Fear Of Love. Carole Mortimer

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СКАЧАТЬ looked down at her. ‘If you felt it merited it.’ He pushed her into a room. ‘But I was referring to your behaviour before then.’ He leant back against his desk, his arms folded challengingly in front of his chest. ‘That was the most disgusting display of bad manners you’ve shown in a long time.’

      Her eyes blazed. ‘How dare you! I—–’

      He gave a humourless smile. ‘How dare I?’ He shook his head. ‘I haven’t done anything, Alex. You stormed over here—–’

      ‘Don’t call me Alex!’ she snapped. ‘It makes me sound like a boy. My name is Alexandra.’

      Those grey eyes travelled slowly over her taut angry body clothed in denims and a tee-shirt. ‘Well, you dress like a boy, but the shape is definitely female. I hadn’t realised quite how much you’ve grown up.’

      His gaze was positively insolent and Alexandra only just stopped herself putting up shielding hands to cover her body. Thank goodness she did, she could just imagine the mockery he would show her if she had given in to such a weakness. But he had no right to look at her that way when he had just got out of bed with the sexy blonde. He had no right to look at her like that anyway, almost as if he were mentally undressing her.

      She found herself blushing anyway, unable to stop the involuntary action. This was the first time Dominic had shown in any way that he regarded her as a woman. It was vaguely unnerving and she felt tongue-tied.

      But of course he was looking at her as a woman, his senses were probably still aflame from the weekend spent with the lovely Sabrina Gilbert. Alexandra now realised where she had seen the other woman; she appeared in a popular long-running television series. The two of them had probably met at the television studio where Dominic recorded his weekly current affairs programme.

      ‘It’s because I’m grown up that I’m here,’ she said finally, her cheeks still aflame.

      ‘Really?’ he drawled. ‘Have you come over for some private tuition?’

      Her mouth tightened. ‘Don’t be ridiculous! If I required that sort of tuition I certainly wouldn’t come to you for it. I have a boy-friend who can supply me with all the experience I need.’

      Those grey eyes narrowed. ‘Roger Young.’ His top lip curled back contmptuously.

      ‘Yes! And he’s the reason I’ve come over here.’

      ‘He is? Well, I’m not about to give him any tuition,’ he taunted. ‘It wouldn’t be half as much fun.’

      ‘Ooh, you’re such a conceited swine!’ Alexandra stamped her foot in childish temper. ‘Just because you’ve slept with more women than you can remember the names of you think you know it all! I happen to believe that making love is more than just sex between two people, it should be something private between man and wife.’

      The contempt was still there in his face and it was directed at her now. ‘I’ve tried being married. Believe me, it isn’t all it’s supposed to be.’

      ‘You were married for exactly a year, hardly long enough to be able to pass comment on it. You treated your wife shamefully.’

      ‘Did I now?’ he mused. ‘And what would you know about it? You would have been five at the time, and as we didn’t even know you then I don’t consider you in a position to judge how I treated my wife.’

      ‘I didn’t need to know you when you were married to know it was all your fault that the marriage failed. I know for a fact that you weren’t even in the same country six months out of the twelve.’

      Dominic looked angry now. ‘Like I said, you aren’t in a position to judge.’

      ‘I am when it affects my life,’ she told him crossly.

      ‘What does my marriage have to do with your life?’

      ‘Gail told me this morning that it was mainly due to your disapproval of the idea that they refused to give their consent to my marriage to Roger.’

      ‘I see,’ he nodded his head, his look thoughtful. ‘Gail told you that, did she?’

      She flushed. ‘With a little persuasion, yes.’

      Dominic’s mouth twisted. ‘I can imagine what type of persuasion. You’re a bully, Alexandra. And you’re spoilt too. Poor Gail doesn’t stand a chance when you have one of your tantrums.’

      ‘I do not have tantrums!’

      ‘Oh yes, you do, and Gail isn’t strong enough to say no to you, neither is Trevor for that matter. You’re wilful and utterly selfish and not grown up enough to marry anyone, let alone a kid like Roger Young. He’s just as spoilt as you are.’

      ‘You have a nerve!’ she exclaimed furiously.

      ‘Not really,’ he answered calmly. ‘I just thought it better to stop you becoming just another statistic in the divorce figures.’

      ‘And you’re arrogant too,’ she continued. ‘You have no way of knowing whether my marriage to Roger will succeed or not.’

      ‘I can take a pretty accurate guess,’ he drawled. ‘I’ll also make another guess, that by the time you reach your eighteenth birthday in a few months’ time you’ll have changed your mind about marrying him.’

      ‘I will not,’ she said indignantly. ‘I love him.’

      He smiled at her outburst. ‘You say you do now, I wonder if you’ll feel the same in six months’ time. I doubt it. You’re at an age when you fall in and out of love every month.’

      ‘Like your wife did?’ she taunted bitterly.

      ‘Exactly as Marianne did,’ he agreed tautly.

      Alerandra realised that perhaps she had gone too far this time. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said, shamefaced. ‘I shouldn’t have said that.’

      ‘Oh, don’t start apologising now, Alexandra. We’ve gone way past the stage of not being able to speak our minds to each other.’

      ‘Yes, I suppose so.’

      He smiled. ‘I know so. Look, Alex—Alexandra,’ he amended. ‘I’m older than you, exactly twice your age, and I can see the pitfalls of marrying at your age. Marianne was no older than you when we married, and look how disastrously that turned out. We were divorced before she reached nineteen.’

      ‘You can’t compare me with her—or my intended husband with you.’

      ‘Meaning?’

      She didn’t flinch from his icy grey eyes. ‘Meaning that there is no way Roger can be compared with you. He doesn’t have to keep proving his sexual prowess, whereas you—well, it’s pretty obvious that your guest didn’t sleep in any other bedroom but your own. Is she your latest mistress?’

      Dominic raised his eyebrows. ‘What does that have to do with you?’

      She shrugged. ‘I was just curious.’ She flicked back her СКАЧАТЬ