Читать книгу Mediterranean Tycoons - JACQUELINE BAIRD, Jacqueline Baird - Страница 17

‘NO BENJAMIN with you?’ Marcus asked, after the usual friendly greetings to Katy. ‘I’m amazed you could bring yourself to leave him at home.’ He smiled as he escorted the rather frazzled-looking Katy across the tarmac to the heliport. ‘It must have been a sudden decision on your part to visit Eloise,’ he prompted. He still had a lingering suspicion Eloise had somehow arranged this visit to avoid being alone with him, though he did not see how. He had never let Eloise out of his sight, since yesterday morning.

‘It was, and I’m only staying the one night.’ Katy shot him a worried frown. ‘But after I read the newspaper, I really didn’t think it was something I could tell Eloise over the phone.’

‘Sounds dire. Don’t tell me the firm has collapsed overnight without her,’ Marcus quipped.

‘No, but it does concern Eloise.’ Katy glanced at Marcus, and was reassured by his cheerful grin.

‘You know, before meeting you I would have bet Eloise would remain a virgin till her dying day,’ she confided in him chattily. ‘But she’s blossomed incredibly into a confident woman with you to look after her. Harry and I were amazed when she agreed to go to that film premiere with you. I would have sworn Eloise would never appear in the public eye ever again after the trauma she went though with the court case. The victim’s name is supposed to remain secret, but that slime-ball’s letter from prison to the gutter press threatening revenge, nearly finished poor Eloise off. But your trip to the premiere convinced us both she’s finally got over her fear of men and recognition.’ Katy gave Marcus a grateful smile. ‘But old habits die hard; we’ve protected her for so long. I want to be there for her when she finds out.’

Victim? Court case? His Eloise a virgin? Marcus’s mind reeled under the implication, a deep, dark, bottomless pit opening up before him. Katy obviously thought he knew what she was talking about. Glancing up, he realised they were at the helicopter.

‘Finds out what?’ he asked lightly, helping Katy into the helicopter and handing her a set of headphones, desperate to continue the conversation in flight.

‘This is great. I’ve never been in a helicopter before.’

Marcus forced a smile at Katy, but he had to know why she was here. Something was terribly wrong. ‘Yes, but you were going to tell me…’

‘Oh, yes.’ Katy sobered. ‘Eloise will have told you all about the assault and stabbing.’ Marcus felt the blood drain from his face, and he listened in growing horror as Katy rambled on.

‘It was a terrible time, and she was so brave all through the trial. But what you can’t know—I only found out late last night, when I got around to reading the paper—Rick Pritchard, the man who attacked her, who got a seven-year sentence, is to be released on Monday after serving only four years.’

‘I see.’ Marcus froze, the blood turning to ice in his veins.

‘Yes, well, after he was sentenced, he vowed from the dock he would get Eloise, and I saw the look in the fiend’s eyes. I wouldn’t put anything past him. The letter he sent to a newspaper a couple of weeks later simply reaffirmed the fact. But she has you to protect her and the fact she’s in Greece instead of London is actually quite fortuitous. The swine is unlikely to find her on Rykos,’ Katy opined, ending on a cheerful note. ‘Oh, look, I can see the sea and dozens of little islands. It’s beautiful.’

‘Yes.’ Marcus carefully pointed out various landmarks. He did not dare reopen the discussion on the attack. He had never felt such rage and fury in his life, or such disgust, most of it directed at himself. God, what had he done? Suddenly a lot of little things made sense. Katy’s and Harry’s protectiveness towards Eloise; Eloise’s dislike of publicity—and he silently groaned.

The sound of the helicopter made Eloise’s heart skip a beat. They were back. With one last glance in the mirror, she ran from the bedroom, and down the stairs, happy anticipation giving a bloom to her cheeks, and brilliance to her emerald eyes.

She wasn’t dreaming; Marcus had asked her to marry him. The why and wherefore she would have to discuss with him but, for the first time since meeting Marcus again, her heart was bursting with hope for the future. She’d told herself not to get too excited but she couldn’t help it. She’d dressed in a simple mint sheath dress, and on her feet she wore soft leather mules in the same colour. She had brushed her hair back and left it loose. She didn’t want to overdo it and look as if she had dressed up especially for Marcus.

Stopping her dash for the door, she made herself walk slowly out on the terrace and around to the rear of the house, in sight of the landing pad. She watched as the tall figure of Marcus stepped down from the helicopter and swung the smaller figure of Katy to the ground.

‘Fantastic,’ Katy murmured, walking around the terrace with Marcus at her side, and the houseman bringing up the rear, carrying Katy’s holdall. ‘This is some house, Eloise!’

‘Glad you like it.’ Eloise grinned at Katy. ‘Wait until you see the pool,’ and she glanced up at Marcus. ‘Perhaps we can all try it later when Katy’s settled.’ She smiled a little nervously, still a bit unsure about his proposal, but there was no reciprocal smile; his dark features looked coldly remote.

‘Not for me. I have some work to do in my study. Nikos here will show you Katy’s room, and as she is only staying one night I’m sure you two want to gossip. I’ll see you both at dinner.’ He strode into the shadowed interior of the house without a backward glance.

One phone call and Marcus turned pale as death. The hand holding the receiver shook with the force of his emotions. ‘Fax me the lot—trial transcript, newspaper articles, everything.’ Dropping the phone, he paced the length of his study like a caged tiger.

He couldn’t believe it, didn’t want to, but he knew it was true. When the fax machine started printing he sat down at his desk and started to read. The detective he had hired had said before Eloise was as pure as the driven snow and he, with his cynical mind, had thought he was being facetious. To see it in black and white in the trial transcript made him sick to his stomach. She had been a virgin when she was attacked, and technically still had been afterwards. The fiend had not succeeded.

Eloise, his Eloise, had been returning across a park alone after a game of tennis, and been brutally attacked by a depraved man, Rick Pritchard. Luckily a couple out walking their dog had disturbed him. Eloise had been rushed to hospital and the police called, and then the stab-wound to her inner thigh had been treated and she’d regained consciousness.

He buried his head in his hands, the full horror of what had happened to Eloise piercing him like a knife in the heart. The scar on her leg… She had said it was an accident. She had nearly bled to death…

Leaping to his feet, he wanted to smash something, or someone; impotent fury blazed in his black eyes. He had never felt such rage, such hatred, in his life; he wanted to kill Rick Pritchard with his bare hands. That being impossible, he once more picked up the phone. There was not a flicker of emotion in his dark sardonic features, but the implacable intent in his jet-black eyes would have scared the devil himself, as in a cold, hard voice he issued his instructions.

‘A lovely pad,’ Katy declared half an hour later seated opposite Eloise at the small table on the balcony of her bedroom. Nikos had thoughtfully provided a jug of iced tea and two glasses, plus a plate of various Greek delicacies to nibble on.

‘I can see why Marcus wanted to bring you here, you lucky girl.’ She sighed in delight at the panoramic view of sea and sky.

Eloise looked across at her friend. ‘Okay, Katy, why the rush out here?’ It was totally out of character for Katy to fly anywhere unless she had to.

Bright brown eyes turned compassionately to Eloise. ‘There’s no easy way of saying this. Rick Pritchard is due to be released from jail on Monday.’

Eloise quelled an internal shiver at the mention of the name. She should have guessed. She’d read the article in the paper herself yesterday morning. Of course Katy must have seen it and, being Katy, worried over her.

‘Is that all?’ Eloise tried a smile, deeply touched by Katy’s concern. But if the last few months had taught her anything, it was she could no longer hide from the harsh reality of life or depend on other people to protect her. Katy had her own family and life to lead. ‘I know, Katy. I saw the article when you gave me the paper yesterday. It is not important,’ she lied.

‘You’re sure? You’re not frightened he’ll come after you?’ Katy asked seriously.

‘Really, Katy… Do I look frightened?’ Eloise prompted and, casually picking up a small stuffed vine leaf, she waved her hand around. ‘Look where we are and with whom. Marcus is more than a match for any man, or woman!’ She allowed a brief, knowing smile to curve her lips, before she popped the morsel of food in her mouth.

‘Yes, you’re right.’ Katy smiled back, completely taken in by Eloise’s consummate acting. ‘Harry said I was worrying unnecessarily, and Marcus seemed quite cool when I told him about it. But, hey, now I am here, can we at least try out the pool.’

The food stuck in Eloise’s throat and she had to swallow hard to dislodge it horrified by Katy’s comment. ‘You told Marcus?’

‘Yes, on the way over. Why, does it matter?’

Recovering swiftly. ‘No. No, of course not, but do me a favour—don’t mention it to him again.’ The thought of Marcus knowing her dark secret mortified her. ‘He’s Greek, a typical macho male, and as you can imagine any mention of an attack on his lady puts him in a bad mood.’ She made it up as she went along. ‘And I really don’t want to talk about the case.’

But she knew she was only putting off the moment of reckoning. Once Marcus got her on her own he would want the full story. Now she understood why he had appeared cold on his return with Katy.

‘Sure, if you say so. The subject’s closed,’ Katy said understandingly, then grinned. ‘Now lead me to the water.’

They spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool, but there was no sign of Marcus. The whole situation put Eloise under a severe strain. So far, by some miracle she had managed to fool Katy into thinking Marcus was the love of her life and everything was fine. If Katy realised everything was not as it seemed, she would question Eloise until she got the truth.

But what was the truth? Eloise thought as she stood in the bedroom, fastening polished jade earrings to her ears, a perfect match for the patterned green silk sarong-style dress she had opted to wear for dinner. So much had happened, so fast. She was plunged into turmoil by her conflicting emotions.

Yesterday morning she had told herself she hated Marcus, because he’d ordered her to come to Greece, but after reading the newspaper she’d jumped at the chance to get away. She’d spent all day in a state of shock. Then last night and the episode on the beach when she had succumbed to his blatant sexuality yet again, she’d felt no shame, but freedom. This morning Marcus had asked her to marry him, and for a while she’d believed happiness was a possibility. But when he returned with Katy, it was as if the last twenty-four hours had never happened.

Dear heaven, it was no wonder she was an emotional basket case, she told herself bitterly. She was a complete novice when it came to male-female relationships, and Marcus was a vastly experienced, complicated man. He was also a very traditional male, with a high profile position to uphold in the business world. Not the sort of man who would take for his wife a woman who had been violated and the centre of a sordid court case, she concluded sadly.

Straightening her shoulders, she left the room to collect Katy and go down to dinner, her stomach churning with nervous dread, waiting for the axe to fall. Trying to understand what drove Marcus was like riding a rollercoaster, a spectacular high then a deep, depressing trough. Never mind the fact some madman might be chasing her…

They ate dinner out on the terrace with the sea and night sky as a backdrop. Marcus looked his usual magnificent self in a lightweight linen suit, and by the coffee stage he had shed his jacket. He ruled the conversation with all the charm and wit of a true Renaissance man. Katy was completely fooled, but Eloise could sense the underlying tension in the taut set of his wide shoulders.

She hadn’t had a private word with him since his bombshell proposal this morning. He’d waited until she and Katy had appeared for dinner before exiting his study with a murmured apology about changing for dinner. He was avoiding her, obviously disgusted.

Now, the few times their eyes met, his narrowed into hard darkness masking all expression. Obviously he was regretting his reckless proposal, Eloise thought sadly, but then she had not really believed him anyway. Miracles didn’t happen. At least not to her.

Inwardly she heaved a sigh of relief when, after demolishing almost a whole bottle of wine single-handedly, Katy said she was tired and wanted to go to bed.

‘Yes. I’m rather tired myself,’ Eloise agreed, rising from her seat. She glanced across at Marcus. ‘I think I’ll call it a night,’ she said smoothly, playing her part for the benefit of Katy. ‘If you don’t mind.’ Her green eyes widened as she saw the flash of something almost feral in the black eyes that met her own.

‘You do that, sweetheart,’ he said. With perfect manners, he rose as they did, and turning to Katy wished her good night, and then, glancing at Eloise, he added, ‘I am going to have a brandy. I will see you later.’

Following Katy into the house, Eloise heard the sarcasm in his tone, and slanted him a sharp backward glance—but, to her astonishment, she caught an expression of such bitter devastation on his darkly handsome face, her step paused. She wanted to go to him and ask him what was wrong. Then common sense prevailed; she was imagining things. Marcus had never needed anyone in his life, and she caught up with Katy, and showed her to her room.

Shedding her clothes, Eloise showered, and slipped a brief white cotton nightgown over her head. Returning to the bedroom, brush in hand, she sat down on the bed, and began brushing her hair. Marcus confused and tormented her, until she could no longer think straight. She’d tried. She’d tried to retain some control, to defend her poor heart against the overwhelming attraction of the man, but she was beginning to believe it was a hopeless task. She was hopeless. Her lower lip trembled; a solitary tear rolled down her cheek, and she brushed it away with her free hand, then brushed her hair with more ferocity than was strictly necessary. She refused to wallow in self-pity; she was a survivor—she had proved that once before, and she could do so again.

Lost in her own thoughts, Eloise did not know how long she had been sitting on the bed, when she glanced up and saw Marcus standing a few feet away.

He was as cold and still as a marble statue. She could see it in his eyes, feel it in the silence. Eloise swallowed hard vaguely threatened by his silent scrutiny. ‘The bathroom’s free,’ she said inanely.

‘So is your attacker,’ Marcus hissed between clenched teeth. ‘Why didn’t you tell me you’d been attacked?’ he demanded softly.

‘I didn’t think you’d be interested. Anyway, Katy has told you now,’ Eloise answered bluntly, staring at him as he wrenched off his tie as if it were choking him and undid the first few buttons of his shirt.

‘Katy thought I knew,’ he raked at her, tight-lipped with temper. ‘After a few calls, I finally received the transcript of the trial and the press reports. I have just finished reading them.’

All the colour drained from Eloise’s face, and the brush fell unnoticed from her hand to the bed. ‘It was a long time ago,’ she tried to say nonchalantly, but the tremble in her voice was plain to hear. She hated the thought of Marcus reading every horrible torturous intimate detail of the worst episode in her life.

‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ Marcus demanded savagely. ‘Why did you lie? I asked you about your scar and you said it had been caused by an accident.’

Eloise slowly stood up, and told him the truth. ‘I was shy; it was the first… I didn’t want you to know, not then, but later maybe.’

‘Why, why in God’s name would you hide such a thing from me?’ Marcus’s fury was so real she took a nervous step back. He saw it, and went white, strain etched in every line of his face. He had thought she was a virgin, but had ignored it, and it only served to make him more furious. ‘You were afraid of me.’ He hissed in outraged disbelief.

Eloise shivered. ‘No, I just wanted to forget.’

‘Forget?’ he bit out incredulously, ‘And how the hell am I supposed to forget?’ Marcus seethed, his glittering black eyes clashing with hers, and she caught her breath. She did not have to listen to this. It was as she had thought—he was disgusted by the court case, disgusted with her.

‘The exquisite face, the luscious body.’ His gaze slid down over her scantily-clad form and he reached out and caught her wrist as she would have whirled away.

‘God, but you’ve got your revenge, Eloise.’ He surveyed her with burning intensity. ‘Have you the slightest idea how I feel? How can I forget that I all but forced you into my bed?’ he demanded, his black eyes raking over her with contempt.

Eloise flinched as though she had been struck, but pride alone made her face him. She stiffened, and stared at him with ice-green eyes. Another room, another man accusing her. As if it was her fault she was a beautiful sexy girl, a tease—of course she led the defendant on. It was the past come back to haunt her yet again.

‘Don’t touch me. Let go of my arm,’ Eloise snapped, cold anger covering the pain he was inflicting by his callous words. ‘If, as you say, you read the transcript, you know that technically it was attempted rape and assault with a deadly weapon. You do not come into that category.’ Eloise threw him a look of pure scorn, denying the feelings he could arouse in her even when he was behaving like the worst kind of chauvinist. ‘Yet,’ she concluded viciously.

Marcus released her so abruptly she fell back against the bed. He lifted his hand and drove shaking fingers through his thick hair. Hell, what was he doing, raging at Eloise? None of this was her fault. She was the victim, and he was filled with self-contempt.

‘I shouldn’t have said that,’ he conceded tautly. ‘I allowed my anger to get the better of me. Sorry.’

She raised her eyes. Marcus saying sorry was a new experience—but one look at his face and she realised he looked less in command of himself than usual. In fact he looked absolutely dreadful. ‘Forget it,’ Eloise muttered with a negative shake of her head, and sat down on the bed, her trembling legs no longer capable of supporting her. ‘I have.’ After the court case, she’d vowed never to be forced by any man into defending her actions, and she was not about to do so now with Marcus.

There was a long silence, then Marcus took a deep breath and straightened to his full height. ‘I can’t forget what that man did to you Eloise. I wasn’t angry with you, I was furious with him, and myself.’ His black eyes captured hers, and there was no doubt of the sincerity in their depths. ‘I feel like the lowest of the low. I refused to believe a word you said, because all the evidence made you seem a liar. So I didn’t care how I got you in my bed, as long as I did. I would be lying if I said I regretted making love to you—I don’t, though I recognise I’m not much better than the man who attacked you. But you have nothing to fear from me, Eloise; I will never touch you again.’

Eloise turned paper-white, and there was an even longer silence while she digested what he’d said, and stared back at him, her green eyes curiously blank. She had been a challenge to him, but he didn’t want her any more.

‘It’s okay,’ she said finally. She had always suspected once he discovered her past he would lose interest in her. ‘I’ll go back with Katy tomorrow.’ She wasn’t going to cry, she wasn’t going to beg. ‘As for the money I owe…’

‘You don’t owe me a thing, Eloise. I’ve known that since Harry told me how you’d invested your inheritance to start the business and you’re all equal partners that you don’t care about money.’

Eloise knew somewhere in the back of her mind he was telling her something vital, but she couldn’t think straight. She felt sick inside and, taking a few deep breaths, it was only by a mighty effort of will she managed to shore up the defensive wall in her mind that stopped her bawling her eyes out. ‘Okay.’

She was doing it again. Marcus’s dark eyes narrowed, harsh and brooding, on her pale face and finally his brilliant brain discerned instantly what she was doing. He was appalled he hadn’t recognised the tactic sooner, appalled at his own insensitivity.

‘No, damn it, it is not okay,’ he swore. ‘Don’t do that again. I realise now why you were like that yesterday. You were in shock; it’s self-protection. You knew, didn’t you? You knew the rat was being set free.’

‘I read the paper before we left London. Yes,’ she admitted, her head bent, no longer caring what Marcus thought or felt. Just wishing he would leave, before she broke down completely.

A deep agonised groan had her lifting her head. Marcus stood, shoulders stooped, his hands covering his face, and as she watched his hands slid down to his sides. He stared down at her, his black eyes glazed with moisture, his handsome features twisted in horror.

‘What is it, Marcus?’ she asked hoarsely, deeply disturbed by his ashen pallor.

‘God help me!’ His tormented black eyes caught and held hers. ‘Yesterday you were in shock and I ordered you into the shower.’

Eloise had never seen such pain and anguish in her life, and slowly it dawned on her—Marcus, her arrogant, infuriating, powerful lover, the keeper of her heart if he did but know it, was racked with guilt.

She reached up and placed her hand on his curled fist. ‘I enjoyed our sojourn in the shower,’ she said softly.

He continued to stare at her for a disturbing length of time, as if he had not heard; then his fist unfurled and he clasped her hand in a deathlike grip. ‘Oh, God, Eloise,’ he groaned from deep in his throat, and pulled her up into his arms, crushing her to him. ‘I wish that were true.’

‘It is,’ she murmured tilting back her head to look up into his agonised face.

He stared at her for a moment in solemn silence, his eyes probing hers with a burning intensity; then, as if he could not help himself, he groaned again, his dark head descending. ‘I love you so much, Eloise.’ He buried his face against her throat. ‘I can’t bear the thought of anyone hurting you, and I know I must have hurt you. God! I took your innocence, I made you stay with me. I am no better than the scum who stabbed you.’

She felt as if all the air had left her lungs, by the fierce pressure of his arms, and she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Her mouth fell open in shock. Marcus loved her. She lifted a tentative hand to his head. She hated to see her proud, arrogant lover so distraught, and she knew what she had to do.

‘Marcus, you never hurt me, and certainly not physically. I always wanted you, even when we fought. I want you to believe me.’

‘You are too soft-hearted for your own good,’ he groaned against her throat and, lifting his head, his black eyes lingered on her slightly parted lips. ‘You need someone to take care of you,’ and he brushed his mouth over hers in the lightest of kisses. ‘Let it be me, and I swear no one will ever hurt you again.’

‘You…you love me?’ She had to ask, to be sure.

‘Eloise,’ he murmured thickly, his fingers brushing her hair lightly from her flushed cheeks, while his eyes devoured her. ‘I love you, and I have never felt more unworthy than I do at this moment. I can only pray that you will forgive me and let me try to make you happy.’

Her green eyes widened to their fullest extent as he spoke; it was almost too incredible to believe, but it was there in the gleaming depths of his dark eyes. It was there in the arms that tightened around her almost in desperation, and she finally knew it was there in his heart. ‘There is nothing to forgive,’ she whispered unsteadily. ‘Just kiss me and tell me again you love me.’

He kissed her with a tender passion that stirred her more deeply than anything had ever done before. Her arms linked around his neck and she lost herself in the miracle of the moment.

‘I love you, Eloise,’ Marcus groaned and, sweeping her off her feet, laid her down on the bed, removing her nightgown in between kisses. He stared down at her and, with a hand that visibly shook, he traced the length of her leg and the hard ridge of tissue. For a second his dark eyes flashed violently. ‘God, I could kill him,’ he snarled.

‘Marcus.’ She held out her arms to him. ‘Forget him and come to me.’

He made love to her with a care a depth of passion that touched her soul. His mouth found the scar and laved the length, and more. Eloise held nothing back and gave as much pleasure as she received, until they lay sated in each other’s arms, two hearts beating as one perfect whole.

‘Please marry me,’ Marcus rasped throatily, and Eloise moved sinuously against him.

‘Another deal?’ she teased, glancing up at the darkly handsome face above her, and was stunned by the vulnerability in his night black eyes.

‘No.’ His sensuous mouth tightened. ‘You never were, or were never meant to be.’ Marcus said with scrupulous honesty. ‘We need to talk.’ Rolling onto his side, he propped his head on one hand and looked down at her.

‘When Theo died, and I discovered what Chloe had done, I hired a detective to find her. When I was informed Chloe was dead and she had no sister, I was intrigued. The money meant little to me; I was more interested in finding you, to be brutally honest,’ he said ruefully. ‘You had haunted my dreams for years, seriously curbed my womanising ways, and I was curious to discover what had become of you.’

‘I don’t think I like the womaniser bit.’ Eloise grinned up at him, but the rest was like manna to her love-starved heart.

‘Yes, well, when the detective found you and informed me of your real name, and you owned a jewellery firm, I was bitterly disappointed; along with the signature on the contract it seemed to confirm that you were in league with Chloe. Then, when the detective told me you were as pure as the driven snow, I didn’t want to hear any more. In my cynical mind, I thought he was being sarcastic. I decided to look you up, and come to some arrangement over what I considered should be Theo’s share.’

‘But I told you the truth, Marcus. My mother used my college project and she also forged my signature. It had absolutely nothing to do with me,’ Eloise protested.

‘I know that now.’ Marcus calmed her with a finger across her lips. ‘Let me finish. When I saw you by chance at the supper club, I was struck dumb; you were more beautiful than I remembered, and you were with a much older man.’

‘I wasn’t with Ted, well…’

‘Shh. For the first time in my life I was hit by jealousy. And I thought of what you and your mother had done to my uncle and his family—and I was furious.’

‘I told you….’

His dark head swooped and he stopped her with a kiss. ‘Please, Eloise, I want to get everything out in the open between us. No more secrets.

‘When I took you out to dinner, I was going to expose you as a liar and a cheat and demand Theo’s money back—but, over the meal, you were so sweet, so much fun, I thought, why bother? I didn’t need the money, and then, when we made love…’

Eloise smiled dreamily up at him. ‘That night was so perfect. It was a miracle for me. I never expected to be able to let a man touch me, but with you it was different. I think it was because I had known you before the attack, and so you weren’t a stranger. It was as though the trauma of the past didn’t exist and I was nineteen again.’

His dark eyes locked with hers. ‘God, Eloise! What I have put you though?’ he said slowly, and she felt his muscles lock with tension. ‘I know it was your first time. You were so nervous, so obviously inexperienced. I fully intended to keep on seeing you, and to forget about the fraud against my uncle.

‘Then, after the phone call, when we were leaving, and you quite happily said you had obtained finance from Ted Charlton the night before. Everything you said suggested you’d slept with him. You got back to your apartment at three. You were so excited it was five before you finally slept—I wanted to strangle you. Then you signed the deal in the morning and celebrated over lunch.’ His dark eyes clouded with remembered pain. ‘I was gutted, thinking I must have been mistaken about your innocence, as you had spent the night and half the day with Ted to get him to invest in KHE, just like your mother, and then came to me.’

‘You…’ Amazement made her eyes widen. ‘You actually… I wondered why you were so dismissive when you took me home.’ Eloise stared at him. ‘But it was nothing like that! Ted left me at the door. When I said we discussed Paris, I meant Katy, Harry and I. They waited up for me, as they tend to worry over me since the attack. Ted called the next day for a meeting with Harry, and then took us all out to lunch.’ Recalling the conversation at the time, Eloise realised how it might have sounded. ‘But if you thought… No wonder…’ she trailed off.

A wry smile twisted his sensuous lips. ‘That’s exactly what I thought. My ego took an absolute hammering; I didn’t know if I was on my head or my heels. I needed to get away from you, to think.’

‘I don’t like the sound of that,’ Eloise murmured, wriggling a little closer to the warmth of his naked body.

He chuckled and continued. ‘I delayed going to America, and deliberately took Nadine to the charity ball, hoping you would see the photograph.’

‘I did,’ Eloise admitted. ‘I was terribly hurt but, funnily enough, in one way I was grateful, because even if I never saw you again, you had cured me of my emotional hang-up where men were concerned. At least, that was what I told myself.’

One dark brow arched sardonically. ‘I’ll take that as a compliment—but I’m not sure I want to be seen as a sex counsellor.’

Eloise gave him a playful punch in the chest and let her hand linger there lovingly. ‘You’d better not, Buster. I’m the only female you’re ever going to counsel.’

‘You’re the only female I want to.’ He ran a tender hand down her throat and over the soft swell of her breast.

She shivered and covered his hand with her own. ‘And Nadine, what happened to her?’ she asked hesitantly.

‘I’m a lot older than you are, and there have been women in my life—but only on a casual basis. Nadine was one of them. I hadn’t seen her for some months and I looked her up when I arrived in London, but that was as far as it went. Our first date and I saw you and no other woman would do. You’re the only woman I have slept with since the moment I saw you again. Believe me.’

She wanted to believe him, and she knew some things she would have to take on trust. ‘I do.’ But she still didn’t understand why he hadn’t come back for three months, and she asked him.

A dull tide of red ran up over his high cheekbones, and he looked less than his usual arrogant self. ‘I didn’t dare. But, God, I wanted to… Haven’t you realised yet? You’re my obsession, you drive me crazy. I love you quite desperately. After making love to you, there could never be anyone else for me. When I went to America—’ he hesitated ‘—I was so angry, I was determined I was going to make you pay. I consulted my lawyer, supposedly on behalf of Aunt Christine, and he was of the opinion the legal case would cost more than the actual money Theo had lost, and that an out-of-court settlement was the way to go. But I told myself I didn’t want to see you ever again, and I tried, I really tried. I concentrated on work to the exclusion of all else, determined to forget you ever existed. Then Ted Charlton got in touch with me and almost begged me to take over his commitment to KHE. After two months of aching for you, I thought, why not? It was a legitimate reason for seeing you. Then he told me he had slept with you, and confirmed what I suspected. All my anger surged back, a hundred times worse. I convinced myself if you slept with him for money, you could damn well sleep with me.’

It was Eloise’s turn to put her finger over his lips. ‘I really never slept with him.’

His mouth quirked in self-derision. ‘I know that. I think I’ve always known, but jealousy is a powerful emotion. And, if I’m honest, deep down you terrified me; it suited me to think of you as some kind of thief, because then I could deny the very real feelings I had for you. I could pretend you were just like all the other women I have known, self-seeking and greedy. If I once admitted you were different, I knew my bachelor days would be numbered. I told myself I was buying into KHE to help Ted and to get Theo’s money back, but I came to the opening of the Paris boutique, secretly hoping you would…’ He lifted an elegant bronzed shoulder. ‘I don’t know…fall at my feet in love and gratitude,’ he said wryly.

Eloise half smiled. His description was not far wrong; she very nearly had.

‘It wasn’t funny,’ Marcus murmured intently, brushing a caressing hand gently over her firm breast, as if compelled. ‘I ached to be like this with you again, but instead you looked at me like something you would scrape off the bottom of your shoe.’

Eloise sighed, stirring against him, and grinned. ‘That bad, hmm?’

This confession was certainly good for her soul, but she wasn’t so sure it was doing much for Marcus’s ego. ‘But you blackmailed me into your bed anyway,’ she prompted him.

‘By then I was determined to have you, and Ted had given me the lever, and to my shame I used it. Revenge is a very powerful emotion and I figured you owed my family.’

‘So when did you finally realise you loved me?’ She tried to sit up, and Marcus held her back down by simply rolling over her, his elbows either side of her shoulders and his hands cupping her head. The fully naked body contact and the warmth of his breath on her face made her lose her train of thought for a second.

A long kiss later, he stared into her emerald eyes. ‘I always have; I was going to marry you when you were nineteen, but you vanished. So I denied I loved you to myself. I thought it was a sign of weakness, and I kept on denying it.’ A dull tide of colour washed over his olive skin. ‘Until this morning, I looked at you and I knew I was fooling no one but myself. My control snapped and I probably made the least romantic marriage proposal known to man, and I dared not wait to hear your answer in case it was no.’

‘I liked it.’

‘Forgive me, Eloise, and marry me.’ She was stunned to see a trace of doubt in his night-black eyes. ‘I will look after you, protect you, and I know I can make you love me eventually or die trying.’

‘You won’t have to try. I do love you, Marcus, and the answer is yes.’