King's Price. Jackie Ashenden
The devil inside me found her fascinating. It wanted a reaction from her, some kind of response, and I didn’t care that she wasn’t my type.
I was a predator who wanted the chase and who knew she’d put up one hell of a fight in the end.
‘Yes,’ I said, already thinking about how I could turn this to my advantage. ‘You get to call the shots.’
She gave a nod as if she’d been expecting me to okay it all along. ‘All right then. I agree to marry you. But only on the condition that whatever happens in public is directed by me.’
I waved a hand. ‘Be my guest.’
‘So what happens after the wedding?’
‘We’ll have a couple of months of blissfully happy marriage so my brothers and I can get as many investors on board as we can, and then I leave the country.’
Her hand lifted to her mouth again, and I was pretty sure it was an unconscious thing because she didn’t seem to be aware of it. ‘So, I have to live with you?’
‘Yes, you’ll stay with me at my house—don’t worry, it’s massive; you can have your own wing. You won’t even see me if you don’t want to.’
‘And then?’ She nibbled absently on the end of her nail.
Holy Christ, that mouth. I stared at the full, red shape of it. What if she had those lips wrapped around my cock instead of her own finger? Would she use her teeth? Dear God, I hoped so.
Why are you having fantasies about Vita Hamilton’s mouth?
I had no fucking idea.
‘Then, like I said, I leave the country.’ My voice sounded rough. Jesus.
She tilted her head, dark eyes on mine. ‘Why?’
I shifted, uncomfortably aware that my suit trousers were tighter than they’d been two seconds ago. ‘Why am I leaving the country? Because I am.’
‘Will you come back?’
‘No. Hence you getting the house. We’ll leave it six months, then sign the divorce papers and you’ll be free to go.’
She continued to nibble on her nail, frowning at me, as if she was working out a tricky problem in her head. ‘I won’t have to do anything I don’t want to do, right?’
‘Right.’ Though I could think of a couple of things I could convince her that she did want to do. Things involving that mouth. I was, after all, very good at convincing people.
‘Okay.’ Abruptly, she took her finger out of her mouth, much to my relief. ‘That’s all the questions I have for now.’ She reached for the small handbag she’d put down on the seat next to her, obviously getting ready to go.
Except I hadn’t finished.
We were in a nightclub and there were a lot of people around and, if I wasn’t much mistaken, a couple of columnists from the local gossip websites were propping up the bar. Which made right here, right now a prime opportunity to make our so-called relationship public. Plus, there was a small experiment I wanted to run. Just a test to...confirm something.
‘Excellent.’ I sat forward. ‘Give me your hand.’
She turned her head, giving me a wary sidelong look. ‘Why?’
‘You’re full of questions.’
‘I’m a scientist. Asking questions is what I do.’
‘A scientist?’ Diverted, I gave her another once-over. ‘You don’t look like one.’
‘Really?’ Her expression was scornful. ‘And what does a scientist look like?’
‘Blonde.’ I couldn’t resist playing with her. ‘Big tits. Glasses. Short white coat.’
‘No,’ she said flatly, refusing the bait. ‘Some scientists might look like that, but not the ones I know.’
‘Where do you work?’
‘In the university, in the labs. I’m a research assistant.’ The scorn faded from her voice, a note of pride entering it. ‘I have a PhD.’ She stared at me as she said it, like she was throwing down a challenge, though what she expected me to say I had no idea.
‘Smart, huh?’ I refused her bait as she’d refused mine. ‘I like a smart woman. You’ll have to tell me more on our next date.’
‘What do you mean next date? We haven’t even had one yet.’
‘Sure we have. This is our first.’ I reached out towards her. ‘Your hand, honey.’
‘Not honey.’
‘Sweetheart, then.’
‘I don’t want—’
‘Scared?’
Irritation rippled over her sharp little face. ‘I’m not falling for that.’
‘You know what they say, darling. You have to stand for something or else you’ll fall for anything.’
If she could have growled at me she would have, I’m sure.
Instead, she let out an annoyed breath. ‘Don’t make me regret this.’ Then she stuck out her hand.
I didn’t hesitate to take it or expect to feel anything when I did. Sure, I’d been fixated on her mouth and had thought about how her legs would feel wrapped around me, but I often thought those things about women. I was a man, after all, and not a very good one at that.
So I wasn’t prepared for the shock of raw electricity that jolted me the moment her long slender fingers touched mine. Or to see the same shock mirrored in the wide dark of her eyes.
She went still, the muscles in her arm tightening in preparation to jerk her hand away.
And I had one crystal-clear thought.
No. She wasn’t going to do that. Not here, not in full view of everyone. Not when this was the moment I’d chosen to reveal our relationship to the world.
So I closed my fingers around hers and held on.
She took a sharp breath.
Her skin was cool but it warmed against mine, and I didn’t think it was my imagination that the lights in her eyes flared briefly.
Yes, she felt this too.
I held her gaze in silent challenge. Then slowly I rose to my feet.
Her gaze was wary, watching me as if I was a dangerous animal she had to keep an eye on. It nearly made me smile.
Yes, keep watching, little vixen. You never know what I might do to you.
Keeping my fingers wrapped around hers, I moved towards the stairs that led out of the VIP area and down to the dance floor, tugging her with me.
She resisted at first but I didn’t pause, drawing her down the stairs and into the crowd.
‘What are you doing?’ she snapped as I stopped on the dance floor, a small space opening up around us, then turned to face her.
‘What does it look like?’ I gave her another tug, drawing her closer. ‘I’m going to dance with you.’
She blinked. ‘What? But I... I don’t know how to dance.’
Her wariness had been replaced with an adorable mixture of shock and confusion. And that was perhaps why she didn’t resist as I put my hands on her hips and drew her even closer, our bodies almost touching.
She was tall enough that I didn’t have to tilt my head to look down into her eyes.
‘Don’t worry,’ I said softly, staring into her bright, black gaze. ‘Just follow my lead.’
She blinked again and something