verstepped the mark.’
‘Because I dared to criticise your personality?’
‘No.’ His eyes were as hard as diamonds. ‘Because you wouldn’t do as I said.’
‘I’m sure you’re used to people bowing and scraping to you because you’ve got truckloads of money, but in my opinion respect has to be earned, not bought. And, just for the record, I don’t take orders and I won’t be bullied into obedience.’
‘We seem to be at somewhat of an impasse, Miss Archer, for I won’t apologise and you won’t take an order.’
Lily didn’t back down even though his look was long and steely and the set to his mouth determined. ‘It won’t matter come tomorrow. I’ll be leaving, as per your instructions. And, let me tell you, I’m very glad to be going. Glad, glad, glad. Ecstatic, actually.’
‘Of course you are.’ His top lip curled in that mocking way he had perfected. ‘You’ve been looking for an escape route from the first moment you arrived. I’m playing right into your hands by telling you to leave.’
Then why did it feel so wrong to be going? ‘You’re not my preferred type of client.’
‘Because I’m male?’
‘Because you’re arrogant and insufferably rude.’
The warm night air sizzled with electricity as his green-and-brown gaze held hers in silent combat. But it seemed much more than a simple battle of wills. Lily was intensely aware that the same water that surrounded and touched her body was surrounding and touching his. It added a level of intimacy that was disturbing and yet exciting at the same time.
‘Why are you wearing a T-shirt?’
The question coming out of the silence threw her for a moment. ‘I—I have very sensitive skin.’
‘The moon doesn’t have UV rays.’
She gave him a withering look as she folded her arms across her chest. ‘Ha ha.’
His eyes grazed the shape of her breasts and then narrowed as they came to rest on her forearms. His gaze came back to hers, dark and concerned. ‘What happened to your arms?’
Lily dropped her arms back down below the water. ‘Nothing.’
‘Doesn’t look like nothing to me. It looks like you got up close and personal with a razor blade. Did you need stitches?’
‘No.’
‘Hospitalisation?’
Lily compressed her lips. She didn’t want to talk about that time in her life. She didn’t want to have to explain why she had felt so compelled to do what she had done. She just wanted to put it all behind her and move on.
She had moved on.
‘Did you cut anywhere else?’ His voice was gentle now rather than judgemental, which totally surprised her. Disarmed her.
She let out a breath of resignation. She was leaving in the morning; he could think what he liked of her. ‘My thighs.’
He winced as if he had personally felt each and every slice of the blades that had marked her flesh. ‘What happened to you?’
‘I bled. A lot.’
‘Not when you cut.’ He frowned at her attempt at black humour. ‘What happened to make you want to do that?’
Lily put on her tough-as-nails face. ‘I was a bit messed up a few years ago. I took it out on myself. Not a great way of handling things, but still.’
‘Drugs?’
‘No.’