“That’s debatable.”
“And,” he went on, ignoring her skeptical rejoinder, “I’m not half bad to look at, even if I say it myself.”
“You say it yourself because no one else will.”
He grinned, the insult rolling off him like water off a duck’s back. “Your sarcastic sense of humor is one of the things I’ve always liked bestabout you, Kay. So, please answer my question. I’ve made you an honorable proposal of marriage. No elopements, no concealments. And you’re right to say we’re not the young fools we once were. I’m not the boy with no prospects and you’re not underage, in need of anyone’s permission. There are no impediments to stop us this time.”
“Except one. We hate each other!”
“I don’t hate you, Kay. Oh, there was a time when I thought I did,” he added as she raised a disbelieving eyebrow. “But I don’t hate you. I never really did. And…” He paused, once again easing closer to her. “I don’t think you hate me, either.”
“You’re right,” she agreed, smiling sweetly. “‘Hate’ is not the right term. ‘Revulsion’ describes it so much better.”
He laughed, a low, soft sound, and his turquoise gaze lowered, staring at her mouth. “If that’s true,” he murmured, “you have an interesting way of demonstrating it.”
That mortifying reminder ought to have been like a splash of ice water. Sadly, it wasn’t. Instead, her lips began to tingle, and tongues of heat curled in her belly.
Damn him.
“You should despise me, of course,” he said. “And I’ve no doubt you want to do so. And maybe you really did once. But I don’t think you do. Not anymore.”
That, she feared, might be true. And that admission only made her more angry with him. “Your insufferable arrogance is truly a thing to behold.”
“It’s not arrogance. It’s simply that that kiss makes a liar out of you. You lie to others, you even lie to yourself. But don’t lie to me, because I know you couldn’t have kissed me the way you did if you hated me.”
At this moment, she might resent him like hell, she might want to slap his face or bash him with a newspaper, but he was right. No matter what he did, he’d always been able to find a way to penetrate her defenses. She’d built up layers of armor as a carrot-haired child, as a plump, freckled adolescent, and as a shy social failure, but one kiss from Devlin in a maze fourteen years ago had shattered all her protective layers. And now, in spite of everything, he might manage to do it again, leaving her vulnerable to yet another heartache.
But that could only happen if she allowed it. There could only be heartache if she let herself fall in love with him again. Far better, she decided, if she sent him back to Africa where he belonged.
“So, you want to do right by me now, do you? That’s why you want to marry me?”
“Yes.”
“Well, maybe it’s silly of me, but I don’t think guilt and remorse are a good basis for marriage.”
“Right, because marrying for money is so much better?”
She gave him the most withering look she could muster. “If you’re trying to persuade me, remarks like that won’t help you. And unless you intend to tie me, gag me, and keep me a prisoner in here,” she said, turning her back and reaching for the doorknob, “I’m leaving.”
His hand closed over hers on the knob, his palm callused and warm. She jumped at the contact and yanked free, and she half expected him to refuse to let her go, but instead, he nudged her gently aside and opened the door, but if she thought his action meant he’d accepted her refusal of his marriage proposal, his next words disabused her of that notion.
“This isn’t over, Kay,” he told her as she stepped out into the corridor. “If I remember correctly, you said not long ago that you deserved a proper courtship from me? Fair enough. Courtship it is.”
“What I want is for you to leave me alone and stop ruining my life. Go back to Africa.”
He shook his head. “Not unless you marry me and come with me.”
“Not a chance.”
“I’ll win you over,” he called as she turned and walked away down the corridor.
“Ha!” she shot back over her shoulder without stopping. “That’ll be the day.”
“I am not giving up.”
“Of course you’re not,” she muttered as she turned the corner and made for the electric lift. “Why should my luck change now?”
Devlin had meant what he’d told Kay about winning her over, but during the fortnight that followed her refusal of his proposal, he realized he had a long, hard road ahead. Winning a woman was not an easy thing to accomplish if the woman in question refused to even speak to you.
