Sharon felt a huge relief that it had only been a nightmare.
'You ate safe now', Bryan's eyes were smiling, his long fingers moving along her palm.
Sharon nodded, turning her face away, embarrassed by the tenderness of the mood between them.
'You look like a little girl when you are asleep', he said looking at her averted profile.
Her head swung round in shock. He had been watching her sleeping. She felt vulnerable, disturbed by the knowledge. She looked into his black eyes and her stomach lurched.
'Who was that woman at the party? she asked in a small voice.
'What woman?' His smile was indulgent.
'The one in the yellow dress', she didn't know what had brought it to her mind. A truthful answer would probably hurt her and of course it was none of her business.
'Ah, that was Annabelle Cole', he said it as though he was amused by her question.
The name rang a bell immediately. Annabelle Cole had been in Bryan's car at the time of the Accident. 'Is she your lover?' Her own brazen courage amazed her.
Their eyes met and tension filled the room, dizzying in it's intensity. Bryan frowned. 'Don't judge everybody by your own standards'.
It was as though he had hit her. For a second, she couldn't breathe. 'My standards?' she asked bitterly, her anger exploding. 'Damn you Bryan Ferdinand, damn you to hell'.
His mouth tightened and he reached out, his fingers twisting on her auburn hair. 'Damn me all you want and by all means, but I'll take you with me', he said softly.
'Don't touch me', she whispered, trembling as his fingers moved against her head. 'I hate it's.
Bryan laughed, a harsh humourless sound, his hands straying to her white throat, caressing with strange gentleness. Sharon gasped, frightened, suddenly aware of how alone they were cut off from the world in this tiny isolated flat.
She looked into the smoky, unsmiling depths of his eyes and accepted that this was where she wanted to be. She had come here, somehow knowing that he would come too and would have been disappointed if he hadn't. It was almost an invitation.
'You followed me', she said, smiling, the curve of her lips unknowingly provocative.
'Yea', Bryan's voice was husky, liquid.
'Why?'
'You know why, Sharon. No games'. His fingers moved against her throat and he watched her with narrowed eyes. Sharon bent her head, his gentle touch aching along every nerve in her body. 'No', she said on a sigh. It was a denial of everything that was happening, everything that had gone before. 'Bryan, please....'
He tilted her face up, staring into her eyes. 'Don't lie to yourself, Sharon, don't lie to me', his voice was hard. 'You came here for the same reason I did. It's not over between us. It never will be. I want you with a hunger that tears away at me twenty four hours a day, a hunger I can't feed with anyone else'.
Sharon's heart lurched violently. She gazed at him, her mouth dry. He was describing her own feelings exactly. Bryan read the expression in her wide shocked green eyes. 'It's the same for you', he said quietly.
'We are not children that will leave our responsibilities for pleasure. It might be the same for me but I do not want it to be that way'. She whispered in anguish. 'It frightens me'. He was talking about desire and not love. He would never talk about love.
'God, do you think I do? That I want it that way?' The bitter anger in his voice jerked her head up. His eyes were. urning with emotion. His shoulders hunched with tension. She swallowed with difficulty. 'What about Devon?'
'What about her?' He sounded impatient as though the question was irrelevant.
'Is she... is she your lover?' She knew that she was provoking an explosion but she had to ask.
'Damnit, no!' Bryan muttered through clenched teeth as though pushed beyond endurance. His fury filled the room as he swore violently. 'Do you think that I sleep with every woman that I came in contact with?'
Sharon flinched. 'How would I know? It certainly wouldn't surprise me'.
She felt raw, hurt, her heart squeezing with pain. She needed some defence against him and the feelings he could arouse so effortlessly. She needed to believe that he was lying but defeated, she couldn't. She was attacking him because it was the best form of defence that she had. And it didn't seem to be working.
'You little bitch', he said breathing quickly.
'At least Gerhard married me', she threw at him desperately, as though the words were a talisman of protection, her courage failing by the second.
Bryan froze. His eyes darkening to a darker black, his mouth cruel. 'Gid, I could kill you for that', he said hoarsely.
A shi er of fear ran down Sharon's spine. She moved away a little, regretting her own rash words, knowing that it was far too late to back away.
'I'm bored with talking', she said with all of the coolness she could muster. 'I want to get some sleep'. She flashed him a pointed glance. 'Do you mind?'
Bryan was silent for a moment, his face a cold expressionless mask. Then he smiled, a slow cruel smile that left Sharon shaking inside.
'Oh yes, I mind', he said too softly. 'I haven't finished with you yet'.
Sharon couldn't speak. Her face paling as she read the dark expression on his face.
'No Bryan....' she said, her voice shaking violently. 'No....'
He laughed, holding her glance, a naked desire flaring in his eyes, as he looked at her, a desire so powerful that she was hypnotized with fear. It stripped away everything but his need and she felt an unbidden response a hing into life inside herself. His eyes were glittering, his face taut, the bones hard. His strength terrified her. His strength, his desire and his anger. She watched, unable to move a muscle as his hands reached out slowly.