The Fatal Fortune by Jayne Castle

for any man.”
    “I knew. That’s why I never told you about Elena. But I wanted you, Gwen. After you lost your nerve and broke off what was between us, I told myself I’d give you some time to calm down. Then . . . things happened. I got the new position with Gage and Watson, and shortly after that Elena died. By the time everything had settled down I’d lost track of you.”
    “Not only lost track, but lost interest, too, I suspect. I’m sure you went on to bigger and better things—and more cooperative women. Don’t try to pretend that what you felt was a timeless passion, Rick. You know as well as I do that you were only looking for a convenient affair. I realized that as soon as I found out you’d lied to me.”
    He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter now. We’ve run into each other again. There was always something about you, Gwen. . . .” He let the sentence trail off, his eyes intent. “I’ve discovered I want you again.”
    Guinevere smiled wryly. “Only because you can’t have me. I’m a challenge for you now because I didn’t fall right back into your hands the moment you encountered me again. Forget it.”
    There was a flare from the gold lighter as Rick lit one of his elegant cigarettes. He exhaled deeply, fixing her with a lambent gaze through the smoke. “No,” he said finally. “I don’t think I will forget it. It’s fate, Gwen.”
    “The hell it is.” She held the door open for him. “Please leave,” she said very steadily. “Now.”
    “Before the hulk gets here, you mean?”
    “Before I lose my temper and call the police to throw you out!” Guinevere heard the edge in her voice and frantically tried to bring herself back under control. She must not let him affect her this way. She refused to let him frighten her. “Listen to me, Rick. I will try to spell this out as simply as possible. I am not interested in you anymore. I want nothing to do with you. Find some other woman to hypnotize, because I’m immune to your brand of charm. It’s shallow and it’s meaningless.
Now get out
!”
    He approached her with indolent grace, eyes narrowed and gleaming. “You say I’m only attracted by the challenge? Better watch out, Gwen. You’re making yourself more of a challenge each minute. Two years ago you got away with walking out on me, only because I had other things to handle at the time. But now it’s different. Now I can do what I should have done then. Are you sleeping with the hulk or keeping him dangling, the way you kept me dangling?”
    “That’s none of your damn business.”
    He nodded as if she had answered his question. “You’re sleeping with him, I’m sure of it. There’s something about the way he looks at you, the way he touches you. He tried to warn me off the other day when he saw me with you, did you know that? In a way, that added to the challenge, too. It would be interesting to take you away from him, just to see how he would react. All things considered, I’m afraid you’re becoming damn-near irresistible, Guinevere Jones. I want you, and this time I’m going to have you.” He smiled grimly around the cigarette. “But first I think I’ll let
you
dangle a bit. It will serve you right. It’s time you learned a lesson.”
    “Rick, if you don’t leave, I swear, I’ll have you thrown out.” Guinevere’s teeth were locked together with tension. She watched him take the cigarette from his mouth and casually grind it out in a small pottery bowl that stood on the hall table. It was the bowl where Guinevere kept her car keys. She wanted to scream at him that he had no business using the lovely bowl for an ashtray, but common sense told her to hold her tongue. She wanted to do nothing that would give him an excuse for staying any longer, and losing her temper would accomplish only that. He would delight in making her lose control.
    “Good-bye, Gwen.” He nodded with a mocking courtesy and walked out the door.
    Guinevere shut the door behind him