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‘My apart the lift

It whisked them upwards so swiftly that Chelsea felt that she had left her stomach behind She enty-six, she reed from its claustrophobic confines, and this wouldn’t be the first time she had had to fend off unwanted advances; and it probably wouldn’t be the last Shrugging aside the tiny inner voice that warned her that Slade Ashford was different, she allowed him to usher her into a sht she had a brief ily effective faux-marble walls in rich brown and cream, one of them mirrored to add to the illusion

‘Nother expression ‘I needed a place in a hurry and this one was vacant I believe the previous oas a businessman who let it to a… friend’ His voice was expressionless, but thewas plain nonetheless, and Chelsea suppressed a sudden shudder as she conte Darren’s little ‘friend’, his kept mistress

‘Living roo another door

It was decorated in varying shades of pale blue and grey; with expensive silk-covered settees, and a thick pile carpet, and Chelsea wondered if it was ination which made her think that despite its luxury this wasn’t a happy place

‘I’ll take your coat Make yourself at hoet us both a drink’

This was the moment when she should tell him that she wanted neither a drink nor his coone before she could speak She would tell him when he came back, she decided Fortunately they weren’t very far from her own flat, and if he refused to take her ho when he returned, and her first intier alone ca her round to face him, his expression hidden from her as he bent his head and touched his lips to the soft flesh swelling above the top of her dress, following the line of gold glitter

‘Opiuainst her skin ‘Tell me, is all of you as deliciously scented as this bit?’

‘Let o!’

The persona she had assu with anger and fear as she pushed ineffectively at his hard shoulders

‘Don’t you think it’s a little late to play hard to get?’ he laughed sardonically ‘You should be honoured I don’t nor about you…’

‘I asked you to give ed on a choked whisper

‘Maul?’ His expression was ugly as he raised his head and looked at her ‘Believenow pale into insignificance—and don’t bother starting to cry rape There’s not a court in the land that would uphold such an accusation after the way you’ve been putting yourself about tonight—in front of witnesses too!’

Sickness crawled through the pit of Chelsea’s sto to do?

‘Look,’ she began desperately, ‘there’s been a mistake…’

‘Indeed there has,’ Slade agreed softly ‘I don’t knohat your gauess However, this tieon for the plucking, and perhaps it’s tiood at offering—and then withdrawing’

Panic clawed at her She wanted to scream at hiht but she kneith complete certainty that he wouldn’t believe her

I for the door, but she had barely moved a yard before she was stopped and lifted up bodily

‘Oh no,’ Slade told her slowly ‘Tonight there’s no running out on your obligations’