Bittersweet Love - Cathy Williams [59]
She swung open the door but it wasn’t Eric standing on the doorstep. It was Kane. Behind him, she could see Eric’s car vanishing to the end of the street. They must have crossed paths. She looked at him belligerently, blaming him for everything she was going through. What was he doing here? This was all his fault. She wished that she had never clapped eyes on him. Why couldn’t he have been ugly? Why couldn’t he have been married with ten kids and a devoted wife? She wouldn’t have looked twice at him then. Most of all, why couldn’t he have left her alone and not made love to her out of some twisted desire to satiate his curiosity?
She uncomfortably shoved to the back of her mind the thought that she had not exactly spurned his advances. Now she glared at him and was pushing the door shut when he shouldered his way in to stand inside the landing, his green eyes like chips of ice.
‘You have no right to barge your way into this flat!’ Natalie shot out. ‘My flat!’ Already she felt close to tears. Maybe it was the hormones, or maybe it was anger. Whatever, she turned away abruptly and blinked away the awful desire to cry.
‘I can’t believe that you’re still seeing that man,’ Kane said tightly.
‘You followed me here to tell me that?’ She gave a laugh that bordered dangerously on the hysterical.
He gripped her by her arms, his black brows meeting in a furious frown. ‘I spoke to him before I came in here,’ he bit out, and Natalie looked at him warily.
Spoke to Eric? What about? Kane had never had anything very pleasant to say about him, so what could they possibly have to discuss?
‘What about?’ she asked tentatively, going limp in his clutch because it was futile putting up any kind of fight with him.
‘What do you think?’ he grated, shaking her slightly so that she winced in discomfort. ‘What do you bloody think?’ There was real burning rage in his eyes. What was going on here? Was she missing something? He had known of Eric’s presence in her life for long enough. In fact, she had done her best to exaggerate the whole thing, and he had so far never reacted with such intense, cold fury to the knowledge.
Besides, as far as they were both concerned, whatever brief encounter they had shared was over and done with. It was imperative that she get on with her life, vanish out of his waters forever, and she wished that he would leave her alone.
Maybe, she thought desperately, he was obsessed with having her. Like a fisherman who became obsessed with catching the fish that got away. Was that it? What was she to do? She would have to get away from him. Maybe she would go and visit her sister. Or maybe she would just cash in her savings and fly to some obscure island in the back of beyond.
‘You’re hurting me,’ she whispered, and his lips twisted into a cold, sneering smile.
‘Am I? I do apologise.’ But he didn’t slacken his hold on her.
‘I’m not your property,’ she flared, with a renewal of anger. ‘I resent your treating me as though I am! You have no right to follow me here! I could have you arrested!’
‘On what charges?’ he inquired silkily. ‘Don’t be utterly ridiculous.’
‘I’ll call the police and have you thrown out!’ she warned and he looked at her as though she had suddenly turned senile.
‘Don’t you know that the police aren’t that keen on sticking their noses into lovers’ tiffs?’
‘I am not your lover!’
His eyes darkened and she knew with cold dread before his lips actually met hers that he was going to kiss her. She could see the intent in his eyes, but not the savagery with which he would do it. His mouth covered hers with swift, fierce hunger, prising her lips open so that she could scarcely breathe against him. Her head flew back under the impact of his kiss and as she struggled against him she could feel his fingers