'I feel sick,' she said.
Luc muttered a swear word under his breath. 'Very well,' he added harshly. 'You can go back to your own cabin and stay there.' He took her arm and thrust her back below, pushing her into her cabin with an anger he made no attempt to hide. 'Sulk there as much as you like,' he bit out as he slammed the door and locked it.
Dandy brought her a cup of tea some time later. She heard the key turn and swung, her eyes wary, relaxing as she saw that it was not Luc. Dandy gave her a quick look. She felt he could read the misery and fear in her face and hurriedly pulled herself together.
'Tea, princess,' he said, handing her a large bright yellow mug. She took it, murmuring a grateful word.
'That's my mug, princess,' he said, smiling.
'I'm honoured.'
'Not often I lend my mug to people,' he agreed. He sat down on the edge of her bunk and surveyed her. 'You look as if you need a good strong whisky rather than tea.'
'I don't drink,' she said, shaking her head.
His grin stretched from ear to ear. 'Something told me you might not-how old are you, ladybird?'
'Twenty.' His face tightened. 'Twenty,' he repeated, grimacing.
Lissa sipped her tea, not meeting his eyes. Dandy sighed. 'He's wild and sometimes he's reckless, but you can trust him,' he told her gently. 'I'd trust him to hell and back.'
'You're not a woman!'
Dandy laughed shortly. 'No. All the same, I've never known him hurt anybody if he could avoid it.'
Lissa remembered Luc's ruthless oppression of her body on deck earlier, the unleashed violence with which he had kissed her, and she didn't answer.
'He has a romantic streak,' Dandy went on slowly, it comes out in odd ways. When he gets bored with the city we take off like a bat out of hell and sail in search of excitement. Ever since he was a boy he's needed to find wider horizons. He generates a lot of adrenalin and he can't use enough of it in his work.'
'He does work?'
Dandy grinned, 'Like a dog for most of the year-a lot of people depend on him.
She swallowed. 'Is he married?'
'No,' Dandy said firmly, and she believed him.
Her body sagged in relief. She had been half afraid that Luc might well turn out to be married. 'What sort of work does he do?'
'Don't ask me,' said Dandy, shrugging. 'Tedious stuff in the City. I've never been involved in that side of his life. The wife and I run his home for him and when I'm not there, I'm on the boat. Luc keeps his own counsel. If he confides in me he's always very discreet.'
Lissa met his eyes wryly and knew that Luc had warned Dandy not to tell her anything. Dandy was lying when he said he didn't know anything about Luc's work.
He flushed slightly, getting up. 'I just wanted to tell you to trust him, princess. Luc doesn't like it when he isn't trusted. He has a lot of pride. Where his emotions are involved, he can be as stubborn as the devil.'
'Lucifer,' she said huskily.
Dandy laughed. 'That's what they call him-those who don't know him.'
'What about those who do know him?' Lissa asked with a painful little smile. 'What do they call him?'
Dandy laughed. 'I've called him every name under the sun,' he admitted, moving to the door. 'But I'd still trust him with my life.'
Would he trust Luc with his wife, though, Lissa thought, if his wife happened to be attractive? Dandy closed the door. She heard the key turn again. Whatever Dandy thought about Luc, he was still obeying his instructions. She had a strong idea that Dandy did not approve of the wry Luc was behaving, but he was doing as Luc ordered, all the same.
She read a paperback which she had found in the cabin. Time passed very slowly and the sea was getting rough, the wind howling around them as they battled their way through choppy seas.
It was one o'clock when Dandy came back. 'Lunch time,’ he told her cheerfully. She followed him to the other cabin and found Luc there, pouring wine, the quick sideways glint of his blue eyes skating over her before he looked back at the glass he was filling.
When Dandy had served them and gone Luc watched Lissa picking at the food on her plate for a moment before he said curtly: 'Stop sulking.' 'I'm not.'
'A damned good imitation, then,' he flung back. 'You're here, and you're with me-and sulking isn't going to change a thing' He flung a hand towards her wine glass. 'Try some-it may soften you up a bit.' 'Trying to get me drunk?' she asked sarcastically., 'Don't be so damned ridiculous,' Luc snapped. 'One glass of wine isn't going to make you keel over.'
She sipped the wine, avoiding his eyes. Luc waited for another moment then drank some of his own. 'Now eat,' he said roughly.
'I'm not very hungry.' She heard the intake of his breath and added quickly, 'I'm not! The sea's so rough.'
'It will get rougher, I'm afraid,' he said, glancing at the porthole. – Lissa bit her lower lip nervously. 'Will it?'
He gave her a sudden, gentle smile. 'Don't worry- we're safe enough. The boat's well stabilised. She'll weather the storm. We've been through worse than this, I assure you.' He dropped his eyes to her plate. 'Try to eat something, though. You'll find it helps to have food in your stomach.' His smile appeared again, amused and teasing. 'It settles you. Another form of stabilising.'
'I'm not sure I believe you,' she said wryly, but she forced herself to eat a little of the well-cooked food.
Luc allowed her to leave most of the meal. As they got up she said pleadingly: 'I'm so tired of being shut
in that cabin-can't I go on deck?'
'It's blowing a gale out there,' Luc pointed out,
'I'd rather be windblown than stuffy!'
He grinned. 'Hang on, then-I'll find you some waterproofs.' He vanished and came back with a vivid yellow waterproof jacket and hood. 'This should fit you.'
Lissa wriggled into it and he laughed at her as she tied the cords at the jacket neck. 'You look absurd,' he told her. 'It's far too big for you. But at least you'll be dry.'
They struggled up on deck to find the wind howling like a banshee and rain sleeting across their faces. The waterproof hung down below Lissa's knees and Luc roared with laughter at her as she fought her way around the deck, the wind tugging at the hood and blowing storm-tossed strands of her hair across her face.
After a few minutes Luc insisted that she had had enough and must go below again. 'You don't want to be sick,' he pointed out.
In her cabin she stripped off the waterproof and handed it to him. Her face was glowing with colour and heat, her hair a wild mop. Luc stood watching her as she brushed it into some semblance of tidiness.
He tossed the waterproof on a chair and moved behind her. In the small mirror their eyes met. Lissa looked at him warily, her body stiffening.
'Don't,' she begged.
He dropped his chin on her shoulder, his lips brushing her neck. 'Don't what?'
'Luc!'
'Mmm?' The slow sensual movement of his mouth was making her skin shiver with pleasure, and that made her angry.
She stepped away and his hands shot out to pull her back against him, his arms around her waist. She trembled as she felt the tense hardness of his body behind her.
'Stop fighting me, Lissa,' he murmured, burrowing his face into her hair until his mouth was sliding along her exposed nape. 'You don't hate it when I touch you. I know you say you do, but your body tells me something very different.' 'My body's a liar, then!' 'No, Lissa, you're the liar,' he retorted. She shook her head angrily. His hands slid up a second later and closed over her breasts in a possessive gesture, the exploring fingers making her heart beat far too fast and far too painfully.