Authors: Jayne Castle
"Don't look so scared," Adam whispered, pulling her tightly against him.
"I'm not scared!" she protested, drawing her head back to face him angrily.
"No? Well, maybe you should be. Just a little," he said consideringly.
"Why? What can you do? If you threaten me, Adam Halleck, I'll..." Janna paused. She'd been about to say she'd tell his brother, but at the last moment inspiration struck. "I'll tell Lucy!"
Adam's rougish grin flashed for a second, making him seem very feral; very dangerous. Janna shivered in his arms and felt them lock more securely around her.
"Lucy," he explained gently, "already knows what I plan to do to you and she didn't raise a single protest. My brother guessed before I left town on Wednesday I think."
Janna drew upon all her courage to face him as bravely as she could. "Well? What is it you are going to do? It looks as if the victim is going to be the last to know!"
"Only because she insists on slipping away at crucial moments. If you'd hung around the front of the church a few minutes longer instead of rushing here, you would have heard what your fate was going to be!"
"You have no right to talk about...about punishing me!"
"No? Did you really think I'd let you get away with lying to me like you did?" Adam's tone was almost conversational but the green was nearly gone from his eyes. Only the steel remained and Janna felt herself recoil from the intensity of his glance.
"What about your brother? It was his idea! If you're set on punishing someone why don't you start with him?" Janna demanded bravely, no longer certain how she was managing to keep from stumbling. She knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that there was no escape from Adam's arms until he chose to free her. There was nothing for it but to keep dancing. The alternative was to cause a scene and after the one in front of the church, she didn't think she could stand another.
"Believe it or not, I understand why Nat did what he did. I even understand the fact that you allowed yourself to be talked into helping him. My brother has his own life to lead now, however, and I accept the reality of the marriage. I wish him the best and I have no interest in doing anything that would cause bitterness between us. But you, Janna Courtney, are different."
"Why?" she asked, feeling desperate. "If you're going to ignore Nat's role in the affair, why can't you ignore mine? I was just trying to help him!" Head back, Janna watched him with wide blue-green eyes, an unconscious pleading in her expression.
"I can't ignore your part in the matter because your life is going to become very closely meshed with mine and it's crucial that you realize I won't tolerate anything less than the truth between us!"
"That's ridiculous! We're never going to see each other again after this reception!" At least, she prayed they wouldn't, Janna admitted silently.
"No? What if I told you that the end result of your having gotten yourself mixed up in my brother's affairs was going to be marriage to me?" The words were soft, some of the rich, dark velvet back in Adam's voice but Janna stilled as if everything in the room had begun whirling around her and she must not move or be caught in the storm.
"Marry you!" she breathed, eyes narrowing in amazement and the beginnings of defiance.
"You're causing people to stare at us. More so than they were already!" he pointed out in a low tone. "Don't you think we'd better keep dancing? For myself, I don't particularly care, but I thought you might be embarrassed."
Janna ignored him and the glances that were being cast in their direction.
"I wouldn't marry you if you were..." she declared stonily, a deep sense of outrage sweeping through her as she stood there on the dance floor.
"Don't say it, honey. It's always mortifying to have to eat one's words," Adam advised, smiling with easy menace. With a little push he forced her back into motion. "However, your attempt at a passionate refusal does bring up the subject of your punishment again," he added as they moved automatically in time to the music.
"You just said my punishment was going to be marriage to you!" Janna bit out furiously.
"No I didn't. I merely wondered what you would say if I said marriage might be the end result of this affair. You, of course, met my expectations and started to go off like a firecracker. Knowing your reaction will make my vengeance all the sweeter."
"What are you talking about, Adam Halleck?" Angry and confused, Janna faced him, head tilted back to meet his eyes. She had the uncomfortable sensation he was toying with her.
"Your punishment for having lied to me, my haughty little queen, is going to be surrender," Adam spelled out slowly, distinctly and with obvious pleasure. "I am going to make you mine so completely that in the end you will plead to be allowed to live with me and share my bed. You will be willing to take me on any terms I choose to offer. When that time comes it will be pleasant to remind you of how you once scorned the idea of marrying me! Knowing in every corner of your mind and in every nerve of your body that you belong to me will be the price you pay for daring to play games with me, Janna. I shall look forward to the end of the punishment with great anticipation."
Janna simply stared at him, remembering after a few seconds to close her mouth which had opened slightly in utter astonishment. She couldn't believe her ears! Chaotic thoughts chased each other wildly through her head, flashing across the windows of her expressive eyes and revealing themselves to the man who watched her face so avidly. Desperately, she tried to pull herself together, summoning her courage and determination with every ounce of resolve she possessed. Adam Halleck was only another male. He didn't have any super powers which would enable him to carry out this incredible retribution, she reminded her poor, startled brain. He was angry at having been tricked, that was all. Any man as used to dominating people and getting his own way would have been equally furious. He might talk a threatening line now but there was no real way he could possibly carry out his threats!
But such threats! Some female voice in her mind protested fearfully even as logic insisted she had nothing of which to be afraid. If he were capable of demanding and obtaining her total physical and emotional surrender she would never recover from the pain of his rejection when he threw her love back in her face as she had once promised to do to him with his money. She knew it instinctively. To be caught up in a love affair with a man as demanding and possessive as Adam Halleck would be dangerous for any woman. But to allow oneself to be swept into it knowing in advance that revenge was the driving motive behind Adam's desire would be risking complete disaster!
But above all else, the rational part of her mind shouted, she had no intention of getting any more involved with Adam! Nothing about him was attractive to her, Janna told herself with great certainty. He wasn't anything like Scott Barrett so there was absolutely no danger from him! That thought cooled down her adrenalin-fed blood enough to let her glare at him in a challenging manner.
"I have never heard of anything so ridiculous in my life, although I will admit your childish desire for revenge doesn't surprise me in the least! It's a typical reaction from a man who's had his own way far too many times in life and who thinks women can be manipulated to suit the male of the species. I can tell you right now that you may as well get back in that big, white car of yours and head for San Jose. Any plot you're hatching against me that involves causing me to fall in love with you is doomed before it begins!" Taking strength from her own words, Janna went on in almost aloof tone:
"Tell me something, though. I understand the fact that you're upset about having been the last to know of your brother's wedding and I was resigned to the idea that you would undoubtedly yell quite a lot afterward, probably at me as I would be the only one within range. But what made you concoct such a crazy plan?"
Adam grinned down at her, apparently not taking any offense from her description of his domineering ways. The steel in his eyes was as strong as ever but there was another emotion there, too, one that Janna didn't completely comprehend. She wasn't at all sure she wished to know it, either.
"You really don't understand yet, do you?" The grin disappeared, leaving his mouth hard and determined while that look she had noticed in the depths of his eyes flickered closer to the surface.
"I want you, Janna. I've wanted you since I walked into that restaurant and saw you sitting with my brother, waiting to meet me. I took one look and knew that I was going to have you. I couldn't believe you thought yourself in love with Nat and after I'd seen the two of you together for a few minutes I realized there was no great passion between my brother and yourself. On the other hand," the grim line of his mouth softened at the corners as he guided her firmly across the floor, "it was very plain to see that you had everything I need in a woman. You're strong and proud and stubborn. And I know you're going to be capable of passion and fierce loyalty." His arms tightened as he searched her defiant face. "Of course, there is one last factor that was also immediately apparent!"
"What was that!" she hissed, barely able to speak because of the combination of fury and some other strong emotion she couldn't put a name to yet.
"You're exactly the right size for me! You fill my arms perfectly on the dance floor and in the front seat of my car." He gave her an outrageous smile which made Janna want to slap him. "Taking you to bed is going to be a very satisfying experience!"
It was too much. Janna lashed out at his shin with the toe of her yellow shoe, not making any effort to lessen the impact.
"How dare you talk to me like that!" she stormed, keeping her voice down with great effort as Adam drew in his breath sharply, his arms loosening their hold. She took advantage of the slackened grip to step backward quickly, turning to walk off the floor. But a hand reached out to snag her arm, halting her progress instantly and causing a few heads to turn curiously in their direction. Adam didn't haul her back into the dance, however, but guided her with agonizing power toward the champagne table.
"Only the desire to refrain from turning my brother's wedding into a farce is saving you from being turned over my knee and paddled until you can't sit down for a week," he snarled in her ear, reaching for a bottle and pouring champagne into two glasses while retaining his grasp on her arm. "I warned you once that you wouldn't escape lightly the next time you struck me!" He forced one of the glasses into her nerveless hand.
"You deserved it!" she protested fiercely, watching him to see if he was going to make a retaliatory move. Her only protection at the moment was Adam's desire not to embarrass the bride and groom and that seemed a rather flimsy defense. She could feel the temper in him and sipped her drink to hide her nervousness. He gulped down most of his own glass in a single swallow and stood regarding her with a hooded expression for a full minute. Then the highwayman's grin leaped into place and humor flashed in the grey-green eyes which were returning to their normal color.
"I did, didn't I?" he chuckled, letting go of her arm to lift her chin between thumb and forefinger. "The thing is," he went on conversationally, "you'd better get used to the way I talk. I'm a very direct sort of man, in case you haven't figured that out, yet. I say what I mean and don't bother to cloak it behind a lot of fancy innuendoes or philosophy. I've told you I want you and I meant it. When I juggled my entire work week around in order to be able to spend the weekend with you I told myself I'd offer you anything I had if you would come to me." Adam's expression took on a whimsical cast as he outlined what he had been prepared to give her. "I was ready to trade the car in on a foreign model, promise you that ticket on the first commercial flight to the moon, even marriage!"
Janna wanted to grind her teeth as his tone indicated just how generous he had planned to be!
"But," he continued, coldness replacing the warmth of a moment before, "after what I went through when I knocked at your door this morning only to find out from a" neighbor that you were at 'a wedding', I changed my mind! Oh, I still want you and I'll have you. But you need to be taught a lesson, sweetheart. I came to that conclusion during the wedding service as I realized I was going to have to cure you of your tendency toward outright defiance, to say nothing of this nasty habit of lying!"
"You can't do anything to me...!"
"I can and will teach you what it means to belong to me. And you'll surrender heart, soul, and body to me, without even the security of knowing whether or not I'll marry you. I swear it!" Adam's voice roughened in a frightening fashion. "Above all else, Janna, you will learn never to lie to me again. Between us there must be complete truth. I won't tolerate anything less!"
Janna felt her fingers begin to tremble around the champagne glass. Fighting for control she turned half away from Adam and set the remainder of her drink on the table. With every movement she struggled for a show of unconcern but the end result was a regal disdain which caused one of Adam's heavy brows to climb warningly as he watched her.
"Mr. Halleck," she began formally, feeling braver now that her movement had put some distance between them. "You are an uncouth barbarian who thinks he can have anything he desires and have it on his own terms. Perhaps your past history has given you cause to think that will alway hold true. If so, then you're the one who is about to learn the lesson, not I! I have no intention of allowing myself to be overwhelmed by you. Go try out your domineering, aggressive ways on some other woman. I happen to be looking for other things in a man than arrogance, egotism, rough manners and emotions as fleeting as sheer male desire!"