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'That you're not for him,' Keir said, and although he wasn't touching her she felt his stare like burn marks on her skin. He watched her, waiting, not smiling, almost grave and she tried not to believe he meant this, but knew he did.
'You have no right to decide whether Bruno and I could be happy!' She was arguing about it, although she had never had any intention of marrying Bruno, it hadn't crossed her mind, she had always known that Bruno wasn't someone she could love like that. She wasn't going to tell Keir that, though.
'He's leaving at the end of the week and I want your promise that you won't see him.'
'I'm not promising you anything!'
He gripped her wrist and twisted her arm behind her back. Pulling her close to him, his face lowered just inches from hers, those blue eyes staring fiercely at her.
'You will,' he said softly, so softly she had to watch his mouth to read the words. 'You'll promise me here and now.'
'Get your hands off me,' she muttered, writhing in his grasp, but that only made her more aware of the firm muscle and flesh clamped against her body. She could hear him breathing, her eyes were on a level with his mouth and she could see a tiny muscle jerking beside his lips. Keir was angry, tense.
"Bruno didn't dine with us last night, although he'd promised to,' he said. 'Did he stay with you last night? Until the early hours?'
She shook her head.
'Don't lie to me,' Keir said furiously, his skin dark red now. 'I'd begun to think I was wrong about you—you just didn't seem the sort of gold-digger my sister said you were.' His blue eyes were hard and remorseless, lashing her with contempt, making her wince. T thought I was being very clever, meeting you without telling you who I was, getting to know you when you didn't have a chance to put on an act, but you still managed to fool me, didn't you?' He glared at her. 'I rang Bruno at midnight. There was no answer, was there? He wasn't in his flat and he didn't answer his phone until after two in the morning— so what the hell were you two doing until then?' He laughed harshly. 'That was a rhetorical question! I don't need to be told!'
Liza frowned, completely taken aback. Where on earth had Bruno gone after he dropped her back at her flat? She had taken it for granted that he was going to have dinner with his mother. Mrs Morris had reminded him that that was what he had promised to do, and Bruno hadn't breathed a word of going anywhere else.
'What did Bruno say when you rang him?' she asked slowly.
'You want to make your story fit his, is that it?' Keir said cynically. 'Oh, no, we aren't playing games. I want the truth, Liza.' He moved his hand, gripping her fiercely by that tethered wrist, while his other hand caught her chin and pushed it backwards so that she had to stare up at him or shut her eyes.
'Tell me, damn you!' he said, his face hard and cold.
Her mouth was dry with fear. If she had ever wondered just how menacing Keir Gifford could be, she knew now. He was an adversary to be wary of, but she was trapped. She couldn't avoid this intolerable physical intimacy, and although she fought not to let it show she was icy and her stomach had butterflies.
The only way
she could fight back was to attack; wasn't that the best defence?
'Who the hell do you think you are?' she snapped, and was relieved to find her voice steady, amazingly, almost normal. 'Don't you manhandle me, Mr Gifford! What are you going to do if I don't tell you what you want to know? Beat me up?'
'No,' he said, staring down at her, his blue eyes glittering, compelling, making her face burn hotter. T don't know what the hell I am going to do about you, Liza! All I do know is that I don't want Bruno anywhere near you!'
She took a long fierce breath, staring angrily. 'Do you realise how insulting you are? You may not think I'm good enough to marry into your family, but
'Has Bruno proposed to you?'
'If he had, that wouldn't be your business!'
T won't have it,' Keir grated and she stared incredulously.
' You won't have it? You can't do anything to stop it— we're both over twenty-one and
She never finished that sentence. His mouth came down, crushing and barbaric, as if he wanted to hurt her, hated her—and yet at the same time with a wild sensuality that made her give at the knees. She put her hands on his shoulders to push him away, but her mouth clung and she shuddered in excited pleasure which was bitterly familiar. She had felt like this before! Her body had betrayed her, given in to this sweet delirium which made it so easy to forget everything else.
She broke free of it, shoving him away at the same time. 'Don't you...' Her voice broke and then she forced the rest of the words out, 'Ever touch me again!'
Keir stared at her; his blue eyes seeming blind, dazed. 'Liza', he said hoarsely, reaching for her and a note in his voice made her head spin. This was no game, no pretence—he wanted her and she hated her own weakness as she felt her senses jangle in response. She wanted him, but she couldn't lose control of herself again. Last time she had been hurt so badly. This time she had far more to lose; she knew the world now. She knew what could happen—she was no longer a romantic, wide-eyed adolescent; she was a hard-headed business woman who had fought her way to the top and meant to stay there. No man was muscling his way into her life again, or wrecking it for her. She was free, independent and safe, and she meant to stay that way.
Keir Gifford was a hardened campaigner; a lifetime bachelor who had had a lot of women in his life and always got away before they nailed him. He might want her, but he wasn't telling her that she was the love of his life. He wasn't offering her his heart—just his body, and she had never descended to one of those loveless affairs. She was afraid to risk loving, but she wouldn't risk an affair without it, either.
'No,' she said, and balling her hand into a fist, hit him in the stomach before he had any idea what she meant to do.
Keir instinctively doubled up at the blow, giving a winded gasp, and Liza pushed him violently before he could recover.
