No More Lonely Nights

His mouth went crooked; he looked down wryly and took a series of gasping breaths. 'You're driving me mad,' he said, and she was shaken, her face flushing hotly. He laughed, watching her. 'Are you going to listen to me now?'

'Say what you like, I'm too tired to argue,' she muttered, trying to free herself.

He wouldn't allow it; his hands tightened and she gave up, letting her body lean slackly on him since he wouldn't let her stand by herself. Let him take her weight, then, until she could find the strength to get away.

'You aren't thinking, Sian,' he said flatly. 'Why should I deliberately force you off the road?'

'That's obvious! Because it was me who helped Annette run away from you, and then made the headlines with the story of how you got left at the altar!'

His mouth twisted and his eyes were steel bright. 'OK, I wasn't very happy about that…'

'You hated me for it! Your ego couldn't take the humiliation.'

'My ego is a lot tougher than you seem to think!'

The dry tone made her pause and laugh. 'That's certainly true!' His ego was dented, perhaps, but she had never been able to believe that he was so crazy about Annette that her flight had hurt him deeply or wrecked his sense of identity. He was too assured, too successful; if any man had a firm idea of himself, it was William Cassidy. A girl like Annette couldn't destroy that self-image, although she must have hurt his pride.

'And I didn't hate you,' he said softly, and she looked quickly away, a funny little tremor running through her. 'I didn't deliberately force you off the road, either,' Cass went on, watching her in a way she found disturbing. 'That was an accident. Bad driving, I'm afraid, and I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you—we don't need legal interference, do we? You can trust me. Name the compensation you want and it's yours. Of course, your car will be replaced—a new one, you can pick it out yourself.'

'Bribery now,' Sian thought, aloud, her green eyes speculative and slanting sideways to watch him. 'What exactly is going on? What are you hiding?'

'Don't let that imagination of yours loose again!' She pushed his hands down and this time he let go of her, his face hard and wary.

'Were you really driving that car?' she demanded.

He hesitated and she stiffened. 'Look, can we drop the subject?' he asked, turning away. 'I think we should get back—you must be dead on your feet. This has been quite a difficult evening for you and you ought to be resting, not running about a wood in the dark.'

It wasn't dark yet, although the twilight had gathered thickly enough to give his face a shadowy menace. Sian couldn't sec him well enough now to tell what he was really thinking, but she was sure he was playing some complicated game with her; there was sleight of hand here, although she wasn't certain how or why.

'And if it wasn't you, who was it?' she persisted, and he sighed heavily.

'Sian! Drop it!'

'I'm getting warm, am I? How close am I?'

There was a silence; she could almost hear him thinking, even if she couldn't see his face.

'Not nearly close enough,' he said suddenly, his voice mocking, and his arms went round her again before she could evade them.

'You're not distracting me again!' she muttered, turning her head aside.

'Why not? You've been distracting me for days. I can hardly keep my mind on anything else when you're around.'

'Except Annette, of course!' Sian murmured bitterly.

'Can we leave Annette out of it?' he frowned.

'Hardly! You were going to marry her just the other day. I realise how you must feel, but I can't say I find it flattering that you keep making passes at me to stop yourself thinking about her!'

'I didn't say I was doing that!'

'You didn't have to!'

'Oh, you read my mind, did you?'

'I don't know about your mind—but I can tell when a man really fancies me, and when he's using me as a stand-in for another woman, and I don't like it!' She broke free again and began to walk back to the car, feeling suddenly tired and weak-legged. She swayed slightly, and at once Cass caught up with her and put his arm right round her.

'Lean on me. You're a crazy girl, do you know that? Haven't you had enough drama for one evening? Why did you run off like that?'