‘Tell me you want me as much as I want you.’ Alex’s voice grazed her skin as his mouth trailed a fiery path to her navel. ‘I want to know that it’s me you’re thinking of when we make love, not your husband. You don’t have to stay tied to a man who hurts you,’ he went on inexorably, ignoring the panic in her eyes as reality intruded. ‘There’s no unbreakable bond between you.’
Now was the time to tell him that she was no longer married, that she was a free agent, Jenna accepted. She wanted him with an emotion akin to desperation, with a hunger she had never experienced before, certainly not with Lee—but if she admitted that fact where would it leave her? At best all Alex wanted was a brief affair, and when it was over would he expect her to leave her job, or would she be like Katrin Jefferstone, unable to hide her feelings for him and an object of pity?
She had too much pride for that, Jenna acknowledged, and there was too much else at stake. Where would Maisie fit into the equation if she embarked on a relationship with Alex? And how much more leverage would it give Lee if he decided to fight for custody of their daughter?
‘There is a bond between us that will last a lifetime,’ she whispered, desire retreating and leaving in its wake emptiness and shame. She was linked to Lee inextricably—not through love, but through Maisie, the daughter Alex knew nothing about.
Alex rolled onto his side and she shivered at the coldness in his eyes. ‘In that case what the hell are you playing at by inviting me into your bed? If you were hoping to snag a wealthy lover as well as your husband, think again. Chris might be willing to share, but I’m damn well not.’
He swung his legs over the side of the bed and pulled on his trousers with jerky, economical movements that betrayed his bitterness, the contempt in his eyes crucifying her as his gaze roamed her body in insolent appraisal.
‘I didn’t invite you,’ Jenna defended herself. ‘You came into my room. You started this.’
‘It was hardly against your will,’ Alex snapped scathingly. ‘You made your enthusiasm abundantly clear. But I at least retain some morals, and I’m afraid I must turn down what’s all too clearly on offer.’
With infuriating calm he eased her bra back into place, and even then, knowing how much he despised her, she was unable to disguise her shiver as his fingers brushed against her breast.
‘Thanks, but no thanks,’ he taunted as he crossed the room, and Jenna shot after him, slamming the interconnecting door after him and bolting it as if barricading herself from all the demons in hell.
CHAPTER SIX
ON THEIR return flight to England Alex was aloof to the point of totally ignoring her, and Jenna quailed beneath his icy disdain on the few occasions he deemed it necessary to speak to her.
He was in court for the rest of the week, and she did not dare enquire on the outcome of Sebastian Vaughn’s case—although she later learned from Margaret that Seb had escaped a criminal record and been bound over to keep the peace.
The stand-off carried into the following week, and Alex’s coldness towards her and his biting sarcasm was not going unnoticed by the other staff.
‘Heaven knows what you’ve done to upset Alex,’ Katrin snapped as she swept past Jenna’s desk. ‘I’ve never known him in such a foul mood.’
‘Why assume that his mood has anything to do with me?’ Jenna argued stubbornly, refusing to be browbeaten. Alex’s scathing tongue was enough to contend with; she certainly didn’t need Katrin getting in on the act.
‘Because he’s been like it ever since the two of you returned from Paris. I hope you didn’t embarrass him. The Vaughns are a very high-profile family.’
By the end of that week Jenna was ready to call it a day. There had to be other jobs, she argued as she spilled out of the overcrowded tube train at London Bridge and headed towards the Morrell and Partners offices. The atmosphere at work was truly awful, and Alex’s bad temper was affecting everyone. For the sake of the other members of staff as well as her own sanity she would have to leave—and right now. Pole dancing in a sleazy nightclub seemed preferable to suffering another day of Alex’s vicious tongue.
There was an air of fevered speculation in the offices, and Jenna could not hide her curiosity as she reached her desk. ‘Has something happened?’ she asked one of the juniors.
‘You mean you haven’t heard? Alex is getting married to Selina Carter-Lloyd; their engagement was announced in the papers this morning.’
For a moment the floor rocked beneath her feet, and she actually gripped the edge of her desk, fighting for composure. ‘Well, that is news,’ she said quietly. ‘Totally out of the blue.’