Russian's Ruthless Demand

by Michelle Conder

  God, she was really starting to hate that smile.

  * * *

  Two hours later and dead on her feet Eleanore was relieved when Lukas’s limousine pulled up outside what must be her apartment building.

  All she could think about was a long shower or bath followed by a blissful night’s sleep. She wasn’t even sure she’d eat anything. Particularly since she had no idea how to order takeout in Russian and she didn’t have the energy to find a local grocer to buy food.

  And it would be such a relief to be away from Lukas and his disturbing presence as well. No matter how many times she told herself to think professionally, or reminded herself that he really was a cold, heartless businessman who had basically blackmailed her into working for him with his threats about going to the Chatsfields, she couldn’t stamp out her sexual awareness of the man. Nor could she wipe out the feel of his hands on her waist or forget how intensely feminine she had felt pressed up against him. How much she had wanted to kiss him.

  Was that even normal?

  ‘No need to see me up,’ she said a little too quickly, convinced that a good night’s sleep would set her internal system back to right. ‘Just tell me the number of the apartment and I’m sure I can find it easily enough.’

  ‘And drive your opinion of me even lower by being inhospitable?’

  Before she could stop herself Eleanore smiled sweetly. ‘Please be reassured that it couldn’t get any lower.’

  His blue eyes dropped to her mouth and she wished that she’d held her tongue. Previously she would have said she didn’t have a sarcastic bone in her body but somehow her parents’ well-mannered training flew out the window when she was with this man.

  ‘More foreplay, moya krasavitsa?’

  Oh! Eleanore forced her jaw to unlock. ‘I hope that’s not something sexist you’re calling me.’

  His devilish smile encouraged her to push him for an answer. Instead she gave him a look before stepping out of the car.

  When he followed her out she decided that the quickest way to a hot bath and a warm bed was to let him have his own way. She shook her head as if he was unredeemable and raised her chin as she moved past him.

  The building was a butter-yellow neoclassical style and the inside was full of old-world glamour with mirrored surfaces and marble floors that warmed her soul. The apartment was on the fifth floor, and as it was with many old buildings the elevator was incredibly small. Wedging herself into a corner she stared at Lukas’s shiny black shoes so that she wouldn’t be tempted to stare at the man himself. She loved shoes and she knew his had been custom-made. Along with his suits, because no way could store-bought pants fit so perfectly that they gave a hint at the strength of his thighs but didn’t cling in an ugly way as some men’s did. He had his hands in his pockets so the sides of his suit jacket were pushed wide and it pulled his pants low on his lean hips, outlining... her heart bumped inside her chest. Shoes. She had been looking at his shoes. The expensive stitching, the...

  The slight jerk of the lift as it shuddered to a stop brought a rushed exhalation of relief. Nearly there. Nearly out of her suddenly restrictive suit and maybe she had a rogue chocolate bar in her handbag she hadn’t already inhaled at some point.

  Hoping there would be a cup of tea inside the apartment with her name on it she followed Lukas out of the lift. When he stopped at the end of the hallway she was so caught up in her haste to end the day she barely managed not to barrel into the back of him. She gave him a brief smile and held her hand out for the apartment key.

  Instead of handing it to her he unlocked the door. ‘The apartment is serviced and used by travelling employees so you should find it has everything you need.’

  Not about to be accused of wanting to engage in foreplay with him again she gave him a serene smile. ‘Thanks. I’m sure it will be fine.’

  Grunting something under his breath he headed inside the apartment and Eleanore had little choice but to follow.

  Focusing on the elegant decor and rich furnishings in the open-plan living area she busied herself by taking off her overcoat and hat. Unused to the heavy weight of her hair down she secured it into a quick bun, not caring how untidy it might look. ‘The apartment looks lovely,’ she said lightly, hoping he’d hear the silent please leave in her tone.

  Of course he ignored it if he did and headed for the kitchen. Eleanore glanced at the ceiling in search of divine intervention. Unfortunately she seemed to be all on her own with him.

  ‘I’ve had the housekeeper stock the kitchen with basic food.’ He opened the fridge and peered inside. ‘Milk, eggs, cheese, bread.’ He glanced back at her. ‘Do you cook?’

  ‘Yes.’

  One dark blond brow climbed his forehead. ‘Really?’

  Eleanore gave him a look. ‘Yes.’

  ‘What do you cook?’

  ‘I don’t know. Omelettes, pasta, sometimes a casserole that my mother used to make for us when she was alive. I’m very good with arsenic too.’ She smiled. ‘Would you like to stay for supper?’

  He flashed her an amused grin and opened one of the overhead cupboards. ‘Tempting but I’ll pass. What happened to your mother?’

  Eleanore rarely talked about her mother and her throat clogged. ‘She died of cancer.’

  Lukas heard the soft vulnerability in Eleanore’s voice and knew that it had been a difficult experience for her. He found himself wanting to make her feel better. ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’

  She shrugged and he didn’t know if she was trying to block him out as she’d tried to do since he’d met her or if it was a self-protective gesture. ‘It was a long time ago. I was only nine.’

  ‘But you miss her.’

  She seemed surprised by his observation but not as surprised as he was himself. He rarely involved himself in conversations about anyone’s parents or their pasts. It opened up the opportunity for them to ask him questions he had no intention of answering.

  ‘I don’t know if I miss her as much as I wish she were still here. Particularly as I get older. There’s so much I’d like to ask her and say to her. And I can only imagine that getting worse when I have kids of my own. What about you? Are your parents still alive?’

  Lukas had no idea. ‘No kids and no parents.’

  ‘Oh.’ Her big hazel eyes widened with empathy. ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’

  ‘What, that I don’t have kids or that I don’t have parents?’

  Realising how bleak those words had sounded he slammed the cupboard door and told himself to leave. ‘Through there is the bathroom and two bedrooms. One is set up as an office with a pull-out sofa.’ He moved back toward the main door before he turned around. He looked back and found her staring at him with those wide, empathetic eyes he could drown in, her mouth soft and pink, beckoning him to come drink from it so that he could wash all his pain away. All his troubles.

  All his troubles? All his pain?

  Caught off guard by unexplainable emotions Lukas nearly walked out the door before he realised that he still held her apartment keys in his pocket. Unused to feeling so off balance he marched back toward her, trying to make light of his gaffe. ‘You’ll need these, I expect.’

  ‘Oh, right. Sure. Just...you can just leave them on the counter.’ The smile she gave him was wary and her eyes still held some sort of sympathy he knew in a heartbeat he could replace with lust. He thought of her curvy bottom against his groin earlier. All that fragrant hair tumbling down her back.

  Physical arousal coursed through him, swift and unequivocal. His body wanted Eleanore Harrington even though his mind warned him not to go near her.

  But goading her as he’d done all afternoon whenever she had annoyed him was one thing, following through by taking her into his bed was something else altogether, and he might have been able to follow through with that thoug
ht if she hadn’t bent down to unzip her high-heeled boots and release a moan of pleasure as she did so.

  She wasn’t looking at him, or even putting on a performance as some of his past women would have done to get his attention, and perversely that seemed to affect him even more. What was it about her that drew him so strongly? And why analyze it? Sex was a normal part of life, a means of relaxation. It would be no different with her so why hold back? ‘So what’s on the agenda for tonight, Eleanore?’ He found himself asking before his mind was fully sold on the idea. ‘A hot bath or are you more a shower kind of girl?’

  Himself, he could do it in either.

  Her cheeks flushed prettily and he knew she was headed for one of them, and right now he didn’t care if he’d never mixed business with pleasure before...he wanted to strip her naked and join her.

  ‘I...’ She cleared her throat. ‘Bed, actually.’

  Well, hell, he could be conventional as well. He smiled. ‘Want me to turn down the sheets?’

  ‘I beg your pardon?’

  Her haughtiness just inflamed him more. She was so proper. So different from him. ‘I said...’

  ‘I heard you. And I think you should leave.’

  He came toward her and saw her pulse flicker rapidly in the base of her neck. ‘Let’s not pretend, Eleanore. I know you feel the chemistry between us as keenly as I do.’ She shifted her weight from one foot to the other and he wondered if she was turned on already. ‘You want this.’

  She let out a startled laugh. ‘Well, no one could ever accuse you of having an unhealthy ego.’

  Now that he’d said the words out loud, now that he’d acknowledged that there was something between them, all Lukas could think about was touching her. Tasting her. Taking her.

  The fact that she wasn’t his type and that he’d never come on to an employee before no longer seemed relevant. She wasn’t a permanent employee anyway.

  ‘But you’re wrong.’ She stared at him defiantly. ‘I don’t want you.’

  He hadn’t even realised he’d moved closer to her until her clipped words penetrated the lust-filled fog in his brain. He stopped barely a metre in front of her. He wondered what she would do if he took two more steps and backed her against the wall, pressed himself against her and let her feel what state she had put him in all day. ‘Coward,’ he baited softly.

  Her eyes narrowed and she moved to put some distance between them. ‘I’m not a coward. And I won’t deny that I find you physically attractive—on some level—but I intend to see a shrink about that as soon as I get back to New York.’

  Lukas laughed and wondered if it wasn’t her sassy wit that attracted him as much as her mouth and her legs. Her pert breasts and her smoking eyes. ‘Why not do something about it here?’ he suggested.

  ‘The language barrier,’ she deadpanned. ‘Your shrinks probably only speak Russian.’

  ‘I have a better idea than a shrink.’

  ‘I do too. It’s called you leaving.’

  Lukas knew he was stalking her as he stepped closer and forced her back against the wall but all he felt was a primal satisfaction that he affected her as much as she affected him.

  A coil of her hair had come loose from her messy hairdo and he tucked it behind the small shell of her ear. He loved the feel of a woman’s skin there. It was a good indication of how smooth the skin between her inner thighs would feel and Eleanore’s skin was like the petal of a new rose in bloom. She trembled and he noticed that the green and amber flecks in her eyes seemed to glow with longing. The same hungry longing that was eating him up inside.

  She watched him, her small pink tongue darting out to moisten her lips as if in anticipation of his kiss.

  He nearly chuckled when he saw it. For all her determination to deny how much she wanted him he was almost disappointed at how easy this was going to be in the end.

  Sensing his hesitation her long lashes swept up and her gorgeous eyes connected with his. Something passed between them, something that made Lukas’s breathing suddenly shallow, made his heart bump erratically inside his chest. ‘No, I don’t think I will kiss you,’ he murmured, fighting to understand why his instincts insisted that she was a danger to him. She was just a woman. ‘I think I’ll wait for you to kiss me.’

  She blinked her eyes rapidly as if she’d been under a spell, narrowing them into murderous slits as she processed his arrogance. She pushed away from him. ‘Why don’t you hold your breath while you do that?’

  This time he did chuckle. He couldn’t help himself. He’d laughed more in the past twenty-four hours than he had in years. Maybe ever. And had it really only been that long? He felt like he’d known her for ever. ‘It’s going to be interesting,’ he mused as he breathed in the lingering scent of her apple blossom shampoo. ‘Seeing how long you can hold out.’

  She crossed the room with measured strides as if she wasn’t furious with him. ‘You really do have tickets on yourself, Mr Kuznetskov,’ she said over her shoulder.

  ‘Shall we cast a wager?’

  She turned. ‘I beg your pardon?’

  ‘A wager. On who will kiss whom first.’

  ‘You’re mad.’

  ‘Is that a yes?’

  Lukas could hear the words coming out of his mouth and he couldn’t quite believe them. She’d aggravated him with the way she so easily froze him out. With the way she treated him as if he wasn’t worth bothering about. Printsessa and the nishchiy, he thought, and felt a muscle tick in his jaw. And the more she tried to mind her p’s and q’s with him, the more he wanted to run roughshod all over them.

  ‘No, it is not a yes.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘I don’t gamble.’

  Neither did he. Not usually. ‘Live a little,’ he goaded.

  His words were a little too close to Lulu’s and Eleanore wondered if she had some sign pinned to her forehead that said Boring.

  She picked up the electric kettle and carried it to the sink to fill it. ‘I live just fine,’ she snapped, knowing there wasn’t anything he could offer her that would entice her to play such a stupid game with him. Not when she worked for him and it would be completely unprofessional. Heck, she could just envision Isabelle’s disapproval already.

  ‘How about if I kiss you first you can have Harrington’s name above the door of the hotel?’

  Eleanore stilled. Looked back at him. ‘Are you serious?’

  ‘Why not?’

  She couldn’t believe he would wager that. ‘And what happens if I kiss you first?’

  ‘Worried about your self-control, moya krasavitsa?’

  She hated not knowing what he was calling her but she wouldn’t lower herself to ask. Let him have his fun. Men and their egos.

  Mr I’m-So-Irresistible was about to meet his match. Water from the tap ran over the top of the kettle, down her arm and soaked the sleeve of her blouse. Cursing under her breath she gave him a tight smile. ‘Shall we say I get to shoot you afterward?’

  ‘Another tempting offer but no.’ He smiled and handed her a towel. ‘If you kiss me first, sweet Eleanore, then you give yourself to me completely.’

  The soft words made Eleanore’s insides tumble like the clothes in a spin dryer—only twice as hot and twice as fast. She threw the towel in the sink and put the kettle back on the electric plate. She knew she’d be mad to take his bet but, oh, what would happen if she got to put Harrington’s name above the door of the Krystal Palace?

  ‘Tempted, Eleanore?’ He reached around her and flicked the switch on the kettle she’d forgotten to depress. Eleanore glared at the kettle as if it had betrayed her in some way.

  ‘Not by you,’ she scoffed with more bravado than she felt. ‘But why not?’ She crossed her arms over her chest. ‘You seem to be in the market to learn some more life lessons, Mr Kuz
netskov—perhaps humility will be another one.’

  ‘You forget,’ he purred close to her ear as he took her palm and enfolded the apartment keys inside. ‘I have yet to learn the first one.’

  Bastard, Eleanore thought, and nearly yelled it at him as he swaggered out of her apartment as if he owned the world and her along with it.

  CHAPTER SIX

  SHE WAS NOT dressing for him, Eleanore told herself as she threw yet another skirt from her suitcase onto the bed. But of course she was. She was dressing to tempt Lukas Kuznetskov into losing his schoolyard bet even though she’d woken with every intention of calling it off!

  She spied the riot of clothes on her bed and huffed out a sigh. She’d done quite a bit of shopping during her weeks in Singapore but do you think she could come up with something suitable to wear?

  The problem was that although she had some very sensible work suits and tops she hadn’t bought anything with seduction in mind. And probably she should have unpacked last night instead of wasting so much time in the bath hating the man in question before falling into a restless sleep because what she did have was now full of wrinkles.

  What she needed was something professional and yet subtly sexy but nothing jumped out at her. Then she spied the flirty little top Olivia had given her for Christmas the year before. It was hardly subtle and wasn’t something she would usually pair with a suit because it was quite low-cut and didn’t accommodate a bra.

  She picked it up and held it in front of her. Olivia had said that going braless was the point and that the gold colouring made her eyes glow. Eleanore eyed her reflection dubiously. Maybe if she teamed it with a floaty scarf and kept her suit jacket buttoned, then no one would know.

  Doesn’t that defeat the purpose of wearing it, Eleanore?

  Yes, but she was no femme fatale and maybe Lukas would somehow get a hint of it and be turned on anyway.

  An image of how he had looked at her when he’d told her to take her hair down in the department store drifted into her consciousness. His eyes had gone from sapphire blue to almost navy and she’d felt the kick of the chemistry between them as strongly as a short black laced with sugar.