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.'Take it easy, Maggie,' he muttered, and left her.'Bert poured out a drink.'Here's to inter-office relations! May they ever be sointeresting,' he smirked.'And here's to the eye of the artist! May it blink now and then,' she retortedwryly, and they drank.A long time later they were sitting with their heads propped against the wall,watching the crowd grow thin.'Are you trying to drink me under the table, Maggie me girl?' Bert rolled outin a sonorous tone.'What? And put a stain on your peerless reputation? Never!' she declaredpompously.'You're a woman of steel.''Slightly molten around the edges.''Did I ever tell you about the time I was up before a judge, Maggie? They'reterribly sober.He didn't like my tie.'Maggie giggled.Bert was notorious for his outrageous ties.'I like your ties,Bert.They're very individual.''Paint them myself.Is that pretty Pat popping up?'Pat Hollis suddenly appeared and took hold of Maggie's arm.'Come on,Maggie, we're taking you home.Ian's gone for the car.I'll help you out.''Don't want help.I don't need help, do I, Bert?' she appealed to him.'Woman of steel,' he repeated knowingly.'Please, Maggie.Ian's worried about you.Please come with me.''You go with him.You belong together.Not me.I'm on my own,' Maggieinsisted with a shake of her head which set her senses swimming.'Bert, you persuade her to come,' Pat said anxiously.'Better go, Maggie.Boss's girl.Inter-office relations, you know.''Why me? Why pick on me?' she muttered resentfully.'I'm sitting hereminding my own business.''Dan's not here.Drake probably thinks I'm not responsible enough.Wrong,you know I'm very responsible.' He waved a careless hand.'Who careswhy? You get a free trip home.Go on, go with Pat.She wants you to be agood girl.''Good girl?' She gave a hysterical peal of laughter.'Oh, Bert! You wouldn'tbelieve what a good girl I am.''Shut up, Maggie!'Ian Drake's grim voice silenced her.She was walked like a puppet out of thehotel and bundled into his car.Her head lolled back on the cold leather seatand tears streamed uncontrollably down her cheeks.Humiliation was a hugelump in her throat.She was being driven home by the man she wanted whilethe woman he wanted sat beside him, a silent witness to Maggie's distress.The car stopped.She opened the door and stumbled out.Ian Drake caughther and supported her as he steered her into the apartment building.He tookher to the right door and propped her against the wall while he found her keyin her handbag.'How did you know my address?' Maggie asked dully.'Personnel file.''So damned clever!'He opened the door.Maggie pushed past him and slammed it in his face.She just made it to the bathroom before retching violently, her whole bodyracked with convulsions which kept her heaving upwards.When herstomach was totally emptied, she flushed the basin and slumped down onthe tiled floor, too weak to move.Then she cried, great, noisy sobs, weeping for something she never had andwhich seemed forever out of her reach.She cried for Dan, for her mother,but mostly for herself, until she had no more tears to shed.The tiles werecold and her body felt stiff and sluggish.She dragged herself up and washedthe sick taste out of her mouth, then brushed her teeth.She felt dirty all over.Very slowly, fumbling with fingers which still trembled, she stripped offher clothes, intent on having a shower.She was just reaching to turn on thetaps when the bathroom door was pushed open and she stared at Ian Drake,rigid with shock.His eyes were dark pools of pain as he stared back at her.'I thought.I wasafraid.Are you all right, Maggie?'She jerked out of her trance, suddenly aware of her nakedness.'Oh God!'she whispered.'Haven't you seen enough?'He stepped forward and crushed her to him, so tightly that buttons on hisshirt bit into her flesh.'I couldn't stand the silence,' he muttered hoarsely,dragging his fingers through her hair, stroking her back with a roughnessthat was both pleasure and pain.She could not believe this was happening and she tilted her head back toquestion.His eyes glittered feverishly and then his mouth took hers withalmost savage demand.It was no sensual exploration but a passionatepossession as if he could not bear for any part of her to escape him.Maggie instinctively gave him everything he asked, responding with a wild,insatiable need of her own, feeding the violence of his emotion with all thecraving of her heart.They were both breathing raggedly when he finallydragged his mouth away from hers.He pressed her head into the curve of histhroat while he rocked her in a fierce embrace.Maggie wasn't sure if theshudder which trembled through them was his or her own.'Why do you do this to me?' he groaned, turning his face to rub each cheekagainst her hair in an agony of need.'I could hardly bear to sit through thatwretched weeping, but the silence.I had to know.I'm sorry, Maggie.'She was too dazed to take it in.All she knew was that his arms were aroundher and she clung like a limpet around his neck, not wanting him to ever lether go.She did not know how he was here or why he was here.Theincredible reality was that he was holding her and she wanted him to go onholding her for ever.She gave a little moan of protest as he unclasped herhands and drew her arms down.He eased her away from him, looking downat her with tender concern.'Come on, Maggie, have your shower.That's what you were going to do,wasn't it?'She stared at him dumbly, unable to order any coherent thought.He keptone arm supporting her while he reached out and turned on the taps, feelingthe water and adjusting it to the right temperature.She saw his shirt-sleevegetting wet.Then he was steering her under the stinging spray and shegasped as the water hit her.He kept a steadying hand on her shoulder for amoment and then let go.'I'll make us some coffee.'The water beat down on her head and shoulders and she wondered vaguelyif she had dreamed Ian Drake was here.She touched her lips, recalling thefeel of his mouth.She glanced down at her body and saw the fadingimpression of a button on her breast.It had not been a dream.Her mind wastoo befogged to grasp it properly, to examine the whys and the wherefores.He was here, looking after her, caring for her with an intensity of feelingwhich completely obliterated the fact that she was naked.Her nakednesswas irrelevant.He cared for her as a person [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]