Carole Mortimer Romance Collection. Carole Mortimer

in her protest as his

      mouth came down almost savagely on to hers, demanding a response from her.

      There was no gentleness in him, no caring for the bruises he was inflicting upon the softness of her skin, only forceful demand as he plundered her mouth and body with an anger that bordered on savagery.

      Juliet whimpered low in her throat, her head flooded with deep, dark memories—memories that made her fight against him with every ounce of her strength.

      And it was a battle she was destined to lose.

      Liam was so much stronger than she, ruled by a passion he didn’t even try to check as he swung her up in his arms, kicking the door shut with his foot before carrying her across the room to the bed, giving her no chance to escape as his weight came down on hers and his mouth claimed hers once again, his hands restlessly caressing the length of her body.

      There was no respite to the demanding kisses. Liam seemed unaware of the low sobs in her throat, the convulsions of her trapped hands against his chest. Juliet could feel herself drowning, drowning in a sea of blackness that had no end.

      ‘Liam, no!’ she cried as she hung on to the last remnants of consciousness. ‘Please, no!’ This last was a begging plea, a need to be heard. ‘Don’t do this to me! Please…don’t do this to me!’ She was sobbing in earnest now—uncontrollable sobs that racked the whole length of her body.

      He raised his head to look down at her with glazed eyes, staring uncomprehendingly at the river of tears running down her cheeks.

      ‘Liam, please!’ She looked up at him with painfilled eyes, her face completely white, her hands clasped into defensive fists in front of her breasts, shock starting to set in too now as her body began to shake. ‘P-please…!’ she sobbed brokenly.

      He frowned deeply, shaking his head as if to clear it from a fog and drawing in deep breaths of air to his seemingly starved lungs. ‘Oh, God!’ he finally groaned, throwing himself back on the bed beside her, his arm flung up over his eyes, as if he too wanted to shut out the memory of what had just almost happened.

      Shock was setting in properly in Juliet now, and she lay rigid on the bed, unable to move, shaking too badly even to attempt to stand up, even though at this moment she wanted to put as much distance between herself and Liam as she possibly could.

      ‘Hell!’ He shot up off the bed, striding over to the window to stare down sightlessly at the driveway. ‘Hell!’ he muttered again, running an agitated hand through the dark blond thickness of his hair.

      That was exactly where Juliet felt that he had taken her! Her numbed senses were starting to thaw, and so the pain began to feel more intense. Liam had been intent upon making love to her, with or without her co-operation. No doubt he would have preferred it with, but—

      ‘Take that look of horror off your face!’ he instructed harshly, looking at her from across the room now, very pale, a nerve pulsing in his cheek. ‘I’ll admit I was beyond reason for a few minutes, but I would never have actually made love to you without your consent!’ He shook his head in denial of just how beyond reason he had been.

      ‘Which I would never have given,’ she returned huskily, surprised that she could articulate at all; she did feel horrified by what had almost happened.

      Liam drew in a ragged breath. ‘Possibly not,’ he conceded icily. ‘We’ll never know. But what I do know,’ he added quickly as Juliet was about to assure him that she certainly did know, ‘is that it isn’t a good idea for me to continue staying in this house.’ He looked about him scathingly. ‘Just a house.’ He shook his head. ‘And yet it’s always held bad memories for me!’

      And now it held even more! Juliet didn’t believe that she would ever be able to enter this bedroom again without remembering what had happened here with Liam.

      She sat up slowly, feeling the bruises he had inflicted on her body. ‘I’ll be the one to move out,’ she said softly, not even looking at him, knowing she couldn’t stay here any longer. It had been bad enough before, but now…!

      ‘My father left this house to you,’ Liam reminded her harshly.

      She shook her head, moving like an automaton as she slipped on a pair of shoes. ‘I never wanted it. I know you don’t believe me, but I never wanted any of what he left me. But William felt responsible—’ She broke off abruptly, turning

      sharply to look at Liam with stricken eyes. She had said too much; she knew she had by the narrow questioning of his eyes.

      ‘Responsible for what?’ Liam predictably prompted.

      God, this had disturbed her! She would never have—

      ‘Juliet!’ he ground out forcefully.

      She moistened suddenly dry lips. ‘Nothing,’ she denied hurriedly. ‘It was nothing.’

      He didn’t look convinced—and Juliet had secretly known he wouldn’t be. He was far too astute; he missed very little of what was going on around him. And he thought he knew her very well. He didn’t, but he believed he did.

      He gave her a considering look as he slowly crossed the room to stand in front of her. ‘I had a question to ask you tonight, Juliet, and I believe you’ve just answered it for me!’ he said coldly.

      She looked up at him frowningly, not liking that look of disgust on his face one little bit. Why should he be the one who was disgusted? She was the one who had almost been…almost been…

      Liam’s mouth twisted scathingly. ‘It was a cover-up, wasn’t it, Juliet?’ he accused, revolted. ‘A damned cover-up that cost a life—’ He broke off as Juliet rose abruptly to her feet.

      If she had looked at him with horror before, it was as nothing to the terrified despair she felt now. How could he know so quickly? How could he possibly have guessed the secret which she and William had kept for so many years?

CHAPTER NINE

      LIAM turned sharply away from her, thrusting his hands deep into his trouser pockets as he moved over to the window once again, as far away from Juliet as he could possibly be in this room. ‘How well did you know my little brother, Juliet?’ he finally rasped, his back still towards her—a back rigid with suppressed anger.

      She swallowed hard. ‘I told you—’

      ‘How well, Juliet?’ His tone brooked no prevarication.

      She chewed on her bottom lip, looking down at her clenched hands. ‘I was engaged to many him.’ she said quietly.

      She sensed rather than saw Liam turn sharply to face her, and felt unable to raise her head and return the probe of his gaze. If she looked at him now, just once, he would see it all in her face. And she had kept it to herself for so long…Although it seemed that Liam now knew the truth. She still didn’t understand how he could possibly know…

      ‘You said you weren’t around ten years ago, so I knew it had to be something like that,’ he said disparagingly. ‘You have consistently denied being intimately involved with my father, so that only left Simon. You had to have been close—very close— to at least one member of this family to have been privileged with such information. My father was an expert at burying family skeletons,’ he added disgustedly.

      Juliet was still caught up on the ‘ten years ago’; she didn’t understand what Liam meant by that. It wasn’t ten years ago, it was only…Was there some mistake? Could Liam possibly be talking about something else completely? The Walters account? Was that it? Liam had said that the account was ten years old. If it was that account, what cover-up was he talking about?

      She drew in a deep breath. ‘It was so long ago, Liam—’

      ‘A man died!’ he bit out harshly, his eyes blazing across the width of the room. ‘The compensation