‘It’s late.’ She was beginning to lose her grip on the situation. ‘I—’
‘It’s only a little after ten. Having got this far, I don’t intend leaving without having my say, so you may as well reconcile yourself.’
Her eyes held his for several heart-racing seconds before finally giving way. Jamie had been really tired, Regan reassured herself. He wouldn’t waken up.
‘You won’t be here long,’ she said flatly, opening the door wider.
He made no answer to that. Closing the door as he advanced into the room, she turned to face him, striking the same semi-defensive attitude as on that previous night. ‘So?’
There was no verbal answer to that either. He simply moved the couple of steps that brought him back to where she stood and pulled her into his arms.
The kiss blew her away in its emotive power, stripping her mind of everything but the desire for it never to end. She clung to him, lips moving beneath his, body seeking the heat and hardness it remembered so well and had craved for so long. The buttons of her blouse gave easily to the supple fingers; she drew in a shuddering breath at the feel of those same fingers on her bare skin, her nipples springing to vibrant life.
‘Lovelier than ever,’ he murmured. ‘So smooth and firm!’ He lowered his head to put his lips where his fingers had been, sending wave after wave of tremoring sensation through her.
Sanity returned like a stone dropped from a height as he sought the fastening of her skirt. This was all he wanted from her. All he had ever wanted from her! The swift raging anger was as much against herself for her weakness as him for his assumption.
‘Get away from me!’ she spat. ‘Just get away!’
Considering his obvious arousal, it was to his credit that he released her immediately. Face tense, eyes fired by warring emotions, he stood back.
‘My apologies. I let myself be carried away a little.’
Fingers trembling, Regan adjusted her bra and rebuttoned her blouse. A little! That had to be the understatement of the year! If she hadn’t pulled him up he would have taken her right there and then.
‘I have to take my share of the blame,’ she said, unable to bring herself to look at him directly. ‘I was carried away for a moment too.’
It had been a great deal more than a momentary lapse, he could have pointed out with truth, but he didn’t. ‘So what now?’ he said instead. ‘Do I walk out of that door and deny us both the chance to get it together again, or do we start over from scratch?’
With what aim? she wanted to ask, except that she already knew the answer. Long- or short-term, an affair was all he would have in mind.
‘I think you’d better just go,’ she said huskily. ‘You should never have come.’
‘Why?’ The grey eyes pierced her through. ‘What are you afraid of?’
‘I’m not afraid, just not prepared to let you into my life again.’ Regan fumbled for the door handle at her back. ‘I’m sure you’re not short of other…entertainment.’
Liam made no move. Standing there, tall, lean and devastating in the dark blue suit, he made her long. Her jaw ached with the effort of keeping her chin up.
‘You think sex is all I’m interested in where you’re concerned?’ he said.
‘Was it ever anything else?’ she challenged. ‘You certainly never had any intention of marrying me. What you saw was a virgin ripe for the plucking!’
Liam made an abrupt gesture. ‘I didn’t know you were a virgin before I—’
‘You knew. Right from the moment you first kissed me you knew!’ Despite all she could do to control it, her voice had acquired a tremor. ‘I saw it in your eyes—that yen all men have to be the first.’
‘It didn’t stop you from carrying on,’ he returned hardily.
‘I didn’t want to stop. For the very first time since—’ She broke off, catching her lip between her teeth. ‘It hardly matters now.’
Liam regarded her in silence for a long moment, eyes thoughtfully narrowed. ‘There’s something you’re not telling me,’ he said at length.
‘There’s a whole lot of things I’m not telling you,’ she responded. ‘I want you out of here, Liam. Now!’
He shook his head. ‘Not until you can convince me you really mean it.’
With her back against the door, she had nowhere to go to avoid him. This time she kept her lips closed when he kissed her, but there was no closing out the desire still roaming loose from the first time. It gathered like a storm, sending signals to every part of her body, building by the second to insupportable strengths.
It took the sound of a door opening to bring her crashing back to reality, but nowhere near fast enough to avert disaster.
‘What,’ demanded a fierce little voice, ‘are you doing with my mummy?’
CHAPTER THREE
LIAM’S head jerked sharply round, face registering an all too swift comprehension as they surveyed the diminutive, pyjama-clad figure.
‘I was kissing her,’ he said with remarkable equanimity in the circumstances, allowing Regan to slide from his grasp.
‘Why?’ Jamie interrogated.
Liam shot a brief, searing glance at Regan. ‘It’s what people do when they haven’t seen one another for a long time. Your mummy and I are old friends.’
‘It’s late at night,’ Jamie pointed out, in no way pacified by the answer. ‘I read the time on my clock.’
‘It’s all right, Jamie.’ Regan made a valiant effort to sound calm and collected. ‘Mr Bentley was just leaving.’
Liam spoke quietly but with unmistakable resolution. ‘Not yet. We’ve a lot of things still to discuss. Your mummy is safe with me, I promise you,’ he added to the boy. ‘We’re just going to talk.’
‘It’s all right,’ Regan repeated as Jamie looked undecided. ‘Really it is. You go on back to bed, or you’re going to be too tired to go swimming in the morning. I’ll come and tuck you in again.’
Obviously still a little doubtful, he turned back into the bedroom. Regan followed him without glancing at Liam, playing for time in which to sort out exactly what she was going to say. Not that there was a great deal she could tell other than the truth.
‘Did you like kissing that man?’ Jamie asked unexpectedly as he slid into the bed.
‘Not nearly as much as I like kissing you,’ Regan responded with forced lightness, popping one on the end of his small nose and drawing the usual grimace.
‘I’m six, not a baby!’ he protested indignantly. ‘I don’t like being kissed!’
‘You’ll change your mind one day.’ She pulled the duvet up and around him. ‘When you’re grown-up and start meeting girls.’
‘Girls!’ He pulled another face. ‘They’re rubbish!’
‘You’ll change your mind about that too.’ She ruffled his hair in lieu of another kiss, unable to stretch the interlude any further. ‘Sleep tight.’
‘Mind the bugs don’t bite,’ he murmured, eyes already closing.
Bugs would be a doddle compared with what she faced out there, she thought ruefully. If only she’d never gone to that damned party in the first place!
Liam was still on his feet when she went through. The expression on his face was no comfort