by Maggie Cox
The car door on the passenger side opened kerbside. Dominic leant out to survey her coolly and Sophie got even hotter. ‘You’re late,’ he said finally, his impervious green gaze travelling over her figure in the long black skirt, boots and sheepskin jacket.
Was he annoyed? Had he changed his mind about wanting her to join him on this trip? Sophie hovered on the pavement, furious with herself for capitulating to her ridiculously inappropriate need to see him again—and convinced now that the social gulf between them was far too wide ever to be bridged.
‘The headmaster wanted to see me about something,’ she explained, her pulse racing as his handsome face continued to study her from the car.
‘Nothing serious, I hope?’
‘Oh, no. He just wanted to warn me about reading subversive literature to my five-year-olds.’
Seeing the sudden confusion on Dominic’s face, despite her anxiety, Sophie couldn’t help but grin. ‘I’m only joking.’
‘Very amusing. Why don’t you get in the car, then we can go?’
Did he have a sense of humour? As Sophie settled back into the luxurious hide seat, her gaze re-acquainting itself with all the seductive features of that incredible car—from the burr walnut veneer to the deep-pile carpets and rugs beneath her feet—doubt overwhelmed her. At that moment she honestly would have jumped out of the car again had Dominic not smiled at her. That smile of his would have made the ground beneath her feet disappear if she’d been standing. The heat it stirred in Sophie’s body started from the tips of her toes and ended in a series of fiercely electric tingles in her scalp.
‘Did you have a good day?’ he enquired politely, the man himself a sensory experience that far outweighed the seductive attributes of the famous car.
‘Busy and…noisy,’ Sophie grinned. ‘Have you ever spent a day with a group of enthusiastic, chattering five-year-olds?’ But even as she spoke, her lips had turned strangely numb, and she couldn’t have said whether her smile would appear to him as a grin or a grimace. All she knew was that Dominic seemed to have a kind of explosive effect on her that she’d never experienced with another man before. From the tips of his expensive handmade-leather shoes to the top of his silky blond hair he was in a class all of his own. A veryexpensive élite class.
Telling herself to try and relax, Sophie knew there was fat chance of any such thing if she continued to react as jumpily as a cat walking on burning coals around him.
‘No,’ he said without a smile. ‘I have never spent a day like that.’
Relieved that she hadn’t backed out of their arrangement, Dominic relaxed in the passenger seat next to Sophie and contemplated the drive and the evening ahead. He didn’t know how such an unexpected, unlikely thing had come about, but he was feeling as smitten as a moonstruck youth with a severe case of unrequited lust around Sophie Dalton. All day he had anticipated her appearance with quietly excited stirrings deep in his belly, refusing to imagine for one moment that she would disappoint him and let him down at the last minute. After all, most women would jump at the chance of going on a date with him.
If doubt had surfaced at all he’d quickly and determinedly tried to bury it—yet, frankly, in all his thirty-six years Dominic had experienced nothing like the uncertainty he was presently suffering over this woman. And beneath the deliberately cool façade that belied the intense excitement running like a powerful river through his veins, Dominicloathed that uncertainty like nothing else.
For a man who was used to winning million-dollar deals before breakfast with stunning ease, feeling all at sea with a woman was not something he was used to at all. Having had the added advantage of being the progeny of already wealthy parents, even before he’d made his own fortune, Dominic had been used to the delights of the opposite sex since he’d been sent as a sixteen-year-old schoolboy to a prep school in England. Basically, he’d only had to cast his gaze at a pretty girl for her to fall at his feet.
Growing into a fully adult male, with the allure of not only handsome Viking-blond good looks but also wealth, dating women had been akin to being let loose in a treasure trove of sweet delights and told to help himself. It had been almost impossible to pick just one when there was always the enticement of several more should the flavour start to wane.
However, as Dominic’s business acumen had honed into a more and more lethal skill, and the challenge of becoming one of the most successful property developers in the land had taken over, he’d mostly replaced his fascination for beautiful women with his work. For almost two years now he had been relationship-free, and had not minded the fact terribly much. Out of necessity he’d occasionally satisfied his healthy libido with a purely sexual encounter or two, but basically he actively welcomed the lack of distraction and demands of a relationship, if the truth were known.
But now, as his quietly ravenous gaze examined Sophie’s beguiling profile, noting with pleasure the fierce sheen on her short ebony-black hair and the delicate turquoise studs in her perfect ears, Dominic was assailed by a wave of need so strong that it was almost beyond endurance.
His assistant, Diana, had often mentioned her friend Sophie, in passing conversation, but she’d never given him the slightest clue that the woman’s appeal would be as dangerous to his equilibrium as it was. Now all Dominic could think of was the time he’d wasted being oblivious to her existence, when he could have been indulging in the passionate sensory delectation of having the sexy little teacher in his bed…
‘Why Suffolk?’ she asked him now, as she opened the buttons on her jacket and slipped it off in the warmth of the car.
For a moment Dominic honestly could not think straight. By rights, a plain red polo-necked sweater had no business being as alluring as satin and lace lingerie, but on Sophie it was. The soft wool clung to her breasts, outlining their undoubted perfection in a way that could trap a man’s breath deep inside his chest. Dominic swallowed hard before he could get his lips to work.
‘A client of mine I’m currently doing some business with owns the hotel. The surroundings are picturesque, it’s a lot quieter than London, and the food is first-class. Enough reason to hold our meeting there, wouldn’t you agree?’
‘It sounds…very nice.’
As Sophie folded her jacket and laid it across the foldaway armrest in the space between herself and Dominic her purse fell out of one of the pockets onto the lamb’s-wool rug that covered the floor. As she bent her head to retrieve it Dominic did the same, and for a timeless second, as their gazes met and held, Sophie was swamped with exhilaration and longing. Feeling the car start to glide away from the pavement, and the softly discreet hum of the engine helping to cocoon them in a private world all of their own, Sophie couldn’t deny that it was one of the most sensually charged moments of her whole life.
He wanted to kiss her.How he’d held back from doing so Dominic didn’t know, but in the space of just a couple of electrifying seconds he had fantasised hotly about melding his lips with hers. About commanding her to open her mouth. About becoming intimately acquainted once more with her sweet, entrancing flavours as only a lover dared.
If they had been anywhere else other than in his car, with Louis driving—in his apartment or his house, maybe—he would have definitely persuaded Sophie out of a few items of her clothing as well. As it was, theywere in his car, with Louis driving, and so—painfully, and with great difficulty—Dominic willed his overwhelming desire back to a more manageable notch on the dial, and picked up Sophie’s purse instead. As he handed it to her he saw a telling hint of red stain her smooth cheeks, and he sat back in his seat, intoxicated and enthralled by the brief sexual encounter, anticipating more,much more of the same, as soon as they could be alone together.
Telling herself that she might as well make the most of the wonderfully old-fashioned yet exquisitely appointed hotel room housed in this lovingly restored Tudor building on the edge of a timelessly beautiful Suffolk village, Sophie stripped off her clothes and immediately took a long, leisurel
y soak in the claw-toothed bathtub.
Dominic was going straight from his room to his meeting, and she wouldn’t be seeing him again until eight-thirty, when they’d agreed to meet in the dining room for dinner. It gave Sophie some much-needed time to ponder how she was going to handle this unexpected excursion of hers into the lifestyle of the seriously rich. She knew that Dominic was fully expecting to sleep with her—why else would he bring her here?—but just for a second or two could she help it if her foolish heart longed for him to find pleasure in her company as well? She desired him, too. Just the thought of himkissing her again, never mind doing anything else, gave her serious goosebumps. But at the same time she wanted to make it clear to him that this wasn’t the kind of encounter she indulged in on a regular basis.
She’d had her share of boyfriends—what young woman of twenty-six hadn’t?—but Sophie had only gone ‘all the way’ with one of them.Stuart. And he had repaid her trust and devotion by having a drunken one-night stand with his best friend’s girlfriend. Even though he’d begged her to forgive him, and had sworn to her that it would never happen again, Sophie had been unable to either forgive or believe him.
She’d told herself time and again that the experience hadn’t scarred her, that it had only made her naturally wary of involvement with men, yet beneath her brave assertions she knew that ithad left its mark. Why else had she not seen anyone else for over a year now? She wasn’t being conceited when she recalled that she’d had plenty of opportunity to meet other men. She’d even been asked out by two of the younger male teachers at her school. Yetfear of committing to another relationship had underscored every potential foray into that volatile, uncertain arena.Until now.
But Sophie wasn’t some naïve schoolgirl. She knew with absolute certainty that Dominic wasn’t likely to be looking for a relationship with her…just a hot little sexual dalliance in a hotel room to satisfy the itch of a rich man’s fancy…
When nine o’clock came and went, and Dominic had still not appeared in the dining room to join her for dinner, Sophie picked up the paperback she had automatically popped into her handbag in case he was late and opened it at the page where she’d left her bookmark.
Endeavouring to concentrate on words that seemed to have the disconcerting ability to dance on the page, she couldn’t get into the story no matter how hard she tried.
When the waiter appeared five minutes later and presented her with Dominic’s apologies, explaining that his meeting had unfortunately run over time and that she should go ahead and order without him, Sophie put down her book with relief. Casting a surreptitious glance around at the other diners, she reluctantly picked up a menu.
She had initially been starving, but now her stomach simply felt uncomfortable—knotted with nerves. The longer she had to wait for him the more tense she grew, and the more time she had to tell herself that coming here at all with the Dutch billionaire had been one horrendous mistake. But suddenly he was there beside her, gazing down at her with the practised smile of a man who sometimes had to bestow that gesture in the course of a day’s work to appease professionally, yet who did it with little sincerity or pleasure.
Sophie’s stomach sank to her boots as she realised he would probably rather be dining alone than having to entertain a woman he knew very little about. She’d chosen her clothes this evening with such care, too. There was only one really smart outfit in her possession: this little black velvet dress with a matching bolero jacket and a choker with a fake ruby. The red of the ruby contrasted dramatically with her sable hair and blue eyes which this evening Sophie had carefully emphasised with plum-coloured eyeshadow and black mascara.
‘I am sorry I am so late. Have you ordered yet?’
As he pulled out the opposite chair, Dominic’s remote, preoccupied glance flicked over Sophie’s appearance with no sign of any obvious pleasure, and again her heart flooded with doubt at the wisdom of joining him.
‘No. I was just about to look at the menu. Didn’t your meeting go well?’
Her astute observation sent an acute shaft of surprise hurtling through Dominic’s system. Usually he was able to disguise his feelings better…much better. But this evening he had allowed himself to be rattled by a rival who had more than once snapped at his heels, over the years, and the encounter had left a bad taste in his mouth, leaving him questioning the wisdom of ruthlessly pursuing endless success for success’s sake alone. He had seen desperation and greed so baldly reflected in that other man’s eyes that he had felt sick to his stomach.
Was that howhe appeared to other people who were less outwardly successful than he was?
So, no. His meeting hadnot gone well. He most definitely had not welcomed the introspection that had been forced upon him. But now, as he allowed his gaze to settle fully on Sophie’s pleasingly pretty features, briefly dipping to examine the modestly low-cut neckline on her dress, displaying a hint of softly rounded feminine flesh, he experienced a strong surge of profoundly sexual pleasure that wouldn’t be denied.
‘I make it a rule never to mix business with pleasure, Sophie, so we will not discuss my dissatisfaction at my meeting and potentially spoil our evening together. You look very pretty in that dress, by the way.’
The way he delivered the unexpected compliment made Sophie shiver. All her muscles tensed as though she’d just emerged from a steam room into the shock of icy-cold rain. The man undid her with his eyes and at the same time scared her rigid with the raw, unfettered desire she saw reflected in them.
‘Thank you. I bought it last year in the sales…’She could have cut out her tongue. Confessing she’d bought her best outfit in a sale to a man of Dominic’s wealth and calibre was akin to inviting him to lunch and taking him to a workman’s café for a fry-up! Where was her mind? She wasn’t sitting cosily with some close girlfriend, having a chummy little chinwag! She was in a five-star hotel dining room with a man to whom the word ‘portfolio’ clearly didn’t mean a case to carry around amateur attempts at artwork!
‘Nevertheless,’ Dominic commented, unsmiling, ‘it complements your colouring and figure very well.’
His coolly voiced reply did not help Sophie’s discomfiture one bit. Her sillyfaux pas had merely been another illustration to point up the vast and untenable social distance between them. Suddenly she couldn’t even find it in her heart topretend to be hungry.
‘I think I should just go home. You’re clearly regretting asking me here, and to be honest it wasn’t such a great idea in the first place. I’m a primary-school teacher who leads a very ordinary type of life, Dominic. I don’t mix with the kind of people you mix with, and I know nothing of your world. I know I’m probably a bit of a novelty to you, but that doesn’t do a hell of a lot for my confidence either. So, to save both of us from further embarrassment, it’s probably just best if we call the whole thing off. Don’t you think?’
The last few words came out in a heated rush, and Sophie blushed and glanced away as Dominic began to smile. This particular smile bore no relation whatsoever to the coolly professional one he had worn when he’d first come into the restaurant.
‘You are labouring under a very misguided assumption indeed if you believe that I’m regretting asking you to join me. I very much want you to be here. Apart from my meeting this evening I have thought about nothing else all day. And you insult both yourself and me by suggesting that I think you are some kind of ‘novelty’. I only date women who interest me, Sophie—and not just physically. I am not so shallow that I could endure unintelligent or boring conversation just for the sake of gazing at a pretty face! Although in your case I think I might be prepared to make an exception.Especially when we go to bed. Although of course I wouldn’t expect us to be indulging in much conversation then.’
Sophie’s already heated blush grew even hotter, making her feel as if she were being slowly grilled under a sunlamp. Her lower lip trembled.
‘You have nothing to say to this?’ he goaded.
It was rare t
hat Sophie was at a loss for words, but she acutely felt at such a loss now. Her racing thoughts just couldn’t seem to make a connection with her vocal cords. ‘Then…then I should…stay?’ she asked, small-voiced.
‘You shoulddefinitely stay.’ He smiled again, that lethal, unfettered, destroying smile of his, and casually picked up his menu.
Inside the hotel room the curtains had been drawn and it was dark. When she reached for the light switch Dominic immediately pulled her hand away before she could turn it on. His cologne and his sheer male heat whispered over Sophie’s senses like a powerful sensory drug, making her feel oddly disorientated and boneless with need.
‘I am glad we skipped dessert,’ he said teasingly, sliding his hand round her nape and tilting her face up to his.
His warm breath softly skimmed her face, like the brush of a butterfly’s wing, and Sophie wondered what had happened to the ground, because suddenly she didn’t seem to feel it beneath her feet any more. She told herself it was the wine she’d drunk at dinner, but knew in her heart she would be just as intoxicated if not so much as a drop of alcohol had touched her lips. This man’s presence made her feeldrunk with pleasure, unravelled with need.