One Summer At The Castle. Jules Bennett

evil.’

      ‘And you do?’ She sounded sceptical, and Liam had to bite his tongue not to tell her exactly what had happened to him. ‘Come on, Mr Jameson. We both know you’ve lived a charmed life.’

      Liam had to tuck his fingers beneath his arms to prevent himself from tearing his clothes aside to show her the kind of evil he’d encountered. ‘Maybe,’ he managed tersely. ‘But I haven’t always lived in Scotland, Miss Chantry.’

      ‘I know.’ She’d relaxed a little now. ‘I read about you on the Internet. Didn’t you used to work at the Stock Exchange, or somewhere?’

      ‘It was a merchant bank, actually.’

      ‘Whatever.’ Rosa shrugged, glad of the return to reality. ‘I imagine you had a fairly good salary. Then you made a lot of money with your first book and bought your own castle. How difficult was that?’

      Liam pushed himself to his feet. ‘If that’s what you want to think,’ he said, turning to shuffle the papers on his desk. ‘Which reminds me, I have work to do.’

      Rosa felt ashamed now. It wasn’t anything to do with her how he lived his life. ‘Look,’ she said, taking a step towards him, ‘I’ll admit I know nothing about you, really.

      And—and if you say you know how it feels to face real evil, then I believe you. But—’

      ‘But you don’t believe me,’ said Liam sharply, swinging around again, and Rosa was uneasily aware that there was barely a hand’s breadth between them now. ‘You’re humouring me, Miss Chantry, and I don’t like it. I don’t need your endorsement.’

      Rosa licked her dry lips. ‘I was only being polite,’ she protested. ‘It’s not my fault if you’re touchy about the veracity of your books.’

      ‘Touchy about the veracity—’ Liam gazed at her angrily. ‘You haven’t the first idea what you’re talking about.’ He dragged a calming breath into his lungs and tried to speak naturally. ‘Let’s just say I have had some firsthand knowledge of evil. But I’d rather not discuss it. Okay?’

      Rosa lifted her shoulders. ‘I had no idea.’

      ‘Why should you?’ Liam wasn’t at all sure he liked the look of sympathy in her eyes any better than the disbelief he’d seen before. ‘Forget it. I have.’

      Though he doubted he ever would.

      Rosa hesitated. ‘I didn’t mean to suggest your books weren’t believable,’ she persisted, laying a reckless hand on his sleeve. ‘I’m sorry if I’ve offended you.’

      Offended me?

      Liam expelled a strangled breath. Although he was wearing a warm sweatshirt, he could feel the touch of her fingers clear through to his skin. The muscles in his arm tightened almost instinctively, the tendons heating and expanding much like those other muscles between his legs.

      ‘It’s not important,’ he muttered harshly, concentrating on anything but the feminine scent of her skin. But then he lifted his lids and encountered those anxious brown eyes, and he felt as if he was drowning in their soft depths.

      Hardly aware of what he was doing, he lifted his hand and brushed his thumb across her parted lips. Moisture that had gathered there clung to the pad, and he didn’t think before bringing his thumb to his mouth to taste her.

      For her part, Rosa was almost paralysed by his actions. She’d never dreamt that an innocent attempt to comfort him might have such a disturbing result. Her whole body felt hot and trembly now, and she was aware of him in a way that she hadn’t been before. Or was she only kidding herself? She’d been aware of him right from the start.

      When her tongue emerged to circle her lips it was because they’d suddenly gone dry, not to absorb any lingering trace of his scent. Although she did. She heard him suck in a breath and wondered what he was thinking. Dear God, this wasn’t meant to happen. But she knew that Colin had never made her feel anything like this.

      When he spoke, however, his tone was harsh. ‘I shouldn’t have done that,’ he said shortly. ‘I’m sorry.’

      Now it was Rosa’s turn to take a gulp of much-needed oxygen. ‘It—doesn’t matter,’ she said, glancing behind him at the telephone. ‘Um—’ She had to calm down, she told herself. ‘I was wondering if—’

      But that was as far as she got. ‘It does matter,’ he said, raking back his dark hair with a frustrated hand. ‘For God’s sake, you must think I’m desperate for a woman!’

      Liam saw the way his words affected her almost before he’d finished speaking. The fact that he’d been trying to reassure himself that his emotions weren’t involved here was no excuse. He realised, belatedly, that what he’d said could be taken two ways, and he wasn’t at all surprised when she turned on him.

      ‘I’m sure you’re not,’ she retorted stiffly, wrapping her arms tightly across her slim body so that her small breasts were pushed upward in an unknowingly provocative way. ‘And I’m not that desperate for a man, either.’

      Liam suppressed a groan. Didn’t she realise he hadn’t intended to offend her? Evidently not. He scowled. Now it was up to him to defuse the situation he’d created, and one look at her face convinced him that it wouldn’t be easy.

      ‘Look,’ he said persuasively, ‘that wasn’t intended as an insult. On the contrary. I wouldn’t like you to think I expected any payment for my hospitality, that’s all.’

      Rosa gave him a disbelieving look. ‘We both know what you meant, Mr Jameson,’ she said tightly. ‘I’m not a fool. You don’t have to tell me I’m not the type of woman someone like you would find appealing.’

      Liam felt a twinge of indignation. Despite the warning voice of his conscience, which was telling him not to continue with this, he resented the contempt he’d heard in her voice. Who the hell did she think she was, making uninformed judgements about him? She didn’t know him. She knew nothing about him or his tastes in women. Yet she was implying he was some moron who could only think with his sex.

      The fact that that was what he had been doing was not something Liam chose to consider at that moment. ‘Be careful, Miss Chantry,’ he said unpleasantly. ‘I’ll begin to think you were disappointed that I stopped when I did.’

      ‘How dare you?’

      Rosa didn’t think she had ever felt so furious. Her hand balled into a fist almost automatically, connecting with the hard muscles of his stomach before she had time to reconsider. She suspected she’d hurt herself more than she hurt him, but it didn’t matter. He had no right to ridicule her. Not when, for a heart-stopping moment, he’d made her feel so good.

      Liam was surprised at the fierceness of her attack. ‘You need to control that temper of yours, Miss Chantry,’ he panted, annoyed at his shortness of breath. ‘What the hell’s the matter with you? What did I say to warrant that response?’

      ‘You know what you said, Mr Jameson.’ Rosa was trembling, but she refused to back down.

      ‘Yeah?’ Some evil demon was urging him on. ‘And wasn’t it true?’

      Rosa stared at him, wondering how she could ever have been attracted to this man. ‘You have a much inflated opinion of yourself, Mr Jameson,’ she said icily, keeping her voice down with an effort. It would have been so much more satisfying to shout at him. ‘If I allowed myself, just for a moment, to give in to you, it was simply because I felt sorry for you. I mean, it can’t be much fun living here on your own, with only your female staff for diversion.’

      The outrage Liam felt at being unknowingly but callously reminded of Kayla’s defection brought a crippling wave of anger sweeping over him. Forgetting that he’d been in the wrong here, that her insults were just a counterattack to his sarcasm, he grasped her wrists and twisted them behind her back. ‘You’re just a mine of bitterness, aren’t you, Miss Chantry?’