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Elusive as the Unicorn

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‘And the chances of finding that “one perfect person"?’ She had given up all pretence of working now, this conversation intriguing her.

‘Remote,’ he conceded drily. ‘Although with travel made easier it’s not as remote as it once must have been. And we were destined not to miss each other,’ he added smugly.

She had been wondering when he would turn the conversation on to a personal level. But her own curiosity had got the better of her for the moment. ‘Oh—why?’ she prompted lightly.

He quirked his brows. ‘Isn’t that obvious—Eve?’

She sighed. ‘Our names don’t——’

‘Not just the names, Eve.’ He shook his head slowly as he stood up. ‘There are too many other coincidences,’ he continued as he walked towards her. ‘There’s the fact that I fell in love with The Unicorn’s work long before I met you, the fact that I decided to come over here in search of the artist at this particular time. A few months later and I would have been too late,’ he rasped tautly, his hands moving up to gently cup either side of her face. ‘I can’t tell you how glad I am that didn’t happen,’ he murmured softly as his head lowered to hers. ‘So very glad, Eve.’

At that moment so was she, seduced by him once again, loving the feel of his mouth against hers. He nibbled softly and then feasted on her lips, one moment tormenting her with the gentle nip of his teeth, the next moment possessing her with velvety gentleness.

‘We were made for each other, Eve,’ Adam groaned against her. ‘Made to love like this, to lie in each other’s arms——’

‘Like hell you were!’

Adam was wrenched abruptly away from her, and then followed the loud cracking of knuckles against hard flesh.

It was all happening too quickly for Eve to be able to take in what was going on, her senses still whirling from Adam’s kisses.

By the time she had recovered enough to realise Paul had been the one to burst into her studio and cause all the mayhem, Adam was lying amongst several of her canvases that lay propped against the wall, where Paul had knocked him.

She couldn’t believe this was happening; she’d had no warning, too enrapt in Adam’s lovemaking to be conscious of anything else.

Her eyes widened with renewed horror as she saw what was about to happen next, Adam’s face full of glowering anger as he rose slowly to his feet, his gaze fixed belligerently on Paul as he gingerly rubbed his jaw where it had taken the full force of the other man’s painful blow.

Paul stood across the room from him, breathing hard, a look of satisfaction on his face.

‘Adam, no!’ Eve cried desperately as he made a lunge towards the other man, his intent obvious. ‘Please,’ she added achingly as he turned to her frowningly.

He drew in a ragged breath, nodding slowly, reluctantly. ‘This isn’t the place for this,’ he conceded, his jaw obviously paining him as he worked it slowly round to feel the damage that had been done. ‘The work in here is priceless——’

‘I wasn’t thinking about the paintings,’ she protested impatiently. ‘The two of you fighting isn’t going to solve anything.’

She still had trouble coming to terms with the fact that Paul had burst in here and behaved in this way. He had been angry earlier, yes, but before she had left his flat she had believed he had understood, if not completely accepted, what she had tried to explain to him. And how true had her fears concerning her weakness to Adam been; only a few hours later and Paul had found her in the other man’s arms!

‘Hitting him made me feel a hell of a lot better,’ Paul ground out with a scornful glance at the other man.

‘That form of backstabbing would appeal to a man like you,’ Adam returned scathingly.

Adam’s derision might be justified, Eve accepted; after all, Paul had taken him completely unawares. But the two of them acting like schoolchildren wasn’t going to help the situation at all.

‘Please.’ She sighed wearily. ‘Paul, why are you here?’ She frowned.

His jaw tightened. ‘Well, certainly not to walk in and see you in his arms!’

‘Then maybe you shouldn’t have just “walked” in,’ Adam rasped as Eve blushed uncomfortably at the accusation in Paul’s tone.

Paul’s eyes gleamed palely as he looked at the other man. ‘Evelyn told me I would find Eve up here,’ he bit out tautly.

Adam’s mouth twisted. ‘Only because Eve hasn’t yet found an opportunity to tell her grandmother the wedding is off.’

Paul’s head went back challengingly. ‘As far as I’m concerned, it isn’t!’

‘Fortunately, what you think doesn’t come into it,’ Adam returned hardily.

Eve gave a pained wince as he deliberately taunted the other man, knowing she was the cause of this awful scene. But Adam had been so understanding with her earlier concerning the decision she had been forced to make; unfortunately, his dislike of Paul prevented him according the other man the same dignity. It didn’t really help that she knew the reaction would probably have been even worse if the roles had been reversed; they were worse than schoolboys.



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