A Past Revenge (15 page)

'Nick
—
'

'Danielle
—
'

Finally they both spoke at once. 'You first,' she invited with an embarrassed laugh, uncertain and off-balance with this new Nick. His arrogance she could handle, even his blazing anger, but she couldn't even understand this different Nick, let alone handle him. It wasn't the first time he had put her off-guard with his change of manner, and she was beginning to realise there was a lot more to Nick Andracas than the lazy charm or cynical cruelty.

He sighed.
'I
was just going to say that I wasn't just out of line last night, that I've been out of line all through our relationship, I realise that now.'

Danielle stiffened warily, wondering if she had misjudged his reason for coming here tonight; it sounded distinctly as if she were going to get the Andracas brush-off. 'Oh?' she sounded only mildly interested.

'Yes.' He stared into the bottom of his brandy
glass. 'I've been trying to push you into an affair
you've made it obvious you don't want or need.
You're right, we don't even know each other, have
no basis to go jumping into bed together. But
when I get back from the States
—
'

'You're going away?' she queried sharply.

He nodded. 'That was the reason seeing you tonight was a little inconvenient. I had reservations for my niece and myself on a flight for this morning.'

'And you cancelled those plans because of me,' she realised dazedly.

His eyes were compelling. 'It was important that I see you before I go, try to make amends between us. I have to go back to the States tomorrow, I have no choice, my niece Carly is having a battle at the moment with the rest of the family about the man she wants to marry. I've been dragged in to decide if he's a suitable husband for
her
or not. As if I'm any judge on marriage,'
he
added abruptly. 'But when the family needs
me, I
have to go. You understand that?'

'Yes.' She could also understand Carly's insistence that she be allowed to marry the man she wanted to; the other woman had shown in the past that she had a determination and will as strong as that of her uncle.

Nick stood up, putting down his glass to come and sit on the arm of her chair. 'Your way of doing things is new to me,' he told her throatily. 'I'm not used to waiting any length of time for what I want, but with you I'm going to try.' One of his hands moved to cup her cheek. 'When I get back from America we'll do things your way for a change.'

Danielle moistened her lips, the gentleness of his caressing hand doing strange and wonderful things to her equilibrium. 'How long will you be away?'

'A week, possibly two. But I'll call you every day if I can.' His gaze was warm on her parted lips.

Possibly as long as two weeks! God, she wouldn't wait as long as that to put an end to this, things were starting to go wrong again already. She reached up to curve her arm about his neck. 'We don't have to wait that long, do we?' she encouraged huskily.

'Danielle . . .!' he groaned his confusion with her change in behaviour before lowering his head down to hers. 'It's been so long since I held you, darling,' he moaned. 'So long!'

His body crushed down on hers above her in the chair, his kiss all enveloping, his thighs moving restlessly against her. But he made no attempt to touch her intimately, even though the thin blue gown only had two tiny buttons holding the bodice up above her breasts.

Danielle moved against him impatiently, encouraging him to intimacy, one slender hand
moving to caress the hardness of his thighs, feeling
him shudder in reaction. Suddenly he was putting
her away from him, standing up to move away
from her, his eyes almost black from the effort it
cost him to turn away from her.

'Nick, why
—
'

'If I make love to you now,' his voice was gruff with desire, 'then I'll never get to New York. And I have to go. But when I get back I have such plans for us!'

'Yes,' she agreed dully.

'Unless you would like to come with me tomorrow?' he suggested with eagerness. 'I'd enjoy showing you New York.'

'No,' she refused abruptly. 'I—I can't. I have commitments here, my own work to do.'

'Oh,' he grimaced his disappointment. 'But you'll save the weekend I come back for me?'

'Yes,' she said curtly. 'You really can't stay tonight?' and looked up at him pleadingly, one night being all she wanted.

He shook his head regretfully. 'I really have to go tomorrow. But we'll have all the time we want once I get back,' he promised softly.

When he got back. She both looked forward to and dreaded that time. And it was for all the wrong reasons!

God, she had planned this all so carefully, she would let Nick make love to her, leave him his two hundred pounds and then get out of his life. Only it wasn't working out that way. She had
wanted
him to make love to her just now, hadn't given a damn about thoughts of revenge. She had just wanted Nick.

And that could be very dangerous.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Nick
kept to his promise and telephoned her every day, his conversation light and chatty, telling her with regret that he had to stay on a few extra days to attend his niece's wedding. Obviously he had approved of the prospective bridegroom. Which was probably as well, remembering Carly from the past she would have married the man of her choice anyway.

'I'll be back on Sunday,' Nick continued huskily.

'That's good,' she kept her own voice light, as she had done the last two weeks.

'Good!' he groaned at the inadequacy of the description, impatient with the distance that separated them.
'I
want you so badly that Carry's fiancé could look like Frankenstein and I'd still approve of him just to get this problem off my hands so that I can come back to you. The last couple of weeks over here without you have been hell, Danielle.'

For her too, but for a different reason. She was fighting herself as well as him now, knew that she was no longer impersonal in her revenge, that she wanted him as badly as he claimed to want her. And that terrified the life out of her. What if she couldn't say goodbye after that one night with him? What if she fell into her own trap? She had a sad feeling she may already have done that.

'Sunday isn't too far away,' she dismissed lightly, confident of her ability to resist him with thousands of miles separating them.

'To me it is,' he grated, the cool politeness he had shown her during his other calls the last two weeks rapidly disappearing. 'Will you stay with me on Sunday night?'

She felt a leap of her pulses. 'At your apartment?'

'No,' he told her quickly. 'At my house.'

'Your house?' she repeated in a puzzled voice, sure he had never stayed overnight there with any of his women before. 'Perhaps you prefer my apartment?' She kept her fingers crossed that he would say no to the latter; she could hardly walk out of her own apartment at the end of the evening!

'No, not your apartment,' he said instantly. 'The
house will be fine. I should be back by mid-
afternoon, so I'll call for you at about
—
'

'No, I'll make my own way there,' she told him abruptly. 'I'm sure you'll be tired.'

'Not that tired,' he growled.

'Nevertheless, I'll drive myself over,' she insisted huskily.

'If that's what you want,' he accepted her independence, although his reluctance to do so indicated he didn't like it. 'You'll come over as soon as you can?'

'As soon as I can,' she echoed, a plan forming in her mind as she repeated the words.

He rang off with his usual reluctance, leaving Danielle to her thoughts. 'As soon as she could', meant exactly that as far as she was concerned. Nick wasn't the victor yet, although he may think he was. She had one more ploy to play. And he was going to be furious about it. Maybe that anger was what she needed to help her through Sunday night—his gentleness utterly defeated her.

She left her apartment early on Sunday morning, not willing to take any chances of Nick getting back earlier than he had said and coming over to surprise her. The countryside was beautiful this time of year, and after parking the car she took a small packed lunch out of the back to walk for miles across Windsor Park, choosing a private spot for her picnic, needing to be completely alone while she contemplated the folly of her actions. Nick wasn't just going to be angry about this, he was going to be furious. And she knew from experience that when he was that angry he hurt her. It would be far from the first time!

Driving back to town later that afternoon she saw a film advertised that she had been wanting to see for some time, parking her car behind the cinema to join the queue going inside. It was a good film, and at any other time she would have enjoyed it. But not when her stomach was churning at the consequences of what she was doing. She may just have gone too far this time, although it was too late to back down now, it was already almost ten o'clock now, and by the time she got home it was going to be after eleven.

Maybe she wasn't concentrating on her driving as well as she should have been, or maybe the other driver really had been at fault as the man later apologetically claimed that he had. By that time she had arrived at the hospital in the ambulance, the cuts on the arm she had received when she instinctively protected her face from the shattered windscreen serious enough to receive stitches and an overnight observation in a hospital bed. The latter she had protested as unnecessary, but the young doctor on duty had insisted that she do so.

The throbbing pain from the numerous cuts in her arm when she woke up the next morning told her that he had probably been right to insist, she even needed help to eat the breakfast they brought her. But she made sure they discharged her immediately after she had eaten, knowing she was going to have some explaining to do when she got home; Nick wasn't going to take her sudden disappearance calmly.

As she had known there would be there were half a dozen messages from him on her answering service, the first two concerned, the second two mildly angry, the last two explosive, demanding to know where the hell she was.

Her plans for last night had gone sadly awry, and with a resigned shrug she got a taxi over to the Andracas house. In normal circumstances she would have apologised to him for worrying him. Although the latter calls hadn't sounded worried, just angry.

She was shown into the lounge while she waited for Nick, formulating in her mind what she was going to say to him. When he burst into the room a few seconds later she didn't have time to say anything, Nick was saying it all!

'If last night was your idea of another game then you're the only one playing,' he began angrily. 'Just where were you all night?' he demanded to know.

'Nick
—
'

'I waited up for you until two o'clock in the morning.
Where were you?'
he moved forward to grasp her arms, his eyes narrowing as she gasped and noticeably paled. 'What is it?' he asked sharply. 'What's wrong?'

'My arm,' she managed to choke through the pain he was inflicting. 'Please, let go of it!'

He removed his hands as if he burnt her, seeming to notice for the first time that she held her right arm awkwardly, gently pushing back the sleeve of her jacket to reveal the start of the bandage she wore. 'What happened?' he looked at her closely, his anger starting to fade. 'Danielle, what have you done?'

'I had a slight disagreement with the windscreen of my car,' she told him lightly.

An emotion akin to pain flickered across his arrogant face. 'Where did you spend last night?' he was no longer demanding, just enquiring.

'In hospital. Another car crashed into me.'

'God,' he groaned, closing his eyes for a moment. 'Were you badly hurt?'

She shook her head, aware that he still supported her arm with gentle hands. 'Just my arm. It seems it's instinctive to try and protect your face when something like that happens. My arm is quite badly cut in places.'

'Thank God it
wasn't
your face, then!' he ground out.

Her mouth twisted. 'Yes. I don't suppose you would find me in the least attractive if it had been.'

He folded her gently against him, careful not to touch her arm in any way. 'I'd desire you even if I couldn't see you,' he told her huskily. 'Just the feel and scent of you drives me to distraction.' He moved back slightly so that he could look down at her. 'You're sure you weren't injured anywhere else?'

'I'm sure.'

He frowned. 'Shouldn't you have your arm in a sling or something to support it?'

Danielle grimaced. 'Have you ever tried to dress trussed up in one of those things? It's impossible!'

'But you should be wearing one?' he persisted with his usual determination.

'I left it at home. I couldn't get my jacket on with it in the way.'

Barnham can pick that up with the rest of your things,' Nick decided arrogantly.

Her eyes were wide with alarm. 'What rest of my things? And who is Barnham?'

'Barnham is my butler. And you obviously can't stay at your apartment on your own with your arm out of action; you're going to come and stay here until your arm is better.'