‘You thought you were so clever, making a fool of me in London—didn’t you? Well, now it’s your turn. Now it’s payback time, Sadie.’
This couldn’t be happening to her. Not in broad daylight, here in this beautiful building. But it was. Jack Logan was laughing at her as he held on to her, and then he reached out and squeezed her breast. When she shuddered with loathing and closed her eyes he laughed even more.
Sadie didn’t hear the lift door opening. Nor did she see the look on Drax’s face when he saw her standing with her back to him in another man’s embrace, another man touching her. But Jack saw Drax, and he saw the look in his eyes, so he bent his head and kissed Sadie fiercely and unkindly on her tightly closed lips, before releasing her and saying softly, ‘Like I said, it’s payback time,’ then sauntering off, leaving her to take a deep breath and wipe her hand across her mouth in an attempt to wipe the taste and the feel of him from her memory.
‘If you’re ready?’
The icy coldness in Drax’s voice made her turn towards him, her eyes still dark with shocked distress.
She felt too numb to say anything, much less attempt to explain what had happened as she fell into step beside him, struggling to match his long, impatient stride as he hurried her back to his car.
It wasn’t on his own account that he was filled with such ferocious and all-consuming anger, Drax assured himself. No, it was because her behaviour, as he had just witnessed it, had proved her to be a liar and a sexual adventuress—and thus totally unfit to become Vere’s wife. That meant bringing her here to Dhurahn had been a complete waste of his time, and time wasn’t something Drax liked to waste.
He strode ahead of Sadie without bothering to turn and check that she was able to negotiate the rubble safely. Not because his anger had wiped out his good manners, but because he simply did not trust himself to speak to her, never mind touch her right now. How could she have allowed that oaf to maul her like that? And in public. Where he could see them. In his country, where such displays of sexual intimacy were an offence in the eyes of some of his more devout people. She had behaved with a complete lack of respect—for his country, for him, and for herself. Normally that would have been enough to thoroughly disgust him. Normally?
He was disgusted, Drax assured himself as he yanked open the driver’s door to his car. Disgusted and bitterly, dangerously angry. So angry, in fact, that…That what? he challenged himself as Sadie slid into the passenger seat of the car. He could smell the scent of her skin, and with it her fear. Her fear? Surely she should have smelled of her boyfriend and the intimacy they had been sharing?
Drax didn’t trust himself to look at her. Because he was jealous of the fact that she had given herself to another man?
No!
Sadie sat rigidly in her seat, trying to focus on the view ahead and stop herself from giving in to her emotions. Inwardly she felt nauseous and shivery, shaking with loathing and horror from Jack’s touch. And sickeningly aware of just how much he had enjoyed humiliating her in the way that he had.
Thank goodness Drax had come along when he did—because if he hadn’t…She tried to tell herself that she was over-dramatising what had happened, and that Jack had simply been tormenting her. He surely wouldn’t have gone as far as actually…raping her? She shuddered violently, gritting her teeth against the whimper of horror bubbling inside her.
Drax saw her small shiver and automatically turned down the air-conditioning. He could see the goose-bumps on her arms. She was staring into the distance, no doubt wishing she was still with her lover, imagining what they could be doing. He cursed savagely under his breath. He couldn’t believe the extent of his own misjudgement. He, who had always prided himself on his swift and accurate assessment of a person’s true character. She hadn’t even had the grace to attempt to make an excuse for herself, never mind apologise for the lies she had told him.
They had reached the palace, and the guards salaamed them in through the heavy gates. What was she thinking now? Did she imagine he was simply going to ignore her conduct—and her lies? If so, she was speedily going to discover her error.
He brought the car to a halt and switched off the engine, saying curtly, ‘Come with me. There is something I wish to discuss with you.’
Numbly, Sadie nodded her head. She had no idea what Drax wanted to say to her, but she hoped that whatever it was it would be compelling enough to help her stop reliving what had happened with Jack Logan. Her breast actually felt slightly sore where he had squeezed it. Sore and dirty…Everything felt dirty…Every bit of her, inside and out, and not just her body, but her thoughts as well—as though somehow he had contaminated all of her with his disgusting behaviour.
CHAPTER EIGHT
IT FELT as though days rather than hours had passed since she had last stood in this room, Sadie reflected as she stood in the middle of Drax’s private sitting room, looking out towards the swimming pool.
Drax had brought her here and then told her to wait, disappearing in the direction of what she assumed must be his bedroom.
This time he hadn’t asked her if she wanted anything to eat or drink, and the truth was that she felt desperately in need of a reviving caffeine boost. Instead she had to make do with what water was left in the bottle she had taken out with her earlier. Now lukewarm, it tasted slightly brackish.
Drax would have to tell Sadie that she was dismissed. He had no other option now, knowing that she had made contact with what was obviously a past lover here in Dhurahn. There was no way that Vere could be allowed to marry her. It was unthinkable. His only option was to pay her off and put her on the first flight back to London, her lover with her.
The supposedly calming, cool shower he’d just had had done nothing to lessen the boiling heat of his emotions. He reached for a towel to dry himself and then changed his mind, instead pulling on the fresh towelling robe that his manservant had left ready for him. He headed barefoot into the room where he had left Sadie.
Sadie was standing facing the window, her now empty water bottle clasped tightly in her hands. Drax didn’t want his body to react the way it did when he looked at her, but he seemed power
less to stop it. He made a small harsh sound of self-disgust beneath his breath that caused Sadie to turn and look at him, her eyes darkening and her face heating with colour for all the world as though she were remembering seeing him naked and was embarrassed that he might know. Drax could taste the bitterness of his own raw emotions.
‘You really had me fooled, you know,’ he told her with forced calm as he walked towards her. ‘When you put on that act for me, pretending to be shocked by Monika’s suggestion that you seduce her clients, I fell for it completely. When you told me that the grinning ape you were encouraging was merely a business acquaintance, I believed you.’
‘I told you the truth,’ Sadie said. This was not what she had expected to hear him say, and she couldn’t conceal her shock.
‘Liar! I saw the way you were letting him touch you.’
Her emotional radar registered his banked-down fury, but she couldn’t understand what had caused it.
‘I saw the intimacy between you,’ he continued harshly, adding savagely as he caught hold of her, ‘This kind of intimacy.’