‘Only—’
‘Haven’t you?’ he demanded fiercely, his body taut.
He was in a dangerous mood, Kelly could tell that. And yet she didn’t care, feeling in a rather tense mood herself. ‘Yes, I have. What has that to do with you?’
He moved to shake her. ‘Who were you drinking with? Who, Kelly?’
‘M-Maggie,’ she faltered, his glittering eyes and bared teeth telling her of his knife-edge emotions. ‘I was drinking with Maggie,’ she repeated nervously.
‘Liar!’ he rasped. ‘You’ve been with some man this afternoon, haven’t you? Who was he, Kelly? What’s the name of your lover?’
She swallowed hard. ‘I don’t have a lover. I told you I don’t, that I never have had.’
‘You lied to me,’ he told her fiercely. ‘Did he take you to his home or to a hotel?’
‘I’ve been to Maggie’s!’ she insisted. ‘Honestly I have.’
‘I don’t believe you,’ he ground out.
‘But I have. Call her. Call her, Jordan,’ she suggested desperately, realising she had woken an anger inside him that she had never seen before.
His mouth twisted with bitter humour. ‘Call that bitch? You have to be joking! She’d tell me any old rubbish if she thought it would get to me. You’ve probably covered this alibi with her, anyway.’
‘No, Jordan,’ Kelly’s tone was almost pleading, his fingers biting painfully into her arms. ‘I really was with her.’
‘You’ve been drinking whisky—you never drink whisky.’
‘It was an accident. I didn’t realise—’
‘You’re lying to me, Kelly. Lying!’ He shook her again.
‘No, no, I’m not. Maggie gave me the whisky and I drank it without realising. I—What are you doing?’ she cried as he swung her up into his arms. ‘Jordan, where are you taking me?’ she demanded to know as he started to stride out of the room.
‘Upstairs,’ he told her grimly, a determined glitter to his eyes.
‘Up—? What for?’ She began to struggle.
The smile he gave wasn’t pleasant. ‘Why do you think?’ he taunted, walking easily up the stairs, even with her weight in his arms.
Kelly swallowed hard, more frightened now than she cared to admit. ‘No, Jordan,’ she pleaded, now realising his intent. ‘Not like this!’
‘Exactly like this,’ his teeth were bared in a threat. ‘I know of only one way of getting the truth out of you. Before I’ve finished with you I’ll have you begging to tell me where you really went this afternoon—and who with,’ he added tautly.
Kelly had never seen Jordan like this before, had never seen that wild glitter in his eyes, this hard unyielding anger that made her quake. And she had no doubt that while he might have liked to beat her his actual physical chastisement would come in a totally diffferent way from violence. Jordan intended making love to her until she pleaded for mercy.
CHAPTER SEVEN
JORDAN was dressing with jerky movements, his muscled back firmly turned towards Kelly as he sat on the side of the bed. Kelly resisted the impulse to reach out and touch that rippling flesh; Jordan’s mood was still an unknown quantity to her.
She lay beneath the sheet, the clothes she had been wearing until an hour ago scattered all over the floor where Jordan had thrown them. Kelly thought that
one or two of these garments would be damaged beyond repair—Jordan’s impatience had not allowed for buttons and catches.
What had followed this frenzied removal of her clothes had been totally unlike anything she and Jordan had ever shared before. Jordan had made love to her as if he physically wanted to hurt her, with none of his usual gentle arousal in evidence. In the end he had Kelly clinging to him unashamedly, eagerly telling him everything he wanted to know about this afternoon. Finally he had seemed to accept that her visit to Maggie was the truth, and took her with a fierceness akin to rape.
Kelly loved every second of his possession, knowing that while she loved him it could never be called anything as ugly as rape. But Jordan had turned away from her the moment their heartbeats steadied, and he was even now dressing to leave her.
‘Jordan…’ her voice was tentative.