The Night That Started It All Read Online Free PDF Page B

felt an involuntary pang of alarm.
    Resisting an impulse to back against the wall, she stood her ground. ‘I know what you must be thinking,’ she said in a hurried murmur. ‘It’s not how it looks. I can explain.’
    ‘Of course you can.’ His voice was smooth as silk and laced with sarcasm. ‘You are engaged to my cousin.’ His eyes were hard and accusatory. ‘That was you in his apartment.’
    ‘Shh,’ she whispered, glancing towards the nearby dining room. ‘Yes, yes, it was me, but
no
, I’m not his fiancée. Not any more. The engagement, such as it was, has been broken for weeks. Months.’
    ‘Then how is it Emilie doesn’t know? Your sister-in-law?’ He looked incredulous.
    ‘Well … I—put off telling them. Rémy’s her brother, Neil’s
my
brother …’ She spread her hands. ‘Em has had difficulties with her pregnancy and … She’s so attached to Rémy, and any bad news is bad for her blood pressure. Rémy talked me into keeping quiet because he wanted to break the news himself.’ She grimaced. ‘He’s probably dead scared of some of the things I might tell them.’
    ‘What things?’ His dark eyes were stern.
    She glanced at him, then darted a glance towards the living room. ‘This isn’t a good place to talk. I’ll explain more when we’re alone.’ She slipped her hand into her purse and grabbed her mobile. ‘Do you have your own wheels, or shall I phone for a cab?’
    ‘A moment.’ He raked her with his eyes, then turned sharply away from her as if the very sight were deadly. He crooked an elbow over his eyes, shading them from some dangerous glow she emitted. His voice sounded as if it were being wrenchedfrom the centre of the earth. ‘This—
break-up
. Just how recent is it?’
    ‘I
said
. I
told
you …’ Her voice faltered a little. She could see where he might be headed with this. ‘Not that recent.’
    ‘
How
recent?’
    She started to feel annoyed at his tendency to fire questions like bullets. ‘Well, officially I gave the ring back a couple of months ago. Though by then it was well and truly on the rocks.’
    ‘“
Officially
”.’ He made mock quotation marks with his fingers. There was a definite snap in his voice that riled her. ‘What does that mean?’
    She glared at him. ‘Look,’ she whispered fiercely, ‘not that it’s anyone’s
business
, but he and I imploded almost at the start, only like a fool I kept on …’
    He swung about to impale her with his gaze. ‘Forget the excuses. Give me a straight answer. When was the last time you were together?’
    Her blood pressure rose. ‘Does that matter?’
    ‘It may not to some guys, but I have a strong distaste for screwing women who are still hot from my cousin’s bed.’
    She flushed. ‘I’m not
hot from his bed
.’ Her chest heaving with indignation, she added sweetly, ‘Though until a minute ago you could have said I was hot from your arms.’
    For an instant his eyes flared, then he concealed them behind his dark lashes. ‘When was the last time you saw him?’
    ‘Wednesday, okay?’
    ‘This week?’ His frown intensified, though his glance strayed to her mouth.
    ‘Yes. He was looking for his passport. He accused me of holding onto it after I threw his things out of the apartment. As if I would. He said he had to go to LA on the firm’s business.’
    A tinge of contempt touched his face. ‘
Vraiment
. So … did you give him the passport?’
    ‘I told you. I didn’t have it.’
    His dark eyes flickered over her, searching, suspicious. Itwas pretty clear he didn’t believe a word she said. The hackles rose on her neck. She was so
over
being insulted by the men in this family.
    ‘So,’ he said with maddening silkiness. ‘You sleep with a man on Wednesday, then you sleep with his cousin on Saturday.’
    She hissed in a long, simmering breath. ‘Only if his cousin’s very, very lucky.’
    The raw anger in her voice finally penetrated Luc’s brain. She wasn’t taking his