Deceive Not My Heart (36 page)

Precisely how he was to repair the damage done by so rashly acknowledging her as his wife hadn't yet occurred to him, but he was certain that sooner or later he would think of something. And in the meantime he could take a certain pleasure in knowing that if he had entangled himself foolishly in their net, the scheme wasn't working out as his opponents had planned either.

The fact that Leonie had sought him out alone gave him a curious feeling of satisfaction. Her opening words increased the notion that perhaps at last there would be some plain speaking between them, and Morgan was torn between the fierce desire to have things out in the open and the bitter, galling knowledge that he wasn't quite prepared for her to leave his life.

Insolently, his eyes ran over her slim shape. No, not yet. She owed him something for all the trouble she had caused, and by God, before he was finished with her, she was going to pay dearly. If it was going to cost him a great deal of money, and he suspected it might, he was damned well going to get some pleasure out of it.

Thinking the silence had lasted long enough, Morgan finally made some comment to her earlier statement. A mocking smile curving the full mouth, he murmured, "Oh? I'm afraid I don't understand. I thought things were going along just fine... especially yesterday afternoon."

Leonie blushed a fiery red. Disliking him intensely, in a tight voice she said, "I did not come here to discuss what happened yesterday. It was, I realize now, a mistake. A mistake that will not be repeated, I assure you, monsieur!"

"But surely," Morgan purred gently, a dangerous glint in the blue eyes, "you don't intend to deny me the rights of a husband? After all, I am your husband, am I not?"

"And that is what we must discuss, monsieur!" Leonie said hotly, deciding she had been a fool to think even for one moment of loving Morgan Slade or remaining here as his wife.
Dolt!
she thought angrily to herself.
He is every bit as detestable as he was six years ago.
Aloud she said fiercely, "I never intended to remain here as your wife! My one reason for coming to Natchez was to receive the money you owe me... and for nothing else!"

"Ah. Of course, the money," Morgan murmured dryly. "I wondered when you'd finally bring that up."

Feeling as if she were dying inside, Leonie said with as much composure as she could muster, "I'm sorry if you think I have imposed too long on your hospitality before broaching the business between us, but you will remember, monsieur, that I mentioned it the first night I arrived in Natchez."

"So you did. Stupid of me to have forgotten. You made it quite, quite clear, didn't you?" Morgan's voice was harsh as he spoke, Leonie's every word only confirming his earlier thoughts. He
had
disrupted their plans, of that he was now certain, and growing impatient with the way things were going, they must have decided not to waste any more time before applying pressure on him to pay them the money they wanted. Furiously he wondered how many other men had been taken in by this scheme, coldly curious if any of the others had made any attempt to catch Leonie and her partner in their own trap. Somehow, he rather thought not... it was just bad luck on their part that they had finally chosen someone who
wasn't
going to play the game their way.

The green eyes flashing with rising temper, Leonie answered his question.
"Oui,
monsieur,
very
clear!" Adding scornfully, "There was no other reason for me to come here—we had promised not to interfere in each other's lives, if you will remember!"

Morgan's face didn't change, although Leonie noticed a muscle that jumped in one lean, dark cheek. His eyes were hard and contemptuous as they met hers, and sickly, she admitted that it was as if the past days had never existed, as if what had happened between them yesterday afternoon had never been. They were precisely where they had been that first night at the Marshall ball. All that was needed to make it even more agonizingly the same was for Morgan now to claim again that he had never married her, she thought with a wave of pain and anger.

But Morgan wasn't about to make that claim. No, he was beginning to think that he might not have made such a blunder as he had first thought. Accepting her as his wife had now put the pressure on her and the others, and he couldn't say he was displeased with the result. At least, he mused viciously, the little bitch is finally showing her colors. Ignoring her last statement, he asked bluntly, "And if I pay you this, ah, dowry, you claim I owe you, what happens then?"

Her throat aching with unshed tears, Leonie glanced away and replied in a low tone, "We will all leave." It was what she had wanted so desperately at one time, but now she was devastated at the thought of never seeing Morgan's dark, handsome features again.

"I see. It's a rather cold-blooded arrangement, don't you think? I pay you the five thousand in gold and then, you disappear. Your marriage vows certainly don't mean very much to you, do they?" he snapped.

Leonie's head jerked up at that, hot rage singing through her veins.
"Non,
monsieur, they do not! They never have! And at one time, they didn't mean very much to you either. You were certainly willing to agree to everything I asked—and you admitted that marriage was not what
you
wanted either! It was to be for our mutual benefit, but so far," she finished angrily, "I think you, monsieur, are the one who has had the benefit. And if you do not pay me the money within the week, then I shall be forced to seek out a magistrate and put the entire matter in his hands!"

"Why, you little bitch!" Morgan burst out explosively. Rising from the desk in one dangerous movement, his fingers closed punishingly around her slender arm and he jerked her body up next to his. "Don't overplay your hand, madame," he snarled softly. "Push me too hard, too quick, and you're likely to get much more than you bargained for!"

"I want nothing from you!" Leonie spat furiously, clawing at the steel-fingered hand that held her arm captive. "I want only what is rightfully mine, and I will do anything to get it!"

Her body was warm against his as she struggled wildly to be free of his grasp, and to Morgan's astonishment, even as enraged as he was, as disillusioned and contemptuous of her as he was, he felt his own body instantly react to the nearness of hers. Her features were flushed and angry as she glared up into his face, but Morgan thought she had never seemed lovelier. His eyes going irresistibly to her mouth, he said thickly, "Anything, sweetheart? Even submitting to the embraces of your husband?"

"Non!"
Leonie retorted hotly, twisting helplessly in his increasingly painful hold. "I am not a whore to be bought, monsieur! The money is mine and you must repay it! You must!"

"Perhaps I will... someday," he muttered under his breath, "but first, I intend to discover again exactly what it is I will be paying for."

Reading the intent in the glittering blue eyes, Leonie fought even more fiercely, her free hand balling in a fist and striking his shoulder repeatedly. But Morgan was too determined to taste the sweetness of that soft, provocative mouth again to be deterred, and almost cruelly his other hand tangled in the tawny curls, holding her head steady as his lips found hers. A shudder shook her body at the touch of his mouth against her lips, but stubbornly, unwilling to surrender to the traitorous flame of desire that swirled through her body, she kept her mouth tightly closed and refused to let him deepen the kiss.

Morgan was aware of her resistance, and his fingers tightened painfully in the golden-brown mass of hair, forcing Leonie's head further back.

"Open your mouth to me," he said huskily against her lips. "I want all of you. I want the taste of you on my tongue, the scent of you in my nostrils..." Lightly his mouth slid down the white column of her throat, planting fiery little kisses wherever it touched, and stopping at the base of her throat, his tongue gently moved against that spot where her pulse pounded madly despite her determination to remain unmoved. Feeling that betraying movement and aware of how his own body suddenly ached with the need to join with hers, he muttered against her skin, "A moment ago we were at each other's throats, but now that I have you in my arms, I find that all I want is to share what we had yesterday, to have you naked against me, to feel your breasts against me, and to have your body filled with mine."

Leonie trembled at his words, the images they conjured up too powerful and erotic to resist. With a small sigh of defeat, when Morgan's mouth again sought hers, she denied him nothing, the soft lips opening helplessly under the demanding force of his.

Morgan kissed her deeply, his tongue exploring her mouth, deliberately exciting both of them, deliberately arousing the primitive passion they had shared yesterday. There was no longer any need to hold her head captive, and his hand cupped her breast through the soft fabric of the yellow gown, his thumb moving rhythmically over the nipple until it was hard and throbbing under his touch.

The sharp rap on the door, as well as Dominic's voice demanding entrance, was like a douche of icy water effectively destroying their increasing intimacy. Leonie froze in Morgan's embrace, and with a muffled curse Morgan reluctantly released her. A crooked smile on his face, he murmured, "Perhaps it's as well my brother is tactless. Another few minutes and I'm certain he would have interrupted a far more embarrassing scene."

Flushing scarlet with shame, Leonie would not meet his eyes and said painfully, "Monsieur, this changes nothing between us. Now is not the time for us to talk, but we must straighten things out between us before much longer."

Dominic knocked again louder, and with a frown of annoyance crossing his dark features, Morgan snapped, "Come in, Dominic, for God's sake! Don't just keep pounding on the door!" Glancing back at Leonie, the passion that had ruled him only a second ago gone as if it had never existed, he said coldly, "I don't think anything can be settled between us with mere conversation. And certainly, the current situation is not going to be resolved either swiftly or easily. So resign yourself, my dear, to several more weeks of being my wife!"

Leonie would have refuted that statement hotly, but Dominic walked in and the opportunity was lost. Throwing Morgan a fulminating look, she made some brief remark to Dominic and promptly left the office, her anger very apparent.

Dominic looked after her thoughtfully for a minute and then at his brother. "Interrupted something, did I? I thought it took you a hell of a long time to answer the door."

"Oh, shut up, Dom, I'm in no mood for your teasing," Morgan snapped irritably, his eyes on the door Leonie had just flounced through.

"Excuse me! Shall I return at a later time when your highness is in a better mood?"

Morgan laughed reluctantly, and a hint of apology in his blue eyes, he said honestly, "I'll admit I'm in the devil's own temper, but it has nothing to do with you. And I'm a boor to snap at you so. Forgive me?"

Dominic waved a careless hand. "Nothing to forgive. But if I have come at an inconvenient time, I'll come back later."

"No." A grin on his face, Morgan added, "Better you came when you did than five minutes later—then, I would have cheerfully murdered you for intruding."

"Ah. Like that, was it?"

"Yes, like that," Morgan said flatly, his grin fading. Seating himself again on the corner of the desk, he asked, "What can I do for you?"

"Nothing really. No, that's not true," Dominic admitted reluctantly, shooting Morgan an uncertain glance. "I want to have a conversation with you... about your marriage."

Morgan cocked an inquiring eyebrow at him. "Oh?"

Not meeting Morgan's gaze, Dominic walked over to the doors that led to the small courtyard and said, "Been doing a lot of thinking the past few days. Thought about all the things I know about you, and a couple of things hit me between the eyes."

He hesitated as if searching for words, and gently Morgan prodded him. "And what precisely is it that has, ah, hit you between the eyes?"

Encouraged, Dominic said,"Never knew you to lie before. Never even knew you to tell a half-truth. And I've begun to think that while you may not have been lying the night of the Marshall's ball, you sure as hell have been lying through your teeth these past days." Throwing his brother a challenging look over his shoulder, Dominic added, "Don't ask me how I know, or why I now believe you really didn't marry Leonie, but I've a gut feeling that you're running some kind of rig... playing for time or something."

An admiring expression on his face, Morgan said lightly, "Why Dominic! You positively unman me!"

Dominic scowled. "Don't play games with me, Morgan! I might have been confused at first, everything happened so damned quick. But once I really began to think about what happened, I'd swear on my life that you'd never seen Leonie before she exploded like a cannon right underneath your feet that night!"

"And?"

"And, damn it, I want to apologize for not believing you, and also, to tell you that
whatever
the game is, I want to be dealt a hand. A man can always use an ally when his back is against the wall."

Morgan regarded him intently for several seconds and then admitted, "You're right, I could use an ally. God knows it's been difficult lately pretending to be content with the way things have worked out." His face hardening, Morgan said in a harsh voice, "On my honor, Dominic, such as it is, I never laid eyes on Leonie Saint-Andre until Gaylord Easton brought her up to us. And I sure as hell never married her or fathered Justin."