Сара Морган – At His Revenge: Sold to the Enemy / Bartering Her Innocence / Innocent of His Claim (страница 7)

The silence stretched between them.

Looking at his hard, handsome face she felt the confidence drain out of her. In an appalling flash of clarity she realised she’d made a monumental mistake. Losing her nerve, horribly embarrassed, she rose to her feet. ‘Thank you for listening.’

He stirred, uncrossed those long, lean legs and stood up, dominating the room. ‘You came to me for a business loan. Don’t you want to hear my answer?’

‘I—I thought you might need time to think about it.’

‘I’ve had all the time I need.’

So the answer was no. Her shoulders sagged. Misery seeped into her veins.

‘Right. Well—’

‘My answer is yes.’

Because it wasn’t what she was expecting to hear, it took a moment for his words to sink in.

‘Seriously? You’re not just saying that because I’ve made it hard for you to say no?’

‘No is my favourite word. I don’t find it hard to say.’

But he wasn’t saying it to her. ‘I just thought you might be agreeing to help me because you don’t want me to feel bad.’

A strange expression crossed his face. ‘That isn’t the reason.’

His eyes were on her mouth and she saw something in his face that made her heart pound just a little harder in her chest.

I lie awake at night thinking about you.

He was silent for a long moment and then strolled to the window and stared across the city. ‘It is going to drive your father crazy. Does that bother you?’

Yes, it bothered her. Her safety and the safety of her mother rested on a knife-edge, which was why she had to get away.

She had a sudden urge to tell him the truth, but years of keeping her secret and loyalty to her mother prevented her from doing it. And she knew enough about Stefan Ziakas to know that he wasn’t going to be interested in the details of her personal life. He avoided all that, didn’t he? He would never let anything personal interfere with business. ‘He has to understand that this is my life and I want to make my own mistakes. I want to be independent.’

‘So this is delayed teenage rebellion?’

Let him think that if he wanted to. ‘I know you’re not afraid of going up against him. I read that article recently—the headline was “Clash of the Titans”. And the mere mention of your name is enough to put my father in a bad mood for days.’ She stared at his broad shoulders, wondering if the sudden tension she saw there was a product of her imagination.

‘And has he ever told you why?’

‘Of course not. My father would never discuss business with a woman. He won’t be pleased with me but he’ll have to get used to the idea.’ The ache in her arm reminded her just how displeased he was likely to be. ‘I hadn’t thought about the implications for you. If it bothers you that he’ll be angry …’

‘That’s not a problem for me.’ There was the briefest pause and then he turned back to his desk in a smooth, confident movement and pressed a button on the phone. Without any further discussion or questions he instructed someone in his legal department to start making all the necessary arrangements to loan her whatever money she needed.

Having braced herself for rejection, or at least a load of awkward questions, Selene stared at him, unable to believe what she was hearing.

He was going to lend her the money. Just like that.

It couldn’t be this easy, could it? Nothing in life was this easy.

The knot of tension that had been lodged in her stomach for as long as she could remember started to ease. Anxiety was replaced by a rush of euphoria that made her feel like dancing round the room.

Apparently unaware of the impact of his decision, Stefan ended the phone call, supremely relaxed. ‘It’s done. My only stipulation is that you work with one of my business development managers who will give you access to all the in-house resources of the Ziakas Corporation. That way you won’t be ripped off by suppliers or customers, and basically you can draw on whatever funds you need.’

He was watching her from under those thick, dark lashes and her stomach flipped.

He was gorgeous.

People had him so wrong. It wasn’t right that everyone should talk about him in hushed voices as some sort of cold, conscienceless machine when he was obviously capable of all the normal human emotions. Maybe he was hard and ruthless in some aspects of his life, but to her he’d been nothing but kind.

‘I—’ She was dizzy with euphoria, hardly able to get her head around what had just happened. She was going to be able to start her own business, rent a small apartment and help her mother leave her father. She wanted to fling her arms round him and then remembered that this was a business meeting and she was pretty sure people didn’t do things like that in business meetings. ‘That’s an excellent outcome. Thank you. You won’t be sorry.’ She should shake his hand. Yes, that was what she should do. Shake his hand to seal the deal.

Standing up, she walked towards him and held out her hand.

His hand closed over hers, warm and strong, and suddenly what had begun as a simple handshake became something else entirely. He smelt good. She had no idea whether it was shampoo or something different but it made her want to bury her face in his neck and inhale deeply. All she had to do was lean forward and she’d be kissing him. Horrified by how tempted she was, she looked down at her hand instead and saw the expensive watch on his wrist and his lean, bronzed fingers linked intimately with hers.

Her stomach clenched.

Power and masculinity throbbed from him and suddenly all she could think about was sex—which was crazy because she knew nothing about sex.

But he did.

‘So now that’s out of the way,’ he drawled softly, ‘the question is how far are you willing to take this quest for independence?’

Busy imagining those strong, confident hands on her body, she felt her heart thud. ‘Why are you asking?’

‘Because I’m hosting a party tonight and I find myself minus a date. How do you feel about celebrating your new-found independence in style?’

Her eyes lifted to his and she saw amusement there. Amusement and something a little bit dangerous.

The excitement came in a whoosh that drove the air from her lungs.

Her head spun. The hungry look in his eyes was interfering with the normally smooth rhythm of her breathing. ‘You’re inviting me to a party?’ She never went to parties unless her father decided it was time to play Happy Families in public. They were the most painful moments of her life. And the loneliest, all of them fake.

She’d never been to a party for the sheer fun of it. Never been to a party where she was allowed to be herself.

She wondered why he was asking her.

‘If I say no does that mean—?’

‘You have my agreement on the loan. Your answer has no effect on our deal.’

In that case she should walk away. There would be time to party once she was safely away from the island. Selene licked her lips. ‘What sort of party is it?’

‘A strictly grown-up event. No jelly or ice cream in sight.’

A party. With him.

‘You’re asking me to come as your date?’

‘That’s right.’

The excitement was sharper than when he’d agreed to lend her the money. A date. A party. With this man. She’d never done anything like that in her life.

She should say no. Now that he’d agreed to help her she should get back to Antaxos, persuade her mother to leave and be long gone before her father returned. She couldn’t possibly say yes even though she wanted to more than she’d ever wanted anything in her life.

On the other hand, why not?

For the first time in her life she was free to make her own decision about something. For once her father wasn’t dictating her actions, no one was watching her and her mother was safe. She had no one to think about but herself. If she wanted to go to a party, she could. And wasn’t that the point of all this? To be able to live her life the way she wanted to live it?

Feeling liberated, she opened her mouth. ‘I don’t have anything to wear.’

‘That’s easily solved.’

‘I have this fantasy about wearing a wicked red dress and drinking champagne from a tall, slim glass with a handsome man in a dinner jacket. Would we drink champagne?’

His mouth curved into a smile so sexy it should have been illegal. ‘All night.’

‘And would we—?’

The devil danced in his eyes and his mouth moved fractionally closer to hers. ‘If you’re asking what I think you’re asking then the answer is yes, we definitely would.’

CHAPTER THREE

‘HOW did he arrange for these dresses to be delivered so fast? And how did he guess my size? On second thoughts, don’t answer that.’ Confronted with a rail of the most beautiful dresses she’d ever seen, Selene felt as if she’d stepped onto a Hollywood movie set. Part of her felt anxious about her decision to stay, but another part felt wildly excited. She listened to the excited part and ignored the anxiety. That, she reasoned, came from too many years of not being allowed to make her own decisions. It was natural that it felt strange.

Maria pulled an elegant clutch bag from tissue paper. ‘When Stefan picks up the phone, people respond at supersonic speed. The benefits of being a man of power.’