how good is that?’
She flushed at the quietly intended insult. ‘Ask Henry!’ her eyes flashed.
To her chagrin Rick Dalmont began to smile. ‘At least this is an improvement. I’ve made you lose your temper with me three times in the last five minutes.’
‘I think that probably makes us even,’ she taunted.
‘Nothing like it,’ he still smiled. ‘My temper has been much less controlled since I met you. But you could soon change that,’ he added throatily. ‘All it would take is one word from you.’
And she knew exactly what that word was! ‘I haven’t been using that word too often lately,’ she said abruptly.
‘Since your husband died.’
Shanna froze. ‘What do you know about that?’
Rick shrugged. ‘It’s no secret that he died, is it?’
‘No.’ She avoided that black-eyed gaze, knowing this man could see into her soul if he wanted to. And from what she knew of him he would want to.
‘Or how he died?’ His eyes were narrowed now, sensing her increased hostility.
She swallowed hard. ‘No.’
It had been no secret how Perry died, it had been emblazoned across the front page of every newspaper in the world. A famous ex-racing driver killed in a road accident was world-wide news.
‘Or that you were in the car with him at the time?’ Rick continued his prodding into her personal pain.
This time she didn’t even answer him; her expression was wooden, refusing to show any emotion to this man. He would take any sign of weakness and use it to his advantage.
‘Or that your marriage had already ended.’
The cruelly stated words brought a light sheen of perspiration to her brow, although her dull gaze remained fixed on one of the light-fittings on the far wall.
‘That the two of you be together at all was an unusual occurrence.’
Her gaze slowly moved back to the hard face of the man standing in front of her, missing the taut enquiry of his expression, seeing only the determined cruelty of his eyes and mouth. ‘If you’ll excuse me, Mr Dalmont——’
‘And if I won’t?’ Once again his fingers bruised her arm, but this time she didn’t even feel the pain.
‘You will.’ The cold dullness of her voice made his hand drop away, and without another glance in his direction she walked away.
People rarely spoke to her of Perry, most of them respecting the fact that she must still feel her husband’s loss after only six months. But Rick Dalmont had a hard cruelty about him that didn’t respect anything, even a widow’s grief. He had even mentioned the reports in some newspapers that her marriage to Perry had been far from happy at the end. Only an insensitive swine could have done that. Rick Dalmont would use anything to get what he wanted, including her grief for Perry.
‘Shanna,’ Henry touched her arm lightly. ‘What have you said to Rick?’ he asked anxiously. ‘He looks like thunder.’
She blinked up at her brother, her elder by five years, his receding hairline adding to his air of maturity. Although right now he looked very worried.
‘You haven’t upset him, have you?’ He kept shooting worried glances at the other man.
‘Does it look like it?’ she mocked. Rick Dalmont was now leaning against the wall talking softly into the ear of a giggly blonde.
‘Rick isn’t interested in Selina,’ Henry dismissed.
‘Oh?’ She was regaining control now, wishing she hadn’t made her distress quite so obvious to Rick Dalmont. He was a man who shouldn’t be given any advantage, and she had just given him one.
‘You know he isn’t,’ her brother sighed.
‘Do I?’
‘You’re too old to play coy games, Shanna,’ he said impatiently. ‘The man wants you, and you know it.’
‘I also know he isn’t going to have me!’ Her eyes flashed deeply green.
‘Shanna——’
‘Henry, I think we should talk,’ she watched his flushed face warily. ‘I don’t like the way you’ve suddenly become involved with that man.’
‘That’s business, Shanna——’
‘But what business? When did Rick Dalmont become interested in the world of newspaper publishing?’
‘He isn’t——’
‘Then what business are you involved in with him?’ she frowned.
‘We can’t talk about it here, Shanna,’ he avoided. ‘This is a party. And you know Janice doesn’t like business discussed at her parties.’
She sighed. ‘Tomorrow, then?’
‘Sunday? Mm, come to lunch,’ he added. ‘Peter and Susan will like that.’
Her expression softened at the mention of her nephew and niece. And she had a feeling she was being manipulated once again, and this time by her own brother; Henry knew how fond of Peter and Susan she was.
‘We’ll talk about Rick Dalmont before lunch.’ She didn’t let him even think he had got away with the distraction. ‘I’ll come over about twelve.’
He grimaced. ‘Fine.’
She smiled at his lack of enthusiasm. ‘You got into this, Henry,’ she drawled at his discomfort. ‘Now you can explain it to me.’
‘Shanna——’
She touched his cheek mockingly. ‘Tomorrow, Henry. And I shall expect a full explanation.’
‘But——’
‘A full explanation,’ she repeated determinedly.
‘I’m beginning to wonder who’s the eldest in this family,’ he muttered before moving away to join his wife, as a couple of the guests were taking their leave.
‘A good question,’ drawled an amused voice from behind her, an unmistakable voice of honey and gravel. Shanna spun round, wondering just how long Rick Dalmont had been listening to her conversation with her brother.
‘You really shouldn’t pressurise Henry, honey,’ he mocked. ‘Now me, you wouldn’t have to pressurise at all.’
‘I told you——’
‘You wouldn’t even have to be persuasive,’ he cut in softly. ‘Let me take you home and I’ll tell you all.’
She
