Annie's Secret. Кэрол Мортимер

had—was turning into her worst nightmare.

      His mouth tightened. ‘Humour me, Annie.’

      ‘I have a feeling that far too many women have already done that!’ she retorted.

      He gave a rueful smile. ‘Perhaps.’

      Annie sighed her frustration with his obvious intractability. What should she do for the best? Should she tell Luc about Oliver or not? Not to tell him now that she had met him again seemed cruel to both Oliver and Luc, but at the same time Annie feared what Luc might do once he knew he had a three-year-old son.

      She sighed again. ‘OK, Luc, I’ll have dinner with you this evening—on two conditions,’ she added swiftly as she saw the triumphant glitter in the depths of those coal-black eyes. ‘One, that I be allowed to leave when I want to.’

      ‘And if you wish to leave as soon as you have arrived?’

      ‘I won’t.’ She doubted she would be allowed to leave if she decided to tell him about Oliver!

      ‘How can I be sure of that?’

      ‘I don’t lie, remember?’ she pointed out.

      ‘Very well, I agree to your first condition.’

      She looked at him from under long lashes. ‘Two, we dine in the hotel restaurant and not your hotel suite.’

      He smiled mockingly. ‘You are…nervous at the thought of being alone with me?’

      Nervous didn’t even begin to describe Annie’s feelings of apprehension concerning spending more time with him. She was only agreeing to have dinner with him at all because she already knew this older and harder Luc well enough to realise this situation needed closure. One way or another.

      Besides, if she should decide to tell Luc about Oliver during dinner this evening, then Annie knew that the whole of the Balfour family would rise up protectively at any attempt by Luc to take Oliver away from her.

      ‘Not in the least,’ she denied easily as she turned to pick up her towel and bag. ‘I merely believe in the safety of numbers.’

      ‘So you are nervous of being alone with me,’ Luc drawled.

      ‘No, I’m not.’ She flicked back her shoulder-length hair as she turned to meet his gaze unflinchingly. ‘I’m merely hoping that the fact there are other people around—as there are now—will prevent me from giving in to the temptation I have to slap that look of satisfaction off your arrogant face!’

      Luc gave an appreciative grin at this fiery response. ‘I will very much look forward to seeing you again at eight o’clock this evening, Annie.’

      ‘Well, that makes one of us, I suppose!’ she said smartly before turning to stride determinedly up the beach back to the hotel.

      Luc remained standing where he was for several minutes after Annie had disappeared inside the hotel, his eyes narrowed in thoughtful contemplation. He had known her before. Intimately. So very intimately. And she had known him just as intimately.

      The resentment and anger he had sensed in her this morning now made complete sense. The apprehension he had read in her expression a few minutes ago, almost a look of fear, did not.

      What could she possibly have to fear from him?

      Could it be that, like Luc, she grew hot at the memory of that night they had spent together? That she became aroused at the thought of the intimacies they had shared? That no matter how she denied it, they might share those intimacies again?

      Or could Annie’s wariness of him be for another reason entirely…?