by Fiona Brand
A small startled thrill shot through her at the sudden notion that Nick didn’t like it one little bit that there was a man in her life, even if the dating was still on a superficial level.
A little drunk on the rush of power that, in a room teeming with beautiful women, she was the center of his attention, she touched her tongue to her top lip. It was a gesture she became aware was an unconscious tease as his focus switched to her mouth.
Abruptly embarrassed, she closed her mouth and stared over Nick’s shoulder at another pair of dancers whirling past. “You won’t know him.”
“Let me guess,” he muttered. “Giorgio.”
Elena blushed at the mistaken conclusion. A conclusion Nick had arrived at because she had deliberately failed to clarify who, exactly, Giorgio was. “Uh—actually, his name is Robert. Robert Corrado.”
There was a stark silence. “You have two guys?”
She wasn’t sure if the two tentative pecks on the mouth she had allowed, and which had been devoid of anything like the electrifying pleasure she had experienced when Nick kissed her, qualified Robert to be her guy. “Just the one.”
Nick’s gaze bored into hers, narrowed and glittering. “So Giorgio’s past history?”
Elena tried to dampen down the addictive little charge of excitement that went through her at Nick’s obvious displeasure. “Giorgio’s my beauty consultant.”
Nick muttered something short and succinct under his breath. Another slow, gliding turn and they were outside on a shadowy patio with the light of the setting sun glowing through palm fronds and gleaming off a limpid pool.
Nick relinquished his hold, his jaw set, his gaze brooding and distinctly irritable. “Is Corrado the one you got the piercings for?”
The question, as if he had every right to expect an answer, made her world tilt again.
She had speculated before, but now she knew.
Nick was jealous.
Five
Elena dragged her gaze from Nick’s and looked out past the pool and the palms to the ocean. Anything to stop the crazy pull of attraction and the dangerous knowledge that Nick really did want her.
The fact that he had been attracted to her before she had lost weight—that he actually liked her simply for who she was—was bad enough. But his brooding temper, as if the one night they had shared had somehow given him rights, was an undertow she wasn’t sure she could resist. “Not that it’s any of your business, but Robert doesn’t care for piercings.”
He definitely didn’t know about the one she had gotten in her navel, or the pretty jeweled studs she had bought to go with her new selection of bikinis.
“So you didn’t get the piercings for him.”
The under note of satisfaction in Nick’s voice, as if she had gotten the piercings for him, ruffled her even further. “I didn’t get the piercings for anyone.”
But even as she said the words, her heart plummeted. She had tried to convince herself that the piercings were just a part of the process of change, a signpost that declared that she wasn’t thirty—yet. But the stark reality was that she had gotten them because they were pretty and sexy and practically screamed that she was available. She had gotten them for Nick.
“You haven’t slept with Corrado.”
Annoyed at the way Nick had dismissed Robert, Elena stepped farther out onto the patio, neatly evading his gaze. “That’s none of your business. Robert’s a nice man.” He was safe and controllable, as different from Nick as a tame tabby from a prowling tiger. “He’s definitely not fixated on piercings.”
“Ouch. That puts me in my place.” Nick dragged at his tie. Strolling to the wrought iron railing that enclosed part of the patio, he pulled the tie off altogether, folded it and shoved it into his pocket.
Drawn to join him, even though she knew it was a mistake, Elena averted her gaze from the slice of brown flesh revealed by the buttons he had unfastened.
The balmy evening seemed to get hotter as she became aware that Nick was studying the studs in her ear and the tiny glimpse of the butterfly transfer. “I’m guessing from the pink earring that there’s a pink jewel in your navel?”
The accuracy of his guess made her stiffen. The old adage “give him an inch and he’ll take a mile” came back to haunt her. “You shouldn’t flirt with me.”
“Why not? It makes a change from arguing, and after tonight we may never see each other again.”
Elena froze. The attraction that shimmered through her, keeping her breathless and on edge, winked out. She stared at the strong line of his jaw, the sexy hollows of his cheekbones, aware that, somehow, she had been silly enough, vulnerable enough, to allow Nick to slide through her defenses. To start buying into the notion that just because he found her attractive it meant he had changed.
The day Nick Messena changed his stripes she would grow wings and fly.
Lifting her chin, she met his gaze squarely. “If you find the ring.” The instant the words were out, she wished she could recall them. They had sounded needy, as if she was looking for a way to hang on to him.
Nick glanced out over the pool, the sun turning the tawny streaks in his dark hair molten. “You make it sound like a quest. I’m not that romantic.”
No, his focus was always relentlessly practical, which was what made him so successful in business.
Swallowing a sudden ache in her throat, Elena did what she should have done in the first place: she turned on her heel and walked back to the reception. As she strolled, Nick’s presence behind her made her tense. By the time she reached her table he was close enough that he held her chair as she sat down.
He dropped into the seat beside her and poured ice water into her glass before filling his own.
Elena picked up the glass. The nice manners, which would have been soothing in another man, unsettled her even further. “If Aunt Katherine did receive the ring, then I guess all the gossip was true.”
Nick sat back in his seat. “I don’t want it to be true, either,” he said quietly.
For a split second she was caught and held by the somberness of his expression.
A set of memories from her summers on the beach at Dolphin Bay flickered, of Nick yachting with his father. It had usually been just the two of them, sailing, making repairs and cleaning the boat after a day out.
One thing had always been very obvious: that Nick had loved his father. Suddenly, his real agenda was very clear to Elena. He wasn’t just searching for a valuable heirloom. He was doing something much more important: he was trying to make sense of the past. “You don’t want to find the ring, do you?”
“Not if it meant an affair.”
“You think they weren’t having an affair?”
“I’m hoping there’s another reason they spent time together.”
Her stomach tightened at the knowledge that Nick was trying to clear his father, a process that would also clear her aunt. That despite his reputation there were depths to Nick that were honorable and true and likable.
That she and Nick shared something in common.
Elena watched as Nick drank, the muscles of his throat working smoothly. At that moment Gemma signaled to her.
Relieved at the interruption, Elena rose from her seat. She felt unsettled, electrified. Every time she thought she had Nick figured out, something changed, the ground shifting under her feet.
After a quick hug, Gemma stepped back. Almost instantly, she tossed the bouquet. Surprised, Elena caught the fragrant, trailing bunch of white roses, orchids and orange blossom.
Feeling embattled, she dipped her head and inhaled the delicious fragrance. Her throat closed up. After years of brisk practicality as a PA, she was on the verge of losing control and crying on the spot because she realized just how much she wanted what Gemma had: a happy ending with a man who truly
, honorably loved her. “You should have given it to someone else.”
Gemma frowned. “No way. You’re my best friend and, just look at you, you’re gorgeous. Men will be falling all over you.” She gave her another hug. “I won’t be happy until you’re married. Who’s that guy you’re seeing in Sydney?”
Elena carefully avoided Gemma’s gaze on the pretext that she was examining the faintly crushed flowers. “Robert.”
Gemma grinned and hooked her arm through Gabriel’s, snuggling into his side. “Then marry him. But only if you’re in love.”
Elena forced a smile. “Great idea. First he has to propose.”
Elena walked back to her seat, clutching the bouquet. She was acutely aware that Nick, who was standing talking with a group of friends, had watched the exchange.
Gray-haired Marge Hamilton, an old character in Dolphin Bay, with a legendary reputation for gossip in a town that abounded with it, made a beeline for her. “Caught the bouquet I see. Clever girl.”
“Actually, it was given to me—”
Marge’s gaze narrowed, but there was a pleased glint in the speculation. “You’ll be next down the aisle and, I must say, it’s about time.”
Elena’s discomfort escalated. Nick was close enough that he could hear every word. But as embarrassing as the conversation was, she would never forget that, despite Marge’s love of gossip, she had been fiercely supportive of her aunt when the scandal had erupted.
Elena dredged up a smile. “As a matter of fact, I’m working on it.”
Marge’s gaze swiveled to her left hand. A small frown formed when she noted the third finger was bare. “Sounds like you have someone in mind. What’s his name, dear?”
Elena’s fingers tightened on the bouquet as she tried to make herself say Robert’s name, but somehow she just couldn’t seem to get it out. Something snapped at the base of the bouquet. There was a small clunk as a small plastic horseshoe, included for luck, dropped to the floor. “He’s...from Sydney.”
“Not that hot young Atraeus boy?” Marge sent a disapproving glance at Zane, who had flown in from Florida and happened to be leaning on the bar, a beer in his hand.
“Zane? He’s my boss. No, his name is—”
Marge frowned. “At one point we thought you actually might snaffle one of those Atraeus boys. Although, any one of them is a wild handful.”
Elena could feel herself stiffening at the idea that she was hunting for a husband in her workplace and, worse, the suggestion that the whole of Dolphin Bay was speculating on whether or not she could actually succeed. “I work for the Atraeus Group. It would be highly unprofessional to mix business—”
Nick’s arm curved around her waist as casually as if they were a couple. His breath feathered her cheek, sending heat flooding through her.
“Were you about to say ‘with pleasure’?”
Marge blinked as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was witnessing. “I can see why you didn’t want to say his name, dear. A little premature to announce it at a family wedding.”
With surprising nimbleness she extracted a gleaming smartphone from her evening bag and snapped a picture. Beaming, she hurried off.
Elena disengaged herself from Nick’s hold. “I was about to say that it would be unprofessional to mix business with a personal relationship.”
“Last I heard, personal relationships should be about pleasure.”
“Commitment would be the quality I’d be looking for.”
She noted Marge sharing the photo with one of her cronies. “The story will be all over town before the sun sets.”
“That fast?”
“You better believe it. And, unfortunately, she has the picture to prove it.”
“I must admit I didn’t expect her to have a phone with a camera.” Nick looked abashed.
Infuriatingly, it only made him look sexier. Elena had to steel herself against the almost irresistible impulse to smile back and forgive him, and forget that he hadn’t responded to her probe about commitment. “Never underestimate a woman with a lilac rinse and a double string of pearls.”
“Damn. Sorry, babe, it’ll be a five-minute wonder—”
“Approximately the length of time your relationships last?” But, despite her knee-jerk attempt to freeze him out, Elena melted inside at the casual way Nick had called her “babe,” as if they were intimately attached. As if she really were his girl.
Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to recall every magazine article or gossip columnist’s piece she had ever read about Nick. And every one of the gorgeous girls with whom he’d been photographed.
Nick’s expression sobered. “Okay, I guess I deserved that.”
Elena set the gorgeous bouquet down on the table. “So, why did you do it?”
Nick’s gaze was laced with impatience. “You should ignore the gossips. They’ve had me married off a dozen times. I’m still single.”
Elena pulled out her chair and sat down. She couldn’t quite dredge up a light smile or a quip for the simple reason that a small, tender part of her didn’t want there to be any gossip about her and Nick. The night she had spent with Nick, as disastrous as it was, had been an intensely private experience.
She didn’t know if she would ever feel anything like it again. In six years she hadn’t had so much as a glimmer of the searing, shimmering heat that had gripped her while she’d been in Nick’s arms.
If people gossiped about them now, assuming they were sleeping together, that night would be sullied.
Nick frowned. “Is this about Robert?”
Elena almost made the mistake of saying who? “Robert isn’t possessive.” He hadn’t had time to be, yet.
“A New Age guy.”
She tried to focus on couples slow dancing to another dreamy waltz as Nick took the chair beside her. “What’s so wrong with that?”
“Nothing, I guess, just so long as that’s what you really want.”
Elena’s chest squeezed tight at the wording, which seemed to suggest that she had some kind of choice, between Robert and Nick.
Somehow, within the space of a few short hours the situation between them had gotten out of hand. She didn’t think she could afford to be around Nick much longer. They needed to resolve the issue of the ring, and whatever else it was he was looking for, tonight.
She pushed to her feet again, so fast that her chair threatened to tip over.
Nick said something curt beneath his breath as he rose to his feet and caught the chair in one smooth movement. In the process, her shoulder bumped his chest and the top of her head brushed his jaw.
He reached out to steady her, his fingers leaving an imprint of heat on her upper arm. Elena stiffened at her response to his touch, light as it was. She instantly moved away, disengaging.
Blinking a little at the strobing lights on the dance floor, and because her new contacts were starting to make her eyes feel dry and itchy, she collected the pink, beaded purse that went with her dress. “If you want to look for the ring, I’m ready now. The sooner we get this over and done with the better.”
She was still clearly vulnerable when it came to Nick, but that just meant she had to work harder at being immune.
As she strolled with Nick out of the lavish resort, she tried to fill her mind with all of the positive, romantic things she could plan to do with Robert.
Intimate, candlelit dinners, walks on the beach, romantic nights spent together in the large bed she had recently installed in her Sydney apartment.
Unfortunately, every time she tried to picture Robert in her bed, tangled in her very expensive silk sheets, his features changed, becoming a little more hawkish and battered, his jaw solid, his gaze piercing.
Annoyed with the heated tension that reverberated through her at the thought of Nick
naked and sprawled in her bed, she banished the disruptive image.
Six
Tension coursed through Nick as he walked through the resort foyer and down the front steps. Outside the sun had set, leaving a golden glow in the west. The air was still and balmy, the cool of evening infusing the air with a soft dampness.
“My car’s this way.” He indicated the resort’s staff parking lot.
Elena paused beside his Jeep, which was parked in the manager’s space. “No towing service in Dolphin Bay?”
“Not for a Messena.”
She waited while he unlocked the Jeep. “I keep forgetting you’re related to the Atraeus family. Nothing like a bit of nepotism.”
He controlled the automatic desire to flirt back and held the door while Elena climbed in. As she did so, the flimsy skirt of her dress shimmied back, revealing elegant, shapely legs and the ultra-sexy high heels.
He found himself relaxing for the first time since Elena’s pronouncement that she had a boyfriend. Although the hot pulse of jealousy that Elena had not only been ignoring his calls, but that sometime in the past few weeks she had started dating someone else, was still on a slow burn.
Robert Corrado. Grimly, he noted the name.
It was familiar, which meant he probably moved in business circles. Given that Elena was Zane’s PA, she had probably met him in conjunction with her work for the Atraeus Group.
The thought that Corrado could be a businessman, and very likely wealthy, didn’t please Nick. He would call his personnel manager and get him to run a check on Corrado first thing in the morning.
Jaw taut, he swung into the cab. The door closed with a thunk, and Elena’s delicate, tantalizing perfume scented the air, making the enclosed space seem even smaller and more intimate.
The drive to the villa, with its steep bush-clad gullies and winding road, took a good fifteen minutes despite the fact that the property was literally next door to the resort, tucked into a small private curve of Dolphin Bay.
Security lights flicked on as he turned into the cypress-lined gravel drive. He checked out the for-sale sign and noted that it didn’t have a Sold sticker across it yet.