Parisa blinked. She was dreaming again; she had to be. She imagined she had heard Luc declare he loved her. But no, it wasn't a dream. She heard his shaky sigh as he rolled off her, and, swinging his legs to the floor, he sat up.

'Nothing to say, Parisa?' The silence was agonising, but she could not break it. She did not dare let down the precarious barrier she had built around her heart in the past few weeks. She was terrified of making a fool of herself yet again with this man. 'Why should you believe me?' he continued, and she was presented with his forceful profile, which revealed nothing. 'I've treated you abominably, and my only excuse is madness.' A harsh laugh escaped him. 'You were right in my anger and conceit when you ran away from the hotel. I packed up your clothes in a fit of rage, and thought, let her stew for a couple of weeks. G.o.d knows! I spent two months agonising over you and in the end had to come and find you. But this time I've left it too late. You've found someone else, and all I can do is attack you like a madman.'

Parisa felt her heart swell with burgeoning hope. 'I've spent the weekend teaching white-water canoeing to the scout troop. David happens to be the captain, and at the minute he is barely speaking to me because I married you. I was in the tent with the girls, David with the boys,' she offered quietly.

His dark head jerked around and his black eyes sought hers. 'Canoeing? Scouting? G.o.d!' he said incredulously. 'I should have guessed. Didi told me you had gone away with David and you let me think you had been with him.'

'I did not have to think. You were with another woman-I met the lady,' Parisa said soberly.

Luc reached down and covered her hand where it lay on the bed, his fingers entwining with hers. 'I swear to you, Parisa, I have never looked at another woman from the day I threw you to the floor with a rugby tackle in the company apartment. I love you, and I came here today to convince you calmly and sensibly to give our marriage a chance, and also to kill you if what Didi told me on the telephone was true,' he said with wry self- mockery. 'The thought of any man touching you drives me mad with jealousy.'

Was this vulnerable man, her arrogant husband, truly jealous of her? She couldn't quite believe it, but oh, how she wanted to. 'I think Didi has been trying to do a little matchmaking. Whatever she said, you shouldn't believe her.' She pushed herself up and pulled her robe around her. Luc was sitting on the side of the bed but she couldn't look at him, as she added quietly, 'You never told me you cared.'

'Never told you...?' He laughed in self-derision. 'Oh, Parisa, every time we made love I told you over and over again. I poured out my heart to you in my native language.'

'Oh, Luc.' She swallowed hard. 'I didn't know.' He had always been a very verbal lover, but she had never understood what he was saying. 'I thought it was... was your mother and everything...' she muttered, hardly knowing what she was saying, as Luc put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her unresisting body into the curve of his side.

'Parisa, I am ashamed to confess I used my mother quite deliberately. Contrary to the impression I have given you over the past weeks, much as I love my mother, I rarely spend much time with her. She has her own apartment in Genoa, and her own circle of friends. She doesn't actually live with me. It was only for her birthday party she stayed at the villa, simply because it was big enough to accommodate all the guests. It was true she wanted me to settle down, but I have spent thirty-seven years avoiding any commitment, and I certainly would never have considered getting engaged solely to please Mamma.'

'But you said-- ' She wanted to believe him, but...

His hand tightened on her shoulder. 'Shh, Parisa, and listen. I have to say it all now before I lose my courage, I was smitten from the first time I lay on top of a certain lady dressed all in black and wearing a Balaclava, of all things, or perhaps before that, when a certain blue-eyed schoolgirl flirted outrageously with me, I don't know. I only know that when we met in the company apartment I wanted to see you again. When you started babbling about blackmail you gave me the ideal opportunity, and I couldn't resist the temptation of having you to myself for a few days. It was rotten of me to trick you, I know. But it was only when we had arrived in Italy and I was trying to seduce you in your bedroom and you were terrified and called me a blackmailer that the full realisation of my actions was brought home to me. I suddenly saw that in a way I was just as guilty as the original villain. That night over dinner when mother had pointed out how innocent you were, I felt a complete heel, and it wasn't a very good feeling. I knew then I loved you, and I wanted to confess everything, and persuade you to make our engagement real. I took you to the study with that thought in mind, but before I could get up the nerve we were arguing, then mother joined us for coffee.' Luc grinned. 'And it was too late.

'The following day we had so much fun I could not bring myself to spoil it by admitting my duplicity. I thought I had plenty of time; I had no intention of rushing you into a full relationship. Unfortunately I was hopelessly unprepared for the effect you have on my libido, and before I could control myself I was making love to you that very night. It never occurred to me that you could doubt how I felt about you. But when I had the accident and you never got in touch-'

'I didn't know. I waited in Moya's apartment for five days, for your call. I only left when it was time to return to work,' Parisa inserted.

'Yes, well, we won't go into that; it is over and done with,' Luc commanded, suddenly sounding quite harsh.

'But Luc--- '

'Parisa, I'm not asking you to love me straight away. I know you don't feel the same. When I left the message on the answering machine at Moya's apartment I did think the least you could have done was respond.'

'What message?' she squeaked. 'I never-- '

'Please, Parisa, don't bother with excuses. You told me yourself you shared her apartment and kept in touch with Moya. I rang ten days later, as soon as I could speak. She must have pa.s.sed the message on.'

'Oh, Luc...' she sighed, burrowing closer to his male warmth. 'You're so wrong. I never received your call, and neither did Moya, I'm sure. She left London the same Sunday as I did. She went home to prepare for her wedding, and stayed there until going off on honeymoon. She isn't due back until tomorrow. I would have dashed straight to your side if I had known.'

'Oh, G.o.d, what a fool I've been,' Luc groaned. 'I was furious at what I saw as your heartless neglect. I lay in the hospital in Naples longing to hear the sound of your voice, and then, later, when I could travel, I was so furious you had not returned my call that I was going to come and see you and demand an explanation. But Mother took ill. Then I saw my chance. I had to come to London and I went straight to the apartment and discovered from a neighbor that you had not even given me your own address. I was determined to find you again and make you pay for the heartache you'd caused me.'

It was ironic, Parisa thought, with a wry smile. Her one moment of caution in Italy, when she had given Luc Moya's phone number, was probably the main cause of all the heartache they had both suffered.

'It was sheer coincidence I discovered I owned the agency that was selling your t.i.tle, and I couldn't believe my luck. Yours is an uncommon name and after a few discreet enquiries I realised I had found you. I bought the t.i.tle hoping to use it to get at you, I freely admit.'

'Not because your mother had delusions of grandeur or something?'

'Are you crazy? Whatever gave you that idea?'

'Anna, in Italy. She said your mother wanted you to marry me as a kind of status symbol.'

'Rubbish. I'm six-four and filthy rich. I have all the status I need.' Luc smiled down at her. 'Now let me finish. As soon as I saw you again and realised your circ.u.mstances, I also realised I wanted you like h.e.l.l. I was all you accused me of-devious and manipulative. But I thought once I got you back into my bed I would soon convince you to stay there.'

'You said I was no good in bed,' she reminded him, peeking up into his dark serious eyes.

'I lied, little cat.' His lips twisted in a wry smile. 'And you know it, but I had to have some defence against the terrible urge to fling you on the ground whenever I looked at you.'

Parisa sighed. This was where she belonged, wrapped in the warmth of Luc's arms, listening to his confession of love. She felt like pinching herself to make sure she had not died and gone to heaven. Instead she nuzzled into the curve of his shoulder.

'Stop that, Parisa. I haven't finished yet and I can't stand the distraction,' he murmured into her sweet- scented hair. 'I have so much to apologise for, and I will probably never have the courage to do this again. It is very sobering for a man like me to realise that just one flash from a particular pair of sapphire eyes, and I melt. I put the announcement of our engagement in the paper hoping to force you into accepting me. But when I saw you looking so beautiful and unconcerned I was furious and determined to make you pay for the trouble you had caused me.'

Now she knew why he had looked angry all the time.

'I could not resist once more manipulating you into my clutches. I told myself any woman who could desert her first lover because he had an accident was quite likely to be equally mercenary. So I decided to make a deal with you. I told myself it was to teach you a lesson, but I was only fooling myself. Deep down I was praying that after a couple of weeks with me you would not want to leave.'

'I never wanted to leave you.' She murmured the confession, but it was as though he never heard. Luc was too intent on his own confession.

'When we got married I thought I had succeeded. The last night, when I got back to the hotel antic.i.p.ating taking you out for dinner and declaring my undying love, I was quietly confident you felt the same. I couldn't believe you had left me with a scrawled message on a mirror. I was frantic and furious. By the time I discovered the next morning that you had returned here it was too late to do anything about it. I had to accompany Mamma safely back to Italy. Also, the work had piled up in my absence...'

'You said before you thought "let her stew"...' she teased. 'And actually I am beginning to get rather hot.' She slipped her hand from his and curved it around his waist. She believed him. He was a proud, mature male, and there was no way he would lay his feelings on the line like this if he didn't really love her, she told herself, She squeezed her eyes tight shut, so overcome with relief and love. He tilted her chin with one finger and wiped a tear from her cheek.

'Parisa, is there any hope for me? Will you give our marriage a chance? Forgive me, and let me try and make you love me...

'I've loved you from the first night in Italy.' She smiled brilliantly up into his tender black eyes, 'But when you never called for five days, I had to return home, 1 told myself you had used me for s.e.x, nothing more. I knew only days before you had seen Margot, and I heard you promising to spend the weekend with her, and then two days later it was me.'

'Parisa, Parisa,' He lifted her bodily on to Ms lap, his strong arms enfolding her, holding her close to his broad chest. 'You have to listen to me. I don't know what you overheard, but I can a.s.sure you I did not steep with Margot that weekend, after I met you and realised my ex-manager was also a blackmailer I spent the rest of the weekend helping the police to capture him. I had not been with Margot for some months. It was only ever a casual affair. When I was in London she was a convenient partner. I'm not proud of the fact, but it is the truth, and I had already decided to end it. If you were listening you must have realised I had not even told her where I was staying.' Parisa remembered now: Margot had said she had got his address from the casino.

'I had come to London that day specifically to sort out the mess at the casino. The apartment was part of the deal and had been used by the casino manager. I had stood over him while he packed his bags and left, and was only waiting for Tina to arrive 'with some more doc.u.ments I had requested, before leaving myself when Margot showed up. I admit I bought a bracelet at Carrier, the day before you and I went for the ring, and it was for Margot, but it was a goodbye present. Not very laudable, I know, but I found the type of women in my life before you expected that kind of thing. I never actually saw Margot. She pestered me with telephone calls, and the Monday was the last time I spoke to her. I had the bracelet delivered by special messenger, along with a note making it absolutely clear I loved my wife and had no intention of ever seeing her again.'

'A pay-off...' Parisa could believe that. Hadn't Anna, the day after the birthday, warned her that she might have the ring but she would end up with the bracelet like the rest of them? 'You paid Anna the same way.'

'Oh, G.o.d!' Luc groaned. 'You make me sound terrible, Parisa, and I suppose in a way it is true. I just never really thought about it. A present and goodbye was the sure total of my commitment to any woman until I met you.'

Winding her slender arms around his neck, she lifted her face, urging his head down towards her waiting lips. 'Just make sure you never ever buy me a bracelet,' she murmured against his lips. They kissed gently, tenderly, but gentleness quickly gave way to a hungry pa.s.sion that left them both shaking with the force of their mutual desire.

Reluctantly Luc put her away from him and stood up, walking across the room. 'I vowed if I ever had another chance with you I would not touch you until we were properly married again in church.'

Parisa lay back on the old bed, not caring that her robe had fallen open, leaving a length of naked thigh exposed. 'Do I get no say in the matter?' she asked huskily.

He whipped around, his dark eyes widening on her long, luscious body splayed across the bed, her glorious silver-gilt hair spread across the pillow, and as though attached by an invisible thread he moved towards her. 'Some girl scout, Parisa. Is seducing males part of your teaching, or are you always this impulsive?' he teased, grinning down at her, but the slight tremor in his voice told her all she wanted to know.

'Not impulsive,' she denied huskily.

Luc laughed out loud. Dio! Parisa, have you not realised yet?'

'Realised what?' she asked, stretching her hand out to him.

'You are as adventurous and impulsive as any one of your ill.u.s.trious ancestors. It was the one thing I counted on in my pursuit of you.'

'I don't think I like that remark.' Did Luc know her better than she knew herself? she wondered.

Luc grinned, his dark eyes gleaming with tender indulgence. 'You've spent the weekend white-water canoeing. Dangerous, cara! But then, at fourteen you dressed up as a woman and seduced me-not the action of a cautious spirit. You got to the Olympics through hard work and ruined it because you fancied a try at pole vaulting.' His grin widened. 'You scaled a fire-escape and broke into an apartment, for a friend.' He chuckled. 'You swanned off to Italy with a man you hardly knew, convinced at the time he was a crook. His chuckle turned into a sensuous smile. 'In the observatory you gave yourself to me completely, without inhibition.' He couldn't resist lowering his head and kissing her long and lovingly. 'You sold the t.i.tle to the manor without a second thought.'

'Well, maybe I am a tiny bit reckless,' she admitted when she could get her breath back. 'But I'm responsible. I work. Oh!' She suddenly realised she couldn't just walk off into the sunset with Luc. She had commitments-more than most... 'I have to live here, Luc, and I do enjoy my work, and--'

'I know, Parisa. You're a strong, vibrant woman and I am going to have my work cut out keeping up with you. But don't worry-I have it all arranged. I am going to live here. Dio!The place is big enough, and there is nothing in the covenant that can prevent the master of the house having a study with a mainstream computer. As for your job, I would never ask you to give up work, but I would like you to be able to travel with me when necessary. You could work on a part-time basis. Start your own fitness clinic-or you could coach. As long as you love me, I don't care what you do.'

She was stunned by his thoughtfulness, but still one question had to be asked. 'You don't think I'm really mercenary, Luc?'

'I know you agreed to marry me when you hated me, but I always knew your main concern was for Didi and Joe. Never money.'

Curving her arms around his back, she urged him down to her. He understood her far too well, she thought. But she did not want to hear any more about her nature- reckless or otherwise. Parisa was much more interested in what her body was telling her.

'So I'm impulsive,' she finally admitted throatily. 'And you want me to travel with you.' And, sliding her hands up under his shirt, she added, 'Like this,' as her fingers found the heated warmth of his chest and slid down to the fastening of his trousers. They had a lot to talk over, but a lifetime to do it in, and right now Parisa had a much more urgent need.

'Oh, yes, Parisa, carry on.' Luc groaned. 'This kind of impulsive travelling I can stand for the rest of my life, lady.

Luc lay down beside her. 'It was a stupid vow, anyway,' he declared raspingly as he gathered her hard against him. 'You are going to stay with me, Parisa. Say it. Promise you will be my wife for now and always?' he asked her unsteadily.

Her heart was bursting with love for the huge man who with a few words revealed all his uncertainty and vulnerability. She raised luminous blue eyes to his. 'I love you, Luc.' He stopped her words with a kiss, and when she could breathe again she added teasingly, 'I'm not sure about the lord and master bit, though.'

'You still haven't realised yet, Parisa. I would give you the world if I could. I love you, and, contrary to what you imagine, I am not the least chauvinistic.'

'This from "the master of pa.s.sion "...' she joked, watching him carefully, but there was not a flicker of recognition of the phrase in his dark eyes, just a delighted gleam of satisfaction.

'I hope I will always be the master of your pa.s.sion, but I have no desire to lord it over you,' he quipped. 'I doubt if anyone could.' And, cuddling her close, he chuckled softly. 'My darling, scatty, impulsive Parisa. My Lady and my wife.'

Books by Jacqueline Baird.

HARLEQUIN PRESENTS.

1079-DARK DESRING.

1358-SHATTERED TRUST.

1431-Pa.s.sIONATE BETRAYAL.

1558-DISHONOURABLE PROPOSAL.

16S7~GUiLTY Pa.s.sION.