'Chris loves me,' Lissa said very softly, watching her.
'He said he loved me once,’ Rebecca muttered. 'I should have been as bright as you are-waited for a wedding ring before I lost my head. It was too late when I realised just what sort of man he really was. I'll hand it to you-you're clever. I didn't think anyone could make a fool of Chris, but you've done it. Just don't imagine you can go on doing it. Once he realises he isn't the first he'll kill you. He won't like it when he discovers he's been had.'
Lissa shivered and Rebecca, watched her with a fierce smile. 'I wouldn't like to hazard a guess what he'll do to you. Girls who run foul of him come to no good?
'What about the girl on Joubeau Street?' Lissa asked casually, hoping Rebecca could not see the shock and horror inside her.
It surprised Rebecca. She saw the startled expression come into the other girl's eyes. 'You know about her? He didn't tell you.' Rebecca laughed curtly. ' Pierre, was it? Chris will cut his throat!'
'No, not Pierre,' said Lissa. So it was true, she thought. It was all true. And tonight Luc was facing him across the table, risking not only money in their encounter. The darkness inside Chris made him unpredictable and dangerous.
Rebecca was staring at her, biting her lip. 'Are you going to tell him what I've said?'
Giving her a wry look, Lissa shook her head.
'It cuts both ways, remember,' Rebecca warned. 'I've got a few things I could tell him about you.'
'You keep your secrets, I'll keep mine,' said Lissa, turning to go.
Rebecca caught her arm, her long talons of nails digging into her flesh. 'Look, if you've got any sense you'll get the first plane out of here. Chris can be vicious.' She glanced around nervously. 'I wish to God I'd never got involved with him.' Releasing Lissa, she hurriedly, vanished and Lissa went slowly into the hotel.
She could not go quietly to bed. She had to know what was going on between Chris and Luc. She left Fortune in her room, washed and did her make-up again, then went down to the gaming rooms.
The men on the door looked at her in surprise but let her pass without question. One of them had an amused expression and she guessed he thought she had come because she was worried about Chris. Everyone knew she did not approve of his playing poker.
She walked through the spacious, luxurious public rooms, where faces bent avidly around the roulette table, the chandeliers casting a harsh cruel light over them. One of the croupiers watched her, smiling, and Lissa smiled back brightly.
Max was on the door behind which Luc and Chris were playing. He stood with folded arms, watching her walk towards him, his narrowed eyes skimming the half-revealed curves of her body in the black dress.
Lissa managed to look calm and unconcerned, but she was very aware of the way his eyes slid over her. She had never much liked the atmosphere in these rooms, but now she loathed them. She knew it would kill her to stay here on the island in this place. She had to get away before the poison leaked into her own veins.
He did not move to let her pass and when his eyes came up, Lissa met them with raised eyebrows and a light smile.
'Can't I go in?'
'Chris said nobody was to go in,' Max told her.
Lissa lowered her lids. She thought quickly, coldly. Putting a hand up to Max's bow tie, she pulled it loose with a teasing little smile. 'That doesn't include me, docs it? I'm not nobody.'
Max's eyes flickered at the deliberate flirtation. She had never thought about it before, but now she guessed
Max found her attractive. His eyes told her as much as he looked down at her.
'I'll ask him,' he compromised, turning.
He opened the door and she slipped through with him. Max turned his head to frown and Lissa gave him an impudent little grin.
'I can ask him myself,' she mocked.
She walked towards the table in the centre of the room. The rustle of her black dress caught Chris's ear and he turned his head to stare at her with hard, watchful eyes.
Max hovered, waiting for his orders..
Luc surveyed her icily as she walked round to Chris. Ignoring him, she put a hand on Chris's neck, her fingertips stroking the short fair hair bristling on the nape. She felt the shudder run through him.
'So you are playing,' she said with a faintly sulky look, bending to meet Chris's eyes.
Chris put down his cards and leaned back in his chair to smile at her. His eyes held a mixture of amusement, relief and physical desire as they ran over her.
'Checking up on me? I'm beginning to feel married.'
'No, you're not,' said Lissa, flickering a look at him through her lashes.
She saw the flash of excitement in his eyes. She had never looked at him teasingly, provocatively, before, and Chris loved it. He took her hand and began to kiss her arm lightly, his mouth lingering on her wrist, the smooth cool inside skin, her inner elbow.
'You can t stay. I can't concentrate on the game with you here.'
'Can't you?' She smiled down into his eyes.
Little beads of perspiration came out on his forehead and upper lip. 'Liss,' he muttered, his other hand curving round her head and pulling her down to kiss him. She submitted without protest, letting her lips part under the moist invasion. Chris ran his hand down the warm curve of her body and she heard the muffled gasp of his pleasure.
Then he slapped her lightly, drawing back. 'I'll see you later, sweetheart,' he said huskily. 'Off you go for now.'
Luc was staring down at the table, his face and body rigid. Lissa put her finger to her lips and laid it on Chris's cheek, then she turned and walked across the room past Max.
As she went out she turned and saw Chris watching her. The avid probe of his eyes sickened her, but she smiled at him over her shoulder before she went.
She had done what she could, she thought, going up to her own room. She had had to put Chris off the scent, put him into a relaxed frame of mind which might help Luc. Her provocative behaviour, the kiss she had given him, had partly distracted Chris from his game, and Lissa knew it. He would now have an undivided mind as he played his cards. She had put her own image into Chris's head, promising a pleasure which would constantly come between him and what he was doing.
She hurriedly took off her black dress and dressed in a black sweater and jeans. They wouldn't be seen easily at night and they would be warm when she was on the boat.
She packed a few necessary items in a light bag, gathered up Fortune under her arm, whispering to him not to make a sound, and then she carefully locked her door. Chris might come up later to try it. She had a shrewd idea he would. She had been inviting him with every look she gave him and Chris was not going to be slow in taking her up on it. She hoped the idea was eating into his brain even now. She hoped he was hardly aware of the cards he was getting.
Her room looked out on to the garden. As a child, she had often climbed down the gnarled, deformed branches of the sycamore winch grew close to the wall. She hadn't tested the strength of it lately. She would have to trust to luck that she could make it bear her weight.
Opening her window, she quietly slid out and looked down into the darkness. There wasn't a sound, a movement. She dropped her bag and watched it fall into a flowerbed. Listening, she waited, and when there was still no sound she slithered, down into the first wide fork. It was difficult with the dog clutched in her arm. He wriggled nervously, whimpering, and she put her hand over his muzzle. 'Ssh!' she begged.