'Much, thank you.'
'You've never done any sailing before?'
'Only a little around the island.'
'I'm afraid it will get rougher as we move further into the Atlantic,' he warned her.
'So Dandy said.'
There was a pause, then he asked drily: 'What's the matter, Lissa?'
'Nothing.' She did not look round, keeping her eyes fixed on the rise and fall of the grey waters into which they were moving. From the look of the flat horizon Dandy was right-bad weather was waiting for them.
She felt Luc's hand at her waist. His fingers stroked slowly up her back and she stiffened. 'Don't do that!'
He ran that exploring hand along her body, ignoring the muffled protest. She swung, stepping away from him. Her green eyes flared at him angrily. 'If you don't leave me alone I'll chuck myself over the side!'
Luc's smile went. He considered her unreadably, his eyes cool. 'Don't make idle threats.'
'I mean it. If you don't keep your hands to yourself from now on I'll jump overboard.'
'Then from now on you'll only be allowed on deck when I'm with you,' Luc bit out coldly. His face was hard, his eyes like blue steel. 'If you're going to make childish threats you must be treated like a child.'
'You can't make me stay below!' Lissa flung back the angry words and the wind whipped them away across the water.
He smiled, a fierce twist of the mouth which had no humour in it. 'Just watch me.'
'You can't keep me locked up for ever,' she retorted. 'At the very first port we come to, I'll attract attention somehow. I'll scream and wave and break the porthole.'
'You won't get the chance, sweetheart,' he promised in a drawl. 'I'll see to that. I'll keep you far too occupied while we're in port to do a damn thing to attract anybody's attention but mine.'
Her face burned at the mockery in his eyes. There was a coldness beneath it which she hated, which made her situation so much worse, Luc intended to make love to her and his awareness of her inability to stop him, the cynical coolness of those blue eyes, made her veins run with ice.
'I must have been insane to imagine I could trust you,' she accused unsteadily. 'I should have known you'd make me pay dearly for any help you gave me.'
'You knew what I would expect,' he retorted, the lines of his face hardening.
'And it doesn't matter whether I want the same thing, I suppose,' Lissa flung at him, her voice brittle and hoarse.
His eyes narrowed. 'You want me, Lissa. Stop lying to yourself.'
The way he watched her made her throat beat with fever. She moved, but he moved faster. He caught her, his hand tightening around her wrist in a vice-Iikc grip.
'Are you determined to annoy me? Because if so, you're on the way to succeeding, Lissa. You may have been able to play fast and loose with Brandon for months, but you aren't doing it to me.'
'I'm not playing anything,' she said angrily, looking at him with defiance. 'Can't you even begin to see it from my viewpoint?'
'You're not playing games with me!' he bit out.
'Why can't you leave me alone?' Lissa groaned, pulling away.
Luc's blue eyes hardened. He yanked her forward by her tethered hand and trapped her between his body and the rail. His other hand jerked back her head and he kissed her ruthlessly, the wind tangling their hair and leaving a salt bloom on their skin.
When at last Luc lifted his head he was breathing heavily. She was trembling, her lips bruised, and yielding. The fierce thud of Luc's heart beat next to hers.
She met his blue eyes without trying to avoid them. Her whole body was melting in the passion he had unleashed in her.
'You really get to me, Liss,' he muttered thickly.
His eyes were leaping with the desire she could feel in the hard, body pressing against her. It left Lissa so weak she could only just manage to breathe.
Luc straightened, moving away, his breathing slowing. 'You're here and you're staying,' he told her. 'And you're mine. It's too late for you to have second thoughts. If you're regretting Brandon I'm sorry-you made your choice and you must stick with it. I've got you and I'm not giving you up.'
Lissa stared at the deck, her face very flushed.
After a pause Luc said curtly: 'Come below. We'll have some coffee,'
'I feel sick,' she said.
Luc muttered a swear word under his breath. 'Very well,' he added harshly. 'You can go back to your own cabin and stay there.' He took her arm and thrust her back below, pushing her into her cabin with an anger he made no attempt to hide. 'Sulk there as much as you like,' he bit out as he slammed the door and locked it.
Dandy brought her a cup of tea some time later. She heard the key turn and swung, her eyes wary, relaxing as she saw that it was not Luc. Dandy gave her a quick look. She felt he could read the misery and fear in her face and hurriedly pulled herself together.
'Tea, princess,' he said, handing her a large bright yellow mug. She took it, murmuring a grateful word.
'That's my mug, princess,' he said, smiling.
'I'm honoured.'
'Not often I lend my mug to people,' he agreed. He sat down on the edge of her bunk and surveyed her. 'You look as if you need a good strong whisky rather than tea.'
'I don't drink,' she said, shaking her head.
His grin stretched from ear to ear. 'Something told me you might not-how old are you, ladybird?'
'Twenty.' His face tightened. 'Twenty,' he repeated, grimacing.
Lissa sipped her tea, not meeting his eyes. Dandy sighed. 'He's wild and sometimes he's reckless, but you can trust him,' he told her gently. 'I'd trust him to hell and back.'
'You're not a woman!'
Dandy laughed shortly. 'No. All the same, I've never known him hurt anybody if he could avoid it.'
Lissa remembered Luc's ruthless oppression of her body on deck earlier, the unleashed violence with which he had kissed her, and she didn't answer.
'He has a romantic streak,' Dandy went on slowly, it comes out in odd ways. When he gets bored with the city we take off like a bat out of hell and sail in search of excitement. Ever since he was a boy he's needed to find wider horizons. He generates a lot of adrenalin and he can't use enough of it in his work.'
'He does work?'
Dandy grinned, 'Like a dog for most of the year-a lot of people depend on him.
She swallowed. 'Is he married?'
'No,' Dandy said firmly, and she believed him.
Her body sagged in relief. She had been half afraid that Luc might well turn out to be married. 'What sort of work does he do?'
'Don't ask me,' said Dandy, shrugging. 'Tedious stuff in the City. I've never been involved in that side of his life. The wife and I run his home for him and when I'm not there, I'm on the boat. Luc keeps his own counsel. If he confides in me he's always very discreet.'
Lissa met his eyes wryly and knew that Luc had warned Dandy not to tell her anything. Dandy was lying when he said he didn't know anything about Luc's work.
He flushed slightly, getting up. 'I just wanted to tell you to trust him, princess. Luc doesn't like it when he isn't trusted. He has a lot of pride. Where his emotions are involved, he can be as stubborn as the devil.'
'Lucifer,' she said huskily.
Dandy laughed. 'That's what they call him-those who don't know him.'
'What about those who do know him?' Lissa asked with a painful little smile. 'What do they call him?'
Dandy laughed. 'I've called him every name under the sun,' he admitted, moving to the door. 'But I'd still trust him with my life.'
Would he trust Luc with his wife, though, Lissa thought, if his wife happened to be attractive? Dandy closed the door. She heard the key turn again. Whatever Dandy thought about Luc, he was still obeying his instructions. She had a strong idea that Dandy did not approve of the wry Luc was behaving, but he was doing as Luc ordered, all the same.
She read a paperback which she had found in the cabin. Time passed very slowly and the sea was getting rough, the wind howling around them as they battled their way through choppy seas.