She smiled weakly at Joe and got a grin back. Joe went out and Dandy patted her head, his huge hand light on her hair. 'Drink your cocoa and get some sleep,' he said, going out.
She leant up on one elbow, the folds of the quilt draped around her, and sipped the steaming chocolate drink. There was a thick skin on the top of it, but she was so cold she did not care.
Fortune had nestled down on the bunk beside her feet, snuggling under the quilt. He was asleep, giving whining little snorts from time to time, his nose pushed against her bare feet.
The yacht swayed on the water and a bell somewhere chimed softly. Lissa looked up at the porthole. Luc would still be playing poker. How long would it be before Chris knew she had gone? Would Luc have time to get away before it was discovered?
He hadn't told her what he meant to do. He hadn't told her anything very much, and what he had told her was lies, she thought. Stockbroker… Dandy had roared at the very idea, amused by Luc's lie.
Lissa wasn't amused. Why had Luc told her that? To soothe her and reassure her?
She felt a cold shiver of dismay as she faced her own future. She had voluntarily given herself into the hands of a man who had lied to her, a man with a background as troubled and murky as Chris. Luc was just as dangerous, just as unscrupulous, just as amoral. He was a pirate, a professional gambler, and she had been crazy to trust him.
Finishing her cocoa she put down her mug and lay back in the bunk. She watched the swaying lamp above her, her eyes following that slow pendulum intently.
How could she sleep? She was torn between fear for Luc and anger with him.
Her eyes were heavy and her brain moved slowly, trying to sort out what she could do, unable to think clearly about anything.
She was growing warm at last and she felt her tense muscles beginning to relax as heat crept over her body. There wasn't a sound from anywhere on the yacht. Were all the men asleep? How could they even consider sleep when Luc was in danger? She turned on the pillow, yawning. She couldn't possibly sleep. She couldn't, possibly.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Lissa stirred, still fathoms deep in sleep, but disturbed by several things which had only just begun to penetrate her drowsy mind. The scent of bacon drifted around her, the delicious odour of coffee. She moved under the warm quilt, her nose wrinkling.
Someone laughed and her lids flew open. Sunlight struck across her unguarded eyes. She blinked, shifting in the bunk, and became aware of a difference in the movements of the yacht.
She sat up, giving a stifled cry, and then stared in disbelief as she saw the tall figure lounging on the end of her bunk.
'Luc!' The sight of him sent a wave of sick relief through her. His lean dark face was expressionless as he watched her and her smile vanished as she realised something else.
She was naked, the quilt having dropped back from her body as she sat up. Colour flared into her face. She grabbed the quilt and wound it around herself with a shaking hand.
'Slept well, did you?' Luc enquired silkily, watching her with open amusement,
'I think there was something in that cocoa,' she accused, and saw his mouth twitch at the edges.
'Dandy thought you'd be better off asleep,' he said in half admission.
'He had no right to do that!'
Luc shrugged, his wide shoulders moving easily under the cotton sweater he wore.
Lissa took a long, painful breath. 'What happened last night?'
'I played poker,' he drawled. Getting off the bunk, he moved away and turned with a tray in his hands. 'Your breakfast,' he said.
'I couldn't eat anything! Tell me what happened last night, Luc.'
He came across to her and placed the tray across her knees. Lissa glared at him. 'How am I supposed to eat it like this?'
'You can't,' he agreed. 'You'll have to come out of your cocoon.' His eyes glinted teasingly at her. 'I don't mind watching.'
Her cheeks burnt. 'Will you please find me some clothes?'
Luc grinned at her, but went over to a chest and came back with a loose, very large white sweater. He tossed it to her. 'This do?'
'Please turn your back,' she said with dignity.
'Shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, aren't you?' he asked softly.
'Please,' she muttered.
He shrugged and swung away. Lissa hurriedly dragged the sweater over her head. The tray rocked alarmingly. She sat up, safely covered, and Luc turned to survey her. His grin made her flush increase.
'Ten sizes too big, but you look very sexy in it,' he informed her.
'The yacht's moving,' she said, ignoring that remark.
'We've been under way for hours. We thought we'd let you sleep until we were safely out of reach of Brandon 's pursuit.'
'Are we?' she asked nervously.
'We are,' Luc nodded. His eyes probed her face. 'Sorry? Or relieved?'
She looked down at the tray, trembling slightly.
'Eat your breakfast while it's hot,' Luc urged.
Lissa began to eat, her stomach protesting hungrily at the delicious scent of the food. 'Tell me what happened,' she said with her head bent.
Luc strolled to the porthole and looked out. 'I told you I'd beat him hands down and I did.'
'You won a lot of money?'
'He plays too wildly. He started off quite cool, but he went to pieces towards the end.'
Poor Chris, she thought, shuddering.
'I took him apart,' said Luc, his voice silky.
'Don't,' Lissa whispered through trembling lips. Tears pricked at her eyes and a salty taste filled her mouth.
'Tears for Brandon?' Luc asked in a hard, sarcastic voice, 'If you'd stayed you would have shed them for yourself.'
Huskily, Lissa said: 'Whatever he's done…'
'You still love him? I gathered that last night,' Luc bit out. 'Why didn't you stay with him, then?' He didn't wait for her to answer, his voice flaying her, cold and tipped with steel. 'I'll tell you why, shall I? You knew damned well I was right about him and you ran because you knew that sort of life wasn't what you wanted. But you still hanker for him, don't you? I realised that when you kissed him last night.'
Lissa stared, her face distraught, tears on her lashes.
Luc smiled at her icily. 'Very touching scene it was, too. I thought at the time it meant you'd decided to stay with him. He was purring like a stroked cat after you'd gone, grinning at me triumphantly.' His mouth twisted. ' Brandon knew we were playing for more than money, and after you kissed him he thought he'd already won. He couldn't keep his mind on the game after that-he was sweating to get to you. You may not have meant to, but you were helping me.'
Lissa shivered. She had gone in there like Judas to give Chris the kiss of betrayal, hut Luc was looking at her with icy distaste and she knew he would not believe her if she told him why she had gone to the gambling rooms.
'It must have been a hard decision to make,' Luc remarked in that chilly voice. 'Poor Lissa!'
She drank some of the coffee, her head bent, not even trying to answer.
When she felt able to speak quite steadily she asked: 'Where are we going?'
'Does it matter? England, eventually. But I'm in no hurry.' Luc crossed to the door and opened it. He looked back at her, his smile malicious. 'I intend to enjoy the voyage.'
He went out and the door snapped shut. Lissa stared at it, her body trembling. Luc had not needed to expand on that cryptic little remark; his narrowed eyes had enforced it.
She had had a choice to make, and she had chosen on driven impulse, but when she contemplated what might lie ahead of her, her stomach turned over in humiliation and shame.
There was nowhere for her to run to-she was imprisoned on a yacht with a blue ocean around her and no choice but to submit to whatever Luc demanded.
The inevitability of her own submission was not the worst thing preying on her mind. It was the shameful truth that Luc wouldn't even need to use force. He could take her, whenever he chose, because she wouldn't even put up a fight. The thought of belonging to Chris had finally become intolerable to her. His lovemaking had always alarmed and disturbed her, but even the contemplation of Luc's lovemaking could send waves of weakening heat around her whole body.