Читать книгу King's Price - Jackie Ashenden - Страница 12

HE WAS LIKE a big cat about to pounce, and my heart started beating very loud and very fast in my ears.

Leon King was dangerous, that much I’d known from the moment I’d laid eyes on him. Very, very dangerous. And right now he was radiating that danger so intensely I could almost taste it.

It made me want to cower away like a frightened rabbit, but I was a professional woman of twenty-six and there was no way I was going to run so I kept staring at him instead, refusing to look away.

He was probably the most beautiful man I’d ever seen.

His features were strong, with a high forehead, chiselled jaw and cheekbones to die for. His eyes were a smoky amber, framed by thick dark lashes and straight dark brows and his hair was tawny, threads of gold and caramel gleaming in the nightclub’s dim lighting. Those flashes of gold looked like someone had taken a paintbrush to him and gilded his features.

He wore a white business shirt beneath his dark blue suit and it was open at the neck, exposing golden skin. And he sat there, all sprawled and lazy like a lion sunning himself on a rock.

A predator pretending not to notice its prey, as it readied itself to lunge.

That amber gaze was on mine and the air of danger around him was so thick I could barely breathe. The primitive fight or flight response was kicking in now, urging me to run, but I ignored it.

It was simply a chemical reaction and, as a chemist, I knew all about those. The danger wasn’t real so I stayed exactly where I was, determined to show this rude asshole I wasn’t intimidated.

‘I think you’d better explain, sweetheart.’ His voice was deep and rich and vaguely hypnotic. ‘Why is your father planning a bait and switch?’

I ignored the sweetheart thing. He was only doing it to get a rise out of me, I was sure. ‘Because he doesn’t want you to marry her.’ I didn’t add the fact that it was because I was more expendable. It certainly wasn’t about me being stronger than Clara, that was for sure.

‘Uh-huh.’ Leon King’s stare was absolutely relentless and completely terrifying. The smile that curved his beautiful, sensual mouth even more so. ‘You’re telling me this, why?’

That caught me off-balance. I thought he’d be angry about it and yet... I didn’t see anger in his dark golden eyes. No, it was worse. There was nothing in his eyes at all. Absolutely nothing.

I tried to get my thoughts together. ‘I’m telling you because I thought you’d want to know. And because...’ I steeled myself ‘...I thought that if you knew, maybe you’d change your mind about this marriage business.’

‘Right.’ He said the word slowly, drawing it out. ‘This marriage business...’ Raising his glass, he took another sip of the liquid, his movements unhurried, as if he had all the time in the world. ‘And why would I change my mind?’

I blinked, nonplussed and not sure what to say. ‘You wanted Clara. And instead you’ll get me.’ Surely he’d see he wasn’t exactly getting a bargain? ‘You can’t be happy with that. Anyway, I know you’re only marrying her to get what you want for your company.’ I leaned forward, keen to make him see reason. ‘Which makes it pretty simple. All you have to do is pay Dad the money you were going to and he’ll make his friends invest or whatever it is you want them to do. There’s no real need to marry her or anyone, in fact.’

‘You’re assuming that’s the only reason I wanted to marry her.’ He smiled that terrifying smile. ‘But it’s not.’

A kind of foreboding settled in my gut.

Maybe I didn’t want to know his real reason. Before I’d ventured into the city to find him I’d done a bit of research into him and his background, and what I’d found was every bit as terrifying as his smile.

His father had once run the biggest crime network in Sydney. Guns, prostitutes, drugs... You name it, Augustus King had been into it. And Leon had been part of that network, enforcing his father’s word as law. At least until he and his two brothers had taken their father down. They’d been granted immunity from prosecution—likely in return for testifying against their father—and had spent the last five years building up King Enterprises, their property development firm.

He was supposed to be going straight, but that smile of his told another story. A story I probably wouldn’t like.

‘Go on,’ he murmured when I didn’t say anything, watching me from over the rim of his glass. ‘Ask me what my other reason is.’

I wanted to refuse, but the scientist in me wouldn’t let it go. ‘Okay, so what’s your other reason, then?’

‘I don’t trust your father, sweetheart. I need an insurance policy. Something to make sure he keeps his word, if you understand me.’ He smiled yet again. I wished he’d stop doing that. ‘Clara was supposed to be my insurance policy. Sure, I would have preferred her but...’ His gaze dropped, running over me. ‘You’ll do. Yes, you’ll do very nicely indeed.’

At first, I didn’t know what he was talking about. Since the sex tape crap had hit the media and I’d hidden myself away, I’d cut men out of my life for good. I’d had less than no interest in them or dating, or any kind of relationship at all in fact.

I had good working relationships with my male colleagues, but I made sure to keep them at a distance. All my colleagues. I didn’t want anyone knowing about me. I didn’t want anyone interested in me. And for ten years that had worked well.

Yet the way Leon King was looking at me, so blatantly sexual... No one had looked at me like that in a long time, if ever. But what was even worse was the sudden wave of heat that licked over my skin in response. Like I’d been caught in the backdraught of a wildfire.

It was so intense I looked away despite all my determination not to, my cheeks getting hot.

Hell. I was blushing. When was the last time that had happened?

Pretending I was studying the crowd and not avoiding his gaze, I said, ‘I don’t want to marry you. Insurance policy or not.’

‘Why not?’

The question irritated me. Was he stupid? Did he really not know?

I steeled myself yet again to meet his dark golden eyes. ‘Why do you think? I don’t even know you.’

He gave an elegant shrug. ‘So?’

‘What do you mean “so”? You’re a complete stranger.’

‘Why does that matter? Complete strangers marry each other every day.’ He tilted his head, the lights striking deep gold from his hair, his gaze gleaming. ‘I presume your father told you that you’ll get my house. Plus I can throw in some more money to sweeten the deal.’

‘I don’t want your house and I don’t want your money,’ I said flatly.

‘Sex then. You can have me.’ That smile lost its edge, became warmer, which somehow made it seem even more terrifying than before. ‘I assure you I’m worth it.’

He was so damn arrogant that I should have laughed. If he’d been another man, I would have. But again that strange heat licked up inside me at the words, a pull deep inside.

Yes, and remember what happened last time you felt that?

Shame. Humiliation. Pain.

No, I shouldn’t think of that. Chemicals, that was all this reaction was. Serotonin. Adrenaline. Dopamine. Nothing more.

‘No.’ I put every ounce of denial I could into the word, sitting up straight and tall to show him I meant business. ‘I don’t want you either.’

He laughed, a soft sound that made me shiver. ‘Then maybe your poor father doesn’t get his money.’

‘Why not? You’d really pull out just because I won’t marry you?’

He gave another shrug as if it wasn’t a big deal. ‘I’m not risking my money to your father’s promises, not without some guarantee.’

Dammit.

I shifted on the chair then rubbed my temples with one hand. The relentless beat of the music was giving me a headache and this was...not going like I’d planned. I’d thought he’d be a typical man, only concerned with having the beautiful trophy woman on his arm. But apparently he was different for some reason. Which was irritating.

Tell him it’s all off. Leave Dad to get out of this one himself.

I could. Except then the debt I owed Dad would still be there, hanging over my head. He’d got me away during the media storm, tried to cover my tracks and get rid of that recording. All the while facing the bankruptcy that I’d caused. I did owe him something.

Leon watched me, his gaze a searchlight uncovering all kinds of things I’d prefer to keep hidden.

‘What, exactly, is your problem?’ he asked. ‘I won’t touch you if you don’t want me to, and at the end of six months you can have my house and a divorce. I’ll be leaving the country after that anyway. You’ll barely see me.’

He made it sound so reasonable. Why was I balking? I didn’t have any particular beliefs around marriage and love wasn’t real anyway. So what did it matter?

‘I don’t like...the attention,’ I said lamely, settling on the most logical reason for my reluctance. ‘I’m not comfortable being in the spotlight. And marrying you will draw attention.’

‘Of course it will. I want it to.’ His gaze wandered over me again and I felt my skin prickle in response. ‘I want people to think we’re in love, not that I married you purely to get an in with your father.’

Well, Dad had not mentioned anything about a love affair.

‘But that’s why you are marrying me,’ I pointed out.

‘Well, yes. I just don’t want other people to know that.’

‘Why not? Why should you care?’

He gave another of those soft laughs, his eyes gleaming. ‘The King family has changed, Miss Hamilton. We’re not the criminals everyone seems to think we are, not any more. And what better way to illustrate that than for one of us to fall desperately in love and marry a good woman from a very good family?’

‘Not to mention getting investors for your company’s expansion,’ I said dryly.

‘That too.’ He swirled the liquid in his glass. ‘It’s a multi-layered, complicated problem. I wouldn’t think too hard about it if I were you.’

Was that a not-so-subtle dig at my intelligence? ‘Not to worry my pretty little head, you mean?’

He shrugged, his gaze guileless, and didn’t answer. ‘Did you know I was supposed to be meeting Clara for our first public date tonight?’ he asked instead. ‘She didn’t turn up, but you did.’

Public dates? Dad hadn’t mentioned anything about public dates.

Because he knew you’d refuse.

‘I didn’t know Clara was supposed to be here,’ I snapped, freshly annoyed at my father all over again. ‘Dad didn’t mention it to me. And I’m certainly not here to be her stand-in either.’

‘Clearly not.’ He tilted his head. ‘What have you got against a bit of attention, though?’

Great. That was all I needed. To drag up what had happened to me ten years ago. I didn’t want to talk about it and I especially didn’t want to talk about it to him.

‘I just don’t like it,’ I said.

‘Bullshit. Must be something pretty bad for it to involve coming to talk to me personally.’

Dammit. My options were either lying or simply not answering the question, but I was hopeless at lying and I had a feeling he wasn’t the type to simply drop a subject.

Hiding it wasn’t an option either, not when a quick search on my name would bring up the video. No matter how hard Dad had tried to scour it from the Internet, he hadn’t been able to. The Internet was for ever and so was my video.

He’ll see it if you tell him.

My jaw tightened. Well, everyone in creation had seen it, so why should I care if he did? Possibly he already had.

‘Google my name and you’ll find out.’ I lifted my chin and folded my hands in my lap so I wouldn’t be tempted to bite on my nails.

He gave me a long, silent, assessing look. Then he put down his glass and reached into his pocket, bringing out his phone.

I opened my mouth to tell him that he should wait until I wasn’t around at least. But his long fingers were already moving over the screen and a moment or two later he lifted his gaze from the phone and looked at me.

I blushed again, the old feelings of humiliation and shame washing over me, but I shoved them away. I wasn’t that girl in the video, not any more.

Instead, I stared, daring him to say a single word.

He merely lifted one dark brow. ‘So you had a sex tape drama. Who hasn’t?’

Was he being flippant? I couldn’t tell.

‘But you can see why I don’t want any kind of public attention. I don’t want anyone dragging that up again.’

‘You’re thinking about this all wrong, sweetheart.’ Casually, he dumped his phone on the table then sat back against the couch, lifting his arms along the back. ‘You could hide away for ever, afraid of all that coming back up again. Or you could go for a little revenge.’

It was not what I’d expected him to say.

‘Revenge? What do you mean revenge?’

‘A hot guy slept with you and humiliated you. And millions saw it. What better revenge than to show those millions of people another guy falling for you? Incredibly handsome, sickeningly rich.’ He gave another smile, utterly and completely charming, and not at all modest. ‘Notorious. Not a man anyone would mess with. Yet you’d have him wrapped around your little finger.’

The words slid under my skin in a way I wasn’t comfortable with. Revenge wasn’t what I wanted. Oblivion was, and I didn’t want anything to disrupt that. And yet...

‘I’d already planned some dates with Clara,’ he went on, that rich, deep voice of his winding around me. ‘Nothing major, just a few public outings to show people we’re in love. And then a big wedding to top it all off.’ His voice deepened, became softer. ‘Yes, it’s attention. But this time you get to call the shots. And it ends with you getting everything. The wedding, the mansion, the money.’ He paused, gold glimmering in his eyes, his smile making me feel hot, even though I wasn’t. ‘And, of course, you get the man.’

My instant response was to tell him no, that I didn’t care. I’d got past what had happened to me and what I wanted was to go back to my obscure life and carry on as if none of this had ever happened.

You could do that. Or you could rewrite your own story. And this time with the ending you want.

The thought hit me hard.

Back when I was seventeen, being Clara’s tall, gangly stick of a sister had been tough, and I’d longed to be like her. Pretty and curvy, popular with all the boys. I’d been an easy mark for Simon. Desperate for attention, insecure, a prime target for his manipulation. And he had manipulated me. He’d made me think he wanted me, that he loved me.

Then he’d used me, humiliated me, and all because he’d wanted my sister and she’d refused him. I’d been his revenge on her, too naive and stupid to understand what he was doing.

So, in a way, Leon King was right. This would be a perfect kind of revenge. And it would be my choice. Something I could do for myself.

Slowly, I let out a breath and looked at him. ‘So...when you say a few public dates, how many are we talking here?’