“Hey, don't you start getting suspicious of me too!” William demanded laughing. “I've been meaning to come over and see you for weeks now. I would have been over earlier tonight, but I had to work late at the last minute. Perhaps it was as well I was later than I expected to be.”“Because of Declan?”“Yes. He's been very loverlike and possessive about his relationship with you. I've tried to talk to him several times about you, but Deck always changes the subject.”“Probably because there's nothing to tell,” Gemma evaded.“Oh, come on! You're the interest of the year in his crowd. Which is great, believe me. The girl to capture Declan Starr. That's no easy task, let me tell you.”“I wouldn't exactly say I've captured him,” she denied quickly. “We're engaged, yes. But an engagement doesn't mean that much nowadays.”     &nb

“Really?” Gemma countered.“Yes, you damn well are!”“After everything you just saw you still want me?”          He gave a tight smile, some of the tense anger seeming to leave his body.“I still want you, darling, and I still have to convince Marcus Warwick that I'm much too interested in my own woman to want his. They were the reasons for the marriage in the first place and they haven't changed.”          His grip tightened painfully on her arms.“But if I ever find you in another man's arms once we're married, I promise you our conversation will finish differently.”          There was a dangerous edge to his voice that told Gemma he meant exactly what he said.“Of course,” she said dryly.    

“W-waiting for me?” Gemma repeated breathlessly.          Declan stood up now and came towards her.“Mm-hmm,” he murmured. “Your glorious eyes were promising interesting things tonight… And I have no intention of letting any other man collect them.”“Promising interesting things?”          She held on to the towel that was in danger of falling off to reveal her body in all its naked glory.“You… you're quite mistaken, Declan Starr!”“I don't think so, sweet darling.”          He touched her pale cheeks.“You don't look well, Gemma. Have you been ill?”“No. I’ve been just fine, thank you very much,” she answered huskily, unnerved by his closeness.“Really? Not

“Gemma, please…”“I don’t want to be a baby about it… I just… I care about your family… I've met them… And I was… I am worried about all of them… about your father… about you...”          His grey eyes flashed angrily.“Do you think I didn't realize that?” he snapped. “You had told me most definitely... you wanted to know, so I came around to your flat.”          A terrible trembling started in her lower limbs. He was there… and she really called him ‘sweetheart’…“You… you did?”“Yes, Gemma,” Declan confirmed wearily. “It must have been three o'clock by this time. You'd already gone to bed. And you'd foolishly left your door unlocked,” he added sternly.&ldqu

          The trauma of the last couple of days took its toll on her and Gemma fell asleep in the chair. The sleep was just as drugged as the night before and she felt sure that the person hammering loudly on her door must have been doing so for some time before they finally woke her.          Gemma staggered as she stood up, pushing her wayward hair out of her eyes. A glance at her watch showed her it was almost seven o'clock in the evening, and the rumblings of her stomach told her that it was high time she ate.          She hadn't eaten anything substantial for two days and now felt weak with hunger. Another argument with Declan was the last thing she felt able to handle. But it wasn't Declan standing nervously outside her door, it was William, his brother.“Finally… I was starting to worry…” he sai