Alex Ryder - Revenge By Seduction

Catriona looked at him in desperate, heart-thudding silence. Her hands, which up till now had been hanging helplessly by her sides, now made a feeble attempt to push Ryan away. Feeling the warmth and firmness of his flesh beneath the thin cotton shirt, she couldn’t help herself, and her fingertips played over the rippling sinews and muscles of his back.

“You want me, don’t you, Catriona?” he asked huskily. “I want to hear you say it.”

ALEX RYDER was born and raised in Edinburgh and is married with three sons. She took an interest in writing when, to her utter amazement, she won a national schools competition for a short essay about wild birds. She prefers writing romantic fiction because at heart she’s just a big softie. She works now in close collaboration with a scruffy old one-eyed cat, who sits on the desk and yawns when she doesn’t get it right, but winks when she does.

www.millsandboon.co.uk

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CATRIONA almost choked over a mouthful of coffee when she saw the picture in the morning paper. She clattered her cup down in the saucer and tried to stifle a groan. Well, there’d be no phone call now. That was one dream which would have to go into cold storage. Feeling sick at heart, she pushed her Sunday breakfast aside.

From across the table Madge regarded her through world-weary, morning-after eyes. ‘What’s wrong? Another scandal in high places?’

Catriona stared at the picture again. Oh, there was no mistaking that man! Tall, broad-shouldered and immaculately dressed. A rakish tilt to the dark eyebrows and a finely chiselled nose and jawline. The same genial smile on the wide, generous mouth.

For a moment her head spun and her heart thudded as she remembered how it had felt when he’d first taken her in his arms. She shivered as she recalled the delicious, nerve tingling instant his mouth had claimed hers…and later…when those strong, sensitive fingers had slowly begun to undress her…

She got a fierce grip on her emotions and murmured, ‘Nothing… It…it’s nothing, Madge.’

‘Huh! You’re acting pretty damn strange over nothing. Let me see that.’ She reached over and took the paper from her hand. After studying the picture, she read the text aloud. “‘Ryan Hind, the well-known, swashbuckling property tycoon, and Miss Diane ReesBoulter seen last night dining at Cardini’s in the West End. Diane is the latest in a seemingly unending line of attractive young ladies to be squired around the nightspots by London’s most sought-after bachelor. Can we look forward to the society wedding of the year in the near future? Don’t hold your breath.”’

She let the paper drop, then stared at Catriona in silence before raising her eyes imploringly to the ceiling. ‘Please don’t tell me that you’ve got yourself involved with that despicable excuse for a man! He’s every mother’s nightmare. I should never have gone on holiday and left you on your own.’ She heaved another sigh of sympathy. ‘Come on then, young lady. Tell me all about it.’

It was hard to believe how much of a fool she’d been, and even harder to admit it to someone else, especially Madge, who’d looked after her like a daughter. ‘I…I met him two weeks ago,’ she began in a subdued voice. ‘He…he was so charming…and before I knew it I’d accepted his invitation to dinner that evening.’ She toyed with her cup, reluctant to go on.

‘Well?’ asked Madge impatiently. ‘Then what happened?’

She drew a deep breath and took the plunge. ‘He sent a car round here to pick me up at seven-thirty. We had a wonderful dinner. Then he…he took me to his hotel and…and we spent the night together.’ She looked at Madge, her eyes pleading for understanding. ‘He was so kind and…and wonderful, and he made me feel that I was the most important thing in the world to him.’

She paused and swallowed the bitter taste in her mouth. ‘In the morning he was gone. There was a note on the bedside cabinet explaining that he’d had to leave early to catch the Paris plane but that he’d get in touch with me the moment he got back in a few days’ time. There was also a twenty-pound note for the taxi fare home.’ She swallowed once more. ‘I…I really did believe that he’d keep that promise to call me when he’d returned from France. And now…’ She pointed a quivering finger at the newspaper. ‘There he is as large as life with…with someone else!’

Madge shrugged. ‘So? Now you know the kind of creature he is. My advice to you is just to forget him. Believe me, you’re well rid of that rogue. He’s bad news.’

Catriona’s breathing became rapid and shallow as the full realisation began to slowly sink in. All those whispered endearments…the murmured promises and declarations of undying love…nothing but empty lies!

She clenched her fists as a cold rage gripped, then pierced her heart. For a moment she was too choked to speak, then she exhaled an explosive breath. ‘I’d never slept with a man until I met him! He took advantage of me and now he’s dumped and humiliated me! And you expect me to forget him!’ She managed to get herself under control, then laughed bitterly. ‘I suppose I’ve got no one to blame but myself. You’d think that at twenty-one I’d have more sense, wouldn’t you? Now I know what my mother meant when she warned me about coming to London.’

Madge stared at her in amazed disbelief, then reached for another aspirin, washed it down with a mouthful of black coffee, lit another cigarette, coughed harshly, and spluttered, ‘Are you telling me that you were a virgin? At twenty-one! My God! Were there no red-blooded men in that unpronounceable Scotch village you came from?’

‘Kindarroch,’ she muttered. ‘And the McNeils of Kindarroch never forgive nor forget an insult. If any of my kin ever find out what he’s done he’ll be deprived of the means of ever doing it to another woman.’

Madge gave a shudder. ‘Yes…quite… Well, it was some time back in the Jurassic age when I lost mine. He was the drummer in a rock band and I…’ She paused, then smiled wryly. ‘I’m turning into a boring old bag. I’ve told you all this before, haven’t I?’

Catriona nodded indulgently. ‘Yes, Madge, you have. I’ve heard every detail of your lurid past. No one could deny that you’ve led an interesting life. You should write a book about it some time.’

A scattering of ash spilled down Madge’s dressing gown as she laughed shrilly. ‘My dear girl, there are lots of people in this town who’d pay me a fortune simply not to write a book. But what the hell…I’m no tell-tale.’ She squinted at her through a cloud of smoke. ‘Mind you, I would have told you about Ryan Hind. Everyone in London knows about his reputation. I’ve even met him at a couple of those Chelsea bun-fights. Course, he never paid any attention to an old wreck like me.’

Catriona was still finding it almost impossible to accept the truth and her blue eyes looked at Madge in misty appeal. There was always hope, wasn’t there? ‘Are…are you sure about him, Madge? Is he really as…as bad as you say? I find it hard to believe. He seemed so sincere.’