His Wedding-Night Heir(22)

The grey eyes narrowed as they studied her. lingering with explicit appreciation on the deep neckline of the yellow dress, the way its fabric clung to her small high breasts.

He said quietly, 'I want all of you, Caroline. No protests and nothing held back. And no less will do.'

She swallowed. 'I—think I just lost my appetite.'

'Unfortunate,' he said. 'Then you'll just have to watch me eat instead.' He paused. 'Tell me something, Cally. Is it the whole idea of sex that repels you, or merely the thought of having it with me?'

She stared down at the table. 'I ran away from you,' she said, expressionlessly. 'I'd have thought that made my feelings clear.'

'No, darling,' he said. 'Now, as always, your emotions remain an enigma.' He lifted his beer glass mockingly. 'To marriage,' he said, and drank.

In spite of her previous disavowal, Cally found that lunch, when it came, was irresistible. The pies arrived, golden-brown in individual earthenware pots, accompanied by dishes of vegetables, and were served by the waitresses onto their plates. As the crusts broke, spilling their fragrant contents across the porcelain, the aroma literally made her mouth water.

There was no way she could refuse to eat. Nor would she achieve anything by starving herself, she admitted resignedly.

She was expecting a sarcastic comment from Nick as she reached for her cutlery, but he only permitted himself a swift, ironic glance before applying himself to his own food.

'Dessert?' he asked, when she finally put down her knife and fork.

She said stiltedly, 'Just coffee, please. Black, no sugar.'

'I'll have the same.' Nick offered a brief smile to the girl who'd come to clear their plates, then bent to help retrieve the cutlery she'd instantly and blushingly dropped on the grass.

'Poor girl,' Cally commented as the waitress retreated. 'You seem to have a devastating effect on women.'

'Not often,' Nick returned silkily. 'And certainly not on you, my sweet.'#p#分页标题#e#

Ah, but that's not true, she thought. Or how did you so easily persuade me to marry you—against all my better judgement? I wasn't proof against your smite either—or the way you looked at me. Or the kisses and caresses that always left me aching for more.

'You're attracting a lot of attention yourself,' Nick added, breaking into her reverie. 'But that's hardly surprising. In that dress, you look like part of the sunlight.'

Cally flushed and looked away self-consciously from the sudden intensity of his gaze. 'Please—don't say things like that'

'I'm not even allowed to pay you a mild compliment?'

'Not,' she said, 'in our kind of bargain.'

'Yet it's no more than the truth,' Nick said. 'Just look around you if you don't believe me.'

She said tautly, 'If people are staring, it's only to wonder what the hell someone like me is doing with someone like you, and we both know it.'

'I know nothing of the kind.' There was a new harshness in his tone. 'Why do you constantly denigrate yourself, Cally?'

'I think they actually call it being aware of one's limitations,' she said. 'I learned it quite early in life.'

'From your grandfather, I suppose,' he said with faint grim-ness.

'You can hardly blame him.' She shrugged. 'After all, he didn't have the grandson he'd set his heart on, so the next best thing was a replica of the daughter he'd lost—someone beautiful, vibrant and glamorous, with real star appeal. I—fell a long way short of his expectations.'

He said, slowly, 'My God.'

'It's understandable.' She took a breath. 'My mother was— a very hard act to follow. She and my father worshipped each other. In a way, it was a blessing the accident took them both, because they'd never have survived alone.'

'They wouldn't have been alone.' His voice was very quiet. 'They had you.'

'As it was, I was left with Grandfather. In the aftermath of it all we were both grieving, but we couldn't seem to comfort each other. Still, I think—eventually—he came to love me— in his way.' She paused. 'And he wanted me to be looked after when he'd gone. To have the financial security that he hadn't been able to provide himself at the end.' Her voice faltered slightly.

'Which, of course, is where I came in.' Nick ironically supplied her unspoken words.

'Grandfather's final act.' She forced a smile. 'To arrange my future. Hand me one of the glittering prizes. He even managed to make me believe, for a while, that it was what I wanted too.'

'And then Cinderella tried on the slipper and found it was the wrong size,' he said softly. 'Poor Cally.'

'What does it matter?' she said. 'I won't be wearing it for long. So there's really no need to pity me. Whatever you force me to do, I'll survive.'

She turned deliberately in her chair and stared at the river. Its still waters were golden-green in the brightness, shading to oily darkness in the overhang of the willows that fringed it. A small group of ducks was quarrelling noisily over the bread some diners had thrown for them, and from the opposite bank a diminutive but stately moorhen emerged from the reeds, her brood of chicks strung out behind her, all paddling frantically to keep up.