Chapter Eighteen

"Put me down!" Emma said.

"You choose to invite attention, lady--" he tried to ignore the low, throbbing ache that threatened to test his legendary self control. "--and now you have it". He strode to his car.

She weighed virtually nothing, he thought, as he all but thrust her into the car and delivered instructions to his driver in a clipped angry tone.

"Daniel... I'm not going anywhere with you" she said

"Be silent!" still seething, he shrugged out of his jacket for the second time that evening and dropped it on her lap.

"I don't --"

"Cover yourself" The ferocity of his tone shocked even him so he could hardly blame her for shrinking back in her seat. Her reaction shamed him because whatever his faults, he had never struck a woman and never would. He was a man who prided himself on his self control and yet at that precise moment he wanted to kill someone.

"You are