like he hadn’t heard anything else she’d told him.
Her chin lifted defiantly. “That was my gift. It came from my own savings, not the studio’s funds, in case you were worrying.”
“If your father knew about this…”
At the mention of her dad, her anger was kindled. “Do you intend to tell him?” she fired. “Go ahead. But if you think blackmail will make me change my mind, then you don’t know me at all.”
“Dana,” his voice grated. “This isn’t the kind of thing you give someone.”
“Well, pardon me, but I thought I just did. Some friends give cars—jewels—in the profession my father works in, I’ve seen it all. It pleased me to give you something of your mother’s history, the only tangible evidence left of a thriving estate. Where’s the romance in your soul?”
His hands knotted into fists. “We’re talking about your hard-earned money.”
She shrugged her shoulders. “There’s money, and then there’s money. I’ve never had anything I wanted to spend it on before. But I should have remembered that you’re in dire straits and need to get the taxes paid, so I tell you what. You go to Monsieur Dumarre. When you get the money back, you use it to make another installment to the bank so you can get out of here sooner and pursue your career.”
Blind with pain, she grabbed her bag and flew down the long corridor to the foyer. She didn’t need a light upstairs. Dana knew the place blindfolded. The second she reached her room, she threw herself on the bed.
“Dana—”
She might have known he’d be right behind her. Now she couldn’t sob into the pillow. “Come back downstairs so we can talk.”
“I’d rather not.”
“Then I’m coming in. Just remember I gave you a choice.”
When she heard the door open, she sat up on the bed and turned on the flashlight next to her bed. At first glance he looked ashen-faced, but maybe it was the starkness of the light against the dark.
Alex pulled the chair away from the writing table he’d provided earlier and sat down. He leaned forward with his hands clasped between his legs and stared at her for several tension-filled moments. “Your gift has overwhelmed me.”
She lowered her eyes, too full of conflicted emotions to speak.
“Dana—how can I make you understand I’ve never known generosity like yours. I’m touched beyond my ability to express what I’m feeling.”
His sincerity caused the tightness in her chest to break up. “I guess I wanted us to know what it tasted like so much, I went overboard in your opinion. But honestly, Alex, it wasn’t that much money.”
“How much?” he demanded quietly. “The truth.”
“He gave me a discount as a welcome-to-Anjou gift for you. It only cost three thousand dollars. You see? Not as much as you’d imagined. It’s less than what I make a month.”
A sound of exasperation came out of him. She wanted to reach him, but how?
“Can’t you understand how happy it made me to find a bottle of wine that came from your vineyard? After seeing the condition it’s in now, it’s like—I don’t know—it’s like finding this amazing treasure.”
The torment on his handsome face killed her. “There’s only one way I’d accept it,” his voice grated.
She jumped off the bed. “I won’t let you pay me for it, so I’ll keep it for my own souvenir from France. One day I’ll open it for an important occasion a-and I’ll remember,” her voice faltered. “Now let’s forget the whole thing, because I have.” She started for the door.
“Where do you think you’re going?” He was on his feet in an instant.
“Down to the kitchen to throw out the rest of that awful Hochepot en boeuf.” Dana had to get out of there before she blurted what she really wanted to say—that she was in love with him, the gut-wrenching kind that went soul deep!
Her father would call it temporary madness, but he would have to be careful because this intensity of feeling had happened to her mother after meeting the enigmatic Swede. Her world had never been the same after that, either.
“The dishes will keep.” Alex had caught up to her near the top of the stairs. He swept her in his strong arms like she was weightless and carried her back to the turret round.
“No, Alex—” she cried, trying to squirm out of his tight grasp. “Now you’re feeling sorry for me like I’m a little girl who’ll be all better with a peck on the cheek and a lollipop.”
He laid her on the bed and followed her down so he half covered her with his hard-muscled body. She felt his fingers furrow into her hair, as if he loved the texture. “You don’t have any comprehension of what I’m feeling. Would that you were a little girl I could send home to your daddy. But you’re not,” he muttered in what sounded like anguish.
“You’re a big girl I’d like to keep locked up in this tower for my pleasure.” His lips roved over her features, setting tiny fires. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Her heart leaped. “Then stop tormenting me and really kiss me. I’ve been in pain since this morning when Saskia interrupted us.”
“I’ve been in pain much longer than that,” he confessed.
The way his mouth closed over hers produced such ecstasy, she knew nothing except that this marvelous man was creating a vortex of desire deep within her. No other feeling in the world could compare. They gave kiss for kiss, savoring the taste and feel of each other. Divine sensations held her in thrall.
As time passed she needed to get closer and slid her hands around the back of his head, luxuriating in the freedom of touching and kissing him. He groaned against her tender throat. “You have no idea how much I want you.”
The feel of their entwined bodies created heat, making her feverish. His caresses caused her breathing to grow shallow. “Alex—” she cried in a rapturous daze, clinging to him with helpless abandon.
“What’s wrong?” he whispered against her swollen lips.
Wrong?
His hands stilled on her shoulders. “Am I frightening you? This is all too new to you, isn’t it. Tell me the truth.”
In that second while her mind was still capable of hearing him, she felt her heart plummet to her feet. Didn’t Alex know she’d cried out his name in a state of euphoria?
The thought came to her that he would never have asked that question if he’d considered her his equal. That was because he didn’t see her as a mature woman. It stunned her that his first impression of her still clung to him. In his eyes she was a girl disobeying her father’s wishes—a girl so impulsive she thought nothing of sleeping in a château with a stranger and worse—spending $3,000 of her money on a whim.
Dana forgave him for that. Of course
