lips curved mockingly. ‘No, but you couldn’t seriously expect me to. I’m one of the few people who know from experience that there’s more to you than meets the eye.’
She laughed out of sheer disbelief. ‘You truly believe you know me that well?’
‘Like I say, I’ve seen both sides of you. One I can respect; the other… Well, we both know what you’re capable of. We both know you can do what Linus is asking of you. Why bother to waste time denying your alter ego?’
She shook her head helplessly. Every word he said was pushing her towards an outcome her family knew only too well. When the devil got in her, there was no stopping her, but she was prepared to give it one more try. ‘You’re wrong, you know. There is no other me.’
His brows rose sceptically. ‘Are you asking me to believe that you’re a reformed character? Sorry, darling, but as felines go, you’re as sleek as they come. A prime example. And, as the saying goes, a leopard cannot change her spots.’
‘I don’t need to change,’ she argued through gritted teeth. ‘Think about it. There hasn’t been one breath of scandal linked to my name in all the time you’ve known me, has there?’
‘I’ll agree you’re certainly more discreet than you used to be. I haven’t heard any recent gossip about you,’ he conceded dryly, and it was the way he said it which put her back up and had her teetering disastrously on the brink.
‘Even with that you won’t accept that you heard nothing because there was nothing to hear. Damn it, why do you find it impossible to accept that you’re wrong about me? That there might be an innocent explanation for what you think you saw in Antibes?’
His expression became remote. ‘Because I’ve known women like you before. I’ve seen all the tricks they use to blind a man to their true character, but what they all forget is that in the end nature will out. They always give themselves away.’
The scales began to tip dangerously. What he didn’t say was that he considered her to have given herself away already. His arrogance was beyond belief. ‘How can you make such a sweeping statement? Nothing is so cut and dried. Surely it’s possible for at least one to have a change of heart?’
‘Am I supposed to believe that’s what happened to you? You saw the error of your ways and reinvented yourself?’ he challenged incredulously, and she wanted to shake him till his teeth rattled.
She wasn’t saying that at all, as he would know if he really knew her as well as he thought he did. Well, he was about to learn a great deal more. She went over the edge, waving caution goodbye. As far as she could see, she was damned if she did and damned if she didn’t, so to hell with it. ‘Oh, believe what you like! You will, anyway,’ she snapped, with a defiant lift of her chin.
Nathan stared at her through eyes dancing with amusement. ‘Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you’re now as pure as the driven snow. But frankly, sweetheart, that doesn’t interest me right now. What does is that you know what to do and how to do it to get the best result,’ he added trenchantly.
His patent disbelief fanned the flames of her anger. ‘Perhaps I do, but that doesn’t mean I’m prepared to help you.’
‘You think not?’ he murmured softly. ‘Don’t be too sure. Everybody has their price, Rachel. What’s yours, I wonder?’
Rachel laughed hollowly. ‘Don’t try to blackmail me, Nathan. It won’t work,’ she pointed out as coolly as she was able.
‘What if I were to put it this way? What would you do for my continued silence?’
The soft words seemed to ring around the room, and Rachel froze. ‘I beg your pardon?’ she asked in total disbelief.
He smiled mockingly. ‘I thought that would get your attention. I’ll give you my ultimatum. Do what Linus wants, and he’ll never hear about your private life from me.’
Rachel stared at him, wondering if she had somehow crossed a time warp into another life. He couldn’t be serious. How could he have rubbed shoulders with her for so long and not know that there was nothing to tell? Linus knew all about Emma, had been the one to send her out to sort the matter three years ago. He knew, too, about her inability to trust men after the way her father had behaved to her mother. He didn’t know she had fallen for this blinkered man he admired so much, though.
God, Nathan was so certain he knew her. So certain he was right. He deserved to have some of that arrogance knocked out of him, and, the way she felt now, she was just the person to do it.
Her heart began to race as she dealt with the temptation. What pleasure it would give her to throw the truth in his face! Her eyes narrowed in a way that should have sent a wise man running for cover. Nathan unwisely stayed right where he was. ‘You’d say nothing, ever?’ she checked, and his eyes glittered with amusement.
‘You’re getting more like yourself by the minute,’ he observed mockingly. ‘Do what Linus asks of you and my lips will remain sealed. You can get any man you want, any way you want, and yet you’ll remain as innocent as the day is long in Linus’s eyes.’
With a mental grinding of her teeth, Rachel rose to her feet once more. ‘Well, now, that does make a difference,’ she mused thoughtfully, crossing to the mirror and making a show of smoothing her hair back. Tucking in a stray lock, her eyes darted to his reflection and caught the curl of his lip. It hurt to finally realise what his opinion of her was, but she was a fighter, not a quitter. He would get the person he thought her to be, in spades. Starting now.
‘After all, I have nothing but Grandfather’s best interests at heart,’ she reasoned, and Nathan’s smile broadened.
‘Of course you do. Which is why you couldn’t stand by and refuse to help him now, could you?’ he enlarged simply.
Rachel smiled too as she swung round. ‘It isn’t that I didn’t want to help him,’ she explained with a shrug, getting into character.
Nathan appeared only too happy to follow her lead, which did nothing for her mood. ‘Of course not. It’s just that a girl needs to know where she stands.’
The rat. Her smile widened. ‘Absolutely.’
‘OK, now that we understand each other so much better, why don’t you come and sit down and we’ll make some plans,’ he drawled sardonically, making her palms itch. He would never understand her. Never.
She didn’t want to sit, but standing made her look tense when she needed to appear at ease. She chose the chair opposite. ‘What sort of plans are you referring to?’ she asked, determined to sound businesslike at the very least.
‘Getting our stories straight, for one thing. We’re supposed to be lovers. I’m the high roller and you’re my lucky mascot. Think you can play the part?’ he asked her with a decided glint in his eye.
Rachel shot him an equally mocking look. ‘So long as you don’t expect me to bring you luck.’ What she wished for him right now was quite the opposite.
As she was fast coming to expect, Nathan laughed. ‘Just remember we’re on the same side, lover.’
Lover. The word shivered across her skin like the faintest breath of hot desert air. She didn’t feel in the least lover-like. Murderous,
