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Shannon shook her head. ‘I don’t love you,’ she repeated as Cade drew her towards him, but the line hadn’t come out right.
Where was Alana’s proud determination?
Where was hers?
‘I’m half-tempted to believe you,’ Cade said, running his thumb along her cheek. ‘If you loved me, you wouldn’t have believed what you heard without talking to me first.’
‘Nothing you can say will change anything.’
‘You don’t believe that,’ he said softly.
His eyes were so deep. So dark. She wanted to fall into them…
‘Don’t,’ she whispered.
Her heart was hammering in her ears, her blood was pounding thickly in her veins. I am Alana Dunbar, she told herself, fighting against a rising panic. I am Alana Dunbar and he is Johnny Wolff, and this is just a scene from a soap opera, that’s all. It isn’t anything more than that...
‘Don’t be afraid,’ he whispered. ‘You know it feels right, love.’
Something skittered wildly deep inside her. He was pulling her towards him, his arms like steel bands, and she was drowning, drowning in his eyes.
‘Don’t,’ she said, trying to twist her face away from his, 'please...’
‘I love you,’ he said. ‘You know I love you.’
‘You don’t. It was all a lie…’
He was bending towards her—the script called for him to kiss her now, a long, lingering kiss, and then he was supposed to fumble at the buttons of her blouse and slowly, slowly, ease it from her shoulders, his lips at the hollow of her throat.
And she would be lost.
Damn him! Damn Cade, damn Jerry for making her do this. Was she supposed to make a fool of herself again? She wouldn’t do it, she wouldn’t, she wouldn’t...
The crack of her hand against Cade’s cheek echoed through the silent studio like a gunshot.
His head sprang back; his fingers went to his face, moving lightly over the skin that already wore the red imprint of her hand.
‘Stop it,’ she said brokenly. ‘Just stop it! You don’t know anything about love. And you never will.’
‘Shannon?’ Jerry’s voice crackled over the microphone. ‘Shannon, I don’t see any of that in my copy of the script.’
There was a cackle of nervous laughter that disappeared into the ominous silence of the studio.
‘That’s it,’ Cade growled. She flinched as he reached for her, and then he was lifting her into his arms. ‘Damn it, that’s the final straw.’
‘You put me down,’ Shannon demanded, beating her fits against his shoulders.
‘The hell I will.’
The technicians’ shocked faces rolled past as Cade carried her across the studio. Jerry's voice called after them, but Cade never paused until he’d kicked open her dressing-room door and dumped her unceremoniously on her feet.
‘Okay,’ he growled. ‘Let’s get this over with.’
‘It’s over, all right! If you think I’m going to stay here and play games with you...’
Shannon started to brush past him, but he reached out and shoved her against the wall.
‘Don’t push your luck,’ he warned. ‘I’m just waiting for an excuse.’
