‘Sorry’s not good enough. So what the hell’s wrong with me? Maybe I don’t look like one of those pretty-boy movie stars, but you could do a lot worse.’
‘There’s nothing wrong with you,’ she said. Now that she had made her decision she felt as if a weight had been lifted off her mind. She could almost feel sympathetic towards Brad Franklin. ‘I think there’s something wrong with me.’
He gave her a slow once-over that reminded her of the way Sinclair had looked at her. ‘You look okay to me. What’s bothering you?’
‘I think it’s called being in love,’ she said.
He stared at her for a moment, then gave an explosive snort of laughter. ‘Who the hell with? Sinclair?’ When she did not answer, he persisted: ‘You can’t be serious? This is real life, darlin’. You’re in it for profit. Your career.’
‘I was,’ she admitted. ‘But not any more. Maybe I’m in love. Maybe I’m falling in love. But either way, the deal’s off. I can’t go along with it any more.’
‘Well, for God’s sake,’ a voice drawled from behind her, ‘it’s taken you long enough to admit it.’
She spun round. James Sinclair was leaning against the bathroom door, elegant in evening dress. The first emotion Genevieve experienced was relief, followed immediately by a rush of anger.
‘Where the hell have you been?’ she demanded.
‘Around,’ Sinclair said, with an infuriating smile. ‘Watching. Waiting. Listening.’
‘And what exactly is that supposed to mean?’
‘It means he set you up, honey.’ Brad grinned. ‘With my help. He set you up, then stood around and watched the show. Sounds a bit unkind, but it was all for a good cause.’
‘Set me up?’ She stared at the two men. ‘I don’t believe this. I trusted you, Sinclair!’
‘Don’t be too hard on him, sweetheart,’ Brad said. ‘He wanted to hear you say those three little words: I love you. Touching, isn’t it?’ He put his hand on his heart. ‘Gets you—right here.’ Genevieve stared at him, still not really believing him. ‘It gets me, anyway,’ Brad added. ‘But then I’m just a big softy, really.’ He walked over to the door. ‘Helping you two lovebirds come together has really made my day, but now I’m beginning to feel like the unwanted guest.’ He blew Genevieve a kiss. ‘Been nice meeting you, sweetheart, and don’t worry. Discretion’s my middle name.’
The door shut behind him. Genevieve twisted round to face Sinclair. ‘Lovebird isn’t the word I’d use to describe you right now,’ she said furiously.
‘Or ever, I hope,’ he said. ‘I’ll accept handsome. Irresistible. Sexy, even. But lovebird? Never.’
‘You’ve made me look a complete idiot.’
He laughed softly. ‘All I’ve done is get you to admit a lot of things about yourself that you were repressing. Including your feelings for me.’
‘Well, if that isn’t just about the most conceited thing I’ve ever heard!’ She was still furious, as much with relief as anger. ‘You’re fooling yourself, Mr. Sinclair. Right now, the only feeling I have for you is a strong desire to punch you.’
‘You’ll get over it,’ he said, grinning. ‘You know I don’t deserve it.’
‘You deserve it. You blackmailed me.’
‘I’ve never blackmailed anyone in my life.’
‘Ninety days as a sex slave, or no signature?’ she stated. ‘If that isn’t blackmail, what is?’
He stared at her for a long moment, and then began to laugh. ‘You didn’t take that seriously, did you?’
‘Damn right, I did!’ She had been calming down, but now his laughter infuriated her again. ‘Are you trying to tell me you were joking?’
‘I’m a businessman,’ he said. ‘How far do you think I’d get if I really made deals like that?’
‘You never intended to transfer your account to us?’
‘I always intended to,’ he said. ‘Randle-Mayne haven’t been coming up with enough fresh ideas. I wanted new blood. I like some of the work your creative team have been producing. And I might be interested in buying into an advertising agency quite soon. A small one, with some fresh young talent is just what I’m looking for. Barringtons would be my first choice.’ He paused and walked towards her. Standing in front of her he put his hands on her shoulders. ‘Come on now, Genevieve. You wanted me. From the moment I made you strip for me in your office you were hooked. You couldn’t wait to find out what else I could make you do. The ninety-day agreement was just an excuse, for both of us. Don’t try and tell me you didn’t know that.’
‘I didn’t,’ she said. ‘Why me? I’m not even your type. With your money you could get any woman you fancied.’
‘Thanks for the backhanded compliment,’ he said drily. ‘And why are you so sure you’re not my type?’
‘I’ve heard about the kind of women you like,’ she said.
‘You’ve heard about the kind of women other people think I like,’ he said. ‘It’s true I’ve escorted a variety in my time, but if a woman’s too blatantly sexy it actually turns me off. And if she’s just some bimbo who wants me as a status symbol, I might try her out in bed but that’s as far as I want to go.’ He smiled. ‘I like independent women, and I don’t feel threatened by women with brains. I’m intrigued by the combination of ice and flames.’ He paused. ‘That’s why I liked you. You were a mixture of intelligence and sexual heat. An iceberg with internal fire. It was an irresistible turn-on. Does that make sense to you?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘I wasn’t even trying to turn you on.’
Or was I, she thought. You attracted me. Did it show in my eyes? My body language?
Sinclair put his hands on her shoulders, and she felt their warmth.
‘You tried to act the remote businesswoman when we first met,’ he said softly. ‘But I’m afraid you weren’t very convincing. Apparent indifference is quite a turn-on for me, as long as I’m sure it’s only a bluff.’ His fingers tightened on her shoulders. ‘And I knew yours was. You looked like a cool, pure maiden, very prim and proper in your elegant suits. I knew you were nicely built, but I had a great time imagining exactly what you’d look like when I stripped you.’
‘You told me to strip,’ Genevieve reminded him. ‘And you felt me up as if I was in a slave market.’
‘And you loved it,’ he agreed. ‘The problem was, you wouldn’t admit it, even to yourself. All you did was insist that everything we did was strictly business, that it wasn’t me you were interested in, it was our final agreement.’
She put her hands lightly on his. ‘I thought that was what you wanted,’ she said. ‘I went along with it. I suppose I tried to switch off my feelings most of the time. I didn’t want to get hurt. I thought you were using me. You have a reputation for it.’
‘I suppose I deserved that,’ he said. ‘To be honest, I’ve encouraged people to believe it. In many ways it’s helped me. People who don’t know the truth about me never know what to expect.’
‘You don’t use people?’ she asked, faintly sarcastic.
‘Of course I do,’ he said. ‘If they let me. Everyone does. Including you. But it’s often a two-way process.’ He grinned. ‘I used Jade Chalfont.’ He saw her expression change and his grin broadened. ‘A classic case,’ he said. ‘She wanted me as her first success at Lucci’s. I knew she’d be useful to me in Japan. She obligingly decided to arrange her holiday at the same time that I’d arranged my business trip. She even managed to book out on the same flight as me.’
‘But I thought…’ Genevieve began.
‘You thought I’d invited her as a little bit of convenient entertainment?’ He laughed. ‘So did a lot of other people. Like I said, it didn’t do my reputation any harm. Here, or in Japan. The Japanese really admired her—the English sensei. When it comes to beating people up with a sword she certainly knows her stuff.’
‘And what about in bed?’
He laughed. ‘You don’t give up easily, do you? I wouldn’t know. Actually I don’t fancy
Miss Chalfont at all. Her attitude’s too masculine. And I’m sure she doesn’t fancy me either, for the same reasons, although I don’t think she’d have refused me, if she thought she’d profit by it.’
‘You think she’s a lesbian?’ Genevieve asked, curiously.
‘I think she’s bisexual,’ Sinclair said. ‘But I’d guess she prefers women.’
‘Well, at least you’ve got that in common,’ Genevieve said drily.
‘We both played a manipulative game,’ he said. ‘And we both knew it.’ He smiled lazily. ‘But I won. I got my Japanese contract. She won’t get her client. That’s the way it goes.’
‘Didn’t you even wonder what she was like in bed?’Genevieve insisted.
‘No,’ he said, innocently. ‘I was too busy remembering what you were like.’
‘In bed?’ She almost smiled. ‘As far as I can remember, we’ve hardly ever made love in a bed.’
‘That can soon change,’ he said softly.
He moved closer to her and she felt her body begin to respond to his physical presence. He pulled her towards him and kissed her. The kiss was long and deep and when they parted she felt deliciously out of breath.
‘Why didn’t you do that before?’ she murmured.
‘I just needed a hint of encouragement.’ His breath was warm against her cheek. ‘I didn’t think I was ever going to get it. The last time we were together, in the car, I had the feeling you just wanted to get things over with. You wanted to get away from me. And let’s face it, every time I tried to get a positive response out of you, tried to get you to admit your feelings, you turned it back on me. You always said it was business. You always brought up that damned agreement. There were times when I really regretted using the ninety-day idea.’
‘I was worried,’ she said. ‘I thought you were planning to get me to do something really unpleasant.’
‘You really have a low opinion of me, haven’t you?’ he murmured.
This time she relaxed completely when he kissed her. His mouth brushed hers lightly at first, and the tip of his tongue gently probed between her lips, pushing them apart. His fingers massaged the nape of her neck, bending her head back so that he could kiss the curve of her throat and round to her ear. His lips traced a light path that made her skin tingle.
‘Blackmailer?’ He kissed her neck. ‘Womanizer?’ He kissed her again. ‘It’s a wonder you’re letting me do this.’
‘And thug,’ she added.
He pulled away from her, surprised. ‘That’s a new one. I’ve never been called that before.’
‘What about Ricky Croft?’
He lifted an eyebrow. ‘What about him?’’
‘The rumor says you beat him up.’
‘The rumor’s true, for once,’ he agreed.
‘Why did you do it?’
‘You don’t want to know.’
‘But I do,’ she insisted. ‘Was it something to do with those porno drawings he does?’
‘As I told you,’ Sinclair said. ‘I’m not interested in that sort of thing. I prefer the genuine article.’
‘Ricky told me Jade Chalfont had bought some of his pictures and given them to you.’
‘Wishful thinking,’ Sinclair said. ‘Jade Chalfont wouldn’t buy anything off him. She’d be more likely to punch him in the mouth.’
‘And you did,’ Genevieve said. ‘I want to know why. I can’t believe it was because you were shocked.’
‘I saw another set of pictures,’ Sinclair said. He paused. ‘Without going into details, the ones I saw featured you. Mr. Croft obviously thought I’d be amused to see you in some—er—rather strange positions.’
Genevieve had a brief memory of some of Ricky’s drawings. Knowing how he felt about her she could imagine the kind of sexual indignities he had probably depicted her indulging in.
She didn’t want to think about it, but her imagination forced her to do so anyway.
‘I’ll kill him,’ she said, furiously.
‘That’s how I felt,’ Sinclair said. ‘But he isn’t worth the jail sentence. So I tore the pictures up, damaged him a little and I told him that if he ever did it again, or talked about what had happened, it’d be the last time he drew anything for a very long time, because I’d come back and break his fingers. One by one. Slowly.’
‘I think he believed you,’ Genevieve said. Looking at Sinclair’s grim face she believed him too. ‘Why would Ricky do something like that to me?’
‘Revenge.’ Sinclair shrugged. ‘He wasn’t any friend of yours. He blamed you because no one would employ him. He’d already been starting a few rumors of his own, linking us together, and bad-mouthing you. Unfortunately, there are people around who believe anything they hear, regardless of the source. He even hinted to me that you might like it if I beat you up for real.’
Genevieve stared at him, horrified. ‘Why would he say that?’
‘Perhaps he hoped I might try it on you. It misfired, because I tried it on him instead. Anyway, I always thought he was a liar. I didn’t think you were into the heavy CP, and when I took you to the dungeon I knew it. Forget him. I don’t think he’ll bother you again.’
‘He could have made plenty of money,’ Genevieve said. ‘He was just so damned unreliable. I could never recommend him to anyone.’ She smiled suddenly. ‘It must have been a novelty for you, playing a knight in shining armor.’
‘It came naturally,’ Sinclair said modestly. ‘I hate the sexual exploitation of women.’ He paused, and smiled slowly. ‘Mind you, Mr. Croft certainly has a fertile imagination. Some of the
positions he put you into were—er—interesting, to say the least.’ His hands strayed down her back and cupped her buttocks. ‘There were a couple I wouldn’t mind trying.’
‘I thought you hated sexual exploitation?’ she said.
‘That would come under sexual experimentation,’ he explained. He massaged her soft flesh. ‘Legitimate research.’
She felt her body responding to him, but pushed him back. ‘Don’t let’s waste the bed,’ she murmured.
‘I don’t intend to,’ he said. ‘This is costing me two thousand pounds, remember.’ He stepped back and looked her over slowly. ‘And I’m going to get my money’s worth.’ He began to take off his jacket. ‘Starting now.’
But she stopped him again. ‘No. I want to do it. You’ve stripped me. Now it’s my turn.’
He grinned. ‘Sounds good to me. But take that coat off first. It makes you look like a boy.’
She opened the front of her tailcoat and let it slide down her arms to the floor. She stood in front of him wearing only the brief black G-string and her high-heeled shoes.
‘Have you ever seen a boy who looked like this?’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘In Thailand. Out there they’ll pay a fortune to a surgeon to get a figure even half as good as yours.’
He reached for her breasts but she eluded him. ‘On the bed,’ she ordered.
She sat on the edge of the bed herself, and swung her legs towards the opposite side, twisting round and then kneeling. He stretched out next to her. She crouched beside him and began to unbutton his shirt. His hands reached for her again, the tips of his fingers brushing her nipples.
‘Behave yourself,’ she said.
‘You really have got the best-shaped ass I’ve ever seen,’ he murmured.
She saw that he was looking above her. Turning her head, she realized that there was a mirror inside the four-poster canopy reflecting the entire bed. Her rounded bottom was beautifully displayed as she knelt.
‘Puts a new angle on things, doesn’t it?’ He reached out and pressed a hidden button. Curtains parted, revealing another mirror behind the bed’s high-piled pillows. ‘And how about this? Be your own blue-film star.’
She watched herself opening the front of his shirt, revealing the hard muscles of his chest and nipples that were as erect as her own. She leaned over him, closing her mouth over the nearest one and felt his body shudder as she sucked
and nipped him with her teeth. Her fingers caressed the other nipple, rubbing and stroking just as he had so often done to her. He groaned and reached for his zip. She pushed his hand away.
‘Don’t be in such a hurry.’
‘I don’t have your self-control,’ he said.
She sat astride him, pressing against his imprisoned erection, both hands holding his wrists above his head, while she tormented him with her mouth, kissing him, running her tongue round his ear, and teasing his nipples into even harder peaks. She could see him watching the overhead mirror, and knew that seeing her on top of him, as well as feeling the things she was doing to him, doubled his erotic entertainment.
She encouraged him into a sitting position and slipped the shirt down his arms, twisting it suddenly behind him, round his wrists, and then pushing him onto his back again. When he struggled to free himself she swiftly unzipped his trousers and reached between his legs.
‘You’re my prisoner,’ she said. ‘Enjoy it.’
She massaged him gently and watched with pleasure as his body reacted, his hips thrusting forward as she stroked and kneaded. She felt his prick swell beneath her hands, until it was straining and massive under her fingers. Only then did she slowly pull his trousers down fully, and stretch the tight briefs he was wearing over the captive organ so that it sprang free and he groaned with relief. Quickly she removed his shoes and socks and then the trousers and pants.
She sat back on her heels and looked at him. It was the first time she had seen him totally naked. She admired the full heaviness of his balls and the length of his cock, rising from the thick black pubic hair. The same color hair matted his chest. His body was lean and tanned, with long thighs and narrow hips. She could see the ridges of his abdominal muscles. She reached out a finger and circled one erect nipple, then the other. Each time she heard him draw his breath in sharply.
‘Does this feel the same for you as it does for me?’ she murmured.
‘If it does,’ he said huskily, ‘no wonder you like it.’
‘Turn over,’ she instructed.
‘Why?’ he asked, his eyes half-closed. ‘I feel fine this way.’
The Ninety Days of Genevieve Page 25