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Paige felt a rush of heat to her face. Had there been a way to run from the look of disgust in his eyes, she would have. But she could only square her shoulders and force herself to meet his gaze without flinching.
‘Did Alan send you? Is he… Has he…’
The smile left his face. ‘He doesn’t know I’m here. He doesn’t know anything, Paige. You’ve done quite a job on my little brother.’
‘You mean… you haven’t told him? But…’
‘Alan wouldn’t believe me if I told him you were the whore of Babylon,’ Quinn said harshly. ‘God knows, I tried. I took him out for a drink after everyone left last night. Hell, I got as far as saying he was making a mistake when he laughed and slapped me on the back. He said he’d expected me to try and talk him out of getting married. And when I started to say I didn’t think you were right for him, he laughed again and told me I was just jealous of his good luck.’ His face darkened and his voice fell to a whisper. ‘You don’t know the effort it took not to tell him his “luck” could have been anybody’s at the right place and the right time.’
The accusation pierced her heart. ‘It’s not true,’ she whispered. ‘What I did with you…’
A sneer curved across his mouth. ‘I was there, remember? You had an itch and you needed somebody to scratch it, that’s all.’ Paige’s face turned white and Quinn laughed. ‘What’s the matter, baby? Is that too vulgar for your delicate ears?’
‘You can’t talk to me like that,’ she said. ‘You…’
He moved towards her with such an intensity of purpose that she took a step back. But there was no place to go; her shoulders hit the wall just as his hands closed on her arms.
‘What was it that got to you, Paige? Weeks of playing the innocent with Alan? No, I guess that wasn’t so difficult—he doesn’t excite you, does he? You told me that straight off.’
Tears rose to her eyes. ‘Quinn, please, it wasn’t like that…’
He drew her towards him. ‘Was it me who excited you, Paige? Or was it the idea of being taken by a stranger that turned you on?’
‘Please, Quinn, I beg you…’
He stared at her for a long moment, and then he flung her from him. ‘God, you’re good at what you do,’ he muttered. ‘No wonder Alan fell for your act, the poor bastard.’
Paige shook her head. ‘I never pretended with Alan. I told him…’
‘The crap I had to listen to last night!’ Quinn shook his head in disbelief. ‘You sure as hell figured him out fast, Juliet. All you had to do was play it coy, bat those long lashes and say “no” whenever he tried to lay a hand on you, and a marriage proposal was almost guaranteed.’
‘It wasn’t like that, Quinn. I told Alan I didn’t love him.’
‘And what a nice touch that was,’ he said with a bitter laugh. ‘He damned near blushed when he told me he was going to teach you about love.’ He bent his head towards her, his eyes filled with hate. ‘I’ll bet you could write a book about love,’ he snarled, giving t
he word an inflection that twisted it into an obscenity. ‘Alan must have been a gift from the gods. Your chance at a rich husband—and an insurance policy for your father, all in one neat package.’
Her gaze swung across his face. ‘What are you talking about? What’s my father got to do with this?’
‘Don’t try that act on me, baby. It won’t work. I know everything.’
‘And I don’t know what you’re talking about, Quinn. My father…’
‘I’ve got to admit, you and your old man were clever. Alan never suspected he was being played for a fool.’ Quinn let go of her and stalked across the room. ‘Jesus, he even told me how grateful he was to your father, how he had needed an ally when you and he first started going out and how it was your father he turned to.’
‘My father likes Alan. He…’
He spun on his heel and faced her. ‘Don’t lie to me, dammit!’ She drew in her breath as he moved slowly towards her again. ‘Whose idea was it, Juliet? Yours or your father’s?’
‘I… I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ she said, her mouth dry with fear.
‘Damn, but it was clever! Your father dangled you in front of Alan, you played hard to get, and Alan was drawn deeper and deeper into the web.’ He reached out suddenly and grasped her shoulders. ‘And once he was caught, the Gardiner father and daughter team had two problems neatly solved.’
‘You’re crazy, Quinn! I want you to get out of this room. I…’
‘Problem one,’ he said, ignoring her, ‘what do you do with a daughter who’s been around a little too much? Problem two: what do you do when you’ve got your hand in the till up to your elbow? Solution? Simple. You tart up your tarnished goods with a fresh coat of paint and marry her off to the man you’ve been stealing from. Then you’ve got nothing to worry about. Who’d bring criminal charges against a relative?’
Paige looked at him as if he were speaking gibberish. ‘Criminal charges? What are you talking about?’
