and since it’s controlled by the surgeon in charge in effect it’s an extension of his hands, accurate and capable of working to the millionth of a degree. Although we do have a lot of support, as with anything new we also have a lot of detractors, people who say that government money would be better spent on more nurses and doctors; hence my concern to ensure that our backers aren’t frightened off. With my computer games division demoted to second place those who are against what we’re working on will be quick to use it to hold up the flow of funds we need to complete the development.’
For a moment Cassie was awed by what he had told her. Her own skill was something she took for granted; the large revenues it brought her in still sometimes overwhelming, but when all was said and done they were merely games. She felt humbled by what she had just heard and resentful of feeling humbled at the same time.
‘Joel …’ It was the first time she had ever used his name and she caught the faint flutter of surprise crossing his face. ‘I’ve changed my mind,’ she told him quickly, ‘I will let you take over Cassietronics.’
She was completely sincere in what she had said, believing that what he was working on was far more important than her own dislike of him, but the look on his face turned her humility to anger as he mocked tauntingly, ‘That soft, womanly approach has been tried on me by experts, Cassie, and without success. I learned one thing very young and that one thing was never trust a female. For all that you dress like a drab little sparrow you’re still a member of the female sex. Oh no, my dear, that won’t work. I do have the intelligence to realise what you’re up to you know. I turn round and drive you back to your office and the moment I leave you, it’s straight to Peter Williams … No … There really is no other way.’
‘You mean you’re prepared to sacrifice your freedom; to marry a plain drab little sparrow purely for altruistic love of your fellow man?’ Cassie flung at him bitterly, anger seeping through her as she came up against the brick wall of his masculine contempt for her sex. Who had taught him not to trust women she wondered and then dismissed the thought as a weakness she shouldn’t encourage. She didn’t want to know anything about this dark, powerful man. Already he had invaded her life to an extent that made her afraid; the less she knew about him personally, the safer she would be.
‘It will be a marriage on paper only,’ he replied coolly, ‘lasting perhaps only six months if things go according to plan. And as for giving up my freedom …’ His glance mocked her. ‘Why on earth should I do that? Unless of course you’re trying to tell me that you’re prepared to share your body with me as well as your company.’
Colour flared hotly in Cassie’s face as she heard his comment. He was making fun of her she thought bitterly. She knew how little he would want a woman like her; a woman who was neither attractive nor witty; a woman who was still really an inexperienced adolescent, far too unattractive to have ever caught his eye, if he hadn’t wanted her company.
‘I promise you I’d be a far better lover than Peter Williams …’ The soft, dulcet promise behind the words made Cassie’s anger burn hotter. He was playing with her, tormenting her all the time knowing that she was the last woman he would want in his bed.
‘Technically perhaps,’ Cassie agreed, marvelling at the cool derision she had managed to inject into her voice. The look of slight surprise dawning in the dark blue eyes as they studied her gave her the encouragement to go on, ‘But I happen to …’
‘Love Williams?’ Joel interrupted for her. ‘Why? Because he spared you a few kisses and caresses, and for all your brave talk my dear, I doubt it’s gone beyond that. You have about you a look of cool purity that I don’t believe is assumed. Does the cold virgin you’ve locked away behind the walls of your intelligence ever rebel, Cassie? Doesn’t she ever long to give herself freely and wholeheartedly to the heat of passion?’
His words, edged with scorn as they were, reminded Cassie of all the cruel barbs she had endured as an adolescent, almost without being aware of it she retreated mentally from him, escaping into that small corner of herself she kept hidden from the world. A look of cool dismissal informed the hazel wariness of her eyes, her body composed and outwardly relaxed as she said lightly, ‘You’re free to make whatever assumptions about me you wish—just as I’m free not to respond to them. I conceded that you’ve been very clever; that unless I want to destroy everything I’ve worked for I have to go along with your plans; to agree to this marriage, but I have no intention of living with you as your wife.’
‘Not in the fullest sense of the word perhaps,’ he agreed, startling her, ‘but I certainly intend that our marriage is seen to be completely normal for its brief duration.’
Cassie was stunned enough to demand huskily, ‘But why? You can’t possibly want …’
‘What I don’t want,’ he said ruthlessly cutting off her words, ‘is to become the butt of every City joke there is, and if you’re wise you’ll share my feelings. I’ll tell the press that it was a whirlwind romance—they already know I want to take over Cassietronics; romantically inclined as they are it will be an easy step for them to believe our romance began when I approached you with my takeover bid.’
‘And in six months’ time when the marriage is over?’ Why oh why did her voice sound so husky, so hurting somehow, as though already she dreaded the ending that was to come?
‘We’ll say it didn’t work out,’ he shrugged. ‘We’ll face that when we come to it …’
‘And all your …’ Cassie’s upper lip curled slightly in distaste, ‘women friends … Will they honestly believe that you preferred a drab little sparrow like me to them?’
‘What they believe isn’t important,’ he told her carelessly, with a monumental display of arrogance. His expression changed as he added curtly, ‘You seem to take a perverse delight in running yourself down. Why I wonder? A defensive mechanism perhaps, doing it before anyone else can do it for you?’
He saw too much; came too close to the truth. Desperate to change the subject before he probed any deeper she blurted out, ‘And once we are married? Where will we live … W …’
‘I shall continue to live in London—I have an apartment there.’ He frowned, and Cassie wondered what he was thinking. Of the pleasures he would have to give up for the six months’ duration of their marriage? When he next spoke his words shocked her into bitter anger; betraying as they did how far his ideas of how their marriage would work differed from hers.
‘I own a house in the Cotswolds—a small estate really. I thought you could live there. There’s plenty of space and all the peace and quite you need to work.’
‘In other words, discreetly out of your way,’ she said furiously, watching his mouth thin and his eyes harden as he turned towards her.
‘What are you trying to say?’ he asked her coldly. ‘That you want to share the apartment with me? That you want to share my bed? Was that the price you demanded from Peter Williams for your company? I wonder if Peter was as happy with the bargain as his father? He’s known to have a taste for glamorous blondes,’ he added cruelly, surveying her with open contempt. ‘Hardly your style, but then no doubt his father simply told him to close his eyes and think of Pentatons.’
The sharp sound of her palm connecting with his lean jaw shocked Cassie. She had never hit anyone in anger before in her life, and her face went white as she stared into navy-blue eyes, boring into hers, burning with a heat that made her shiver with fear.
‘If you ever do that again, I promise you I’ll hit you back,’ Joel told her thickly. ‘Apart from the fact that you could have caused an accident, I won’t tolerate a vitriolic woman.’
‘And I won’t tolerate being insulted the way you’ve just insulted me,’ Cassie choked back at him. How dare he suggest what he had just suggested? Her body burned with the humiliation of it.
‘Why all the emotion?’ he queried softly, ‘Is it because you think I could be right?’
Cassie didn’t