A half smile lifted a corner of his chiselled mouth. “My sentiments as well, Courtney,” he said suavely, pulling out a handkerchief and dusting off the area of bench where she intended to sit in her very pretty dress. “I wouldn’t like it to be said I took advantage of an heiress. After all, it’s what your father most feared.”
Sweet smelling desert plants were flowering nearby. They filled the air with their fragrance. This area of the garden was secluded and still, full of shadows, with deep pockets of darkness. It was moonless but the stars were out in all their powerful brilliance, as beautiful as she had ever seen. Diamonds in a black-velvet sky. Beautiful, beautiful precious gems. She searched for the familiar clusters. Crux Australis, the Southern Cross, Triangulum Australe, the Southern Triangle, Corona Australis, the Southern Crown. They hung so low in the sky she felt like putting up a hand and pulling one down.
Catch a falling star. Make a wish.
What would it be? To find the man she wanted to share her life with? Was he already beside her? A cooling breeze had sprung up ruffling her hair. Little nocturnal creatures were scuttling about the garden. She felt all sensation. He made her that way. Presently to break the electric silence that had fallen between them she said, “My father showed compassion at the end, though, didn’t he? He wanted to see me. He wanted to provide for me. I just can’t go on believing there was no good in him. That he was totally without conscience or genuine feeling.”
“Don’t fret, Courtney.” Gently he touched her shoulder. His arm had been leaning on the back of the bench behind her. “He wasn’t. At the same time he turned the tables on Darcy who had devoted her life to him. Curt and I have become good friends. Curt makes no bones about the fact McIvor did everything in his power to keep Darcy tied to him and away from Curt, who’s always loved her.”
She felt guilty about that when she didn’t need to feel guilty. “Now that I do believe. Darcy carried the burden, I know. I had a peaceful life with Mum. Lots of love and understanding. But Darcy was the one our father wanted. Not me. He would have crushed the life out of me. Just as he did my mother.” Tears burned behind her eyes but she defied them to fall.
“I think not,” Adam answered firmly, turning his dark head. “There’s not much of you but I think you would have triumphed, Courtney. You have your own gutsy core.”
“I’m not sure if that’s a compliment or not.” There was a faint edge to her voice.
“Why not?” His finger lightly brushed one of her bright curls. “Haven’t I complimented you before?” He studied her enchanting profile.
He had kissed her, too. Rocking her to her foundations. “I’d better answer carefully, seeing you’re a lawyer. I believe you told me I looked beautiful at the polo ball.”
“Which you did. You wove magic. A trick women have.”
“Trick?” She risked a glance at him. Saw the glitter of his eyes. “Sometimes I think a woman hurt you badly. A woman who looked a bit like me.” What if he still loved that woman, Courtney thought. What if?
“Now you’ve caught me out,” Adam said smoothly. “I was going for a time with a blue-eyed blonde. An associate in another law firm. She was very bright and very attractive, but nowhere near as lovely as you.”
“So what happened?” His voice told her at one time this other girl had mattered.
“The usual thing. She cheated on me. I didn’t like that. Especially as she’d already moved in with me. She swore it hadn’t meant anything. A one night stand. She’d had a few drinks and one thing led to another. It was apparent she couldn’t be trusted. Maybe if I’d really loved her I’d have been prepared to forgive her. As it was, we broke up.”
“You mean you broke it up.” She could just see him doing it. Clinical, dispassionate, shutting the door on his true feelings.
“Don’t be so hard on me, Courtney,” he groaned. “I take fidelity seriously. Don’t you?”
“I’ve never actually lived with anyone,” she said. “How long were you together?” It was very unsettling, these fierce stabs of jealousy.
“Pray tell, what is this?” He turned her face towards him, a finger on her chin. “Jealous?”
He was so mocking. So arrogant. “I’d prefer to say making conversation.” Now her palm itched to hit him.
“Is that what it is?”
“Better to stick to conversation,” she said.
“When a beautiful woman is born to be kissed?” He drew her to her feet and confounded her by rocking her gently in his arms. “It’s been far too long, Courtney.”
Had he spoken those exact lines to that other woman? Had he turned her heart upside down? Of course he had, he had perfected the art. Then he had left her. Was he telling the truth about that affair or just avoiding the real reason because he thought she would buy it? “If that’s a prompt for a goodnight kiss, Adam, I’m sorry to disappoint you.”
His dark voice mocked. “But you know you won’t.”
He didn’t kiss her mouth at first, he kissed her eyelids. Then her cheek. Beneath her ear. She couldn’t summon up the strength to stop him. She was already in too deep.
“Why did I wait so long?”
She didn’t want him to wait. It was mad, perhaps ill advised, but she was wild for him.
His mouth found her own. His kiss, slow and very thorough. It robbed her of breath. She broke it with a little gasp but instead of releasing her he pulled her even closer, folding her petite body into his like a piece of origami. “You’re interfering with my work, Ms McIvor,” he said huskily.
“How is that?” Her own voice was ragged.
“It’s hard to get a grip on a client’s problem when you’re thinking of someone else.” He bent his head to her again. The tip of his tongue traced the outline of her tender mouth, then the soft inner cushion.
Her whole body, her entire network of nerves, was thrumming like high voltage electricity wires. “I can’t believe you think of me, Adam?” She fought from going under. In too short a time Adam Maynard had gained a real hold on her. There was an inherent danger in that.
“Why is that?” He continued to taste her mouth and her skin as though they were ambrosial.
“A certain way you look at me hasn’t changed.” She voiced her deep concern.
That gave him pause. “Explain.”
Tension began to vibrate like plucked strings. “The way we began. The lack of trust.”
“We’re not back to that,” he groaned. “I was just trying to do my job, Courtney.”
“Perhaps, but the fact is, the look’s still there. It slips out from time to time. It distresses me.”
Anger blazed up unexpectedly. “What else about me distresses you? Obviously not being in my arms. You let me kiss you like you couldn’t live without it.”
It was true. She opened up to him like a flower. But she wasn’t thinking. She was feeling. “How do I know you’re not on track to seduce me?” She had a sudden impulse to turn the tables. “It would be worth your while. I’m sure you make a lot of money as a full partner in your firm, but I’m an heiress, aren’t I?” Immediately as she said it she was ashamed of the ploy. It was unworthy. A last ditch attempt to regain a little control. Adam wasn’t a dishonourable man.
“Don’t say any more, Courtney,” he said tightly. “You’ve gone far enough.” Never had a woman got to him so hard and fast. Never had a woman so insulted him.
It was a blow at his manhood. He hauled her back into his