Chapter 7

CATHERINE focused on him in unconcealed horror, eyes wide above her pale cheeks. 'I'm…I'm not going anywhere—'

'You're simply loitering?' Luc gibed.

'That I would need a lift,' she completed jerkily. 'How did you know where I was?'

A beautifully shaped brown hand moved deprecatingly.

'How?' she persisted.

'I had you followed from the hotel.'

Oxygen locked in her throat. Had she really thought this second meeting a further coincidence? Had she really thought he would let her go without a single question? A car pulled up behind the limousine, two security men speedily emerging. Like efficient watchdogs, one of them took up a stance to Luc's rear, the other backing across the street for a better vantage point. For Catherine, there was an unreality to the scene. She was reminded of how vastly different a world she had inhabited over the past four years.

'Why would you want to do that?' she whispered tautly.

Black spiky lashes lowered over glittering dark eyes. 'Perhaps I wanted to catch up on old times. I don't know. You tell me,' he invited softly. 'Impulse? Do you think that is a possibility?'

Involuntarily she backed towards the railings behind her. 'You're not an impulsive person.'

'Why are you trembling?' He moved soundlessly closer, and her shoulders met wrought iron in an effort to keep the space between them intact.

'You come up out of nowhere? You gave me one heck of a fright!'

'You used to have the love of a child for surprises.'

'You might not have noticed, but I'm not a child any more!' It took courage to hurl the retort, but it was a mistake. Luc ran a raking, insolent appraisal over her, taking in the purple bullclip doing a haphazard task of holding up her silky hair, the lace-collared blouse and the tiered floral skirt cinched at her tiny waist with a belt. Modestly covered as she was, she still felt stripped.

'I see Laura Ashley is still doing a roaring trade,' he said drily.

He was so close now that she could have touched him. But she wouldn't raise her eyes above the level of his blue silk tie. He wore a dove-grey suit with an elegance few men could emulate. Superb tailoring outlined his lean length in the cloth of a civilised society. However, what she sensed in the atmosphere was far from civilised. It was nameless, frightening. A silent intimidation that clawed cruelly at her nerve-endings.

'We don't have anything to talk about after all this time.' The assurance left her bloodless lips in a rush, an answer to an unvoiced but understood demand.

Negligently he raised a hand and a fingertip roamed with taunting slowness from her delicate collarbone where a tiny pulse was flickering wildly up to the taut curve of her full lower lip. Her skin was on fire, her entire body suddenly consumed by a heatwave.

'Relax,' he cajoled, carelessly withdrawing his hand a split second before she jerked her head back in violent repudiation of the intimacy. Flames danced momentarily in his dark eyes and then a slow, brilliant smile curved his hard mouth. 'I didn't intend to frighten you. Come…are we enemies?'

'I'm in r…rather a hurry,' she stammered.

'And you still don't want a lift? Fine. I'll walk along with you,' he responded smoothly. 'Or we could get into the

car and just drive around for a while…even sit in a traffic jam. Believe me, I'm in an unusually accommodating mood.'

'Why?' Valiantly moving away from the hard embrace of the railings, Catherine straightened her shoulders. 'What do you want?'

'Well, I don't expect you to do what we used to do in traffic jams.' Slumbrous dark eyes rested unrepentantly on the tide of hot colour spreading beneath her fair skin. 'What do you think I might want? Surely, it's understandable that I should wish to satisfy a little natural curiosity?'

'What about?'

'About you. What else?' An ebony brow quirked. 'Do you think I am standing here in the street for my own pleasure?'

Catherine chewed indecisively at her lower lip. She could feel his temper rising. Time was when Luc would have said 'get in the car' and she would have leapt. He was smiling, but you couldn't trust Luc's smiles. Luc could smile while he broke you in two with a handful of well-chosen words. Without speaking, she reached her decision and bypassed him. Luc was exceptionally newsworthy and she could not afford to be seen with him, lest her past catch up with the present that Harriet had so carefully reconstructed for her.

A security man materialised at her elbow and opened the door of the limousine. Ducking her head, she slid along the cream leather upholstery to the far corner. The door slammed on them, sealing them into claustrophobic privacy.

'Really, Catherine…was that so difficult?' Luc murmured silkily. 'Would you like a drink?'