Elusive As The Unicorn. Кэрол Мортимер

       CHAPTER ONE

      ‘WHY did you let him do that to you?’

      The smile that had curved Eve’s lips faded, as she turned to face the owner of that intrusive voice, and was replaced by a puzzled frown. She didn’t know the man who stood in front of her; in fact, she was sure she had never even seen him before, for she would never have forgotten such ruggedly perfect features on any man. He didn’t have that pretty-pretty type of male looks that such a lot of women seemed to find so attractive nowadays, but a craggily stamped handsomeness that even her male-critical grandmother would have acknowledged as being ‘all man’. But still, Eve was sure she had never seen him before.

      ‘I’m sorry?’ She looked at him enquiringly.

      Dark brown eyes snapped with impatience as the man towered over her diminutive five feet two inches in height in her three-inch-high sandals, the man’s dark blond hair brushing the collar of his white evening shirt. ‘Why the hell did you take such a load of chauvinistic bull from the guy who just left you?’ he demanded disgustedly, shaking his head, as if her behaviour utterly amazed him.

      Eve gave an exasperated smile; after all, who was this man, to have been eavesdropping on her conversation with Paul in the first place? The fact that he was an American in no way excused his incredible rudeness in talking to her in this way, even if this was a party.

      ‘I’m sorry, Mr …?’ She paused deliberately, giving him the opportunity to introduce himself to her at least.

      An opportunity he didn’t feel it necessary to take. ‘So you keep saying,’ he rasped in that husky drawl that had annoyed her the first time she’d heard it—and done little to endear itself to her since! ‘But it’s time someone told you that you can’t go through life apologising for being alive.’

      Enough was enough, even from a man who obviously had no idea how offensive he was being, his dark gaze raking over her with impatient demand. ‘Obviously no one could ever accuse you of that.’ Sarcasm dripped icily off her voice, her expression one of haughty disdain—her ‘Little Miss Aloof look’, as her grandmother called it.

      Humour lightened the darkness of the man’s gaze. ‘You can bet your sweet—— No, no one ever has yet,’ he amended mockingly, making no apology for the language he had been about to use. ‘And I don’t intend they ever should, either!’ he added grimly.

      Eve gave a quizzical smile. This really was too ridiculous, a man she had never seen before verbally attacking her in this way, and so personally too. ‘I’ll bear your advice in mind, Mr …?’

      ‘You’ll have to do more than that if you intend seeing that guy again.’ He sipped the alcohol—probably whisky—from the glass in his hand, glancing across the room to where Paul now stood engaged in conversation with a group of other guests, again making no effort to take up her very obvious opening for him to introduce himself. ‘At the moment you’re nothing more than a walking doormat!’

      This conversation had been far from amusing from the first; now it was positively insulting! ‘Since I didn’t ask for your advice—or your opinion—I’ll thank you to keep them both to yourself.’ Blue eyes flashed her irritation.

      The man grinned, a hugely appreciative grin. ‘I see the mouse can roar if she wants to,’ he drawled derisively, his gaze openly challenging.

      ‘This mouse happens to be going to marry the “guy” across the room!’ she informed him caustically.

      She stood stiffly, deeply resentful of his personal remarks about Paul and herself. How on earth had he got an invitation to one of Lady Daphne Graves’s parties? Heaven knew, Daphne was far from being a snob, but Eve just couldn’t believe the other woman would have given an invitation to such a socially destructive man.

      His grin had faded the moment she made her announcement. ‘You’re marrying him?’ He gave a pained wince at the idea. ‘Why?’ His eyes narrowed.

      Eve’s own triumphant smile at having momentarily disconcerted him instantly disappeared at his bluntly put question. ‘Why?’ she echoed exasperatedly. ‘You ask the strangest questions.’ She shook her head. ‘Questions that obviously need no answer.’

      ‘This one sure does,’ the man scorned. ‘Why would you want to tie yourself for life to a man who orders you to wait for him here—and obviously expects you to obey him without question—while he circulates among the other guests, enjoying himself?’

      ‘Paul didn’t order me to stay here!’ Eve’s cheeks were flushed with indignant anger.

      ‘No?’ the man beside her derided scoffingly. ‘It sounded like it to me.’

      ‘It wasn’t like that at all,’ she denied defensively. ‘He simply asked me to wait for him here while he——’

      ‘Circulated.’