Dangerous Discovery. Laura Martin

wondering if she dared defy him, dared run on jellied legs to her bicycle which was parked down at the roadside and only a few tantalising feet away.

      She didn’t. With a thudding heart and a protective squeeze of Joseph’s warm body, she turned and prepared herself to meet the full force of Hunter’s gaze.

      His eyes were like deepest night, dark and impenetrable, fixing her to the spot with cool dislike. He surveyed her with an expression that revealed open suspicion, his glance slowly taking in every inch of her face, her slim, lithe figure, scanning her tousled auburn locks and creamy complexion, causing a hot flush of panic and fear as his eyes rested fleetingly on Joseph’s plump body.

      At last he deigned to speak and his voice was as cold and as hard as she had expected. ‘You do know you’re trespassing on private property, I presume?’

      Estelle took a shaky breath and then gave a brief nod.

      ‘For what purpose?’

      She swallowed, licking at her lips in a totally nervous gesture, fully aware of the disruptive, mind-numbing force of his presence. She found her eyes wandering of their own accord over the sharp, crisp outline of his suit, lingering on the stunning eyes, the hard, tight line of his mouth...she found herself wondering how it had been between this man and Connie, how the seemingly impossible had come about...

      ‘Did you hear what I said?’

      Estelle jumped at the insistent tone, backing away a little towards the wall. He looked angry, standing there, so menacing and forceful. ‘I...I...’ She struggled to think with a mind that refused to work. What could she say? What would appease this man and get her off his property and out of his sight in the shortest possible time?

      Swiftly she decided that the truth, or at least the beginnings of the truth, were her best and only bet. ‘I...I just saw the gap in the wall, heard the voices...’ Her pitifully small voice, husky with tension, trailed to a feeble halt. Did she really expect a man like Hunter to be satisfied with so inadequate an explanation?

      .‘And that’s the best you can do?’

      She saw the derisive curl of his mouth, heard the disbelieving tone. ‘I...I just wanted to see—’

      ‘So you were watching us through the trees?’ His voice was like a razor, cutting her dead. The dark brows drew together suspiciously. ‘Come on! Is that what you’re trying to tell me?’

      Estelle scuffed her feet awkwardly on the ground. ‘Look, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean any harm. It was just a spur-of-the-moment thing.’ She gulped a breath. ‘Now...please, I...I really think I should be getting back—’ On shaking legs she turned determinedly towards the crumbling wall and began to step over the fallen branch but immediately found her arm gripped firmly by a hand that was large and strong and totally immovable.

      ‘Not so fast, young lady. You’re going to give me a better explanation than that!’ He brought his other free hand around and tilted Estelle’s chin up, so that she had no choice other than to look straight into the dark, disconcerting eyes. ‘Now tell me what exactly is going on here.’

      His fingers were cool and firm against her skin and yet heat surged through her body at an alarming rate as he held Estelle’s face captive. He had, she noted absently, the most luxuriant black lashes, a tiny scar just visible on his brow-bone, fine lines around the corners of his eyes that surely could never in this world have been caused by laughter...

      ‘Well? Answer me!’

      ’N-nothing!‘ Estelle’s voice gave away her desperation as she tore her frantic eyes from his face. ‘Nothing at all! Please, if you’ll just let me go—’

      ‘I think not,’ he replied tersely. ‘You may imagine playing the innocent will get you out of this situation, but fluttering your eyelashes and acting the startled little girl isn’t going to work with me.’

      ‘Will you let go of me this instant?’ Estelle cried despairingly, unable to endure the close and telling appraisal a moment longer. ‘You have no right to treat me like this! No right at all!’

      ‘I have every right,’ came the clipped reply, ‘and don’t you forget it. Privacy in my own home, above everything else, is sacrosanct, and I take a very dim view of anyone who enters my property without permission. Do I make myself clear?’

      Estelle concentrated hard on the ground at her feet and nodded dumbly.

      ‘Look at me!’ The command was quiet and menacing and she jerked her head up sharply to find jet eyes boring into her. ‘Do I make myself clear?’

      ‘Look, I never meant any harm—’ Estelle began.

      ‘And how am I to know that that is the truth?’ he enquired sharply. ‘You may look like a sweet, innocent young female, but you’re as nervous as hell and you have an expression that looks as if it has something to hide!’ He paused a second and his eyes fell on the route Estelle had used to get in. ‘That’s quite a steep climb up here from the road below; it must have been difficult with a baby in tow. You were quite determined to get up here, weren’t you? Weren’t you?’ he repeated insistently, pulling Estelle firmly away from the wall.

      ‘I...I told you before, I was just curious.’

      ‘To see what? Come on!’ he added irritably. ‘Start talking. Tell me what it was that interested you so much you had to scrabble up a bank and battle your way over a wall, through fallen-down trees—’

      ‘I’ve told you!’ Estelle’s voice sounded shaky. Joseph wasn’t crying any more—indeed she suspected he had seemingly done the impossible and gone back to sleep—but she felt near to tears herself. ‘Now please! I just want to go home.’

      ‘And you will do,’ Hunter replied with a coolness that made Estelle shiver, ‘once you tell me why you were spying on myself and my guests.’

      ‘I was not spyingl’ she cried swiftly. ‘That sounds so...so dreadful.’

      ‘What would you call it, then?’

      The flush- on Estelle’s face grew hotter and more intense. She was shocked by the hard determination in his expression and stared open-mouthed for several seconds as words and explanations were considered and disregarded at speed. ‘Stop bullying me!’ she cried frantically. ‘Just because you’ve had an argument with one of your guests and you’re in a bad mood—’

      It was not the best thing to say. Estelle realised that as soon as she saw Hunter’s grim expression. ‘Right, that’s it!’ he barked. ‘This way.’

      Estelle jerked sharply as his fingers scorched the skin of her bare arm in a determined grasp. ‘Take your hands off me! You can’t do this!’

      ‘I’m doing it,’ he informed her flatly. ‘Now come with me. You’ve managed to arouse my worst instincts. I think it’s best if perhaps the police take an interest in what you do or rather don’t have to say.’

      ‘You...you wouldn’t! You can’t be serious?’ Estelle’s eyes widened, portraying all of her anxiety and horror.

      ‘Why not?’ he replied coolly. ‘After all there have been a spate of break-ins and burglaries in this area. How am I to know that you’re not part of some organised gang on a recce of the premises?’

      Estelle snorted and threw him a look that showed all of her disbelief. ‘But that’s absolutely ridiculous!’ she cried. ‘I’ve got a baby with me and I came on a bicycle—they’re hardly the hallmarks of a successful thief, are they? And...and anyway,’ she continued angrily, ‘how dare you insinuate that I’m anything other than honest? It’s...it’s preposterous!’ She felt her eyes, wide with outright anger now, filling with tears and hastily lowered her head so that Hunter wouldn’t detect her weakness.

      ‘Come on back to the house!’ His voice was firm. ‘And you can stop crying! Turning on the waterworks isn’t going to make the slightest bit of difference to me. I’m a hard