curious about the past relationship Jerard kept insisting they had had. Well, she was curious about it herself!
She wanted to excuse herself after dinner was over, but the two men were still discussing photography, making it highly unlikely that Paul would want to leave just yet. And she could hardly leave without him and Carly, not without making a scene.
So she sat in one of the armchairs, a polite smile of interest fixed falsely on her face as she tried desperately to remember if she and Jerard Daniels had ever met before. He was so adamant that they had, and he didn’t seem the type to lie about something like that. Besides, he was very attractive, having charmed Carly until she was starry-eyed, so he didn’t need to go to such extremes to get a woman.
She watched him as he talked to Paul. He really was very attractive, in a harsh sort of way. Still, it sounded as if life had dealt him a series of hard blows lately, first of all his wife dying of heart disease and then his father dying too. But she really couldn’t say she knew him.
Maybe she reminded him of his wife or something? She could come up with any number of excuses for his mistake in thinking he knew her, but she had no way of knowing if any of them were right.
When Paul finally suggested they leave she stood hurriedly to her feet, eager to be gone.
Once again Jerard Daniels took hold of her arm, holding her easily at his side. ‘You two go ahead,’ he said politely to Paul and Carly. ‘I just want to have a private word with Velvet.’
She swallowed hard. ‘It’s late, Mr Daniels,’ she told him sharply. ‘Perhaps we can talk in the morning?’
‘Tonight,’ he insisted in a hard voice that brooked no argument. ‘Now.’
‘I——’
‘We’ll see you in the morning, Velvet,’ said Paul before he and Carly stepped into the lift.
‘How dare you!’ Velvet turned angrily on Jerard Daniels once they were alone, forgetting for the moment that he was employing her, remembering only that he had embarrassed her. ‘You know what they’re thinking!’
He raised one dark eyebrow. ‘And what would that be?’
‘That I’m spending the night up here with you!’ she snapped, two bright spots of angry colour in her cheeks.
He looked unconcerned. ‘So?’
‘So I want to leave now. Look, I’m sorry if I don’t remember meeting you before, but I meet such a lot of people in my profession. If we were friends——’
‘We were a little more than that, Velvet,’ he revealed tightly, his features set in harsh lines.
She looked at him dazedly, licking her lips nervously. ‘You mean …?’
He gave an arrogant inclination of his head. ‘I mean we were lovers, Velvet.’
SHE pulled out of his grasp. ‘I don’t believe you!’ she gasped.
His eyes were narrowed to icy slits. ‘It’s the truth, I can assure you. I loved you, I thought you loved me too. It seems I was just the first man in your life,’ he rasped.
Her eyes were wide with shock. ‘The first …’
‘I was your first lover, Velvet. You were a virgin when we made love.’ His mouth twisted bitterly.
‘I—I—Oh God!’ She turned away, shaking with reaction. ‘This can’t be happening to me,’ she groaned.
Jerard walked past her into the lounge, poured out two brandies and handed her one. ‘Drink it,’ he ordered, swallowing his own in one gulp, unmoved by the fiery liquid.
Velvet took a tenative sip, grimacing at the unaccustomed alcohol. She never drank alcohol, had always had an aversion to it.
‘I think you’d better go,’ Jerard Daniels said harshly. ‘We obviously have nothing to talk about.’
‘I—No. I—Yes, I—I’ll go,’ and she turned blindly in the direction of the lift.
‘But first——’ he swung her round to face him, ‘first I get to kiss the woman who’s haunted my days and invaded my nights for longer than I care to remember!’ His mouth ground down on hers, demanding that she respond.
No man had kissed her since Anthony, no one had been allowed close enough to take this liberty. But Jerard Daniels wasn’t going to ask her permission; he took what he wanted, uncaring whether or not she enjoyed it.
But she was enjoying it, had melted at the first pressure of his lips on hers, gave herself up to the pleasure he was evoking—was even managing to kiss him back.
Suddenly his mouth gentled on hers, tasting her lips like a thirsty man in the desert craves water. His hands moved caressingly across her bare back, probing the line of her shoulder-blade and shooting spasms of pleasure through her body.
Velvet groaned with the familiarity of his movements, distant memories flashing into her brain, memories that faded before she could recall the reality of them.
This man had kissed her before, had touched her, she knew it as surely as she breathed. She just didn’t remember it!
He swung her up into his arms, still kissing her as he carried her into one of the bedrooms, kicking the door shut behind them.
The slam of the door was enough to bring her to her senses, and she started to struggle as he gently laid her down on the bed, clearly intending to join her. ‘No!’ She broke away from him.
‘No?’ he groaned in raw agony, his eyes glazed with passion.
‘No,’ she choked, scrambling off the bed. ‘I—I don’t know what happened just now——’
‘You wanted me,’ he rasped. ‘That’s what happened.’
Velvet blushed at the accuracy of his words. She had wanted him, and that had never happened to her before with a complete stranger. But was he a stranger? He didn’t seem to think so—and neither did her body.
‘And I wanted you,’ he added sneeringly. ‘How does it make you feel to know that after all this time I still want you? Does it give you a cheap thrill to know that I was completely taken in by you and the love you professed to have for me?’
Velvet swallowed hard, frightened of his anger. ‘I——’ she licked her lips. ‘I——’
‘You’re speechless, hmm?’ he derided bitterly. ‘I thought we had something special, Velvet, the sort of love that would last even though we were apart.’
She frowned. ‘I’m sorry …’
Jerard Daniels’ eyes flashed deeply blue. ‘Get out of here!’ he snapped. ‘I’ve been in love with a dream all this time. But I can see the reality now, can
