The prospect of sinking into one of the deep armchairs, her skin-tight skirt riding up dangerously, rattled her. 'I'd rather not, thank you.'
'Suit yourself.'
She walked over to stand next to the long windows, staring blankly out on to the moonlit island. When her gaze landed on the outline of the river studio she closed her eyes. Tight.
'Remembering, Cassie?' Dan asked, in an oddly tender voice.
Her eyes flew open. 'Remembering what?' she snapped, whirling round to face him.
Undeterred by her sharp tone, he went on. 'What we once shared... Remember the time you came to me at the studio in the middle of the night, unable to sleep. How you slipped into my bed, naked and ready. How ‑'
'Stop it!' she lashed out, alarmed at the way his words were arousing her. 'I didn't come down here tonight to be tormented by you, Dan McKay.
I came here to discuss my...to discuss Jason. Nothing else. The last thing in the world I want is to be reminded of my stupid adolescent behaviour with you!'
She glared at him, her face coldly angry. But her hands were trembling, her pulse was pounding, her mind a chaotic mass of erotic memories. Memories of hot summer nights and moonlit swims, of hungry kisses and bodies blending, of passionate possession...and blissful surrender.
He stood up, and began walking around the desk, coming her way. Cassie froze. Dear God, don't let him touch me...
He didn't. Instead, he walked over to the cocktail cabinet and poured himself a drink. Straight Scotch, by the look of it. He didn't even bother to add any ice from the bucket resting at his elbow. Lifting the glass, he downed the amber-coloured liquid in one swallow, then turned to face her, eyes sardonic.
'Forgive my rudeness. I should have asked you what you were drinking these days.'
'I don't drink. You know that.'
One eyebrow lifted. 'All I know, my dear, is that you didn't drink once. But things have changed, haven't they? You've changed. The girl I remember would never have made a date with one man, intending to slink off afterwards to meet another.'
Cassie flinched inwardly, but refused to take the bait. 'You call this...meeting...a date? Do I have to remind you that you blackmailed me into coming here tonight?'
Dan smiled coldly as he refilled the glass. 'All's fair in love and war,' he pronounced, then drained that drink as well.
He even poured a third. But this time he added ice and carried it back to the desk. His sigh was heavy as he slumped back in the chair. Cassie felt an unexpected and annoying wave of sympathy for him. He looked so bleak as he stared at her over the rim of the glass.
'Tell me, Cassie,' he said at last, 'what mischance caused you to fall pregnant with Jason in the first place? Did you forget to take the Pill one night? Was that it?'
Cassie sighed. She should have known that he would ask that. He was far too intelligent to forget. 'I wasn't on the Pill,' came the reluctant admission.
The glass of whisky hovered at his lips and he slowly lowered it to the desk. His eyes hardened. 'But you said you were?'
'No...I didn't.'
He leant forward. 'I remember—clearly—that first time. I asked if it was safe. You reassured me that it was perfectly safe. I assumed that meant that you were on the Pill as a general precaution.'
Cassie sighed. 'I realise that's what you thought...'
Silence descended.
Finally Dan spoke again, in a careful, almost wary tone. 'Were you deliberately trying to get pregnant, Cassie?'
Her eyes rounded. 'No!'
'Then why...why take such a risk?'
She shrugged despairingly. It would be useless to tell him how obsessive her feelings had become. How the first few times it had been relatively safe, but as the days had worn on and the risk had increased, she hadn't been thinking straight any more. She hadn't been able to help herself. All she'd been able to think of was Dan loving her, Dan possessing her, Dan... Dan... Dan...
'I was stupid,' she admitted grimly, and closed her eyes again, trying not to remember, but failing miserably.
A light touch on her cheek jerked her eyes open to find Dan standing in front of her. How had he moved so silently, so swiftly? She stared up into his face, taken aback that his expression mirrored an unexpected tenderness. 'No,' he said gently. 'Not stupid...just a woman in love.'
He was too close, Cassie thought breathlessly. Much too close. 'In love, Dan?' she scoffed, and took a step back. 'Hardly that, I think. Infatuated, perhaps. But not love. No...not love.'
Her cold denial affected him. She could see that. His nostrils flared wide. An angry muscle twitched along his jaw. 'And are you infatuated with this boss of yours?'
Cassie tossed off a careless laugh. 'For heaven's sake, Dan. I'm twenty-nine years old. Past the age of infatuation, surely?'
'It's just sex, then.' A statement. Not a question.
'Maybe I'm in love,' she tossed at him. Any thought of Jason had vanished. All Cassie wanted to do was lash out, to assuage some of her own personal pain and agony.