'What comment do you expect me to make? A remark like that doesn't deserve an answer.'
His face was hard, his eyes narrowed. 'You came with me-you knew what that would mean.'
Lissa felt a shiver run down her spine. 'You offered to help me get away from Chris. I didn't realise you were putting a price tag on your help,' she said contemptuously.
Luc laughed grimly. 'Oh, you knew all right. You may be a little naive, but you aren't totally stupid. I made no secret of what I would expect, and you understood the situation, however much you may deny it now.'
'I might have known you were every bit as much a ruthless swine as Chris!'
'You might, indeed,' he drawled. 'Poor Lissa-what, a predicament!'
The unhidden mockery stiffened her spine. She glared at him, her eyes alive with anger. 'I'm glad you think it's so funny!'
He leaned against the cabin wall, his arms folded. 'You can always swim back to him. It isn't very far-around seventy miles, I suppose. But you're a good swimmer, aren't you? If the sharks don't get you, it won't take more than a few days.'
'Given a choice between you and the sharks, I might well prefer the sharks,' Lissa muttered through her teeth.
His blue eyes hardened. 'Ah, but I'm afraid you won't be given the choice. I've got you and I'm keeping you.'
Very flushed, she said furiously: 'You have not got me!'
'It's only a matter of time,' Luc pointed out silkily. He moved and she leapt back towards the door, her nerves jangling. Luc laughed, giving her a wry look. 'Don't get uptight just yet. I'm in no hurry. Love in the afternoon is a taste I've never acquired.' He opened the door and gave her a derisory little bow. 'After you.'
Lissa shot through the door like a scalded cat, Luc came after her and said lightly: 'I've got some work to do. Why don't you relax on the deck again? I'll see you later.'
She stayed on the deck, as he had suggested, but there was no relaxation involved. She was tense and disturbed as she watched the water creaming along in their wake. Once Dandy wandered up to talk to her, but most of the time she spent alone with her thoughts, and she did not enjoy them very much.
The sun went down with that abrupt and startling rush which always signalled nightfall. Dandy smiled at her as she came down into the cabin to eat the light, evening meal. 'Enjoying your cruise?'
She pretended to laugh. 'Very much.'
Dandy went out and Luc eyed her sardonically. He knew she was lying and the blue eyes told her as much.
When they had eaten and Dandy had vanished, Luc put a record on the turntable fitted into the wall of the cabin. Lissa nervously sat on the leather couch which, like the rest of the furniture, was stabilised so that it did not shift with the motion of the yacht.
'I'm rather tired,' she said huskily. 'The sea air, I suppose, I think I'll go to bed early.'
Luc sank down beside her, his arm sliding along the back of the couch behind her. 'That sounds promising.'
She sat upright, giving him an angry look. 'I've no intention of going to bed with you, Mr Ferrier, so you can forget it!'
He laughed. 'What an optimist you are!' His fingers had touched the edge of her sweater sleeve. They slid in under the cuff and stroked her wrist. It was a tantalisingly intimate little movement and the hairs on the back of her neck prickled with awareness.
' Brandon never even got to first base with you, did he?' Luc murmured, his body moving closer. Lissa tried to shift away, but he followed, his thigh pressing alongside her own. 'I felt quite sorry for him the night I followed the pair of you down to the beach.'
She threw him an accusing glance. 'I heard you lurking about in the trees.'
His mouth curled. 'Was that why you were so reluctant with him? He was going crazy and it was obvious you were keeping him at bay. Was that for my benefit?'
'I didn't know it was you. I just heard movements and then when we walked into you, I guessed you had been eavesdropping.'
'I was curious,' he admitted calmly. His hand was behind her head now, playing with her hair, twisting it round a finger and then releasing it.
'Curious about what?' she asked, feeling that fondling hand with extreme wariness.
'You,' he said with a wry smile. 'You were puzzling me. I couldn't make up my mind which image of you to believe. One minute you were blushing like a schoolgirl, the next you were on stage singing very sexy songs and giving the audience come-hither smiles.'
'I did nothing of the kind!' she burst out, glaring at him.
His fingers wriggled under her hair and lightly stroked along her nape, sending quivers of reaction down her spine.
'Stop that,' she whispered unsteadily.
Luc smiled at her, mockery in the blue eyes. 'Why should I? I'm enjoying it.' She began to get up and his arm fenced her between his body and the end of the couch, forcing her to lean back. 'Stay where you are,' he commanded, and her eyes fell away from his.
'Where was I?' he murmured. 'Ah, yes- Brandon. From what I overheard on the beach that night I gathered with some surprise that he hadn't yet managed to get you into bed.'
Lissa's face burned. 'Mind your own business!'
'I could see that Brandon was almost at the end of his tether. It was equally obvious that you were having no problems at all in resisting him. The poor devil had to work like mad to get as much as a kiss out of you.'
Lissa did not want to remember Chris's aroused excitement. She gave Luc a cold look. 'Can we change the subject?'
'No, we can't,' Luc said forcibly, 'I'm trying to get you to admit something and you're going to listen.'
'What do you want me to admit? That I didn't go to bed with Chris? Very well, I didn't, but it still isn't your business.'
'I don't need to be told you didn't, I was already certain of it,' Luc said curtly. 'No, Lissa. What you're going to admit is that you were never even tempted to give in to him.' He paused and she said coldly:
'So?'
'But when I made love to you it took me about five minutes to break down those barriers of yours.'
He was watching her intently as he said the last words. He saw the deep, betraying colour sweep up her face, the widened shock in the green eyes. Lissa hurriedly looked away from his scrutiny.
'Now didn't it?' he asked softly.
'You didn't give me much option,' she muttered, her head bent.
He laughed quietly. 'Don't lie. Brandon was equally insistent and it got him precisely nowhere. It never had, had it? That wasn't the first time he'd been going spare without so much as rousing a flicker in you.'
She drew a quick, harsh breath.
'That's why he had hung on so patiently, month after month, when he could have married you long ago. He knew damned well he wasn't getting to you. You said you loved him and there was nobody else around, but every time he touched you he knew you weren't feeling a thing.'
It was true. She had been alarmed rather than aroused, worried rather than excited, when Chris tried to make love to her. And Chris had known, of course. He was too experienced not to know.
She lifted her head and stared at Luc, frowning. 'Can we talk about something else? I just want to forget about Chris.'
'Not before you face facts,’ Luc insisted flatly. 'You were never in love with him. You may have thought you were, but it was just old affection. I don't want you carrying any images of Brandon around inside your head. He was a dangerous thug and if you'd married him you would have led a miserable life.'
'If I hadn't realised that, I wouldn't have left,' she said huskily.
'But you still haven't entirely faced up to it,' Luc retorted. 'Or you would never have come into the gaming rooms to kiss him goodbye. You had a romantic picture of him and even though you're disillusioned about him now, you still feel something.' He slid a hand under her chin and lifted her face. 'It was all an illusion, Lissa. Your subconscious knew that. That's why you would never let him make love to you. You didn't want him.' He drew a long, unsteady breath. 'But you want me.'