At His Convenience Bundle by Penny Jordan, Maggie Cox, Kim Lawrence Page B

wished his brain had not supplied him with those two particular words. Last night he had physically taken possession of Suzy herself, but only because his desire for her had taken possession of him!
    â€˜Indeed we mustn’t,’ Luke answered Sir Peter grimly. ‘I’ll organise a car. Are you ready to leave now?’ he asked Suzy curtly.
    â€˜Well, I need to go upstairs and get my bag,’ Suzy responded shakily as she tried to withstand the look he was giving her.
    â€˜I’ll come with you,’ Luke announced, leaving her with no option other than to walk towards the door, uncomfortably aware as she did so that he was following her.
    Halfway up the stairs she asked herself bitterly why, after what he had done to her and what he had said to her, the reaction of her body to the knowledge that he was so close behind her now was one of longing and not rejection.
    Quickening her step, she headed for their suite. But as she reached for the door handle Luke was there before her. Suzy flinched as she felt the brief brush of hard fingertips against her wrist.
    â€˜Quite a clever move,’ Luke said conversationally as he closed the door, imprisoning her with him in the room’s heavy silence. ‘I had forgotten that female reporters are different from the rest of their sex and do not possess any scruples where children are concerned.’
    There was a look in his eyes that confused Suzy—a mixture of biting contempt and savage anger laced with pain, as though somehow his words had a personal meaning for him.
    â€˜I am not using the children!’ Suzy denied heatedly.
    â€˜It was their idea to approach their father. And besides, I could hardly manufacture the fact that their mother has been spiteful enough to send them here without proper holiday clothes. The dress Lucy was wearing last night looked so uncomfortable. Poor little scraps—I feel so sorry for them,’ Suzy told him emotionally.
    Luke could feel himself tensing as he listened to her. Why, when he knew she was acting, was he allowing himself to react to her faked emotions, allowing her to needle her way under his professional skin, letting her touch personal nerve-endings he had no damned business allowing her to touch?
    â€˜And as for using them! You’re a fine one to talk about that!’ she accused him angrily. ‘You’re keeping me imprisoned here because whatever it is that is going on might potentially be dangerous—and yet you are using the children as camouflage!’
    â€˜The children’s presence here is directly against my wishes,’ Luke told her shortly, looking away from her.
    â€˜So you mean that there is actually someone who can’t be bullied, threatened and coerced into doing what you want?’ Suzy couldn’t resist demanding.
    Immediately Luke turned round, subjecting her to a narrow-eyed gaze that made her want to shiver, as though her flesh had been touched by a blast of cold air.
    â€˜Coerced?’ Luke challenged her. ‘If by that you are trying to imply that last night I coerced you…you certainly didn’t give me the impression that you didn’t want what was happening. In fact—’
    â€˜I don’t want to talk about last night,’ Suzy interrupted him wildly. ‘I don’t.’
    Was that because she didn’t want to have the pathetic remnants of the fantasies and daydreams she was holding onto wrenched from her? Why not? What was the point in stubbornly clinging to them? They were worthless…meaningless…like the physical act she had shared with Luke!
    â€˜Save the emotional histrionics for Peter,’ Luke told her contemptuously. ‘He’s becoming besotted enough with you to believe them!’
    His words made Suzy frown. Certainly Peter was enjoying pretending to flirt with her, but a pretence at flirtation was all it was. If Suzy could see that she wondered why Luke, who was surely trained to