacably determined expression on his face as he waited for her to join him warned her not to.

The icy wind seemed to bite right through to her skin, and she was shivering by the time she stood in the large hall.

It felt cold and slightly damp, and as though aware of her thoughts, Dominic said quietly, 'I intend to have central heating installed in the spring. Come on, we'll go into my study; it's warmer in there.'

Christy stood to one side as he knelt by the dying embers of the fire and threw on some fresh logs. A shower of sparks raced up the chimney, the scent of apple logs filling the room.

He hadn't bothered to switch on any lights, and the dancing flames licking round the logs cast mellow shadows over the shelves of books. A pair of thick velvet curtains had been drawn against the night, and Christy fingered the fabric absently.

'This is rather a large house for a single man…' Her skin flushed hotly as she realised that she had spoken her thoughts out loud. Dominic threw another log on the fire and dusted off his hands before standing up.

'It affords me a welcome degree of privacy, and it's convenient for almost everywhere in the practice. I had to find somewhere in a hurry, and it was either this, or a Victorian terrace in Setondale.'

So he hadn't bought the house with marriage and a family in mind. 'Amanda thinks it's got good potential,' he added casually, tossing the words at her over his shoulders as he moved towards one of the cupboards and removed a decanter and two glasses.

Christy watched him pour the ruby liquid through a red haze of jealousy. It bit into her with flames that burned hotter than those devouring the apple logs, scorching her like corrosive acid. She could barely see through the rage of jealousy and hurt roaring through her body, and her wayward tongue raced into hasty speech before she could silence it, her voice unnaturally high and hurried as she cried bitterly, 'Does she now? I'd be very surprised if she agreed to settle up here, though, Dominic. I realise that she wants you very badly, but I should have thought Harley Street was more what she has in mind than Setondale.'

Like someone caught up in a nightmare, she froze as she watched Dominic tense and then put down the decanter. Prisms of light from the fire glittered off the crystal, and she was amazed that her brain could take note of such trivia when it also knew the enormity of what she had just said.

There was no kindness in the way he smiled at her as he turned to face her, and it seemed to Christy in her fear that there was an almost demonic quality to the way his skin seemed stretched tight over his facial bones.

'Well, now,' he said softly, 'that's a revealing statement if ever I heard one. You wouldn't be jealous of her, by any chance, would you?'