Captive In Eden

‘Sugar? Cream?’ he enquired politely.

‘Both, please.’

He put the cup in front of her as well as a sugar bowl and a small carton of cream from the refrigerator. He refilled his own mug and sat down opposite her.

‘You told me you didn’t stay the night because you had designs on my body,’ he stated casually. ‘So what else could it be?’

‘Your silver,’ she said promptly. ‘Maybe I wanted to steal you blind and escape in the middle of the night.’

‘Only we have a burglar alarm system and all hell would have broken loose if you’d tried to leave.’

She shrugged.

He took a swallow of coffee. ‘Did you find any silver that looked interesting?’ he asked with mockinterest.

‘None.’ She put three generous spoonfuls of sugar in her cup.

‘Well, that’s a relief.’ He looked pointedly at her stirring her coffee. ‘You have a sweet tooth?’

‘Not normally, but it appears I need the energy.’ She drank greedily, feeling the sweet, rich mixture slide comfortingly into her system.

He leaned back in his chair. ‘So it wasn’t my body and it wasn’t the silver. Interesting.’ He drank his coffee and studied her over the rim of his cup as if she were some fascinating but dangerous insect.

She gritted her teeth. ‘Are you always so suspicious of people? Do you have some sort of paranoia?’

‘Not until recently.’ He smiled. It was not a friendly smile and she felt her apprehension grow. She fortified herself with another deep drink of coffee.

‘And what happened recently?’ she asked, trying to sound casual.

He gave her a penetrating stare. ‘Somebody brought a lawsuit against me.’

She took in the hard line of his jaw. ‘Oh, really? Are the environmentalists after you?’ A smile escaped her at the thought. She couldn’t help it.

‘You find this amusing?’ he asked coolly.

Her smile widened. ‘Actually, yes, I do,’ she said recklessly. ‘That hotel in Ecuador is a terrible idea.’

‘So you told me yesterday.’

‘And that makes me a criminal?’

‘No, that does not make you a criminal.’ He came to his feet, picked up the coffee-pot and refilled both their cups.

She added four spoons of sugar while he watched. He made her uncomfortable. The uneasiness crawled through her blood. Maybe he thought she was here to find out more about him as a person, to infiltrate the lair of the money-hungry tiger and dig up some dirt. Character assassination was a popular technique in court cases. She looked up from her cup and met his eyes.

‘If you’re accusing me of something, I have the right to know.’ She clenched her hands. ‘All I did was fall asleep on your sofa and now you interrogate me as if I were a common criminal! I don’t know anything about that lawsuit and I am not here to dig up dirt on you, if that’s what you’re thinking!’

He eyed her narrowly. ‘Unfortunately, I don’t feel reassured.’

‘You think I’m lying?’

He shrugged. ‘I don’t know you, do I? I find it very suspicious to find you here in this house. I’m simply trying to ascertain what the reason might be.’ He paused fractionally. ‘Apart from that headache story.’

She covered her face with her hands and moaned. There was no way she was going to convince him of her innocence.

‘What happened to Sean last night?’ he continued. ‘You said you came with him to the party.’

‘Yes, I did.’ She lowered her hands and clasped them together on the table in front of her.

‘But you didn’t leave with him.’

‘No, I did not.’ In the circumstances, maybe that was suspicious. He didn’t like Sean; she was quite sure of that.

‘Why not?’

Well, what could she say? The truth and nothing but the truth: He dumped me.

‘He left without me,’ she said, which sounded a bit more dignified. She tried not to look at the small wisp of dark chest hair that peeked out from his open-necked shirt. Everything about him seemed to disturb her—his eyes, his voice, his damned chest hair.

His brows arched. ‘That would indicate a certain lack of manners, wouldn’t you say?’

‘Absolutely.’ She could only agree. ‘I think he was having a tantrum.’ She swallowed a nervous chuckle. The situation was beginning to take on farcical overtones.

‘A tantrum? I thought children had tantrums.’

‘Some men have them too,’ she said lightly. ‘When women don’t fall all over themselves pleasing them.’

‘I see. So he was having a tantrum because you were not falling all over yourself pleasing him.’

She nodded, trying not to smile. ‘You could say that, yes. I’m going to Mexico for a month and we had an argument about it in your lovely garden.’

‘Ah, after which you threw yourself into my arms. You fit quite nicely actually; did you notice?’

She gave him a withering look, and his mouth twitched.

‘Just a casual observation. When I hold a woman close in my arms I can’t help noticing the feel and shape of her.’

Her heart began to race at the image and she remembered very well the feel of his hard chest against her cheek and the warm male smell of him. Oh, God, this was insanity. ‘I hope it was a big thrill for you,’ she said caustically.

‘It was.’ His smile showed even white teeth. ‘Now tell me, what’s the problem with your going to Mexico?’

The question was posed casually. They were having a casual conversation, were they? She didn’t believe it for a minute.

‘As far as I am concerned it’s not a problem at all. I consider it a wonderful professional opportunity.’

He nodded. ‘But Sean found it a problem,’ he surmised.

‘Yes, he did, and it’s none of your business.’ He was beginning to annoy her severely. She didn’t like that gleam in his eyes—an odd mixture of amusement and suspicion. She couldn’t figure out what he was thinking and feeling about her and it threw her off-balance.