Читать книгу Bound By His Vow: His Final Bargain / The Rings That Bind / Marriage Made of Secrets - Майя Блейк, Мишель Смарт - Страница 15

WHEN ELIZA WOKE the following morning her body tingled from head to foot. She turned her head but the only sign of Leo having shared the bed with her was the indentation on his pillow beside her.

And his smell…

She breathed in the musk and citrusy scent of him that clung to the sheets as well as her skin. His lovemaking last night had been as spine-tingling as ever, maybe even more so. For some reason the fact that he was paying her to sleep with him had made her stretch her boundaries with him. It had been heart-stopping and exciting, edgy and wonderfully, mind-blowingly satisfying.

The door of the bedroom opened and he came in carrying a cup of tea and toast on a tray. He was naked except for a pair of track pants that were slung low on his lean hips. ‘I’ve already checked on Alessandra. Marella’s giving her breakfast downstairs.’

‘I’m sorry…’ Eliza frowned as she pulled the sheet up to cover her naked breasts. ‘I overslept…I didn’t hear her on the monitor.’

‘It didn’t go off.’ He put the tray down on her side of the bed. ‘I took it with me. She woke up while I was down making the tea.’

She pushed a matted tangle of hair off her face with a sweep of her hand. This cosy little domestic scene was not what she was expecting from him. It caught her off guard. It made her feel as if she was acting in a play but she had been given the wrong script. She didn’t know what was expected of her. ‘You seem to be having some problems with your human resources department,’ she commented dryly.

His dark glinting eyes met hers as he sat on the edge of the bed beside her. ‘How so?’

She gave him an ironic look. ‘Your housekeeper is acting as the nanny and your nanny is acting like the lady of the manor—or should I say lady of the villa?’

He trailed the tip of his index finger down the length of her bare arm in a lazy, barely touching stroke that set off a shower of sparks beneath her skin. ‘Marella enjoys helping with Alessandra. And I quite enjoy having you playing lady of the villa.’

Eliza shivered as that bottomless dark gaze smouldered as it held hers. ‘Wouldn’t lady of the night be more appropriate?’ she asked with a pert hitch of her chin.

A line of steel travelled from his mouth and lodged itself in his eyes. ‘What do you want the money for?’

She gave a careless shrug and shifted her gaze to the left of his. ‘The usual things—clothes, jewellery, shoes, salon treatments, a holiday or two.’

He captured her chin and made her look at him. ‘You do realise I would have paid you much more?’

Her stomach quivered as his thumb grazed the fullness of her bottom lip. ‘Yes…I know.’

He measured her gaze with his for endless, heart-chugging seconds. ‘But you didn’t ask for it.’

‘No.’

‘Why not?’

She gave another careless little shrug. ‘Maybe I don’t think I’m worth it.’

His thumb caressed her cheek as he cupped her face in his hand, his gaze still rock-steady on hers. ‘Why would you think that?’

Eliza felt the danger of getting too close to him, of allowing him to see behind the paper-thin armour she had pinned around herself. She had to stay streetwise and smart-mouthed. She couldn’t allow him to see any other version of herself.

The real version.

‘You get what you pay for in life, wouldn’t you agree?’ She didn’t pause for him to answer. ‘Say my price was a million pounds. I figure this way you only got a quarter of me.’

His gaze continued to hold hers unwaveringly. ‘What if I wanted all of you?’

Eliza felt a momentary flare of alarm in her chest. She had experienced his ruthless intent before. It was dangerous to be inciting it into action again. What he wanted he got. He wouldn’t let anything or anyone stand in his way. Hadn’t he already achieved what he’d set out to achieve? She was back in his bed, wasn’t she? And it didn’t look as if he was going to let her out of it any time soon. She held his look with a steady determination she wasn’t even close to feeling. ‘The rest of me is not for sale.’

His thumb moved back and forth over her cheek, slowly, mesmerizingly, that all-seeing, all-knowing gaze stripping away the layers of her defences like pages being torn from a cheap notepad. ‘So which part have I bought?’ he asked.

‘The part you wanted.’

‘How do you know which part I wanted?’

‘It’s obvious, isn’t it?’ She brazenly stroked a hand down his naked chest to the elastic waistband of his track pants, giving him her best sultry look. ‘It’s the same part I want of you.’

She heard him suck in a breath as her hand dipped below the fabric. She felt his abdomen tense. She felt the satin of his skin, the hot, hard heat of him scorching her fingers as they wrapped around him. Her body primed itself for his possession and she didn’t care how sweet or savage it was going to be.

She yanked his track pants down further and bent her head to him, teasing him mercilessly with her tongue. He groaned and dug his fingers into her scalp but he didn’t pull away, or, at least, not at first. She drew on him, tasting the essence of him, swirling her tongue over and around him, making little flicking movements and little cat-like licks until finally he could stand no more.

‘Wait,’ he gasped, trying to pull back. ‘I’m going to—’ He let out a short, sharp expletive as she went for broke. She had him by the hips and dug her fingers in hard. Her mouth sucked harder and harder, wanting his final capitulation the same way he went for hers—ruthlessly.

He came explosively but she didn’t shy away from receiving him. He shuddered and quaked, finally sagging over her like a puppet whose strings had been suddenly severed.

Eliza caressed her hands over his back and shoulders, a slow exploratory massage of each of his carved and toned muscles. He had loved her massaging him in the past. And she had loved doing it. He had carried a lot of tension in his body even back then. There was something almost worshipful about touching him this way, with long and smooth strokes of her palms and fingers, rediscovering him like a precious memory she thought she had lost for ever. ‘You’ve got knots in your shoulders. You need to relax more.’

‘Can’t get more relaxed than this right now.’

‘I’m just saying…’

He lifted himself up on his elbows and locked gazes with her. ‘We’re doing this the wrong way around. It’s not the way I usually do things.’

She tiptoed her fingers over his pectoral muscles. ‘You’re paying me to pleasure you. That changes the dynamic, surely?’

He pulled her hand away from his chest and sat upright, his expression contorted with a brooding frown, his gaze dark and disapproving. ‘I know what you’re doing.’

‘What am I doing?’

‘You’re playing the hooker card.’

She gave a little up and down movement of one shoulder. ‘If the shoe fits I usually wear it. I find it’s more comfortable that way.’

‘Is that really how you want to play things?’

Her brow arched haughtily. ‘Do I have a choice?’

He held her gaze for a long pause before he let out a breath and got to his feet. He scraped a hand through his hair before he dropped it back down by his side. ‘The money is in your account. I deposited it an hour ago.’

‘Thank you.’ She gave him a look. ‘Sir.’

There was another tight pause before he spoke. ‘I have to go to Paris on business. Marella has agreed to be here to help you with Alessandra. I don’t expect you to be on duty twenty-four hours a day.’

‘How long will you be away?’

‘A day or two.’

‘Why don’t you take us with you?’ she asked. ‘It’s a shortish trip. It shouldn’t be too hard to organise. It would be a little adventure for Alessandra. It will build her confidence to travel and mix with other people other than just you and Marella and me.’

His jaw tightened like a clamp. ‘Maybe some other time.’

Eliza suspected his ‘maybe some other time’ meant no other time. What did he think was going to happen to Alessandra if she stepped outside the villa for once? How was his little girl supposed to live a normal life if he kept her away from everything that was normal? ‘You can’t keep her hidden away for ever, you know.’

‘Is that what you think I’m doing?’

‘No one even knows you have a child, much less that she’s blind.’

‘I don’t want my daughter to be ridiculed or pitied in the press.’ His gaze nailed hers. ‘Can you imagine how terrifying it would be for her to be hounded by paparazzi? She’s too young to cope with all of that. I won’t allow her to be treated like a freak show every time she goes out in public.’

‘I understand how you feel, but she needs to—’

He stabbed a finger in the air towards her, his eyes blazing with vitriolic anger. ‘You do not understand. You don’t have any idea of what it’s like to have a child with a disability. She can’t see. Do you hear me? She can’t see and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.’

Eliza swallowed unevenly, her heart contracting at the raw emotion he was displaying. He was angry and bitter but beneath all that was a loving father who was truly heartbroken that he could do nothing to help his little daughter. Tears burned in the back of her throat for what he was going through. No wonder he was always so tense and on edge. ‘I’m sorry…’

He drew in a tight breath and released it in a slow, uneven stream. ‘I’m sorry for shouting at you.’

‘You don’t have to apologise…’

He came back to where she was still sitting amongst the pillows, a rueful look on his face as he brushed a flyaway strand of her hair off her face. ‘I know you’re only trying to help but this is a lot for me to handle right now.’

She lowered her gaze again and bit at her lip. ‘I shouldn’t have said anything…’

He stroked the pad of his thumb over her savaged lip. ‘Of course you should. You’re an expert on handling children. I appreciate your opinion although I might not always agree with it.’

‘I just thought it would be good for Alessandra to stretch her wings a bit.’ She met his gaze again. ‘But the press thing is difficult. I can see why you want to protect her from all of that. But sooner or later she’ll have to deal with it. She can’t stay here at the villa for the rest of her life. She needs to mix with other children, to make friends and do normal kid stuff like go to birthday parties and on picnics and play dates.’

He studied her features for a measured pause. ‘I might have to go back to London some time next week. If you think Alessandra would cope with it then maybe we could make a little holiday out of it. Maybe take her to Kew Gardens or something. Smell a few roses. That sort of thing.’

Eliza gave him a soft smile and touched his hand where it was resting on the bed beside her. ‘She’s a very lucky little girl to have such a wonderful father like you. There are a lot of little girls out there who would give anything to be loved by their fathers the way you love her.’

His fingers ensnared hers, holding them in the warmth of his hand. ‘You’ve never told me anything about your father. I remember you told me when we first met that your mother died when you were young. Is he still alive?’

She shifted her gaze to their joined hands. ‘Yes, but I’ve only met him the once.’

‘You don’t get on?’

‘We haven’t got anything in common.’ She traced a fingertip over the backs of his knuckles rather than meet his gaze. ‘We live in different worlds, so to speak.’

He brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed her bent fingers, his eyes holding hers in a sensual tether that sent a wave of longing through her body. ‘Your tea and toast are cold. Do you want me to get you some more?’

‘You don’t have to. I’m not used to being served breakfast in bed.’

He took her currently bare ring finger between his thumb and index finger, his eyes still meshed with hers. ‘Doesn’t your fiancé treat you like a princess?’

Eliza couldn’t hold his gaze. ‘Not any more.’

A silence dragged on for several moments.

‘Why do you stay with him?’

‘I’d rather not talk about it.’

He pushed up her chin to lock her gaze with his. ‘Has he got some sort of hold over you? Are you frightened of him?’

‘No, I’m not frightened of him. He’s not that sort of person.’

‘What sort of person is he?’

She flashed him an irritated look. ‘Can we just drop this conversation? I’m not comfortable about talking about him while I’m being paid to be in your bed.’

‘Then maybe I should make sure I get my money’s worth while you’re here, sì?’ He pinned her wrists either side of her head, his eyes hot and smouldering as his hard aroused body pressed her down on the mattress.

Even if her hands were free, Eliza knew she wouldn’t have had the strength of will to push him away. Her lower body was on fire, aching with the need to feel him inside her. He released one of her hands so he could rip away the sheet that was covering her, his hungry gaze moving over her like a burning flame.

His mouth swooped down and covered hers in a searing kiss, his tongue driving through to meet hers in a crazy, lustful, frenzied dance. Her breasts swelled beneath the solid press of his chest, her nipples going to hard little peaks as they rubbed against him.

He reached across her to find a condom in the bedside cabinet drawer but he didn’t take his mouth off hers to do it. He kissed her relentlessly, passionately, drawing from her the sort of shamelessly wanton response she’d only ever experienced with him. She used her teeth like a female tiger in heat, biting and nipping and tugging at his lower lip, teasing him with little flicks of her tongue against his, shivering in delight when he did the same back to her.

Once the condom was on he entered her with a thick, surging thrust that made her gasp out loud. There was nothing slow and languid about his lovemaking. It was a breathtakingly fast and furious ride to the summit of pleasure. She felt the pressure building so quickly it was like a pressure cooker about to explode. Her body needed only the slightest bit of extra encouragement from his fingers to send her over the edge into a tumultuous release that made her head spin along with her senses.

But he wasn’t stopping things there.

Before she had even caught her breath he flipped her over on her stomach, straddling her from behind, those strong hands of his on her hips as he thrust deep and hard, again and again until she was shivering with pleasure both inside and out.

There was something so wickedly primal and earthy about this dominant position. She felt as if he was taming her, subduing her even as he pleasured her. She heard his breathing rate increase as he fought for control, the grip on her hips almost painful as he thrust above her.

She raised her bottom just a fraction and the change of friction set off an explosion of feeling that shuddered through her like an earthquake: tremor after tremor, aftershock after aftershock, until finally she came out the other side, totally spent and limbless.

His hands tightened on her hips to hold her steady as he came. She felt every spasm of his body. She heard those harsh, utterly male groans of ecstasy that delighted her so much.

Did he experience the same rush of pleasure with the other women he slept with? Was it foolish of her to think she was somehow special? That what he experienced with her was completely different than with anyone else? That the sensational heat of their physical connection was the real reason he had brought her back into his life, not just as a fill-in nanny for his daughter?

Leo turned her back over and looked at her for a long moment. It wasn’t easy to read his expression. Was he, like her, trying to disguise how deeply affected he was by what they had both shared? ‘I want you to promise me something.’

Eliza moistened her kiss-swollen lips. ‘What?’

‘If we go to London next week, there is to be no physical contact with your fiancé.’

His sudden change in mood was jarring to say the least. But then, what had she been expecting him to say?

‘What are you going to do?’ she asked. ‘Keep me under lock and key?’

A flinty element entered his gaze as it held hers. ‘I am not having you go from my bed to his and back again. Do I make myself clear?’

She resented him thinking she would do such a thing, even though she knew it was perverse of her to blame him given she hadn’t told him the truth about her situation. She wondered if she should just tell him. Maybe he would understand her painful dilemma much more than she gave him credit for. Sure, she’d left it a bit late, but she might be able to make him understand how terribly conflicted she felt.

‘Leo…there’s something you need to know about Ewan—’

‘I don’t even want you to speak his name in my presence,’ he said. ‘I will not share you with him or anyone. I’ve paid for your time and I will not be short-changed or cuckolded.’ He got off the bed and picked up his track pants and roughly pulled them back up over his hips.

Her pride finally came to her rescue. She swung her legs off the bed and, with scant regard for her nakedness, stalked over to where he was standing and poked her index finger into the middle of his chest like a probe. ‘How dare you tell me who I can and can’t speak about in your presence?’ she said. ‘I don’t care how much money you pay me. I will not be ordered about by you.’

His eyes glittered as he stared her down. ‘You will do as I say or suffer the consequences.’

She curled her lip at him. ‘Is that supposed to scare me? Because, if so, it doesn’t.’ It did, but she wasn’t going to admit that.

His mouth was a thin line of ruthless determination. ‘You want a job to go back to at the end of the summer break? Then think very carefully about your behaviour. One word from me and your career as a teacher will be well and truly over.’

Outrage made her splutter. ‘You can’t do that!’

His hardened look said he could and he would. ‘I’ll see you when I get back.’