Compulsion

CHAPTER SIX

Lissa barely knew what she was doing as she went into her act. The music beat inside her head and her lips opened and shut, emitting sounds, but she might as well have been alone on a desert island. The applause, the watching eyes, did not impinge upon her consciousness.

Fear streaked along her nerves. Chris had looked vicious as he stared alter Luc. When he told her that she would marry him he had had cold determination in his eyes.

Once she had seen weakness in him, a flaw running through his charming facade, but now she had been brought to recognise that he was weak in quite a different sense from the one she had imagined. His weakness lay in a sort of strength Lissa had never known him to display. He was coldly, cruelly determined on his own way. It was still weakness-but he had shored himself up with his murderous gang of henchmen, his power over the lives of everyone on the island. It was power which gave his weakness the icy glitter of danger. Chris had no moral scruples to make him halt in anything he did, in the pursuit of anything he wanted.

She left the club and collected Fortune from the desk clerk. The dog shot off into the night and Lissa followed slowly, biting her lip. How could she sleep tonight? She couldn't calmly go to bed while Luc was facing Chris across a table and fighting a.duel whose outcome could be disastrous whichever way it went.

She lingered to inhale the scent of honeysuckle, the creamy yellow flowers thickly clustered on their bushes. While she stood there in the shadows of the garden she heard a step and shivered, looking round.

Luc halted to stare at her. His face was unreadable, but she could sense hostility.

'Don't play with him,' she begged, pulling one of the flowers down. The petals showered on the grass at her feet and she twisted the stem restlessly, her eyes on Luc's dark features,

'It's fixed for midnight,’ he said coolly. He moved closer and she saw the sudden flare of his eyes, their brightness lighting up his face. 'Lissa, it's a perfect opportunity for you to get away. The whole place will be in the gaming rooms. All his men will be there. Nobody will see you leave the hotel. Pack a few things and slip out around one in the morning.'

'Where could I go? she asked wildly. 'Where do you think I could hide on this island?'

'I've fixed that,' Luc said.

She stared at him, her eyes enormous.

'Go down to the beach where we usually swim. One of my men will be waiting for you. He's going to bring a dinghy and row you out to the yacht. You'll be safe out there during the night.'

For a moment Lissa felt a sick relief, then she looked hard at him. Luc would be staying to play that game with Chris. He would be hostage for her. Once Chris discovered she had vanished he would immediately suspect Luc, and her heart winced at the thought of what Chris might do to Luc.

'I can't,' she whispered.

Luc's body clenched. She saw his mouth tighten, his eyes glitter. 'You stupid little fool, you can't still hanker after him! The man's a barracuda. His teeth are stripping every ounce of flesh off this island and he's hungry to strip you; too. Get away from him while you can.'

'You don't understand____________________' she began, and he broke in with a muttered curse.

'Damn you to hell, Lissa, have some sense! You're blind about him. Can't you see…'

'Luc____________________' she interrupted huskily, putting a hand on his sleeve.

He caught her shoulders painfully, flinging her head back, and his mouth burnt fiercely, angrily, on hers. She felt the violent movements of it like blows. Luc was kissing her with rage, his lips forcing hers until she felt the tender skin inside her mouth grinding against her teeth.

She struggled wildly. He was hurting her and she felt his anger so deeply she wanted to cry.

'Stay with him, then,' Luc bit out, releasing her.

Lissa felt his hands fling her away and stumbled, clutching at the honeysuckle bush. Luc walked away into the darkness and the tears began to run down her face.

She could not go back to the hotel in that state. She walked around the garden in the shadows and once or twice saw silent-footed shadows patrolling the grounds. Chris's men prowling around-in search of her? she wondered. She froze into the darkness and waited until they had gore. Fortune came softly up to push his nose into her hand and she knelt to hug him.

As she walked back to the hotel she walked into Rebecca and got a quick, hostile glance from the other girl. Rebecca's eyes narrowed on the tearstains visible on Lissa's cheeks. 'Had a row with Chris?' she asked in a wry voice.

'You'd love that, wouldn't you?' Lissa flung back.

'Does he know you're in love with him?' Rebecca's colour ran angrily. 'I'm not!' 'No?' Lissa stared at her. Rebecca knew everything that went on at the hotel. Chris might have hidden the sort of operation he was running from her, but he wouldn't have hidden much from Rebecca. How could he? Rebecca was always around his office. Carefully Lissa said: 'He must find it very useful to have a doting secretary. You'd die rather than give away a thing about what goes on here, wouldn't you, Rebecca?'

The other girl's brows flicked together. She stared at Lissa sharply. 'What are you talking about?'

Lissa didn't answer. She just smiled, her eyes mocking.

'You're not the wide-eyed innocent he thinks you are, are you?' Rebecca broke out with shrill dislike. 'I've seen the way you look at that Ferrier man and the way he looks at you. You've been pulling the wool over Chris's eyes long enough. The only reason he was going to marry you was because he didn't think he'd get you any other way, but he's wrong, isn't he? He probably got beaten to you a long time ago. I bet Ferrier wasn't even the first. Chris has been a fool about you.'

'Chris loves me,' Lissa said very softly, watching her.

'He said he loved me once,’ Rebecca muttered. 'I should have been as bright as you are-waited for a wedding ring before I lost my head. It was too late when I realised just what sort of man he really was. I'll hand it to you-you're clever. I didn't think anyone could make a fool of Chris, but you've done it. Just don't imagine you can go on doing it. Once he realises he isn't the first he'll kill you. He won't like it when he discovers he's been had.'

Lissa shivered and Rebecca, watched her with a fierce smile. 'I wouldn't like to hazard a guess what he'll do to you. Girls who run foul of him come to no good?

'What about the girl on Joubeau Street?' Lissa asked casually, hoping Rebecca could not see the shock and horror inside her.

It surprised Rebecca. She saw the startled expression come into the other girl's eyes. 'You know about her? He didn't tell you.' Rebecca laughed curtly. ' Pierre, was it? Chris will cut his throat!'

'No, not Pierre,' said Lissa. So it was true, she thought. It was all true. And tonight Luc was facing him across the table, risking not only money in their encounter. The darkness inside Chris made him unpredictable and dangerous.

Rebecca was staring at her, biting her lip. 'Are you going to tell him what I've said?'

Giving her a wry look, Lissa shook her head.

'It cuts both ways, remember,' Rebecca warned. 'I've got a few things I could tell him about you.'

'You keep your secrets, I'll keep mine,' said Lissa, turning to go.

Rebecca caught her arm, her long talons of nails digging into her flesh. 'Look, if you've got any sense you'll get the first plane out of here. Chris can be vicious.' She glanced around nervously. 'I wish to God I'd never got involved with him.' Releasing Lissa, she hurriedly, vanished and Lissa went slowly into the hotel.

She could not go quietly to bed. She had to know what was going on between Chris and Luc. She left Fortune in her room, washed and did her make-up again, then went down to the gaming rooms.

The men on the door looked at her in surprise but let her pass without question. One of them had an amused expression and she guessed he thought she had come because she was worried about Chris. Everyone knew she did not approve of his playing poker.

She walked through the spacious, luxurious public rooms, where faces bent avidly around the roulette table, the chandeliers casting a harsh cruel light over them. One of the croupiers watched her, smiling, and Lissa smiled back brightly.

Max was on the door behind which Luc and Chris were playing. He stood with folded arms, watching her walk towards him, his narrowed eyes skimming the half-revealed curves of her body in the black dress.

Lissa managed to look calm and unconcerned, but she was very aware of the way his eyes slid over her. She had never much liked the atmosphere in these rooms, but now she loathed them. She knew it would kill her to stay here on the island in this place. She had to get away before the poison leaked into her own veins.

He did not move to let her pass and when his eyes came up, Lissa met them with raised eyebrows and a light smile.

'Can't I go in?'

'Chris said nobody was to go in,' Max told her.

Lissa lowered her lids. She thought quickly, coldly. Putting a hand up to Max's bow tie, she pulled it loose with a teasing little smile. 'That doesn't include me, docs it? I'm not nobody.'

Max's eyes flickered at the deliberate flirtation. She had never thought about it before, but now she guessed

Max found her attractive. His eyes told her as much as he looked down at her.

'I'll ask him,' he compromised, turning.

He opened the door and she slipped through with him. Max turned his head to frown and Lissa gave him an impudent little grin.

'I can ask him myself,' she mocked.

She walked towards the table in the centre of the room. The rustle of her black dress caught Chris's ear and he turned his head to stare at her with hard, watchful eyes.

Max hovered, waiting for his orders..

Luc surveyed her icily as she walked round to Chris. Ignoring him, she put a hand on Chris's neck, her fingertips stroking the short fair hair bristling on the nape. She felt the shudder run through him.

'So you are playing,' she said with a faintly sulky look, bending to meet Chris's eyes.

Chris put down his cards and leaned back in his chair to smile at her. His eyes held a mixture of amusement, relief and physical desire as they ran over her.

'Checking up on me? I'm beginning to feel married.'

'No, you're not,' said Lissa, flickering a look at him through her lashes.

She saw the flash of excitement in his eyes. She had never looked at him teasingly, provocatively, before, and Chris loved it. He took her hand and began to kiss her arm lightly, his mouth lingering on her wrist, the smooth cool inside skin, her inner elbow.

'You can t stay. I can't concentrate on the game with you here.'

'Can't you?' She smiled down into his eyes.

Little beads of perspiration came out on his forehead and upper lip. 'Liss,' he muttered, his other hand curving round her head and pulling her down to kiss him. She submitted without protest, letting her lips part under the moist invasion. Chris ran his hand down the warm curve of her body and she heard the muffled gasp of his pleasure.

Then he slapped her lightly, drawing back. 'I'll see you later, sweetheart,' he said huskily. 'Off you go for now.'

Luc was staring down at the table, his face and body rigid. Lissa put her finger to her lips and laid it on Chris's cheek, then she turned and walked across the room past Max.

As she went out she turned and saw Chris watching her. The avid probe of his eyes sickened her, but she smiled at him over her shoulder before she went.

She had done what she could, she thought, going up to her own room. She had had to put Chris off the scent, put him into a relaxed frame of mind which might help Luc. Her provocative behaviour, the kiss she had given him, had partly distracted Chris from his game, and Lissa knew it. He would now have an undivided mind as he played his cards. She had put her own image into Chris's head, promising a pleasure which would constantly come between him and what he was doing.

She hurriedly took off her black dress and dressed in a black sweater and jeans. They wouldn't be seen easily at night and they would be warm when she was on the boat.

She packed a few necessary items in a light bag, gathered up Fortune under her arm, whispering to him not to make a sound, and then she carefully locked her door. Chris might come up later to try it. She had a shrewd idea he would. She had been inviting him with every look she gave him and Chris was not going to be slow in taking her up on it. She hoped the idea was eating into his brain even now. She hoped he was hardly aware of the cards he was getting.

Her room looked out on to the garden. As a child, she had often climbed down the gnarled, deformed branches of the sycamore winch grew close to the wall. She hadn't tested the strength of it lately. She would have to trust to luck that she could make it bear her weight.

Opening her window, she quietly slid out and looked down into the darkness. There wasn't a sound, a movement. She dropped her bag and watched it fall into a flowerbed. Listening, she waited, and when there was still no sound she slithered, down into the first wide fork. It was difficult with the dog clutched in her arm. He wriggled nervously, whimpering, and she put her hand over his muzzle. 'Ssh!' she begged.

She was almost at the base of the tree when she heard movements. Freezing against the trunk, she held her breath and kept a hand over the dog's jaws.

A figure walked slowly past. She recognised one of the men from the gaming rooms. His eyes swept around the gardens in watchful intensity, and Lissa trembled.

He seemed to take hours to get out of sight as he patrolled round the other side of the hotel.

When his steps died away she jumped the last of the way to the ground and grabbed up her bag from among the clustered flowers. Still carrying the dog under her arm, she began to run from tree to tree, slipping and sliding on the grass.

It was only as she began to make her way through the palm trees along the edge of the beach that it occurred to her that Luc's man might have come and gone, or not arrived at all.

Heart racing, she stood in the trees, searching the sands. There wasn't a sound, a sight, of anyone.

Lissa felt sick. She swallowed and gazed across the rolling waves. Luc's yacht was anchored around the bay off Ville-Royale. She stared in that direction, but there wasn't a sign of any craft heading towards the hotel beach.

Luc's man had not come. She walked out of the trees, her eyes glinting with unshed tears, and moved slowly down the beach. All that trouble for nothing. How was she to get back into her room? She would have to climb up the tree again with Fortune under her arm and it wouldn't be easy.

The sound was so tiny she thought at first she hadn't heard it, then another came and she whirled round, gasping with alarm and fear.

The shape moved warily, coming closer.

'Miss?' The whispered question was a mere breath.

'Come over here.'

Lissa peered through the darkness, not moving.

'You waiting for a boat?' the man asked, still not coming any closer. 'You're in the moonlight over there, you'll be seen. We must start off down the far end. Walk down there slowly.'

Lissa swallowed and began to walk. She heard the Other movements and at last she was in the shadow of the tree-hung cliff at the far end of the beach.

She heard the splash with which the dinghy was launched. 'Hop in,' the man muttered.

Fortune did not like the look of the boat and the man did not like the look of the dog. 'He coming?' he asked with dismay.

'I can't leave him,' Lissa whispered. 'I can't,' He shrugged and sighed. She settled down, the cold rubber of the dinghy against her arm, and the boat shot away from the shoreline.

'What is Mr Ferrier going to do?' she asked the man, peering at him. 'How will he get away?'

He grinned, showing white teeth. 'Luc will manage.'

The casual confidence did not soothe her. She twisted her fingers in her lap, biting her lip.

'What if there's trouble?'

'Trouble is Luc's middle name,' the man replied easily, laughing under his breath. 'And he's been in tighter spots than this-you should have been with him in Rio when he was jumped by two guys with knives. I was ten feet away and before I could get to him Luc had knocked one of them out cold and broken the other guy's wrist.'

'How lovely,' Lissa said with a raging wail. 'That really comforts me!'

He grinned. 'Don't worry. I haven't worried about Luc since he was twelve years old.'

She looked at him in startled surmise. 'You've known him that long?'

'I've known him since he was five,' the man said. 'Taught him to sail myself. Taught him to play poker too.'

'Oh, it was you?' Lissa asked furiously. 'Well, you should be ashamed of yourself! It would have been much better if you'd taught him something else.'

'Oh, oh,' the man murmured under his breath. 'Poor Luc! You're that sort of honey, are you?.'

She didn't answer that. After a pause she asked, 'What's your name?'

'They call me Dandy,' he said, offering a calloused hand which totally engulfed her own. He shook her hand firmly.

'I'm Lissa,' she said, and he nodded, the movement of his head in the darkness just visible.

'I know. Luc told me.'

'Does he tell you everything?'

Dandy considered this for a moment. 'Yeah,' he said, then laughed. 'Well, most things. He has to.'

'Why? Do you have a hold over him?' Lissa wasn't sure if she liked this large man with the deep warm voice who had taught Luc to play poker.

Dandy laughed. 'Sort of. I'm his bodyguard.'

'He needs one,' she said, angry again. 'He needs you now. Why aren't you with him?'

'Luc will tell me if he needs me,' Dandy said casually. 'His antennae work too well for him to make a mistake.'

'I never heard of a stockbroker having a bodyguard,' Lissa said snappily.

'A what?' Dandy stopped rowing and stared.

'Isn't he?'

'A stockbroker?' Dandy threw back his head and roared with amusement. 'Is that what he told you?'

Lissa was stiff and cold. 'I knew he was a liar,' she said with fury. 'I should have known better than to believe a word he told me.'

'You should, you should indeed,' Dandy teased her, grinning. 'Luc didn't get his nickname for nothing. You know what they call Lucifer-the father of all lies?'

Lissa dropped her cold face into her shaking hands.

'What am I doing?' she moaned under her breath. 'What have I done?'

She had told herself not to trust Luc. She had warned herself not to jump out of the frying pan into the fire, but on a crazy impulse she had done just that.

She had run away from the threat of Chris's possession and now she was in the power of a man she barely knew, a man who had lied to her and was as ruthless in pursuit of what he wanted as ever Chris would be.

Dandy was laughing. 'A stockbroker,’ he muttered, slapping his own knee. 'God damn him-a stockbroker! What will he pull next?'

Lissa was sick with shame and self-disgust. She looked back over her shoulder at the fast disappearing coastline. The lights of the hotel blazed like wildfire in the darkness. The moon had gone behind a bank of thin cloud and the ocean was very dark and silent. The cliffs and trees carved heavy shadows on the sky around the lighted hotel.

'Take me back,' she said huskily, and Dandy stopped laughing to look at her in silence.

'Don't be a dumb bunny,' he said, continuing to row.

'Take me back!'

'Even if I was going to, I couldn't,' Dandy added. 'I haven't got the energy. I'll just about make it to the Queen.'

'The Queen?' She moistened dry lips to ask that.

'The yacht,' Dandy explained. 'The Queen of Spades, that's what Luc named her. Daring his luck again. That boy loves to fly in the face of all reason.'

'Boy!' Lissa flung back angrily. 'Boy?'

Dandy chuckled. 'Man, then. Yeah, he's no boy, I guess,'

She settled back in a grim silence and Dandy rowed with slow, effortless strokes. It took so long to reach the yacht that Lissa was half asleep when they finally slipped into the dark shadow of the boat, A voice softly hailed them. A ladder swung from the deck and Dandy hoisted her, his large hands gripping her waist, supporting her as she slipped slightly.

Someone's hand dragged her over the side and she stood there, shivering, the dog under her arm growling with raised hair.

'What's that?' The man who had pulled her aboard stared at Fortune. 'Where did that come from?'

Dandy appeared, puffing. 'She wouldn't leave the little rat,' he grunted.

'Damn!' the man muttered.

Dandy put an arm around Lissa as she swayed., cold and sick. 'Hey, the little lady is dead on her feet.'

Lissa felt his arms round her and then she was swung up against his chest and carried down a narrow gangway.

She closed her eyes and just gave up. Dandy carried her into a cabin and laid her on a bunk. A moment later she woke up with a cry when she felt him stripping off her sweater. Her hands flailed and she yelled, 'Let me alone!'

'Hey, hey,' Dandy grumbled. 'That sweater's wringing wet. Think I'd meddle with one of Luc's possessions? Come on, now, be a good little girl and let Dandy get you undressed and into bed.'

She opened her eyes wide to search his face and see him clearly for the first time. She saw a broad, grizzled man in his fifties with a head which looked as ft if had been carved out of concrete and then weathered by wind and sun. His skin was mahogany, lined and wrinkled, his eyes a light grey. His hair was grey and sparse. His mouth was wide and strong. His ears stuck out at angles from his head. Lissa saw humour, calm self-confidence, kindness in his face.

She relaxed in his hands and Dandy went on taking off her clothes. He might have been a child's nurse. He didn't seem to see her body and he talked reassuringly as he worked.

'You get some sleep now and in the morning we'll be away on the tide. Joe's bringing you some nice hot cocoa-made with tinned milk, I'm afraid, but you won't mind that, will you? That'll help you sleep.'

'I couldn't sleep,' she said drily. 'Not with Luc ashore and in danger.'

'Now just you let us worry over Luc. I told you, the devil looks after his own. Luc will be fine.'

'You don't know,' she cried miserably.

Dandy was folding her like a baby into a warm cocoon of quilt. 'Dandy knows everything,' he told her, grinning down at her. 'All you have to do is remember that and you'll fall asleep like a baby.'

Someone moved behind him and her glance flicked to the newcomer. He grinned at her, winking. 'That's right, miss. Dandy is as close to omniscience as you're likely to meet this side of the pearly gates.'

Dandy offered to cuff him. 'This is Joe,' he told Lissa, removing the mug of cocoa from the young man's hands and handing it to her.

She smiled weakly at Joe and got a grin back. Joe went out and Dandy patted her head, his huge hand light on her hair. 'Drink your cocoa and get some sleep,' he said, going out.

She leant up on one elbow, the folds of the quilt draped around her, and sipped the steaming chocolate drink. There was a thick skin on the top of it, but she was so cold she did not care.

Fortune had nestled down on the bunk beside her feet, snuggling under the quilt. He was asleep, giving whining little snorts from time to time, his nose pushed against her bare feet.

The yacht swayed on the water and a bell somewhere chimed softly. Lissa looked up at the porthole. Luc would still be playing poker. How long would it be before Chris knew she had gone? Would Luc have time to get away before it was discovered?

He hadn't told her what he meant to do. He hadn't told her anything very much, and what he had told her was lies, she thought. Stockbroker… Dandy had roared at the very idea, amused by Luc's lie.

Lissa wasn't amused. Why had Luc told her that? To soothe her and reassure her?

She felt a cold shiver of dismay as she faced her own future. She had voluntarily given herself into the hands of a man who had lied to her, a man with a background as troubled and murky as Chris. Luc was just as dangerous, just as unscrupulous, just as amoral. He was a pirate, a professional gambler, and she had been crazy to trust him.

Finishing her cocoa she put down her mug and lay back in the bunk. She watched the swaying lamp above her, her eyes following that slow pendulum intently.

How could she sleep? She was torn between fear for Luc and anger with him.

Her eyes were heavy and her brain moved slowly, trying to sort out what she could do, unable to think clearly about anything.

She was growing warm at last and she felt her tense muscles beginning to relax as heat crept over her body. There wasn't a sound from anywhere on the yacht. Were all the men asleep? How could they even consider sleep when Luc was in danger? She turned on the pillow, yawning. She couldn't possibly sleep. She couldn't, possibly.