Taken Over

‘You’re getting warm. I might as well tell you because there’s no one else in the field anywhere near advanced to rival us in this development. We’ve been working on a computer controlled device that can be used for micro surgery. It’s faster and better than any human could ever be—both advantages when it comes to sewing back a severed limb or working on delicate areas of the brain, and since it’s controlled by the surgeon in charge in effect it’s an extension of his hands, accurate and capable of working to the millionth of a degree. Although we do have a lot of support, as with anything new we also have a lot of detractors, people who say that government money would be better spent on more nurses and doctors; hence my concern to ensure that our backers aren’t frightened off. With my computer games division demoted to second place those who are against what we’re working on will be quick to use it to hold up the flow of funds we need to complete the development.’

For a moment Cassie was awed by what he had told her. Her own skill was something she took for granted; the large revenues it brought her in still sometimes overwhelming, but when all was said and done they were merely games. She felt humbled by what she had just heard and resentful of feeling humbled at the same time.

‘Joel …’ It was the first time she had ever used his name and she caught the faint flutter of surprise crossing his face. ‘I’ve changed my mind,’ she told him quickly, ‘I will let you take over Cassietronics.’

She was completely sincere in what she had said, believing that what he was working on was far more important than her own dislike of him, but the look on his face turned her humility to anger as he mocked tauntingly, ‘That soft, womanly approach has been tried on me by experts, Cassie, and without success. I learned one thing very young and that one thing was never trust a female. For all that you dress like a drab little sparrow you’re still a member of the female sex. Oh no, my dear, that won’t work. I do have the intelligence to realise what you’re up to you know. I turn round and drive you back to your office and the moment I leave you, it’s straight to Peter Williams … No … There really is no other way.’

‘You mean you’re prepared to sacrifice your freedom; to marry a plain drab little sparrow purely for altruistic love of your fellow man?’ Cassie flung at him bitterly, anger seeping through her as she came up against the brick wall of his masculine contempt for her sex. Who had taught him not to trust women she wondered and then dismissed the thought as a weakness she shouldn’t encourage. She didn’t want to know anything about this dark, powerful man. Already he had invaded her life to an extent that made her afraid; the less she knew about him personally, the safer she would be.

‘It will be a marriage on paper only,’ he replied coolly, ‘lasting perhaps only six months if things go according to plan. And as for giving up my freedom …’ His glance mocked her. ‘Why on earth should I do that? Unless of course you’re trying to tell me that you’re prepared to share your body with me as well as your company.’

Colour flared hotly in Cassie’s face as she heard his comment. He was making fun of her she thought bitterly. She knew how little he would want a woman like her; a woman who was neither attractive nor witty; a woman who was still really an inexperienced adolescent, far too unattractive to have ever caught his eye, if he hadn’t wanted her company.

‘I promise you I’d be a far better lover than Peter Williams …’ The soft, dulcet promise behind the words made Cassie’s anger burn hotter. He was playing with her, tormenting her all the time knowing that she was the last woman he would want in his bed.

‘Technically perhaps,’ Cassie agreed, marvelling at the cool derision she had managed to inject into her voice. The look of slight surprise dawning in the dark blue eyes as they studied her gave her the encouragement to go on, ‘But I happen to …’

‘Love Williams?’ Joel interrupted for her. ‘Why? Because he spared you a few kisses and caresses, and for all your brave talk my dear, I doubt it’s gone beyond that. You have about you a look of cool purity that I don’t believe is assumed. Does the cold virgin you’ve locked away behind the walls of your intelligence ever rebel, Cassie? Doesn’t she ever long to give herself freely and wholeheartedly to the heat of passion?’

His words, edged with scorn as they were, reminded Cassie of all the cruel barbs she had endured as an adolescent, almost without being aware of it she retreated mentally from him, escaping into that small corner of herself she kept hidden from the world. A look of cool dismissal informed the hazel wariness of her eyes, her body composed and outwardly relaxed as she said lightly, ‘You’re free to make whatever assumptions about me you wish—just as I’m free not to respond to them. I conceded that you’ve been very clever; that unless I want to destroy everything I’ve worked for I have to go along with your plans; to agree to this marriage, but I have no intention of living with you as your wife.’

‘Not in the fullest sense of the word perhaps,’ he agreed, startling her, ‘but I certainly intend that our marriage is seen to be completely normal for its brief duration.’

Cassie was stunned enough to demand huskily, ‘But why? You can’t possibly want …’

‘What I don’t want,’ he said ruthlessly cutting off her words, ‘is to become the butt of every City joke there is, and if you’re wise you’ll share my feelings. I’ll tell the press that it was a whirlwind romance—they already know I want to take over Cassietronics; romantically inclined as they are it will be an easy step for them to believe our romance began when I approached you with my takeover bid.’

‘And in six months’ time when the marriage is over?’ Why oh why did her voice sound so husky, so hurting somehow, as though already she dreaded the ending that was to come?

‘We’ll say it didn’t work out,’ he shrugged. ‘We’ll face that when we come to it …’

‘And all your …’ Cassie’s upper lip curled slightly in distaste, ‘women friends … Will they honestly believe that you preferred a drab little sparrow like me to them?’

‘What they believe isn’t important,’ he told her carelessly, with a monumental display of arrogance. His expression changed as he added curtly, ‘You seem to take a perverse delight in running yourself down. Why I wonder? A defensive mechanism perhaps, doing it before anyone else can do it for you?’

He saw too much; came too close to the truth. Desperate to change the subject before he probed any deeper she blurted out, ‘And once we are married? Where will we live … W …’

‘I shall continue to live in London—I have an apartment there.’ He frowned, and Cassie wondered what he was thinking. Of the pleasures he would have to give up for the six months’ duration of their marriage? When he next spoke his words shocked her into bitter anger; betraying as they did how far his ideas of how their marriage would work differed from hers.

‘I own a house in the Cotswolds—a small estate really. I thought you could live there. There’s plenty of space and all the peace and quite you need to work.’

‘In other words, discreetly out of your way,’ she said furiously, watching his mouth thin and his eyes harden as he turned towards her.

‘What are you trying to say?’ he asked her coldly. ‘That you want to share the apartment with me? That you want to share my bed? Was that the price you demanded from Peter Williams for your company? I wonder if Peter was as happy with the bargain as his father? He’s known to have a taste for glamorous blondes,’ he added cruelly, surveying her with open contempt. ‘Hardly your style, but then no doubt his father simply told him to close his eyes and think of Pentatons.’

The sharp sound of her palm connecting with his lean jaw shocked Cassie. She had never hit anyone in anger before in her life, and her face went white as she stared into navy-blue eyes, boring into hers, burning with a heat that made her shiver with fear.

‘If you ever do that again, I promise you I’ll hit you back,’ Joel told her thickly. ‘Apart from the fact that you could have caused an accident, I won’t tolerate a vitriolic woman.’

‘And I won’t tolerate being insulted the way you’ve just insulted me,’ Cassie choked back at him. How dare he suggest what he had just suggested? Her body burned with the humiliation of it.

‘Why all the emotion?’ he queried softly, ‘Is it because you think I could be right?’

Cassie didn’t deign to answer but sat in icy silence as the powerful car ate up the miles. Inside she was crying out in pain but she would die rather than let Joel Howard see one jot of her anguish. As she stared unseeingly through the windscreen in front of her, only one thought occupied her mind, to the exclusion of all others; and that was a burning desire to make him retract his words; to make him look at her and ache with need for her; and that was surely the most ridiculous, pathetic daydream she had indulged in in all her life; Joel Howard would never, ever want a woman like her.

CHAPTER THREE

THEY reached their destination early in the evening, and Cassie had her first glimpse of Howard Court, just as the late spring sun was setting, bathing the Cotswold stone in a soft rose glow, making the house shimmer like a precious jewel in its rich setting.

When Joel had mentioned an estate she hadn’t visualised anything like this. The house wasn’t particularly large, but it was old, and very, very gracious, mellowed by time until it blended with the landscape, an inescapable part of a perfect whole.

The house itself was vaguely Elizabethan; green lawns and climbing roses in bud the first things that caught Cassie’s eye. It was a dream of a house she thought enviously; it conjured up images of a happy family, of security, love and care. She turned to Joel, too bemused to hold back her pleasure and checked as she saw the dark, almost brooding expression in his eyes. Was he having second thoughts about marrying her? Her heart leapt and it was several seconds before she realised it hadn’t jumped in relief.

‘It’s beautiful,’ she said huskily, to cover the shock of her own discovery. ‘Have you … have you owned it long?’

She was making the natural assumption that he had bought the house with the profits from his successful companies, as so many businessmen did, but his mouth curled sardonically as he responded curtly, ‘Personally no, but it’s been in my family since the sixteenth century. I inherited it when my father died, a couple of years ago …’ His face closed up and looked bitter again, and Cassie wondered if perhaps he had been particularly close to the older man and that was why he looked so angry.

‘I brought you here so that you could change.’ He saw her look of surprise and told her coldly, ‘I’ve arranged for our marriage to be performed by our local vicar. Howards have always married from the village church, and although he accepts that we only want a quiet ceremony—I’m afraid I led him to believe our impatience sprang more from mutual desire than from any practical reasons; he will naturally except you to look a little bridelike.’

‘But I haven’t got anything to change into,’ Cassie protested.

‘That’s all taken care of. Come on.’ He stopped the car and got out, coming round to her door. No doubt to prevent her from running off Cassie thought bitterly.

Even when he inserted the key into the front door he retained his grip on her arm, his fingers biting into the tender flesh, heating her skin beneath the jacket of her suit. His proximity did strange things to her senses, bemusing them in a way that puzzled and alarmed her. She could smell the male scent of him, warm and faintly musky but instead of being repelled she found it made her want to move closer to him.

Fortunately before she could give in to the alien emotion they were inside the house, stepping on a polished parquet floor.

Motes of dust danced in the air, and she frowned over the hall’s look of neglect, wondering how Joel could bear to let this perfect gem of a house look anything less than perfect.

‘Upstairs, third on the right,’ he told her curtly, ‘I’ll be waiting outside the door, and there’s no ‘phone so don’t waste your time looking for one. I’ll give you fifteen minutes to get ready and if you aren’t changed in that time, I’ll come in and dress you myself. Understood?’

Yes, Cassie understood all right and she understood too there would be nothing kind in his hands or touch if he was forced to carry out his threat; rather that it would hold all the cruelty of indifference and distaste, and as she preceded him up the stairs she made a mental vow that she would never, ever give Joel Howard any opportunity to touch her; so that she would never be forced to acknowledge the depth of his contemptuous indifference to her.

The bedroom he had given her faced the back of the house, the windows looking down over an enclosed cobbled courtyard. Urns which had once held flowers stood empty and uncared for, echoing the air of neglect that permeated the whole house. It felt unloved Cassie thought curiously, and yet if ever a house cried out for love and care it was this one.

She had the impression that Joel almost resented it, and yet if that was the case why keep the estate; why not sell it?

Puzzling over the strange anomalies apparent in his personality she washed quickly in the en suite bathroom, emerging dressed in her plain cotton bra and briefs to study the outfit laid out across the bed.

As she looked at it pain and rage mingled in her heart. The dress was a soft creamy white, a confection of delicate lace and fragile silk; a dress designed for a girl like the blonde she had seen Joel dining with or the secretary he had sent to spy on her. Which of them had chosen it, she wondered, acknowledging the cruelty of the mind that had picked such a delicate feminine dress for a woman who had no female graces.

Mindful of Joel’s threat she put it on quickly, struggling with the zip which refused to move more than an inch or so above her waist. Temper lent a warm colour to her skin, her hazel eyes more green than golden as she continued to struggle. The silk moulded her body delicately, the ruffles of lace whispering softly as she moved. Some of the pins had escaped from her chignon and strands of hair hung down round her face. Feeling hot and angry she twisted round trying to see what was impeding the closing of the zip. A tiny fragment of fabric seemed to be caught in it, but she could move the fastener neither up nor down and time was running out. A pretty, tiny hat with a provocative veil lay on the bed and she shuddered away from it, all too well able to picture the contrast between that delicately frivolous ornamentation and the heavy frames of her glasses. Impelled by some instinct she couldn’t name, she took them off, and stared blearily at her fuzzy reflection. She was just about to put them on when the door opened inward, and Joel strode in. Without her glasses she couldn’t see his reflection but she could tell he was angry by the taut way he moved.