‘It’s too soon for any of this, Paul,’ she stopped him before he went any further, overwhelmed by his sudden change of heart. Not because she wanted any of what he was offering, but because he had always been so adamantly opposed to it before. His change of mind made her feel slightly off balance.
‘But I love you,’ he ground out.
She knew that he had to, otherwise he would never have come to her in this way after what she had said to him this morning. She knew he was a proud man, and that it must have taken a lot of effort on his part to come here at all.
And he had found her in Adam’s arms.
She couldn’t forget that fact, and felt mortified at the thought, hot all over at the memory.
But guilt and remorse couldn’t make her do something that would probably ruin all their lives. She had to be more sure.
‘And I love you,’ she told him quietly. ‘But, as you saw,’ she gave herself no mercy, ‘I feel something for Adam too.’
Paul’s mouth tightened. ‘If he wants a fight, he’s going to get one!’
‘I think you’ve already had one,’ she reminded heavily.
‘On the contrary,’ Adam drawled as he walked back into the room, the ice-pack held against his jaw. ‘I haven’t even begun to fight,’ he added tensely.
‘You think you’re so damned clever, don’t you?’ Paul rounded on him, his eyes glittering furiously. ‘Eve may be fooled by you now, but she’ll soon realise what you’re really like when you walk out of her life, leaving it in tatters!’
Adam faced him coldly, his gaze steady. ‘But I have no intention of walking out of Eve’s life, either now or in the future.’
‘But you’ll do it anyway,’ Paul scorned. ‘Once you’ve taken what you want.’
Dark blond brows rose menacingly. ‘And just what is it you think I “want” from her?’ he queried mildly, only the pulse in his cheek telling of his anger.
Paul’s mouth twisted, as yet unsuspecting of the other man’s fury. ‘Isn’t it obvious?’ he said disparagingly.
‘Not to me.’ Adam shrugged, still remaining deathly calm, although Eve could see he was becoming more coldly angry by the minute. ‘You see,’ he continued softly, nothing in his tone to betray the blow he was about to give, ‘I want Eve to marry me.’
To say Paul looked stunned was an understatement; he looked shattered, as if Adam had lethally dealt him the vicious blow he had been prevented from giving him earlier. All the breath seemed to be knocked from Paul’s body as he paled to a sickly grey colour.
Eve moved forward concernedly. ‘Paul——’
He shook off her concern, his attention all on the other man. ‘What did you say?’ he managed to choke, still that awful grey colour.
‘I said I want to marry Eve,’ Adam repeated calmly, the ice-pack discarded on the table. ‘And I resent the remarks you made implying that she could be seduced into a physical relationship with me.’ His eyes were steely.
Paul ignored the threat in the other man’s voice, turning to Eve now, groaning her name in questioning disbelief for what he had just been told.
‘I haven’t accepted him,’ she hastily assured him; Adam hadn’t exactly made a proposal yet, more stated it as a fact as he saw it. Which wasn’t necessarily the same way everyone saw it!
‘I should hope not,’ Paul gasped, outraged at the thought. ‘You’ve only known the man a few days, you know nothing about him!’
Thanks to Adam, the time before Paul arrived had been taken up with finding out more about him than some women perhaps learned in a lifetime with a man.
She felt she knew him rather well after that. And she could see by the mocking smile on Adam’s lips that he thought so too.
‘I’ve told you, Paul,’ she spoke more sharply than she intended because she was so conscious of Adam’s speculative gaze on them both, ‘I just need time to think.’ Without pressure from either of these two men, she might have added, but didn’t, because she knew them both well enough to realise it would do no good; they were equally strong-willed in their individual ways!
‘Well, I don’t intend to be far away while you’re doing it.’ Paul’s words were meant for Eve, but he continued to look challengingly at the other man.
‘It goes without saying that I’ll want to spend as much time with Eve as I possibly can.’ Adam met the challenge—and more! ‘After all, we have the New York exhibition to discuss in fine detail,’ he added with deliberate provocation.
Paul’s eyes narrowed to icy slits—as expected! ‘What New York exhibition?’ he grated.
‘Oh, hasn’t Eve told you about that?’ Adam feigned surprise. ‘In that case, just forget I ever mentioned it.’