‘What are you saying?’ she demanded when she could speak, her voice cracking. ‘If this is your idea of a joke.’
‘It is no joke, I can assure you.’ Unlike hers, Luc’s voice was crisp and coldly assured.
‘My people are in almost hourly expectation of hearing me announce my marriage,’ he added grimly when she was unable to control her expression. ‘There has been a good deal of gossip and public speculation on the subject, and they will naturally feel cheated now if I disappoint them. They believe that it is time for me to take a wife.’
‘They are expecting you to marry Maria,’ Carrie reminded him numbly.
‘Who I marry is not of any real interest to them,’ Luc returned with breathtaking arrogance. ‘What concerns them is that I do marry!’
‘Maybe so. But you are not marrying me,’ Carrie told him fiercely, thankful to discover that she was beginning to recover from her initial shock.
‘Oh, but I am, Catherine. As I have just told you, my people are expecting an imminent announcement that I am to marry. As you know, this is a very traditional country, and its older generation have certain fixed beliefs and expectations. They already feel that their values are being threatened by the younger people of S’Antander who, like all youth, believe that the only way of making progress is to dismantle that which previous generations have set in place.
‘I am currently engaged in some extremely delicate and protracted negotiations, involving not only the views of these opposing groups within S’Antander but also the views of our “guest” residents, whose financial input into the country is not merely a valuable asset but also a necessity without which it would be impossible for us to fund such things as the extremely high standard of health care and education our people receive. My marriage will reassure the older generation that customs that are important to them are being respected and at the same time send a clear message to everyone else of my own commitment to my country and its future.’
Carrie stared at him in contemptuous disgust.
“No wonder Maria preferred to marry my brother. He might not have your wealth, or your position, but at least Harry is human, with human feelings and reactions. Not cold and calculating, like you.’
‘I think you’ve said enough. In fact, I think you’ve said more than enough.’
Carrie could almost feel the steely implacability of his will-power reaching out to surround her, but stubbornly she refused to give in to it—or to him.
‘I’m not an awestruck teenager any more, Luc,’ she warned him. ‘If you want a wife, then find someone else. You can’t make me marry you!’
‘No?’ The look in his eyes sliced straight into her heart. ‘I have recently heard some interesting things about your oh, so wonderful brother, Harry. Tell me? Are you still as protective of him, as devoted to him? Still as ready to fly to his defence? Of course you are.’ He answered his own question tauntingly. ‘Otherwise you wouldn’t be here, would you?’
Without allowing her to answer he continued, ‘He works for a merchant bank, I believe? Would it surprise you to know that he’s been taking some very dangerous risks with the bank’s clients’ money? That he’s been on the verge of making some very bad decisions? No, of course it wouldn’t, would it?’ he mocked softly. ‘Not a devoted, caring sister like you! You were the first person he turned to when he realised the mess he was getting himself into, weren’t you?’
Carrie felt as though her vocal cords had completely seized up. Unable to respond, or refute his savage indictment, she could only listen to him in growing shock and discomfort whilst an icy fist of fear embraced her insides. No one, but no one—apart from herself—could possibly know about the problems Harry had been having, the danger he had been in. But somehow Luc knew! Did that mean that he also knew…?
‘How fortunate for him that he has such a devoted and clever sister there, not only able but also willing to help him out of a mess of his own making. A sister, moreover, who was prepared to risk her own career and professional reputation to do so. Because that is exactly what you did, isn’t it, Catherine.’
‘I don’t know what you mean.’ At last she had got her voice back, but Luc was quite plainly unimpressed and unconvinced by her immediate denial.
‘Liar!’ he told her. ‘You know exactly what I mean. Harry got himself into a mess and you got him out of it by advising him on what shares to buy to undo the damage he had done.’
Carrie looked away from him. How on earth had he managed to find out about that? She had sworn Harry to total secrecy, too shocked and worried for him when he had shamefacedly told her what had happened to be able to refuse to help, even though…
‘He’s my brother,’ she responded woodenly. ‘Naturally I wanted to help him.’
She hated the look of cynical satisfaction she could see in Luc’s eyes.
‘Even if in giving him that help you were guilty of insider trading?’ he challenged softly.
Carrie heard her own audible indrawn breath of anguished despair.
‘No, that’s not true,’ she protested ‘It wasn’t like that. It wasn’t insider trading at all. I—’
‘Not in your eyes, maybe, and perhaps not under the strict terms of the law. But, as I am sure you will agree, Catherine, in the right hands and with the right kind of publicity—or rather in the wrong hands and with the wrong kind of publicity—what you did could be made to look very bad indeed for you. For starters you’d probably lose your job and your professional status, and without you to rely on your little brother would certainly lose his. I could quite easily destroy you both, Catherine.’
‘You’d do that? But what about Maria? Or is it Maria you really want to hurt?’ she demanded.
‘Certainly not! My proposed marriage to Maria was a diplomatic arrangement, not a love-match. She is the last person I would want to hurt in any way. As a matter of fact I am extremely fond of her, more than enough to keep a watchful eye on your young brother. If he does anything—anything—to hurt her or make her regret her decision to marry him—’
‘You say that, and yet you’re the one who is threatening to…to lose him his job,’ Carrie reminded him fiercely.
‘And you are the one who has the means to make sure that I do not,’ Luc reminded her smoothly. ‘The decision is yours, Catherine.’
Carrie stared at him. The room was warm, but she felt as though she were encased in ice. She could feel the coldness seeping into her bones, dripping through her veins, as deliberate and insidious as Luc’s threat to compromise and ultimately ruin her brother!
‘You would do that?’
All the horror and disgust she felt was in her voice, but Luc seemed impervious to it.
‘I am glad to see that you do not question that I can do it, Catherine. That shows an admirable grasp of reality. What would be even more admirable would be for you to show an equal grasp of the inevitability of our closer relationship. Don’t worry. No one expects a modern marriage to last for very long. I am sure I shall very quickly realise the error of my ways in marrying you and we shall be free to go our separate ways.’
‘You’re threatening me with blackmail!’ Carrie accused him, adding darkly, ‘There’s a law against that kind of thing.’
‘You seem to forget,’ Luc returned in an ominously silky tone. ‘In S’Antander, I am the law!’
‘You’re despicable!’ Carrie told him, her voice thick with loathing.
‘The choice is yours,’ Luc told her calmly. ‘Either you agree to marry me or your brother—’
‘You know I can’t do that to Harry. I have no choice,’ Carrie told him bitterly. ‘You haven’t changed, have you, Luc? I can’t