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They lunched on the top floor of the Hotel de Paris, which gave them an aerial view of the capital, then afterwards drove along the coast to Beaulieu, and walked around the bay of St Jean Cap Ferrat, admiring the magnificent villas.

'It's the first time we've been alone for a whole day,' Matt said contentedly. 'I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have?'

'It's been wonderful.'

'It would be even more wonderful if we could be together the whole time.'

Her heart began to pound and she wondered if this was the prelude to his proposal. 'There's no reason why we shouldn't,' she answered encouragingly.

'That's what I hoped you'd say.' He did not elaborate further, much to her annoyance, and linking her hand in his, led her back to the car.

She hoped he did not intend to go on dropping hints for the rest of the evening. The quicker he said what she knew was in his mind, the better for her own peace. The game of cat and mouse must end tonight. But this time the cat would find he'd caught himself a great big rat!

They dined in the small port of Villefranche, at one of the many restaurants that lined the quayside, and were entertained by an elderly man who performed incredible acrobatic feats on a bicycle. Afterwards he came among the diners collecting money in a top hat.

'I'd hate having to earn my living that way,' Caroline commented.

'A beautiful girl like you shouldn't have to earn a living.'

' She was instantly alert, though her voice remained soft. 'And who would keep me?'

'I would.'

'How tempting,' she said lightly. 'Is that meant to be a proposal or a proposition?' Tensely she waited for his answer, hoping against hope that he had a change of heart. But his blunt reply squashed all doubts.

'I'm asking you to live with me. It seems to be the only sensible solution.'

'Sensible for whom?'

'For both of us.'

He leaned across the table, his face so near that she had to resist the urge to rake her fingernails across it. But the memory of the money she had taken from Mark—Matt's money, she reminded herself—kept her hands on her lap.

'You're not the sort of girl who would give herself to a man unless she loved him,' Matt went on, 'and I'm too fond of you to want a casual affair. I know that to you love means the commitment of marriage— but I told you from the start the way I felt about it.'

'I was hoping you would change your mind,' she said, finding it all too easy to put a note of pain in her voice. In spite of having been prepared for this moment, now it had come it was an agony to hear him speak so calculatingly. 'If you're as—as fond of me as you say, how can you take advantage of my love by suggesting I become your mistress?'

'I'm not taking advantage of you, Caroline. You can make up your own mind. I'm not forcing you.'

Not much, she thought furiously. Only ten thousand pounds' worth of force.

'I never gave you any reason to hope for marriage,' he continued. 'If you misunderstood my intentions, I'm sorry. This way, if either of us decides to opt out, we can do so without the agony of a divorce.' His voice grew deeper. 'I want you more than any other woman I've met: That's why I'm prepared to offer you more.'

'More?' she queried.

'I'm asking you to live with me in my home. That's something I've never asked any other woman to do.'

How big of him! Caroline looked down, wishing she were in control of her own destiny. If only she could refuse him, as her heart cried out to do. She hated him for his ruthlessness, for his determination to gain his objective. The game of pretence he was playing was almost more than she could bear. If only he had the guts to come out in the open and tell her he knew she had committed herself to accepting his proposal!

'I don't know what to say,' she answered finally.

'How about yes, for a change?'

She did not smile. 'I must think it over.'

Let him wait for her answer. Let him suffer and wonder if she would try to get out of that damnable contract. Fleetingly she thought, of Penny, but knew that even if her friend could raise such a large amount, she could never bring herself to accept it. In the final analysis she was hooked like a fish.

'I appreciate it isn't a decision you can make lightly,' said Matt. 'But if you do say yes, I'll do everything I can to make you happy.'

'Except marry me.'

He did not reply, and on the way home he was silent too, respecting her wish to be alone with her thoughts. When they reached the hotel, he kissed her lightly on the cheek.

'I'll see you tomorrow, sweetheart. Perhaps you'll have made up your mind by then?'

'Don't hurry me, Matt.' Her voice was cool. 'When a girl's asked to accept a fate worse than death, she needs time to think it over!'

He half grimaced. 'Don't try to make me feel like a villain. I want you, and I want you with me all the time. There's nothing wrong with that.'

'Of course not,' she replied, and ran up the steps of the hotel without looking back.

The
following morning, after a surprisingly good night's sleep, Caroline breakfasted with Tom in the dining-room and she told him all that had happened.

'So you haven't accepted him yet?'

'I'll give him my answer tomorrow.'

'But you're going to move in with him?'

'That's what he wants.'

Tom pursed his lips as he studied her. 'What are you planning? I can tell you've got something cooking.'

'It's none of your business.'

Accepting the rebuff, Tom changed the subject, 'Dee didn't give me a moment to relax yesterday. This modelling lark is harder work than I expected.'

'Any work is hard to you,' she answered.

At that moment Chantal walked by, accompanied by a plump little man with a bald head. She gave them a formal smile and said
'Bonjour,'
but the husband gave Tom a shrewd, knowing look from close-set eyes.

'There goes one husband who's
not
the last one to know!' Caroline remarked to her brother, as the couple went to a table at the far end of the room.

'It was great while it lasted,' Tom grinned, and Caroline wondered with disgust if Matt would one day say the same.

When she arrived at the yacht Matt was busy with his secretary and Mark sidled over, intent on finding out what had happened between her and Matt in Monte Carlo. But she skilfully avoided a confrontation, deciding to let him ask his fellow conspirator for any information he needed.

Matt came up on deck at lunchtime, but was content to leave her alone until she had given him her answer. Caroline knew he must be feeling confident. After all, she was in debt for a large sum of money and would do anything rather than let her aunt and uncle know the truth about Tom. Just thinking of the way Matt had blackmailed her made her writhe with fury. One day she would make
him
pay. It was only this thought that enabled her to go on pretending.

That evening he asked them all to stay and have dinner on the yacht, but Caroline declined and returned to the hotel, though she did agree to spend the next day with him. She would be working in the morning only, for Lee hoped to finish all the photographs by noon.

In the event they were finished slightly earlier, and Matt was already waiting by his car, parked on the quayside.

'I've a picnic lunch packed in the boot and water-skis strapped to the boot,' he announced.

'Where are we going?' Caroline asked, sliding into the front seat.

'To a private beach further along the coast. It belongs to a friend of mine.'

They drove along the coast for nearly an hour before Matt pointed towards a large white villa set in huge grounds that led down to the sea.

'That's my friend's home,' he said, 'but he only comes down in August and September, and allows me the use of the beach whenever I want.'

He turned into the drive, skirted the house, and stopped the car less than twenty yards from the beach.

There was not a soul to be seen, for the cove was merely an inlet in the rocks, and the silence was broken only by the lapping waves on the shore. Caroline ran down to the water's edge and dipped her toes in. It felt warm and was startlingly clear, the pebbles glinting like multicoloured jewels in the sun.

'It's heavenly here!' she called to Matt.

'There's a beach hut round the other side of that boulder,' he replied, coming towards her with a black and white silk bikini in his hand. 'Perhaps you'd like to change first?'

She stared at the swimsuit. 'You think of everything!'

'Part of my charm,' he said modestly, and taking her arm he accompanied her over the sand. As they rounded the rock, she gasped in amazement. The hut that Matt had spoken of was more like a mini-bungalow. Gaily styled on the outside, it was mirror-lined within, with a marble and gold bathroom and similar changing room, equipped with a fur-lined double couch that looked so intimate that Caroline's cheeks burned. Hastily she donned her bikini. It was much briefer than the kind she usually wore, but knowing Matt, she was not surprised by his choice.

She came out into the bright sunshine to find he had already changed and had spread two large beach towels on the sand.

'That's like no beach hut I've ever seen,' she remarked. 'I expected the Madam to greet me!'

'Charles has a great sense of humour. You should see his house!'

'I'd sooner not.' She sat on the towel, aware of Matt appraising her body.

'I see it's a perfect fit,' he nodded at the two tiny strips of silk.

Caroline felt herself blushing. Being a model she was used to men undressing her with their eyes, but on a personal basis, it was quite different. 'There isn't very much of it to fit!' she laughed to hide her nervousness, and Matt laughed back and pulled her up and across the sand to the sea.

Together they swam towards the raft moored a couple of hundred yards away. Matt was a strong swimmer and he reached the raft ahead of her, watching as she clambered up to lie beside him.

'I feel as if we're the last two people left in the world,' Caroline remarked as she lay back on the warm boards. 'I've never been anywhere more peaceful. I can't even hear the noise of the planes.'

'We're off the flight path here. It's one of the reasons Charles bought the place.'

'Is he a close friend?'

'Fairly,' he replied, then added: 'He keeps this place for his mistress. His wife and children have another house further up the coast.'

'What a convenient arrangement for him!' she replied.

'It couldn't happen to us,' Matt said deliberately. 'I'd never have a wife.'

'A second mistress, perhaps?'

'You've spoilt me for anyone else,' he said thickly, and leaned over her, covering her slim body with his hard, muscular one.

Holding her close beneath him, one arm curved firmly around her waist, he placed his lips on hers and kissed each part of her mouth tenderly. In spite of herself, she responded. Her lips parted with desire and as she tasted the salt water on his.

'Darling,' he said urgently, and undid the fastening of her bikini top, releasing her breasts from the flimsy silk. Lightly he rubbed her nipples between his strong fingers, arousing every nerve in her to a tingling ecstasy she had never believed possible.

'You're perfect,' he murmured against her throat, and gently started to roll the lower half of her bikini over her hips.

With a little cry Caroline pushed herself away from him and slithered into the water, then set out determinedly for the shore and the safety of the beach hut.

Inside the lush interior she stared at herself in the mirror, hating her trembling body and the glazed, unsatisfied passion she saw in her eyes. Her lips were swollen from Matt's kisses and she rubbed her fingers across them, reliving the sensation of his lovemaking. She pulled herself together sharply. How could she allow her body to betray her? She had wanted him in spite of everything, and again she hated herself for it.

Hurriedly she showered and tidied herself, then walked out into the sunshine, straight into Matt's open arms.

'I've been waiting for you,' he whispered against her hair. 'I'm sorry I let myself get carried away like that. But I want you so much I can't think straight.' He steered her back to the towels, then dropped beside her. 'Have you
thought over my
proposal, Caroline?'

'Yes,' she replied quietly, and lowered her lids. 'I love you too much to lose you, and I'm prepared to do as you want.' She heard his gasp of delight, and raised her eyes to his. 'I haven't taken this decision lightly. You know my feelings on marriage, but ...' Anger almost choked her, but she forced herself to go on with this lie. 'But I also know how
you
feel about marriage, so I ... must give in to you.'

'You'll never regret it,' he murmured, and pulled her close, holding her tenderly at first, but then kissing her with mounting passion. Once again at his touch nothing else seemed to matter, though this time he was the one to draw back from final surrender, and she smiled at him gratefully.

'Thank you, darling,' she said softly. 'I'm not playing hard to get, but I want our relationship to begin properly.'

'Properly?' Matt looked disconcerted. 'What's more proper than blue sky and golden sand?'

'Our own home,' she cooed, for the first time beginning to enjoy the situation. 'Although I won't be your wife, you did say I would share your home— and if we waited until we were there, I'd—I'd feel more like a—more like a bride!'

He swallowed hard, then made an effort to look understanding. 'Very well, sweetheart. Anything you say.' He drew further away from her. His voice was still husky with longing, but he was obviously intent on pandering to her romantic whim. Poor Matt, she thought scornfully. Poor mutt, more like it! He was soon going to discover it was a whim of iron!

Over their picnic lunch he told her he wanted her to give up work, except for doing another catalogue later in the year with Tom.

'If I stop working, I'll be dependent on you for money,' she protested. 'I'd find it very embarrassing.'