‘Come down, dammit,’ he said, the amusement gone from his voice. ‘You’re not strong enough to make that climb.’
‘Why are you still here…?’
She heard him swear. But she ignored him some more, still struggling, still straining. Her panic increasing—and almost managing to obliterate her fury with him.Almost.
She couldn’t go back, she just couldn’t. All her planning had been geared towards tonight.
But then a hand clamped on her ankle. ‘Get down, before you fall down and hurt yourself.’
She kicked out, to force him to let go of her ankle, but her hands lost their grip on the rope, and suddenly she was falling backwards.
He caught her as they tumbled backwards together into the snow.
His muffled grunt registered under her yelp as she landed on top of him, in a heap of legs and arms and injured pride. It took her a moment to gather her shattered wits about her, the feel of his hard body cradling hers not helping. His breath brushed her frozen cheek, triggering more humiliating sensations.
But then she got a clue.
This was Theo Caras. Her enemy. Just like every man who wanted to use her for his own stupid scheme.
She tried to scramble off his lap, but his arms clamped around her waist like steel bands, holding her in place. The headlamp of his bike illuminated them both… Would it bevisible through the trees? What if the security detail came to investigate?
‘Release me, you bastard.’
‘Calm down. What the hell is wrong with you…?’ he whispered in her ear.
‘I’ve got to get over that wall,’ she snapped back, suddenly not caring if he knew how desperate she was. Why did it matter any more? Nothing mattered now except getting away. Tonight.
‘Why do you need to get over the wall?’ he asked, still with a death grip on her midriff.
She swung round to stare at his handsome face, which was far too close.
Even in the stark light from the headlamp, with his glossy hair damp from the snow and a frown furrowing his brow, he looked… Striking. Breathtaking.The bastard. Although maybe her breathlessness was the six-foot tumble she’d just taken off the wall, thanks to him. She certainly hoped so.
‘Because my father is about to make me marry a man I don’t love,’ she whispered furiously, looking back at the wall and grabbing his hands and trying to dislodge them.
‘You don’twantto marry Faron?’ he asked, having the gall to sound incredulous, as his grip loosened.
Her head jerked around, her fury tempered with disbelief.
‘Of course I don’t want to marry him. He’s a hundred years old, all he talks about is finance and I barely know him. And anyway, I told you, I don’t intend to marry any man.’
The smile that split his features was so fierce and so unexpected, it was her turn to gape. Then he started to laugh.
She huffed and struggled to get free of him again, getting angrier by the second… What was so funny? This was her life, her future. But then his arms tugged her closer and he buried his face in her hair.
‘Quit wriggling,’ he murmured, the gruff approval in his tone surprising her. ‘I’ll help you escape. And without you having to kill yourself getting over that wall.’
She stopped struggling. But when he let her go, then bounded to his feet and offered her his hand, she refused to accept it.
She clambered up on her own, slapping her hands on her hips as he strolled to the bike and lifted the helmet off the handlebars.
‘Put this on,’ he said, offering it to her.
She folded her arms over her chest. ‘Why on earth would I trust you?’
She doubted Theo Caras ever did anything without an ulterior motive. And she didn’t want to go with him… Did she? This was her chance to be independent, to strike out on her own, to be her own woman, not to rely on any man… Least of all a man who had helped make everything worse for her in the past three months. And who had that weird effect on her body that she was unable to control, even now, even knowing how damned infuriating he was.
Because her nipples were like bullets, and her breathing so ragged her lungs were starting to hurt—as well as her bruised ribs.
