At the Ruthless Billionaire's Command

by Carole Mortimer

Lia could smell the aftershave he wore, easily recognising it as one that cost thousands of pounds an ounce. Even so there was a fine stubble on his chin, as if he was in need of his second shave of the day.

  Her gaze moved quickly upwards and was instantly ensnared by glitteringly intense almost black eyes. ‘I—’

  ‘You need to sit down before you fall down.’ Gregorio stepped across the room to remove several items from one of the armchairs before lightly grasping Lia’s arm to support her until she was seated. ‘Do you have any brandy?’

  She somehow looked more fragile than ever seated in the chair.

  ‘Wine,’ she answered with a vague wave of her hand in the direction of the kitchen area.

  Wine would not revive her as well as brandy, but it was still alcohol and better than nothing. Gregorio found a half full bottle of red wine on the breakfast bar, a used glass beside it. Predictably, it wasn’t one of the de la Cruz vintages.

  ‘Here.’ Gregorio held the glass of wine in front of her until she took it from him with slender fingers that shook slightly. ‘Have you eaten anything today?’

  ‘Um...’ Her forehead creased as she gave the matter some thought. ‘A bowl of cereal this morning and some toast this evening. I think...’ she added doubtfully.

  He scowled his displeasure before turning on his heel to stride through to the kitchen area. There was a loaf of bread on one of the units, a tub of butter and a carton of milk—and nothing else when he pulled open the fridge door and looked inside.

  ‘You do not have any food.’ He closed the fridge door in disgust.

  ‘Maybe that’s because I only moved in a few hours ago.’

  Gregorio held back a smile at the return of her sarcasm. Evidence that Lia was feeling slightly better? He hoped so.

  ‘Which begs the question—how did you know I’d moved in here today?’ She eyed him suspiciously.

  Gregorio had known about the apartment in the same way he’d known about everything Lia had done in the two months since her father’s death. He was given daily reports on her movements by his head of security.

  No doubt it was an intrusion into her personal life that Lia would take exception to if she knew about it. But it was Gregorio’s belief that the Fairbanks’s situation was not yet over, and until it was she would accept his protection whether she wanted it or not.

  ‘Drink your wine,’ he ordered dryly as he took his cell phone from his pocket.

  ‘Look, Mr de la Cruz—’

  ‘Gregorio. Or Rio, if you prefer,’ he added huskily. ‘That is what my family and close friends call me.’

  ‘Of which I’m neither. Nor do I intend to be,’ she added dismissively. ‘What are you doing...?’ She frowned as he made a call.

  ‘I had intended inviting you out to dinner, but now that I see how tired you are I am ordering dinner to be delivered to us here instead.’ Gregorio put the cell phone to his ear, his gaze remaining challengingly on Lia as he waited for the call to be picked up.

  Lia was starting to wonder if she had fallen asleep in the bath and was having another nightmare. Because Gregorio de la Cruz couldn’t really be in her apartment, ordering dinner for both of them. Could he?

  He certainly seemed real enough. Tall, muscular, and bossy as hell.

  It seemed surreal after the months of torment she had just suffered through. Because of him.

  Being a little unfair there, Lia, a little voice taunted inside her head.

  Gregorio wasn’t responsible for the decline of her father’s company, nor the ailing economy. He had also been perfectly at liberty to withdraw his interest in buying Fairbanks Industries if he had decided the company wasn’t viable.

  Lia did believe it was the withdrawal of that offer which had resulted in her father’s company being put under investigation, though, and only weeks later in her father’s heart attack and premature death.

  She had to blame someone for all that, and Gregorio de la Cruz was the obvious person.

  He had ended his call now, and was once again looking at her with those fiercely penetrating black eyes.

  Lia’s heart skipped a beat. Several beats. The blood rushed hotly through her veins as she saw something stirring in the cold depths of those dark orbs. Gregorio continued to stare at her. Something that looked like a flickering flame was growing stronger, hotter by the second, and was sucking all the air from the room as well as Lia’s lungs.

  She swallowed. Her heartbeat was now sounding very loud to her ears. So loud that surely Gregorio could hear it too? Lord, she hoped not! This man had kissed her once, and although Lia had slapped his face for it she had never forgotten it.

  ‘I’m really not hungry.’ She stood up to place the empty wine glass on the breakfast bar. Only to falter slightly as she realised how close to Gregorio she was now standing.

  ‘I doubt you have felt hungry for some time now,’ he acknowledged softly. ‘That does not mean your body does not need sustenance.’

  Why did that sound so...so intimate—as if Gregorio wasn’t talking about food at all?

  Maybe because he wasn’t?

  Lia recognised the flame in his eyes for exactly what it was now. Desire. Hot, burning desire. For her. A desire he had demonstrated four months ago and which he obviously still felt.

  She took a step back—only to have Gregorio take that same step forward, maintaining their close proximity.

  She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. ‘I think you should go now.’

  ‘No.’ He was standing so close his breath was a light caress across the soft tendrils of hair at her temples.

  ‘You can’t just say no.’

  ‘Oh, but I can. I have,’ he added with satisfaction.

  Lia blinked up at him, her heart thumping wildly now, her palms feeling damp. ‘This is insane.’ She was insane. Because a part of her—certain parts of her—was responding to the flickering flames in those coal-black eyes.

  Her skin felt incredibly sensitised. Her nipples were tingling and between her thighs she was becoming slick with arousal.

  ‘Is it?’ Gregorio raised a hand and tucked a loose curl behind her ear before running his fingertips lightly down the heat of her cheek.

  ‘Yes...’ she breathed, even as she felt herself drawn to leaning into that caress.

  Her father’s death and David’s defection meant it had been a long time since anyone had touched her, held her, apart from Cathy’s brief reassuring hugs. Lia’s body cried out for another kind of physical connection.

  From Gregorio de la Cruz?

  This man was a corporate shark who felt no compunction in gobbling up smaller fish. He was also a man who had a different woman on his arm in every news photograph Lia had ever seen of him. He bought and sold women—usually tall and leggy blonde women, who looked good on his arm and no doubt filled his bed at night—as easily as he bought and sold companies.

  Lia wasn’t tall, leggy or blonde.

  Nor was she for sale.

  She stepped back abruptly—only to give a shiver as she immediately felt the loss of the heat of Gregorio’s body.

  ‘I’m going to my bedroom to dress. I advise that you be gone by the time I come back.’

  His sculpted lips curved into a smile. ‘I make it a rule always to listen to advice, but I rarely choose to take it.’

  Her chin rose challengingly. ‘Is that because you’re always right?’

  His smile widened, revealing even white teeth. ‘I have a feeling that however I answer that question you will choose to twist it to suit your own purposes.’

  He was right, of course.

  As always?

  ‘Or should I say to suit the opinion you have formed of me without actually knowing me,’ he added harshly.

  Lia eyed him impatiently. ‘I know enough to know I don’t want you here.’

  ‘And yet undoubtedly here I am,’ he challenged.

  ‘That’s because you... Because I... You know what? Get the hell out of my apartment!’ Her
earlier agitation had returned, deeper than ever. ‘Whatever sick game you’re playing, I want no part of it.’

  He sobered. ‘I do not play games, Lia, sick or otherwise.’

  ‘That’s odd, because I’m pretty sure you’re playing one now.’

  Gregorio drew in a deep and controlling breath. Lia made no effort to hide her distrust and dislike of him. And right now her body couldn’t hide her physical reaction to him.

  Her breasts had plumped, her nipples hard as they pressed against the covering towel, and Gregorio’s nostrils flared as they were assailed with the scent of her sweetly perfumed arousal.

  Lia might distrust him, might think she had every reason to dislike him, but the response of her body told him she also desired him as much as he desired her.

  He could wait to satisfy that desire. If he had to. And for the moment it seemed he must.

  ‘I agree—you should go and put some clothes on.’ He nodded abruptly. His self-control was legendary, but even he had his breaking point. And Lia, wearing only a towel to cover her nakedness, was it.

  ‘Thanks so much, but I really don’t need your permission to do anything!’

  A nerve pulsed in his tightly clenched jaw. ‘Dinner will be here shortly.’

  ‘I’ve already told you I don’t want any.’

  Gregorio’s eyes narrowed. ‘Did your father have a line over which it was not safe to cross?’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ she recalled, with a wistful curve of her lips.

  ‘And I am sure you knew to the nth degree how close to that line you might venture?’

  ‘Yes...’ She eyed him warily now.

  ‘I have now reached my own line,’ Gregorio informed her calmly.

  ‘Is that supposed to scare me?’

  Her bravado was admirable. Unfortunately it was nullified by the rapidly beating pulse visible in her throat: Lia was well aware of exactly how close she was to crossing over his line. And to paying the consequences for that trespass.

  Gregorio’s mouth thinned. ‘You are—’ He broke off as the doorbell rang. ‘That will be Silvio, delivering our dinner.’

  Her eyes widened. ‘Wow, you must be a regular customer for the restaurant to have delivered so quickly.’

  Their dinner had been prepared at and delivered by the staff at Mancini’s, one of the most exclusive and prestigious restaurants in London. If Lia thought they were going to dine on pizza or Chinese food she was mistaken.

  ‘Go and dress,’ he instructed harshly. ‘Unless you wish Silvio to see you wearing only a towel.’

  Lia had a feeling the thought of that bothered Gregorio more than it bothered her. She was half inclined to remain exactly as she was—if only so that she could annoy Gregorio even more than he already was.

  The fact that she knew she would feel more comfortable fully clothed was the deciding factor in her turning on her heel and walking down the hallway to her bedroom. But she was aware of Gregorio’s devouring black gaze following her every step of the way.

  Once in her bedroom, Lia slumped back against the closed door and drew in several deep breaths. Exactly what was going on here? Because something most certainly was.

  Gregorio had not only kept the promise he’d made two months ago, that the two of them would talk again, but now that he was here in her apartment he was making no secret of the fact he still desired her.

  Her body’s traitorous response to him was harder for Lia to accept, let alone make sense of.

  He was Gregorio de la Cruz, for goodness’ sake. The man who’d had a hand in driving her father to his death.

  When did I stop holding him completely responsible?

  She hadn’t. Had she...? No, of course she hadn’t.

  Gregorio was hard, ruthless, and scary as hell. He was also at least ten years older than she was, with the added experience that came with those extra years.

  Dear God, she must be more desperate for human warmth than she’d realised if she’d been physically aroused by a man she should hate!

  * * *

  ‘Good?’

  Lia’s only response was a throaty ‘mmm’ as she dipped another piece of asparagus into melted butter before eating it with obvious enjoyment.

  Gregorio had removed his suit jacket and tie, and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt to just beneath his elbows by the time Lia had returned fully dressed from her bedroom. Her hair was loose about her shoulders, in the style he preferred—but if Lia had known that he was sure she would have scraped it back into a severe bun! She was wearing tight black jeans with a deep grey sweater that perfectly matched the colour of her eyes.

  He had placed their food in the oven to keep warm, cleared the breakfast bar, found cutlery and laid two places so they were ready to eat as soon as Lia returned.

  After stating that she wasn’t hungry she had devoured succulent prawns and avocado with obvious relish, and steak, asparagus and dauphinoise potatoes were now being enjoyed with the same enthusiasm. The fact that she had drunk two glasses of the red wine Gregorio had ordered to be delivered with the meal—he’d had the foresight not to order one of the vintages from the de la Cruz vineyard—would seem to indicate she approved of that too.

  Gregorio had found the food to be as delicious as always, but most of his enjoyment had come from watching Lia as she placed the food delicately in her mouth before eating with relish.

  More colour returned to her cheeks the more she ate, and there was now a sparkle to her eyes. Evidence that she really had been starving herself the past two months? Not deliberately, but because food had simply become unimportant to her with her life in such turmoil.

  Gregorio intended to ensure that didn’t happen again.

  Lia was enjoying the food so much, and Gregorio seemed to be enjoying watching her, that there had been very little conversation between the two of them as they ate together.

  Which was perhaps as well. Lia felt the need to argue with this man every time they engaged in conversation.

  She finally placed her knife and fork down on her empty plate. ‘I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed the food at Mancini’s.’

  Past tense, Gregorio recognised with a tightening of his mouth. Because Lia’s world had been turned upside down and she could no longer afford to eat in such exclusive restaurants.

  Which was his cue to resume their conversation about her father’s death. A subject guaranteed to bring back the contention between the two of them, but also one that stood between them as an invisible barrier.

  Gregorio would accept no barriers between himself and Lia—invisible or otherwise. He intended knowing everything there was to know about this woman. Inside as well as out. Intimately. And he intended her to know him in the same way.

  ‘That was delicious. Thank you,’ she added awkwardly. ‘But it’s been a long day, and now I think what I really need is to get some sleep.’

  She did look tired, Gregorio acknowledged. Well-fed, but tired. And what did a delay of one more day or so matter when he had already waited this long for her?

  He glanced at the disorder about them. ‘Would you like me to come back tomorrow and help you with the rest of your unpacking?’

  ‘Why are you being so nice to me?’ Lia frowned her puzzlement, more confused than ever now that she had satisfied a need for food she hadn’t realised was there until she’d begun eating.

  Her stomach and her appetite had perked up at the very first taste of the food from Mancini’s—a restaurant she had enjoyed going to several times in the past, alone and with David or her father.

  ‘You are a person it is easy to be nice to,’ Gregorio dismissed with a shrug of his broad shoulders.

  Shoulders that looked even wider and more muscular now that he was no longer wearing his jacket. In fact the whole casual thing he had going on—losing the jacket, taking off his tie, unfastening the top button of his shirt and rolling back the sleeves—had succeeded in making him more approachable and even more lethally attractive.

  Which was per
haps his intention?

  Lull the poor befuddled woman into a state of uncertainty and then pounce?

  Cathy was never going to believe her when the two of them spoke on the phone tomorrow as they usually did, and Lia told her friend about Gregorio’s visit and the fact the two of them had eaten dinner together.

  Lia wasn’t sure she believed it herself.

  It was becoming more and more difficult to continue thinking of this man as the monster who had helped to destroy her father when he was being nothing but attentive and kind to her. No matter how rude she was, he continued to treat her with respect and kindness.

  It’s just his way of worming his way into my good graces before he goes for what he really wants!

  Which Lia had now realised appeared to be her.

  He was obviously a man who enjoyed a challenge if he thought he was going to win that battle.

  ‘No, I’ll be fine, thanks.’ She stood up as indication that he should leave.

  A hint he ignored as he remained seated at the breakfast bar. ‘We have not eaten dessert yet.’

  ‘Take it with you,’ she dismissed. ‘I couldn’t eat another thing.’

  ‘I could not deprive you of Mancini’s celebrated chocolate cake.’

  Lia gave a soft gasp. ‘He really sent you some of his famous chocolate cake?’ The dessert was Mancini’s secret recipe, and it had always been Lia’s choice when she had dined at the restaurant. It was rich and decadent, and the taste of the cake was orgasmic.

  ‘He sent us some of his chocolate cake,’ Gregorio corrected.

  ‘He didn’t know I would be dining with you.’

  ‘Oh, but he did. I spoke to Mancini personally and requested he send all your favourite foods.’

  She widened her eyes. ‘You told him we were having dinner together?’

  Gregorio studied her from beneath hooded lids. ‘Is there a problem with that?’

  ‘Not for me, no.’

  ‘Or for me.’

  He certainly didn’t look concerned at having announced to a third party that he was having dinner with the daughter of Jacob Fairbanks. Considering the speed with which some of her so-called friends and her fiancé had disappeared in a cloud of smoke, she found Gregorio’s behaviour odd to say the least.