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‘Upset me?’
She flared up with spectacular force—his ferocious little lioness. He actually felt himself blanch when he saw her eyes, pools of brandy swimming in betrayal.
‘Oh, just go away. I’m not speaking to you.’
‘You just did,’ he said lazily, trying to lighten the mood, get her to come round to him.
‘Only because you’re forcing me to. You are such a control freak. Do you get off on being Mr Big and Powerful? Taking away people’s choices?’
That wasn’t what he’d done. Was it…?
‘No, what I was doing was preventing you from making a mistake. Giving you freedom from your father. You owe him nothing, angel. Soon you’ll realise I’ve done you a great favour, and when you thank me I will not be so arrogant as to say I told you so.’
Moaning, as if his very existence was painful to her, she squeezed her eyes shut and banged her head on the headrest. ‘You’re impossible. You really are.’
Gingerly, he covered her in layers of dove-grey cashmere and tucked the ends underneath her.
‘What’s this? A peace offering?’ she jeered.
‘No, a blanket,’ he drawled as he slipped off her towering white glossy shoes. Unable to resist that ticklish spot, he ran his thumb over the sexy little nub of her anklebone.
She flinched and tucked her foot under the blanket, rebuffing him.
Thane sighed, stood tall, and shunted a hand through his hair. Back to that place where he was lost. Only knowing in that moment that making her smile at him was more important than anything else. And that thought was not only unnerving but also perilous and highly confusing.
His office silently chanted his name.
‘I’ll leave you for a while, then,’ he said, stepping away.
Naturally that was when she started ranting all over him.
‘How do you do this to me, Thane? How do you make me want you and hate you at the same time? I have no sense when it comes to you. None!’
One fat tear slipped down her cheek and his cold, stony heart cracked in two.
‘Now look at the mess I’m in.’
The desolate anguish in her voice made him remember, and he couldn’t just stand there paralysed. He had to do that in his own country, almost every damn day.
Ah, to hell with it.
Swooping in, he scooped her up…
‘Hey!’
He turned and plonked them both back down in her seat, holding her close.
‘I…I told you not to touch me again,’ she choked out, trying to fight him and her tears at the same time. ‘Honest to God, do you listen to one single, solitary thing I say?’
Palm to her cheek, he pushed at the side of her face to nestle her into his neck. ‘It may not seem so, but, yes. I just… Let me hold you. Warm you up. Please? Just for a moment. You’re shivering.’
He tucked the blanket tightly around her, from her sexy knees to the feminine slope of her nose, until she was swaddled, unable to move an inch.
‘There you go. You look like a cute furry Egyptian mummy, but that’s better, si?’
If looks could kill, he’d be dead.
‘It may be better if you remove that damp dress from your skin,’ he suggested.
It was shrinking by the second, he was sure. He was also sure he wanted it off her, since he could easily conjure up far more pleasurable ways to make his thoughtless arrogance up to her.
Hiking her chin up over the cashmere, she harrumphed at him. ‘As. If. Now you’re trying to get my clothes off? Forget it, Romeo. This Juliet isn’t falling for that.’
Thane frowned. ‘They were enemies, weren’t they?’
‘Yeah… Ring any bells? And there was no happy ending for them either. She killed herself, so let that be a lesson to you.’
Spine rigid, he stiffened up…then slammed down the memory before it invaded him and the blackness tainted his soul. No, that would never happen with Luciana. She was not his mother. He and Luciana had history. He’d made her happy once and he would again. He was a man now—stronger, more powerful—he would be enough this time. Wouldn’t he?
‘Thane?’ she squeaked. ‘Can you let me breathe? You’re squashing me, here. Are you trying to suffocate me now? First you abduct me and now you’re squeezing me to death. Frankly, I’m not too sure if you even like me, so why you’d want to marry me is beyond my comprehension.’
‘Ah, sorry, angel.’
