by Lucy King
At the time, he’d ignored the little voice inside his head insisting that the stake he was gambling with was too high. Just as he’d ignored the stab of guilt at laying the blame at Caroline’s door. As far as he’d been concerned the end would justify the means.
Not only had his strategy given him the ideal opportunity to stay in touch with Bella and embark on his war of attrition, it had also solved the problem of what to do about the dodgy jewellery. Plus, as he received emails or phone calls pretty much every week with a request to exhibit the collection, it had been the ideal way to get people like the director of the Grayson Museum off his back.
That his plan might have failed, might still fail, didn’t cross his mind. For one thing he didn’t fail. Ever. For another Bella was a perfectionist and he’d been certain she took far too much pride in her work to allow the finished result to be anything other than flawless.
And OK, there had been that brief moment when he’d got to her flat that Sunday morning and been hit by such a strong bolt of desire that he’d wanted to scoop her up in his arms and demand to know the location of her bedroom, which had definitely not been part of the plan. Neither had the surge of white-hot jealous fury when he thought she’d gone round to Sam’s nor the relief when he realised she hadn’t, or the overwhelming urge to gather her in his arms and kiss the life out of her just before he’d left.
But by and large things had gone exactly as he’d intended.
So why, over the course of the last week or so, had he found himself doubting the wisdom of his strategy? Where had the feeling that things weren’t quite right sprung from? And what was the thing that had been stabbing at his conscience for the past few days?
Surely it couldn’t be guilt, could it?
Will rubbed his chest and frowned. But what else could it be, when it had appeared right after she’d told him how much she valued honesty, annoyingly hammering home the point that he’d been less than truthful with her? Why else had he stopped dropping by her shop when previously he’d gone there almost every day?
He stifled a sigh. Yup. That definitely sounded like guilt. And it was probably guilt too that was preventing him from going over to her and saying hello.
Now his conscience had been roused it wasn’t holding back, and questions and doubts began to attack him from all sides. What on earth gave him the right to persuade Bella into having an affair with him anyway? She’d said she didn’t want one so he ought to respect that. Since when had he started disregarding other people’s wishes in favour of his own?
And as for attrition, what had he been thinking? When exactly had his common sense, his integrity—such as it was—deserted him?
He glanced over at her, met her eyes head on, caught the expression on her face and his entire body tightened with need. Well, his body could forget it because he was rapidly coming to the conclusion that an affair with Bella was the worst idea he’d ever had.
And actually not simply because he was being battered by a guilty conscience. When he’d set out on his attrition mission he’d never intended to get so personal. He’d planned to go easy on the chat and heavy on the innuendo. To bombard her with smouldering smiles and gratuitous touches and seduce her into his bed.
So what had happened? When exactly had things changed? How had he ended up telling her all about his life and his plans for the dukedom? And when exactly had he started liking her as well as wanting her?
Liking her—and so much—hadn’t been factored into his plan. Nor had the notion that he might be more susceptible to her charms than he’d envisaged.
That his plan hadn’t been quite so perfect left him feeling oddly unsettled. As did the dawning realisation that if he let things go any further he could well be at some sort of risk. What if she wasn’t the only one who could be hurt by an affair? What if he got in too deep and couldn’t get out?
As a bolt of alarm shot through him Will ran a finger around the inside of his collar, feeling as if it were strangling him. God, that really didn’t bear thinking about. Never mind that it hadn’t happened before. He wasn’t naive enough to think that it couldn’t happen eventually. It was just lucky he’d caught it early enough to think about throwing up some defences.
Which, he thought as he watched Bella heading towards him, were undoubtedly about to come in extremely useful. Because she wasn’t just heading. She was sidling, only pausing to pluck a glass of champagne off a tray, a sexy smile curving her lips and a determined look in her eye. Something about the way she moved had all the tiny hairs at the back of his neck leaping up in alarm. Every instinct he possessed yelled at him to get as far away from her as he could. And he would have done exactly that had his feet not appeared to have taken root.
‘Hi,’ she said, coming to a standstill far too close for his comfort and sending a thousand shivers scurrying over his skin.
Will fought the instinct to take a step back and shoved his hands in his pockets instead. ‘Hi,’ he said, his voice a lot calmer than he felt. ‘You look spectacular.’
That was a bit of an understatement. In a short, tight, shimmering coppery dress that brought out the highlights in the hair that was tumbling over her shoulders, and with the endless legs, she looked good enough to eat.
‘Thank you.’ She ran her gaze over him and a thick sluggish heat began to seep along his veins. ‘So do you.’
‘Thank you.’
‘So what’s the verdict?’ she asked, glancing up at him from beneath her eyelashes.
About what? The sudden awakening of his conscience? Her dress and the clamouring urge he had to take her outside and get her out of it? His slow inexorable descent into insanity? ‘About what?’
‘The evening. Do you think we’ve got away with it?’
‘It certainly looks like it,’ he said. ‘Everyone seems awestruck. Eyebrows are shooting up and mouths are dropping open all over the place. I’ve never seen or heard anything like it.’
‘No?’ she said, flashing him a wicked smile and tilting her head. ‘Happens to me all the time.’
His heart lurched and his mouth went dry. What the hell was going on? Was she flirting with him? ‘I’m sure it does,’ he murmured, narrowing his eyes as if that would somehow lessen the destructive effect she was having on his newly discovered principles.
‘And what do you think?’
Will could barely breathe let alone think. ‘I think we’ve been incredibly lucky and it’s an experience I never want to repeat,’ he said, and he wasn’t just referring to this evening.
‘Pity,’ she said, lifting the glass to her mouth and pressing the rim against her lower lip. ‘I’ve found it fun.’
And perhaps she wasn’t either, he thought, his mouth drying as she tilted the glass and parted her lips and gave him a glimpse of her tongue. Then she dropped her head back, giving him a glorious view of her neck, and took a long swallow of champagne. As she brought her head back up she darted her tongue out to catch a drop of liquid that clung to her lower lip and let it linger before sweeping it along a bit. Will’s gaze automatically dipped to trace the movement and his mind went fuzzy. And then went even fuzzier at the light shining in the depths of her eyes.
‘You’ve done an incredible job,’ he said, barely able to speak.
‘It’s been an absolute pleasure.’
God. Had her gaze just darted to his groin? Whether he’d been imagining things or not, the job that immediately sprang into Will’s mind was not of the professional kind. ‘I’m glad you think so.’
‘Did you know today’s my birthday?’
Will blinked and rubbed his jaw. ‘I didn’t. Happy birthday.’
‘I certainly hope it will be.’
She shot him another smouldering glance and Will felt his skin prickle. ‘Did you get anything nice?’
‘My mother sent me an arnica plant.’
‘Why?’
‘I have absolutely no idea. Still, it could have been worse. At one point she asked me if I’d like a goat.’<
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‘Not hugely convenient.’
‘No.’ Bella shuddered and Will tried not to notice the way her body moved. ‘Imagine the mess.’
‘And the noise.’
‘Well, quite.’ She paused. ‘You know what I’d really like?’
His body tightened at the drop in her voice. ‘I can’t imagine,’ he murmured.
‘Can’t you?’
She shot him a scorching look from beneath her lashes and Will gritted his teeth. What was going on here? How was he to maintain his principled stance when she was in this foxy frame of mind? And why was she in this foxy frame of mind anyway? As bewilderment and frustration spun through him Will had finally had enough. ‘What are you doing, Bella?’
She smiled up at him and arched an eyebrow. ‘Toying with the idea of seducing you.’
For a moment Will thought he must have misheard. But the punch of desire that struck him in the stomach and robbed him of breath told him he hadn’t. Dammit, why couldn’t she have done all this before he’d decided he couldn’t pursue an affair with her? Say, when he’d first suggested it back at that restaurant. Her timing really was abysmal. ‘I see.’
‘If I decided to go through with it, would I succeed?’
God, probably. Will curled his hands into fists, set his jaw and reminded himself of all the excellent reasons why she wouldn’t. ‘No.’
‘OK,’ she said, nodding slowly and batting her eyelashes up at him. ‘I guess I could let you seduce me if you’d prefer.’
His entire body tensed. ‘Definitely not.’
Her smile faltered a little. ‘Oh. Right … ‘ She bit her lip and frowned. ‘Why not?’
‘It wouldn’t be right.’
For a moment Bella simply stared at him. ‘Scruples, Will?’
‘Looks like it, doesn’t it?’
She blinked. ‘But why? I want you. I think you want me. So what’s the problem?’
He did want her. Oh, how he wanted her … ‘I’m not the man you seem to think I am.’
Bella gave her head a quick shake and then smiled. ‘Oh dear,’ she said softly. ‘First Phoebe, now you.’
‘What?’
‘Phoebe warned me off you.’
Will fought down the stab of irritation that that aroused. ‘She was right to do so.’
‘Surely you can’t be that bad?’
Judging by the light sparkling in the depths of her eyes, Bella was clearly hoping that he was as bad as could be.
Time to disillusion her.
Taking in a quick sharp breath, Will drew himself up to his full height and looked down at her. ‘I lied, Bella.’
Her eyes widened. ‘About what?’
‘This evening.’
She tilted her head and looked up at him and Will felt as if she could see right into the depths of his soul. ‘In what way?’
‘It was my idea. The whole thing.’ He pulled his hands out of his pockets and waved them in the direction of the display cases before raking them through his hair and then shoving them back in his pockets. ‘Caroline didn’t promise the collection to anyone.’
‘She didn’t?’
He shook his head, his eyes blazing into hers as he tried to make her see. ‘I did. I was the one who rang the director of the museum. I was the one who told him he could exhibit it.’
She frowned and he felt something like regret lodge in his chest. ‘Why?’
‘Attrition.’
‘What?’
‘Attrition. Erosion by friction.’
‘Yes, I’m aware of what it is,’ she said. ‘But what does it have to do with anything?’
‘Everything,’ he said abruptly. ‘I’ve spent the last three weeks wanting to wear you down.’
‘I see.’ She paused. Pondered his words for a second. ‘And why would you want to wear me down?’
‘To get you to see things from my point of view.’ Even as he said it he felt like a heel, and shame rolled around inside him. ‘To persuade you to have an affair with me. You were so determined to deny the chemistry between us, it wound me up.’
She gave him a sexy little smile, took a step closer and put a hand on his chest. Every one of his senses was filled with her and a tremor went through him. ‘Games, Will?’
A muscle hammered in his jaw and he curled his hands into fists. ‘Perhaps.’
‘I see … Was the whole thing a set-up? Right from the start?’
‘God, no. Just this evening. I swear.’
She shot him a sultry smile and moved her hand down his chest and around to his back. ‘Good. Then that’s OK.’
Will was so bewitched by the feel of her hand idly stroking his back that at first he didn’t register what she’d said. And then it filtered into his head and he made himself focus. OK? Didn’t she care that he’d lied? What about the honesty she’d said she was so keen on? ‘Don’t you mind?’
‘Not particularly. Actually I’m rather flattered that you’d go to such lengths to get me into bed.’ She grinned. ‘And it’s worked, hasn’t it? I do want to have an affair with you.’
‘It’s not going to happen.’ Her hand could stop that. In fact he ought to remove it. And he would. In a minute.
‘Hmm. Now who’s the one denying the chemistry?’
‘I don’t deny it. I’m simply not going to do anything about it.’
‘Why not?’
A muscle ticced in his jaw. ‘You were right. I’d only hurt you.’ Not to mention what she could do to him. Was already doing to him just by putting her hand on him.
She tilted her head and regarded him for so long that Will’s insides began to curdle. ‘I appreciate you’re trying to be noble,’ she said, ‘but don’t you think that’s for me to decide?’
Will tensed. ‘I’m not going to change, Bella.’
‘I know that. I don’t want you to. And neither am I. All I want is a quick fling.’
He frowned. His heart thumped. A quick fling? Was she for real? ‘No, you don’t.’
Bella let out a frustrated sigh and withdrew her hand to fold her arms over her chest. ‘I’m getting a bit fed up with people telling me what I want. Look, I’ve thought it through, at length, and I want an affair. With you. Assuming you’re up for it, of course.’
Oh, he was up for it. More than up for it. So up for it in fact that he was in agony. And just like that his paltry defences, the ones that he hadn’t yet had the time to fortify, crumbled.
An affair didn’t have to hurt anyone, did it? Bella seemed to know what she wanted, and if she’d really thought it through as she claimed then he ought to respect that. She wasn’t stupid; she was perfectly aware of what an affair with him would be about.
And as for him, well, he’d had affairs before. Plenty of them in the last few years. And not once had he got his fingers burnt. So why did it need to be any different with Bella? As long as he kept his head, stuck to electrifying sex and avoided any kind of personal conversation, he’d be fine. They both would be.
‘And then what?’ he murmured as the possibility of an affair with Bella heated his blood and sent desire ricocheting around him.
‘We go our separate ways.’ She tilted her head. ‘I haven’t changed what I want,’ she said, ‘and I’m not going to. I still want to get married. I still want security and stability. However, in the absence of any progress on that front, I feel like some fun. Hot temporary fun. Do you object?’
Object? He could hardly think straight. ‘How could I possibly object?’ he said hoarsely.
‘Good.’ Bella grinned. ‘So … do you need to stick around any longer?’
And continue to suffer from aching frustration as well as having to muster up some kind of response to all the platitudes he’d received about how great it was that the collection was finally on display and what a wonderful commemoration of his father’s life it was? No way. ‘No.’
Bella gave him a slow smile and her eyes shimmered. ‘Then I’ll go and get my coat, shall I?’
CHAPTER ELEV
EN
WELL, thank God for that, thought Bella, sitting on the back seat of the car, her heart thundering and her body pulsating with desire.
For a moment back there, in the dark shadows of the museum, she’d truly thought it wasn’t going to happen. That Will would stick to what he’d decided was the right thing to do, and continue to deny the attraction she’d been able to tell he still felt.
But luckily for her, wherever that sudden attack of the scruples had sprung from it had sprung right back, and they were now speeding away from the museum, through the dark streets of London and heading towards a night that she was aching for. Had been aching for for quite some time, if she was being honest.
As a result of her conversational success her whole body was now trembling with need and anticipation, and her head was throbbing. She cast a quick glance at Will and caught her breath. He was sitting back and staring straight ahead, utterly still, the tension and tightly restrained desire rolling off him in great waves.
At the thought of having all that desire unleashed on her, Bella couldn’t stand it any longer. Why wait until they got to a bed? What was wrong with here? Now?
Her heart banging against her ribs, she leaned forwards to press the button that would raise the partition between them and Bob, and prepared to launch herself at him.
But nothing happened. So she pressed it again. It gave a clunk and she let out a groan of frustration.
‘It’s bust.’ Will’s voice was tight.
‘Damn,’ Bella murmured.
‘If it wasn’t,’ he said, twisting round to look at her, his eyes dark and blazing with heat and promise, ‘do you really think you would still be sitting there upright and fully clothed?’
Her mouth went dry and she swallowed as lust belted around her insides. ‘I guess not. You should get Bob to fix it.’
‘I will.’
After that, conversation seemed pointless so Bella sat on her hands and crossed her legs at her ankles and pressed her thighs together in an attempt to stop the throbbing between them. But it didn’t work. The pressure only made things worse.
After what felt like an eternity, the car slowed and barely before it had stopped Will was out, whipping round to her side, opening her door and practically dragging her to her feet. Gritting out a rough goodnight to Bob, he led Bella up the steps, thrust the key into the lock and opened the front door.