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When he asked to speak with Alan, Paige rose to her feet abruptly. But his hand caught hers and he pulled her back to sit beside him.
‘Please,’ she whispered, her face pale. ‘I don’t want to hear…’
His hand imprisoned hers, holding her by his side. Tears rose in her eyes as she listened to Quinn’s explanation. His words were carefully chosen, surprisingly gentle, belying the pressure of his fingers on her wrist. She could see that it pained him to hurt his brother. After a long while, he nodded, and his eyes fastened on hers. The pressure on her wrist began to ease.
‘Yes,’ he said quietly, ‘I’ll tell her. I will, Alan. Of course I will. Thank you, Alan. Goodbye.’
She watched him while he hung up the phone. ‘Quinn? Is Alan—is he all right?’
A muscle knotted in his jaw. ‘He’s fine.’
‘Is he…’ Her voice broke. ‘Does he hate me very much?’
He looked at her, and a strange smile touched his mouth. ‘No,’ he said after a while, ‘he doesn’t hate you. He said—he said he wants us both to be happy.’
Paige’s eyes filled with sudden tears. She hadn’t loved Alan—but Alan had claimed to love her.
‘He must have said more than that…’
Quinn reached out and brushed her tears away with his hand. ‘What the hell did you expect him to say?’ His voice was gruff, in strange contrast to the gentleness of his touch. ‘What’s the matter, Paige? Were you hoping he’d come after you?’
She shook her head. ‘I only meant…’
‘He told me to love you and take care of you. He…’ His eyes raked hers, and she saw a darkness in the blue-green depths. ‘He’s hurt,’ he said tersely, looking away from her. ‘But it’s better now than later.’
‘All of this is my fault,’ Paige sobbed. ‘If only I…’
‘If only you and your father hadn’t got greedy,’ Quinn said roughly. ‘You have five minutes until we board. If you want to call your parents, do it now.’
Her hand shook as she dialled. But her mother was wonderful, laughing through her tears, reminding Paige that it had been she who’d advised her to follow her heart.
‘Just be happy, dear,’ she said, and Paige swallowed hard and assured her that she was.
Talking to her father was more difficult. She didn’t know what to say, and the telephone line hummed in silence. Finally, without planning to say it, she whispered, ‘Daddy?’
The word from her childhood surprised her.
‘You caught us all off guard, Paige,’ he said.
His voice held a false heartiness. She gripped the phone more tightly and said again, ‘Daddy? Quinn… Quinn knows. He knows everything.’
His breath whistled in her ear. ‘Yes, all right,’ he mumbled. ‘Tell him—tell him it won’t happen again. I’ll make it right.’
It was such a raw admission of guilt that it rendered her speechless. She hung up the phone and looked at Quinn blankly.
‘You—you were right about my father,’ she whispered. ‘He—he…’
The look on his face stunned her into silence. ‘Stop it,’ he growled, his face so close to hers that she felt his breath on her cheek. ‘That act won’t cut any ice, remember? You could have gone on fooling Alan until you’d wrung him dry, but I know the real you. Don’t you ever forget it.’
A chill raced up her spine. She looked into Quinn’s eyes and thought again of a predatory animal. His hand on her wrist, the look on his face, the possessiveness in the way he spoke—all were reminders of the fact that he held her captive.
‘I won’t forget anything,’ she said bitterly. ‘Believe me, Quinn, I’ll remember everything you’ve done to me.’
He laughed as his eyes moved over her with slow insolence. ‘You certainly will, sweet Juliet.’
There was no mistaking his meaning. She felt her cheeks flame with heat. Angry words crowded her throat, but she swallowed past them and turned from him in silence. She knew there was no sense answering him. He would only twist whatever she said and use it to his advantage. Her best defence—her only defence—was silence.
But keeping still became difficult as departure time neared. Quinn had volunteered no information about London, his home, or what he expected of her. Questions tumbled through her mind, but she asked none of them. She was sure that doing so would be a mistake; Quinn might see how frightened she really was—and she was determined never to give him that advantage.
