‘Glad to see you’ve finally found some common sense,’ he ground out. ‘And some honesty. Let’s go.’And taking forceful possession of her elbow once more, he propelled her along the path that led them past the old school and back to the parked SUV…
NICOLAS knew—as one always knew deep down—that he’d just crossed a line; that line that you didn’t step over if you were a gentleman.
But then he’d never been a gentleman. And he never would be one, despite having smoothed away most of his rough edges over the years. He spoke like a gentlemen these days and dressed like one. His town house in London was the home of a gentleman. His NewYork apartment, however, reeked of new money, the kind made by men who hadn’t been born rich, but who’d made it in the world by talent and tenacity. Men who were winners, men who knew what they wanted and went after it.
What he’d just said to Serina had been provocative in the extreme, provocative and presumptuous.And risky. By speaking up so boldly, he’d ruined any chance of a romantic seduction.
But in that moment before she’d been able to hide the truth, when her body and mind had still been reeling from the shock of his words, he’d glimpsed her ongoing sexual vulnerability to him. What he’d just said had been right. She did want to go to bed with him.
Serina didn’t say a single word during the short time it took to steer her back to the car. But her body language reeked of rebellion. Nicolas’s own body was consumed by something else… .
Serina snatched her arm away from his hold before climbing up into the SUV and banging the door shut behind her. She refused to look at him as he got in behind the wheel, refused to speak. Instead, she stuffed her handbag at her feet and crossed her arms, glaring balefully out of the passenger window.
‘You’d better put your seat belt on,’ Nicolas advised as he did so himself then started up the engine.
She did so huffily, still not looking his way, Rocky Creek well behind them before her simmering fury found a path to her tongue.
‘I was right all along,’ she blustered, her head finally turning in his direction. ‘You didn’t come back out of kindness, or generosity. You came back for revenge!’
Her accusation produced a startling result, Nicolas’s eyes leaving the road at an inopportune time, since they were on a sharp corner at the time. The left-side wheels slid off the narrow strip of tar, spitting gravel out behind them. The back of the vehicle began to slide, Nicolas swearing as he struggled for control.
The adrenalin of fear and panic had Serina gripping her seat belt whilst visions of their careering off the road and into a steep gully—or the bone-crunching trunk of a gum tree—flashed before her mind.
‘And I was right,’ Nicolas snarled when he finally had them safely back on the road. ‘You’re going to be the death of me one day. I think I’ll find a place to stop before we continue this rather amazing conversation.’
Serina didn’t object. She was still shaking inside when he pulled over into a lay-by and turned off the engine.
‘Now,’ he said firmly as he undid his seat belt and turned towards her. ‘What’s all this nonsense about revenge?’
Serina stared into his beautiful blue eyes and saw nothing dark or deceptive. Only confusion. Which confused her.
‘Revenge for what?’ he demanded to know.
‘For… for what I did that night,’ she spluttered.
‘Ah,’ he said, and nodded. ‘You’re still feeling guilty about that, are you?’
‘Of course! What I did that night… it was very wrong.’
‘Are we talking about what you did to me? Or what you did to your husband?’
Serina stiffened. ‘Greg wasn’t my husband at that stage.’
‘That’s semantics, Serina, and you know it. You were unfaithful to your soon-to-be husband that night. And you deceived me.’
A guilty frustration swamped her, making her head whirl and her heart twist. ‘I didn’t mean to do either,’ she blurted out. ‘I… I just couldn’t help myself.’ Tears of dismay and despair filled her eyes. ‘It all happened by accident.’
Nicolas’s expression was sceptical. ‘You just happened to be at my concert. Is that what you’re saying?’
‘No. Yes. I mean… I came to Sydney for a couple of days shopping for my wedding and I saw you being interviewed on television. One of those morning programs. I heard you were playing at the Opera House that night and I thought… what would be the harm? I just want to see him one more time,’ she choked out, as though she were talking to someone else. Confessing, perhaps, to a priest. ‘But then I watched you perform and I… I knew I had to do more than just see you… .’ The tears spilled over then and trickled down her cheeks. ‘I couldn’t help it, Nicolas. I’m not a bad person. And I’m sorry, truly sorry.’
He reached over and gently wiped the tears from her face. ‘I won’t say that what you did didn’t hurt me. It did. Terribly. But I can see that I hurt you, too, by staying away in the first place. I should have come back for you earlier.’
‘Why didn’t you?’ she said with a tormented groan.
‘Male pride, mostly. You said you didn’t want me.’
A small laugh escaped her lips. ‘And you believed me?’
Nicolas smiled a rather sad smile. ‘Yes, Serina, I believed you. But that’s water under the bridge now, isn’t it? We can’t go back and undo anything in the past. All we can control is the here and now. So let me redress something I told you a little while ago, about why I’m here. Yes, it was because of your daughter’s letter. But not for the reason I let you think. I haven’t come all this way to help Felicity raise money for your local bushfire brigade. I could have easily sent a cheque to do that. I came because your daughter told me that her father—your husband, Greg—is now dead. I came because of you, Serina. Let’s not have any misunderstandings about that.’
Serina tried to work some saliva into her suddenly dry mouth. It was what she both craved and feared.
‘But it’s too late,’ she told him.
‘Too late for what?’
‘For us… ’
‘It’s never too late, Serina. Not whilst we’re still alive.’
‘You don’t understand.’
‘Are you saying that you don’t want me anymore?’
She could not help the sensual shudder that rippled down her spine.
‘You have to give me another chance, Serina,’he proclaimed.
‘I won’t leave Rocky Creek,’ she insisted wildly. ‘I won’t, I tell you.’
‘I’m not asking you to,’ he said. ‘Just come back to Port Macquarie for the afternoon.’
She stared at him, her eyes wide.
‘I can’t!’ she protested huskily.
His smile was sexy. ‘Of course you can. We’re already going there for lunch.’
‘You’re not talking about lunch, though, are you?’
‘No. No, Serina, I’m not.’
The image his words evoked took her breath away. ‘You’re wicked. You were always wicked!’
‘Oh,