Undying Love

She gasped. ‘You gatecrashed their party?’

His mouth quirked. ‘I came with Henry and Janice.’

Shanna’s mouth tightened as she shot a resentful glare at her unsuspecting brother. ‘I should have known! Well, if you’ll excuse me——’

‘No,’ his hand on her arm stopped her leaving. ‘I’m still trying to be pleasant, as I tried at lunchtime,’ he smiled tightly. ‘But you angered me then, and you’re angering me now,’ he added tautly. ‘What do you think I can possibly do to you here, Shanna?’ He looked pointedly about the crowded room.

She blushed at the rebuke of his words, and knew she was behaving ridiculously. There were at least forty people in the room; not even Rick Dalmont would try anything here.

‘Exactly,’ he correctly read her thoughts. ‘Although most women don’t show such aversion to the thought of my wanting to make love to them.’

‘I’m not most women,’ she snapped.

‘I agree, you aren’t.’ He took her hand and placed it in the crook of his arm, holding it there with his other hand. ‘Which probably accounts for the way I ache for you,’ he lowered his voice seductively. ‘Put my plain speaking down to my Spanish ancestry,’ he chuckled at her tight-lipped outrage. ‘I want you very badly, Shanna.’

‘You told me that the other evening,’ she dismissed abruptly. ‘And what you’re talking about is sex, Mr Dalmont, not making love.’

‘The way I would worship your body it would be making love,’ he murmured against her earlobe.

‘I——’

‘Ah, Shanna, you found Rick,’ Alice Grant, an attractive woman in her late forties, beamed at them both. ‘With the rush of the Sinclairs arriving at the same time as you I completely forgot to tell you Mr Dalmont had already arrived with Henry,’ she told Shanna hurriedly. ‘And how silly of you to think we wouldn’t have room for your—for Rick,’ she corrected awkwardly. ‘We’ve all been so worried about Shanna, Mr Dalmont,’ she confided to the silently watchful man at Shanna’s side. ‘We all miss Perry enormously, but Shanna really is too young and lovely a woman to deny her company to some lucky man.’

Much as she liked Alice Grant, who was the nearest thing she had to an aunt, Shanna could cheerfully have strangled her at that moment. And this ‘lucky man’ was going to be told a few home truths as soon as they were alone! How dared he have implied to Alice that he was her partner for this evening!

‘I do consider myself very lucky, Mrs Grant,’ Rick drawled confidently. ‘And I’ve also been very worried about Shanna. But she has me now, don’t you, sweetheart?’ He looked down at her in mocking challenge.

Anger lit up her eyes. ‘I——’

‘Ah, the Daniels have arrived,’ Alice sighed her relief. ‘Steven’s boss,’ she confided softly. ‘I’ll talk to you both later,’ and she hurried to be at her husband’s side as he greeted the other couple.

Shanna wrenched away from Rick Dalmont, breathing deeply in her agitation. ‘What did you tell Alice when you arrived?’ she demanded to know.

He met her gaze with bland innocence. ‘That you were working late and would meet me here as soon as you could get away.’

‘You—I—And Henry went along with that?’ she gasped indignantly.

‘Why not?’ he shrugged. ‘I told him the same thing when I spoke to him on the telephone and he told me you were all going to a dinner party this evening.’

‘You arrogant—My God, I can’t believe this!’ she shook her head. ‘You have the cheek of the devil!’

He nodded. ‘Some people have even claimed we’re related,’ he said with amusement. ‘But I doubt Alice would understand if you tried to explain the true facts to her. She’s a romantic lady, and she thinks that by seeing me you’re finally getting your life back together after your husband’s death. Don’t ruin her evening, will you?’ he mocked.

‘What about mine?’ she bit out.

‘Yours is already ruined,’ he shrugged dismissively. ‘Look, I’ll be on my best behaviour, okay?’

‘That isn’t good enough! I don’t——’

‘Behave yourself!’ Rick rasped as Henry and Janice walked over to join them. ‘Save your insults for when we’re alone and stop behaving like a child! Just think of this as an exercise in employer/employee relations.’

‘I don’t want any sort of “relations” with you,’ she snapped.

He gave her a mocking smile before turning to charm her brother and Janice. The last thing she needed was an example of his lethal charm at work, and she was too angry to notice the curious looks her brother kept shooting her. And she didn’t want to feel angry either, didn’t want to feel anything for this man, not even dislike.

‘By the way, Henry,’ Rick gave Shanna a sideways glance, ‘Shanna has already introduced me to some of the staff at Fashion Lady.’

Henry frowned his puzzlement. ‘She has?’

‘Mm,’ Rick nodded. ‘Only casually, of course, on our way out to lunch.’

Henry looked even more puzzled. And well he might after her vehement avowal of dislike of Rick Dalmont over the weekend. To all intents and purposes she had already lunched with him today, and now she was spending the evening with him too!

Rick’s arm moved about her waist, pulling her close against his side. ‘And how could I resist your sister when she asked me out so persuasively?’ he added throatily.

‘Shanna invited you out to lunch?’ Henry was astounded—and unable to hide it.

Before Shanna could defend any such misconception dinner was announced, and to her chagrin Alice had put Rick Dalmont next to her at the table. His smile of triumph was enough to make her ignore him throughout the meal, although this only seemed to amuse him. Trying to reject this man was like hitting her head against a brick wall, and she just didn’t know what to do next. How pleased he would be if he even knew he was succeeding that far!

‘I like your friends,’ he told her as they circulated after the meal, his hand on her arm refusing to be shaken off as she would have gone alone to speak to Henry and Janice.

‘They like you too,’ she muttered, knowing he had been at his most pleasant as they spoke to the people she knew at this dinner party, his hold on her enough claim of possession for him at the moment. In this lazily charming mood it would be difficult for anyone to dislike him, but she knew the other side of him too well to be fooled for a moment; when thwarted this man was lethal. ‘I think I’d like to leave now,’ she said tightly.

‘What a good idea,’ he nodded. ‘Let’s go and make our excuses.’

‘You don’t have to leave with me,’ she faced him.

He quirked one dark brow. ‘Now wouldn’t it look a little odd if you left and I stayed?’

‘That didn’t seem to bother you earlier when you arrived without me!’

‘Ah, but I had a good excuse for that.’ He looked at her mockingly.

‘All right,’ she agreed tightly. ‘We’ll leave together.’

‘Could I have a word with Henry before we go?’

‘Why not?’ Her voice was taut, her nerves at breaking point. ‘You seem to do everything else you want to!’

Rick laughed softly. ‘I’m glad you realise it.’

‘Almost everything,’ she amended hardly.

His chuckle deepened. ‘Let’s go and see Henry,’ he prompted lightly.

Her brother was looking very pleased with himself when they joined his group, and Shanna didn’t need two guesses as to the reason for that; he believed she had decided to accept Rick Dalmont after all. She could have told him she intended leaving Rick Dalmont as soon as they were out of Steven and Alice’s door, and she didn’t intend being caught in this position again. So much for keeping one step ahead!—she had taken half a dozen backwards this evening.