and as for lending you a car——’
‘Yes?’ His eyes were narrowed and wary.
‘Oh—it’s ludicrous!’ Olivia thrust her hands forward, as if to ward off a physical presence. ‘Whatever my feelings, you’ve inveigled your way in here—which reminds me: how did you get in? The gates are electrically operated, and we have a very efficient security system.’
‘You forget, I used to live here,’ Alex retorted blandly. ‘And before you tell me the guard on the gate couldn’t possibly remember me, I know. But it’s amazing what the production of a passport will do, particularly when I explained how sorry I was not to have got here sooner. A son’s grief still means something, Liv, even to hard-bitten security guards.’
Olivia pursed her lips. ‘I don’t believe you’re sorry at all. I think you timed your arrival perfectly!’
‘Oh, Mother! How can you say that?’
His words mocked hers, and Olivia felt a helpless sense of impotence. Almost without volition, she was being backed further and further into a corner, and although she didn’t want to fight him, he was making it impossible for her not to do so. What did he want? Why had he come here? And how long would he stay, if she did not make a stand?
With another bemused shake of her head, she moved then, intent on reaching the door and the comparative privacy of the hall beyond. But he moved too, stepping deliberately into her path, and she looked up at him angrily, incensed by his arrogance.
‘Do you mind?’ she exclaimed, her breathing quickening in concert with her emotions. ‘I think we’ve said enough for one day, don’t you? You’re here—and thanks to Mrs Winters, you’ve acquired a certain respectability. But don’t expect me to applaud your methods, because I won’t. I don’t know what your intentions are, but let me remind you, I am the mistress here, and don’t you forget it!’
‘Oh, I don’t.’ But he was mocking her again, his thin lips curling lazily as he surveyed her obvious frustration. ‘You’re the one who seems in danger of forgetting it. I mean, is this any way to treat a long-lost son?’
Olivia clenched her fists. ‘Will you stop that!’
‘And if I don’t?’
‘You’re completely despicable, aren’t you? I’m beginning to understand why Henry threw you out. I——’
‘Correction, Henry did not throw me out,’ Alex cut in harshly. ‘I—walked out. Of my own free will.’ He looked down at her contemptuously. ‘He practically begged me to stay, do you know that?’
‘Then you can’t blame him, can you?’ she exclaimed, seizing the opportunity he had given her, but he only shook his head.
‘I don’t,’ he retorted coldly. ‘But that doesn’t stop me despising him, and what he did. I’m afraid your husband was no saint, Mrs Gantry.’ He lifted a finger and before she could stop him, had brushed a sooty tendril from her cheek. ‘Now ain’t that a shame!’
Olivia flinched away from him, fumbling at the thread of hair with unsteady fingers, thrusting it back behind her ear, as if by doing so she would remove the unwanted touch of his skin. ‘Don’t do that!’ she choked. ‘Don’t touch me! And please, get out of my way, before I——’
‘Yes? Before you what? Throw a tantrum? Scream?’ He rucked up his jersey to tuck his thumbs into the low belt of his jeans. ‘Dear me, I wonder what Mrs Winters would have to say about that? A nice piece of gossip to end the day with!’
Olivia took a deep breath. ‘Why are you doing this?’ she exclaimed tremulously. ‘What do you want? I’ve said you can stay. Isn’t that enough?’
He shrugged. ‘Maybe I’m thinking that as we’re what you might call—kissing kin, we should exchange something more than just goodnights.’
Olivia gasped. ‘You must be crazy!’
‘Why?’
He was a disturbing tormentor standing there, and in the warmth of the room, Olivia could not help but be aware of the raw male scent of his skin. It was not a sensation she was enjoying. She did not want to be aware of him, in any way; and her life to date had not led her to believe that she was likely to be affected by members of his sex. But the fact remained, she was disconcerted by his proximity, and uncomfortably conscious of his superior strength.
‘Mr Gantry——’
‘It was Alex a moment ago.’
‘Alex, then——’ She squeezed all her small store of composure into a tight ball. ‘I think this conversation has gone far enough, don’t you? If you’ll just allow me to reach the door …’
‘You haven’t touched your supper,’ he reminded her provokingly, and Olivia’s shoulders sagged.
‘I intend to take the tray up to my room,’ she stated raggedly, although in fact she had only just remembered it. ‘Alex, please, stop teasing me!’
‘Teasing!’ He made a stifled sound of derision, and before she could move, his hands gripped her waist, hard through the fine wool of the caftan. ‘Teasing,’ he said again, bending his head towards her. ‘Oh, Liv, I’m not teasing!’ and although she twisted her head away, his mouth sought and eventually imprisoned hers.
It was a cruel assault, made the more so by the savage way he forced her head round to his. His jaw was hard against her cheek, the roughness of his unshaven beard scraping her sensitive skin. His teeth bruised her lips as his own forced them apart, and the brutal pressure of his mouth on hers was a suffocating debasement.
Olivia tried to fight him off, but he was much too strong and much too determined to be thwarted by her puny efforts. Her hands pummelled uselessly at his back, but her breasts were crushed against his chest, and the rigid muscles of his legs were a solid barrier to any physical protest she tried to make.
His mouth silenced her verbal objections. Although sounds of resistance gurgled in her throat, she was powerless to help herself, and as the searching sensuality of his mouth continued to ravage her senses, new and disturbing sensations began to trouble her. His hands slid from her waist to her hips and evoked an uncontrollable response, and Olivia’s defences crumbled. With the hungry demand of his lips softening to an unbearable intimacy, weakness enveloped her, and the hands which had only moments before been hammering at his shoulders were suddenly clutching the rough wool of his sweater.
‘You—bitch!’ he muttered suddenly against her lips, as his leg insinuated itself between hers, but the sound of his contemptuous voice, combined with the stirring pressure she could now feel against her stomach, brought Olivia to a horrifying awareness of what was happening.
‘Oh, my God!’ she choked, tearing her mouth from his. ‘My God!’ and because he chose to let her go, she was able to drag herself away from him.
She wished the ground would open up and swallow her when she saw the mocking gleam in his dark eyes, eyes that were almost black now as they raked her frozen revulsion. ‘Poor Liv,’ he taunted unkindly, making no attempt to hide his own arousal, ‘you didn’t find much satisfaction in your husband’s bed, did you? You must have been desperate—’
Olivia’s instinctive
