He realized too late that he should have stayed home with his dumplings. He was treading on dangerous ground, being in this house with her and all their memories. It was going to take every ounce of his willpower to get through the evening without falling in love with her again.
He decided his best defense would be a good offense. He hated what he had to do but believed he could never risk loving and losing her again. Forgive me, Amanda. It’s the only way.
“You’re a beautiful woman, Amanda.”
“Thank you.”
Her trusting smile didn’t make it any easier for him. “How is it that you never used your looks to lead another man to the altar after Claude?”
At the sudden intake of her breath and the flashing of anger in her eyes, he felt regret and guilt. Her smile was so much more pleasurable. He could bask in it for a hundred years and never tire of it. With effort he remembered her betrayal.
“That is the way you came between me and my best friend, isn’t it, Mandy?”
She stood slowly, using her body as a weapon. With languorous movements she laced her hands behind her neck and lifted her glorious hair upward. She arched her body so that her breasts were thrust forward.
“Yes.” Her voice was low, sultry, sexy. Only the high spots of color on her cheeks and her blazing eyes betrayed her anger.
She lowered her arms, letting her hair drift through her fingers. “Like this, Tanner.”
Her eyes never left his as she unbuttoned her blouse again. He could almost hear the silk against her skin as she caressed the material, dragging it inch by sensuous inch off her shoulders.
“I made him want me, Tanner.” Her hands were on the waistband of her slacks. “I used my body.”
The zipper was loud, like sandpaper grating on his frayed nerves. She hooked her thumbs into her waistband and lowered the slacks. The black lace she wore teased, provoked. His breathing became harsh. With maddening slowness her hips came into view, alluring, curving away from her tiny waist, just the way he remembered. She stepped out of the slacks, kicking them out of her way.
Her legs were gorgeous, their length and shape emphasized by the black lace teddy with French-cut sides. She put her hands on her hips. “Claude wanted my body, Tanner. Do you?”
He wanted it so badly, he thought he’d go mad.
“In my own time, Amanda.”
She wasn’t finished with her revenge. Leaning down, she stroked him, taking her time, letting him know the full electricity of her touch. Then she straightened, her expression cool and detached. Letting her left hand slide across her shoulder and down her arm, she lowered one strap of her black teddy. Her right breast, mere inches from his mouth, tantalized him.
“Feast your eyes, Tanner, for you’ll never be able to do more than look again. You had your time eleven years ago.”
With magnificent control she walked away from him. Turning in the doorway, she sank one last barb. “Just remember, I chose Claude.”
He could hear her progress through the house. Each door she slammed punctuated the restless silence. Her footsteps on the stairs clapped with the finality of doom. He sat at the table, wondering at the havoc he had wrought. Guilt slashed through him. In his zeal to protect himself he’d wounded Amanda. Revenge was bitter, and catharsis didn’t matter anymore. What mattered was that he had driven away the only woman he had ever loved, the only woman he could ever love. Too late, the realization swept over him. Heaven help him, he was in love with Amanda once more. Probably had been from the day he saw her walk Into Jimmy’s. What had happened eleven years ago was over and done with. Finished. He could forgive the past, but he could never forgive himself if he lost Amanda again.
He’d been fooling himself. All his notions about bedding and forgetting her had been a sham. It was ironic to him that he could be so clearheaded in business and so blind about love. His heart had been shouting the truth to him ever since he’d come home, but he had refused to listen. He’d plunged stubbornly ahead, widening the chasm that was already between them. Winning her again would have been difficult at best; now he had made it almost impossible.
A lesser man might have given up, but Tanner Donovan was a stranger to defeat. With the wonderful knowledge of love coursing through him like new wine, he never considered any possibility except winning. He would have her, and any man who tried to come between them had better be prepared to do battle with the devil.
First he smiled, then the smile became a chuckle, and the chuckle became a full-bodied roar of sheer joy. Amanda would lead him a merry chase, but he’d have her. This time for keeps.
He went to the kitchen door and listened. There was no sound from Amanda. Knowing her, he decided that she was probably hatching a plan that would make tonight’s skirmish seen tame.