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‘That doesn’t surprise me, Beth, although I do wonder what he was doing wrong if you found it so unsatisfactory.’ He skimmed a glance over her face, his eyes lingering on the bruised softness of her lips before looking straight into her eyes. ‘You are a very sensual woman, Beth. A man would have to be completely insensitive to your needs not to find that out. But there again, maybe you only respond that way with the right man?’
What did he mean? That he was the right man to teach her how to respond? Beth fought against the idea, but it only served to strengthen her own shocked feelings. David had seemingly only to touch her, kiss her, and she became a different woman in his arms from the one who had suffered Andrew’s lovemaking as a duty rather than a pleasure.
‘I…no! No, you’re wrong. You…you caught me at a moment of weakness, that’s all.’ There was more desperation than conviction in her voice, and he smiled harshly.
‘Is that right? Maybe we should test it out, see if what we just enjoyed was a fluke?’ He reached for her, intent written all over his arrogant face, but Beth knocked his hands away.
‘No! Stop it, David. I don’t want to test anything out. I know how I feel.’ She laughed suddenly, struck by an unpalatable thought. ‘Was that what it was all in aid of, some sort of a test to see how I would respond?’
His eyes glittered and he straightened so that he seemed to tower over her. ‘I kissed you because I wanted to, Beth. I wanted to feel your mouth under mine, sweet and responsive, and I’ll be damned if I’ll lie and say differently! You might be able to lie to yourself about your feelings, but I felt how you responded just now and you were with me…with me…all the way!’
How could she deny it? How could she turn something magical and beautiful into a tissue of lies? She turned away, her head bowed so that she wouldn’t have to look at him. ‘I’ll wait in the car for you.’
‘All right. We’ll let it drop for now if that’s what you want. But some day soon you’re going to have to face up to how you feel.’
She swung round, her hair flying about her face in a silken cloud of rich gold. ‘Maybe, but leave me to worry about that. You have your own ghosts to lay this weekend, David, so why not concentrate your energies on doing that?’
He stared at her for a moment that seemed to stretch to infinity. ‘Maybe I’ve already laid my ghosts to rest, Beth.’
What did he mean? Why should those few quiet words make hope flood through her body? She’d tried once before to build a future on dreams and she knew how dangerous and foolish it could be. Now all she wanted was to rebuild her life on rock-solid certainties.
* * *
The house was set at the end of a long gravelled driveway. Beth sat and studied it in silence as David turned the car in through the gates. They’d said little on the drive from town, keeping conversation to a minimum, and Beth could feel her head starting to throb from the tension. The sight of the forbidding red-brick house didn’t ease that tension one little bit.
David stopped the engine then sat staring at the house, his expression guarded. What was he thinking about—what had happened in the factory, or the coming meeting with his brother? Whatever it was, Beth felt the sudden need to reassure him.
‘It will be fine, David; I know it will.’
He looked almost blankly at her for a moment then turned to open the car door. ‘I’m sure it will. Shall we go in?’
The cool rebuff hurt, but she refused to show it as she unfastened her seatbelt and followed him from the car. He took her arm and guided her up the steep steps, but before he could ring the bell the front door was flung open and Maggie appeared.
‘Hello! I was just starting to get worried. You’re later than I expected you to be.’
Beth forced a warm smile, walking ahead of David into the hall. ‘Sorry. David had to wait for a delivery so we set off rather later than planned. I hope it hasn’t put you out at all?’
‘Of course not.’ She gave Beth a swift hug then looked past her, the smile fading slightly. ‘How are you, David? I’m so glad that you could come.’
David came further into the hall and closed the door. ‘You have Beth to thank for that. She can be very persuasive when she sets her mind to it.’
