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Reaching out, Ronan captured both her wrists in a brutal grip that made her wince in distress.
‘Where?’
‘I—I don’t…’
‘Don’t lie to me, damn you! I know he’s been here, and he’s still around somewhere. He wouldn’t have left the Gibson if he didn’t plan on returning. So either you tell me, or…’
‘No!’
It was a gasp of shaky defiance, a hopeless attempt to come between him and her brother. She could see the hatred, the lust for vengeance burning in his eyes and it terrified her to think of it being turned on her brother. She felt like some desperate wild creature, frantically putting her own frail body between her defenceless young and some hungry predator.
And Ronan was every bit as merciless and unrelenting as the most savage jungle cat.
‘I won’t…’
But even as she spoke she heard the one thing she feared most. Ronan’s head went back sharply as he, too, listened to the sound of her car drawing up outside, the heavy rock music Davey loved pounding out through its open windows. A moment later it was abruptly switched off.
Lily froze into immobility. Ronan’s long body was taut at her side, powerful hands still gripping hers. Below them, just visible from the window, Davey slammed the car door and, all unsuspecting, headed for the house, whistling carelessly.
Oh, Davey!
Lily closed her eyes in despair at the thought of her brother walking into a trap, so blithely unaware of the presence of the dark predator who was after his blood. If she could just do something to warn him!
‘Lill?’ Davey was in the hall now, his voice floating up the stairwell to reach them. ‘Where are you?’
Fearfully Lily met Ronan’s eyes, seeing in them the danger that mixed with cruel triumph at the thought of his prey being so close.
‘Call him!’ he breathed in a menacing whisper. ‘Get him up here.’
Lily longed to shake her head, to refuse to do any such thing, but she found herself unable to move. She could only stare into those ferocious eyes, transfixed like some small, terrified rabbit caught in the blaze of oncoming headlights.
‘Call him!’
Suddenly the paralysis that had held her tongue frozen evaporated in a rush, and she lifted her head, swallowing hard. It was a risk, but the only thing she could do.
‘Davey!’ she yelled, but not in the way Ronan had commanded. Instead it was a cry of warning, an edge of panic adding a shrill emphasis to her brother’s name. ‘Da—’
It was all she managed. The rest of the word was cut off as a hard hand clamped over her mouth, silencing her with brutal effectiveness.
With a fierce tug of Ronan’s other hand, she was yanked round to face the door, pulled hard up against the unyielding male strength of his chest, crushed so close that she could feel the throb of his heart under her cheek.
He wasn’t even breathing quickly, she realised with a shiver of awareness, and the slow, steady beat of his pulse was as calm and regular as if he had just been discussing the price of fish. For all the ruthless determination that gripped him, the savage delight in finding his unsuspecting prey so near, he was physically completely cool and composed—unlike Lily herself, whose own fear and trepidation showed in her racing heart, her shallow, uneven breathing.
‘Lill?’
Davey’s voice was nearer now. He had mounted the stairs, reached the landing just outside the bedroom door. She couldn’t just let him walk in like an innocent lamb, unaware of the vicious wolf waiting to pounce.
With one last frantic burst of strength, she kicked out hard at Ronan’s leg, her mouth curling into a smile of grim satisfaction under the restraining fingers when she heard his grunt of pain as her toes made forceful contact with his ankle bone.
‘Damn you!’
The words died on his lips as the door swung open, and Lily groaned in despair as her brother came into the room, stopping dead at the sight of her captor.
‘Guerin!’ Davey’s voice was rough and hoarse, his widened eyes dark with fear.
‘Well, well, if it isn’t the elusive Mr Cornwell.’
Ronan’s sardonic drawl sent icy shivers down Lily’s spine, keeping her mouth closed even though he had released his grip on her mouth. Unable to speak, she could only try to communicate her distress with her eyes, longing to go to her brother’s side, but still held prisoner by the strong arm around her waist. The silent menace in the room hung like heavy smoke, so that she found it impossible to breathe easily.
‘I’ve been looking for you for a long time, as I’m sure you’re well aware. You must have known I’d catch up with you in the end.’
‘I…’
If ever Lily had wondered if her brother had exaggerated his fear of Ronan and the threat the other man posed to him, then now she was forced to admit that that was very far from the case. A million miles too far.
Davey was terrified. His face, already pale, was now chalk white, all the blood having ebbed from his skin, which was stretched so tight across his bones that it was almost transparent. His eyes were wide and dark with shock, his pupils dilated until there was only a thin rim of brown at their outer edge.
Lily’s heart clenched in pity for him. He looked so young, so gauche, so scared; it was as if time had suddenly reversed and they were back in the terrible, bleak days after their parents’ deaths. Her brother had behaved in much the same way then, she reflected unhappily, worrying her with his lack of interest in anything, his refusal to eat, his inability to sleep.
Since his return to Edgerton he had hardly eaten more than half of any meal she had put in front of him. And she knew that sleep eluded him on most nights. She had heard him thrashing about in his bed or pacing the floor in restless unease.
When he did sleep, he suffered the most appalling nightmares, often waking shouting and screaming for help, as if all the devils in hell were after him and not just this one cold-hearted fiend who now confronted him.
Lily knew only too well what images haunted those troubled nights. They were the same as those that darkened her own sleep in times of strain. Spectres of savage flames raging through the skeleton of what had once been their home, the scent of smoke, so thick and dark it was impossible to breathe, and the scarlet flare of colour that lit up the night sky.
Knowing what he was suffering, she hadn’t had the heart to question him any further about his association with Ronan and the way things had gone so terribly wrong. She had simply let him be, praying that some time of peace and quiet, much needed rest and some decent food would restore him to better health. She had even kept quiet about the money that had vanished from her purse on a couple of occasions, promising herself that she would tackle him about it when the time seemed right.
That time had never come. Well before either of them was emotionally ready, malevolent fate in the form of Ronan Guerin had invaded their lives once again, destroying all hope of any sort of peace.
And in this particular fight Davey was very definitely the weaker party, Lily reflected miserably. It was impossible not to contrast his gaunt, frail-looking form with the hard strength of the powerful male body against which she was still held tight.
‘Davey…’
Calling on a strength she hadn’t known she possessed, she managed to wrench herself free from Ronan’s imprisoning grip, meaning to go to her brother and take him in her arms, to try to give him comfort and reassurance. But the effect of her action on Davey was the exact opposite of what she had in mind.
His head came up like that of a startled deer, his nostrils flaring in panic. Before she had time to cross the room to reach him he had whirled round, dashing out the door and down the landing, heading for the stairs. She could hear his frantic footsteps racing downwards even before she fully registered what had happened.
‘Hellfire!’
Ronan’s violent curse broke into her confusion, pushing her back into motion again even as her feet slowed in shock. He was just behind her, and together they followed Davey down the stairs.
As they crossed the hall Ronan’s much longer stride drew ahead, and he was well in front by the time they made it outside and onto the driveway. But even so they were too late to catch up with Davey, who evaded Ronan’s grasp by a hair’s breadth, leaping into Lily’s car and roaring off down the drive at a speed that was positively suicidal.
‘Hell and damnation!’
Ronan came to such a sudden halt that Lily, just behind him, slammed straight into his broad, hard back, knocking herself completely off balance. She would have fallen if he hadn’t possessed split-second reflexes that brought him spinning round in time to catch hold of her and pull her upright again.
Uptight and distraught, Lily couldn’t bear the feel of his grip on her. It reminded her too much of the imprisoning grasp of just moments before.
‘Let go of me! You make my skin crawl!’
Reacting to the volatile turmoil of emotions roiling up inside her, she slapped his hands away frantically, earning herself a cynically mocking smile.
‘How things have changed,’ he drawled satirically. ‘Time was when you couldn’t get enough of my touch, when you…’
‘Well, it shouldn’t surprise you that I no longer feel that way!’ Lily flashed at him. ‘It was what you set out to achieve, after all, and you managed it only too well.’
