Web Of Darkness. HELEN BROOKS

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СКАЧАТЬ that once tonight. She shut her eyes tightly for a second. This was all a dream—it had to be; nothing else would explain the dizzy stupor his lips had evoked.

      She took a big gulp of sherry as she glanced round the magnificent room again, noticing, as she did so, a photograph of two men to one side of the mantelpiece. She rose to take a closer look. It had to be Kane Steel and a brother or cousin—the likeness was uncanny, although the smaller man was of a lighter build and his hair was fairer. Nevertheless the two faces boasted an unmistakable blood tie. It must have been taken years ago, she thought idly as she looked at the much younger Kane smiling back at her. The deep lines that were grooved into his face now and the touches of grey in his hair were missing, along with the rather tense way in which he held himself.

      He did look older, she thought suddenly; that was why for a moment she hadn’t been sure if it was him at the hotel. The photograph that had been in her father’s papers had been of a much younger man, too, although admittedly it had been the usual polished pose of a publicity shot and, consequently, remote and unlifelike. She would have to go through those papers again. After the initial tearful sorting she had bundled everything into a big box and stuffed it into a cupboard, and ever since it had been too painful to resurrect.

      When he returned, ten minutes later, she was quite composed and poised, at least on the outside. Inside was a seething mass of emotion like a volcano before the lid was blown.

      ‘Prawn cocktail and steak and salad all right?’ he asked blandly as he entered the room. ‘With fresh peaches in brandy for dessert?’ He eyed her narrowly, his face grim.

      ‘Fine.’ She nodded jerkily. Get through the next couple of hours the best you can and then you’re free, she told herself silently, and you needn’t ever see him again. Unless it was in court, of course. No doubt the vicious take-over, the ruthless but legal destruction of all that her father had built up for years, would be explained away calmly and logically, with Steel Enterprises coming up smelling of roses. She didn’t know why he was going through this farce, but that was undoubtedly what it was. Corporate giants were totally ruthless and never admitted to being in the wrong. Rule number one. And it had been legal, she reminded herself again. Cruel, wicked, heinous but…legal.

      As he seated himself in his chair after pouring another whisky she gestured to the photograph un-smilingly. ‘Your brother?’

      ‘Yes.’ He followed her gaze. ‘That’s Keith.’

      ‘He’s younger than you?’ she asked carefully.

      ‘By four years.’ He took a long draught from his glass and settled back in his chair. ‘That was taken three years ago when we were on holiday in Greece.’

      ‘Three years?’ She stared at him in surprise. Three years; she would have said at least ten. He read her face accurately.

      ‘I’m thirty-four years old, Miss Gordon,’ he said tightly, ‘and my brother died last year. Can we leave the subject now?’

      ‘Of course.’ She nodded quickly as her cheeks burnt hotly. How was she supposed to know his brother was dead? And she would have put Kane Steel at least eight or nine years older, although the lean, hard body was ageless. It was that devastatingly attractive face that had fooled her. What had happened to put those lines round his mouth and eyes? It must have been something catastrophic to have made such a difference in three years? His brother’s death maybe? Or was there something else?

      The dinner was excellent, but the huge ornate room in which it was served was daunting, to say the least. When Kane first led her into it she took a deep breath and prayed for aplomb; the massive dark wood dining-table, thick white carpet and cream-textured walls, combined with the heavy velvet drapes in a dark rich burgundy, were grandly intimidating, and it was colossal.

      ‘Do you always eat in here?’ she asked him quietly as June cleared the dinner-plates from the table preparatory to dessert. The whole meal had been conducted in tight, painful silence.

      ‘When I have guests.’ He looked at her closely. ‘Don’t you like this room?’

      ‘Where do you eat when you don’t have guests?’ she prevaricated quickly.

      ‘In my study,’ he said shortly. ‘In fact I spend most of my time in this house in there. Do you want to eat dessert in the study?’ he asked suddenly.

      ‘Yes, please,’ she said instantly.

      He blinked and looked round the dining-room bewilderedly. ‘What’s wrong with it?’

      ‘Nothing, it’s beautiful,’ she said quickly, ‘but it’s just so big! Well, let’s face it, it’s gigantic.’

      ‘Is it?’ He glanced round the room again. ‘Yes, I suppose it is really. I never think about it.’

      How the other half live, she thought wryly as she followed him across the vast hall into a much smaller room than the others, but one which could still have swallowed her tiny flat whole. It was cosy, though. A crackling fire was burning in the hearth, one wall was lined with books that shone dully in the subdued glow from the copper wall-lights and thick, heavy gold drapes at the window had been pulled against the cold night, giving a homely feel to the room that was accentuated by the large tabby cat curled up on the leather settee by the fire.

      ‘You own a cat?’ She hadn’t put him down as an animal lover.

      ‘Cats. This one’s Juniper—there’s another one, Cosmos, around somewhere,’ he said vaguely. As Mrs Langton and June set the small table that was tucked away in one corner of the room, Janie stroked the soft fur of the large tabby and watched Kane Steel from under her eyelashes. In spite of all her efforts to the contrary, she couldn’t help remembering how it had felt to be held close to that magnificent chest. He really did have a superb body. The thought made her blush as hotly as if she had voiced it and she lowered her eyes quickly. The sooner she was out of here the better, and she had better remember that the kiss had been a male punishment, an offering to his damaged ego after the scene at the Press conference. Typical of the sort of man he was, she thought tightly. It must have hit him hard to have his dirty washing laundered in public.

      The peaches in brandy, heavily doused with thick double cream, were delicious, but the sense of un-reality that had been steadily growing all night intensified as they finished the dessert. ‘Coffee?’ He looked very big and very dark in the smaller room, the piercing blueness of his eyes at odds with the tanned skin, and again the enigmatic appeal of the man reached out to her, strong and fierce, until she found her heart was pounding out of control.

      ‘No.’ She stood up abruptly and walked over to the log fire. ‘No, thank you, I really must go.’

      ‘Why?’ His voice was caustic. ‘I thought we were having a wonderful time.’ The sarcasm was bitingly cold.

      ‘I don’t see what you’re so het up about,’ she said furiously as her temper reached boiling-point. ‘Now Joe Flanders knows what I’ve done, I’ve probably lost my job and my flat, not to mention my credibility. You’re sitting pretty with virtue intact, aren’t you? I’m the one who will be made the scapegoat.’

      ‘Made the scapegoat?’ he repeated incredulously as his eyes raked over her hot face. ‘I don’t believe I’m hearing this! Do you have any idea of what you did tonight, young woman? In the middle of a Press conference, a Press conference,’ he repeated furiously, ‘you accused me of being a murderer and a swindler and goodness knows what else. There isn’t a journalist СКАЧАТЬ