Serena shuddered. ‘He sounds ruthless…’
‘He’s not a charity, darling.’ The Earl sighed, his face lined with strain. ‘And we’re not in a position to argue. We’ll just have to take whatever he offers us.’
It was an appalling situation to be in, and Serena was frantic over the next twenty-four hours as they waited for Nick Colterne’s decision.
He returned a day later with his Cadillac and his henchmen. In a black business suit he looked the epitome of the cynical business shark, a gold watch-chain glittering across his taut black waistcoat. He moved with all the arrogance of American money, his face tough, cynical and determined.
Serena watched him arrive, keeping herself carefully hidden. He glanced up at her bedroom window, and although she knew he could not possibly see her she felt his eyes narrow on her mouth, and a tremor went through her. Did he have X-ray vision?
The meeting with her parents went on and on. Serena waited in an agony of tension.
At six o’clock, Mottram, the maid, tapped on her bedroom door. ‘His lordship requests that you join him in the drawing-room,’ she said primly, then gave a little cry of worry. ‘Oh, Lady Serena! What’s to become of us…?’
Serena tried to comfort the young girl, patting her shoulder. ‘I don’t know, Mottram. We can only pray…’
When she opened the drawing-room door, the first person she saw was Nick Colterne whirling to face her, his eyes racing over her body with that insolent sexual appraisal, and Serena felt breathless, closing the door shakily behind her.
‘Ah! There you are, my dear!’ Her father got up from one of the worn, patched armchairs and strolled towards her in his English tweeds. ‘Mr Colterne wanted to meet you.’
He introduced Serena to Nick Colterne formally, and she stared at him through her gold lashes, pulses thudding as his powerful tanned hand closed over hers in a formidable grip.
‘So what do I call you?’ Nick drawled softly, blue eyes sliding to burn on her full mouth. ‘Your ladyship?’
‘That’s rather complicated,’ she replied huskily, unable to take her eyes off his powerful face and that hard, ruthless mouth.
‘Oh, I love complications.’ His cool Boston drawl was as dynamic as the rest of him. ‘They make me want to sort them out, pronto.’
‘British peerage is a minefield of protocol,’ her father said with a vague smile. ‘My daughter is an only child, and therefore will inherit my title.’
Her mother smiled. ‘Not in a manner of speaking, darling. She’ll inherit mine.’
‘Of course, of course!’ The earl rubbed his forehead. ‘Serena will eventually become Countess of Archal-lagen.’
‘Countess?’ Nick’s eyes widened.
‘In her own right,’ her father said with a vague smile.
‘What about the man she marries?’ Nick asked coolly.
‘Well,’ her father shrugged, ‘he won’t get a title, but any children my daughter has would certainly inherit it.’
Nick’s blue eyes flicked back to Serena. He stepped a little closer. ‘In the meantime—what do I call you?’
‘Just Lady Serena,’ she said softly, pulses leaping.
‘That’s very formal.’ He flicked his insolent gaze to the full breasts which strained against the delicate silk dress she wore, and she felt her colour rise in fierce excitement at the way he dared look at her so boldly. ‘What happens when we reach an informal footing?’
Serena blushed, lowering her lashes. ‘That depends on how well you know me.’
‘How well do I have to know you before I can call you Serena?’
‘Very well indeed,’ she said huskily.
He smiled, then reached out a strong hand and touched her hair. ‘So, you’re going to be a countess one day…’ He trailed his long fingers through her hair, towering over her, eyes dark with blatant sexual desire. ‘I’ve never met a red-headed countess before.’
Her parents stiffened, staring at him, and Serena took an involuntary step back, green eyes stricken, sensing their disapproval of the way he touched her, and feeling guilty for having enjoyed it.
Nick’s eyes narrowed, shooting quickly to her parents’, and there was a brief, tense silence in the drawing-room as the legal papers remained unsigned on the Elizabethan carved table.
‘Well,’ Nick Colterne drawled, a hard smile curving his cynical mouth, ‘it’s been a long day, hasn’t it? And I feel in need of a little recreation.’ He glanced at the Rolex on his dark-haired wrist. ‘I think I’d like to take your beautiful daughter out to dinner. Any objections?’
Her parents were very still, their faces grim as they looked at Serena, standing before him like a sacrifice.
Serena went to dinner with him, deeply aware of him as she sat stiffly in the back of the luxurious Cadillac, staring accusingly at him through her lashes as he stared back with narrowed eyes.
‘Any good ideas where we can eat?’ he asked, brows lifted.
‘The Flaxton Table does a very nice supper,’ she said shakily, not understanding his interest in her, yet at the same time understanding it at a deep level that terrified her.
They ate at the small family restaurant in the main street of the village. All the villagers, of course, knew what was happening at the manor, and gave her excited looks as she arrived with the American shark with the dark good looks and air of power.
Serena felt so gauche and unsophisticated in his presence. Twice she dropped her fork, and once she spilt the glass of orange juice he brought her.
‘I hear you’ve only just left finishing school.’ Nick Colterne watched her with narrowed speculative eyes. ‘That makes you twenty—right?’
‘Yes.’ Serena found herself tongue-tied in his presence, her pulses racing as she stared again and again at his ruthless mouth and wondered how it would feel if he kissed her with it, very forcefully…very forcefully indeed.
‘You’re very beautiful,’ he said softly, making her hand shake as his blue eyes burned into her. ‘Any boyfriends?’
Serena laughed and shook her head. ‘I haven’t even met any boys yet. Except Derry, the gardener’s son, and he’s just silly.’
Nick’s mouth hardened into a cynical smile, his eyes slipping to her breasts. ‘Well,’ he said under his breath, ‘that’s nice and clear.’
It was as though she had told him something important without realising it, and Serena just stared at him, her eyes wide as she tried to understand it.
When they drove home to Flaxton Manor, he held her wrist in the back of the car as she tried to open the door, and his blue eyes watched her with a look of dark sexual power that made her shake.
‘Did you enjoy our evening?’ he asked softly.
‘Yes…’ Serena said, mouth quivering as she stared at the tough face. ‘Very much.’
His black lashes flickered on razor-sharp cheekbones. ‘Do me a favour,’ he said. ‘When I come to close this deal tomorrow, put on that creamy lace dress you were wearing yesterday.’
Serena was surprised. She had bought the lace dress from a second-hand shop last year for next to nothing. It fell in soft drapery over her slender curves, as elegant as it was clinging. ‘The lace dress…? But why?’
‘Just put it on,’ he said with a hard twist to his mouth, his eyes rueful. ‘As a little favour for me. I didn’t get to see it properly. You were standing at the window—remember?’
‘OK,’ Serena said, her voice husky, not understanding but feeling very excited by the way he looked at her, spoke to her.
He smiled slowly, released her wrist. ‘Tell your parents I’ll arrive at eight tomorrow morning. I have to fly back to New York in the afternoon. Either we sign tomorrow or forget it.’ His eyes watched her oddly. ‘Will you tell them that, Lady Serena?’
She nodded, and left the car, trembling as she walked in and found her anxious parents hovering in the hall, waiting for her.
Serena told them what Nick Colterne had said.
‘Sign tomorrow?’ Her fath
er frowned. ‘That’s rushing things a little, isn’t it?’
‘What does it matter, dear?’ Her mother sighed, fingering her fake pearls. ‘We’re not in a position to be proud and he knows it. We need his money and his help. The faster we get it, the better. We’ll just catch the tail end of the summer tourist trade if we open quickly.’
So the next morning Nick Colterne came back with his henchmen, his Cadillac and his air of power. Heart thudding, Serena watched him arrive, hidden from view behind the Elizabethan window-frames.
She put on her cream lace dress, combed out her waist-length red hair and wondered why he wanted to see her in this. It was a very English design, the lace fragile, the cream silk below it skimming her womanly curves with elegance, ending in soft folds just below the knee.
Studying herself in the mirror, she thought of Nick Colterne and her green eyes darkened, her lips parting as she turned this way and that, suddenly feeling sensual, as though her skin was made of silk and her lips of velvet.
It was nine o’clock when she was called to the drawing-room.
Going in, she was surprised to find Nick Colterne alone. The sight of him made her heart thud with excitement, and she looked around for her parents with a frown.
Nick watched her intently, his ruthless eyes moving swiftly, restlessly over her body, stark sexual desire stamped on his tough face as he inspected her from head to foot.
He expelled his breath in an odd, hoarse, shaking way as he looked at her, and it made her quiver, staring through her lashes at his hard mouth.
‘Come in, Lady Serena,’ Nick said softly, a strange expression on his hard face. ‘And close the door. I want to talk to you.’
Obediently, she did as she was told, her hands damp suddenly as she fidgeted with the folds of the dress, looking up at Nick hotly through her lashes.
He walked towards her, and said deeply, ‘I don’t have much time. I want to sign this deal and get the wheels moving on it. But there’s an essential ingredient in the package that I don’t yet have.’
‘I don’t understand,’ she said huskily.
‘Yes, you do,’ he said thickly, watching her.
Her eyes darted up to his and a slow flush crept over her face.
Nick suddenly lifted his strong hands to her face, making her gasp, staring up at him as he said under his breath, ‘You’re the essential ingredient, Lady Serena. You. That’s why I’ve asked you here now. I’m prepared to invest millions in Flaxton Manor—but only on one condition.’ His blue eyes slipped to her mouth as he said, ‘That you agree to be my wife.’
Serena whitened with shock, saying, ‘You can’t be serious—’
‘Deadly serious,’ he said with a brief, cynical smile. ‘Now, what’s your answer? Will you marry me, yes or no?’
‘No!’ she burst out at once, taking a step back, shaking with disbelief. ‘You must be mad! Of course I won’t marry you! You’re much older than me and—’
‘I’m ten years older than you,’ he drawled, his face hardening with ruthless amusement ‘I’m thirty.’
‘Well, I couldn’t marry you even if you were younger!’ she said hoarsely, incredulous that he could even ask. ‘It’s just ridiculous!’
His mouth hardened, a stain of dark red colouring his face. ‘I don’t see that it’s ridiculous,’ he said harshly, stepping away from her, running a hand through his dark hair. ‘It makes good business sense to me.’
‘How can it?’
‘I want a wife who will give me an heir,’ he said flatly, lifting his dark head, every inch the ruthless financial shark as he studied her with hard, narrowed blue eyes. ‘But I’ve always wanted the best, and you’re it You’re young, beautiful, titled…you’re an heiress, an aristocrat and you’re a virgin.’
‘Oh…!’ Serena caught her breath, a hand to her mouth, appalled as hot colour flooded her cheeks, and she turned away, saying hoarsely, ‘Oh, my God…this is a nightmare!’
‘Nightmare!’ he bit out harshly behind her, striding up and catching her by the shoulder, whirling her angrily to face him, his blue eyes blazing. ‘I’m offering to save your family from bankruptcy and ruin!’
‘And ruining my life in the process!’ she cried hoarsely.
His mouth tightened angrily. ‘It’s too late now! I’ve had it written into the contracts and they’ve got to be signed today!’ He stared at her, then looked away, running a hand through his black hair. ‘God! It never occurred to me that you’d refuse to—’
‘Wait!’ Serena said shakily, running to him, catching his arm, staring up into his face, her green eyes luminous. ‘We’ll be ruined if those contracts aren’t signed.’
He looked at her sharply, his eyes narrowing, and there was a brief, tense silence. ‘Do you like me, Lady Serena?’ he asked softly, studying her face. ‘Or is it all my imagination?’
She looked at his mouth and whispered, ‘Yes…I do like you.’
His lashes flickered for a moment. Then he said flatly, ‘The contract will go through as written. We’ll marry in one month from now. Your parents will have all the money they need to save the manor.’
‘You talk as though it’s already settled…’ she said, horrified.
‘It is,’ he said bluntly. ‘All I need is your acceptance, and we can get the wheels in motion.’
‘And if I refuse?’
‘Then the deal is off,’ he said brutally.
Serena just stared at him, appalled. It was a gun to her head and they both knew it. If she refused to marry him, her family faced ruin. How could she possibly allow that to happen?
‘You’re blackmailing me!’ she whispered bitterly, hot tears in her eyes.
He grimaced, saying thickly, ‘I know. But I don’t have time to do anything else. Now what’s your answer, Lady Serena? Yes or no?’
Her hands twisted in despair. ‘You know very well that I can’t refuse!’
‘Yes,’ he said deeply, and walked towards her.
In her anger, she did not back away, instead staring at him bitterly as she felt her pulses race at his approach, hating him for the position he was putting her in.
‘I’ll make you happy,’ he said under his breath as his hands slid to her waist, and his eyes to her mouth. ‘I promise you that. You’ll have everything you need. Now, send your parents back in. They’re waiting for you in the library.’
Serena went with a thudding heart to find her parents. They were white with horror, and told her she didn’t have to marry him if she didn’t want to. They would face ruin, they said, for her sake. But of course Serena knew she couldn’t allow that to happen.
A month later, she was married to Nick Colteme and had flown to the Bahamas for her honeymoon.
He came to her bedroom that night. Serena was waiting for him, sitting up in bed, her face white as porcelain, determination in her green eyes.
Nick closed the bedroom door behind him, studying her across the darkness. He was wearing a dark red dressing-gown, naked beneath it, his bronzed chest bared and his long muscular thighs hair-roughened. The sight of him made her pulses leap, but she hated him for his ruthless acquisition of her and was determined not to let him make love to her.
The silence stretched tautly between them. Then Nick pushed away from the door, walking slowly across the darkened bedroom until he stood beside the bed, staring down at Serena, his eyes hot blue.
‘You’re lovely,’ he said abruptly, his voice hoarse.
Resentment flashed in her eyes. ‘I suppose I ought to be, considering how much money you paid to get me.’
‘Let’s not discuss money in the bedroom,’ he drawled, sinking down on to the bed, making her pulses leap with angry awareness as he reached for her. ‘It’s hardly good taste.’
‘And what is good taste?’ she demanded, backing away from him until her head was pressed hard against the expensive bedstead. ‘Buying a wife for her title and her inheritance?’
‘I said we wouldn’t discuss it,’ he said softly, and his h
ands reached for her, closing over her bare shoulders.
Rigid, Serena flung angrily, ‘Don’t touch me!’
His eyes narrowed. ‘You’re my wife. This is my wedding night. I have every right to touch you, and I damn well intend to. Now come here.’ He pulled her towards him.
‘No!’ Serena struggled, hands splayed on his warm bronzed chest, excitement flashing through her as she encountered the black hairs that curled on his chest, angrily aware that she felt desire for him, and despising herself for it.
The blue eyes blazed. ‘Yes!’ he said thickly, and then his mouth closed over hers.
With a startled moan, she felt her mouth open beneath his, the hot exploration of his kiss exciting her at once. But her mind overruled her desire for him. He didn’t love her. He only wanted an heir. That was all this was…business, not pleasure.
‘Oh, God, I think I’m going to be sick!’ Serena flung fiercely, dragging her mouth from his at once. ‘I can’t bear to have you anywhere near me!’
His eyes flashed angry blue. Pinning her to the bed, he kissed her deeply, ruthlessly, his mouth brutal over hers, and Serena was so furious that she felt something snap inside her, turning into a whirlwind, hands slapping and scratching at his face as he tried to capture her wrists and she screamed when he swore.
They fought in bitter silence. His eyes were blazing, his face dark red with anger. Then her fingernails raked his hard cheek, and his head jerked back.
Serena stared, breathing hard, as she saw blood on his cheek. Slowly, he lifted a strong hand, touched the cut, then stared at the blood on his long fingers.
‘I didn’t mean to do that,’ Serena said shakily. ‘But I had to. I won’t let you make love to me, Mr Colterne, marriage or no marriage. You’re a stranger to me. Not a husband. And you’ll never become my lover. Not unless you tie me down and rape me.’
He was suddenly very silent and very still, his harsh breathing the only sound in the darkened bedroom. His eyes glittered like blue fire. His anger was a tangible force, the tension crackling between them as he studied her, that long scratch on his cheek evidence of her determination, and the blood seemed to symbolise the catastrophic nature of their relationship.
Ruthless Lover Page 2