Race For Revenge (Lynsey Stevens Romance)

by Stevens, Lynsey

  You’ll have to face him some time, reminded an inner voice. Yes, but not tonight. She wasn’t ready. She didn’t feel she had herself together enough for the encounter, for that was how she looked upon it, as an encounter. And she knew that undoubtedly Shiloh O’Rourke would be a formidable opponent in any altercation. So what if delaying the skirmish was cowardly? She couldn’t help that. Tonight she felt cowardly. Maybe tomorrow, next week, she would be ready. Ha! exclaimed that same inner voice, very reminiscent of her conscience.

  At that moment Dallas drove up and Danni closed her mind to the whole thing as she dashed down to greet him. She felt a small pang of compunction as his eyes lit up at her enthusiastic welcome, but she was determined to enjoy herself at the cabaret.

  It was well after midnight when Dallas delivered her home, and he was decidedly pleased with himself and the evening. Danni had been her usual cheerful self, shining in the large hall with the glow of enjoyment, and he had been justifiably proud to be sitting and dancing with her. That he had successfully deterred one or two other hopeful young men who gravitated in Danni’s direction only added to his self-satisfaction.

  He glanced sideways at her. To Dallas, Danni Mathieson was the epitome of his kind of girl. She was attractive, vivacious, and good-natured. She was a more accomplished driver than he could ever hope to be, and this filled him with the utmost admiration and not the slightest spark of envy.

  He noticed that she was a trifle subdued now that they were nearly home, but he put that down to tiredness. After all, they had danced every dance. He drew the car to a halt in front of Danni’s house, and her heart sank as he switched off the engine and pulled her towards him. Holding her gently in his arms, he kissed her lightly on the lips, almost as though he expected her to pull back.

  ‘It was a fantastic night, wasn’t it?’ he asked, keeping her lightly in the circle of his arms. ‘I haven’t had such a beaut evening in ages.’

  ‘Yes, it was very nice. Great fun,’ Danni replied, unconsciously comparing Dallas with Shiloh. She forcibly pushed from her mind the memories of the time she had spent in Shiloh’s arms in this very spot just eight days ago and the devastating effect he had had on her senses. She had to stop herself pushing Dallas’s hands away in revulsion and she remained stiffly guilty in his arms.

  ‘So are you very nice,’ murmured Dallas, moving closer. ‘I like your perfume.’ He put his lips to her temple.

  ‘Dallas, I’m rather tired and I have to go to work in the morning,’ she began, and he sighed.

  ‘Yes, I know. But you’re so beautiful, Danni,’ he pulled her close against his chest with more than his usual force. ‘Danni, you know how I feel about you.’

  Danni gently pushed a hand against him. ‘Please, Dallas. We’ve been through all that. I—’

  ‘I know, I know. Good friends.’ He grimaced and then moved reluctantly away. ‘But I’ll wear you down yet, you’ll see. I can wait.’

  ‘Dallas! We’ve discussed this and I can’t ask that of you.’

  Dallas sighed loudly. ‘I know all that. But it’s a free country, isn’t it? And you don’t know what you’re missing.’

  ‘I know. Thanks for understanding.’ Danni smiled, relieved. ‘And thanks for taking me to the cabaret tonight.’ She climbed out of the car and hurried along the path to the door, unconsciously expecting Shiloh to pounce from behind each bush.

  Dallas waited until she had the foyer light on before switching on his ignition and lights and making a U-turn in the street. He drove off with a quick beep of his horn.

  Danni barely heard it. Her breath had caught in her throat. Had that been a green sedan parked along the street on the opposite side of the road, caught for a split second in Dallas’s headlights? She peered into the darkness, but it was past the street light and she wasn’t able to decide whether she had imagined it or not. It was probably her imagination. She had only seen it because she had expected to see it.

  She hurried inside and locked the door, sliding the chain across, sighing thankfully. Why was she getting so uptight? There were plenty of green cars around and if there was a car parked in the street it didn’t have to be a Lotus. She was just being super-sensitive tonight. He would have been and gone.

  What had he thought when he arrived to find that she hadn’t waited for him? He would have been angry, to say the least, but after all, she had told him not to come. If he chose to ignore that then it was his own lookout. Well, it was done. There was no going back.

  Yawning sleepily, tired from her emotion-charged evening, Danni slipped into the bathroom for a quick shower. During the entire evening she had lived on her nerves, laughing and joking, dancing. To all outward appearances she had been having a ball. Little did everyone know that she was being driven by an urge to cover her guilty conscience, all the while living in dread of Shiloh walking into the middle of the cabaret and forcibly removing her, although she knew he would have no possible way of knowing she was there.

  Pushing thoughts of Shiloh O’Rourke to the back of her mind, she slipped a cool floral cotton nightdress over her head. It reached almost midway down her thighs and was held up by two thin straps tied on her shoulders. She was walking from the bathroom to her bedroom in her bare feet when a controlled knock on the front door nearly frightened her out of her wits. Her heart leapt into her mouth and she stood poised, unable to move.

  ‘Danni! Open the door, please.’ His voice came evenly through the wooden panels. ‘ I know you’re there. Open the door!’ he said a little louder.

  ‘It’s late. I’m— I’m going to bed,’ she began.

  ‘Danni, if you don’t open this door I’m going to break the bloody thing in,’ he said softly, in a tone more frightening for its quietness.

  ‘Please, Shiloh, go away. I don’t want to see you. You’ll wake the neighbours,’ she appealed to him.

  ‘One minute, Danni, then I bust the door. The noise will surely give the neighbours food for speculation for months. Please yourself. Do I come in quietly or with a flourish?’ he asked expressionlessly.

  ‘All right. Just a minute, I— I’m not dressed.’ She ran across the living-room and into her bedroom, grabbing an old cotton sweatshirt from her wardrobe. She slipped her arms through the sleeves of the sweatshirt and wrapped it around her as she pulled the door to behind her.

  She paused and took a steadying breath before moving slowly to the door. Checking that the chain was secure, she unlocked the catch and opened the door a couple of inches.

  He was standing on the landing, and in the shaft of light from inside that gleamed through the open door his appearance didn’t fill her with reassurance. He looked dishevelled. His shirt was unbuttoned and fell open at the neck and he had obviously been running his hands through his hair.

  But it was the rigidness in his stance and the intensity of the expression on his face that caused her to draw her breath in a quiver of fear. There was tension in every part of his body, in his long legs, thrust slightly apart, in the hands shoved into the pockets of his slacks and in the hard aggression of his jaw.

  ‘Please, go away, Shiloh. It’s late and I’m too tired to talk,’ Danni began in an attempt at firmness. Perhaps if she showed him she was unintimidated by him he would leave.

  ‘I know it’s late.’ His voice snapped out between his clenched teeth. ‘Believe me, I know just how late it is. I’ve been sitting in my car since eight o’clock and I know every damn minute that’s dragged past. I’m tired. I’m stiff. And I’m bloody thirsty, so for a start, you could offer me a drink.’

  ‘I’ll— I’ll get you a glass of water.’ Danni went to close the door.

  ‘Danni, if you don’t open that door—’ He raised his voice and his eyes flashed in the darkness, yellow and tawny, like a tiger stalking in the night. ‘And don’t think that paltry little chain will stop me. Those things are designed to keep hones
t people out.’

  ‘Oh, all right. Keep your voice down.’ She slid the chain off its hook and opened the door. ‘But you’ll have to go when you’ve had your drink. I was just about to go to bed.’

  His eyes moved over her old sweatshirt that didn’t quite cover her nightdress, his look causing her mouth to dry and her heartbeats to falter, before he strode past her into the hall and through to the living-room.

  ‘What would you like to drink?’ she asked, moving to a small bar in the corner of the room. ‘There’s not much variety, I’m afraid. Pop and I, we don’t drink much.’

  ‘Scotch?’

  She nodded and poured him a small measure. ‘Do you want anything with it?’

  Shiloh shook his head and disposed of the drink in one gulp. ‘Aren’t you going to join me in another?’ he asked, setting the glass near the bottle, as he raised one fair eyebrow.

  ‘No. No, thanks.’ Danni poured him another smaller measure and pointedly put the bottle away.

  He grimaced, and taking the glass, strode across the living-room and stood with his back to her, examining a framed print on the wall.

  Danni remained behind the bar, feeling the need to keep something solid between them.

  ‘I came here straight from the airport. Needless to say I was decidedly angry to find you were absent,’ he said quietly, his back still to her.

  ‘Well, I’m sorry you came along for nothing, but I did warn you I’d be out,’ she replied defiantly. There was a brief silence.

  ‘Who was the guy who so gallantly escorted you home and bade you such a romantic goodnight?’ he asked sarcastically.

  ‘It was Dallas Byrne, a good friend of mine,’ Danni retorted, feeling inexplicably guilty and subsequently angry. ‘Although I don’t know that it’s any business of yours.’

  He pivoted on his heel, downing the remainder of his Scotch and walking across towards her. Danni’s heart fluttered like a trapped bird, but he just set his empty glass deliberately on the bar top and, resting his hands there, leant easily on them, smiling humourlessly.

  ‘Ah, yes, the redoubtable Dallas Byrne,’ he said drily. ‘Your mechanic, I believe.’

  ‘Yes, he is. And a very good one, too. Just about the best.’ She lifted her chin.

  ‘He seemed to enjoy a lengthy goodnight. Is he as good at making love as he is with cars?’ he asked levelly, his eyes burning into hers.

  Danni stared at him, her blue eyes wide, locked in his mocking stare, and she was almost hypnotised by the sparkling brightness of his cat’s eyes. He was playing with her before he pounced, just like a predatory cat.

  She forced her lips to move. ‘Dallas is a friend. That’s all you need to know. How intimate our friendship is, is a private thing between Dallas and myself. ‘ For a split second she thought she had gone too far, but Shiloh remained where he was, his knuckles growing white on the bar top.

  ‘No matter,’ he bit off, turning away abruptly and thrusting his hands deep into his pockets. ‘We’ll leave it, for the moment. May I ask you why you felt you had to evade me this evening? I mean, I suppose you do have a reason. When I left last week I went with the apparently mistaken impression that you could barely wait until I returned.’ He swung around again to face her. ‘Now, Danni, how could I have been so wrong?’ he asked with sarcasm.

  She watched him, suddenly frightened by his steely control. She was trapped behind the bar and at his mercy. Slowly, carefully, she moved from behind the bench top and stood by the opening. At least from there she could make a dash for the door.

  All at once he was unfamiliar to her, a stranger, a cold quiet stranger. His fair good looks, his dancing eyes, that smiling mouth, they were all gone. In their place were features etched in steel, eyes brightly cold, long face tightly covering a suppressed anger, almost frustration. And his mouth, a mouth that had once moved so devastatingly on her in gentleness and burning, reciprocated mounting passion, was now thin and cold, clamped in tight control.

  He was still waiting for an answer to his question and she nervously shrugged her shoulders, striving to hold on to the slim thread of her own control. ‘You— You must have misunderstood,’ she said, not meeting his eyes.

  ‘Oh, I see. I misunderstood. How simple.’ He paced about the living-room like a caged tiger. ‘Tell me, do you indulge yourself in these passion-packed interludes very often?’

  ‘It’s a modern world.’ She tried to laugh and didn’t quite pull it off.

  Shiloh’s eyes raked her still form and she lifted her chin to bolster her courage which was slipping away from her with every passing moment.

  He paced about a little more. ‘This Dallas Byrne, I guess he’s fairly familiar with the racing scene? And I suppose,’ he turned to watch her expression carefully, ‘he’s also familiar with my illustrious career?’

  Danni’s face suffused with colour and he made a sound as though he had expelled a breath he had been holding inside for some time.

  ‘I suspected as much,’ he said flatly. ‘Nathan said he didn’t tell you, so it had to be Dallas Byrne or your father.’

  ‘Why didn’t you tell me yourself?’ The question burst from Danni before she could hold it back.

  The anger that had held him rigid before seemed to have drained out of him and all that remained was a cold cynicism that twisted in a vulnerable spot somewhere deep inside Danni’s heart. But she steeled herself against it. She reminded herself that, in all probability, he had been responsible for the death of her brother, her own flesh and blood, and a lethal anger kindled within her. It burned, wanting to erupt and cascade her hurt upon him.

  ‘Could you see me dropping it all into the conversation as we sat over dinner?’ he asked flatly. ‘Oh, by the way, I was somewhat involved in the accident that killed your brother. More wine?’ he mimicked bitterly.

  Danni flinched. She wanted to spring on him, flay him with her hands, her fingernails, relieve some of her pent up frustrations, her desire for revenge, her anger, her uncertainties about the whole thing. But she stood as stiffly as he did and watched his face. ‘And did you kill my brother?’

  CHAPTER SIX

  The look on Shiloh’s face made her catch her breath, but she stood her ground as he strode across until he was standing right in front of her, his hands clenched at his sides.

  ‘I’ve faced one official enquiry, been proved innocent. I’ve faced a hundred, a thousand, other personal enquiries since then and I have been found guilty without a shred of concrete evidence to point to my guilt. All in all, I’m heartily sick and tired of putting my case to the people. Not that those people count.’

  In his eyes Danni thought she caught a flash of pain, but it was gone before she could be certain. ‘There are winners and there are losers, Danni, and it was your brother’s turn to lose. I survived and I’m going to go on surviving.’

  ‘Until your turn comes around? That’s very impressive. But you still haven’t answered my question. Were you responsible?’ Danni felt an outward calmness while her heartbeat echoed so loudly in her head she thought he must hear them.

  Suddenly his control snapped. His strong fingers bit into the flesh of her bare arms and he shook her until she was dizzy and cried out at the pain he was inflicting. ‘God, I could so easily squeeze the life out of you without any compunction,’ he said hoarsely, his eyes burning as his hands moved to circle her throat.

  Hot tears spilled over her lashes and coursed down her cheeks.

  ‘And you can cut the feminine tears,’ he added cruelly, ‘because the way I feel at the moment nothing is going to appeal to my better nature.’

  His hands hauled her against him and his lips closed over hers in fierce, almost desperate possession, grinding her lips against her teeth until she tasted her own blood. She was powerless to move from his punishing hold and with a stab of panic she realised his anger had given way to despera
te driving passion and she began to struggle against his vice-like grip. She wrenched her head to the side, away from his punishing mouth. His lips surrendered hers, only to slide downward to the base of her throat, to plunder there.

  She could feel Shiloh trembling and her fear intensified. Her sweatshirt slipped from her shoulders, fell to the floor, and his hands seared through the thin material of her nightdress. Realising she was no match for his superior strength, in desperation she trod sharply on his foot and pushed herself backwards with all the power she could muster.

  Shiloh gasped in shock more than pain, but his hold only slackened slightly so that they overbalanced, still locked together. At the last minute Shiloh instinctively put out his hand to save them as they fell against the door of Danni’s bedroom. His hand hit the door with some force and would most probably have stopped their fall but for the fact that the door was not closed properly, and it swung open under the impact of the weight of their bodies to burst back against the wall with a resounding crash.

  The door only momentarily impeded their fall and Shiloh spun himself around to cushion Danni’s body so that she would land on top of him. They came up against Danni’s bed with a thud and Shiloh’s gasp of pain seemed to echo about the walls of Danni’s room.

  They had fallen in an untidy heap on the bed and Danni quickly struggled to her feet, expecting Shiloh’s arms to reach for her again, but she stood alone beside the bed, her breast heaving. With shaking hands she clutched the strap of her nightdress which had snapped in their fall. She became aware that Shiloh’s breathing was laboured with pain and that he hadn’t moved from where he had fallen. She felt for the switch of her reading lamp at the top of her bed-head and flicked the lamp on.

  What she saw filled her with horror. Even in the dim circle of light she could see that his face was deathly grey and that beads of perspiration glistened on his brow. He was lying stiffly, dragging breaths in the shallow careful gasps of someone who has experienced excruciating pain, pain that causes the terror of its pending return.