‘I’m sure that wasn’t it,’ she said softly.
‘It was,’ he said bluntly. ‘She left a note. Basically saying that she loved me and that she realised she’d be leaving me behind but that it wasn’t enough to stop her.’
Celia looked stricken and a dozen different emotions flickered across her face. ‘Oh, God,’ she murmured.
He arched an eyebrow. ‘You did ask.’
‘I know I did.’
‘Regretting it?’
‘Not for a second.’
He gave her a dry smile. ‘Hardly the best of gene pools, is it?’
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ she said, running her gaze over him and, whether she knew it or not, making him forget that horrible couple of years and return his focus to her.
He watched her eyes darken, heard her breath catch, and desire hit him like a blow to the chest. His hands itched. His mouth went dry and he was a second away from hauling her up from the chair and into his arms when she blinked, snapping the connection and making him recoil.
‘So how did you get from hurtling off the rails to where you are now?’ she said a little hoarsely, sounding as shaken as he was.
Marcus gathered his wits and thanked God Celia had had the sense to pull them back from the edge. ‘Just after my mother died and I was spinning really out of control, a friend of my father’s basically took me in hand. He put me to work in one of his companies, a brokerage. It turned out I had an affinity for stock picking and I moved up until I set up my own business. The rest you know.’
‘Didn’t any of your own friends try to help?’
‘Dan did a bit. But we were eighteen, nineteen. I was determined to raise as much hell as I could and I was very good at it. There was nothing he could have done.’
‘Is that why you’re setting up this scheme to help people like you once were?’
‘Yes.’
‘Paying i
t forward.’
‘In a small way.’
‘And what about the business mentoring and the angel investing?’
‘I had no idea you were listening so closely.’
‘I was listening.’
‘Right,’ he said, wondering why the thought of her listening would make his heart beat this hard and this fast. ‘Well, that’s because I enjoy taking risks and making money.’
Celia gave him a smile that was hot and wicked and threatened to blow his noble intentions to keep his hands off her to smithereens. ‘I’m glad to hear you’re not all good.’
There was a crackling silence, and as they looked at each other, with heat and tension filling the space between them, all Marcus could think about was how much he wanted her. How much he always had. To hell with what was right or wrong. Screw the consequences. He wanted her, and she wanted him, and he, for one, was going to go mad if they didn’t do something about it.
‘Are you?’ he said softly, taking a step towards her and seeing her eyes widen with alarm.
She stood up, nearly knocking her chair over in her haste, and grabbed her bag. ‘Of course,’ she said way too brightly, edging back and keeping the distance. ‘Just think of your reputation.’
He was having trouble thinking about anything but her and what he wanted them to do together. ‘I know it comes fifteen years too late,’ he said, keeping his eyes on hers, ‘but I’m sorry about making up the bet.’
‘Fine,’ she said quickly. ‘And I’m sorry about what I said about using you.’
‘Were you? Using me, I mean?’