Whirlwind Read Free Page B

body tense, her "brow furrowed. He had just admitted tacitly that he was planning a little seduction tonight. The dinner for two had certainly not been intended to end with the coffee and liqueurs. Patti didn't know how lucky she had been; if Anna hadn't been with her as they came out of the theatre Patti would be sitting here now, no doubt in a state of acute panic. Staring out of the window, she sensed that they had stopped moving into the poorer areas in which she lived and were headed back west again into the exclusive district of Mayfair.
    'I am not having dinner with you,' she informed him icily.
    He laughed. Anna did not like the way he laughed, either; it sounded too much as if he thought she was just playing a game, pretending to be hard to get.
    'I'm serious! Stop this car, I want to get out.'
    'I've ordered caviare,' he said conversationally. 'With toast and chopped boiled egg and onion, and lemon, of course.'
    'Caviare I can take or leave,' Anna said cuttingly.
    'And champagne, of course,' he added.
    'The bubbles make me sneeze.'
    'And then I thought we'd have a Chateaubriand steak,' he went on as if she hadn't said anything.
    Anna suddenly thought of the small tin of baked b£ans waiting for her at home; she had been debating whether or not to sprinkle a little curry powder into the beans, just to change the flavour a little. They were full of nutrition and immensely cheap, but she ate them so often.
    Steak, she thought, her throat moving convulsively as she imagined it. Am I crazy? Here I am starving for a square meal and I can have one if I…
    The Rolls suddenly spun and began to move down a steep incline into an underground car park.
    'Where are you going?' she asked in alarm as he pulled up and parked in the shadowy vault. He didn't answer, merely slid out and slammed his door, came round and opened hers. Anna stayed glued to her seat, her eyes dilated and her body shivering, all her bravado gone. She wasn't afraid of Laird Montgomery—she was scared of herself. Tempted by all that lovely food, she didn't know if she could handle this.
    'Do you want a formal invitation?' he asked mockingly. 'Very well.' He bowed, offering one well- shaped hand. 'May I have the pleasure of your company at dinner?'
    'And afterwards?' Anna muttered feverishly, trying to calculate her chances of fighting him off later.
    'I'll drive you home.'
    The cool reply made her stare uncertainly; he met her gaze without blinking, his mouth wry.
    'If that's what you want,' he added, somewhat spoiling the effect.
    it will be what I want!' Anna threw at him with vehemence, and knew that she had made her decision and that Laird Montgomery was aware of it too. He was smiling with bland satisfaction; but if he thought she might change her mind once he had poured some wine into her he was going to find he was mistaken. Anna might have dinner with him, but that was as far as it went.
     

CHAPTER TWO
    T HE lift shot upwards at a rate that made Anna gasp, her stomach still on the ground floor. "What is this place?' she asked, and Laird Montgomery's reply made her stiffen.
    'An office block.'
    'A what?' asked Anna in a rising voice.
    'A large block of offices. We're going to the top.' His smile was teasing. 'Isn't that where you're aiming? The stars?'
    Her suspicions were aroused again; she didn't trust this man. 'What's at the top of the building?' She had imagined that they were going to have dinner in some swish restaurant, for some reason coming to the conclusion that the underground car park belonged to a big London hotel and that when she emerged from the lift she would find herself in an elegant, crowded foyer. If this was instead a block of offices she had an appalled suspicion that there were not going to be any comforting crowds around wherever they were headed; she was going to find herself alone with him.
    'We're going to have dinner in a penthouse flat,' he drawled, and Anna leapt for the button panel.
    'Oh, no, we're not!'
    Before her