“And am I to have no say in the matter?” Danny retorted bitterly, her cheeks flushing at his authoritative tone.
“No, none at all,” he replied with a grin, gathering her still closer to him and gently swaying to the music. “I’m not sure I would like what you would have to say.” His voice dropped, and the telltale tic at his temple pulsated in time with her heartbeat. “Would I?”
“Perhaps not,” she admitted. “But who says you should be the one to get what he wants? What about me? I really do want to go to bed.”
“Well, I’m happy to take that option, if you insist,” he chuckled, nuzzling into her hair.
“I don’t,” Danny cried horrified, as much by the rush of blood to her groin as the impertinence of his words. She tried to twist away, but his arms were an inescapable barrier.
Unwilling to make a scene, Danny stopped trying to break free, but she could feel the warm tang of salt water filling her eyes. Her resistance to him, as she knew it would, was already threatening to crumble.
She could feel herself stirring treacherously in response to his strong, male frame pressed up against her soft, feminine one, and the easy strength with which he held her captive in his arms. His breath in her hair was intoxicating, and the magnetism of his stare a trap in which once she was entangled, she would not be able to escape but would have to wait to be released.
“No,” she cried in rising panic, twisting violently against his grip like an ensnared animal willing to break off its own limb to escape. “Please, let me go.”
“Okay,” he relented, his eyes darkening with the shadow of concern at her terror. He withdrew his arm from around her waist but kept her hand in his.
“I’ll let you go, but only on condition you agree to talk with me for a little while before you run off into the night. You must let me explain.” His voice was gruffer. “Let’s find somewhere a little more private.”
“No,” she began as he started off the dance floor and headed for the path leading through a clump of trees and out to the meadows beyond. “Please, just let me go.”
“I’m sorry, sweet girl, I can’t do that until you’ve heard me out. I promise you; you’ll be quite safe.” There was a note of rigid determination in his voice which Danny couldn’t ignore. Resistance would be pointless, she knew. She would allow him a few minutes and then get away from him forever.
Without speaking again, he hurried her into the darkness of the small copse, stopping in a clearing lit by moonbeams cascading from the sky and coating the leaves with silver.
As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Danny could clearly see the man standing opposite her. Her heart ached, confronted by his dazzling physical beauty and the overwhelming understanding of why he was currently the country’s most attractive and desirable man. So what was he doing here with a nobody like her? The only reason she could think was that it offended his ego for her not to be a fan, and he wanted to change that for the sake of his vanity.
“Well?” she asked icily as he made no move to speak.
While so many women would practically have sold their souls to be under the moon and stars with him on this balmy, summer night made for love, she simply wanted to escape as quickly as possible.
Perhaps she could have him for one night if she wanted, notwithstanding the presence of Vivienne, but Danny had not waited so long for love to throw it away on a sordid one-night stand with a television personality who would probably not even remember her name in the morning.
“Well, indeed,” he chuckled ruefully, ruffling his hand through his thick hair, then stuffing both hands into the pockets of his trousers. He bent his head and observed her from under his dark lashes. “Look, Danny, I know we didn’t get off to a good start. And I’m sorry I lied to you, but can’t we just forget that and start afresh?”
“As we shall both be leaving tomorrow and then never see each other again, there seems little point in restarting something which is already finished.” Danny underlined her words with a small shrug of her shoulders.
“Why must it be?” There was a new husky urgency in his voice.
“What?” she asked unsteadily turning away from him no longer able to bear the flutterings which trembled through her as she looked at him.
He moved closer, taking his hands out of his pockets and turning her gently so she couldn’t avoid the penetrating command of his eyes.
“Why must we end our… friendship,” he stumbled, searching for an appropriate word, “when it hasn’t even properly begun?”
Danny felt her hands clench into tight little balls at the effort of maintaining her features in a mask of unconcern. How could he be so cruel as to torment her in this way just to satisfy his own ego?
“Friendship?” she mocked him bitterly. “That’s a bit strong, don’t you think?”
“Ouch.” Brandon winced dramatically, then grinned a little more ruefully than usual. “Maybe, but whose fault is that? I’m trying, but really—” He sounded exasperated and, as his hands tightened on her shoulders, Danny wondered for a moment if he was going to shake her. “You’re not exactly making it easy, are you? You were much friendlier when you thought I was Jones.”
The memory of last night in the stables and the ride this morning and oh, the lake! A hot rush of embarrassed anger coursed through her. Throwing his hands off her, she felt the shame and humiliation rising in her like disgusting tasting bile. How dare he torment her in this way.
“That was before I knew who you were!” she spat. “When I thought you were a normal person and trusted you.”
He laughed, but behind the humour she sensed a harsher edge.
“And now you’ve discovered I’m not a ‘normal’ person?”
He didn’t have to mention the strange and brazen play between them at the lake; the emphasis on ‘normal’ made his meaning all too clear. Just for a second, Danny wondered if it was possible that he, too, felt vulnerable, that he had exposed a hidden self to her.
“You know what I mean,” she stammered turning her back on him. But again he quickly positioned himself in front of her, corralling her in his den, forcing her to look at him.
She tried to look away, afraid of being sucked into the vortex of those eyes, afraid all reason would be lost to her and she would be at his mercy again as she had been earlier that day.
“Maybe you didn’t know my real name, or what I do for a living, but we recognised each other straight away, didn’t we?” He paused, but she didn’t answer. “I knew you were a brave, strong, independent woman more than capable of taking care of herself, but,” his voice deepened, “I also knew that what you want is to be wrapped in the arms of a man who will cherish you, protect you, and help and encourage you to be all you can be. I am that man. I recognised you the moment I laid eyes on you.”
“That’s more than I did you,” Danny snapped.
He laughed.
“Well I’m glad you didn’t know anything about me but what you chose to assume. It meant I got to see the real you, not who you are like this, reacting to my fame. You were sweet and vulnerable. Shy, but wanting and willing to place yourself in my hands. Because you did recognise me. Not as some silly made up persona, but as the man who can satisfy your secret desire.”
As he was speaking, he took the one tiny step that separated them. Mesmerised by his soft words and frank gaze in which she could see his truth, his power and his passion, her body softened as if he were sucking out her very will. She leaned heavily against him, allowing his strong arms to support her.
“Tell me,” he urged. “Why do you think that because I’m an actor, because I’m well-known through being on television, that I’m incapable of ordinary feelings?”
“Did I say that?” she asked curtly.
“Not in so many words, but it’s what you think, isn’t it?”
Indeed it was, she thought, but unable to acknowledge it, she just shrugged. She didn’t want to admit that she couldn’t see why a national idol who could have, and prob
ably had had, hundreds of gorgeous women would want more from her than passing amusement.
He slipped his arms around her waist and she felt the disconcerting and unstoppable tingling run down her arms and up her legs, converging in the middle creating a hot ache which left her struggling for air. Did he expect her to believe he was suffering a similarly unwelcome reaction to her?
“Don’t you think you are making a bit too much of this?” she asked in a voice which she noted with dismay was rather too breathless. “Why are you assuming this has anything to do with your exalted position?” Her voice was heavy with sarcasm. “Perhaps I just don’t find you as irresistible as you think I should.”
“No, I don’t think that’s it.” He spoke so softly she could barely hear him. “If it was,” he moved one hand and laid it gently on her cheek, “I wouldn’t feel you tremble when I touch you, like you are doing now, like you did in the kitchen earlier. And if we hadn’t been interrupted then, I should have kissed you, and you wanted me to, didn’t you, my sweet?”
As he spoke, low, hypnotic, seductive, his hand continued to gently caress her face, and she felt herself once more slipping dangerously under his control, but the reference to Vivienne jolted her back to reality.
“Vivienne! My God! What are we doing? What are you doing?” she demanded accusingly.
“I’m stroking your exceedingly beautiful face and wondering why I don’t just kiss you this minute. I’ve been wanting to all night,” he murmured, ignoring her meaning.
Speechless with indignation and confusion, she tried to move away from him, but he stopped her.
“Where are you going?” he demanded.
“Away from you,” she retorted, silvery sprays of moonlight glinting off the anger flashing in her eyes. “Have you any idea how embarrassed I was when Vivienne walked in on us in the kitchen? Or how ashamed I am of myself? I don’t care who you are, Brandon Carlisle, but I am not the other woman!”
“Is that what’s bothering you?” He laughed with relief.
“I don’t see what’s so funny,” she snapped. “You may think that sleeping around with all and sundry, and infidelity are an acceptable part of a modern superstar’s lifestyle, but I find them as tasteless and immoral as they have always been.”
“Just an old-fashioned girl, eh?” This time Danny could see the whiteness of his teeth as he laughed out loud, but as she turned away in disgust, he caught hold of her.
“Don’t,” he ordered, as his smile faded, his eyes swept hungrily over her, and his mouth twisted wryly as though he found the sight of her painful. “God, Danny,” he groaned. “Do you have any idea how hard it is for me to find a woman like you? Don’t you think I get tired of all the hypocrisy and shallow flattery, and all the women who demean themselves in their efforts to try and sleep with me?”
“I… I… I don’t know,” Danny stammered unable to withstand the intensity of his appraisal and depth of emotion in his voice.
“But, Vivienne,” she stammered again. Raising her eyes to his, she silently begged him to explain.
“You may find this difficult to believe,” he began sardonically, “but I really don’t enjoy having to continually fend off women.”
Danny snorted to show just how much difficulty she had believing him, but with only a quick curl of his lip in response he continued, “I’ve known Vivienne for years, and at one stage we were close.” He paused, shrugged resignedly and looked squarely back at her. “But that was a long while ago,” he continued hurriedly seeing her look of triumph. “Now it’s just a business arrangement.”
Her eyes widened in deliberately exaggerated irony. “That’s what you call it, is it? Really, Brandon?” Her expression was hard. “I may be young and lack your experience, but I’m not a fool.”
“Believe me, sweet girl,” his voice was earnest. “I don’t think for a moment you are. You are as smart as you are beautiful, and that just makes you even more desirable.”
Danny glanced at him quickly, expecting to read irony in his expression, but found herself blushing with pleasure at his praise when she encountered only sincerity. He met her scrutiny unflinchingly and when he was satisfied she was reassured, he gently brushed back a curl which had intruded across her cheek.
“I don’t think you are a fool,” he reiterated gently, “and I’m being completely honest when I say there hasn’t been anything sexual between us for a long time.”
The word sexual coming from his lips sent tiny heat barbs zinging through her, and she bit her lip to stop it trembling as she realised he was again only too aware of her reaction.
“Then why?” she asked still confused.
“It’s just a mutually beneficial agreement we have. She protects me from unwanted attention by playing the part of my fiancée, and in return she gets to hobnob with the film and television crowd.” He shrugged offhandedly. “Don’t ask me why but she actually revels in being hounded and photographed by the press.”
Deep inside, Danny had felt a flicker of hope spring to life with Brandon’s words. Was he telling the truth? Was he free? But even as she considered this possibility, a chilling memory threatened to dowse the tiny flame of promise.
“Why was she so angry when she came into the kitchen then?”
Instantly his face darkened as she reminded him of the recent scene between him and Vivienne.
“She had no right or reason to be. That was just rude and embarrassing,” he replied through compressed lips. “But I have spoken to her and it won’t happen again.” A tiny shiver rippled through Danny as she was reminded of the danger of going against this man.
The little flame of hope warming her insides grew a little stronger, but there was still his deceit. She hung back.
“What is it, Danny?” he demanded gently.
“You lied to me,” she said simply. “And you took advantage of me and humiliated me because I didn’t know who you really were.”
She could see his jaw working as he pulled her roughly against him, held her close and talked with his mouth against her hair.
“I would have told you.” He pulled back slightly and looked into her face. “But then you said how much you detested poor old Brandon Carlisle and all his phony acting colleagues. What was I supposed to do? I wanted to spend some time with you. I thought if you got to know me, you’d change your mind about what an arrogant oaf I am.”
“You should have said,” she said sullenly.
“Why?” he demanded. “It wasn’t necessary. We recognised each other immediately. Don’t deny it,” he added swiftly as she opened her mouth. “We may not have known each other’s names, or how we earned our livings, or what school we went to, but I knew immediately that you were who I’ve been searching for, and you felt the same.”
“Love at first sight,” she mocked him through chattering teeth.
“Yes,” he nodded grimly. “If you will.”
“But I thought you were Jones,” Danny wailed. “Not Brandon Carlisle.”
“Names don’t matter,” he dismissed her complaint. “You do know who I am. You knew straight away.”
She wrinkled her nose in confusion. “I know now.”
“Yes, you know, don’t you?” he demanded. “You know who I really am? You know I am the man to whom you will willingly surrender, the man you will obey, the man who will possess you totally, the man you were born to be with.”
Her eyes opened wide, like portholes through which he could see the depths of her soul, and her breath caught in her throat.
“And I know who you are. You are the woman I will own totally, the woman I will cherish more than life itself, the woman I will protect, the woman I will discipline firmly but kindly should it be necessary, the woman I will love. You know that, don’t you?” he pressed her. “Say it. Say yes, I know.”
The sensuality of his voice, the insistent rhythm of his words, and the shocking, exhilarating, profoundly erotic promise in them sapped her strength. Too weak to drag her eyes from his, her a
rms twitched nervously, her breasts bobbed against him, and her body trembled feverishly as she wrestled with the conflicting desires raging within her. On one hand to free herself from the dangerous thrill of being in his arms and on the other to free-fall into the heady, unexplored void of physical passion.
But so intoxicated by the scent and force of him was she that she couldn’t think; she would have to get out of his arms to clear her head, and that she no longer wanted to do.
“Yes,” she breathed. “Yes, I know.”
She’d surrendered to him again, melting against his hand’s hypnotic caresses.
“So,” he spoke thickly, tipping his finger under her chin and tilting her face up. “Apart from being a conceited oaf, an arrogant womaniser, a two-timer and a master of deception and seduction, are there any other charges you’ve laid against me that I need to clear myself of?”
Embarrassed, she tried to pull back. “I hardly think you can blame me,” she began.
“Sweet Danny,” he murmured raising her hand to his mouth then brushing it with his lips causing the hairs on her arm to immediately bristle atop their little goose bumps. “I don’t blame you at all. I did play a bit of a trick on you. But look at it from my side. I don’t mean to be conceited, but it was so refreshing to meet a beautiful woman who apparently didn’t recognise me from television and yet still didn’t find me altogether repulsive.”
Danny stifled a fit of giggles at the inadequacy of his description. Surely, whether he was on television or not, there would scarcely be a woman in the world who would not find the man standing in front of her deliciously sexy.
“So,” he gently squeezed her hand. “Have we sorted all that? Am I forgiven?”
“Forgiven?” Danny stammered, momentarily unable to think clearly as her mind and senses were overcome by his words and his nearness. “For what?”
“For not being Jones. For not revealing my true identity. For being on television. For having too high an opinion of myself.” He shrugged without guile and her heart surged at his honesty. “For whatever it was that made you so angry with me.”
Danny’s Secret Desire Page 12
