Rebel's Bargain. Annie West
to the ground. He reached out and found himself grasping soft cashmere and even softer hair. His fingers tightened.
‘That’s it, Orsino. Just one kiss!’ Around them the paparazzi pressed closer.
‘Can you stand while I reach for your stick?’ Poppy’s words were innocent enough but her ice-cool tone struck him again. To her he was an encumbrance till the divorce, a necessary responsibility. No more.
Five years ago she’d made a fool of him. Even now, when he’d blackmailed her into dancing to his tune, he hadn’t dented her self-assurance, much less her emotions.
Impotent fury spiked.
He would get a reaction from her.
Planting his feet more solidly, he released his hold and heard her breath sigh out. But before she could draw away he lifted his hand to the back of her head, to the silk tresses that moved as she jerked beneath his hold.
Her tangy, sweet scent filled his nostrils.
‘Orsino?’ Her voice wobbled.
Now that was a reaction.
He looked down into wide eyes. The fiery burn in his belly flared and spread as he held her tight and slanted his mouth over hers.
POPPY COULD HAVE broken away from him. She should. He held her with one arm only, the plaster on his other arm pressing against her middle.
His splayed hand held her firmly but not unbreakably.
So why did she hesitate as his mouth captured hers?
Maybe it was the surprising restraint in the touch of his cool lips against hers. It reminded her of the first time they’d kissed. Then he’d scooped her close, his shoulders blocking out the world, leaving her cocooned in the passion that swirled like a maelstrom between them. Yet he’d taken her mouth with a gentleness that had been more devastating than any urgent caress. He’d undone her with one simple kiss, because she’d felt not only desired but cherished.
His mouth moved now against hers, pressing gently. Poppy felt the years peel back, as if awakening to a man for the first time.
A shudder ran the length of her body as nerve endings sprang to life.
His tongue swept the seam of her lips, coaxing a response that rippled through her, from her mouth down to her tingling nipples and her toes curling in her boots.
Orsino’s hand moved in her hair, long fingers strong and hard and ridiculously erotic given all he did was hold her.
Her heart hammered into her breastbone and her eyes fluttered shut as her lips moved tentatively against his.
Sensation flooded her, the sound of blood pulsing in her ears, the tensile strength of him against her, the dark chocolate and spice deliciousness that was the shockingly familiar taste of Orsino on her tongue.
He pressed closer and reason finally surfaced from the inchoate thoughts tumbling through her mind.
She pulled back, eyes wide at her body’s betrayal.
Impenetrable dark glasses stared back at her. Her eyes dropped to the thin, mobile mouth that had so easily worked magic on hers. She caught a gleam of dampness on his bottom lip, the sheen where her mouth had met his.
Wrenching free of his hold, Poppy staggered back, heart pounding, her breath sawing from her lips.
Still he stood unmoving while all around them cameras clicked and whirred and reporters climbed over one another for a better view.
She felt like she’d had an out of body experience. It sure wasn’t her body that had responded to Orsino so eagerly. It couldn’t be. She’d eradicated him from her system.
Pity your body doesn’t know it.
The snide little voice came from inside her head.
Imagine what would have happened if he’d had two hands to work with.
Poppy wanted to clap her palms over her ears but there was no escaping the truth.
Not even the paparazzi cameras had saved her from herself. The truth punched hard into her empty stomach.
Orsino had laid his mouth on hers and she’d not only let him, but kissed him back. As if she were ripe for the plucking, just waiting for him to offer her a taste of the physical pleasure that had always been his specialty.
As if what he’d done meant nothing.
As if she were just another woman eager to be noticed by the sexy, charismatic Orsino Chatsfield.
Hadn’t she learned anything?
Even if her body responded to some echo of past attraction, surely she had more sense than to follow in her mother’s footsteps, unable to break away from a man who was no good for her.
The thought brought a ball of searing bile to her throat. She gagged and swallowed, ashamed of herself.
Swiftly she scooped up Orsino’s walking stick, ignoring the jostling reporters and their raucous questions. Despite their noise it felt as if she and Orsino were closed off from them, caught in a fragile bubble. She couldn’t read his features. Was he as impassive as he looked? What about the convulsive way his hand had clamped her skull?
‘Here.’ She thrust the stick into his grip then shoved her hands into her pockets. He could manage without her.
Poppy pushed aside the memory of his tension as he’d walked beside her. He’d been shaking, muscles bunched and rigid. She’d been foolish enough to feel sorry for him, reading the stress in his tight jaw and pale face.
No more!
She wasn’t her mother to be swayed so easily by sympathy for a man who despised her.
She wasn’t that self-destructive.
‘The car is just a couple of metres away.’ She turned and pushed her way through the throng.
They were silent on the way to the airport. Twice Poppy opened her mouth to give Orsino an indignant blast and twice she caught the driver sneaking a peek at them in the rear-view mirror and looked away.
That kiss would be all over the press. The last thing she needed was an eyewitness account of her and Orsino arguing.
Restlessly she pulled the tie from her hair, scooped back the stray curls that had escaped and twisted the mass high on her head, tugging so tight she winced.
Good. A bit of pain might knock some sense into her. What had she been thinking, letting Orsino kiss her?
There was a jittery, excited feeling in her stomach. Horror, she assured herself, not excitement.
She shifted in her seat, unable to repress the shivers tightening her skin.
Finally they arrived at the airport, but instead of drawing up at the terminal, the car went to a private entrance. They passed security staff and drove onto the tarmac where a sleek jet stood, its door open and staff waiting at the bottom of the stairs.
‘A private jet? That’s how you travel now?’
‘Not usually. But it seemed most convenient in the circumstances.’ A quick gesture encompassed his glasses and plastered arm. He sounded perfectly composed. No roiling stomach for Orsino after that scene in front of the paparazzi. No regrets or concerns.
Poppy’s fingers curled till the nails bit her palms. She wished she could be so blasé.
‘The hotel business must be booming.’ She shoved open her door and swung her legs out.
‘I’m not in the hotel business.’
Something in his voice made her turn in time to see