The Platinum Collection: An Australian Conquest. Emma Darcy

nineteen. How did you manage?’

      ‘I was at business college so I could be home quite a lot. Lucy dropped out of school to look after Mum when I couldn’t be there.’

      ‘Did she pick up her education again at a later date?’

      ‘No.’ Impossible to explain that school had never been easy for Lucy. She didn’t like people knowing about her dyslexia. ‘She didn’t want to, didn’t need it to get work.’

      ‘But without qualifications...’

      ‘Lucy is adept at winning her way into jobs.’

      ‘While you’re the one with the steady career. That’s why she calls you her anchor.’

      Elizabeth heaved a sigh. ‘This is a weird conversation to be having when we’re supposed to be enjoying a night of sexy fun, Harry.’

      ‘Oh, I don’t know. I’d call this an intimate conversation. We have all night to get to physical intimacy. We’ve been on the fringes of each other’s worlds for two years. I think I know Elizabeth fairly well—’ he rolled his head towards her, giving her his quirky smile ‘—but I want to get to know Ellie tonight.’

      ‘That’s yesterday, Harry. My childhood,’ she pointed out. ‘It’s not living in the moment.’

      The blue eyes gathered the piercing intensity that always gave her discomfort. ‘Ellie is inside you right now,’ he said softly. ‘She’s the foundation of the woman you are. She directs your life.’

      ‘That’s ridiculous!’ she protested.

      ‘Is it? You’re the older child, the one who helped your mother, the one who protected your sister, the one who carried the responsibility of arranging everything when your mother was ill, when she died, the one who wants a man in her life who will never do to her what her father did to her mother, to his children.’

      He was digging at her again—digging, digging, digging! In a burst of frustration, Elizabeth swung her legs off the lounge, sat up straight and glared at him. ‘I did not come up here to be psychoanalysed, Harry.’

      He swung his legs down to the deck in a more leisurely fashion, his eyes holding hers in glittering challenge. ‘No, you didn’t. Ellie wanted to break out of the Elizabeth cocoon and fly free for once, didn’t she?’

      She hated how he could connect everything up and be so damned right about everything! It made her feel naked in far more than the physical sense. In a purely defensive action, she snatched the bottle of champagne from the ice bucket, intending to refill her glass.

      Harry took it from her. ‘Allow me.’

      She did, letting him pour the champagne, though it made her feel he was taking control away from her, which wasn’t how she’d planned to have this encounter with Harry. ‘Do you probe into the lives of all your one-night stands?’ she asked waspishly.

      He cocked an eyebrow at her. ‘What makes you think my life consists of a series of one-night stands?’

      ‘The way you flirt. Michael said you flirt with every woman. It isn’t just me.’

      ‘Flirting can be fun. It can be enjoyable to both parties. In a way it’s a search for that magic click which will lead to bed, but that doesn’t happen very often. When it has, I can’t recall one instance when it only lasted for one night. You’ve assumed something about me that isn’t true, Ellie.’

      ‘Well, this is only going to be for one night,’ she insisted, needing to regain the control that seemed to be sliding out of her grip.

      ‘Why?’

      ‘Because...’ She floundered, not wanting to say the whole idea had erupted from the fact his brother was going to be here with her sister and she hadn’t really looked beyond that painful circumstance. ‘I just don’t want to get heavily involved with you, Harry,’ she said evasively, wishing he would simply accept what she’d offered him.

      ‘Why not? You think I’ll let you down?’

      Yes was on the tip of her tongue but he didn’t give her time to say it.

      ‘Did I let you down when you needed to cover up your distress over Mickey attaching himself to your sister? Did I let you down when you needed an escape from them? Have I let you down in fulfilling your requests this week, meeting what you wanted? Haven’t I shown I care about how you feel, Ellie?’

      She couldn’t deny any of that, yet... ‘It...it fitted into your own agenda,’ she blurted out.

      ‘Which is?’ He bored in.

      Her head was spinning from the pressure he was subjecting her to with all his questions. She had to seize on the one point she was certain of, drive it home. She set her glass on the table, stood up, challenging him to get on with what he’d been aiming for all along.

      ‘Having me like this! Accessible!’ She threw the words at him. ‘So why don’t you stop talking and take what you want with me?’

      * * *

      Anger burned through Harry. He’d tried to reach out to her, tried to find a special meeting ground with her. She just kept closing her mind, shutting the door on him, keeping him out. He set his glass down, rose to his feet and hurled her confrontation right back in her face.

      ‘You want to be treated like a piece of meat instead of a woman I care about? Fine! Just stand there and let me oblige!’