‘And for how long?’ Pierre asked with interest.
‘A few months? A year? Two years? What relationship could withstand that length of separation? Of course I would pine but eventually I would carry on…’#p#分页标题#e##p#分页标题#e#
‘Hurt…disillusioned…wounded, but not mortally…I, on the other hand, would presumably return once every six months, ruthlessly moving forward with my empire-building, and naturally we would avoid one another like the plague because of water under the bridge.’
‘Yes!’
‘Personally, I don’t much care for the thought of China.’
‘Well, you could vanish somewhere else,’ Georgie said irritably.
‘I don’t like the thought of vanishing, period. I happen to be rather enjoying the country life, as a matter of fact. I intend on coming here more often rather than less. No…I have a better idea, Georgina…’
Georgie swallowed and said on a whisper, ‘What?’
‘I think,’ Pierre told her softly, ‘that we need to look at the situation from a completely different standpoint. Here we are…pretending to be lovers when there’s no need for the pretence.’ His blue eyes, she thought, were mesmerising, and his voice, low and velvety, seemed to be dragging her down. ‘I’m not going to lie to you…I want you and I know the feeling’s mutual…’
Georgie opened her mouth to protest and he raised one finger and gently held back the denial.
‘So…’ he shrugged ‘…why fight it? No need for you to scuttle away whenever I come near you. I want to touch you and you want to touch me back.’
Like a predator, he had sensed her weakness and was moving in for the kill. Emotion didn’t enter his equations. They wanted each other and enough said. Like animals obeying instinct without thought.
A tidal wave of shame washed over Georgie, giving her the strength to look at him coldly.
‘That’s such an enticing thought, Pierre. Really, though, I’m going to have to turn you down.’
‘Why?’ He raked his fingers through his hair, perplexed.
‘We’ve discussed this before.’
‘Yes, before this attraction sprang up between us.’
‘And I don’t believe in a romp in the sack. It doesn’t matter if there’s a mutual attraction or not—you’re responsible for your own morality, Pierre, and I’m responsible for mine.’
‘Oh, for God’s sake! We’re not talking about burning down the local school, Georgie! We’re talking about having fun.’ Had he ever been turned down in his life before? ‘Permitted fun, incidentally.’
‘You’re forgetting what this is. Just one big act and I’m not something convenient that you can take because you want it. I guess now that your girlfriend is no longer on the scene you think that I might be an amusing plaything while you’re here, and what’s the big deal?’
‘I didn’t hear you objecting this morning…If Didi hadn’t walked in on us, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation right now at all. In fact, we would probably be lying in this bed making love…’
Georgie liked to imagine that she would have found the energy to pull back whatever. ‘I don’t know how that happened…’
‘I touched you and you went up in flames. That’s how it happened.’ He was on losing ground. Unbelievable! What century did this woman live in? ‘It’s called having fun. Sitting around waiting for Mr Right is called wasting time.’
‘It’s called shoving my principles on the back-burner. And sitting around waiting for Mr Right, which, incidentally, is not what I’m doing, is called believing in love. You’re a cynic, Pierre.’
‘And you, my darling, are a hypocrite.’ He walked towards the door and lounged against it for a few seconds. ‘But…’ he shrugged ‘…your choice.’ He could feel his male pride slam into place. ‘Word of warning, though…self-denial might be morally noble, but when you’re shivering in your celibate bed it doesn’t make a very warming companion.’#p#分页标题#e##p#分页标题#e#
Typically, every clever retort to that stunningly arrogant observation, and there were a fair few, sprang to mind roughly ten minutes after he had left the room.
At which point the most she could do was dredge up memories of why she disliked him and remind herself that he was nothing but a self-centred, high-handed, unprincipled pig!
CHAPTER SEVEN
GEORGIE half hoped that Pierre would do her the enormous favour of finding an excuse to leave earlier than he had planned and it took every ounce of her charitable nature to remind herself that Didi was enjoying every second of having her son with her, even if she could think of nothing worse.