Читать книгу Pregnant by the Billionaire - Ким Лоренс, Кэрол Мортимер - Страница 13

‘YOU completely took advantage of the fact that you knew I wouldn’t argue with you with Wallace present!’ Luccy protested indignantly.

Sin arched dark brows as he took in her flushed cheeks and the sparkle in her blue eyes. ‘If Wallace hadn’t been present I could hardly have asked him to make up the spare bedroom for you, now could I?’ he pointed out.

He had waited until they had eaten the tea Wallace had prepared for them—including tempting cakes as well as the delicious home-made biscuits—before mentioning the spare bedroom to the elderly man, wanting to ensure that Luccy had eaten before he introduced any more points of contention into their conversation. As making the practical arrangements for her to stay on here had been guaranteed to do!

She had seemed to relax as they had enjoyed their tea together, by tacit agreement the two of them keeping to non-controversial topics of conversation. Obviously that delicate truce had now come to an end!

‘You could at least give me credit for asking Wallace to make up the spare bedroom, rather than simply assuming you would be sharing mine,’ Sin pointed out mockingly.

‘You can make all the assumptions you like, Sin, but that won’t make them fact!’ Even that beautiful blue-black hair seemed to crackle with her indignation.

Sin gave a slow, lazy smile. ‘You look very beautiful when you’re angry.’

‘Oh, please!’ she groaned disgustedly. ‘That line is so hackneyed I can’t believe you even said it!’

His smile widened to an appreciative grin. ‘Neither can I,’ he said, sobering as he looked at her intently. ‘But I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that you really are very beautiful,’ he added with husky sincerity. ‘Even more so now you’re pregnant.’

Luccy was very aware of the lurching sensation in her chest at his compliment, a fluttering feeling in her stomach too as she became tinglingly aware of him.

Of the dark thickness of his hair, the intensity of that silver gaze, the sensual curve of his mouth, the powerful width of his chest, and the way the sunlight glittered on the dark hair on his arms as they rested on the table top.

God, she had to get away from this man for a while. Needed some time, and space, in order to get her thoughts together. She felt as if she had been completely railroaded these last few hours.

It certainly didn’t help that she was so aware of Sin that she could think of nothing else, be aware of nothing else, that memories of their lovemaking kept intruding into her thoughts, inciting a longing, a yearning, to repeat the experience…

Sin was seducing her just by being there, Luccy realised self-disgustedly. ‘Don’t you have something else you should be doing other than sitting out here with me?’ she asked suddenly.

Sin found Luccy’s thoughts easy to read as he saw the self-disgust in her eyes and the return of those lines of strain beside her mouth and eyes. ‘I should go back to the office for a couple of hours, yes,’ he acknowledged ruefully.

‘Then please do so,’ she said tautly.

Yes, Luccy most definitely wanted him out of the way for a while. So that she could regather her crumbling defences? Well, he would go along with that for the moment…

He nodded. ‘You could just relax here, read a book or take a swim perhaps, and we’ll get together again later.’

‘At which time it will be too late for me to get any flight back to England today?’ she asked.

Sin bit back his impatience. ‘Would that really be so bad, Luccy?’ he reasoned. ‘All I’m asking for at the moment is a little of your time, the chance for us to get to know each other before we decide what to do for the best.’

‘Nothing is going to change, Sin.’ She sighed. ‘No amount of us spending time together is going to alter the fact that you believe I deliberately set out to seduce you two months ago, and for reasons that were far from innocent.’

‘I was Sin that night.’ His mouth had tightened. ‘You seduced Jacob Sinclair the Third.’

‘Sin. Jacob Sinclair the Third.’ She shrugged. ‘They’re one and the same person.’

‘Actually, they’re not,’ Sin bit out.

‘I see no distinction.’

She didn’t want to see a distinction, Sin recognised wryly. Only time would show her that there most definitely was one.

He stood up. ‘You’ll find plenty of books to read in the sitting-room. The pool and hot tub are at the back of the house—although I’m not sure you should go in the hot tub,’ he added with a frown. ‘I seem to remember reading on the instructions that pregnant women shouldn’t go in.’

Her mouth twisted derisively. ‘That’s only if you put the jets on.’

‘Right. But maybe you should stay out of there, anyway—’

‘I think I’m old enough to make my own mind up, Sin!’

He sighed, already knowing from the way Luccy refused to drink any alcohol that she was being conscientious about what she should and shouldn’t be doing during her pregnancy. He needed to back off a little.

‘Just ring for Wallace if you want anything, hmm?’

‘But stay out of his kitchen?’ Luccy offered.

‘That only applies to me,’ Sin retorted. ‘I’m sure he won’t object in the least if you go in there. I assure you that Wallace is as susceptible as the next man to the charms of a beautiful woman,’ he added dryly. ‘My mother has him wrapped about her elegant little finger!’ He paused beside Luccy’s chair to bend down and place a light kiss on her lips.

Luccy was completely unprepared for the caress, her response instinctive as her lips parted beneath his, deepening and lengthening the kiss as one of Sin’s hands moved to curve lightly about the nape of her neck.

Sin straightened reluctantly several minutes later to look down at the flushed confusion on Luccy’s face. ‘I’ll only be a couple of hours,’ he promised huskily. ‘Just tell Wallace if there’s anything you particularly feel like eating for dinner this evening.’

He found himself strangely reluctant to leave. Strangely, because Sin had never allowed a woman, any woman, to interfere with his work before, and yet unbidden thoughts of Luccy these last few months had done so constantly. This reluctance to leave her now was completely out of character, too.

Get a grip, Sinclair, he instantly instructed himself; Luccy had already shown him quite clearly that she didn’t feel the same reluctance to be parted from him!

Even so he found himself lingering unnecessarily. ‘You’ll be okay here on your own?’

Luccy’s eyes widened. ‘Of course. Besides, I won’t be alone, will I?’ she added pointedly as Wallace came quietly out onto the terrace to clear away the tea things.

Sin gave the elderly man an affectionate glance. ‘I suppose not. Wallace knows where to reach me if you should—’

‘Sin, I’m not going to leave without first telling you, if that’s what’s worrying you.’ She arched mocking ebony brows. ‘After all, you know where I work, remember?’

Had Sin felt that reluctance to go back into the city because he was worried Luccy might take advantage of his absence to leave?

No, he trusted Luccy enough to at least believe that if she said she would stay here tonight, then she would do it. Besides, he did know where she worked!

His hesitation was for quite another reason, he recognised with an inward frown. In spite of everything he was still totally physically aware of Luccy. At the same time, he felt protective because she was carrying his child. Even if it was a protectiveness that Luccy obviously resented.

‘Sin, will you just go to work?’ Luccy said with a little laugh as he remained beside her. ‘I really don’t need a nursemaid.’

‘I’m well aware of the fact that you’re a grown woman.’

‘Then try treating me like one!’

He looked down at her silently for several more seconds before giving an abrupt nod of his head. ‘I should be back in plenty of time for dinner,’ he rasped harshly before turning sharply on his heel and walking back inside the house.

Luccy stared after him. What on earth had all that been about?

Maybe Sin was just feeling the strain of them being together here? After all, he was no more used to sharing his home with anyone—the devoted Wallace apart—than she was.

Well, Sin needn’t worry too much about that; Luccy had no intention of staying on here any longer than she absolutely had to in order to convince Sin that she was quite capable of taking care of herself—and anyone else who came along!

‘What the—? Sin, you scared the hell out of me!’ The water swirled wildly about Luccy as she surged up in the hot tub—minus the jets—to turn and glare at him, at the same time dislodging his hands from where they had been cupping her breasts beneath the water.

Sin looked down at her unrepentantly, his shirt sleeves dripping with water from being submerged in the hot tub.

He had returned to the house only a few minutes ago and learnt from Wallace that Luccy was outside on the deck relaxing in the hot tub, sparing only a few seconds to discard the jacket to his suit before going outside to join her.

Sin had watched her unobserved for several minutes. Luccy was obviously completely relaxed as she lay back in the warm water with her eyes closed, the slight smile that curved her lips telling him that her thoughts were at least pleasant ones.

It would be too much to hope that those thoughts might be of the two of them making love, of course, but Sin found himself unable to think of anything else but making love to Luccy as she sat there looking so temptingly beautiful; her face was glowingly lovely in the early evening sunlight, that long ebony-blue hair loosely secured on top of her head, completely exposing the long, creamy expanse of her neck and throat. The tee shirt she wore was clinging wetly to the firm thrust of her breasts just beneath the water, the darker nipples clearly visible against the white material.

Sin had moved stealthily to the side of the tub before bending down behind Luccy, his hands instinctively curving about the thrust of those breasts even as he bent to taste the creamy expanse of her throat with his lips.

A familiarity Luccy had obviously taken exception to!

‘You might at least have given me some sort of warning that you were there!’ Luccy could feel the embarrassed colour heating her cheeks even as she continued to glare up at Sin, aware that her breasts were totally aroused from the unexpectedness of Sin’s hands cupping them in that way.

‘Coughed, you mean?’ he taunted even as he began to unbutton his wet shirt.

‘Something like—What are you doing?’ she demanded sharply as Sin finished unbuttoning his shirt before taking it off completely and dropping it down onto the wooden decking.

‘I thought I might join you,’ he told her huskily as he slipped off his shoes and socks before unfastening his trousers.

‘I—but—you can’t, Sin!’ Luccy shook her head frantically as he removed his trousers and stood there wearing only figure-hugging black boxers that left absolutely nothing to the imagination—as they proudly showed off the firm thrust of his arousal!

He paused with his thumbs hooked into the waistband of those boxers. ‘Why can’t I?’

Any number of reasons that Luccy could think of. All of them to do with the fact that she simply wasn’t used to having a man strip naked in front of her. Even—no, especially—a man she knew as intimately as she knew Sin. And who knew her just as intimately.

Luccy swallowed hard. ‘Look, I’ll get out and—’

‘If it makes you feel more comfortable, I’ll keep my boxers on,’ Sin offered as he unhooked his thumbs to look down at her mockingly.

‘Keeping your boxers on isn’t going to make the slightest difference—That was not an invitation for you to remove them!’ Luccy gasped as Sin did exactly that, instantly rendering her speechless.

Oh, God…

Sin was beautiful. Absolutely, completely, totally male and utterly beautiful.

The darkness of his hair grew slightly overlong to rest on the broad expanse of his shoulders, his face like a bronzed mask in the evening sunlight, chest muscled, stomach flat, his thighs—oh, dear Lord, those thighs!—firm and muscled as they flanked his blatant arousal, his legs long and lightly dusted with dark hair. Even Sin’s feet were beautifully shaped.

In the course of her work Luccy had worked with lots of male models over the years, in all states of dress and undress, but none of them had been as ruggedly compelling as Sin. Or made her senses sing in awareness…

‘Can I get in now or do you want to look some more?’

Luccy’s embarrassed gaze returned to Sin’s mockingly handsome face. ‘I really wasn’t in a—position, to look before,’ she came back tartly to cover that embarrassment.

‘Feel free,’ Sin invited huskily, grey eyes gleaming like silver.

Luccy instantly turned away from all that blatant maleness. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Sin,’ she snapped dismissively, deliberately keeping her gaze averted when she felt the water move slightly as Sin climbed into the hot-tub with her, the long length of Sin’s thigh brushing against hers as he sat down beside her. ‘It’s probably time I was getting out anyway—’

‘Stay, Luccy,’ he encouraged throatily, so close now that the warmth of his breath disturbed the loose tendrils of hair beside her exposed ear, his arm curved along the top of the wooden tub behind her. ‘Did you miss me?’ he asked softly.

Luccy was totally unnerved by Sin’s close proximity, her shoulders tensed as she sat slightly away from the back of the tub in order to avoid coming into contact with the warmth of his arm. ‘You’ve only been gone a couple of hours,’ she pointed out.

Strangely, though, she had missed him, the house having suddenly felt very empty with only herself and Wallace in residence. But Luccy didn’t intend telling Sin that!

‘So I have,’ he murmured ruefully, his arm bending slightly behind her as his fingers began to play with the loose tendrils of hair at her nape. ‘Did you think of me while I was away?’ he added gruffly.

‘No, of course not—’ Luccy had turned sharply to look at him, and then wished she hadn’t as she found her face now only inches away from his, those silver-grey eyes totally mesmerising.

Sin had certainly found himself thinking of Luccy while he’d been in the city the past couple of hours!

None of his previous relationships had ever involved actually living with a woman, and with the penthouse suite at the Sinclair Hotel at his disposal he’d never brought women back to his home in order to sleep with them, either.

The clinging wet tee shirt Luccy was wearing revealed more than it concealed as Sin felt his gaze once again drawn to the darkness of her nipples so clearly outlined against the white material, and he wondered what else she was wearing…

Another of those scraps of lace, he discovered as his hand moved caressingly along the length of her thigh to her hip. Black this time, he found as he moved her tee shirt slightly to one side so that he could touch the warmth of her waist before cupping the fullness of her breast, watching the way Luccy’s eyes darkened, her lips slightly parted as the soft pad of his thumb moved across the rigid nipple.

‘You’re thinking of me now, though, hmm?’ he murmured.

‘Of how you like my hands touching you. Of how it would feel if I were to bend down and suck—’

‘Don’t, Sin,’ she groaned breathlessly.

‘Why not?’ he challenged huskily as he looked up and saw the flush of arousal on her cheeks.

‘Because I won’t become another of the women you seduce in your hot tub!’ she roused herself enough to protest.

‘Another of the women I seduce in my hot tub?’ he repeated incredulously.

‘No,’ Luccy insisted tautly as she very firmly removed Sin’s wandering hand before moving slightly away from him.

‘What makes you think I have a parade of women through here?’ Sin asked curiously.

‘The costume I found in the changing-room,’ Luccy snapped. ‘The costume with a 36C top.’

‘And you are?’

‘At the moment? A 32D, and growing,’ she added ruefully; Luccy had always been slightly disappointed that her bust size had stopped when she reached the age of sixteen, but she had definitely started to expand in that area since becoming pregnant.

Sin’s gaze warmed appreciatively. ‘I’m not complaining.’

‘Sin—’

‘The costume in the changing-room belongs to my mother, Luccy,’ he interrupted.

She blinked. ‘Your mother?’

Sin was so close to Luccy now that he could see the darker flecks of blue in her eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes that a man could lose his soul in…

‘My mother uses that costume when she’s here,’ he expanded, wondering suddenly whether he was in danger of losing his soul to her. ‘I never bring women here, Luccy,’ he assured her even as he gave in to the temptation to allow his lips to once more taste the creamy expanse of her throat.

That throat moved convulsively as Luccy swallowed. ‘You brought me here.’

‘Ah, but you aren’t “women”,’ Sin murmured as he tasted the lobe of her ear now.

‘I’m not?’

‘Not at all,’ Sin responded. ‘You’re the future mother of my children, and the future mistress of this house.’

Until that moment, the owner of that black bathing costume now explained, Luccy had been in danger of succumbing to the air of intimacy that surrounded them, of losing herself totally in Sin’s seduction. But this stark reminder of Sin’s intention of seducing her into marrying him completely evaporated her rapidly escalating arousal.

She moved sharply away from him. ‘I said don’t, Sin!’ she repeated more firmly as she stood up and moved towards the step to get out, totally uncaring of the way the white tee shirt clung to her; after all, there was nothing there that Sin hadn’t already seen, touched, or kissed!

‘Why the hell not?’ he growled as he looked across at her.

‘I am not going to be the mother of your children or the future mistress of this house!’ Luccy was breathing hard in her agitation.

‘That’s exactly what you’re going to be—’

‘No, it is not!’ Luccy turned back to face him, her face flushed with anger now. ‘I allowed you to bring me here only so that we could discuss future arrangements for after the baby is born. I’ve already told you why I have absolutely no intention of marrying you, let alone having other children with you.’

Sin’s mouth was a taut line. ‘And I’ve already told you that the alternative, my setting you up in a house somewhere and then only being allowed agreed visitation rights, is not an option, either!’

‘I haven’t asked for any of that—’

‘What other alternatives are there?’ he rasped coldly. ‘Come on, Luccy, if neither of those is acceptable, what else is there?’

‘I don’t know.’ Tears glistened in her eyes. ‘I just know that I can’t marry a man—any man—because I’m expecting his baby!’

Sin nodded grimly. ‘Because your sister did and the marriage was a disaster.’

‘Well, it was!’ Luccy cried. ‘She and Rory despise each other now.’

‘And you think that might happen to us, too?’

‘You don’t particularly like me now, so, yes, in eight years’ time you’ll probably hate the sight of me.’

‘Oh, I like you now, Luccy,’ he muttered.

Luccy shot him an impatient glare. ‘You’re talking about in a sexual way!’

He shrugged bare shoulders. ‘It’s a good place to start.’

‘It’s a good place to finish, too!’

Sin’s expression was grim. ‘We have at least one advantage over your sister and her ex-husband that I can see.’

Luccy tensed warily. ‘Which is?’

His mouth twisted derisively. ‘You would be marrying a billionaire—’

‘Sin, don’t you dare start accusing me again of wanting you for your money,’ she warned angrily. ‘I’ve seen how most rich men treat their wives, and I can assure you that I have no intention of marrying you and being left in this house like some—some—’

‘Some what?’ Sin asked, dangerously soft.

‘Some trophy on the mantel—’ Luccy made it sound like an insult ‘—while no doubt you remain in the city night after night, at your conveniently “always available” suite at the Sinclair Hotel, entertaining your girlfriends!’

Sin’s mouth tightened at how close a description it was to the way his life was now. But that was as a single man. It would be different when Luccy was his wife. ‘You’re asking for fidelity, is that it?’

‘No, that is not it!’ Luccy said heatedly. ‘Don’t you see, Sin? I just don’t want to marry you!’

Yes, Sin did see—it was just that there was no other alternative that was acceptable to him.

‘I’m expecting your baby, so therefore I must become your wife.’ Luccy shook her head in utter denial. Then she said, coolly and calmly, ‘No way, Sin. Absolutely no way will I ever marry a man for that reason.’

Sin could only watch in absolute frustration as Luccy climbed out of the hot tub before pulling on her robe and marching back into the house, her cheeks flushed with temper, her head proudly high, and her shoulders stiff with resolve.

It was a resolve Sin had every intention of breaking.

One way or another…