Pregnancy of Revenge(42)

'You might find it convenient to forget last night, but I never will. I must have been stark raving mad to marry you. You are a devious, rotten liar.' She had behaved like the world's biggest fool, and it hurt, it hurt like hell to know she had fallen so completely for Jake while he had a totally different agenda. But no way was she compounding her folly by continuing with this sham. 'And I want out of this fiasco of a marriage.' The smile left his handsome face and if she hadn't known him better she would have thought he was in pain, but then his dark brown eyes narrowed to angry slits and the air between them was suddenly electric with tension.

'Don't be ridiculous, Charlotte. I—'

She cut him off sharply. 'I'm not being ridiculous, just stating a fact. I want out.'

Nobody called Jake a liar and got away with it, not even Charlotte. 'Never. You are my wife,' he sliced back, his gaze roaming over her beautiful but mutinous face and lower to where the creamy mounds of her breast were temptingly revealed by the slip of blue satin that passed as a nightgown. Jake's control was stretched to the limit. He felt bad about throwing the dress at her last night, but it had been either that or throwing himself on her. He had had such high hopes this morning when he had made breakfast that she would put the unpleasantness of last night behind her and act like a reasonable adult. But if anything she was more determined to defy him than ever, while he was getting more frustrated by the second, as the ache in his groin reminded him. 'You will stay in my home,' he commanded in a dangerously quiet voice. 'And in my bed. Understand?'

Charlie shivered, her flesh chilled at the deadly certainty with which he voiced his intentions. But she refused to be cowed. She had been a doormat for far too long.

In your dreams. I'm out of here tomorrow.'

'No.' He shook his head.

Succinct and clearly unmovable. She realized it had not been the most sensible time to tell him when she was still in bed. He was staring at her, his chiselled features as hard as stone while a savage, sensual smile played around his mouth. She tore her gaze from his, but a strong hand cupped her chin and turned her back to face him. Her pulse beat a frantic rhythm through her whole body at his touch, and she was horrified at her own weakness.

'I am not staying here with you. Not now.'

His smile was softly derisive. 'You have no choice in the matter. The security around here is superb. You don't leave without my say-so.'

'You can't force me to stay here. You wouldn't dare,' Charlie flung back at him, but she saw the implacable gleam in his dark eyes and knew he would dare anything to get what he wanted.

'I won't have to. I know you, Charlotte. You want the best for our child and you know that is both parents living together in harmony.' Sliding his hand around the nape of her neck, he urged her head forward, and brushed his lips against her cheek. 'I also know you are too proud to return to England and admit failure,' he added and, dipping his head, captured her mouth in a deeply provocative kiss.

In direct opposition to her will, a slow fire began to course though her veins, bringing every nerve in her body to tingling life. The seductive pressure of his mouth and her own heated response was totally humiliating and yet when he broke the kiss she felt bereft. Then she noticed where his gaze had fixed and, grasping the sheet, she raised it up over her chest, suddenly aware of the brevity of the nightgown she had donned unthinkingly last night.

The dark eyes narrowed knowingly on her flushed face. 'It is allowable, Charlotte,' he mocked. 'You're my wife, the soon-to-be mother of my child. Concentrate on that and we will get along fine.'

Charlie saw the arrogance, the supreme masculine confidence in his gaze and her eyes closed against the pain she felt deep inside. She wanted to cry, but her pride would not let her, and pride was all she had left. She opened her eyes. 'Given that according to you I am trapped in this place, it would seem I don't have much of a choice,' she said scathingly. 'What do you intend to do, lock me up?'

Jake's expression changed to one of frustrated fury. 'Dio, no! But the way you are behaving could drive a man to it,' he snarled. 'Damn it to hell, Charlotte. How do you expect me to react when you declare you want to end our marriage before it has even begun? Over a damned painting—and not a very good one at that!' he added with biting sarcasm.

'A painting you lied to me about the night we met,' she said bitterly. 'You said you wanted it for an investment, dead artist and all that. I believed you because you looked that hard-headed. But I should have guessed you had a deeper purpose, when I saw the mesmerized way you looked at it. I should have left.'

Jake stared at her, and remained silent for what seemed an age. His voice when he finally spoke was menacingly soft. 'Not much of a lie. For any other purchaser it could be the truth. As for being mesmerized—I blanked it out because it felt incestuous to see it. I only looked at it because it was expected of me, as I had just bought the damn thing. I bought it to destroy it before Anna's parents discovered its existence. They have suffered enough pain losing their daughter, without the added pain of seeing her naked body displayed to the world. And you, Charlotte, might have thought of that before you blithely exposed your father's private collection to the public without having the decency to ask those concerned, simply to make money.'