Compulsion

CHAPTER SEVEN

Lissa stirred, still fathoms deep in sleep, but disturbed by several things which had only just begun to penetrate her drowsy mind. The scent of bacon drifted around her, the delicious odour of coffee. She moved under the warm quilt, her nose wrinkling.

Someone laughed and her lids flew open. Sunlight struck across her unguarded eyes. She blinked, shifting in the bunk, and became aware of a difference in the movements of the yacht.

She sat up, giving a stifled cry, and then stared in disbelief as she saw the tall figure lounging on the end of her bunk.

'Luc!' The sight of him sent a wave of sick relief through her. His lean dark face was expressionless as he watched her and her smile vanished as she realised something else.

She was naked, the quilt having dropped back from her body as she sat up. Colour flared into her face. She grabbed the quilt and wound it around herself with a shaking hand.

'Slept well, did you?' Luc enquired silkily, watching her with open amusement,

'I think there was something in that cocoa,' she accused, and saw his mouth twitch at the edges.

'Dandy thought you'd be better off asleep,' he said in half admission.

'He had no right to do that!'

Luc shrugged, his wide shoulders moving easily under the cotton sweater he wore.

Lissa took a long, painful breath. 'What happened last night?'

'I played poker,' he drawled. Getting off the bunk, he moved away and turned with a tray in his hands. 'Your breakfast,' he said.

'I couldn't eat anything! Tell me what happened last night, Luc.'

He came across to her and placed the tray across her knees. Lissa glared at him. 'How am I supposed to eat it like this?'

'You can't,' he agreed. 'You'll have to come out of your cocoon.' His eyes glinted teasingly at her. 'I don't mind watching.'

Her cheeks burnt. 'Will you please find me some clothes?'

Luc grinned at her, but went over to a chest and came back with a loose, very large white sweater. He tossed it to her. 'This do?'

'Please turn your back,' she said with dignity.

'Shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, aren't you?' he asked softly.

'Please,' she muttered.

He shrugged and swung away. Lissa hurriedly dragged the sweater over her head. The tray rocked alarmingly. She sat up, safely covered, and Luc turned to survey her. His grin made her flush increase.

'Ten sizes too big, but you look very sexy in it,' he informed her.

'The yacht's moving,' she said, ignoring that remark.

'We've been under way for hours. We thought we'd let you sleep until we were safely out of reach of Brandon 's pursuit.'

'Are we?' she asked nervously.

'We are,' Luc nodded. His eyes probed her face. 'Sorry? Or relieved?'

She looked down at the tray, trembling slightly.

'Eat your breakfast while it's hot,' Luc urged.

Lissa began to eat, her stomach protesting hungrily at the delicious scent of the food. 'Tell me what happened,' she said with her head bent.

Luc strolled to the porthole and looked out. 'I told you I'd beat him hands down and I did.'

'You won a lot of money?'

'He plays too wildly. He started off quite cool, but he went to pieces towards the end.'

Poor Chris, she thought, shuddering.

'I took him apart,' said Luc, his voice silky.

'Don't,' Lissa whispered through trembling lips. Tears pricked at her eyes and a salty taste filled her mouth.

'Tears for Brandon?' Luc asked in a hard, sarcastic voice, 'If you'd stayed you would have shed them for yourself.'

Huskily, Lissa said: 'Whatever he's done…'

'You still love him? I gathered that last night,' Luc bit out. 'Why didn't you stay with him, then?' He didn't wait for her to answer, his voice flaying her, cold and tipped with steel. 'I'll tell you why, shall I? You knew damned well I was right about him and you ran because you knew that sort of life wasn't what you wanted. But you still hanker for him, don't you? I realised that when you kissed him last night.'

Lissa stared, her face distraught, tears on her lashes.

Luc smiled at her icily. 'Very touching scene it was, too. I thought at the time it meant you'd decided to stay with him. He was purring like a stroked cat after you'd gone, grinning at me triumphantly.' His mouth twisted. ' Brandon knew we were playing for more than money, and after you kissed him he thought he'd already won. He couldn't keep his mind on the game after that-he was sweating to get to you. You may not have meant to, but you were helping me.'

Lissa shivered. She had gone in there like Judas to give Chris the kiss of betrayal, hut Luc was looking at her with icy distaste and she knew he would not believe her if she told him why she had gone to the gambling rooms.

'It must have been a hard decision to make,' Luc remarked in that chilly voice. 'Poor Lissa!'

She drank some of the coffee, her head bent, not even trying to answer.

When she felt able to speak quite steadily she asked: 'Where are we going?'

'Does it matter? England, eventually. But I'm in no hurry.' Luc crossed to the door and opened it. He looked back at her, his smile malicious. 'I intend to enjoy the voyage.'

He went out and the door snapped shut. Lissa stared at it, her body trembling. Luc had not needed to expand on that cryptic little remark; his narrowed eyes had enforced it.

She had had a choice to make, and she had chosen on driven impulse, but when she contemplated what might lie ahead of her, her stomach turned over in humiliation and shame.

There was nowhere for her to run to-she was imprisoned on a yacht with a blue ocean around her and no choice but to submit to whatever Luc demanded.

The inevitability of her own submission was not the worst thing preying on her mind. It was the shameful truth that Luc wouldn't even need to use force. He could take her, whenever he chose, because she wouldn't even put up a fight. The thought of belonging to Chris had finally become intolerable to her. His lovemaking had always alarmed and disturbed her, but even the contemplation of Luc's lovemaking could send waves of weakening heat around her whole body.

She wondered how long it had taken Chris to realise she had gone and to guess who had taken her away.

Chris had lost last night. He might be the ruthless thug Luc had called him, but Lissa had known him for so many years." She covered her face with her hands, feeling sick with pain. Poor Chris! She didn't know if he loved her, but he would have lost face with his men, he would be feeling humiliated, angry. Old affection for him made her wish he had not had to lose quite so openly.

Fortune was finishing her breakfast greedily. Lissa put an arm around his neck and hugged him. Burying her face in his coat, she muttered to him, 'I despise myself, Fortune. I'm crazy!'

Fortune licked whatever part of her he could reach, aware of her need for comfort and ready to supply it in his own fashion. She laughed, tears on her lashes, then jumped as someone knocked loudly on the cabin door.

'Come in,' she quavered huskily.

Dandy put his grizzled head around the door. 'Morning, princess. Your ladyship's clothes.' He had them over his arm, neatly pressed. 'All present and correct,' he told her, draping them over the end of the bunk. He reached a long arm over and plucked the dog out of her arms. 'While you get dressed I'll take the little dog for a walk.' He held Fortune up by his neck and grinned at him as he growled. 'What sort of dog d'you call that?'

'He's a poodle,' Lissa said indignantly.

'Poodle, is he? Come on, horrible, Dandy is going to show you the deck.'

When he had gone she slid out of bed. The cabin was large and elegantly furnished, she found on inspection. There was a narrow shower cubicle in one corner of it and the furniture was all fitted so that it did not shift as the yacht rolled with the waves. However Luc made his money, it was clear he had it. Lissa couldn't even begin to guess how much this yacht was worth. She had never seen one like it.

It was, she thought wryly, like a floating hotel. Last night in the shock and depression of her arrival she had barely taken in any of it, but she had retained an impression of size which had stayed with her.

A long, narrow mirror lined a wardrobe. Lissa studied herself in it. The loose sweater fell to her bare thighs. She looked dishevelled and very flushed. Grimacing at her own reflection, she pulled off the sweater and went into the cubicle to shower.

When she had dried herself she dressed in her own sweater and the neatly pressed jeans. They had, she-suspected, been washed overnight. She made her bed and tidied up the cabin before she went on deck.

She could hear the low throbbing of the engine vibrating through the timbers. At a glance she could only guess at the number of cabins, but there were a row of doors leading off the gangway running from the base of the steps. Everything gleamed with polish, the wood, metal and glass immaculate.

When she emerged on deck she found Fortune being dragged to and fro on the end of a long thin rope. Dandy grinned at her. 'Seasick,' he told her. 'He doesn't like the sea much, does he?'.

Fortune was whining, trying to get back to her.

'Take him below,' said a voice behind her, and she stiffened, swinging to face Luc.

Dandy picked the little dog up and marched off with him. Luc met her eyes coolly. 'He'll feel better below. He won't notice the motion so much.'

She moved to the rail and leaned on it, watching the flying white wake streaking behind them. Luc moved to stand beside her. She looked at his long, brown hands on the iron rail and her throat filled with dry tension.

How did you manage to get away?' she asked huskily.

'How could he stop me?' Luc asked with a grim smile. 'I had a car waiting at the hotel and a boat waiting in the town. He thought I was making a getaway with the money I'd won.' He laughed. 'He didn't realise precisely what stakes we were playing for.'

Lissa shivered. 'He won't come after us, will he?'

Luc glanced over his shoulder at the empty blue water. 'Even if he did he wouldn't catch us. The Queen has too much of a headway.'

'I shan't feel safe until I'm in England,' said Lissa, and Luc gave her a long, sardonic smile.

'I'm sure you won't,' he drawled, and there was a threat in the softness of his voice.

She shifted uneasily at the sound of it. Luc turned to lean his back on the rail, glancing up at the burning, untiring sun. 'Why don't you take a lounger and sunbathe for an hour? I've got some work to do.'

He went below and Lissa stretched out on the padded lounger which Dandy put up for her on the deck. Occasionally one of the crew came up and moved around, but although they always gave her a polite nod they did not speak to her. She counted four of them and wondered how many more there were on the yacht.

Dandy called her down to lunch just as she was falling asleep under the spell of wind and sun. Flushed and drowsy, she went down to wash and followed Dandy to the cabin two doors down from her own. She found herself eating alone with Luc at a polished rosewood table guarded at the edges with low rims of silver which stopped things sliding off the table.

They ate well-cooked and elegantly served food of which Lissa barely tasted a morsel. She ate it but she only vaguely realised what she was eating. Luc was quiet and when their eyes met she could not see a flicker of expression in the dark blue ones opposite her.

After lunch Luc suggested a tour of the yacht. Lissa followed him from cabin to cabin, surprised by the luxury of the surroundings, puzzled by the size of it.

'What do you do with the yacht while you're in London?' she asked.

He shrugged. 'She either lies up or I lend her to friends. Dandy sails her for them. I keep the crew on throughout the year. I know them all and I don't want to lose them. If you're going to spend time cooped up with someone on a yacht you need to be sure you're going to like and trust them.'

Lissa stood by the porthole in his cabin staring out at the sunlit water. 'You're very rich, aren't you?' Her voice came thin and dry like smoke.

Luc didn't answer for a moment, then he said in a flat voice, 'Yes. Very.'

'You lied to me about your job, didn't you? You don't deal in stocks and shares.'

'Yes, I do,' he said. -

She swung then, her face angry. 'Dandy laughed when I asked him if you were a stockbroker.'

Luc's mouth flicked sideways in grim amusement. 'Did he, damn him?'

'What do you do? Who are you?' she insisted.

'I am myself,' Luc said calmly. 'That's all you need to know.'

'Are you a criminal? Are you a gangster like Chris?' she asked feverishly. 'I've let you talk me into leaving Chris, but what do I know about you?'

Luc surveyed her without speaking, his face taut and set. 'You don't know anything,' he agreed. 'You're going to have to take me on trust, Lissa. You've little choice.'

'Why won't you tell me anything about yourself?' she demanded in rising tones.

'Why should I?' Luc asked drily. 'If you can't bring yourself to accept me without some sort of affidavit for my character, you're going to have to grin and bear it.'

'I don't trust you,' she muttered hoarsely.

'So I see,' Luc drawled.

'You can't find that surprising!'

'You trusted Brandon until I made you see him as he really was,' Luc came back tightly.

'I've known Chris all my life. He's looked after me and cared for me.'

'And wanted you,' Luc said in a low harsh voice.

Lissa bit her lip and looked at the floor.

'You were ready to give yourself to him without knowing a damned thing about him. You can do the same for me,' said Luc, and her throat hurt as she swallowed.

She couldn't look up or answer. Luc waited, watching her,

'No comment?' he asked coolly. 'Very wise.'

'What comment do you expect me to make? A remark like that doesn't deserve an answer.'

His face was hard, his eyes narrowed. 'You came with me-you knew what that would mean.'

Lissa felt a shiver run down her spine. 'You offered to help me get away from Chris. I didn't realise you were putting a price tag on your help,' she said contemptuously.

Luc laughed grimly. 'Oh, you knew all right. You may be a little naive, but you aren't totally stupid. I made no secret of what I would expect, and you understood the situation, however much you may deny it now.'

'I might have known you were every bit as much a ruthless swine as Chris!'

'You might, indeed,' he drawled. 'Poor Lissa-what, a predicament!'

The unhidden mockery stiffened her spine. She glared at him, her eyes alive with anger. 'I'm glad you think it's so funny!'

He leaned against the cabin wall, his arms folded. 'You can always swim back to him. It isn't very far-around seventy miles, I suppose. But you're a good swimmer, aren't you? If the sharks don't get you, it won't take more than a few days.'

'Given a choice between you and the sharks, I might well prefer the sharks,' Lissa muttered through her teeth.

His blue eyes hardened. 'Ah, but I'm afraid you won't be given the choice. I've got you and I'm keeping you.'

Very flushed, she said furiously: 'You have not got me!'

'It's only a matter of time,' Luc pointed out silkily. He moved and she leapt back towards the door, her nerves jangling. Luc laughed, giving her a wry look. 'Don't get uptight just yet. I'm in no hurry. Love in the afternoon is a taste I've never acquired.' He opened the door and gave her a derisory little bow. 'After you.'

Lissa shot through the door like a scalded cat, Luc came after her and said lightly: 'I've got some work to do. Why don't you relax on the deck again? I'll see you later.'

She stayed on the deck, as he had suggested, but there was no relaxation involved. She was tense and disturbed as she watched the water creaming along in their wake. Once Dandy wandered up to talk to her, but most of the time she spent alone with her thoughts, and she did not enjoy them very much.

The sun went down with that abrupt and startling rush which always signalled nightfall. Dandy smiled at her as she came down into the cabin to eat the light, evening meal. 'Enjoying your cruise?'

She pretended to laugh. 'Very much.'

Dandy went out and Luc eyed her sardonically. He knew she was lying and the blue eyes told her as much.

When they had eaten and Dandy had vanished, Luc put a record on the turntable fitted into the wall of the cabin. Lissa nervously sat on the leather couch which, like the rest of the furniture, was stabilised so that it did not shift with the motion of the yacht.

'I'm rather tired,' she said huskily. 'The sea air, I suppose, I think I'll go to bed early.'

Luc sank down beside her, his arm sliding along the back of the couch behind her. 'That sounds promising.'

She sat upright, giving him an angry look. 'I've no intention of going to bed with you, Mr Ferrier, so you can forget it!'

He laughed. 'What an optimist you are!' His fingers had touched the edge of her sweater sleeve. They slid in under the cuff and stroked her wrist. It was a tantalisingly intimate little movement and the hairs on the back of her neck prickled with awareness.

' Brandon never even got to first base with you, did he?' Luc murmured, his body moving closer. Lissa tried to shift away, but he followed, his thigh pressing alongside her own. 'I felt quite sorry for him the night I followed the pair of you down to the beach.'

She threw him an accusing glance. 'I heard you lurking about in the trees.'

His mouth curled. 'Was that why you were so reluctant with him? He was going crazy and it was obvious you were keeping him at bay. Was that for my benefit?'

'I didn't know it was you. I just heard movements and then when we walked into you, I guessed you had been eavesdropping.'

'I was curious,' he admitted calmly. His hand was behind her head now, playing with her hair, twisting it round a finger and then releasing it.

'Curious about what?' she asked, feeling that fondling hand with extreme wariness.

'You,' he said with a wry smile. 'You were puzzling me. I couldn't make up my mind which image of you to believe. One minute you were blushing like a schoolgirl, the next you were on stage singing very sexy songs and giving the audience come-hither smiles.'

'I did nothing of the kind!' she burst out, glaring at him.

His fingers wriggled under her hair and lightly stroked along her nape, sending quivers of reaction down her spine.

'Stop that,' she whispered unsteadily.

Luc smiled at her, mockery in the blue eyes. 'Why should I? I'm enjoying it.' She began to get up and his arm fenced her between his body and the end of the couch, forcing her to lean back. 'Stay where you are,' he commanded, and her eyes fell away from his.

'Where was I?' he murmured. 'Ah, yes- Brandon. From what I overheard on the beach that night I gathered with some surprise that he hadn't yet managed to get you into bed.'

Lissa's face burned. 'Mind your own business!'

'I could see that Brandon was almost at the end of his tether. It was equally obvious that you were having no problems at all in resisting him. The poor devil had to work like mad to get as much as a kiss out of you.'

Lissa did not want to remember Chris's aroused excitement. She gave Luc a cold look. 'Can we change the subject?'

'No, we can't,' Luc said forcibly, 'I'm trying to get you to admit something and you're going to listen.'

'What do you want me to admit? That I didn't go to bed with Chris? Very well, I didn't, but it still isn't your business.'

'I don't need to be told you didn't, I was already certain of it,' Luc said curtly. 'No, Lissa. What you're going to admit is that you were never even tempted to give in to him.' He paused and she said coldly:

'So?'

'But when I made love to you it took me about five minutes to break down those barriers of yours.'

He was watching her intently as he said the last words. He saw the deep, betraying colour sweep up her face, the widened shock in the green eyes. Lissa hurriedly looked away from his scrutiny.

'Now didn't it?' he asked softly.

'You didn't give me much option,' she muttered, her head bent.

He laughed quietly. 'Don't lie. Brandon was equally insistent and it got him precisely nowhere. It never had, had it? That wasn't the first time he'd been going spare without so much as rousing a flicker in you.'

She drew a quick, harsh breath.

'That's why he had hung on so patiently, month after month, when he could have married you long ago. He knew damned well he wasn't getting to you. You said you loved him and there was nobody else around, but every time he touched you he knew you weren't feeling a thing.'

It was true. She had been alarmed rather than aroused, worried rather than excited, when Chris tried to make love to her. And Chris had known, of course. He was too experienced not to know.

She lifted her head and stared at Luc, frowning. 'Can we talk about something else? I just want to forget about Chris.'

'Not before you face facts,’ Luc insisted flatly. 'You were never in love with him. You may have thought you were, but it was just old affection. I don't want you carrying any images of Brandon around inside your head. He was a dangerous thug and if you'd married him you would have led a miserable life.'

'If I hadn't realised that, I wouldn't have left,' she said huskily.

'But you still haven't entirely faced up to it,' Luc retorted. 'Or you would never have come into the gaming rooms to kiss him goodbye. You had a romantic picture of him and even though you're disillusioned about him now, you still feel something.' He slid a hand under her chin and lifted her face. 'It was all an illusion, Lissa. Your subconscious knew that. That's why you would never let him make love to you. You didn't want him.' He drew a long, unsteady breath. 'But you want me.'

'No,' she said hurriedly, before his mouth closed demandingly over hers and silenced her.

Her heart began beating so fast she felt giddy. The yacht seemed suddenly to be going round in circles, making her head spin, her mind dissolve. Her ears were deafened by the rush and roar of her own blood.

The insistent pressure of his mouth, the slow caressing movements of his hands as they slid under her sweater and moulded her body softly between them, made her shudder in fierce response.

She tried to wrench her head away, but Luc's hand fixed it there while his lips forced hers to part and moistly invaded her mouth. Hating herself, helpless to do anything to halt her own response, she trembled in his arms. Her arms moved to enclose his head. She began to return his kisses with a heat which flew out of her control within minutes.

Luc's kisses deepened, heated, commanded more and more response. Lissa made no further attempt to halt him. When his fingers brushed lightly, coaxingly down her skin she moaned, her own hand tracing the arch of his back, tunnelling beneath his sweater, her fingertips feeling the tiny hairs, the flexed muscles, the bone and sinew beneath the smooth skin.

Her exploring fingers found a small scar marring the back of his shoulder and ran over it, following it. Luc lifted his head, his breath coming raggedly. 'A fight with a shark,' he breathed, laughing.

'Why are you so reckless?' Lissa groaned.

'It's my nature,' he told her casually. 'Take me as you find me, Lissa.' He paused and their eyes met. 'Are you going to take me, Lissa?' he asked in that husky, impeded voice.

He slid his hand gently up her body. She felt the cool trail of his fingertips on her breast and her body winced with a pleasure that was like pain. Luc outlined the high, soft peak with delicate brushes of his fingers. She closed her eyes, moaning, and heard him laugh under his breath.

' Brandon never made you feel like this, did he?' he asked as he took her mouth again, his lips hard and hot.

She had meant to fight, but it was like fighting life itself. Everything alive in her craved for what he was doing. She was only denying herself if she denied him.

His hands travelled down her again. She felt the zip of her jeans slide down and her body tightened. She pushed Luc's hand away, pulling her head back to exclaim angrily: 'No!'

His hand had slid inside her jeans before she could halt it again. Luc stroked her bare midriff and Lissa shook violently at the warm, intimate caress.

'No?' he whispered, smiling.

She closed her eyes. 'Please, Luc, give me time. You're rushing me.'

'I want to hear you admit you want me,' Luc muttered, his face buried in her throat. He kissed the throbbing pulse which was making it very clear how far he had aroused her. 'You never wanted Brandon, Lissa, but you want me.'

'Yes,' she moaned, giving up. the struggle to resist. It was taking all her energy, exhausting her. The tidal beat of passion had too much force in it and she was tired of struggling against it.

Luc gave a long, hoarse sigh of satisfaction. For a long moment he lay still, his lips at her neck, then he sat up and gave her an intent stare.

'Now look at me and let me hear you say that again,' he said in a quiet voice.

Lissa stared at him dazedly. 'What?'

'I'm not touching you now,' he pointed out, lifting his hands to show her. 'I'm not rushing you. Be honest, Lissa. When you came with me you knew what you were doing, didn't you? You weren't just walking out on Brandon, you were choosing me.'

Her eyes moved away; she swallowed painfully.

'Weren't you, Lissa?' he insisted.

'I don't know,' she whispered. 'Why can't you give me time to think? How do I know what I feel?'

'I could tell you,' Luc said drily, 'But I suppose you wouldn't want to hear.' He stood up and moved away. 'You'd better get off to bed.'

She didn't move, staring at the back of his head. Luc looked at her over his shoulder, his face set. 'Alone,' he expanded flatly. 'I've no intention of forcing myself on you tonight.'

With trembling fingers she zipped up her jeans, pulled down her sweater. As she stood up she swayed and Luc turned to support her.

'What's the matter, Lissa?' he asked mockingly. 'Feeling weak?'

She felt a flare of rage as she looked at the smile he was giving her. 'I'm tired,' she said, moving away from him.

'Oh, is that it?’

She didn't bother to reply to that. She made her way to the door and said flatly, 'Goodnight,' as she left the cabin.

She heard him murmur 'Goodnight,' and closed the door. Her own cabin seemed very small and very quiet. She undressed and got into her bunk. There was no sign of Fortune. Dandy must have him in-his quarters, she recognised, and guessed that that had been Luc's idea. His plans for the night had not included the presence of her dog.

Lissa turned on to her face and hated herself. Her few token efforts to resist him had been easily controlled. She had been a pushover for him. Why am I such a fool? she asked herself, and had no answer to give.

Chris's urgent lovemaking had merely worried her. Luc somehow managed to light a quick-burning fuse inside her every time he touched her.

How long would it take them to get to England? She had little money and she knew nobody in England. She was as much at Luc's mercy as she had been at Chris's. If Luc could beat down all her weak struggles in one evening, what chance had she got of holding out against him until they reached England? And even if she did, what was she going to do once she left the yacht?