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‘If I agree, I’ll lose Bob anyway,’ she realised, desperately trying to find a loophole for herself. Instinct told her that there was no point in trying to plead with him by revealing Elaine’s dangerous emotional state; he would merely use the information as an additional lever.
‘You’re damned right you will!’ Luke swore savagely. ‘I don’t intend to share you with anyone else, Genista, but this way at least you keep your pride. He won’t leave Elaine for you, you must know that, and if you do care about him you won’t want to try and break up a marriage that obviously means a good deal to him. Strange, I shouldn’t have thought you the type of woman who shares her man. Or as long as he keeps on paying the bills, don’t you care?’
Genista longed to scream at him that he was completely wrong. She paid her own bills, and cared for Bob only as a friend, but she knew he would not believe her. He was so biased against her, so convinced that he was right that nothing would change his mind. While she stared sightlessly across the room he walked past her and into her bedroom, strolling casually round it, while the words of bitter fury froze on her lips.
‘Odd,’ he mused, glancing at the delicate feminine room with its pale peach decor. ‘It doesn’t give the impression of a room that’s shared by a man and woman.’ Before she could stop him, he opened a wardrobe door, studying the clothes hanging there.
‘Nice,’ he commented, ‘and expensive. Where does Bob keep his things? Or is he too discreet to leave any of the evidence lying about?’
Feeling too sick to reply, Genista walked towards the kitchen. Perhaps a glass of water could clear the nausea rising in her throat. She was reaching for a glass when she heard Luke behind her, his tall, lean frame filling the small room.
‘Well?’ he enquired grimly. ‘What’s the answer?’
‘If I had only myself to consider there is just no way I would agree,’ she told him in a shaky voice. ‘What you’re doing is blackmail—there’s no other way to describe it. The thought of making love with you makes me feel ill!’ Her voice started to rise hysterically on the last few words, and she gasped as hard fingers dug into her shoulders, turning her painfully so that she was facing Luke, the broad expanse of his white shirt blurring a little as tears filled her eyes.
‘Does it now?’ he grated in a voice laced with threatening menace. ‘Well, we’ll just have to see if we can’t change your mind about that, won’t we? Not now,’ he told her, as the colour left her face, leaving her vulnerable to the knowing probe of his dark eyes. ‘When I take you, Genista, I want to savour the experience, not rush through it like a callow adolescent. And you will savour it,’ he told her softly, the pressure of his fingers no longer painful, but persuasive, as they lingered on the frail bones of her shoulders, impelling her forward until her breasts were touching the dark wool of his jacket. ‘I’ll make you respond to me,’ he murmured against her hair. ‘Whatever pleasure Bob gave you, I’ll give you more.’
‘You couldn’t!’ The words were torn from her throat in a terrified cry. For a moment his words had almost mesmerised her; her heart was pounding unsteadily, sensations that turned her cold with fear, curling insidiously through her stomach, weakening her legs to the point where she wanted only to lean against Luke’s lean body. Her emotions shocked and terrified her. She hated the man, and yet just for a moment the images conjured up by his soft words had weakened her defences to the point where she had actually experienced a sharp stab of physical desire!
‘Try me.’
The sexually explicit invitation left her feeling nervously frightened. They were, after all, completely alone in the flat. She moistened her lips, unaware of the teasing provocation of the movement until she glanced up and saw the raw hunger burning in Luke’s eyes.
‘Don’t tempt me,’ he advised her harshly. ‘Now, do I tell Elaine about you and Bob, or are you going to marry me?’
Did she really have any choice? Dared she risk Elaine’s health and possibly her marriage by refusing? But if she married Luke, ultimately he would discover that he had been wrong. A hot flush of colour surged over her body as she dwelt on exactly how he would discover the truth, and she started to tremble violently at the thought of the intimacies marriage would entitle him to. Perhaps she could agree, and then find some means of escaping. If she could just get him out of the flat; just persuade him to wait until Elaine was over the operation.
‘I’m not going to wait, Genista,’ he told her, as though he had the power t
o follow her thoughts. ‘And don’t try running out on me. If you do I shall tell Elaine. I want your answer now.’
Genista took a deep breath. For Bob’s sake she had to do it.
Marriages could be annulled. She could find some way of keeping Luke at bay until Elaine was better.
‘Very well, I’ll marry you.’ Her lips felt swollen and dry and she badly wanted to lick them again, but fear of what the gesture might provoke prevented her.
‘Very wise,’ Luke said softly. ‘But don’t start thinking about a long engagement. We’re getting married today.’
‘Today?’ Her heart came into her mouth. ‘But…but that’s impossible!’
‘Not with an archbishop’s licence and an archdeacon for an uncle,’ Luke told her drily. He pushed back his cuff in a gesture which was becoming familiar to her. The sight of the dark hairs curling crisply against the gold strap of his watch made her stomach knot with apprehension. Some instinct told her that his body would be totally masculine, and her fingers curled moistly into the palms of her hands as she contemplated its enforced possession of her.
‘It will take me about an hour to make the arrangements. We can be married in Cumbria. And don’t even think about running out on me, because if you do I’ll find you, and I’ll make sure Elaine knows exactly what’s been going on between you and her husband. While I’m gone I suggest you occupy your time in finding something suitable to be married in.’ He pulled out his wallet and wrote a cheque, signing it firmly, and tossing it across to her. ‘On second thoughts, go out and buy yourself something, I won’t have my bride wearing clothes paid for by another man.’
‘And I won’t wear anything bought with your money!’ Genista flung back at him. ‘I’d rather be stark naked!’
‘An enticing prospect,’ Luke drawled coolly, ‘but I have a rather old-fashioned urge to be the only one to see my bride’s nudity. And don’t tear that cheque up, because if you do, I’ll take you out and buy you something myself.’
‘I’m surprised you don’t anyway,’ Genista raged, goaded beyond endurance. ‘What am I supposed to buy? Something white? If I had my way I’d be wearing mourning!’
For a moment there was a flicker of some emotion she could not name in the depths of the charcoal grey eyes, but then it was gone, his mouth uncompromisingly firm as he looked her up and down.
‘Save the amateur dramatics for those who appreciate them,’ he advised her dryly. ‘A simple suit should suffice. Whatever else you might lack, no one could accuse you of not having taste. Just remember that we shall be getting married in a small country church and that no one apart from ourselves will know that it isn’t a perfectly normal marriage.’
‘When in reality it’s merely a legal vehicle for you to satisfy your libido,’ Genista said bitterly. ‘And once you have, I’m to be flung aside like so much unwanted trash.’
‘I couldn’t have put it better myself,’ Luke said smoothly. ‘One hour, Genista—and remember, if you’re not here, I go straight to Elaine and tell her about your affair with her husband.’
