Elena bit down on her ready tongue. She was shocked to realise that she was trembling. Honesty obviously didn’t pay with him, she reflected uneasily. She had made him angry and she knew that wasn’t a good idea. She dared not say what she had almost said for fear of provoking him even more. But, in her opinion, the fancy trappings of a house in Chelsea would not alter the nature of the sexual transaction he had offered her and if a cheap hotel got the wretched business over with quickly she would have been the last to complain. False pride was not one of her problems.‘If it is my wish, you will live in a stonking great mansion even if it is only for five minutes. Is that understood?’ Andrea enquired in a chilling tone of finality.‘Yes,’ she conceded in a voice wiped clean of any expression or life.‘I have work to do. I’ll see you when I get back to London.’ Andrea set down the phone. He was furious with her. He had expected her to be overjoyed with the house. It had an award-winning
Elena beamed. ‘I’d love that too. Will you be staying long?’‘No. I have to go back to Germany to tie up loose ends on the park project.’Comforted by the prospect of seeing Michael again, Elena went into the pet hotel with a spring in her step. Even though they had only been parted the night before, Violet was as ecstatic to see his mistress as she was to see him. Having persuaded him into eating, she played with him and took him out for a walk. She was grateful to have a task to devote her energies to, for her recent period of idleness had made time hang heavy on her hands. Her plan to take the little dog home with her again was disrupted when the chauffeur came inside to pass on a message he had received on the car phone: Andrea would meet her at the same exclusive restaurant for an early dinner instead. Quite unprepared for the news that Andrea had successfully evaded being delayed abroad for the rest of the day, Elena was cast into renewed panic.Having moved metaphoric mountains
Her lashes dropped to shadow her shaken gaze. In a matter of moments he had rewritten her knowledge of herself. Her body was crying out for him and she was shocked. Chafed by the lace cups of her bra, her tender nipples were tingling. The prickling throb between her slender thighs painted her face pink. She wanted him. He had made her want him. Of course, a few glasses of champagne had loosened her inhibitions, she told herself defensively. But wasn’t that a good thing? Andrea Santino had offered her the devil’s bargain, and she had surrendered choice when she agreed to share his bed in return for the charges against her father being dropped. Wasn’t it wiser to make the best of a bad situation rather than try to resist the inevitable? And wouldn’t asking if she was currently the only woman in his life demean her? Give him the impression that she cared?Andrea could feel her trembling and his very sensitivity to that fact annoyed him in the same way that so many things had in recent we
"On the cabinet, beside you."Elena, who had hoped he would have to go off and get her a drink from somewhere, looked in dismay at the bottle of champagne and the glasses sitting in readiness. Andrea strolled round the bed and uncorked the bottle. Golden liquid foamed down into a delicate flute. He extended it with reluctance. "You really don’t need liquid anesthesia."Refusing to look at him and edging away, Elena hugged her knees with one arm while taking a very hearty gulp of champagne."I understand that you’re nervous—"‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Elena gritted over the edge of the flute."I’ll make it good, bellezza mia,’ Andrea swore softly. ‘In fact I’ll make the experience addictive.""You couldn’t possibly."Andrea sank down on the bed with all the panache of a tiger stretching out in the sunshine. "I think that someone’s been telling you old wives’ tales. It won’t hurt."Elena flushed to the roots of her hair. "What would you know about it?""You may be my first virgin but I ha
He was skilful and smooth, but that slow, deep plunge into her silken softness and the final piercing of the barrier of her virginity caused fleeting tears to well into her eyes. He stayed very still then, allowing her to adjust to the invasion. ‘I’m sorry … I hated hurting you.’Ripples of heat and stimulation pulsed from the hot, secret heart of her again. Newly sensitised, she quivered, her body angling up to his in an invitation that spoke louder than any words. With a ragged laugh of gratification he moved again and a whimper of excitement escaped her because he felt amazing. Her heart began to hammer against her ribs. Exquisite sensation built and the knot of ravenous need in her was tightened and tightened as he set up a raw, sensual rhythm. Delirious with pleasure, she abandoned herself to his dark, driving passion. At the height of a shattering climax she screamed in ecstasy before she tumbled down and down and down in a release from her physical body that was so powerful t
Elena thought about the kind of harm that had a more lasting effect than mere bruises.Frustration was roaring through Andrea. She wasn’t listening to him. She often gave him the impression that she was only giving him part of her attention. Not in bed though, he reminded himself with grim satisfaction. But the rest of the time? Either he got the feeling she was holding back or she was lost in her own little world and he didn’t like either sensation. ‘I want to understand why you blew up over the watch.’Elena studied the clear water lapping round her legs and compressed her full ripe mouth. ‘Dad was always giving stuff like that to my mother.’His brows pleated. ‘So? He was her husband.’Elena was surprised enough to look up again. She had forgotten that he had moved down to her level and she collided unwarily with lustrous dark eyes the colour of autumn. A very dangerous man with strikingly beautiful eyes that made her heartbeat race. She shut her eyes tight in self-reproach. What w
‘You don’t like?’ Andrea framed in a dark, deep voice redolent of thunder in a confined space. ‘Dannazione! Who is this guy?’Elena tilted her chin. ‘You don’t have the right to ask me that question.’Andrea’s lean, shapely hands clenched into potent fists. He did not lose his temper. He never, ever lost it and prided himself on his rock-solid self-control. But a rage like a burning blinding surge of darkness was rising up inside him. Barely able to credit her answer, he strode into the bedroom and swung forcefully back to face her. ‘On the contrary, I have every right. I set no boundaries on our arrangement.’‘You wanted my body and you’ve got it. You didn’t ask for and you’re certainly not getting anything else!’ Elena muttered bitterly.‘His name,’ Andrea framed in a tone of ice.‘None of your business.’‘I expect compliance.’ Andrea fixed his tie and reached for his jacket. She was hyper-aware of his every move.‘What I think and what I feel is my business,’ Elena told him shakil
‘I’ve been doing some research on your boyfriend,’ Michael confided with a disapproving shake of his head over drinks in a fashionable bar. ‘You’re seriously out of your league.’Elena wrinkled her nose in reproof. ‘What happened to tact?’‘Your friends are supposed to be honest. From what I can understand, Andrea Santino makes it a mission to live up to his bad reputation.’ Michael pushed his tobacco-brown hair off his brow in a rueful gesture.An unexpected current of irritation darting through her in response to that criticism of Andrea, Elena folded her lips. ‘In what way?’‘In every way. He’s a shark in business and he runs through women like a knife through butter. I mean, what are you playing at? You’re a softy—’‘Perhaps Andrea brings out the concrete in me. I don’t know why we’re talking about him—’‘How about he’s a billionaire? You only met him a few weeks back? He’s an urban predator and you’re a country mouse? You have nothing in common with him. Of course I’m concerned a