by Diana Fraser
He kissed her mouth, her eyes and then rolled over her, pulling her against his side, into his arms. He stroked and kissed her hair. “Habibti…”
How had she managed to keep away from this devastating man for so long? He lay back, looking up at the ceiling as his hands caressed her body. She had her cheek to his chest and looked out to the dark night, stars punching through the dark mantle of the night. Same stars, same world as the Caribbean, but there was only one place for her… here, with this man. She needed him so much. But would he want her when he knew the truth?
“Habibti,” he whispered again, hugging her with his arm, tracing her skin with his other hand, for all the world like she was a treasure to him. And she knew that was how he’d always thought of her—a perfect prize, a treasure to be cherished. Except she wasn’t that perfect prize, was she?
She pushed away the idea, not wanting the shrouds of doubt to mar this moment. Not wanting any tears to fall from her eyes, down her cheek and touch his mahogany skin. She brushed her cheek against his body and they lay, neither wanting to talk, neither knowing what to say in that moment when bodily they were so close, but yet they were both so distant, full of doubts about the past, and fears for the future that not even this physical intimacy could overcome.
Slowly the stars shifted across the sky and the pattern of lights in the buildings changed and Daidan’s breathing grew regular. His stroking of her arm ceased but his other arm continued to hold her firmly to his side.
She must have fallen asleep at some point but she awoke before Daidan. There was a change in the sky. A glance at the clock showed her it was nearly 5:30. Daidan was always an early riser. She had to get up now, before it became too late.
She slipped out from under his arm and walked quietly to the bathroom. Her dressing room was through the opposite bathroom door and after showering she went there and dressed. She considered going back to bed but any sense of tiredness had left her. Instead she wandered into the lounge and opened the design folder which had been left for her and began looking through the jewelry designs.
She’d become so absorbed that she didn’t notice the time moving on. It was only when she heard a “good morning,” that she turned to see Daidan leaning against the wall with a cup of coffee in his hands.
“Daidan!”
He smiled. “You’re surprised to see me?”
“No, of course not, it’s just…” She shrugged. “I was absorbed in my work.” He frowned slightly. She wasn’t surprised. His tone had been warm toward her. Hers was more diffident, more tentative. She couldn’t hide the fact that, despite the intimacy, something wasn’t right. She couldn’t hide the fact she felt on edge.
He placed the coffee on a table and walked to her and looked over her shoulder. He looped her hair behind her ear so he could see the design she’d been penciling. “You’re working already?”
She doodled. “There’s so much to do.”
“So it’s just as well I’m leaving today to go north, to the mine.”
“You’re going away?”
He nodded and rested against the wall, watching her with eyes that saw everything. “Just for a few days. I have some pre-arranged business I can’t get out of but it’ll give you time to work with the designers. Time to go The Warehouse and mock up some potential settings and see the stones. Get to know the new design team better.”
She nodded. She might meet with the design team but there was no way on God’s earth that she’d be going to her mother’s design studio in The Warehouse. “Sure, I’ll meet with the team. We’ll be ready for your return.”
“Good.” He moved away. “Now, habibti, why don’t you work from the apartment this morning? You look tired and I’ll see you in a few days.” His eyes darkened with desire once more. “And we will make love.”
She rose and went to him. “I’d like that.”
“Because you want a child.”
“Not just that. I’ve missed you, Daidan. I’ve missed… us, together.”
He nodded slowly. “Of course. We are meant for each other. And when I return I will show you again, how good we are together.” He kissed her lightly despite the lust in his eyes. “I must go now. And don’t forget to make arrangements for getting the Kielo necklace from the vault. I’d have done it but as you own it, the bank requires your approval.”
Taina watched him leave the apartment. Then she moved to the window where, far below, his car rolled up to the entrance and the driver got out and opened the door for him. Meant for each other? Maybe once. But now? That depended on how Daidan reacted to certain facts which she simply couldn’t risk telling him but that, she knew, he would inevitably discover. He’d find out, for sure. And then would he still want her?
“The Warehouse,” Daidan instructed his driver upon returning to Helsinki.
“Your wife isn’t there, sir.”
Daidan frowned. “Where is she then?”
“In her office, in the city.”
A thought suddenly occurred to him. “Has she been to The Warehouse at all?”
Their gaze met in the rear vision window. “Not to my knowledge, sir.”
Daidan grunted. He’d given Taina instructions that she should work at The Warehouse. That was her end of the bargain. Seemed she’d not kept it. “Okay, the office, then.”
As soon as he arrived he went to his office where he’d been told she was working. She was alone. She looked up and he was pleased to see her face flush with pleasure. It was all he could do to stop himself from going to her and taking her into his arms. But first he needed to know why she hadn’t been to The Warehouse.
“Taina.” He walked up to her. She rose and they kissed.
“How were your meetings?”
“Successful. As planned.”
She grinned. “Of course they would be. You don’t leave anything to chance, do you?”
The smile on his face froze. “No, not anymore.” He didn’t elaborate. He knew she wouldn’t want to hear that he never intended to lose her again. He’d be accused of being too protective, too controlling. It was true, but there was no way he was going to change. “So, how did the past few days go?”
“Very well. I’ve done these.” She twisted the design concepts around so he could see.
“They look good.” He didn’t take his eyes off her. “And the design team? You’ve been to The Warehouse to see them, of course?” He wanted to hear the truth from her. She shifted the papers on the desk to buy time. He could read her like a book and he didn’t like what he was reading at this moment.
“No, I haven’t been to The Warehouse.” She shrugged. “There was no need.”
“But you’ve retrieved the pieces which will make up the centerpiece of the collection?”
She shook her head.
“Why not? We need them. We need the Kielo necklace especially. You wore it for our wedding and took it with you when you left me. Presumably it’s safely in your bank vault?”
She shook her head again and he tensed.
“Where is it, Taina?”
“I don’t have it.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
She looked at the desk as she gathered her papers together. “I don’t know.”
He wanted to grip her shoulders, to shake her, to kiss her, to do anything that would make her react to him. Instead he stepped away from her and clenched his fists. “What do you mean, you don’t know?”
“It’s none of your business. My father gave it to me when he knew he was dying. He’d always wanted me to wear that piece on our wedding day. It was mine to do with as I wished. Mine to give away if I wished.”
“You gave it away?” He asked the question not truly believing she had.
She began to walk toward the door. “As I say, it’s none of your business.”
“It’s all about business.”
“Yes, of course it is. The lovemaking? Business. Wasn’t it, Daidan? Are you using me again? Is that why you want the Kielo necklace
so much? Ownership? Business?”
He ground his teeth, not daring to open his mouth and tell her the truth. It was about business. But there was no way he could show he didn’t care for her. Not when he felt her in every nerve cell in his body, in every breath he took. She so consumed him that he didn’t know what he felt any more.
“So… you won’t tell me where the necklace is?”
“No.” She smiled that polite cocktail-party smile she seemed to have developed since she’d been away.
Her distance fired his anger. He took a step closer and was rewarded with a flicker of something that briefly cracked her façade, like the ripple of heat across a desert, a mirage revealing an image otherwise hidden. It didn’t matter which was the real Taina—it was enough to see the dichotomy, the confusion that lay beneath that pristine exterior. “You would never have lost something that was so precious to you. You’ve given it to someone. Who, I wonder?”
She bit her lip and he could see that he was on the right track. Or the wrong track. Because the thought that he’d stumbled on the truth made his heart sink.
“You won’t tell me, hey? And why’s that? Do you think I’m going to beat a path to the door of the lover you gave it to and pick a fight with him? Risk my reputation, my business, everything I’ve worked for?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time.”
There! It was confirmed. She’d given the priceless necklace to a lover. How could he have been so stupid? So dumb as to allow her into his bed, treat her like the woman he’d loved, and all the time she’d been deceiving him. But he refused to be the man she imagined him still to be—jealous and controlling.
“I’m not the same man I was before.”
“Not jealous anymore? I can hardly believe that.”
“I didn’t say I’m no longer a man capable of jealousy. Merely that I have to be in love to be jealous.” He saw the effect of his words on her face. That was fine with him. He wanted to hurt her as much as she was hurting him. The flare of anger in her eyes, followed by the upward tilt of her perfect chin. “If you really don’t have the necklace, then you’ve simply made yourself more work. We need a centerpiece for the Northern Lights Collection. The design of that necklace informed and inspired all of your mother’s work. It was the key piece. You and the designers are going to have to come up with a new focal point for the collection.”
“And you expect me to do that in the time available?”
“Yes. You have the resources and you’ve inherited your mother’s design skills—”
“Ha! I went straight from design college to marriage. I’ve nothing to show for my so-called design skills.”
“I remember the design portfolio you produced—it was sensational. Just pick up where you left off. And you have a team of designers at your disposal to work with. Between you all you can do it. So make it happen.”
“The launch is only months away.”
“Taina, if you hadn’t given away the Kielo necklace to some lover, or lost it, or whatever happened, you wouldn’t have this problem. As it is, you do have the problem. Because like it or not, the launch is fixed for July at our castle. There will be fifty VIPs from around the world coming to our island home. And, if you haven’t understood it yet, it’s very important for the future of the company. It’ll establish us at the forefront of the diamond industry. Your family connections are vital for this, vital for the brand.”
“I’m just a ‘brand’ to you, aren’t I?”
“No, you’re not.” She looked at him with eyes so wide and clear of obfuscation for once, that it nearly undid him. But there was too much confusion raging within him for it to be cleared with one look of her violet eyes. “No, you’re more than a brand. If you still want me to keep my end of the bargain, you’ll continue to be my lover.”
He hated seeing the look of shock enter her eyes, as she turned away. “Of course. I’ll keep my end of the bargain and you keep yours.”
“It’s what you wanted.”
She glanced up, defensive. “It still is what I want.”
“And how do you propose to do this if we can’t even speak without arguing, without bitter recriminations? Had you thought of that? Or doesn’t it matter to you? Are you so accustomed to sleeping with people you don’t particularly like?”
Her face flushed with anger. “How dare you?”
He shrugged and leaned against his desk, as if he hadn’t a care in the world. “I’m merely drawing a logical conclusion from what you’ve told me.”
“It wasn’t like that.”
He shrugged again and pushed himself off the table and walked over to her. “So you keep saying and yet you won’t tell me what it was like.” He held her angry and confused gaze for a few seconds and then stepped away.
She drew the bundle of papers tight against her chest. “I’ll be going then.”
“To The Warehouse?”
“No. I’ve no time.”
“Tomorrow then. You must go tomorrow. You must start on this. Time is running out.”
Taina paced across the penthouse apartment once more. She’d been alone all evening. She’d dined alone and watched the lights of Helsinki from the top floor apartment shimmer and change as the evening progressed. And as each moment passed the tension inside her increased.
A few nights ago the lovemaking had been magical. She’d never allowed herself to imagine it would be so good. But she’d seen the change come over Daidan when she told him about the necklace.
Then she heard the elevator door open. Daidan walked into the main room, glanced at her and walked straight up to the cocktail cabinet and poured himself a whiskey. “You surprise me, Taina.”
“Do I?”
He turned to her and took a drink from the tumbler. “You’re still here.”
“I’ve been here all evening. I was expecting you to return for dinner.”
“I haven’t eaten in the apartment for a long time.”
“That’s what the housekeeper told me before she left for the night.”
He walked over to the desk and sifted through his mail. “What else did she tell you?”
“That she’s worried about you.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Really,” he said dryly. “How nice that someone’s worried about me.”
“Yes. Seems you’ve unwittingly charmed someone into caring for you.”
He grunted.
“Would you like anything to eat?”
“No. I ate out. Just as I eat out every night. Just as I intend to continue eating out.” He walked over to her. “I don’t fool myself that you’ve returned because you’ve a desire to be in my company. At least not out of the bedroom.”
“And that’s what you’ve come back for now?”
He smiled. Or at least the lift in his lips indicated it was a smile. But there was nothing in his eyes which looked the least bit amused. He looked hard, predatory almost. A shiver ran down her spine.
“Yes, that’s exactly why I’ve come back. No need for me to go to any late night clubs, is there, not with my beautiful wife wanting me in her bed?”
“You usually go to clubs?”
“Sometimes. I’ve always had a strong sexual appetite. Or have you forgotten?”
She suddenly felt breathless and delicious shivers snaked their way down into her belly… and lower. She shook her head. “No, I remember.”
He swilled his whiskey around his glass thoughtfully and then looked up at her with dark, dangerous eyes. “Tell me what you remember.”
“Why?”
“I want to hear it. I want to hear what it is you remember of me. Tell me.”
“I remember how you looked at me when you wanted me.”
“A look. You remember a look. Must have been some look. Do I look like that now?”
“No. Then you looked at me as you wanted to make love to me, to savor me. Now, you look like you want to devour me.”
He gave a brief laugh and set down his empty whiskey glass. “Devou
r…” He turned suddenly to her. “That’s quite a sexy word in itself.” He came up to her, leaned into her and said it again. “Devour.” His heated breath caressed her neck. She gasped and closed her eyes as her skin reacted to his warmth, raising her skin in a goose-bumped trail down her neck and across her chest. She clasped the sideboard behind her and wished she hadn’t worn the silky dress without a bra, as she felt her nipples peak with desire.
She watched his gaze trail downward, watched the rapid rise and fall of her chest and her nipples become visible through the fine material. He rolled his head to one side and looked up at her lazily. He knew he had her for the taking. His hands remained in his pockets. He didn’t attempt to touch her. “So my darling wife. I’d look at you. What else would I do?”
She swallowed and his gaze flitted down to her neck and then back up to her eyes. His eyes were narrowed and hooded, still the look of a predator. She might be the prey but she knew damn well, she’d be a willing prey to anything he wanted to do to her.
She licked her lips and again his eyes dropped momentarily to her lips. “You’d touch me,” she half-whispered.
“I’d what?”
He’d heard. She knew he’d heard but he was using his control to force her to repeat herself.
“You’d touch me.”
He raised his eyebrow and shook his head quizzically. “As in shake your hand, maybe?”
She shook her head. “You used to sweep your finger along my neck and tilt my chin up.”
He withdrew his hand from his pocket and hovered his finger over her chest. She refused to show weakness and didn’t move. She simply nodded. And then she felt it. She closed her eyes against the feel of his finger resting on her pulse point, her heartbeat racing. Then slowly he dragged one finger up her neck and tilted her chin up until her face was lifted close to his.