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Her mouth had widened slightly in a little O of surprise and when the lift doors opened in the next instant and his cool hand cupped her elbow she offered no resistance at all. They were through Reception and out into the front car park within seconds, and he guided her over to the gleaming Aston Martin without speaking, opening the passenger door for her with a courtesy she suspected was entirely natural.
Kim sank into the luxurious confines of the powerful car and watched him helplessly as he walked round the sleek low bonnet. She hated him. She really hated him, she told herself bitterly. He was the most unfeeling, callous, hard brute of a man she had ever met—and that included Graham. No amount of money was worth this.
‘Kim?’
She had continued staring straight ahead, her cheeks burning, after he had slid into the car, and when after a long moment or two he spoke, very softly, her head jerked in surprise to meet the silver-grey of his eyes.
‘I handled that very badly. I’m sorry,’ Lucas said quietly.
If the ground had suddenly opened beneath them and engulfed the car she couldn’t have been more surprised.
‘You hit me on the raw,’ he admitted softly. ‘I didn’t like being put in the position of feeling like some sexual pervert. I’ve never had that happen to me before.’
‘Lucas, I…’ She had gone all hot inside and had never felt more out of her depth. It wasn’t just his apology, surprising though it was, but the disturbing fact that he was closer than he had ever been and his overall maleness was swamping her to a point where she felt breathless.
He was so big and dark and masculine and in this present mood, with his deep voice slightly husky and smoky and his amazing eyes intent on her face, the magnetism that was an intrinsic part of his dangerous attractiveness was heightened tenfold.
‘Was it your marriage?’ he asked, with a gentleness she would have sworn he was incapable of.
Oh, hell, what did she say now? She said the only thing she could in view of the fact that he had abased himself so utterly. ‘Yes.’ It was tight and stiff. ‘It was my marriage.’
‘I’m sorry.’
He really sounded as though he was, but, having turned to look through the windscreen once more, Kim didn’t dare meet those devastating arctic eyes again. ‘It’s all right.’ It was inane but all she could manage. ‘Shouldn’t we go now?’
‘Did he hurt you? Physically, I mean?’ There was a strange note in Lucas’s voice and Kim wasn’t to know her ruthless, cold, unemotional boss was in the grip of feelings new to him.
The silence stretched and lengthened until it was so taut Kim felt she would either scream or faint. She did neither, merely saying, in a small, chilled little voice, ‘I don’t want to be rude but I can’t discuss it, Lucas.’
She didn’t expect him to let it go without a fight but he surprised her for the second time in as many minutes when he started the engine without another word, pulling out of the company car park with a savagery that made the car growl as he murmured, ‘Without knowing any of the facts, and in direct variance to the notion that you shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, I’d say you were well rid of the—’ He stopped abruptly. ‘You’re well rid of Mr Allen,’ he finished tightly.
How right he was. She gave a peculiar little laugh. ‘I know it.’
‘How did it happen?’ For a moment she glanced at him, at the harsh set face frowning at the road ahead, uncertain of what he was asking. ‘How did he die?’ Lucas asked abruptly. ‘Your application form merely stated “deceased”.’
‘It was an accident.’ She didn’t want to continue this.
She was aware of the piercing eyes flashing over her face although she was looking straight ahead again, and his voice had the smoky quality that was so disturbing when he said, ‘Car?’
‘No.’ They were in mainstream traffic now but, in spite of their conversation, the frantic rush hour busyness and the fact that it had begun to snow again making the difficult driving conditions even more treacherous, all Kim was conscious of was hard male thighs just on the perimeter of her visions and firm capable tanned hands on the leather steering wheel. And the smell of him. Whatever aftershave he was using it should be banned as downright dangerous to a woman’s state of mind, she told herself silently. But perhaps it wouldn’t smell the same on anyone else.
‘Graham cut an artery when he fell through a shop window.’ A full thirty seconds had crept by in screaming expectation and Kim couldn’t take the pressure any more. ‘He was drunk,’ s
he finished flatly.
‘Usual occurrence?’ The silver light moved over her briefly.
For a man who used words so sparingly he certainly made every one count, Kim thought resentfully. ‘Yes,’ she said hollowly.
‘And now you want to talk about something else.’
She had wanted to talk about something else from the moment she had got into the car! Kim sucked in a shaky breath and kept her trembling hands tightly clasped in her lap. ‘If you don’t mind,’ she said numbly.
Lucas nodded slowly. ‘Tell me about your daughter.’ And his cool voice didn’t betray he was as surprised by the request as Kim was.
‘Melody?’ Kim was startled into glancing at him and he met her big brown eyes for a second, his own thick black lashes hiding his expression in the next instant.
‘Unusual name. Your choice?’ he asked easily.
