'I can't stop thinking about you; I can't sleep—just give me one more chance, Zoe! It isn't much to ask, is it?'
Connel harshly ground out through his teeth, 'That's enough of that, sunshine. You heard her. She doesn't want you here. On your way and don't come back, or you'll have me to deal with,'
Larry looked wildly at him, then at Zoe. 'Is he why you dumped me? I suspected it was something like that There had to be another man—with you, there's always another man, isn't there?'
Furious, she opened her mouth to deny it, but he didn't give her the chance. Looking at Connel with bitterness, he sneered, 'You'll find out what she's like! It will be your turn next for the treatment. Don't let yourself care too much—she waits until you're crazy about her and then she dumps you. She's as cold as ice and as cruel as a cat playing with a half-dead mouse.'
Zoe flinched at the accusation. It wasn't true. Of course it wasn't. She wasn't cold. Or cruel.
Connel's dark eyes flicked to her face, then back to Larry. Brusquely, he muttered, 'You've had your say. Come on, you're leaving.' Grabbing Larry's collar, he frogmarched him out of the cottage before slamming the front door on him.
Zoe unsteadily walked into the kitchen, put on the light, then sat down before her legs gave way. She didn't want to humiliate herself in front of Connel by fainting, but she was chilled to the bone and shivering. Of course, she was tired after working for hours in the open air, and on top of that being attacked by Larry when she got back here.
Connel followed her into the room, gave her a hard, searching look, then without a word began to make tea.
Over his shoulder as he set out mugs he said icily, 'You know, I was beginning to think Hal had been wrong about you, but obviously he
had your number spot-on. You've destroyed that stupid guy. I wish now I hadn't hit the poor bastard so hard.'
'Go away,' she yelled at him, fighting with tears and a sense of injustice. 'Get out of my house. Right now. And don't come back.'
'What's the matter, Zoe? Afraid of the truth?' The biting tone was like a scalpel boring into her heart; she lifted her head, clouds of red hair spilling around her white face, to look at him with pain and anger.
'It isn't the truth! If I go out with someone and realise I don't want it to get serious, what am I supposed to do? Marry him even if he bores me rigid? Haven't you ever dated someone then realised she was the wrong woman for you? If you can, why shouldn't I? Don't I have the right to change my mind?'
His eyes watched her, hard as black glass, glittering.
It made her even edgier to have him look at her that way. She bit her lip, but ploughed on huskily. 'Larry, for instance— I liked him when I met him, but then he started telling me endlessly about his previous girlfriends. He wanted me to be jealous. If we bumped into some girl he had once dated he was ecstatic, and kept telling me I didn't need to be jealous, but it was obvious he hoped I would be and he got sulky when I wasn't.'
His mouth twisted. 'I suppose he was right in a way— jealousy would have meant you cared.'
She had to admit that. 'I suppose so—but I wasn't in love with him, so I had to stop seeing him. You must see that? All his attempts to make me jealous got on my nerves. Even worse, he wanted me to tell him all about the guys I'd been out with—but I wouldn't do that, either. I don't believe in talking about one man to another; once a relationship is over it's over, and it isn't fair to them to talk about them behind their back.'
'No,' he agreed, frowning. 'Most men would hate that. Including me.'
She laughed roughly. 'That I can imagine.' Oh, yes, she knew that much about him. He was a man with strong ideas about himself; he would hate to know a woman was spreading gossip about him. She viewed him with some sympathy. That was one thing they had in common.
'I wouldn't want a guy talking about me to other women,' she said. 'But Larry was determined to know who else I'd been out with and whether I'd slept with them. I refused to tell him anything, but he kept on and on about it—he's the obsessive type, only it's himself he's really obsessed with. He sees everyone else in relation to himself and never sees any other point of view. I explained that I don't believe in talking about what's over, but he simply refused to accept that He wouldn't accept that I didn't want to see him again, either. He's been ringing and writing ever since! He wouldn't give up. But I didn't think he was crazy enough to show up and actually attack me!'
Connel put a cup of tea in front of her. 'Just as well I turned up when I did. God knows what would have happened if I hadn't. Have you eaten?'
She stared blankly, not remembering for a second, and he angrily muttered at her, 'You haven't, have you? You make me so furious! Are you trying to make yourself really ill? When your sister rang me and told me you had got dressed and gone off while she was collecting her little girl I wanted to follow you and make you come back, but I didn't know where the film was being made and your sister had no idea either, nor did she have a phone number for the film company.'
'Well, I'm glad about that!' she muttered, glaring. 'I wouldn't have appreciated being arrested and dragged away from my job in front of the whole film crew! Who do you think you are?'
'You shouldn't have gone back to work immediately after that accident'
'I didn't want my film being handed over to someone else! You don't understand…'
He bent down close to her, his dark eyes boring into hers. 'No, it's you who doesn't understand! Shock can kill! This might be your last film if you don't listen to reason!'
'I'm fine,' she said obstinately, shifting away from the menace of that strong face. Her heart hurt against her ribs at being so close to him. 'Stop invading my body space!'
His eyes gleamed in a new way. 'Am I, Zoe?' he whispered, and her throat fluttered with awareness.
'Stop threatening me! First Larry, then you! What's wrong with men lately? Why are they so aggressive? Why do they think they know what's best for other people? Why do they try to push people around?'
'I don't know about Larry, but as to me—I'm only trying to make you listen to reason!' He put out a hand to brush her tousled red hair back from her face; his long fingers light and gentle. 'You're such a fool, Zoe. Your own worst enemy.'