Her outburst left her panting, having exhausted her temporary store of oxygen. He rode the rise and fall of her chest with crushing ease.
‘I know the feeling, chérie.' For the first time she caught a glimmer of light in the cold slate eyes, but no mercy. He straightened at last, but there was no escaping the prison of his body. His thighs still trapped hers against the table-edge as she slowly pushed herself up off the dark mirrored-polish of its surface and his hands settled heavily on her aching shoulders. 'So where is the necklace now? I presume it's still hidden somewhere on the premises. I certainly didn’t find it when I turned over your room.'
He had searched through her things. What hadn’t occurred to her in the initial shock of his attack now made her recoil against an unexpected feeli
ng of violation that must be a pale imitation of what he was feeling. 'What made you look there in the first place?' she asked shakily, mistrusting his sudden calm.
‘Ironically enough I called in to leave a token of my grandfather's misguided esteem on your bed... at his request,' he said drily. 'A rare edition of seventeenth-century poetry that he thought would be an appropriate gift for such an "impassioned intelligence"...'
'So you decided to search my room while you were there,' she said bitterly. ‘I thought you said you had faith in my integrity?'
'Had, yes.' He stressed the past tense bitterly, a fresh flame kindling in his smouldering gaze. 'Until I saw the interesting collection of bedside reading on your dressing-table. You were too cunning for your own good, ma petite voleuse. Were you working on the Edgar Allan Poe theory that guilt is best hidden in plain sight?'
'They weren’t in plain sight—I left them in my suitcase, not on the table!' She threw his own lie back in his face. When her bag had arrived she had wrapped her precious cargo in her most intimate underwear and thrust it into the back of the antique wardrobe.
He surveyed her with a grim smile of malice. ‘If you intend to make a living as an upper-class cat-burglar, chérie, you'd do best to learn the aristocratic rules of etiquette. Guests dress—maids unpack. No doubt one of Grandpère's efficient army freshened your room for the night ahead and was over-zealous in her helpfulness.'
Jack's hands tightened on her shoulders and he gave her a small, vicious shake. The calm had only been the eye of the storm. 'Now no more stalling, Beth. I've given you all the rope you need to tie yourself up in your lies. Where have you put the necklace? Somewhere utterly bizarre, I suppose, to match the rest of your tale. And, I warn you, don’t even think of using it to negotiate terms. I don’t make bargains with criminals!'
Although she had bleakly anticipated his violent rejection, and thought she had prepared herself for its impact, Elizabeth found that she hadn’t. How could she? She had never known such a devastating pain, as if she had been emptied of everything but the shattering knowledge that she had hurt him and that he would never let her get close enough to do that again. If she told him that she loved him now he would laugh in her face, and she only had herself to blame. He wanted no part of such a faithless love. She felt empty, scraped raw by his contempt and the realisation that with his words he was systematically destroying any possibility of reconciliation between them.
‘I’m wearing it!' she said dully.
His reaction was dramatic.
He went rigid, jerking back from her as if she had just told him that she was contaminated by some dread disease. His face wore a look of shocked fascination.
'You're what?’
‘I’m wearing it,' she repeated uneasily, bewildered by her sudden release. ‘It seemed the safest way to carry it around since I couldn’t just leave it lying in my room.
Naturally I used the safe at the hotel,' she added hurriedly, thinking it was shock at her cavalier treatment of his precious heirloom that had prompted his violent recoil. 'But when I—I thought I might be able to find a way into the estate I decided it was better to wear it than carry it around in a bag that could get stolen. Not many people would realise the true value of the books offhand, but jewellery is something everyone can appreciate the value of—'
'You've worn it before tonight?' he interrupted softly.
'Yes, a couple of times,' she said uneasily, pressing her hand to her collarbone. His eyes followed her gesture as he muttered what sounded like a profane French prayer beneath his breath.
'Actually I was wearing it on the plane when we met, too,' she announced defiantly. Whatever unknown crime she had committed now, she might as well confess it all.
His eyes, which had been wide and pale, suddenly narrowed with a strange, dark intensity.
'Mon Dieu, you really do like to live dangerously...'
'No one's ever seen me wearing it,' she said, instinctively defending herself against the threat of that silky murmur. ‘I always wear something high-necked if I put it on...'
'But it's still there around your neck. Still being worn.' He lifted his head suddenly, his eyes catching the light, and she shivered at the predatory satisfaction that was starkly revealed there, as if he were a hawk brooding over a fresh kill.
‘I want to see it,' he demanded.
Her fist clenched over her chest. 'You can’t have it, not here. I'll have to unzip my dress to get it off—'
‘I don’t want you to take it off. I want to see you wearing it.'
He was laughing! A richly exultant sound of amusement that had the impact of a bomb in the quiet room, and before Elizabeth could react to his sudden, inexplicable change of mood he had grabbed her by the wrist and propelled her out into the hall.
'What are you doing? I told you I'd give it to you!' she panted as he dragged her up the stairs, leaving one of her shoes behind on the landing as he whirled her across it and up the next flight. By the time they reached the door to her room she was breathless with fear and excitement and wondering if one's body could drown in adrenalin.
'You don’t have to do this, Jack—' she began but he unexpectedly ignored her room and plunged on down the dark corridor and round a corner.