Untamed Lover. Sharon Kendrick

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СКАЧАТЬ the answer is no?’ came the mocking reply.

      ‘Have the last ten years done something to your powers of reasoning?’ she demanded. ‘Of course the answer’s no!’

      He shook his head, as though mildly irritated, nothing more. ‘Oh, dear. And there was me hoping that we would be able to agree on this amicably.’

      ‘Which just goes to show how wrong you can be!’

      ‘Scarlett,’ he drawled, ‘I’m afraid that there isn’t really a pleasant way to say what I’m about to say—’

      ‘Then why bother?’ she cut in.

      ‘You’ll see. Do you have any knowledge of your stepfather’s affairs?’

      She shot him a bewildered look. ‘What are you talking about?’ she demanded. ‘He’s always been completely faithful to my mother.’

      ‘Not those kinds of affairs,’ he chided. ‘Heavens, Scarlett—you always did have a one-track mind. I’m talking about his business affairs.’

      What on earth did Liam know about Humphrey’s business affairs? ‘What about them?’

      ‘Your stepfather is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy,’ he stated baldly.

      There was something about the flat, unequivocal statement that had the undeniable ring of truth about it. Scarlett tried to swamp the sudden fear which rose in her throat.

      ‘I don’t believe you,’ she said quietly.

      There was a grim expression on his face which hardened the brilliant blue of his eyes into shards of glittering sapphire. ‘Believe it,’ he said flatly. ‘This cottage I now own—as I do the majority of your stepfather’s old estate.’

      Scarlett’s heart started thudding loudly. ‘Liar,’ she whispered.

      He ignored the interruption. ‘His business is in trouble and his house is mortgaged up to the hilt. And if the bank were to call in its loans, well...’ He gave a sardonic smile as he paused for dramatic emphasis.

      ‘And why should the bank want to do that?’ she asked steadily. ‘And what has all this got to do with you? And me?’

      ‘It has everything to do with you and me,’ he said, in the kind of hard, harsh voice which took her back years, to the twin emotions of sorrow and joy inextricably linked in her mind with Liam.

      ‘I own the controlling interest in the bank which has allowed Humphrey to remortgage his house and finance his business. I could call in his loans tomorrow. If you force me to.’

      ‘What are you saying?’ she whispered. ‘I don’t understand.’

      ‘I’ve told you, Scarlett. I want you to play hostess for me. Do that—just that—and I’ll leave him alone.’

      She looked at the hard-eyed man who sat before her, his face as unreadable as if he were playing poker. ‘You big bully!’ she cried. ‘He’s getting old—how can you possibly—?’

      ‘Shut up,’ he ground out, and she saw his pupils dilate as his temper finally snapped. ‘Don’t talk to me about bullying, or tactics! However misguided our brief marriage might have been there was no excuse for the way your stepfather behaved.’

      Scarlett felt hot colour flare into her cheeks. She knew exactly what he was referring to. ‘If it’s about your mother, I made him promise to get her—’

      ‘You made him promise!’ he said bitterly. ‘What good could a mere slip of a girl do against a man whose reputation was paramount to him? Damn him and his reputation!’

      The anger was suddenly replaced with a stealthy watchfulness, which was somehow even more intimidating than the fury which had preceded it. ‘Shall I tell you what your stepfather did, Scarlett?’ he queried softly. ‘Or do you already know?’

      ‘He said he had found her another job...’ Her voice died away as she read the contempt in his eyes.

      ‘He was lying. You knew that there was no other job for her, didn’t you?’ he said coldly.

      ‘And what was I supposed to do?’ she demanded. ‘Create one for her? At eighteen? Besides, I—’

      ‘Your pride was hurt because I’d left you? Yes? So my mother deserved everything she got?’

      Maybe for an instant—but no more than that. ‘I always liked and respected your mother,’ she said.

      ‘Pity that Humphrey’s response wasn’t so measured,’ he grated sarcastically. ‘She’d done nothing but work hard for him, but not only did he sack her, he also refused to give her a reference.’

      Scarlett felt a bitter pang of shame sweep over her. She didn’t know whether he saw it, but he suddenly sprang to his feet, his back to her, the set of his shoulders iron-hard and rigid, his body as tightly controlled as that of an automaton. And somehow she knew that he was breaking up inside—Liam, the man who so rarely showed emotion.

      She wanted suddenly, quite instinctively, to go over to him, to take him in her arms with all the freedom to touch him which she’d had during their marriage. And she knew that he would probably lash out at her if she dared try.

      ‘What happened to her?’ she asked.

      The voice was calm again. Calm, cool and matter-of-fact. ‘What usually happens to women without husbands in late middle-age who are forced to start over again? I gave her what money I could from the labouring you so despised. But she was forced to accept benefits from the State. It was that which galled her more than anything else—she was a proud woman,’ he said, almost to himself.

      ‘Eventually, she found herself another position, in another big house. Hard-working women of that calibre always do.’ His eyes were steely. ‘But it was never quite the same for her. She didn’t know anyone. She was getting too old to make new friends. And, of course, I had left home. She lost her enthusiasm for life. The ingredients for catastrophe were all there—a poor diet, economies made on heating bills... She died two years later of a heart condition.’

      ‘Oh, Liam—I’m so sorry,’ said Scarlett quietly.

      He turned, then, blue eyes blazing like the devil’s. ‘Are you?’ he demanded harshly. ‘Are you really, Scarlett?’

      She recoiled from the bitter fury and accusation in his voice, staring up at him in utter bewilderment. ‘For heaven’s sake, Liam—are you blaming me for your mother’s death? Is that what this is all about?’

      ‘I don’t know what I’m blaming you for!’ he ground out. ‘Maybe I’m blaming you for still wanting to do this—even after all this time.’

      She gasped and swayed as he caught her in a brutal embrace, hauling her up from the sofa and into his arms like some stormy-eyed, marauding conqueror. And it was like the very first time he’d kissed her all over again to be desired with such dark, elemental passion.

      His mouth burned as it caught hers, setting her aflame instantly. He kissed her with a fierce, demanding pressure, and he met СКАЧАТЬ