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‘That’s right…your taste runs to older women, doesn’t it?’ she jabbed breathlessly. ‘You’re such a champion of the underdog, I suppose you’re used to handling bitches.’
To her fury he laughed. ‘I think I’ve got my hands on one right now. And to think I thought you were too soft and tender-hearted. What’s got you clawing and biting? Or need I ask? Your cousin is younger than I am but she certainly ranks as a bitch.’
She stiffened in the circle of his arms and the hand on her spine moved, capturing the end of her plait and wrapping it around his wrist so that he could tug her head back and look down into her stormy face. ‘I know that my sister, in her inimitable motor-mouthed wisdom, welcomed you into her acquaintance by spilling the beans about Kate and me, so let’s stop the sniping and get it out in the open—’
‘Oh, so now you want to talk about it? Well, maybe I don’t!’ She jerked her head to try and free her hair, the sharp tugging on her scalp bringing tears to her eyes…or so she wanted to believe as he instantly unwrapped his hand and smoothed the plait down her spine, allowing her the freedom to avert her gaze. She tried to increase the distance between them, but he had reached the limits of his tolerance and bracing herself against his controlling arm merely arched her body into greater intimacy.
‘You’re angry with me for not telling you?’ he said, his eyes on her pale profile. ‘I might point out that Kate obviously didn’t tell you either.’
He wasn’t going to get away with making her sound unreasonable and illogical. She had every right to feel searingly betrayed. She knew exactly why Kate hadn’t told her—because it might have made Anya even more reluctant to take any risks on her behalf to know that she was dealing with one of her cousin’s ruthlessly discarded lovers.
‘Yes, and I’m furious with her, too.’
He had reduced their steps to a bare shuffle, the better to protect the intimacy of their exchange, his head bowed over hers. ‘And since she’s not here you’re going to take it all out on me?’
‘Yes!’
‘That isn’t very fair,’ he murmured. ‘What happened between Kate and me isn’t relevant to this relationship—’
‘Isn’t relevant? You had a love affair with my cousin and didn’t think it worth mentioning?’
‘There’s a certain etiquette involved in discussing one’s past liaisons—particularly when they’re with well-known people. When I realised that Kate hadn’t told you, I was presented with a dilemma. How could I betray something she clearly wanted held in confidence? Would you respect me if you knew I was the kind of man to kiss and tell?’
‘From what your sister told me, it was a hell of a lot more than kisses!’ hissed Anya, conscious of the relaxed looseness of his body as it teased at her stubborn rigidity.
‘It was also five years ago. Well in the past. And I’d prefer it to remain there. I don’t make a habit of discussing my past lovers with future partners. That’s not my style.’
Future partners? Anya went weak at the knees, telling herself he was just toying with her. She knew she was totally different from the other women he had had in his life. ‘And we all know what your style is,’ she said, catching a glimpse of Heather’s haughtily aloof face.
‘Oh? What’s that?’ he asked, again turning her back into the thick of the dancers.
‘Sophisticated, successful, beautiful…’
‘—and don’t forget bitchy,’ he had the nerve to tack on with a hint of laughter in his voice, his hand pressing hers into the warmth of his chest, making her aware of the springy cushion of hair under his shirt.
‘Elegant women who wouldn’t dream of…of—’
‘Rolling around on the grass with me under the trees?’
He was definitely laughing at her. Her hand clenched into a fist underneath his palm. ‘I bet you didn’t roll Kate around on the grass!’ she accused raggedly.
‘God, no…she hated being ruffled. Your cousin was moonlight, champagne and caviar and silk sheets…everything had to be first class all the way.’
While she was strictly economy, Anya thought bitterly, refusing to acknowledge the sardonic self-contempt that was invested in his words. ‘And I bet you loved every minute of it,’ she said.
His jaw brushed her brow, his voice unrelenting as he uttered the confidences that she had demanded from him but hadn’t really wanted to hear.
‘As you say, she’s a very beautiful woman, but suffice it to say that I didn’t do the chasing. I was single and unencumbered, and I wouldn’t have been a man if I hadn’t been seduced by her passionate declarations. I admit, I temporarily lost my head. For all of eight weeks she had me convinced I was central to her happiness and I was arrogant enough to actually start believing that she meant it when she said she loved me, that we might be building something special. It was quite a kick in the ego when the attraction didn’t last—on either side. It was an affair, certainly, but in retrospect I don’t think I’d classify it as a love affair…
‘Five years ago I might have mistaken glister for gold but my tastes have
matured since then. Maybe I’m discovering that I prefer to lose my head over the simple pleasures of life—sunlight and laughter, apples and grass, and a pair of eyes as clear and refreshing as a cool drink of water…’
His hand had somehow insinuated itself under the filmy fabric of her little cropped top, his fingertips resting on her silky bare skin above the low-cut back of her dress. Not caressing, or doing anything indecent, just there…as seductively enticing as his words.
‘You must have been pretty serious about Kate at the time,’ she tortured herself. ‘Your sister said you didn’t date for a year afterwards—’
He snorted. ‘Jo is a dyed-in-the-wool romantic. It was actually longer than a year. I was building up my practice as fast as I could and at the same time supervising all the renovations being done on The Pines both before and after I moved in. For a long time I simply didn’t have the spare energy to devote to a new relationship. My sex drive was sublimated in work. I didn’t have time for another woman in my life—’
