Savage Courtship by Susan Napier

Author:Susan Napier
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 1994-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

BARELY fifteen minutes later Vanessa was numbly allowing herself to be put into the passenger seat of Benedict’s BMW.

Even while a detached part of her brain despised herself for her meekness she seemed unable to fight the old sense of helplessness that had come flooding back at his final verbal thrust on the dance-floor.

When he had taken her back to the table, propelling her blind progress with an iron hand in the middle of her back, Richard had instantly been concerned.

‘Vanessa? What is it? You look as white as a sheet!’

‘I feel ill,’ Vanessa had replied thickly, her dark eyes unconsciously pleading. ‘I want to go home.’

‘Of course; let me get the bill—’ Richard had risen to his feet, extending an anxious hand only to find her moved firmly beyond his grasp.

‘No need to rush, Wells. I’ll take her home with me. No sense in your making an unnecessary trip. Say goodnight to Richard, Vanessa.’

Even through the veil of her shock Vanessa had sensed the deep satisfaction in the man beside her as he began to draw her away from the table. He was enjoying thwarting all Richard’s expectations of a romantic end to the evening.

‘Goodnight, Richard,’ she’d repeated mechanically.

A scandal has wings... Vulture’s wings. She could feel them beating over her defenceless head.

Only when they’d reached the BMW parked on the gravel by some huge pohutukawa trees did Vanessa summon the presence of mind to protest. ‘I had a coat—’

‘We’ll pick it up some other time. They’ll keep it safe. Here, take this if you’re cold.’ He shouldered out of his white jacket, placing it around her trembling shoulders, enveloping her in his warmth and male scent. He opened the door and tucked her fluid skirt over her thighs when it slipped sideways as she swung her legs inside.

‘Are you all right?’ he asked as he got in beside her and switched on the headlights.

‘Yes,’ she clipped, looking through the front windscreen at the way the lights were blurred by the faint mist that was drifting in from the Firth of Thames.

He swore under his breath. ‘Damn it, stop looking like that. If he really means that much to you I’ll take you back inside!’

The rawness in his tone pierced her numbness.

‘Who?’ She turned her head. His white shirt shimmered in dimness, the dark tie a slash across his throat; what she could see of his expression was tight and angry.

He gave a coldly exultant laugh at her blank puzzlement. ‘No, he doesn’t, does he?’

He leaned closer to her, so that she could see the fierce glitter in his eyes. ‘What is it you’re thinking about, then, Vanessa? Where’s all that glorious fight gone? What are you hiding? Or should I say, what is it you’re hiding from?’

That jolted her. Fight? Dear God, she was just beginning to realise how weaponless she was where he was concerned. ‘I don’t know what you’re—’

‘Don’t! Don’t lie to me!’ he cut across her sharply. ‘I’ve had enough of it. You know,

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