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the tiny hall where the door to the bathroom was situated. The sound of his laughter echoing in the quiet of her room only infuriated her further.
She clenched her small hands together in impotent fury and glanced wildly around her bedroom. She looked down at her entwined hands and suddenly the enormity of what had happened hit her like a punch in the stomach. She was naked, the bed was a rumpled mess, and that hateful man was in her tiny bathroom and would be back any second.
Blind panic engulfed her. She leapt out of bed and dashed to the wardrobe, from where she dragged out a blue woollen dressing gown and scrambled into it. Tying the belt firmly around her waist, she stuck her feet into a pair of old slippers in the shape of two basset-hounds. Her eyes caught the glimpse of red on the floor, and viciously she kicked her skirt and camisole under the bed. She would never wear the outfit again, Beth vowed. Then, another emotion lending her wings, she was out of the room, across the small hall and into her living room in a trice.
She had to get rid of Dex. That was the only thought in her head as mechanically she walked into the kitchen and switched on the electric kettle. She needed a drink, a cup of coffee, to calm her shattered nerves. But she had an awful premonition that it would take a lot more than a few cups of coffee to make her forget Dex and the turbulent feelings he had awakened in her tonight.
The kettle boiled, and, opening the cupboard where she stored her crockery, Beth took down a porcelain mug and spooned a large dollop of coffee granules into it from the jar of instant coffee on the bench. She couldn't stop her hand from shaking as she added the water, spilling some on the worktop. Reaction was setting in. But she refused to give in to it and, gritting her teeth, willed her hands to stop shaking. She opened the fridge, took out the milk, poured some milk in the mug and then added two generous spoons of sugar; she needed the energy, she told herself, to face Dex.
Dex! Beth stifled a groan of pure anguish. A few hours ago she had been the happiest girl in the world, engaged to the man she loved and eagerly anticipating going to bed with him. Well, she was no longer engaged to Dex, but she had been to bed with him. And now she felt like the stupidest, dumbest girl in the world. She couldn't find words to describe her own self-loathing. Naive did not begin to cover it. . .
But, a wicked voice whispered in her head, she was no longer naive in some respects. She had succumbed to his lovemaking with a wild passion she had not known she was capable of. A vivid image of his huge naked body entwined with hers had Beth reaching desperately for the coffee mug.
She took a great gulp of the hot coffee. How could she face him? Before she could answer her own question, the door swung open and Dex appeared. She glanced across at him, her huge green eyes warily following him as in a few lithe strides he covered the space between them, filling her small kitchen with his towering presence. He was dressed again, after a fashion. His jacket hung open across his broad chest and the silk shirt beneath fell loosely over the outside of his trousers. He looked what he was: a man who had just slaked his sexual appetite with his lady. His black hair was a tangle of curls over his broad forehead.
Beth blinked and glanced down, but seeing her ridiculous doggy slippers did nothing for her confidence. 'Damn Dex to hell. . .' she muttered under her breath. He had no right to look so virile, so disgustingly smug, and what had taken him so long in the bathroom? The inconsequential thought popped in her mind.
Glancing back up, she stiffened. His slate-grey eyes sought and captured hers, and his sensuous lips parted over perfect white teeth in a knowing, roguish smile.
'I'll take a cup of coffee, Beth, as it appears, by your hasty exit from the bedroom, that nothing more is on offer.'
Beth slammed her coffee mug down on the bench, the sheer gall of the man taking her breath away. Any faint hope that had lingered in her subconscious mind that maybe she could forgive him and they could stay together vanished. What Dex had just said convinced her absolutely she was not in his league, and could never in a million years inhabit his sophisticated world. She stared at him with wide angry eyes, as though she was seeing him for the first time.
What she saw was a devastating! y attractive, one- hundred-per cent powerful male animal—'animal' being the operative word. He had the sensitivity of a rhinoceros. It didn't matter a jot to him that he had seduced her and taken her virginity. In fact, according to Dex, he could take her, or a cup of coffee. . .either would do!
'Beth, are you all right?'
All right! she would never be all right again, but what the hell did he care? Fury such as Beth had never known flooded her whole being.
'Fine. I'm fine,' she snapped. 'But as for you, you can get out of here now, this minute. I don't want to see your conceited, arrogant face again as long as I live.'
Dex moved closer. 'Don't,' she said, holding her hands up to ward him off. 'Don't you dare come near me. Haven't you done enough damage for one night?'
Dex's eyes burned into hers. 'You don't mean that, Beth,' he said thickly, and reached for her. 'You're upset, emotional; it affects some girls like that the first time.' His hands closed over her shoulders and he pulled her to him. 'But the next time will be better, I promise.'
Beth almost choked. 'There is not going to be a next time, you great oaf. I don't want anything to do with you. I told you that an hour ago, but did you listen? No. You forced yourself on me.'
'Forced you! You were with me all the way,' he exclaimed, catching her chin and tilting her head back. 'You were begging for it.'
'No.' She shook her head. 'You forced me into it.'
His fingers tightened on her chin, his grey eyes narrowing to angry slits on her flushed, furious face. 'Don't lie, Beth. You wanted me, you know you did, and I asked you every step of the way; you only had to say no.'
Tears stung her eyes, whether of anger or regret, she didn't know. She pushed his hand from her chin and closed her eyes for a second, breathing deeply to regain her self-control.
Beth didn't see the bitter anguish in his eyes as he looked at her downbent head and then stepped back.
She opened her eyes and raised her head. 'I tried,' she declared bluntly.
They stared at each other, the tension in the air electric. The anger in his eyes made Beth quake inwardly, but she refused to show her feelings. Then, abruptly, Dex straightened his broad shoulders; his lips narrowing in a tight line, his handsome face expressionless, he clasped her elbow in his strong hand.
'If you really think that, Beth, then we have to talk.'
'No.' She wrenched her arm free. 'I have nothing, absolutely nothing I want to say to you. Except, get out of my home and out of my life.'
Dex was silent for a long moment, watching her with narrowed eyes. 'I don't get it,' he said curtly. 'You break our engagement. Then you melt in my arms. Then you accuse me of forcing you into it and demand I leave?'
'So, go!' she cried, her throat closing up as his hard grey eyes came to rest on her swollen lips.
