Page 23 of His Last Gamble

CHAPTER SIX

Still smarting at the way he’d so high-handedly treated her over the poisonous fruit, Charmaine fumed silently as he led her from the gardens and out onto the road, where a low-slung bottle-green Lamborghini was parked.

‘Don’t tell me. You won this playing poker from an oil tycoon in Texas,’ she said ever-so-sweetly, as he opened the door for her. She climbed in, acutely aware of the appreciative glance he was giving her long, bare legs.

‘Of course not,’ he said softly, closing the door, then leaning down to smile into her eyes. ‘I was playing dice in a New York alleyway with a rather dissolute rock and roll star who was rather the worse for drink.’

Charmaine’s lips twitched. Really, the man was impossible. And she didn’t believe him for an instant.

‘I refuse to believe you would take advantage of someone when they were incapacitated,’ she said firmly as he folded his long length behind the wheel.

The car, which was already low slung, suddenly became very cramped as he reached forward to turn on the ignition, and when he reached down to put the car in gear, his arm brushed against her leg. Instant heat shot into her, turning her insides liquid.

She drew in a quick, rasping breath. Damn the man, why couldn’t he drive one of those big, spacious, modern cars like everyone else?

‘Why thank you,’ he drawled, pulling away smoothly, the powerful car quickly making short work of the speed limit. ‘That’s the nicest thing you’ve said to me so far.’

For a moment, Charmaine was puzzled. Then she understood and bit her lip.

But he was right. So why was she so sure that Payne Lacey wouldn’t have all but conned a drunken spoilt rock star out of his prized possession? She shook her head helplessly. Before flying to this island, she would have bet her last penny that that was just the sort of behaviour she could expect from this casino-owning playboy.

Now she would have bet her life against it ever happening.

Then she felt a spurt of anger as she realised she was beginning to see life through his eyes. Bet her life indeed! Payne was the gambler. She was the sensible, normal one. She really must not let him affect her this way. Besides, all it meant was that he had a warped sense of ethics, that was all.

‘But you’re right,’ he said, confusing her all over again, until he looked across at her and grinned widely. ‘It was the rock star’s manager I was betting against, and he was stone-cold sober. In fact, he has the reputation of having a mind like a steel trap.’

She opened her mouth to ask him what it was he had put up as a bet against this magnificent car, then quickly snapped her lips shut again.

She didn’t want to know.

She didn’t!

She curled her fingers into fists as she wondered what it could be. Another car. No, that seemed too tame. And surely not his casino or a hotel. She forced herself to look at the passing scenery while Payne shot her another look, a wide grin creasing his handsome face.

‘You’re just dying to know, aren’t you?’

‘I am not!’ she said hotly. ‘Your ridiculous lifestyle affects me not at all. Oh, I expect most people find it glamorous and fascinating, but I’m far more down to earth.’

Payne shot past another car as if it was standing still. Being so low to the ground, it felt as if they were going so fast they would take off at any moment, and Charmaine had to admit she found the sensation thrilling. Terrifying, but thrilling. And yet he was such a superb driver, and the car seemed to be such an extension of his own self, that she never truly felt as if her life was in danger. Or that anyone else on the road need fear them, either.

‘So, where would you like to go first?’ he asked, as he turned off the main road onto a single lane track which led through sand dunes and tufted grass, the bright azure streak that was the Caribbean Sea playing hide and seek with them as they twisted and turned.

‘I don’t suppose you’ve got a bikini on under those very fetching shorts, have you?’ he mused, and she glanced nervously down at the expanse of tanned leg she was showing.

‘No,’ she said truthfully, and with evident relief. At least that was one temptation she wouldn’t have to deal with — sunbathing nearly nude on a deserted island beach with this man next to her, looking at her with those wickedly knowing eyes of his.

Payne laughed softly. ‘No need to look so pleased about it. Most women like to swim in the warm sea and lay out on the sand under a palm tree.’

Charmaine shrugged one shoulder. ‘Not me,’ she said firmly. Although it sounded wonderful.

But she wouldn’t be able to trust herself. And she certainly couldn’t trust this man, of all men, to act the gentleman!

‘So, you really are a little miss prim and proper. I know just the activity for you.’

And with that he accelerated away up an even narrower track that climbed higher up onto the top of a high cliff. He pulled the car off road, onto a sandy, grass-compacted stretch of earth, and turned off the engine.

Silence engulfed them for a moment. Then Charmaine heard the susurration of the ever-present sea, the high keening cry of some gulls, and the eerie, moaning lament of the wind. She got out nervously, looking around the deserted terrain. It was a spectacular view, with the rugged rocks and the sea stretching out as far as you could see, but there was not a soul in sight.

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