The Final Seduction(30)

'And where is he now?'

'At his mother's house,' said Drew grimly. 'Sobering up. Actually, can  you pour me a drink?' he asked suddenly, and flopped down into an  armchair. 'I think I need one.'

She didn't comment on the irony of his request, just poured him a gin  and tonic which was all she had. He took a large swallow and winced,  before putting the glass down and delving deep into the pocket of his  jeans. Always a distracting movement, thought Shelley as she watched  him, like a cat watching a mouse.

He withdrew a wad of banknotes and threw them down on the table. 'These are yours. The exact amount-'

'Minus two hundred,' she agreed.

'No,' he contradicted. 'Minus nothing. It's all there. I made up the amount myself-'

'Drew, I can't-'

'Shelley, you can, and believe me you're going to. Jamie is family-kind  of-so he's partly my responsibility. And that's an end to it.'

'I don't deserve it,' she said, in a small voice.

'No, you probably don't,' he agreed, but at his mouth was another  glimmer of a smile and she knew that she had to tell him the truth.

'You were right all along,' she sniffed.

'No crying, Shelley. I refuse to be manipulated by your tears,' he  warned her softly, then frowned suspiciously. 'You mean about Jamie  squandering money?'

She shook her head. 'No-about the reason I lent him the money in the  first place! It's true-I did it as a spectacular act of revenge-to use  your very own words!'

'I see.' He leaned his head back and his eyes were half-closed. 'And  what was your reason for this spectacular act of revenge?' he asked  calmly, as if it were the sort of question he asked every day.

'Because I saw you kissing that … that-' She swallowed down her first  choice of word. Bitchiness was never an attractive quality. 'Woman at  your party.'

The eyes opened an interested fraction. 'And why on earth would that bother you, Shelley?'

She turned on him. 'Why do you think? Do you want me to spell it out for you?'

'Not really. I want you to say it out loud for me instead.'

Her eyes were very bright and very clear. 'That I love you? That I've always loved you? Surely you must know that by now?'

He didn't answer at first, just eased himself out of the chair as though  he found sitting down inhibiting, but the blue eyes were as cold as a  winter sea. 'Then you fall in love very easily, don't you, Shelley? Last  month Marco, this month me.'                       
       
           



       

She shook her head, knowing that she needed to tread very carefully here. 'But I never loved Marco.'

'No?' He gave a dry laugh. 'You just lived with him for three years? That's some kind of devotion!'

'Yes, it is, I agree-but it's not love.' Her eyes blazed out the truth at him. 'And it never was-it was never anybody but you.'

There was silence and Shelley stared down at her hands, unable to look him in the face.

'Then why didn't you come back sooner if that was the case? Why stay with a man you claim not to have loved?'

She knew that she had to have the courage to face him, but she almost  flinched from the accusation in the burning blue gaze. 'Like when?'

'When your mother died.' His eyes asked a question. 'I thought you would have needed me then.'

'Needed you?' She shook her head in despair. 'Oh, Drew-of course I  needed you! If you'd shown the slightest indication that you wanted or  needed me-then I would have come back like a shot! But you wouldn't even  speak to me-bar the absolute minimum that you needed to-so how could I  tell you anything? I was waiting for you to say something, anything that  would have given me the smallest hint that you still wanted me. But you  didn't. Sometimes I used to dream that you would come to Italy to find  me, but you never did.'

'Because you were living with another man!' he ground out incredulously.  'What the hell did you expect-that I would walk in and drag you from  his arms? Sorry, kitten, but that's just not my style!'

She opened her mouth to answer, but found herself gazing helplessly at  him instead. And the only thing which seemed to matter now was whether  or not it was too late for them. 'Drew?' she managed eventually.

She read the look in his eyes which made her dare to hope, and then  suddenly she was wrapped in his arms so tightly that she could barely  breathe.

'And please don't ask me if I still love you,' he whispered harshly,  'when I never stopped! Though God knows it wasn't for want of trying!'  And with that he brought his mouth crushing down on hers in a kiss that  made her want to melt into him and never be prised apart.

It took some time for him to tear his mouth away, and when he did he cupped her face tenderly with his hands.

'As for that woman you saw me with at the party-'

'You don't have to justify anything to me.'

He carried on as if she hadn't spoken. 'I knew you were there,' he said softly.

Shelley stilled, still sensitive to the possibility of …  betrayal? 'Y-you saw me?'

'Sure I did. I saw you watching her kiss me.'

'You kissed her back!' she accused.

'I was a passive participant,' he argued. 'Not an active one.'

'And you think that makes it all right?'

He shook his head. 'I didn't stop her-that was the extent of my  involvement. But if you'd hung around you'd have discovered that I  rejoined the party minutes later and wondered where you'd gone.'

'You must have known damned well where I'd gone! That I couldn't stay there seeing you with someone else!'

He nodded. 'Yes, I knew what you must be thinking. I knew your mind must  have been working overtime, as mine once did when I saw you with Marco.  Don't you realise, kitten, just how powerful the imagination can be?  And how dangerous? That it can be both weapon and tool? That's what I  wanted to show you. All those times you shrugged your pretty shoulders  and said, "Oh, Drew-it was just a kiss!" It's never just a kiss! You've  always thought that I completely overreacted all those years ago-but  you're guilty of exactly the same reaction, Shelley!'

He was right. She looked up at him, slightly shame-faced. 'Yes,' she  whispered. 'I stormed out and took all that money out of the bank! I  didn't even think of Jamie, I'm ashamed to say. All I could think of was  how much it would infuriate you!'

He nodded. 'Both kisses were innocent-logic tells us that-but logic  doesn't have much of a role to play when it comes to love. Passion  dominates logic.' He gave her a long, searching stare. 'And I think it's  about time we gave passion a little room in our lives, don't you,  kitten? It's been waiting for long enough to come in.'

She grazed a finger across the rough, dark shadow of his chin. 'You need a shave,' she whispered.

'I need more than a shave. I need you like I've never needed anything or  anyone in my life before. But not here.' He gave a slow smile that made  her cheeks glow pink, then looked around the room. 'I don't want to  stay here.'                       
       
           



       

'Why not?'

'Too many … memories. Come on.' He took her hand and kissed it. 'Let's go home to bed.'





CHAPTER ELEVEN




THE moon rose high in a sky of flawless navy velvet and silver light  flooded in through the uncurtained window, illuminating the rumpled  sheets and the two tangled bodies which lay amidst them.

Drew listened to the subsiding beat of her heart before he moved away so  that she was at arm's length. More importantly, so that he could see  her.

'So why didn't you tell me, Shelley?'

She let her eyelids drift open and yawned. She wasn't going to pretend  not to know what he was talking about. 'It's a difficult topic to bring  up. I couldn't think of the right time.'

'You could have told me any time. Especially before I … before we … '  Suddenly he couldn't wipe the stupid grin off his face ' … made love.'

She propped herself up on one elbow and raised her flushed face to his with a sleepy smile. 'I didn't want to tell you then.'

'Why not?'

'Because it would have made too big a deal of it-'

'Hell, Shelley-it is a big deal-or rather it's supposed to be! Taking a  woman's virginity is one of the biggest-' His mouth quirked when he saw  her expression. 'Stop it, will you? I'm trying to be serious! Do you  want to tell me … just tell me how you're still a virgin?'

'You know very well how,' she retorted. 'Because I never made love to a man before. I think you mean why.'

'Don't play word-games with me at a time like this, kitten!' he pleaded.

She thought of asking him which games he did want to play at a time like  this, but something in the way he was looking at her made her realise  how much it meant to him.

And to her.

'Marco was …  No, let me start again …  Marco is … '

'For heaven's sake, Shelley, don't keep me in suspense, just say it!'

'Gay.'

'Gay?'

'That's right. He isn't interested in women-he never has been. That  stupid kiss in the car was a thank-you kiss which went on longer than it  should have done. It was always more about my fantasy than his. We  lived together like brother and sister, until eventually he fell in  love.' She examined his face. 'Are you shocked?'