For an answer, Mac stunned both women. ‘Will you marry me, Delia?’ he asked.
‘You must be joking!’ Delia scoffed, without even having to think about it. ‘I wouldn’t do that to myself again even if you were the last man on earth!’
‘Good,’ Mac said. ‘Which gets that bit out of the way, since the last thing on earth I want to do is tie myself to a witch like you again. So,’ he went on, tugging at Roberta’s hand until he had her hard up against his side, ‘I will have your full support when I announce that Roberta and I are getting married, won’t I?’
CHAPTER TEN
SILENCE. Mac’s cool announcement met with total, utter silence from both stunned women while they struggled to absorb just exactly what he’d said.
It was Delia who recovered first, while Roberta ran his arrogant remark over and over in her mind, trying to work out how she had misheard what she thought he’d said. But, staring at Mac with something close to horror, Delia whispered threadily, ‘Oh, hell, Mac. This will cause something really nasty to hit the fan!’
‘No!’ Roberta burst out, coming alive at last to wrench herself free from Mac’s grasp. ‘Who the hell do you think you are, dragging me here like this and making arrogant assumptions like that?’ she cried, her face as pale as her beautiful hair. ‘I won’t marry you!’ she declared. ‘I don’t want to marry you—I don’t even like you, or your horrible family!’
‘Well, that’s telling you, sweet-face,’ Delia mocked Mac, looking as if she was suddenly enjoying herself.
‘And you can go to hell, too,’ Roberta told her crossly, wrapping her arms tightly around herself. It was either that or hit one of them. And she’d done enough lashing out today, even if it was only with her tongue. More than enough, she then extended, grimly aware that, if she’d just held on to her self-control and walked out on Lulu before, she wouldn’t be in this situation now!
‘I’ve been there already, darling, believe me,’ Delia drawled. ‘In actual fact, Mac and I visited the place together.’
‘And stayed there ten damn years too long,’ he agreed, wry amusement sounding in his voice.
These two were crazy! Roberta decided, flicking her impatient gaze from one warmly laughing face to the other. They talked to each other like enemies, yet the affection—real, genuine affection for each other—glowed through each clever, taunting word!
Then jealousy ripped through her like the very flames of hell, because they were too busy teasing each other even to remember she was there! I want him to look at me like that! she thought angrily. I want him to laugh with me! Care for me! I want him to ask me to marry him because he desperately wants me to and not because of some devious plan he’s cooked up to put his stupid daughter in her place!
‘I’m leaving,’ she announced, turning towards the door.
‘Like hell you are,’ Mac growled, reaching out to bring her to a jerking halt. ‘You started this and my God you’re going to stay and help finish it!’
‘Finish what?’ a carefully monitored voice enquired from the open doorway.
Joel! Roberta recognised with relief. Joel would get her out of this! ‘Tell him, Joel!’ she pleaded, pulling at her captured wrist. ‘Tell this big bully to get his hands off me!’
‘I would let go of her if I were you, Mac,’ Joel suggested quietly. And it was in his eyes that he meant it. ‘Don’t you think you’re a bit big to go around threatening women?’
‘I’m not threatening her, dammit!’ Mac snapped impatiently. ‘I’m trying to marry her!’
‘Marry?’ Joel’s expression could not have taken on a bigger change if it had tried. ‘Oh, that’s all right, then,’ he said, and proceeded to ignore Roberta as he came further into the room. ‘I was beginning to think you hadn’t got the guts! But now I see you have—put it there, big brother!’ He held out a hand to Mac. ‘I hope you’ve ordered me round here to ask me to be best man?’
‘Stop it!’ Roberta choked, very close to a flood of angry tears. ‘Will you all please just stop it?’
Big arms came warmly round her, hugging her close to a big, warm, infinitely familiar body. ‘Don’t cry, bunny rabbit,’ a deep voice soothed. ‘Everything will turn out all right. You’ll see.’
‘But I can’t marry you, Mac—can’t you see?’ Lifting tear-washed eyes to his, she pleaded for him to stop this madness. ‘Your daughter doesn’t like me! And since you both still seem to live in each other’s pockets,’ she added, flashing a jealous green glance at Delia, ‘then the fact that your ex-wife doesn’t like me seems to put the lid on such a stupid idea!’
‘But I like you,’ Mac murmured, eyes full of tender laughter as he gently combed his fingers through her silky hair. ‘I like you very, very much...’ he told her,
and kissed her—not slowly, not gently, but strongly, with a hungry passion that had her senses spinning and her body arching helplessly to his.
She didn’t even care that Delia was looking on, that Joel was watching and probably smirking. She didn’t care that Mac was taking unfair advantage and she should be fighting like mad to get free, because in the end—on the very bottom line of it—she knew that this was where she wanted to be, where she needed to be.
‘I still can’t marry you,’ she whispered against his lips, when he eventually eased the pressure. ‘They’d make my life a misery if I did.’
‘You mean Lulu,’ he specified.
She nodded, her unhappy eyes lost in the dark beauty of his. ‘She’s your daughter and you love her, and I won’t let you hurt her through me.’ The tears flooded her eyes again. ‘She’d never forgive me if I did!’ she choked.
‘Yes, I would.’