by Lynne Graham
Her violet eyes dropped from his in shamed acknowledgement of that obvious truth.
‘I still want you, lubimaya.’
‘But if you also want me to agree to work for you you have to agree not to touch me again,’ Abbey insisted tautly.
‘Will verbal approaches still be allowed?’ Nikolai asked silkily. ‘Do you think you could withstand the temptation of a verbal approach?’
Abbey registered what she had unwittingly revealed: her fear that she might lack the strength of mind to reject him if he touched her again. ‘Yes,’ she countered doggedly.
‘Then you may have your petty little clause,’ Nikolai breathed with derision. ‘May it keep you warm and happy in your cold bed at night.’
Abbey lost colour but stood her ground. A few minutes later, she was back with his aides and being assured that the contract would be ready for her signature within twenty-four hours. She wondered if it was her imagination that she was now being treated with a marked note of respect.
When Sveta offered her coffee, Abbey decided to make use of the expertise available to her round the table and unfurled her notebook. ‘Perhaps you could tell me what Nikolai likes in terms of housing.’
The requirements came thick and fast from all three women. Indeed the enthusiasm with which they discussed Nikolai’s likes and dislikes was very revealing of their attachment to him and their admiration. ‘Nikolai likes large rooms. He gets claustrophobic in small spaces,’ Olya confided.
‘There has to be a helipad and easy access to London. Nikolai prefers to fly himself and he enjoys the nightlife in the city,’ Sveta added.
‘What does he like about the countryside?’ Abbey prompted.
Blank expressions met the enquiry. Apparently Nikolai had yet to demonstrate a single preference for rural pastimes-he didn’t hunt, shoot or fish, nor did he cherish an interest in architecture. Darya, however, gave her useful information about his St Petersburg base. Leaving the Arlov building, Abbey embarked on a tour of the most upmarket estate agencies, gained information on several city properties and promise of further details that would be sent to her and began planning an appropriate presentation. Her mobile phone buzzed and she answered it.
It was Nikolai. ‘Where are you?’ he asked. ‘My driver was waiting to take you wherever you wanted to go.’
‘That won’t be necessary-’
‘Allow me to decide what is necessary.’
Abbey grimaced. ‘I think I’ll find it very difficult to allow you to decide anything that concerns me.’
‘Where are you?’
Grudgingly she told him and he urged her to wait to be picked up.
‘I’m taking you to a film premiere the day after tomorrow,’ Nikolai continued. ‘Sveta will be in touch with regard to your acquisition of a new wardrobe commensurate with the position you’re taking on.’
‘You should just get married,’ Abbey informed him tartly. ‘What you need is a wife, not me play-acting as a hostess in some outfit you’ve had to pay for.’
‘I’m not the marrying kind.’ His reply was icy.
A few minutes later, a limo pulled up beside her, the driver jumping out to open the passenger door to her. Abbey felt like a rubber ball being steamrollered flat by an immovable weight. She was also certain that, just like a rubber ball, she would not be able to tolerate being flattened for long. Caroline had invited her over for tea and, since it had been a couple of weeks since she had visited her brother’s home, she went straight there.
Caroline’s nanny opened the front door. Abbey sent an uneasy glance back at the limo, since the chauffeur had insisted that he would wait for her. Her nephew and niece, Benjamin and Alice, greeted her cheerfully and burbled on about their day at school. Abbey hugged the children and found her sister-in-law in the kitchen engaged in putting together a meal. ‘You have to tell all,’ Caroline said the instant Abbey walked through the door into the cosy cluttered room.
And, to her surprise, Abbey found herself doing exactly that, although she still kept Nikolai’s use of his charitable donation to put pressure on her a secret. Caroline stopped chopping vegetables for the casserole, her warm brown eyes wide and concerned. ‘You slept with him?’
Abbey nodded wretchedly.
Visibly striving to conceal how surprised she was by that confession, Caroline said, ‘Well, I think it’s marvellous that you’ve finally met someone who really attracts you.’
‘Even if he’s a womanising billionaire?’
‘The guy couldn’t take his eyes off you at the fashion show. It was like he had a homing device planted on you. He’s keen,’ the small blond woman pronounced cheerfully. ‘And why not? You’re beautiful and very intelligent. Drew tells me Nikolai was on the phone first thing this morning to make an appointment to see you, so how did that work out?’
Abbey told her almost the whole story.
‘I still say he’s keen,’ Caroline persisted. ‘You’ve backed him into a corner. He has no other way of seeing you.’
Abbey dropped her head, her violet eyes betraying how unimpressed she was by that opinion. Keen was not a word she would have used to describe Nikolai Arlov. Sex was the lowest common denominator between a man and a woman and, in her estimation, the source of her appeal to Nikolai was purely sexual. He was also a male hell-bent on getting his own way, no matter what the cost or the damage.
‘And there’s an even brighter side to this,’ her sister-in-law continued chirpily. ‘When word gets round that Nikolai Arlov is using our services, it’ll be amazingly good free publicity and excellent for business. My goodness-’ Caroline broke off suddenly, frowning as she looked out through the window at the limousine she had finally noticed parked beyond the hedge. ‘Did you arrive in that monstrous vehicle out there?’
Abbey nodded uncomfortably, restrained from sharing the full content of her meeting with Nikolai by the confidentiality he had demanded. ‘Nikolai insisted I use it while I’m working for him.’
Caroline looked amused. ‘How to travel in style,’ she teased. ‘You’re going up in the world.’
But Abbey felt the exact opposite. Nikolai was interfering with her life and she didn’t care how good he might be for business at that moment; she could only fiercely resent his meddling. ‘How are you and Drew doing?’ she prompted.
Caroline pulled a face. ‘Right now, your brother seems very worried about the business and he’s still burning the midnight oil most nights. It almost feels like he’s avoiding me,’ she confided heavily. ‘He’s just not himself, Abbey, and I don’t know what’s going on with him.’
Resolving to take a closer look at the accounts as soon as she got the opportunity, Abbey went home. Only after agreeing a pickup time with her for the following morning was the driver prepared to leave. She found she couldn’t sleep that night: Nikolai’s derisive wish that she be warm and happy in her cold bed haunted her like a mocking laugh. She remembered the feel of his hard muscled physique against hers and the incredible excitement. She tossed and turned, flipping over the pillow to find a cooler place for her hot face to rest. Her body tingled as though she were on fire and she was so tense that when her mobile phone beeped in receipt of a text message she jumped as if thunder had rolled through the room. Worried that it might be something urgent because it was after midnight, she scrambled up with a groan and went to check her phone.
‘Invite me over. I can’t sleep,’ Nikolai had texted her.
Rage ripped through her like a cleansing flame. She wanted to reply with something scornful, but she did not want him to know that she was lying awake as well. So she got back into bed without replying, the race of her heartbeat and the sensual tingling now banished by shame and the conviction that such responses were a shocking sign of her weak lack of self-control. As she lay dreaming up scornful replies that she might have made, she finally fell uneasily asleep.
At eight the next morning, Caroline phoned Abbey in a state and told her that Drew hadn’t come home the night before
and wasn’t answering his mobile phone. The two women discussed whether or not it was too soon to inform the police, but before they could make a decision on that Drew finally called Caroline on her mobile and the emergency was over.
‘I had a few drinks too many and slept on the sofa in my office,’ her brother confided, when Abbey arrived at Support Systems later that morning. ‘Caroline had no need to make such a fuss! She contacted practically everyone we know to ask if they’d seen me-’
‘Your wife was worried sick about you. You should have phoned. Is that what you do when you go out these evenings-go out drinking alone?’
An angry flush on his thin face, Drew gave her a resentful look. ‘No, as it happens. I have a group of friends I usually hang out with. Mind your own business, Abbey!’
Sveta phoned and told Abbey she had an appointment at a fashion salon just before lunch. A copy of her contract had been couriered over to the legal firm Support Systems used. Abbey went through it with their solicitor and signed it. She made use of what was left of the morning to check out the properties in the City of London. Uncovering various drawbacks, she removed some of them from the list, revised her short presentation and received new information from two agents.
Sveta greeted her when she emerged from the limousine to keep their appointment and escorted her into the exclusive salon where her measurements were taken and an array of fantastic clothes was paraded by models for her benefit. Garments for every possible occasion were selected by the stylist present, who promised to locate the right accessories to go with the outfits and urged Abbey to make a personal choice from the gorgeous collection of silk, tulle and lace underwear that was laid out for her examination. In all, the acquisition of a new wardrobe entailed a display of jaw-dropping extravagance that shook Abbey to her conservative core.
‘Does Nikolai often make over-the-top gestures like this?’ she asked Sveta.
‘Nikolai is one of a kind,’ Sveta responded with diplomacy. ‘I have never met his equal.’
Nikolai phoned Abbey and said he would pick her up at her apartment in an hour. ‘I have a property presentation to give you,’ Abbey protested.
‘I’ll look at it in the limo,’ he promised.
‘But where are we going?’
‘A jeweller’s. I want you to wear diamonds at the premiere tomorrow night.’
Colour in her cheeks, violet eyes bright and her red-gold hair tied back at her nape with a green ribbon, she got into his limousine clutching her laptop PC. His dark eyes brilliant, Nikolai took in her brown trouser suit and green and white polka-dotted shirt with a frown. ‘You didn’t dress up,’ he noted.
‘I’m still in work mode. Time enough to get dressed up tomorrow,’ Abbey fielded, intimidated by his aura of unbridled energy and his immediate criticism. It was no consolation that he looked amazingly elegant and sexy in his tailored charcoal-grey business suit and blue silk tie. Her breath caught in her throat, her pulses starting to pound.
‘You must be the only woman I’ve ever met who wouldn’t dress up to try on diamonds.’
Abbey banged her laptop down on the space on the leather seat between them. ‘Look, do you want me to go and get changed?’ she asked in exasperation.
‘No, you’ll do.’
‘You got the wrong idea about me when you saw me in that fashion show. I’m an ordinary working woman. I don’t fuss about my appearance and change my clothes several times a day. I haven’t got the time or the interest-I’ll never be the kind of decorative woman you’re used to being around,’ Abbey warned him impatiently.
‘But you’re so beautiful that you will still outshine every woman around you,’ Nikolai murmured with an amount of conviction that astonished her. ‘Show me the properties you’ve selected.’
Abbey opened the laptop. It was soon obvious that he wasn’t impressed or interested in any of the properties and her professional pride took a battering as a result. She decided to consult Sveta again.
‘These properties lack the wow factor that you have in spades.’ Nikolai delivered that judgement while studying her with smouldering eyes that sent a veil of pink travelling up over her cheeks.
‘There will be a wow factor with the next batch,’ she promised.
‘It’s early days,’ he murmured soothingly as the limousine drew up outside an internationally renowned jeweller. ‘Take your time.’
They were ushered inside and the door was locked behind them. They were the only customers in the place and champagne was served in tall fluted glasses while a display of breathtaking diamond necklaces was laid out for Nikolai’s inspection. Cost never once entered the dialogue. Nikolai liked the best and only stones of the highest quality.
‘Take off your jacket,’ he urged her.
She removed it and undid a button on her shirt so that the neckline opened deeper to display the breathtaking sapphire-and-diamond pendant that was fastened round her neck.
‘The blue complements your eyes,’ Nikolai drawled softly.
Abbey stared at her reflection in the mirror arranged for her benefit. She was mesmerised by the white glittering brilliance of the diamonds against the velvet blue of the central stone. Matching earrings were brought out.
‘Do you like this set?’ Nikolai enquired lazily.
Abbey touched an uncertain hand to the magnificent necklace. In truth, she was so impressed that she couldn’t credit that she was actually wearing such magnificent jewels. ‘What woman wouldn’t?’ she whispered.
‘You’re not the average woman, lubimaya.’ Nikolai studied the sapphire lying in the valley between her creamy freckled breasts, drawing his attention to her gloriously feminine curves. He expelled his breath in a slow measured hiss, annoyed by the sexual craving that refused to give him a moment’s peace. Every time he looked at Abbey Carmichael he wanted to haul her into his arms and bury himself deep in her body. His desire was no less intense than it had been before he took her to bed and for him that was a notable first. Usually conquest and familiarity took the edge off his desire, but on this occasion it had signally failed to do so.
Abbey was relieved when the jewels were removed, packaged into cases and out of her sight. Her helpless fascination with the jewellery embarrassed and shamed her; she felt as though she had been tainted by temptation. It had never occurred to her that she might be susceptible to the corrupting power of his vast wealth, but a superficial part of her that she wasn’t very proud of was already looking forward to showing off such fantastic jewels in public.
‘Don’t be such a puritan,’ Nikolai castigated, watching her shy away from the cases. ‘Don’t you like beautiful things?’
Abbey couldn’t help glancing at him, for she had been denying herself that pleasure since he had picked her up and the desire to wallow in visual appreciation of his stunning dark good looks and mesmeric attraction was nagging at her like a sore tooth. When he looked down at her, his black lashes rimmed his stunning eyes like silk fans and she couldn’t dredge her attention from him. ‘Of course I do.’
‘By the way, don’t wear your wedding ring tomorrow evening when you’re out with me,’ Nikolai told her flatly in an abrupt change of subject as they crossed the pavement to the limousine.
‘It’s my business whether I wear it or not,’ Abbey argued, furious at that demand, which had been delivered exactly like a non-negotiable command.
‘You’re single. A black jet mourning ring would be more appropriate than an item of jewellery that suggests you’re still married,’ Nikolai responded very drily, swinging into the passenger seat beside her.
‘I’ll do as I like.’
Long brown fingers curled to her chin and turned her back to look at him. ‘Not around me, you won’t. You will do as I ask,’ Nikolai asserted soft and low, dark eyes black as ice and uniquely chilling. ‘I won’t accept anything less than one-hundred-per-cent commitment from you.’
Abbey was outraged, but daunted by the sombre aspect to his lean, dark, handsome face. He was fi
ghting her every step of the way, refusing to back off politely from a topic that made other people uncomfortable. Since she had already slept with Nikolai, she reasoned unhappily, her habit of wearing her wedding ring could no longer be seen as the pledge of loyalty to Jeffrey that it had once felt like.
‘I’ll do what I feel like doing,’ Abbey countered doggedly, tossing back her head in emphasis of her power of independent thought.
‘Even if it’s stupid to defy me?’ Nikolai demanded in a low-timbred growl of disbelief.
‘Even if it’s stupid,’ Abbey confirmed, refusing to surrender, even though her knees were knocking together with nervous stress.
‘Just for the sheer hell of it?’ Nikolai queried.
Abbey nodded vigorously, pleased that he understood. She was still struggling to dampen down her anger.
‘But that’s illogical,’ Nikolai pointed out.
Abbey knew it was and she wasn’t proud of the fact. She went home with the conviction that he was teaching her things she would sooner not have known about herself. Not only was she catching herself deliberately fighting with him for the thrill of it, but she also had to face that she was not the morally upstanding and sensible person she had always believed she was. She was no more indifferent to the appeal of wonderful diamonds than any other woman. She had also managed to make a total fool of herself over a man and the knowledge stung her painfully, even though now all her energy was aimed at ensuring that she didn’t repeat her mistake.
The next morning she met with Sveta at the Arlov building and showed the Russian woman the same preview of properties she’d revealed to Nikolai. Sveta mentioned a house in central London that Nikolai had often admired and advised contacting the owner with a generous offer. Abbey was taken aback by that bold suggestion, until it occurred to her that an aggressive pursuit of a spectacular property that wasn’t even on the market was probably exactly the kind of approach that Nikolai would most admire. She was beginning to learn that the phrase ‘thinking out of the box’ might have been coined specifically to describe the Russian billionaire’s high expectations.