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thanked me for ruining the wedding, because it meant you would lose
control of Cranston's.' She stopped because it was hard to go on when he had
paled so much that the scar stood out vividly on his cheek.
She felt helpless, stirred by an inexplicable urge to offer him some comfort,
and not knowing how to handle the startling revelation of the feeling. It
brought a bubble of hysteria to her chest. Not only did he not look the sort of
man you would give comfort to, but even if he was, she wasn't the woman he
would accept it from. The very thought was crazy she was crazy!
She cleared her throat abruptly. 'You should have told me about the will.'
'The will!' he declared harshly, then left his chair to stalk to the window,
staring out into the darkness. 'Just what the hell has Andrew been saying?'
He threw the question at her over his shoulder.
'That your grandfather had cut you out of his will unless you married, and
that you'd lose control of the business,' she told his rigid back, seeing the
way he squared his shoulders as he listened.
'I see. So that's it,' he said flatly.
'You should have told me,' Kate repeated.
'The company is my business,' he stated firmly.
Kate stared at his uncompromising back. 'You tried to make it mine,' she
reminded him.
He turned round at that. 'Are you saying that if I had told you this last week,
you would have agreed then?'
The grey eyes seemed to bore into her, and she was forced to drop hers.
'I'm...not sure,' she answered huskily, and that was the truth. Without the
extra goad of Andrew Crawford's delight, would she have had the nerve to
do this?
His brother seemed to have no such doubts. 'Don't try to kid yourself, Kate.
You aren't doing this for the company or me, but for yourself. You still want
your revenge,' he told her bluntly, and Kate came to her feet, stirred by the
small grain of truth in what he said. She was human, and the old Kate
couldn't be wiped out that quickly.
She dragged a hand through her hair. 'Perhaps I do, but so much has
happened, I'm not sure of anything any more. All I do know is that I won't let
your brother win again. You want your company, and I'm prepared to do my
best to help you get it. Why I'm doing it really doesn't matter in the long run,
does it?' she challenged.
A curious expression crossed his face for a moment before it closed up.
'That's the question, isn't it? 1 happen to think it does. I love my brother,
Kate. I'm not about to stand by while you try to hurt him.'
Kate gave a broken laugh. 'That's crazy. He's the one who's hurting you. He
hates you.'
He came back to her then. 'And because of that, do you think I should hate
him in return? I'm afraid it doesn't work that way.'
'My brother, right or wrong?' she jeered.
His eyes narrowed angrily. 'I can't won't change the way I feel.'
'And he knows it, and hates you all the more for it,' Kate exclaimed in
disbelief.
Aidan Crawford's expression remained stony. 'I meant what I said, Kate. I
won't have him hurt. I won't have you playing your tricks on him.'
She withdrew into herself at once, remembering that inexplicable fear.
There's no danger of that,' she returned frigidly. 'Believe it or not, I don't
want to hurt your brother even should such a thing be possible, which I
doubt. All I intend to do is stop him from using me to hurt you,' she protested
strongly, willing him to accept what she knew to be the truth.
'And so you nobly agreed to marry me,' he drawled cynically.
'Yes,' Kate concurred shortly, 'but there are conditions.'
A mocking smile twisted his lips. 'Naturally. I wouldn't expect you to do this
for nothing.'
Kate's teeth came together in a snap. 'I don't want your money. I have more
than enough of my own. I meant that I will only marry you on the strict
understanding that the marriage is one of convenience.' There was a sound
basis why she needed his agreement. She saw no good reason for holding her
own inadequacies up to his ridicule for what was to be only a temporary
marriage. He had enough weapons already without stripping her pride away,
too. If he objected, then the deal was off. She didn't wait long for his answer.
'That, my dear Kate, is the only type of marriage I'd be prepared to undergo
with you,' he whipped back smartly.
There was absolutely no reason why his words should strike home so
sharply, but, like so much else he had said, they found her vulnerable spot
with an accuracy that was frightening. And because she didn't know how to
handle it she hid her reaction behind a surge of anger that was pure Ice
Queen.
'There's no need to be so insulting. After all, I'm doing you the favour,
remember.'
His look was every bit as chilling as hers. 'So you are, but let's get something
straight right now. The Ice Queen image doesn't impress me one jot. I'm not
about to start grovelling to you. If that's what you expect, then thanks, but
no, thanks,' he concluded cuttingly.
Kate blanched. Nobody spoke to her like that! Not with such searing
contempt. 'How dare you?' she choked. 'What sort of woman do you take me
for?'
Aidan Crawford lifted his hand and caught hold of her chin in a relentless
grip that she immediately fought against but in vain. Inside her chest, her
heart started a frantic beating as he gave her a long searching look before
replying. 'I take you to be what I now know you to be. I haven't been idle.
I've been learning all about you. Kate Hardie, the eternal virgin. Reeling men
in with the promise of your sensuality. Making them your slaves so that
they'd do anything for the chance of breaking into the citadel you guard so
jealously. And when their antics cease to amuse, when they bore you, you
drop them, don't you, Kate? No man will ever break down the wall because
you won't let them. No man could love you more than you love yourself. No
man could do you justice. So you remain inviolate and scorn the fools who
break themselves against your walls.'
Horrified by the picture he painted, Kate couldn't unlock her gaze from his.
It was a scathing indictment that made her shrivel up inside, because it had
been ninety-nine per cent true less than forty-eight hours ago.
'That's... horrible,' she gasped, her heart beating ' achingly fast.
'The truth often he agreed chillingly. 'But be warned, Kate. I'm not like any
man you've ever met before. I don't ask, or plead, or grovel. I don't play by
your rules, only my own.' His voice dropped to a husky growl. 'I take what I
want. Like this...'
Before she had a chance to do more than register the shock of his intent, his
head had swooped and his lips claimed hers. Automatically Kate froze. Then
every nerve in her body shattered like glass as something resembling an
electric shock went through her. All concept of what a kiss could be was
exploded by that searing touch. The heat from his lips sent her blood rushing
crazily along her veins and she couldn't move as his kiss forced her head
back, ravishing her mouth. Her body became an alien thing she didn't
recognise as for the first time it responded to a call as old as time itself.
Dizzily, she felt her bones dissolve, her flesh quickening, as tiny flames of
pleasure burst like fireworks inside her. Nothing had prepared her for this
intense excitement as the kiss went on and on. Overwhelmed, she trembled
and a moan forced its way from her throat as she unconsciously swayed
towards him.
As if that was the sign he had been waiting for, he lifted his head at last and
looked down into blue eyes darkened by conflicting emotions, his own
hooded and watchful. From somewhere Kate found the strength to pull
herself free of his touch, vitally aware that her body was telling her it didn't [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]