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your head? I don't want to know!'
His black lashes flicked sideways and a wry smile touched his mouth.
'I did gather that, yes.'
Then why . . .'
There's only one thing to do when you meet sales resistance,' he said
mockingly. 'Beat it down. You don't know the first thing about me. It
isn't me you're turning down it's any sort of involvement with
anyone, isn't it?' The lights turned green and he set the car moving
again, talking with his eyes on the road ahead. 'I'm not giving up in
those circumstances. You may be packed in ice, but let's see what
effect a little heat will have.'
She sat stiffly in the seat, her hands curled into litde balls. 'You've got a
nerve!'
He laughed softly, shooting her a quick smile. 'Just sit still and enjoy
the scenery.'
'I'm not going to enjoy anything.'
'We'll see about that.'
The calm words sent a trail of ice down her spine. She looked at him
through her lashes. The hard- edged profile had no hint of a flaw, there
was no crack in the wall of his determination to get his own way.
She sank back into the seat, watching as he manipulated the steering
wheel between those long, firm fingers.
'Where are you taking me?'
'It's a surprise.'
'You can say that again,' she muttered, and he laughed under his breath
again.
'When you get to know me better . ..'
'If I do,' Suki said, and he gave her another of those flicking, mocking
smiles.
'When you do,' he insisted. 'You'll realise that if I set my mind to get
something, I get it.'
She sat upright, very tense, her red-gold head gleaming in the sunlight,
her green eyes glowing with anger. 'Even Napoleon met his Waterloo.'
'You are not going to be my Waterloo, Suki,' Joel Harlow said
smoothly as he edged his way through the heavy north-bound traffic.
'At this moment, I don't know what you're going to be which makes
it very intriguing. You're a challenge, and I enjoy challenges. Nothing
is exciting if you get it too easily.'
'You're not getting me,' Suki muttered. 'Easily or otherwise.' She was
desperately searching for some way of escape, but while they were in
this car with those doors locked she couldn't think of anything which
wouldn't cause a scandal, something she wanted even less than she
wanted to spend a few hours with Joel Harlow. His intentions couldn't
be a serious threat to her, but all the same she didn't want to be alone
with him for any length of time. He unnerved her.
'Do you like the country?' he asked as they made their way through the
grim streets of the northern suburbs.
She didn't answer, staring out of the window and ignoring him. He
glanced at her, took one hand off the wheel and ran his fingers along
her thigh in a caressing, intimate gesture to which she reacted with
bitter fury, slapping his hand away and shrinking back in her seat, her
eyes hating him.
'Keep your hands off me!'
'Answer me, then, stop sulking,' he said coolly.
Suki stared at him and he smiled drily.
'When you take on a battle, Suki, always make sure your weapons are
up to it. I'm stronger than you are and you aren't getting away from me
for a while, so come out of your shell and try being pleasant to me for
once.'
She didn't answer; her face was very pale. She could still feel the trail
of his fingers on her jean-clad leg, and her nervous apprehension had
grown with that deliberate invasion.
'Have you always lived in London?' he asked casually, giving her one
brief glance.
'Yes.' She answered without thinking, her voice husky.
'Where do your family live?'
'I haven't got one.'
She felt him looking at her again, but she didn't meet his eyes. 'No
parents living now?'
She shook her head.
'What happened?'
Suki evaded that question and, to distract him, asked one in turn. 'What
about you? Are your parents alive?'
'My father died ten years ago, but my mother's still going strong.' He
smiled, a wry tenderness in the curve of his mouth which changed his
whole face. 'She's seventy this year, but she pilots her own plane and is
fanatic about her racing stable. I often think that that's what keeps her
mind so young. She's so busy with her plans for each racing season
that she hasn't noticed how old she's getting.'
Suki found herself laughing. 'Have you got any brothers and sisters?'
'Two sisters,' he said. 'Have you?'
Her smile vanished. 'No.' She looked away. 'Are your sisters married?'
He nodded. 'They live in the States. Julie has got two children, both
boys, and Lee has got a baby girl. My mother's a very proud
grandparent.'
'But you've never married?' That was surprising, Suki thought,
watching him. His profile tightened and he glanced at her, not smiling.
'Yes, I was married once.'
She felt a jok of surprise. 'You're divorced?'
'She died.' He was heading out of the suburbs now and into the green
countryside on the northern edge of London. He stared ahead, his
brows straight and his mouth hard. 'It was a long time ago.'
'An accident?' Suki asked.
'She died in childbirth,' Joel said curtly, and Suki winced.
'I'm sorry.'
He nodded without glancing at her.
'The baby?' she asked in a low, husky voice.
'Died too.' There was a harsh note in his voice and she didn't like to say
anything after that for a while. He drove with his gaze fixed on the
road, a brooding darkness in his face. What had his wife been like? she
wondered. Had he loved her very deeply? Obviously the subject still
had the power to hurt him. He hadn't got over it yet. How long ago had
it happened?
'Have you always wanted to be a singer?' he asked making her jump
because she had been so intent on her own thoughts that she hadn't
noticed anything else for sometime.
Suki relaxed slightly, the thick lashes sweeping back from her slanting
green eyes as she smiled. 'As long as I can remember.' She gave a deep
sigh. 'I waited a long, long time to get where I am. It seemed like
forever at times. You can't even be sure you're going to make it, you
can only keep on going, trying, hoping that this time you'll break
through.' She had almost forgotten who she was talking to, her mind
absorbed in the past and so altered by hearing about his dead wife and
the baby that had never lived that her hostility to him had taken a new
turn and become a sort of guarded acceptance.
'How did you meet your manager?'
'I was singing in a pub with a group of semi- amateurs. Buddy heard
me and decided he liked the way I sang.' She laughed. 'I thought I was [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]