Bittersweet Love - Cathy Williams [67]
‘I know the owner personally. This is his retreat from the madhouse downstairs.’
Natalie didn’t reply. She didn’t want to start on a long, polite conversation. There were too many questions screaming for answers in her head. She sat down on one of the comfortable flowered sofas and tucked her legs underneath her. Kane’s green eyes flicked over her, making her uncomfortable, and she thought that he was going to say something but he didn’t He stood up and prowled around the sitting-room, inspecting the pictures on the walls as though they were masterpieces instead of pleasant enough prints, moving to stare out of the window.
At last, he said heavily, not looking at her, ‘I suppose you think my behaviour was laughable?’
Did he really expect an answer to that one? Natalie wondered. But she couldn’t summon up any antagonism towards him, though she knew that that was her best defence. His defensive, aggressive tone somehow made him achingly vulnerable.
‘We were all surprised,’ she said neutrally.
‘And you don’t think that I was as well?’
Natalie could feel her heart hammering away inside of her, and her thoughts were sluggish. Explain yourself! she wanted to shout. Don’t play games with me.
He moved around to where she was sitting and her body tensed. If he lays a finger on me, she promised herself, I’ll fly out of here before he can so much as move a muscle. She eyed the door, assessing the distance, and he followed the line of her stare.
‘Forget it,’ he said in a low voice. ‘You seem to have been running away from me forever, but now it’ s time to stop.’ Natalie sprang up, alarmed and frightened by something on his face, and he pushed her back down on to the sofa.
‘I’m not afraid of you,’ she bit out, ‘and you can keep me prisoner here till the cows come home, but it won’t get you anywhere. I’m not going to sleep with you.’
‘Whatever gave you the idea that that was what I brought you here for?’
Her temple began to throb and she couldn’t prevent the little flutter of hope that sprang up inside of her. One tiny drop of water, she thought bitterly, and the seed will grow, but let’s not forget that that drop of water won’t keep it alive for very long.
He sat on the edge of the coffee-table in front of her, barring her exit, and Natalie stared at him with defiance.
‘Don’t look at me like that, woman,’ he muttered, ‘I’m not going to devour you.’
“This is all a waste of time,’ she whispered, looking down at her hands.
He reached out and lifted her chin with one finger, and she felt as though she was drowning in the green pools of his eyes.
‘You let me think that you and Eric were an ongoing thing,’ he said accusingly.
‘What difference did it make?’ Her voice sounded cracked and strained, but still proud.
‘Dammit, Natalie, can’t you see what you’re doing to me?’ He raked one restless hand through his thick black hair and she followed the gesture with compelling absorption. ‘Do you want me to beg?’ he asked, looking away.
‘No. I would hate that.’
‘I’ll beg if it means the difference between you going or staying,’ he said in such a low voice that she found it difficult to understand the words.
‘I can’t stay as your mistress,’ Natalie said, but she was confused. She wanted him so badly, loved him so badly, that next to that everything else seemed to fade into insignificance.
Oh, God, she thought suddenly, how could I have forgotten the baby?
‘Marry me,’ he whispered, his voice uneven. ‘I’ve asked you to before. Marry me, please. I’m begging.’
Tell me that you love me, she willed him to say, and their eyes met.
‘You know I do, don’t you?’ The smile he gave her was crooked. She could hardly believe her ears. She seemed to have