‘I like it,’ he murmured as he came over to the bed and pulled her into his arms.
‘Wh-what?’
‘The look on your face.’ He smiled. ‘As if this was the first time all over again. Have you spent years perfecting that look of wonder and innocence, Amber—knowing just how much it will turn a man on?’
If she’d written the script herself, there wouldn’t have been a better time to tell him but Amber couldn’t bring herself to say it. Because now he was kissing her and his hands were starfishing over her breasts and she could feel his hardness pressing against her belly.
‘Conall,’ she gasped as he pulled back for a moment to slide her panties down and she lifted up her bottom to help him.
‘You were the one who didn’t want to talk,’ he murmured as he fumbled for the silver packet he’d put beside the bed. ‘Though maybe you’d better say something to distract me because I’ve never had so much trouble putting on a damned condom.’
‘Be...be careful.’
The smile on his lips died. ‘Oh, don’t worry, sweetheart. Having a baby with you was never part of my agenda.’
The stark statement was oddly painful and yet somehow it helped. It helped her focus on the way he was making her feel and not the conflicting thoughts which were swirling around inside her head.
So she kissed him back with a passion which came from somewhere deep inside her, and with growing confidence began to explore the warm satin of his skin with her mouth and her fingers. And when he moved over her and parted her thighs, the fear she felt was only fleeting. She was twenty-four years old, for heaven’s sake. It was time.
Conall gave a groan as he thrust into her, knowing he was going to have to be very careful because he was so aroused he wanted to come straight away. And she was so tight. His heart pounded like some caged animal locked inside his chest. Too tight. He gave a near-silent curse as realisation dawned on him and his body stilled. For a moment he almost achieved the impossible by starting to withdraw from her, but the moment was lost the second she cried out and he couldn’t work out if the sound was pain or pleasure. Had he hurt her? He stared down into her face, into eyes which were wide—as if seeking some kind of approval—and instantly he shut his own with grim deliberation, not wanting her to see his anger or his disbelief as he began to move inside her. Part of him wanted to just spill his seed and have done with it, but the pride he took in his reputation as a lover made him take his time...
Duplicitous little bitch, he thought as he drove into her—each thrust making her gasp out her pleasure. With almost cold-hearted precision he did all the things to her which women liked best. He tilted up her hips to increase the level of penetration while he played with her clitoris. He rode her hard and he rode her slow, and only when he felt her body begin to tense did he let go—and then it was his time for bewilderment. Because it had never happened to him before. Not like this. Not at exactly the same time—as if they’d worked very hard at sexual choreography classes to ensure the ultimate in mutual fulfilment. So that as her back began to arch and her long legs began to splay, he couldn’t even watch her—he was too busy focusing on his own orgasm, which was welling up inside him like an almighty wave, before taking him under.
Had he thought that the chase was always more tantalising than the conquest? He had been wrong.
Because all he was aware of was the convulsive jerk of his body and the molten rush of heat. Of the sweetest pleasure he had ever known flooding him...and his shuddered cry drowning out the distant hoot of the night owl.
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘YOU ACTED...’
Conall’s words trailed off and Amber didn’t prompt him. She didn’t want to talk and she didn’t want to hear what he had to say. She didn’t want to do anything except lie here and go over what had just happened, second by glorious second. To remember the way he’d kissed her. The way he’d pushed deep inside her—and then the growing awareness of her body’s reaction, which had seemed too good to be true. Only it hadn’t been. It had been very real and very true. Conall Devlin had made love to her and it had been perfect. She expelled a long, slow breath of satisfaction. Suddenly she could understand all the fuss and hype and everything which went with it. Sex was pretty potent stuff.
But then when it was over, he had withdrawn from her without even looking at her. He had just rolled over onto his back and lain there staring at the ceiling in complete silence. As if he was working out what he was going to say, and something told her she wasn’t going to like it...
She was right.
‘You acted like you’d been round the block a few times—and then some,’ he accused.
She risked a glance at him then and almost wished she hadn’t because it triggered off a craving to touch him again and that was the last thing he wanted, judging from the stony look on his face. You haven’t done anything wrong, she told herself. And he can only make you feel bad about yourself if you let him.
‘You’re objecting to the fact I was a virgin?’ she questioned, in a voice which was surprisingly calm. Maybe it was the endorphins rushing through her bloodstream which were responsible—making her feel as if she were floating in the sea, in bright sunshine. ‘And you’re objecting to the fact that I hadn’t been around the block, is that what you’re saying?’
He turned to look at her, his eyes gleaming in his tawny skin. ‘What do you think? You knew what the deal was, Amber.’
‘Deal?’ she echoed. She raised her eyebrows. ‘What deal was that?’
‘I told you it was a one-night stand!’ he exploded.
‘And virgins aren’t allowed to have one-night stands?’
‘Yes. No! Stop wilfully misunderstanding me!’
‘I’m confused, Conall. You still haven’t told me why you’re so angry.’
He glared at her. ‘You know damned well why.’
‘No, I don’t.’
‘There’s an unspoken rule about sex—that if you’re inexperienced, you tell the man.’
‘Why? So that you could be “gentle” with me?’
‘So that I could have turned around and walked right out again.’
‘Because you didn’t want me?’
Conall steeled himself against that uncertain note in her voice, reminding himself that she was a consummate actress. She’d played the vamp to an astonishingly successful degree and had fooled him completely. He’d fantasised about all the sexual tricks she might have learnt over the years. He’d been expecting accomplishment and slickness—not for her to cry out like that when he tore through her hymen. Or to clutch at him like a child with a new toy when he was deep inside her. That wonder on her face had not been feigned, he realised grimly.
‘You know I wanted you. My body is programmed to want you. It’s a reaction outside my control.’
‘Gee. Thanks.’
He shook his head. ‘The first time is supposed to be special. It’s supposed to mean something and if I’d realised, I would have done the decent thing and walked away. But you weren’t prepared to let that happen, were you, Amber? You saw something and you just went right ahead and took it because that’s the kind of woman you are. Even though you must have known it would never have happened if I’d realised you were a virgin. But Amber always gets what Amber wants, doesn’t she?’
‘If that’s what you want to think, then think it,’ she said.
‘I just don’t understand why.’ He frowned. ‘How come someone who looks like you and acts like you has never actually had sex before now?’
Amber met the anger in his eyes and wondered how much to tell him. But what was the point in holding back—in trying to pretend that she was a normal woman who’d led a normal life?
‘Because I don’t really like men,’ she said slowly. ‘And I certainly don’t trust them.’
‘Which
is why you put out for someone you only met a couple of weeks ago, who hasn’t even taken you out on a date?’
Put like that, it made her sound plain stupid. As if she’d been caught scraping the very bottom of the barrel. Amber felt her cheeks growing hot, but she could hardly blame him for speaking the truth—even if it made her feel bad. And was she really going to let him take the moral high ground, just because she hadn’t given some embarrassingly graphic explanation before he’d made love to her? Why would she ruin the mood and risk spoiling something which had felt so natural?
‘I’m sure your colossal ego doesn’t need me to tell you why I succumbed to you. You must realise that you’re overwhelmingly attractive to women, Conall. I’m sure you’ve heard it many times before. It must be that blend of Irish charm coupled with a masterful certainty that you always know best.’ She snuggled down a little further into the bedclothes, but her skin still felt like ice. ‘It must be great to have that kind of unshakeable confidence.’
‘We were talking about you, not me,’ he growled. ‘And you still haven’t given me an explanation.’
‘Do I have to?’
‘Don’t you think you owe me one?’
‘I don’t owe you anything.’
‘Okay, then. How about as a favour to me for having given you so much pleasure in the last hour?’
Amber swallowed as she met the arrogant glitter in his eyes. In a way it was easier when he was being hateful because at least that stopped her from fostering any dreamy illusions about him. And she realised that this was the other side of intimacy—not the sex part but the bit where two people were naked in more ways than one. Because for once she couldn’t run or hide from the truth. She felt exposed; vulnerable. Conall was demanding an explanation and in her heart she guessed she owed him one.
‘Maybe it’s because I didn’t have the best role models in the world,’ she said.
‘You’re talking about your father?’ he questioned curiously.
‘Not just my father. There were plenty of others. My mother’s lovers, for starters.’
‘There were a lot?’
‘Oh, yes—you could say that.’ She gave a hollow laugh. ‘After my parents split, my father gave my mother loads of alimony—I think he was trying to ease his conscience about falling in love with a new woman. With hindsight it was probably a big mistake—because money buys you plenty of things, but not happiness. The biggest cliché in the world, I know, but true.’ Amber was aware of the irony of her words. As if it had taken this to make her see things clearly. Because hadn’t she experienced the closest thing she’d felt to joy in a long time when she’d been walking in that country lane that afternoon? And then just a few minutes ago, when Conall’s naked skin had touched hers and he’d taken her to heaven and back? Only one of those things had cost her...and it couldn’t be measured in monetary terms.
‘So what happened?’ he asked, his deep Irish voice penetrating her thoughts.
‘My mother couldn’t face staying in England with the humiliation of being replaced by wife number four, who was much younger—as well as being a lingerie model. So she decided to do an extensive tour of Europe—which translated into an extensive tour of European men. The trouble was that she was divorced and predatory, with a child in tow. Not the best combination to help her in her ardent pursuit of a new partner.’ She shifted her legs beneath the duvet, taking care to keep them well away from his. ‘Oh, there were plenty of men—but the men always seemed to come with baggage, usually in the shape of a wife. We were hounded out of Rome, and Athens, too. We were threatened in Naples and had to slip away in the dead of night. Only in Paris did she achieve any kind of acceptance because there the role of mistress is more or less accepted. Only she didn’t like playing second fiddle to other men’s wives, and...’ Her words tailed off.
‘And what?’
A wave of indignation swept over her as she met the hard glitter of his sapphire eyes. Why was he doing this? Interrogating her like some second-rate cop. Was he determined to ruin the amazing memory of what had just happened between them by making her retrace a past it was painful to revisit?
‘I’m waiting, Amber,’ he said softly.
Stubborn, hateful man. Amber stared straight up at the ceiling. ‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ she said woodenly. ‘She died, okay? I was brought back to England, kicking and screaming, and moved in with my father, who by that time was on wife number five. I didn’t fit in anywhere—and I knew his latest wife didn’t want me there. To him, I was a problem he didn’t know how to cope with, so he just threw lots of money at it. I started doing loads of courses but only the ones he thought were suitable and, of course, I never saw them through. I didn’t know how to deal with normal life—and I’d known so many creepy men when I was growing up that I simply wasn’t interested in getting intimate with any of my own.’
‘I see.’
Amber pulled the duvet right up to her neck— noticing he didn’t object—before rolling on her side to face him. ‘And what do you see, Conall?’
He gave a short laugh. ‘I can see now why your father was so determined he help you escape from the rut you were in. I detected a sense of remorse in his attitude—a sense that he wanted to try to repair some of the mistakes he’d made in the past. He must have realised that giving you money was having precisely the wrong effect, and that’s why he withdrew your funds.’
‘Wow. You should be a detective!’
‘But you didn’t like being broke, did you, Amber?’ he continued silkily. ‘You didn’t like having to knuckle down and do a hard day’s work like the rest of the human race.’
‘I thought I did a good job for you tonight with the Prince!’ she defended, stung.
He nodded reluctantly. ‘Oh, you did,’ he said. ‘He was very impressed with you and who wouldn’t be, with your classy dress and your pearls? And, of course, the fact that you were gazing up at him on the dance floor and batting those witchy green eyes certainly didn’t do you any harm. But I guess you quickly discovered that he wasn’t interested in you and so that quicksilver mind of yours had to come up with an alternative plan.’
‘Really? And what plan was this, Conall? Do enlighten me—this is absolutely fascinating.’
‘I think I can understand why you were a virgin,’ he said slowly. ‘With a mother who was sexually voracious, you must have realised that virginity is the most prized gift a woman can offer a man. It’s unique. A one-off.’
‘You’ve lost me now,’ she said faintly.
‘Think about it. Because despite your lack of qualifications, you’re a super-sharp woman, Amber. You know damned well what I’m talking about. You played the vamp with me. You realised there was real chemistry between us and that all I wanted was casual sex. It was a grown-up agreement between two consenting adults when suddenly you spring this surprise on me. You’re a virgin! Though when I stop to think about it, maybe it isn’t so surprising after all.’ He gave a short laugh. ‘Take a previously wealthy woman with nothing to offer but her innocence—and throw her into the arms of an old-fashioned man with a conscience and the result is predictable.’
‘What result?’
Despite their cold hue, his eyes suddenly looked as if they were capable of scorching her skin.
‘It doesn’t matter—at least, not right now,’ he said, his mouth twisting into a grim line. ‘What an impetuous fool I was to have taken you to bed!’
‘Then why don’t you do us both a favour and get out of it right now?’
She wasn’t expecting him to take her at her word, but he did—pushing back the bedclothes with an impatient hand and moving away from the bed as if it were contaminated. But the impact of seeing him unselfconsciously naked as he walked across the room was utterly compelling and Amber couldn’t seem to drag her gaze away. He went to stand by the window and all she could s
ee was his magnificent physique, silhouetted against the gleaming moon and scattered stars. And all she could think about was how pale his buttocks looked against the deep tawny colour of his back. How it had felt to have the rough power of his muscular legs entwined with her own, which had felt so light and smooth in comparison.
Only he had made her feel bad about what had happened—and bad about herself. As if she were using her virginity as some kind of bargaining tool. As if she were nothing but a cold-blooded manipulator.
So why did she still want him, despite his wounding words? Why did she want to feel his lips on her lips and his hands on her hips as he positioned himself over her, before thrusting deep inside her? Maybe she was one of those women who were only turned on by men who were cruel to them, just like her mother.
She licked her dry lips. ‘Are you going now?’ she croaked, because surely it would hurt less if he was gone.
He turned back to face her and at once she could see that he was aroused and, although she tried not to react, something in her face must have given away her thoughts because he gave a cold, hard smile.
‘Oh, yes,’ he said ruefully. ‘I still want you, be in no doubt about that. Only this time I’m not going to be stupid enough to do anything about it.’ Grabbing his clothes, he started pulling them on until he was standing in the now-creased suit he’d worn to the party.
The Billionaire's Defiant Acquisition Page 10