‘Acting?’
Intuition told her what was going to happen next. Run! a despairing inner voice commanded, but an even older instinct locked her muscles so that when he pulled her into his arms she made no attempt to escape the inevitable.
‘I don’t think we’ll need to act,’ he said smoothly, and bent his head and kissed her.
It was a blatant act of mastery, possessive and angry, yet when Peta tried to resist, her body refused to accept the commands of her brain. Any other man who crowded her like this would have taken a fist in the solar plexus followed by a knee to his most sensitive region. Instead, treacherous desire and a fierce curiosity kept her prisoner until his kiss worked a barbaric enchantment.
A low sound in her throat startled her; her mouth softened beneath the demanding insistence of his, and an overwhelming tide of passion hit her, so fiercely elemental that it shocked her into surrender.
She had no idea how much later Curt lifted his head. Hugely reluctant, she opened her eyes, flinching when the glitter in his was replaced by a taunt.
‘I don’t think either of us will have to do much acting,’ he said with cool confidence as he let her go.
Mortified, Peta realised she was clutching his shirt. She jerked free of the pressure of his big, aroused body, shivering in the breeze that flowed over acutely sensitised skin.
She’d given him a potent weapon, she realised, infuriated and humiliated by the amused satisfaction in his expression. Rashly, she stated, ‘That was assault.’
His eyes gleamed and he gave her a slow, mocking smile. ‘Only if you didn’t want it.’
Hot-cheeked and indignant, Peta opened her mouth to refute this, but he said brusquely, ‘Don’t muddy the waters. You wanted it—you couldn’t have made it plainer. And you turned to fire when we kissed.’
Throat aching from unspoken tension, she said hoarsely, ‘Don’t ever do it again.’
He shrugged indolently. ‘You’re going to have to get used to it, because Ian won’t believe in a platonic relationship. If we’re going to convince Ian that you’ve latched on to a better prospect, you’ll need to be physically aware of me.’
His brutal bluntness told her how much he despised her. It slashed like a stockwhip across her skin, but she ignored it. He could well be right, she thought wearily. Ian had his pride; he wouldn’t want his brother-in-law’s leftovers. ‘Are you sure this will work?’
‘It had better.’
The cold note of menace in his tone tightened every nerve. ‘And if it doesn’t?’
‘Then you’ll lose your farm,’ he said pleasantly. ‘And in case you get any ideas, don’t think he’ll be able to help you. In New Zealand law, half of what he owns goes to Gillian.’
When she frowned he said in a tone that lifted the hairs on the back of her neck, ‘Didn’t he tell you that Gillian’s money is held in trust for her? If they divorce he’ll have nothing; certainly not enough to buy any land.’
Because he was the trustee, she’d bet.
But he had a few good points; he helped her get the calf out of the swamp, and he had to love his sister to be prepared to go slumming for her…
He watched her face, and after a taut few seconds added deliberately, ‘Don’t worry, you won’t lose financially by joining me in this masquerade.’
Dominating swine, tarring everyone with his own brush! Green-gold eyes glittering, she asked sweetly, ‘Does money solve everything for you?’
‘Most things,’ he said, sounding amused. ‘Don’t knock it. And if you want to find out how important it is, tell Ian about this.’
With gritty emphasis she said, ‘You needn’t worry—I’ll pretend as well as I can.’ She flicked a lock of hair back from her hot face and finished fiercely, ‘You’re lucky you have a ready-made way to force me into it. What would you have done if you didn’t have the power to deny me road access?’
‘I’d have offered you more money, of course,’ he said coolly. ‘I assume you see him as a source of security, and although paying you off goes against the grain, I can provide you with more than he ever could.’
Her lip curled. ‘I’m not for sale.’
He laughed beneath his breath and reached for her, linking his fingers at the back of her neck with exquisite gentleness before using his thumbs to force up her chin. ‘Everyone’s for sale,’ he said quietly. ‘All a buyer has to do is find the right price.’
‘So what would it take to buy you?’ she asked in an odd, stifled voice, driven by a strange combination of fury and compassion.
Eyes narrowed into crystalline slivers, he examined her face. ‘More than you can pay,’ he said with raw intensity. ‘More than you could ever pay.’
And he dropped his hands to pull her into him so that he could kiss her again, taking her mouth with urgent hunger in a kiss driven by a dangerous volatility. His mouth devoured hers—and hers met and matched his hunger. Her treacherous body leapt into full life, blazing with a storm of desire made even more intense by the complex turmoil of her emotions.
Every warning bolted from her brain; only when his hand came up to rest on her breast, and she felt the eager centre tighten against his palm did she realise what she had to do.
She yanked herself back; somehow her hair had become loose and when she shook her head a cloud of golden-brown swirled around her stunned face.
Instantly, as though he’d been waiting, Curt let her go and stood staring at her with a black hostility that tightened every quivering nerve into knots.
Attack first. ‘You promised that wouldn’t happen again,’ she accused.
‘It won’t,’ he said harshly. ‘I’ll see you later.’
He swung on his heel and left her there in the calf-shed with the familiar scents of animals and hay and the milk mixture, and her heart drumming in a dangerous rhythm of anticipation and excitement and anger.
‘One day,’ she muttered when the car started up outside, ‘I hope you fall desperately in love with someone, and I pray she tells you just how bloody-minded and patronising you are and then turns you down flat.’
Laddie stretched enthusiastically and yawned, his jaws making a faint clop as they came together.
Peta grimaced and bent to scratch the dog. ‘Just as well you’re not a guard dog, or I’d be sending you off to the SPCA for dereliction of duty. Why didn’t you sink your teeth into his ankle?’
Her voice shook, and as his tail swept from side to side, her attempted smile turned into a trembling contraction of her mouth. She straightened up. ‘OK, we’d better do some work and after that I’ll work out exactly what I’m wearing to this wretched barbecue.’
In the end she chose a gold shirt she’d made a couple of years previously, combining it with a pair of cuffed trousers the same bronze
