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  Emma hated the social class system as much as anyone and she also hated the way people spoke of Daniel. "He is a hard-working man, he has worked very hard to build up his company."

  "You mean companies." Purred Lauren. "His umbrella company owns properties throughout the North West as far north as Carlisle and as far South as Stafford. And he's something of a playboy with women after him where ever he goes. You had your chance a few years ago, you should have dug your nails in and held on to him tight."

  "He is so handsome." Laura piped up. "And I'm sure you agree don't you Sarah?"

  What was that about? Emma was about to query Laura but there was no need. She put her nose into the air and swept her head round in a way only the higher social classes can and stated matter-of-factly. "He is sexy, he could be the sexiest man on earth for all I care, but his background will always be the same. He didn't go to public school so he couldn't do anything for me."

  The other girls collapsed in laughter as they always did when Laura played her ironic upper class lady role. She was being serious, because that is how she felt. But she knew as well as everybody else at the table that her feelings were somewhat ridiculous, even if true. And her snobbish pronouncements were always guaranteed to get the group laughing, both at Sarah and with her.

  But Emma wasn't laughing.

  "We're just joking around with you."

  "But you're not." She was at the point where she felt she was about to burn bridges with the so-called friends. Their families all socialised regularly, at the golf club and on the party circuit, but Emma was past caring.

  "You just think you are so superior to somebody like Daniel, and yet you are not, none of us are. We have been given everything we have, and he has had to work hard for what he has. It doesn't take much thinking to realise he is better than all of us."

  Sarah narrowed her eyes and adopted her holier than thou tone. "I remember when you humiliated him in front of us and scores of other people when-"

  "I was a selfish, mixed up spoilt devil who had just been snogged to death and I didn't know what was happening to me. To cover my inadequacies I was cruel and heartless and what I said was wrong."

  "I'm sure you do regret it now." She flicked her hand towards the direction of Daniel. "That handsome hunk over their being as sexy and successful as he is. But be real Emma, your family would never give their approval to a marriage with such-"

  Emma gave out a forced laugh, the kind of life which is tactical in an argument. "Sarah, when have you ever known me to follow the rules as laid down by family. No one brings the family name into disrepute as much as me." She gave a knowing sarcastic smile. "You were right by my side much of the time, and I recall it was you who introduced me to Pete. Now how's that for a guy with class and breeding."

  Sarah's voice was croaky. "It is the folly of youth, we can all make mistakes when we are too young to know any better."

  "Indeed." Emma was nodding forcefully in a way that reflected her anger. "But as adults we have to take on the responsibility for our own thoughts and actions, and that can mean learning from our own mistakes. Now if you will excuse me I would rather go and talk with Daniel and his building friends than sit here plotting the enslavement of the masses."

  Emma didn't really want to be in the bar that night at all. She didn't want to be with the girls nor did she really want to be sat with Daniel, but, given that she was there she would rather be with a man who had reason to hate her than sit with a group of women who thought she had been cruel to put him firmly in his place. If only she hadn't been so immature back then, she would have ridiculed her girlfriends rather than him.

  Daniel was at the bar getting in a round of drinks and a pile of crisps and nuts for the lads. He was searching out his wallet to pay the barmaid when she got there. She stood next to him, and she knew he had seen her yet he remained silent. She wasn't being ignored but she wasn't being acknowledged either. She stood there, her heart beginning to increase its rhythm and she began to despise him for being so unaffected by her arrival.

  "Hi." He handed over a couple of banknotes to pay for the drinks he had just received. "Have you come to talk to me? I am honoured." Then adding almost as an afterthought. "Would you like a drink?" Emma shook her head to decline the drink.

  "Can you think truce for a little while, just until my so-called friends leave. I promise not to cramp your style and I will leave soon after they have."

  "Why, is there a problem?"

  She scowled hard producing a narrow furrow in her forehead just above the nose. "Not really, well yes maybe, it's just because..."

  He looked at her impatiently and rolled his eyeballs. "If you've come here for an argument about me and Sarah then just leave it, it's nothing to do with you."

  "You and Sarah? Married Sarah?"

  "She wasn't married at the time." He wrapped his large hands around the four pints of beer sitting on the bar. She moved her head closer so she could continue the conversation a little more quietly.

  "When was it that she wasn't married?"

  "It's not really any of your business."

  "And should I ask you about all the others?"

  "You could. It depends if you want to be told that's none of your business too."

  She stepped even closer, her breast pressing against his upper arm. He released his hands from the group of beer glasses realising he would never be able to carry them all in one go. He wasn't aware of her breast touching him, but as he moved his arm and turned his body it caused him to press against her quite sharply. Standing face-to-face she pushed herself onto her toes, leaned forwards so her mouth was close to his ear and placed her hand to cup the sound.

  "What happened then? Did you chase after all my friends for a bit of revenge sex?"

  She pulled her head back to about twelve inches from his face and scowled at him as he gave out a laugh at the idea. She created a small fist by bending her fingers and dug her knuckles into his upper arm. In one swift movement she stepped back and spun away from him. Realising she was about to leave Daniel took a small step forward and put out his arm reaching out behind her to grab her narrow waist and pulled her back to his side, his fingers spread evenly along the inner curve of her spine.

  "Wait a minute." He positioned his face so his words could be soft-spoken yet be heard by her over the noise in the bar. "Before you go would you explain what is happening right now, because I could easily mistake this for jealousy."

  He felt a gust of air through his hair as she gave out a burst of laughter at the side of his head.

  "I can't believe that I was defending you just a few seconds ago."

  He pulled himself back to get a view of her face and tried to look into her eyes. She looked away and pushed herself against his arm to increase the distance between them.

  "You were defending me, now why would you want to do that?"

  "Who knows?"

  She had looked at him to shout the words but as he tried to make eye contact she looked away once more. Daniel had already lost patience with her. "Would you just look at me?"

  He used a hand on her back and his arm against her side to rotate her and pull her towards him. She gave the impression of resisting but succumbed to his guidance without protest. As he squeezed her against him he took a couple of steps back beyond the end of the bar where it was quieter and darker. Sure that there was less of an audience he brought his free hand up to her face and used his thumb and finger to guide her chin so that her face was in front of his.

  He looked straight into her eyes and noticed they were glistening as if a tear was undergoing formation. He assumed it was anger rather than sorrow, because he was unable to see due to the light.

  "Why do you feel the need to defend me?"

  "I don't."

  "What's just happened with your friends?"

  She felt her lips tremble, something Daniel couldn't fail to notice. He realised she was upset, but he just couldn't understand why.

  "Was it me
who turned you into such a horrible man? Or have you always been so obnoxious but it is only me who can see it?"

  Daniel was astounded by her outburst. He had had enough. He released her from the clutch of his arms and instead squeezed her hand pulling her along as he headed for the door. Using his arm stretched out before him to push the door open he dragged her into the quiet alleyway at the side of the pub.

  "Leave me alone will you."

  "Not until you tell me what is going on." He stopped and pulled her round in front of him. "I don't get it, what does all this mean?"

  She pulled her hand in an attempt to release it from his, but her efforts were futile. "You don't know? Didn't you want me to hate you? You have succeeded."

  "Let's be clear. I did not go chasing after your friends to get revenge against you." As he spoke the words he became angrier realising that she was forcing him to tell her this.

  "As it seems to be so important to you; yes, me and Sarah were an item for a while. She pursued me before we kissed that night. Then after you had gone, she came looking for me again and I reciprocated. But it was a long time ago and it really isn't any of your business."

  Emma's eyes widened with a sense of disbelief. "You say it was her chasing you?"

  "Actually yes. Is it so strange to you that a woman could possibly chase after me? Especially a woman who is so obviously my superior." He began to develop a stream of consciousness which he knew would be cutting. He could use Sarah and her own personality to describe Emma herself. "How could a woman of such social standing be interested in a man who is so far beneath her? But maybe she just wanted to use me, get what she wanted and then discard me. Or maybe it was me who ended it."

  "And what if I'm more interested in whether it is you who gets hurt, why do you think I'm so protective of her rather than you?"

  "When have you ever cared about me getting hurt?"

  Her voice began to crack under the emotional strain as her eyes sparkled under the solitary sodium light beaming in from the street lamp. "I have cared about you every moment of my childhood ever since I have known your name."

  The revelation would have knocked him over had it been a punch. To Daniel it was like an imaginary blow and though he remained still he felt himself falling backwards. But he recovered quickly and though her comment had calmed his anger it also gave him back his rational control. The same control which had prevented him from the angry sex he had some desire to have with Emma. "Well you certainly grew out of caring, didn't you?"

  "But that's just it." She was shaking her head and looking downwards. Turning back to look at him once more. "If I had stopped caring than I wouldn't have spent the past seven years wholly regretting that day when I hurt you. I wouldn't have spent as many nights in tears thinking of the pain I gave you. And if you knew me just one little bit the way you think you do, you would know that."

  Without realising he took a couple of tiny steps towards her. "But you don't care about me, you hate me."

  "But everything you do is designed to make me hate you. You want me to hate you because you hate me."

  "And yet we cannot stay away from each other, we gravitate towards each other and just end up arguing."

  "And nothing ever changes."

  "Once the damage is done it cannot be taken away."

  Her feet were rooted to the spot. She lifted her chin and locked her eyes onto his. "There's just no way of getting away from the past damage."

  He shuffled into a position directly in front so that he towered over her. He placed his hands on her face and pressed her head backwards. Her long lashes flickered up and down and he saw how she swallowed hard. At that moment, as if in realisation, he began to question what he thought he had known all along. They were trapped in the spiral of doom. Each argument took them round the circle back to where they began. Each meeting ends in argument and they seem destined to repeat the same cycle eternally.

  Chapter 6

  Emma thought about what she had just said and was considering her next words regardless of the response from Daniel. But there was no time to give it any thought because from the moment Daniel's mouth touched hers she could no longer think. He was throwing her body into confusion again, wasn't he?

  It was as if she had gone from one storm to another. One second a tempestuous storm of frustration and anger. And now he was holding her and kissing her, it was her body that had gone into a storm.

  And he wasn't gentle with her, he wasn't holding back, he was pressing his lips against hers as if it was something they'd been doing for hundreds of years rather than just the once.

  He wasn't gentle but neither did she want gentle. There were a whirlwind of emotions spinning inside her chest as she pressed herself against him, seeking out his mouth as if it was life-saving apparatus; her hands clutching against his leather coat covering the shoulders of his back.

  And each demanding movement from Daniel was met with new demands from Emma as she sought to satisfy her own pleasures. Daniel gave off a low noise at the back of his throat as he was pushing his hand across her cheek towards her hair, tipping her head to one side so as to deepen and take the kiss more forcefully.

  She was struggling to make any sense of what was happening. She hated him and yet within a split-second of going from nothing to prolonged kiss she felt so uncontrollably turned on. Surely she shouldn't be feeling this way, should she?

  I should be fighting him off, she thought to herself, I should be slapping him. At the very least I should be saying. How dare you? just as I had last time. But this time she was no longer a young girl approaching womanhood, now she was a woman. This time, as she felt the sensations tingling across her nerve endings and her blood boil as if on fire, she knew what it meant. As her muscles tightened and grouped together in anticipation of what she sought most.

  Now she was a fully grown woman and was very much aware of what wanting a man felt like. The feeling wasn't new but it had never before been so intense, except for the last time with Daniel.

  She felt his fingers straightening and curling backup pressing against the back of her head, then his mouth lifted from hers. At this moment she fell forwards so that her lips followed his as if dancing.

  She opened her eyes and noticed him staring down at her from just a few inches away. She was expecting him to declare that what just happened was a mistake or that he had proved his ability to control her just by kissing her. He was about to say something, anything to make her hate him once more, wasn't he?

  "Wait..!"

  His eyes demonstrated confusion immediately and as his frown furrowed he queried. "Wait for what? Wait..."

  He said nothing else.

  She pulled her arm round and reached up along his back so she could curl her fingers around his neck, pulling him closer while she whispered the words. "Just don't say anything."

  Her tongue sought out his lower lip causing Daniel to give out another low growling noise from deep within his chest. She knew it was a contented growl as his grip around the back of her head tightened, and he returned the kiss with some force. She knew that much was wrong between them but was quite clear that this one thing, their bodies pressed close together, was damn near perfect. She was existing in a storm but his muscular body was the perfect anchor for her to hold onto.

  So she held on as if her very life depended upon it. She sank into him, pushing her breasts into his firm chest as she took tiny steps with her feet to eliminate what little distance there was between them. His tongue pushed against hers and they wrestled causing her to moan out loud. Her second-hand moved up his back into his mop of hair pulling him closer.

  Daniel dropped his large hands away from her cheeks, moving them lower, caressing her body and feeling the dip of her waist before spreading his hands on her hips. He pulled her against him even tighter so that her pelvis was thrust against his thighs and his firm manhood was pressed against her stomach.

  Emma gave off a soft contented growl. She found it all too much whilst b
eing all too little at the same time. She so desperately wanted, in fact her body absolutely needed... she just wanted more. It just was not enough. She was ready to do away with all caution. She was sampling the heat that had been between them for weeks now and she wanted more, she was ready to take the risk of getting burnt. Somewhere private, somewhere alone where she could rip off his clothes and touch him properly, somewhere she could have him to herself and somewhere he could do the same to her.

  She just needed him.

  It was as if he knew what she was thinking and his hands moved round seeking out an entrance through her clothing pushing his fingers against her burning skin. She felt pressure against the small of her back as she pushed harder against his erection causing her to moan some more. She was urging him, even begging him for more without using any words. Words had always been the problem between them, but this subconscious communication was near perfect.

  All those years ago she had rejected him and her life had been in free-fall ever since. Only now was she beginning to scramble her way out of that downward spiral. Maybe if she had just held on to him back then...

  She could feel his chest vibrating as he drew in deep heavy breaths and attention rippling its way down his neck. She made an attempt to get closer, to enjoy the moment for longer, but it came to a sudden end. His hands pushed her hips away as he straightened his arms and he pulled his mouth from hers putting some distance between them.

  Her hands relaxed and fell away from his neck resting by her side, she looked into his eyes and could see a trembling anger in his stare. She felt herself rub the bottom of her tongue against her lower lip as if to get a final taste of him.