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cruelly. 'Not me.'
He went a sudden odd colour under his tan, the lids coming down over his
eyes to give him a very different expression from the heated, absorbed look
of the lover on his face only a moment or two before. 'So you were
completely unmoved, Victoria,' he observed bitingly.
'Not unmoved. I was angry.' She curled up in a corner of the sofa, the
nightgown tugged decorously over her knees. 'If and when I make love it's
because the chap making love wants to make love to me. Me, Victoria
Goddard, not some unhealthy fantasy he has kicking about in the back of his
mind. Nor,' she added bitterly,"because half of his motivation is due to pity,
guilt or whatever other instinct is goading him into it. A spot of good,
old-fashioned lust would be much more to my taste than what you have to
offer, Gavin Creed.'
He got up abruptly and walked to the window, staring out into blank
darkness for what seemed like ages. Victoria wanted badly to go to bed, bury
herself under the bedclothes, forget all this intrusion of emotion in sleep, but
it didn't seem the thing to do while one still had a large and very angry visitor
on the premises.
Gavin turned at last, his face schooled once more into the mask it normally
wore for every day. 'I was wrong,' he said conversationally, his voice casual.
'About what?' she asked wearily.
'I came back thinking you needed protecting. I was sadly mistaken.' He
smiled without humour. 'My ego now badly bruised and battered, I think I'll
take it back whence I came, and leave you to your chaste couch untroubled
by my presence.'
'Much the best thing,' Victoria agreed coolly.
He frowned at her. 'You really know how to bear a grudge, don't you? Why
do you resent me so much, Victoria? Because you do, I'm certain, and for far
more than just losing touch with you. I was very careful not to take
advantage of your schoolgirl yen for me. I knew you had it, and now and
then I was tempted, believe me, but I didn't give way to my baser urgings. Or
maybe that's why you do resent me just because I didn't give way.'
Victoria looked at him steadily, her arms round her knees, her eyes
speculative. 'I do feel some resentment towards you, Gavin. Not because you
didn't make love to that far-off silly teenager. The reasons are much more
amorphous and illogical and rather a long story.' She stood up, yawning
involuntarily.
Gavin's face was grim. 'I hope I'm not boring you too much, Victoria.'
'I'm just plain tired, Gavin,' she said wearily. 'So if you don't mind I'll say
good night again. Thank you for coming back. I appreciate the thought
very much, but I'll be perfectly all right on my own.'
'Better, in your opinion, I suppose.' He shook his head determinedly. 'But I'm
not going until I hear this long story of yours.'
Victoria's narrow face abruptly hardened into immobility. 'No, Gavin.
You've had enough stories for one night. This is one I'm going to keep to
myself. It's private, and concerns only me.'
'And me,' he said swiftly, and crossed the room to stand over her. 'Surely I'm
entitled to know what I've done.'
'You didn't do anything--'
'All right, if my sin is of omission, tell me what I didn't do!'
Their eyes clashed and after a moment Gavin stood back, conceding defeat.
'Thank you,' she said quietly. 'Good night.'
'You're actually going to leave me wondering,' he said bitterly.
'You'll forget all about it and me in a day or two,' she said without heat.
'I won't, you know.'
'Why not? You did first time round.'
CHAPTER SIX
VICTORIA woke next morning knowing something unpleasant had
happened. When she remembered what it was she got up and had a shower,
pulled on jeans and a jersey over a bikini and went downstairs to eat a
solitary breakfast, missing Rory's early-morning chatter, even though most
days it tended to get wearing over the breakfast table. This morning it was
too quiet. She had time to think, and her thoughts were not good company.
The sleep she had craved last night had been a very long time coming,
literally hours after Gavin had flung out of the house, following her final
thrust, and now she felt blurred and heavy-eyed and disinclined to cope with
the rigours of the day ahead.
In one way it was a very good thing Gavin had not stayed overnight. Megan
might have brought the boys back early, and the sight of a large male
sprawled on the sofa would have given her a spicy topic of conversation
among her friends, particularly if she had recognised him. Rory would have
been taken aback, too. As far as he was concerned she was his sole property,
constantly at his beck and call. And he would have to grow out of that pretty
soon, decided Victoria. Being at any man's beck and call was not something [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]