LITMIR.BIZ

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doing strange things. Her skin tingled where his fingers were curled round her forearm and she found that she was breathing quickly, as if she had just run a marathon.

      ‘I’ve been waiting for you,’ he said grimly.

      ‘Take your hand off me.’

      That had the opposite effect of making him grip her tighter.

      ‘I watched you,’ he said, ‘the way my father responds to you.’

      ‘How interesting. Now do you mind?’

      ‘I don’t know how you’ve done it but you’ve managed to become a necessary part of his life. I won’t let you take him for a ride.’

      Her eyes flashed angrily as she contemplated that statement. ‘You’re not in a position to put your foot down on anything, Mr Antonio Silver. Not that there’s anything to put your foot down about, anyway! And not that it’s any of my business, but all this sudden rush of concern for your father, how do I know that it’s not because you feel your inheritance being compromised? Is that why you flew over here at a rate of knots the minute you heard about me?’

      His mouth thinned. ‘You’re right, it’s none of your business, but I’ll set your little mind at rest anyway. I don’t need my father’s estates. I have enough money of my own to buy my own estates.’

      ‘Oh.’

      ‘Satisfied?’ he sneered. ‘Or would you like to see a few of my bank balances?’

      ‘You can’t blame me for thinking…’ she muttered, and he jerked her towards him.

      ‘Keep your thoughts to yourself in the future,’ he said through clenched teeth. ‘You’re a nurse, have you forgotten? You’re not here to speculate on things that don’t concern you, you’re here for my father’s health, though I’m surprised you haven’t driven him into the grave with that tongue of yours.’

      That hurt. ‘That’s unfair,’ she whispered, looking down, and there was silence. ‘Your father and I get along well together.’

      ‘Too well.’

      ‘I resent your assumptions. If what you’re aiming at is to force me from this house, then you’re wasting your time. I like it here, I like your father, and that has nothing to do with the size of his bank balance! Your cynicism might help you in that concrete jungle you live in, but it’s out of place here!’

      ‘Is it?’ He gave that some thought, and she looked at his downturned eyes, the dark sweep of his lashes, a little uneasily.

      ‘All right. We’ll have it your way. Maybe I misjudged you.’ His voice was soft and smooth. ‘I must admit that when I came over here I didn’t expect to find someone like you.’

      The question was too tempting to resist. ‘What did you expect to find?’

      ‘Someone,’ he drawled lazily, ‘a bit sexier. A bit more—filled out, so to speak. And definitely a brunette. My father has only ever been attracted to dark-haired women, did you know that? That’s a little titbit for your scrap-book, isn’t it?’

      There was something dangerously hypnotic about his deep voice and steel-grey eyes.

      ‘How do you know that?’ she asked calmly, blinking away the desire to be mesmerised.

      ‘A confidence exchanged a long time ago. A passing remark that’s stuck in my head over the years.’

      So, the thought struck her, there must have been warmth there at one point. What had gone wrong? She would never ask either of them and she had a feeling that the information would never be forthcoming.

      He was looking at her with intense concentration and she began to feel even more uncomfortable.

      ‘What are your plans now?’ she asked, trying to get the subject on to more neutral ground.

      ‘You already know what my plans are. I have work to do here, apart from everything else.’

      I hope it keeps you out of the house, she thought, viewing a succession of fraught encounters with something approaching panic.

      ‘Fine,’ she said, ‘now could you let me go? You seem to enjoy taking the caveman approach with me, but I’d really prefer you to keep your hands to yourself.’

      ‘If you say so.’ He let go of her, then said before she could walk away, ‘But first——’ he reached behind her and unpinned her hair in one easy movement and it cascaded down to her waist, long, straight and like spun silk ‘—I’ve been intrigued to see whether you’re as icy and untouchable-looking with your hair loose.’

      Vivid colour flowed into her face. She could feel her heart beating like a drum inside her chest and for once she couldn’t think of a thing to say. Without a word, she began walking away.

      ‘Wouldn’t like to know what I think?’ she heard him ask from behind her, and there was amused laughter in his voice.

      Damn him! Was his opinion of her so low that he felt he could do and say anything he pleased to her? The back of her neck was still prickling from where his fingers had brushed against it and, whether she admitted it or not, her blood was racing with a terrible, forbidden excitement.

       CHAPTER THREE

      BENJAMIN didn’t emerge from his room until the following morning, by which time he had harnessed some of his raging temper, at least as far as Corinna could make out. She laid out his clothes on his bed, and he emerged from his bedroom half an hour later with a few additions to what she had set out. A blue silk cravat and the comfortable loafers which he normally used around the house had been discarded in favour of a pair of tan shoes which looked far too smart for everyday use.

      Corinna eyed him with some amusement and he scowled at her.

      ‘Something the matter?’ he barked, allowing her to take his arm as they walked down the staircase.

      ‘You look very dapper,’ she said seriously. ‘Are you going somewhere?’

      ‘Can’t a man look halfway smart in his own house?’ Benjamin barked, ‘without being subjected to wisecracks?’

      ‘I wasn’t being funny!’

      ‘Well, it sounded that way to me,’ he muttered grumpily, and she grinned. ‘Where is he, anyway?’

      ‘Oh, have you dressed to impress?’

      ‘I have not!’ he denied with a little too much vigour. ‘Why would I do that? I don’t even want him under my roof!’

      ‘Well, I don’t know where he is.’ They had reached the kitchen and Corinna began laying out his breakfast. Kippers, toast, coffee, juice, while Benjamin took his place at the table and eyed her speculatively.

      ‘You seem to have improved your image a bit as well,’ he commented slyly, ‘now that we’re on the subject.’

      Corinna didn’t look at him but she felt her face redden. All right, so she had decided to wear a little make-up and a deep pink blouse with a matching skirt instead of the usual invisible colours she favoured, but that didn’t mean anything at all. It certainly didn’t mean that she was trying to create any sort of impression on Antonio Silver, because she wasn’t. She hadn’t seen him at all since his arrogant gesture in releasing her hair, just for fun, and in the interim she had decided that she really loathed the man. She didn’t like his massive self-confidence bordering on downright arrogance, she didn’t like his too striking good looks, she didn’t like his easy, sexual charm lurking just below the surface, and most of all she didn’t like the way he always managed to get under her skin and do strange things to her composure. She had always been a very composed girl and she meant to stay that way. Men like that frightened her. They were too powerful, too clever, too self-assured.

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