She sat upright, giving him an angry look. 'I've no intention of going to bed with you, Mr Ferrier, so you can forget it!'

He laughed. 'What an optimist you are!' His fingers had touched the edge of her sweater sleeve. They slid in under the cuff and stroked her wrist. It was a tantalisingly intimate little movement and the hairs on the back of her neck prickled with awareness.

' Brandon never even got to first base with you, did he?' Luc murmured, his body moving closer. Lissa tried to shift away, but he followed, his thigh pressing alongside her own. 'I felt quite sorry for him the night I followed the pair of you down to the beach.'

She threw him an accusing glance. 'I heard you lurking about in the trees.'

His mouth curled. 'Was that why you were so reluctant with him? He was going crazy and it was obvious you were keeping him at bay. Was that for my benefit?'

'I didn't know it was you. I just heard movements and then when we walked into you, I guessed you had been eavesdropping.'

'I was curious,' he admitted calmly. His hand was behind her head now, playing with her hair, twisting it round a finger and then releasing it.

'Curious about what?' she asked, feeling that fondling hand with extreme wariness.

'You,' he said with a wry smile. 'You were puzzling me. I couldn't make up my mind which image of you to believe. One minute you were blushing like a schoolgirl, the next you were on stage singing very sexy songs and giving the audience come-hither smiles.'

'I did nothing of the kind!' she burst out, glaring at him.

His fingers wriggled under her hair and lightly stroked along her nape, sending quivers of reaction down her spine.

'Stop that,' she whispered unsteadily.

Luc smiled at her, mockery in the blue eyes. 'Why should I? I'm enjoying it.' She began to get up and his arm fenced her between his body and the end of the couch, forcing her to lean back. 'Stay where you are,' he commanded, and her eyes fell away from his.

'Where was I?' he murmured. 'Ah, yes- Brandon. From what I overheard on the beach that night I gathered with some surprise that he hadn't yet managed to get you into bed.'

Lissa's face burned. 'Mind your own business!'

'I could see that Brandon was almost at the end of his tether. It was equally obvious that you were having no problems at all in resisting him. The poor devil had to work like mad to get as much as a kiss out of you.'

Lissa did not want to remember Chris's aroused excitement. She gave Luc a cold look. 'Can we change the subject?'

'No, we can't,' Luc said forcibly, 'I'm trying to get you to admit something and you're going to listen.'

'What do you want me to admit? That I didn't go to bed with Chris? Very well, I didn't, but it still isn't your business.'

'I don't need to be told you didn't, I was already certain of it,' Luc said curtly. 'No, Lissa. What you're going to admit is that you were never even tempted to give in to him.' He paused and she said coldly:

'So?'

'But when I made love to you it took me about five minutes to break down those barriers of yours.'

He was watching her intently as he said the last words. He saw the deep, betraying colour sweep up her face, the widened shock in the green eyes. Lissa hurriedly looked away from his scrutiny.

'Now didn't it?' he asked softly.

'You didn't give me much option,' she muttered, her head bent.

He laughed quietly. 'Don't lie. Brandon was equally insistent and it got him precisely nowhere. It never had, had it? That wasn't the first time he'd been going spare without so much as rousing a flicker in you.'

She drew a quick, harsh breath.

'That's why he had hung on so patiently, month after month, when he could have married you long ago. He knew damned well he wasn't getting to you. You said you loved him and there was nobody else around, but every time he touched you he knew you weren't feeling a thing.'

It was true. She had been alarmed rather than aroused, worried rather than excited, when Chris tried to make love to her. And Chris had known, of course. He was too experienced not to know.

She lifted her head and stared at Luc, frowning. 'Can we talk about something else? I just want to forget about Chris.'

'Not before you face facts,’ Luc insisted flatly. 'You were never in love with him. You may have thought you were, but it was just old affection. I don't want you carrying any images of Brandon around inside your head. He was a dangerous thug and if you'd married him you would have led a miserable life.'

'If I hadn't realised that, I wouldn't have left,' she said huskily.

'But you still haven't entirely faced up to it,' Luc retorted. 'Or you would never have come into the gaming rooms to kiss him goodbye. You had a romantic picture of him and even though you're disillusioned about him now, you still feel something.' He slid a hand under her chin and lifted her face. 'It was all an illusion, Lissa. Your subconscious knew that. That's why you would never let him make love to you. You didn't want him.' He drew a long, unsteady breath. 'But you want me.'

'No,' she said hurriedly, before his mouth closed demandingly over hers and silenced her.

Her heart began beating so fast she felt giddy. The yacht seemed suddenly to be going round in circles, making her head spin, her mind dissolve. Her ears were deafened by the rush and roar of her own blood.

The insistent pressure of his mouth, the slow caressing movements of his hands as they slid under her sweater and moulded her body softly between them, made her shudder in fierce response.

She tried to wrench her head away, but Luc's hand fixed it there while his lips forced hers to part and moistly invaded her mouth. Hating herself, helpless to do anything to halt her own response, she trembled in his arms. Her arms moved to enclose his head. She began to return his kisses with a heat which flew out of her control within minutes.

Luc's kisses deepened, heated, commanded more and more response. Lissa made no further attempt to halt him. When his fingers brushed lightly, coaxingly down her skin she moaned, her own hand tracing the arch of his back, tunnelling beneath his sweater, her fingertips feeling the tiny hairs, the flexed muscles, the bone and sinew beneath the smooth skin.

Her exploring fingers found a small scar marring the back of his shoulder and ran over it, following it. Luc lifted his head, his breath coming raggedly. 'A fight with a shark,' he breathed, laughing.

'Why are you so reckless?' Lissa groaned.

'It's my nature,' he told her casually. 'Take me as you find me, Lissa.' He paused and their eyes met. 'Are you going to take me, Lissa?' he asked in that husky, impeded voice.

He slid his hand gently up her body. She felt the cool trail of his fingertips on her breast and her body winced with a pleasure that was like pain. Luc outlined the high, soft peak with delicate brushes of his fingers. She closed her eyes, moaning, and heard him laugh under his breath.

' Brandon never made you feel like this, did he?' he asked as he took her mouth again, his lips hard and hot.

She had meant to fight, but it was like fighting life itself. Everything alive in her craved for what he was doing. She was only denying herself if she denied him.

His hands travelled down her again. She felt the zip of her jeans slide down and her body tightened. She pushed Luc's hand away, pulling her head back to exclaim angrily: 'No!'

His hand had slid inside her jeans before she could halt it again. Luc stroked her bare midriff and Lissa shook violently at the warm, intimate caress.

'No?' he whispered, smiling.

She closed her eyes. 'Please, Luc, give me time. You're rushing me.'

'I want to hear you admit you want me,' Luc muttered, his face buried in her throat. He kissed the throbbing pulse which was making it very clear how far he had aroused her. 'You never wanted Brandon, Lissa, but you want me.'