chapter 30. Her fear.
967 Words
For weeks she had been numbed, not feeling anything except the agony of rejection, but now, as she looked about
her, she began to wonder just what she Was doing here.
Vaguely she studied her surroundings, noting how exactly the pale green carpet picked out the green
threads in the blue-green brocade of the sofa she sat.upon and the heavy swag of the curtains. A lovely.suite .. even the flowers were color-Coordinated
A perfect setting for a seduction, when the light.were low and William turned his smoldering dark eyes on her.
Her mind shied away trom the image of William ,
not wanting to think of the coming hours. She had agreed to be his lover, but now that the time was
here, she felt rebellious. She thought of what he would say if she refused to go through with it and
decided that he would be furious. She pushed thebidea away, but as the minutes ticked away, the
thought returned again and again, stronger eachtime, until at last she got up and paced the room in
agitation as pain crawled along her nerves.
Had the pain of rejection unhinged her mind?
Whatever had she been thinking of? She wouldn't be Prince William Hilton mistress; she wouldn't be any
man's mistress!Hadn't Robert instilled more self respect into her than that? William didn't love her;
he would never love her. His sole motivation was lust, and giving her virginity to him to prove her
innocence would be her loss and mean nothing to him.
Virginity wouldn't make him love her.
She remembered the tales from her teenage years,
tales of girls whose boyfriends pressured them to
prove their love." Then, in a few weeks, the
boyfriends were running after some other girl. She had been too withdrawn herself to get into such a Situation; she had never really even dated, but she
had thought at the time that the girls were such.fools. Anyone could see that the boys were just after.sex, any way they could get it Wasn't it the same
situation now? Oh, William was a far cry from a fumbling teenage boy, but all he wanted was s*x.
He might pretty it up with words like want" and "need, and call her darling now and then and tell her that he adored her, but basically it was the same
urge.
It was simply that she was a challenge to him, that was why he was so determined to make love to her
He couldn't accept defeat; he was far too fiery and arrogant. Everything about her challenged him, her coolness, her resistance to his lovemaking,
She had been standing at the window, looking out at the twinkling Parisian lights as they blinked on in the darkness, for some time when William returned.
She didn't turn as he entered the room and he said softly,
"Ursula? What's wrong, darling?
"Nothing, she said flatly. "I'm just looking."
She heard the muffled thud as he dropped his
briefcase and then he came to stand behind her, his
warm hands sliding over her arms and crossing in
front of her, pulling her back against his body, His head bent and his lips burned on the side of her neck.
For a moment she went limp as a spark of desire arced across her nerve endings, then she twisted away from him in a rush of panic.
He frowned at her and took a step toward her; as he did, she retreated, holding her hands out to ward
him off.
"Ursula?" he questioned, baffled.
"Don't come near me!"
"What do you mean?" he demanded, his brows snapping together. " What Kind or game are you playing now?"
"I.....I've changed my mind," she blurted. "I can't do it, William . I'm sorry, but I just can't go through "with it.
"Oh, no, you don't!" he exploded, closing the distance between them with two long strides and catching her arm as she tried to whirl away from
him. "Oh, no, you don't," he breathed savagely,
jerking her to him. "No more waiting, no more putting me off. Now, Ursula. Now."
She read his intent in his glittering black eyes as he bent down to lift her in his arms.
Terror bloomed in her mind and she twisted madly in an effort to evade
his lips, trying to throw herself out of his grasp.
Tears poured out of her eyes and she began sobbing wildly, begging him not to touch her. Hysteria began
to build in her as she realized she could not escape his brutal hold and her breath strangled in her chest.
Suddenly he seemed to realize that she was terrified; startled, he put her on her feet and stared down into her twisted, bloodless face.
"All right," he said in a, strained voice, backing away from her, his hands held up as if to show he was unarmed. I won't touch you, I promise. See?
"I'll even sit down." He suited his actions to his words stared at her, his black eyes somber. "But God in heaven, Ursula , why?"
She stood there on trembling legs, trying to control her sob and fine her voice to explain, but no words would come and she only returned his gaze dumbly. With a groan he brought his hands up and
rubbed his eyes as if he was tired, and he probably was. When he dropped his hands loosely onto his knees, his expression was grim and determined.
"You win," He said tonelessly. "I don't know what your hang-up about s*x is, but I accept that you're too frightened to Come to me without Some assurance about the future. Damn it, if marriage is what it
takes to get you, then you'll have your marriage. We can be married on the island next week."
- Writer
