To Tame a Proud Heart. Cathy Williams

just spent the past few months allowing yourself to be persuaded into it?’

      ‘That’s hardly fair! You don’t know me.’

      ‘I know enough.’ He looked around him and there was a condescending glitter in his pale eyes which made the blood rush to her head angrily.

      ‘Your fiancée seems to be enjoying it,’ she snapped.

      ‘The element of novelty has its temptations for a limited period of time.’

      ‘You sound as though you’ve never had a moment’s fun in your life before.’

      ‘Is that what you think?’ He refocused his attention on her, and she felt her head begin to swim a little.

      ‘Well, have you?’

      ‘I didn’t spend my whole life in front of books before joining the army of people out to earn a living,’ he replied, his deep, low voice cutting through the tinny sound of the music.

      ‘You just decided somewhere along the line that fun was something you could do without?’ She cradled her glass in her hands, unwilling to drink another drop because she already felt a bit giddy.

      ‘No, I just decided that this sort of thing was an exercise in stupidity.’

      ‘Which I suppose is another criticism of me?’

      He shrugged. ‘You can suppose anything you like.’

      ‘You don’t really care one way or the other.’ For some reason that stung.

      ‘That’s right.’ He leaned back in his chair and looked at his watch.

      ‘I’ll make sure that I’m at work on time tomorrow,’ Francesca said, abandoning her principles and taking another long gulp of her drink.

      ‘Of course you will,’ he murmured easily, ‘if only to prove that you can burn the candle at both ends and still function.’

      ‘I don’t have to prove anything to you,’ Francesca lied, not meeting his eyes.

      ‘Well, then,’ he said, not bothering to look at her, ‘maybe to yourself.’