Playing His Dangerous Game (16 page)

Why hadn’t she remembered that?

She thought back to the conversation they’d had on the roadside. It felt like eons ago.

Royce had accused her of playing the victim, of choosing a course of passive resistance where Steve was concerned.

And wasn’t she doing the same thing now, with Royce?

Royce had taught her to fight back—so why wasn’t she fighting now? Fighting for the man she loved instead of showing him the door?

She should have stamped her foot, or used one of his own manoeuvres against him and forced him to tell her what was wrong. She should have used every piece of ammunition she possessed to fight for her man.

She’d found the courage to confront Steve. Now she needed the courage to tell Royce exactly how she felt about him.

Shara scrambled to her feet.

Then she raced for the stairs, snatched up her car keys and headed for the garage.

Royce swung hard on the steering wheel and with a screech of tyres fishtailed into the Atwood Hall driveway.

His eyes widened, the breath locking tight in his lungs as Shara’s small red sedan loomed in front of him.

She was travelling at a rate of knots—practically hurtling down the driveway.

Reacting automatically, he slammed on the brakes and swung hard on the steering wheel, trying to avoid a collision.

He briefly registered the look of panic on Shara’s face before she did the same thing.

The only problem was she’d swung her car in the same direction as his.

Royce cursed and pressed even harder on the brake, even though it was impossible to depress it any further.

Thankfully their quick thinking worked.

When the two cars came together it was with the kiss of
bumper bars. Royce didn’t need to look to know that there would barely be a dent.

He sat where he was for a count of ten, waiting for his heart to slow.

Then he pushed the door open and got out.

‘Are you mad?’ he roared. ‘Are you trying to get yourself killed for the second time today?’

Shara slammed her hands down on her hips. ‘Don’t yell at me.’

Her eyes were a fiery blue but Royce didn’t mind. Anything was better than the way she’d looked at him earlier. As if he wasn’t there. As if she was looking straight through him.

‘I’ll yell at you whenever you deserve it. Where on earth were you going at a thousand miles an hour?’

She lifted her hands off her hips and jammed them down again. ‘Excuse me?
You
were driving like a maniac. You almost hit me.’

‘But I didn’t.’

‘What are you doing here anyway?’

Royce folded his arms in front of his chest and stared her straight in the eye. ‘I came back to call you a liar.’

She blinked. ‘What did you say?’

‘I said you’re a liar,’ Royce replied calmly.

‘And just how do you figure that?’

Royce dragged in a breath.

Images from the last few weeks flashed across his brain.

Shara laughing.

Shara teasing him.

Shara staring up at him with eyes like stars as his body thrust into hers.

He took a step towards her and then another. ‘You did
not
sleep with me out of gratitude.’

She didn’t answer him. She just stared at him with deep, fathomless eyes.

He took another step towards her, clasped the tops of her
arms. ‘Simple gratitude would not make you look at me as if you want to eat me alive. Simple gratitude would not make you cry out my name or dig your nails into my back when I made love to you. I may make you feel safe, but I also make you feel a hell of a lot more than that.’

To prove it Royce swept her into his arms, right there in the driveway.

He kissed her as if there were no yesterday and no tomorrow. As if this moment in time was all that existed.

When they were both breathing heavily, Royce lifted his head and put her away from him.

Shara’s lashes flickered open. She stared at him with desire-drenched eyes. This was the soft, wonderful woman he was used to seeing.

‘Now look me in the eye and tell me why you lied,’ he said softly.

Shara blinked and blinked again. The daze of desire slowly faded from her face. Something flickered in her eyes, and then the air whooshed from his lungs as she punched him forcefully in the chest.

His wide eyes fixed on her face.

Had he thought she was soft and wonderful?

Huh!

Try strong and angry!

‘What did you do that for?’ he demanded.

‘Because you deserved it.’ She shook her hand in the air. ‘That hurt.’

‘Serves you right.’ He took her hand in his and gently massaged it. ‘You’re going to make me regret teaching you karate if you’re going to start picking fights with everyone.’

Shara angled her chin into the air. ‘Steve deserved it, and so do you.’

‘What makes you say that?’

‘You know why, damn it! You rejected me.’

He
had
rejected her. And by doing so he had hurt her. He’d
caught a brief glimpse of her pain but he hadn’t wanted to acknowledge it.

Because acknowledging it meant confronting what was inside him.

Leaving her had made him confront it anyway.

‘I know I did. I’m sorry.’

She didn’t look the least bit appeased. ‘Why? Did I do something wrong?’

He smudged his thumb across her lower lip. ‘You didn’t do anything. It was me.’

‘I don’t understand.’

He sighed. ‘I know you don’t.’

‘Well, you’re not leaving here until you explain it to me,’ she said, thrusting her hands on to her hips. ‘So start talking!’

Royce stared at her for a moment, and then he flung his head back and laughed.

Shara really was a changed woman.

His chest swelled with pride … and something else.

‘I realised that when I was around you I was acting like a man—
not
a bodyguard. Doing so could have put you in danger.’ She opened her mouth to speak, but before she could Royce continued. Shara had proved that she was the bravest woman he’d ever met. He had to prove that he was her equal by doing the same thing. ‘At least that’s what I told myself.’

Her eyes narrowed in on him. ‘So if you weren’t worried about putting me in danger, what made you back off the way you did?’

‘Can’t you guess?’

Shara stared at him for a long moment, then shook her head.

Royce dragged in a breath. He’d faced some dangerous situations in his time. Even life-threatening ones. He’d dealt with each and every one of them with courage and daring.

And yet telling Shara how he felt was almost enough to
bring him to his knees. ‘I was losing my emotional detachment. You more than anyone know how vulnerable that can make you feel.’

He heard her sharp inhalation of breath. Saw her eyes widen. ‘You mean you—?’

Royce ran a finger down her cheek. ‘Yes. I mean I love you.’

‘You do?’ She frowned. ‘But if you love me why did you push me away?’

‘Because I was scared.’

‘You? Scared?’ She sounded incredulous—as if it were impossible that he could feel that way.

‘Yes, me.’

‘But you’re not scared any more?’

‘No, I’m not. Driving away from you was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. I just couldn’t do it. I had to come back.’

She stared him straight in the eye. ‘Do you know where I was going when we almost collided?’

Royce shook his head, his heart doing a stutter-step when he realised how close he’d come to hitting her. ‘No. I just hope it wasn’t another hare-brained scheme of yours.’

‘It wasn’t hare-brained,’ she protested.

‘You’re not safe to be let out on your own,’ Royce continued, as if she hadn’t spoken. ‘You need me around to keep you out of trouble.’

‘I agree.’

‘I mean it. You—’ He slammed his mouth closed. ‘What did you say?’

‘I said I agree.’

‘You do?’

She nodded. ‘I do. In fact I think I might need a permanent bodyguard.’

His heart thumped. He glanced at their cars, which were still sitting nose to nose, then turned back to Shara. ‘Where
were
you going?’

She stared at him. Her magnificent blue eyes were filled with an emotion that made his heart beat even harder. ‘I was coming to find you.’

‘You were?’

She nodded. ‘I was. Do you want to know why?’

His heart stopped thumping and made a massive leap into the back of his throat. ‘Yes.’

‘Because I decided I’d made a mistake. I sent you away because you’d hurt me, but watching you leave was even more painful. You taught me to stand up and fight, so I was coming to find you—to fight for my man.’

His heart swelled until it was fit to burst. ‘Do you mean it?’

Her eyes met his. ‘Yes, I mean it.’

Royce stopped breathing. So many thoughts and feelings rushed through him that he didn’t know which way was up.

Not sure what to say, not sure what to feel, he pulled her into his arms and crushed her mouth with his.

By the time he lifted his head they were both breathing heavily. ‘Are you sure?’

She nodded.

‘Say it,’ he demanded.

She didn’t question what he meant. She obviously knew he wanted to hear her say the words.

‘I love you,’ she murmured softly.

And it was there in her face.

It had been there for him to see, only he’d been too blind to see it.

The glow in her face. Her eyes gazing at him like stars.

Royce closed his eyes and savoured the words, felt them filling his bloodstream. He opened his eyes and stared down at her.

‘You
have
to tell me now,’ she said breathlessly.

He frowned down at her, taking in the mischievous gleam in her eyes. ‘Tell you what?’

‘What the A stands for.’

He laughed. ‘Do I have to?’

Shara nodded. ‘If you love me, you have to tell me.’

‘That’s blackmail.’

‘Quit stalling.’

‘Aristotle,’ Royce muttered.

Shara wrinkled her nose at him. ‘Awful.’

He nodded. ‘Awful. Promise you won’t ask me to give any of our children such an awful name.’

Her expression changed. ‘Children? You want to have children with me?’

‘I certainly do,’ he said firmly. ‘Although I want you to myself for a while first. Let’s wait until we’ve been married for a couple of years before starting a family.’

‘Married …?’

That was it. That was all she said.

He cupped the side of her face. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned it yet. It’s probably too soon. I know you had a bad time with Brady, so I can understand if you’re a little hesitant about getting married again. But I want to put my ring on your finger. I want the world to know you’re mine. So think about it.’

‘I don’t have to think about it.’

Her expression was so serious that his heart dropped to the pit of his stomach and then kept right on going. ‘But—’

She laid a finger across his lips. ‘No buts.’

‘But—’

‘Let me finish.’

Royce snapped his mouth closed. She could finish—but he wasn’t taking no for an answer. Defeat was not a word in his vocabulary.

Shara smiled. ‘You’re not very good at following instructions.’

‘What are you talking about?’

Her eyes twinkled. ‘If you want my co-operation what do you need to do?’

His face cleared. Then he dropped on one bended knee. ‘Shara Atwood, would you do me the honour of becoming my wife?’

Her eyes misted. ‘Why?’

‘Because I love you with all of my heart.’

Shara flung herself at him. ‘Of course I’ll marry you. Just try and stop me.’

His lungs seized, then started working again. He let out a whoop that could probably be heard throughout the entire neighbourhood and then swooped, taking her mouth with his.

All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II BV/S.à.r.l. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

® and TM are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

First published in Great Britain 2011
by Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited.
Harlequin (UK) Limited, Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road,
Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

© Tina Duncan 2011

ISBN: 978-1-408-92638-3