Page 13 of His Last Gamble

CHAPTER FOUR

The moment her lips touched his, Charmaine knew she was in trouble. Deep trouble.

A sigh broke from her, was taken up by Payne, and suddenly the air was molten! She felt his tongue push her lips apart and he raised one hand to cup the back of her head, capturing her in a dominant embrace, as if afraid she might pull away. Liquid heat surged into her body as their lips fused. She moaned and felt her legs tremble beneath her, threatening to give way and dump her ignominiously into the sand.

As if he was aware of her sudden weakness, she felt his other arm come around her waist, pulling her towards him, trapping her against the rock-solid length of his body. One of the poles was ripped out of the sand, letting the sheet fall to the ground and enabling him to pull her even more closely into his embrace.

Her nipples flared into tingling life as they were crushed against his hard masculine chest. She clung to him as the kiss deepened and deepened, threatening to drag her down into a whirlpool of sensation.

Stop it! Stop it!A little voice of sheer panic suddenly piped up in the back of her head. Isn’t this exactly what must have happened to Lucy? This mad desire to give herself over to the man, regardless of the consequences? Hadn’t this wonderful folly been the start of all her sister’s heartache?

Wrenching her head painfully free of his hand and dragging her lips from his in an act of sheer hard-won willpower, she managed to take a step backwards. This made him stagger forwards before his superb sense of balance reasserted itself.

His eyes, which had been closed, suddenly snapped open to gaze at her, their grey stormy depths looking both heart-wrenchingly drugged and yet puzzled.

‘What’s wrong?’ he murmured softly, a small smile playing with his hard, cruel mouth. ‘Don’t try and tell me you didn’t like it.’

Charmaine dragged in a breath, then another, unaware that it made her breasts heave beneath the inadequate covering of the swimsuit. Unconsciously, she rubbed the back of her hand across her mouth, trying in vain to wipe away the residue of his kiss but succeeding only in making his eyes flash a warning, his irises the cold steel colour of a rapier.

But she didn’t notice his hurt anger as she shook her head helplessly from side to side.

No, this mustn’t happen to her. Not now. Not with this man, of all men.

‘No,’ she said out loud, unaware she’d voiced her fears into actual words.

‘No?’ Payne said harshly, the sleepy, amused look fading completely from his eyes. ‘No?’ he repeated softly, dangerously. ‘Then perhaps, if kissing disgusts you so much,’ he grated, ‘you shouldn’t go around kissing men willy nilly. It tends to give us the wrong idea.’

And with that he gave her a crooked, sardonic smile and walked away.

It wrenched at her heart to see him go, which in turn, made her go cold with fear. What kind of a hold did he have over her? And how had it happened? Because only people you cared about could hurt you like that.

Charmaine clutched the fallen sheet closer to her and looked around wildly, but fortunately, everyone was concentrating on the photo shoot.

All except for Jinx, who looked daggers at her.

* * *

The hotel boasted a small garden, but at two o’clock that afternoon, with the sun at its hottest, everybody was either swimming in the coolness of the sea, or taking a much-needed siesta.

However, Charmaine, who was too restless to sleep after the trials and tribulations of that morning’s session, drifted about the flowerbeds, redolent with hibiscus and jasmine, and slowly meandered towards the big hedge bordering the Palace, with its promise of shade and cool grass. There she sank down onto the lawn with a weary sigh, and leant against the coolness of the green foliage with a worried expression troubling her lovely face.

How had things disintegrated so far, and how was she ever going to salvage them? Payne Lacey must think she was positively insane! First she kisses him, then she reacts like a wronged maiden in a Gothic romance. And if the withering look he’d given her before he’d stormed off had been any indication, he was going to give her a very wide berth from now on.

After all, it wasn’t as if he didn’t have his pick of beautiful women with which to console himself. Jinx, for one, was on the lookout for a new lover. Even Charmaine could read the signs that said as much! She sighed again, then started as she heard his voice. It was as if thinking about him had conjured him up from the ether, and she tensed, instinctively wanting to run, until she told herself not to be so silly. He was obviously working in his precious gardens next door, and couldn’t possibly see her. The hedge was far too thick.

‘I don’t care. I don’t like being made a fool of.’ He sounded angry, and she wondered, grimly, if he was rehearsing what he might want to say to her the next time they met.

But the voice that answered him was definitely male and, what’s more, placatory.

‘I know, I know, I’ve said I’m sorry. I never thought the gossip would spread so far.’

‘Oh come on, you know how the jungle drums work on this island.’

‘Sorry. Look, it got out of hand.’

‘I’ll say!’ Payne gritted, and behind the covering screen of leaves, Charmaine winced in sympathy for whoever was feeling the edge of his tongue. Payne Lacey in a temper must be a frightening sight.

‘Next time, don’t drag me into your affairs.’

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