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‘Would it?’
The look he threw her was so black, so full of dark contempt that he didn’t have to say a single word to expand on his feelings. And this time it was Lily’s turn to feel like the lowest form of life—not a sensation she liked at all.
‘Well, I’ll remember that in future,’ she managed, levering herself into an upright position and getting to her feet with as much dignity as she could manage, with her blouse gaping open widely and her skirt pushed up to somewhere around her hips.
‘See that you do.’
They were like two hostile cats, Ronan thought wryly. Each eyeing the other warily, heads up, shoulders stiff with hostility. He could almost see the hairs on the back of her neck lifted in tense aggression. She didn’t want to be the first to look away, trying to restore order to her disordered clothing without a single downward glance, and yet she didn’t know how to break the silent impasse.
If it came to that, neither did he. Now that the explosive maelstrom of feelings that had boiled up in him at her rejection was slowly coming back under his control he found himself veering from one emotion to another without knowing which he would finally settle on.
Frustration was uppermost, burning, aching frustration that made his whole body feel as if he’d gone ten rounds with a prize-fighter. And mixed in with that was an anger that at first had threatened to get away from him, slipping right out of his control. But the problem was that he didn’t know whether his wrath was aimed at Lily, himself, or the whole complicated situation in which they found themselves.
Damn Davey Cornwell to hell! His mind fixed on the one sure person he knew he could blame for his predicament. If Lily weren’t Davey’s sister then things would have been quite different between them. When his mind threw at him the unwelcome fact that if Lily hadn’t been Davey’s sister then they would never have met in the first place, he pushed it aside impatiently. He didn’t want to remember that he had gone to the Hodgson wedding with the sole purpose of meeting her.
So was he going to give up? Accept her refusal once and for all?
His dark-eyed gaze went back to Lily, seeing the tumbled glory of her blonde hair, the full softness of her lips, still faintly swollen from his kisses.
He wanted more of those kisses, more of the feel of her skin against his, more—hell, he wanted more of everything! More of the passion they had shared on their wedding night. No way was he going to give up! She didn’t get away that easily!
But he wanted her willing. And he certainly wasn’t prepared to tolerate her describing his lovemaking as something bestial. When they next slept together—and they would sleep together, he had no doubt of that—she would come to his bed of her own accord, because she wanted to, because she couldn’t damn well help herself.
But that required a change of tactics. There was more than one way to skin this particular cat, though right now Lily looked more like a small, furious kitten than a full-grown animal. Softly, softly was the way he’d handle it from now on.
‘I take it that no goes for the trip to Leeds as well?’
Lily eyed him suspiciously, frankly confounded by the sudden gentling of his voice, the megawatt brilliance of the smile he had turned on her. Just what had brought about this change of tack?
She had opened her mouth to say, yes, that was exactly what she meant, when a sudden thought made her reconsider.
Ronan was going to Leeds to see some properties. If he liked them, he would snap them up, just as he had done with Davey. Earlier she had feared that the owners might end up in the same snare as her brother had, or worse, and she’d wished there was something she could do to prevent it.
But there was something she could do. If she went along tonight she could warn them, or at least try to get them to stand up for their rights. It was just possible she could stop them from doing anything foolish.
‘No,’ she said impetuously, only realising when she saw his change of expression that he had interpreted her answer as meaning that, no, she wasn’t going with him.
‘I mean, no, that’s not my answer!’ she corrected hastily. ‘To the trip to Leeds. I… Oh, what I’m trying to say is that, yes, I’ll come.’
If he had surprised her earlier, then now it was her turn to take him aback. Ronan blinked hard just once, but a moment later he had adjusted again.
‘May I ask why?’
Lily shrugged slender shoulders with what she hoped was just the right degree of careless insouciance.
‘I haven’t been anywhere in ages. Leeds wouldn’t be my first choice, but if that’s all you’re offering, I’d be glad of a night out.’
And if he wanted to add ‘even with you’, then that was fine with her.
‘Your gracious acceptance overwhelms me.’ The words were strangely stiff, in spite of their undercurrent of pointed satire. ‘We’ll leave here at seven, if that suits you.’
For the first time since he had reappeared in her life a week earlier, Lily actually felt as if she had gained, if not the upper hand, then at least some degree of control over the situation. She had reasserted herself, gained a foothold that was rather more secure than before. The relief that feeling brought was so intense that she flashed a wide, bright smile straight into his unyielding face.
‘That’ll suit me fine,’ she told him cheerfully.
It was only much later, with hindsight, that she had cause to wonder just what had put the gleam of satisfaction into his indigo eyes that she spotted just before he turned away.
CHAPTER NINE
‘HAVING fun?’
The question was a warm murmur in Lily’s ear. Ronan’s dark head was bent close to hers, the heat of his breath caressing her skin.
‘Mmm….’
She managed an inarticulate murmur that did nothing to express the way she was feeling. Instead it was more a response to his nearness, the way his powerful body brushed against hers as he leaned so close, the faint, musky scent of his aftershave and the sensual slide of his silky hair across her cheek as he spoke.
But she was having fun. That was the most surprising thing about the evening so far. She had never expected to enjoy herself, seeing the trip as a duty rather than a pleasure, but in fact she had. From the moment she had appeared at the foot of the stairs, precisely at seven as arranged, there seemed to have been something special about the night.
She had spent a long time considering what to wear, eventually settling on a dusky rose-coloured slip dress, the skirt of which came to just above her knees. Silver drops sparkled in her ears and a matching necklet circled her slender throat. Her high-heeled sandals gave her extra confidence, making her tall enough to be able to meet Ronan’s blue-grey gaze head-on when she’d looked into his face to see what effect her appearance had on him.
What she had seen there both thrilled and terrified her. Sensual approval blazed unconcealed in the dark pools of his eyes edged by thick, dark lashes, his pupils widening until there was nothing but a thread of colour at their outer edge.
‘Very nice,’ he’d drawled softly, the husky note in the words catching on her nerves and making her pull in her breath in a small, shaky gasp.
‘You’re not so bad yourself.’
She’d forced herself to match the frankly sexual appraisal in both his look and his voice as she’d let her gaze run over the sleek, toned lines of his body in the breathtakingly elegant Italian-styled silver-grey suit and crisp white shirt. Her heart had turned over in instinctive reaction as she’d allowed herself just one moment of purely physical response to the man before her.
With the last of the evening sunlight gilding his glossy hair, turning the copper strands into streaks of bronze flame and highlighting the masculine beauty of his bone structure, he was very definitely the irresistible force personified. And, no matter how hard she tried to be the appropriate immovable object, deep down inside it just wasn’t working. That dark magnetism of his still tugged at every one of her senses, warning her that she was only too vulnerable to its appeal. She might have won a major battle, but there was still a great deal of the war to go.
And if she had ever had any doubt about that, then it was brought home to her now, with Ronan’s lean body so close, his indigo gaze fixed on her face and a strange half-smile playing around his expressive mouth.
One long hand rested on the bare skin of her shoulder, reminding her of how it had felt to have those warm fingers on other, much more intimate parts of her body, so that a shiver of response ran down her spine. That smile made her skin tingle, as if she was affected by pins and needles all over her body, an electric current of excitement filling her with a restlessness she could neither subdue nor ignore.
She couldn’t stay still any longer. She had to do something—anything! It was either that or reach for him, wind her arms around his narrow waist, bring her lips to his and kiss him stupid.
‘Let’s dance some more!’
‘We’ve only just stopped!’ It was a groan of protest. ‘I need a drink.’
‘You’re chicken!’
She spoke sharply to drown out the sensual temptation her thoughts were offering. Not giving herself a chance to think, she grabbed at his hands, curling her fingers around their hard strength.
‘Come on! We can’t sit here all night, propping up the bar! I came out to enjoy myself!’
