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The sudden harnessed tension in his voice made her stomach shrivel with panic, but she lifted her chin.
‘Yes. Yes, it is.’
She wanted it to be true. Wanted to prove that she was immune to him. Wanted to make a dent in that armour-plated arrogance. But almost instantly she regretted her words as, eyes narrowing, he began slowly walking towards her.
She took a hurried step back. ‘What are you doing?’
Her eyes widened... Her voice was high and panicky. But he was still moving forward and frantically she held out her hands.
‘Stop. Stop it!’
Finally, thankfully, he did so. Only now they were close enough to touch—so close she could feel the heat of his skin. Too close, she realised. Too late. With no physical distance between them there was nowhere to hide from that beautiful sculptured body. Or the seductive curving lips. Lips that had kissed her with a fierce, sensual passion she had never experienced before, rendering her both helpless and hungry.
And now that hunger was rising inside her, dark and treacherous as a storm tide, pulling her under.
‘Stop what?’
His voice—cool, blade sharp—sliced through her brain.
‘All the name-calling, the snide remarks.’ Her own voice was shaking and she hated herself for sounding so weak.
Hated her body for responding when it should be rejecting him. But she hated him more for taking over her life. Breathing in sharply, she folded her arms. Only how was anyone going to believe they were in love if there was only hate?
‘This is not going to work,’ she said as firmly as she could manage. ‘Us, I mean. I know in theory it sounded like it could, but—’
Her words vaporised on her lips as his eyes slammed into hers.
‘Let me remind you of why you might want to make it work in practice. It’s the only way you and your brother are avoiding criminal records.’
Her chest was hard and tight; her throat felt as if it was closing up.
‘But I can’t live like this for the next twelve months.’
‘I don’t care.’
She stared at him, her body trembling not with desire now but with anger.
‘Oh, I know you don’t care!’ She glowered at him, furious responses whirling inside her head like sparks from a Catherine wheel. ‘You don’t care about me or my feelings. You made that clear from the moment we first met—and, yes, I know I was breaking into your office, so you can spare me the part about how I brought it on myself,’ she snapped.
His face was hard and impenetrable, like a castle wall, eyes narrowed like arrow slits.
‘I’m warning you, Daisy, I’ve had just about enough of—’
His voice was like a whip crack, but she wasn’t going to let him intimidate her.
‘Of what? Of me being a human being? With feelings? You can’t call me names and—’
‘Call you names!’ He shook his head incredulously.
‘Yes. Call. Me. Names.’ She punctuated each word clearly and firmly, like Morse code. ‘You do it all the time. And it’s not fair—’
‘Fair?’ His face hardened like water turning to ice. ‘I’ve been more than fair. I could have just handed you and your brother over to the police, but I didn’t.’
She gave a small strangled laugh. ‘That’s your idea of being fair? Blackmailing me to be your wife? You weren’t being fair—just self-serving.’
The skin across his cheekbones grew tauter, his eyes glittering like splinters of glass.
‘I see it more as a strategic response to a business opportunity.’
