Leo pursed his lips. “Good catch. I can see you don’t let up for a minute.”
She allowed herself a small smirk. “As you say, it’s what got me here today.”
“Laid up on a rest cure.”
“You’re not actually a doctor, remember.”
“When it comes to understanding women, Sara, the only qualification needed is the right set of chromosomes.”
Sara gasped at his arrogance. “Now there you’re wrong, Mr. Smart-Ass. Sending me flowers was an inspired way to get round your horror of being invited to dinner by a woman. I was touched. But that doesn’t mean you, or any of the other men I know, understand me at all.”
Leo studied her with a look that was a million miles away from the flirtation usually dancing in his eyes. “You don’t strike me as the sort of woman to have got through many lovers, Sara.”
She felt a prickle of indignation turn her face red. “I haven’t, and that isn’t what I said.” While Leo studied the dessert menu with interest, Sara left hers on the table. “I haven’t had time for a string of lovers. To get where I am today I’ve had to fight all my life, every inch of the way. That hasn’t left me any time for casual affairs.”
He leveled a severe look at her. “Kick back. Your doctor’s orders, remember? Chill out and indulge yourself for once. With one of these delicious desserts, I mean,” he added wickedly.
“I can’t. I’ll get indigestion.”
The professional in Leo rose to that. He gave the waiter an order for two dishes of Sorbet Royale, and waited for Sara to argue. She didn’t. When they were alone again, he fixed her with an intense stare. “Twenty-something’s shouldn’t be getting indigestion.”
“I do when I’m stressed.”
He raised his eyes to the heavens. “You’re on holiday, sitting in this hotel’s finest restaurant in the middle of a stunning spa complex and you’re telling me you’re stressed?”
Sara wriggled in her seat. “Okay. You win. See my face? Take note. This is the nearest I can manage to a sheepish expression.”
To her bewilderment, when the waiter arrived with dessert, Leo pushed back his chair and stood up. “You’re a ball of tension, Sara. You’re winding yourself up tighter and tighter. One day you’ll be so wound up, you’ll snap. Addiction, depression, suicide…I’ve seen it all.”
“I suppose you’ve got the ideal prescription?”
He strolled around to stand beside her. “Of course I have. Close your eyes.”
“In a public place?” she gasped, but he was serious.
“Do it. Close your eyes and open your mouth.” His commanding voice made her obey.
When she realized what she had done, her eyes flew open again—at the exact moment the cool kiss of silver touched her bottom lip. Leo had piled a spoon with champagne granita, and was about to put it into her mouth. “Open wide.”
“I’m not a child.”
A bead of sorbet fell from the overloaded spoon. It landed on the smooth pale skin at the base of her throat, trembled, then ran down into the shadowy cleft between her breasts. “I can see that,” he purred.
“People are staring!”
“Let them. Open your mouth, or—”
“Or—” Or what, she had been going to say, but as she started to reply Leo took his chance. She couldn’t talk with her mouth full of sorbet and silver spoon, so she clenched her teeth on it.
“I thought you said you weren’t a child?” he teased.
She released her grip on the spoon. “I did that because I’ve got a chill in my teeth.”
“Excuses.” He scooped up another helping of the dessert in front of her. “I’m including a sample of each different flavor, and if you don’t enjoy it, well, I’m afraid there’s no hope for you.”
“Is that your professional opinion?”
“Maybe. First, I’d need to make a full examination...”
She scowled.
“...of the facts. Or something more interesting?” he added, slicing into another scoop of sorbet.
He was concentrating so intently, it was hard not to crack a smile. To resist the impulse, she opened her mouth like a baby bird, ready for the next spoonful.
“On the other hand, perhaps you’d prefer to seek a second opinion,” he said, at the very last moment diverting the next scoop of dessert into his own mouth. Sara was left sitting with her mouth open.
“Hey!” Reaching out, she retrieved the spoon and dish from him. Their hands connected, and he laughed. For one heart-stopping moment, his warm fingers sandwiched hers against the cold porcelain of her dish.
There was a question framed in his eyes, and she knew what it was. She looked away, unable to let him guess her answer. She had been fighting temptation from the moment he carried her up the beach, and she wasn’t about to stop now.
“You’re on holiday, Sara. Loosen up.”
His brutal words brought that dark, dangerous night on the road back to her in a horrible rush. The shock of waking as her car veered over the studs at the edge of the carriageway, with just enough time to think she might be about to die as her car hurtled down an embankment before coming to rest in a farmer’s field...
Leo’s hand went to her mouth, and she realized she was biting her nails. She stopped before he could tempt her with his touch again. “Oh, I can see danger, all right. It’s standing right next to me, Leo.”
“Fine. At least I’m an honest threat. Everything about you, from your beautiful appearance to your delightful conversation, your charm and intelligence promises everything any one could want. Why are you so dead set against allowing any man to take what you have to offer?”
“Because that’s all they do. Take,” she said.
He refused to be put off. “Not me. Where would be the fun in treating a woman like that? I like to give as well as take. You’ll see.”
“I don’t think so. Once bitten, twice shy, remember.”
“Don’t give me that, Sara. You need to let go, and live a little.”
“That laid-back attitude can’t have helped your plans to become a doctor,” she snipped, but he was more than equal to the challenge.
“It had its advantages, now and again. Unlike my current occupation.”
“Whatever that might be, I’m sure your bedside manner comes in useful all the time.”
His eyes flashed. Until then, Sara hadn’t been too bothered about the job he was concealing. She went very still. “You worry me. Why are you being so secretive about what you do for a living? It makes me think it’s either illegal, immoral, or both. Which is it?”
He went back to his seat. As he slumped into it, the candle flames shivered. “Neither. It’s the complete opposite, in fact.” He stared down at his clasped hands. The waiters cleared their table, then brought coffee and a plate of jewel-like petit fours. Once Leo and Sara were alone again, he lifted his head and leveled a dark, turbulent gaze at her. “I’m in the diplomacy business. Let’s leave it at that.”
Sara wanted to believe him, but she had to be sure. Fixing him with a stare, she waited. He continued to look into her eyes with an open, almost defiant air.
She was the first to blink. Selecting a tiny tartlet from the plate of petit fours, she made a great show of lifting off the alpine strawberry balanced on top. She saved that to enjoy after she had nibbled through the pastry and creme patissiere confection. “Fine... although I’m not sure where it leaves us.”
He relaxed enough to lift the cafetière and pour her a coffee. “I’ll still be heading for the mainland tomorrow. And I’m going to insist you come with me.”
Sara gave him a sharp, quizzical look. “Is that the man, or the doctor talking?”
“Both. Here’s a useful phrase I picked up when I lived in England: ‘A little of what you fancy does you good.’” His mouth twitched. The movement drew Sara’s gaze to his lips. They had a hypnotic effect. When they moved now it was in a way that drew a tiny sigh from deep down inside her.
“I can’t
wait to get back home to work,” she said, out of habit.
“Then I’ll give you a good reason to stay here. You need something to keep your body occupied, as well as your mind.” His melodious voice was a silken distraction, matching the irresistible temptation in his eyes. “Let’s hope our day out tomorrow satisfies us both, and makes the time you spend here less of a life sentence.” The corners of his mouth lifted with dry humor.
The effort of erecting barriers made Sara weary. Why was she fighting so hard? Why not give in, for once?
She leaned toward Leo, mirroring his movements. “That would be perfect.”
He signaled to the nearest waiter. “A bottle of your finest champagne, please.”
“Although I shouldn’t like you to get the wrong idea about me.” The Dom Perignon foamed. Once their glasses were filled and the champagne bottle placed in its ice bucket, the waiter made himself scarce. “I’m a smart woman, Mr. Gregoryan. Don’t think you can change my mind, whether by fair means or foul,” she said, raising her glass in a toast.
“Stinygiasou.” He touched his champagne flute to hers with a ring of fine lead crystal. “Spending a day chilling out together would be perfect.”
Sara enjoyed her champagne, then put down her empty glass and stood up. “In that case,” she said, the ripples of her silvery gown glittering with every movement, “if we’re going to get an early start for our trip to the mainland tomorrow I’d better say good night now, Mr. Gregoryan. “
Sara ran up one flight of steps, then gave in and stopped. While she caught her breath, she took off her sandals. The cold marble of the staircase revived her feet, but couldn’t cool her passion. Her need for Leo Gregoryan was growing by the second. She wanted him with a primitive, burning lust that consumed her whole body. He played havoc with her common sense, but she had to resist. The moment men took control, they changed.
If I want to save my sanity, I’ve got to play it cool.
The rational part of Sara’s brain was being derailed by her overwhelming need for Leo. Her wits needed a chance to regroup.
This mad, desperate feeling would pass. It had to. Her body wanted to melt through the iron grip of her resistance and reform itself around that infuriating man, but there was no way she could allow that.
She pounded on up the stairs, trying to drive resistance through her body. She needed a cold shower.
With a gasp she ran up the last few steps to her floor, and pushed through the fire door to reach the landing. Head down, she searched in her bag for her key card. Her silent, empty suite was the sanctuary she needed. The crazy jigsaw of her life was missing quite a few pieces, but no search was ever helped by other people piling in.
As she found her key, a sensation she’d never experienced before suffused her body. She looked up. Leo Gregoryan was leaning against the door to her suite.
“Sara…” he drawled, “what took you so long?”
“I was following doctor’s orders”—she patted the slight bulge made by the pedometer on her hip—“you’ll be pleased to know.”
With a smile, he took her hand and pressed it to his lips in the way she loved. The sensation shot a pulse of red-hot need straight up her arm.
“I thought we weren’t meeting again until tomorrow morning?”
He twisted his wrist so she could see his watch. Its display had been changed to show eight a.m. the following day.
She half smiled. “Time flies.”
“It’ll go faster still with me in control,” he purred.
Control. There was that word again. The hair on the back of her neck prickled. There were discreet panic buttons everywhere around the hotel. She edged toward the nearest one, but Leo didn’t miss a trick. “Hmm. Did I hit a nerve there?”
She contemplated lying to him. With any other man she might have managed it, but Leo’s scrutiny was too intense. Without taking her key from her bag, she zipped it shut. Transferring it to her left hand, she took one of her sandals in her right hand. Holding it by the shank so the stiletto pointed toward the floor, she braced herself. “My last partner had strong opinions, and a simple way of expressing them.”
“I’m famous for my versatility,” Leo said, looking down at the shoe she grasped. “Careful. You could do someone a serious injury with that.”
“That’s the idea.”
He pushed himself upright, then stilled as panic rose in her face. “You won’t need it. Not with me.”
“I’ll be the judge of that.”
He lifted his shoulders, and let them fall. “Okay. I can take a hint. Bye, then. Until tomorrow…”
“No—Leo, wait,” she said as he moved. She owed him an explanation, if nothing else. “I…don’t have the nerve to try again. Yet.”
“I’d say it took some nerve to arm yourself, when you could have turned tail and run back down those stairs, Sara.”
She pursed her lips, not sure whether to laugh or cry. “After climbing six flights, I’m in no fit state to run anywhere.”
He put his head on one side, encouraging her to smile. “I may be many things, Sara, but a bully, I am not.” He spread his arms wide. “If you want me, come and get me. Any time. No strings. It’s as simple as that.”
It would have been the easiest thing in the world to melt into his arms. Sara had been stone-cold sober the last time she made that sort of mistake, and aching with shame and disappointed hopes. Tonight, she was the wrong side of a gourmet meal, one Cinderella, and a straight glass of champagne. To refuse a drop-dead gorgeous guy in a dinner suit on top of that would take some doing. She couldn’t throw away her independence, for the sake of releasing all the sexual frustration built up over the past months. Sara was sure Leo would be worth it, but she wasn’t about to make any decisions while her blood was running hot and fast through her veins.
“I’ll meet you in the foyer tomorrow as arranged, and not before.” She pulled out her key card with a flourish. She advanced toward the door of her suite in a way that showed she meant business. With a diplomatic nod, Leo stood aside.
“I’m looking forward to it,” she blushed, then added, “seeing your boat, that is.”
Leo was intrigued. No woman had ever refused him before. Sara’s novelty value meant he could forgive her anything, for the moment at least. He had already swallowed one painful mistake in silence.
His Neroli was a yacht. Not a boat.
To correct her would have been petty. It would also have stopped her shutting the door in his face, but Leo believed in playing a long game. He had right on his side, but Sara’s fury would have extinguished the mischievous twinkle in her beautiful hazel eyes. Keeping it alive was worth more to him than proving a point.
Leo thought about that, and all the other delectable parts of her body for a long time. The woman was a delicious distraction. For months, all his thoughts had been black shadows circling the crown of Kharova. Now a stunning creature with more intelligence than his entire entourage of gold-digging airheads put together had pushed them aside. Sara made his immediate future feel a lot more interesting.
He couldn’t think of a better way of thanking her than by taking her to his bed. Casual fornication was something the royal and ancient line of Kharova was supposed to resist at all costs.
But then, rules were made to be broken. And Leo was an expert in that department…
Chapter Six
As soon as she was inside her suite, Sara deadlocked the door. Not because she didn’t trust Leo, but because she didn’t trust herself. The heavy fragrance of lilies reached out to her, and she remembered how her evening began. Leo could never have guessed how the news of that bouquet would touch her. She switched on the lights. The flowers were as beautiful as his gesture. She went over to enjoy them, and touched a petal to make sure it wouldn’t disappear in a puff of fantasy.
Leo’s appeal didn’t lie in looks alone. The way he was charming himself into her life must mean he really did want her.
Sara wanted him too, but she didn’
t trust herself to take what he was offering. Yet.
There was an envelope on the table, beside the vase of flowers. Picking it up, she grabbed the nearest chair and shoved it against the door of her suite. The more obstacles she could put in the way of her desire to let Leo spoil her, the better. Then she dropped into the seat, and looked at the envelope. It had an English postmark. She flipped it over to see the return instructions. It was from the head office of ACS. It must be official confirmation of her promotion.
With a gasp, she ripped open the envelope and pulled out a sheet of watermarked A4. She had plans for this. The minute she got home, she’d have it framed. It would hang in her bedroom to be the last thing she saw when she went to bed each night, and the first thing to greet her when she woke every morning. It was the official stamp on all her hard work so far, and her inspiration for the future.
She unfolded the letter. With a twinge of satisfaction she saw Ryan, CEO of ACS, had handwritten it himself. She read.
Dear Sara,
I must thank you for the outstanding work you’ve done for ACS over the past five years. Your contribution has helped us take our place in the vanguard of lifestyle marketing.
I’m writing to inform you of a change to our management structure. As you know, Aidan’s departure left a vacancy on the board. Jason has volunteered to step up to the plate.
This means he’ll be taking full responsibility for the Kharovan project. You’ll be aware we were in danger of losing the contract because of their preference for a male facilitator. Bringing Jason in will smooth the way forward...
Sara folded the piece of paper and slipped it into its envelope. Then she pulled back her arm, and threw the letter as hard as she could. It bounced off the opposite wall, and hit the floor.
Its message had the same effect on her dreams of making a success of the restructuring in Kharova. If ACS thought Jason could cope with the stellar new project she’d wanted, he must have bewitched the entire board. A whole country needed advice. It was a far bigger job than ACS had accepted before, and Sara knew they’d landed the contract because they were cheap. She’d wanted to prove that cutting costs didn’t mean sacrificing quality. She knew she could get the one-horse country of Kharova on the road to modernity before Jason and the little country’s snooty chamberlain reached the nineteenth hole.
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