thought I’d come to drag you into bed with me?” He
grinned at her. “Was it a struggle, my sweet? Or did you
righteously lock your door without a second thought?”
“Don’t laugh,” she pleaded. “I was desperately
unhappy.”
He wound his fingers in the silky blonde hair and
pulled her close to him, kissing her ear. “I felt pretty fed
up myself. I came to ask you to marry me. When you
wouldn’t even talk to me I felt like smashing the door
down. You don’t know how close you came to being pretty
savagely kissed that night. I lay awake thinking of what I
would like to do to you. I couldn’t understand your
sudden changes of mood.”
“I didn’t want to love you,” she said, sighing.
“That was obvious. I thought, though, that once I had got
Peter Hardy out of your life it would be plain sailing. It
was a big shock to find I was still not home and dry.”
Kate sat up indignantly. “How conceited! You thought
that as soon as I was free I’d fall into your arms, I
suppose?”
“Something like that,” he grinned unrepentantly. “You
see, my dear girl, I fell in love with you on our second
meeting, when you threw home truths at me like
poisoned arrows. Your eyes fascinated me. They were so
blue and so cross!”
“You deserved every word!” she said.
“So I did,” he agreed lazily, with disgusting com-
placency. “I knew then that I had to marry you. I had
been in love before, but never like that—it was like a
thunderbolt. When you told me you were engaged I felt