‘Ah, Diana.’ He stood up smoothly from behind Babs Carlton’s desk as she entered the office alone. ‘Do join me,’ he invited softly as she came to an abrupt halt in the doorway at seeing him there.
At last!
In some ways it was a relief to have her suspicions confirmed after all—almost a triumph, but in another way she knew she would be genuinely disappointed, now that she knew Reece Falcon was involved, not to be involved in the new make-up line after all. Because she had been verging on considering it, had been genuinely impressed by everything she had seen this morning.
Except Reece Falcon.
He had changed little in the last four weeks; he still wore his hand-made suit, a dark grey three-piece this time, with arrogant disregard for the elegance of its design, his hair cut meticulously short, his skin looking more tanned than ever, those grey eyes glittering silver as he met her gaze challengingly now.
Her hackles, as usual, rose just at the sight—and sound!—of him.
‘I would rather not, thank you.’ She shook her head, making no effort to move from the doorway. ‘Perhaps you could thank Mrs Carlton for me, but——’
‘Stop being so bloody stubborn and come in here and join me!’ Reece had crossed the room in long strides even as she spoke, closing the door firmly behind her, dangerously close to her now as they both stood just inside the room. ‘You are definitely the most stubborn,’ he began exasperatedly, ‘infuriating, desirable woman it has ever been my misfortune to meet!’ This last came out as an agonised groan as his arms moved about her slenderness to mould her body to his while his lips lowered towards hers.
Every instinct in her body cried out in protest at the fierce demand of his mouth moving against her, but she forced herself not to push him away as she longed to do, knowing that if she attempted to do that she would only antagonise the situation. Let him realise for himself that she wasn’t responding.
And she had meant to suffer his kiss in silence, to remain unmoved, and yet as the seconds passed and he showed no signs of his determination to elicit a response from her, any response, she knew it wasn’t going to be as easy to do as she had thought.
Her body, too long denied any form of physical closeness, with anyone, was reacting instinctively, melting in the warmth of a human embrace. How long since anyone had held her, gathered her into the closeness of their warmth? Oh, there had been men over the years who would have been only too pleased to hold her like this, make love to her, but she knew, deep inside her, that if she ever allowed the warmth of another human being to penetrate the protective shell she had built around her emotions she might never recover from the vulnerability that would ensue.
The one man she had been sure would never breach that barrier had been Reece Falcon!
But perhaps, after all, he was the only person who could… Oh, God, she groaned inwardly as her slenderness curved instinctively against the hard muscles of his body, her lips softening and flowering beneath the insistent demand of his, his hands travelling the length of her body now with a sureness that made her tremble. She had to stop this. Now!
But it seemed she had no will left to do that, her throat arching now as the hard warmth of his lips moved caressingly down the pulsing column there, burning a path of desire in their wake, Diana trembling at this assault on her senses.
‘Let’s skip lunch and go back to my apartment,’ Reece spoke gruffly against her earlobe, his own body pulsing his need. ‘Or your flat,’ he amended as he felt her instantly begin to withdraw from him. ‘I don’t give a damn which—I just want to be alone with you!’
Maybe if he hadn’t spoken, if she hadn’t heard the sound of his voice—but he did, and she had! And she thanked God that he had; his hold of sensuality was broken now, allowing her to realise exactly what she had been allowing to happen between them—worse, she had been responding! But that voice, the voice that had haunted her nightmares for years, both awake and asleep, had broken the spell he had weaved about her emotions.
She pulled sharply away from him, too shaken by her own ragged emotions at that moment to hide the contempt she felt for him as she looked into the dark, rugged beauty of his face.
But as his eyes narrowed she realised she should have been more careful about hiding that disgust—Reece was too astute a man not to realise there was something very wrong about her behaviour now after she had responded to him so naturally seconds ago. This man was no fool, and she had to remember that, must never be deceived into thinking otherwise, no matter what the provocation. And it was her own pride, a disgust at herself, that had given her that momentary lapse.
She thought quickly to cover her mistake—for mistake it had assuredly been—that narrowed, steely gaze studying her searchingly now. ‘This office, Barbara Carlton’s office, is hardly the place for this,’ she told him coldly, deciding attack had to be her best form of defence—until she was more in control of her own betraying emotions!
His expression remained woodenly unchanged. ‘That was why I suggested we leave,’ he reminded her quietly.
‘I didn’t mean that,’ Diana returned impatiently as he misunderstood her, her cheeks still flushed, her eyes wide green pools of disturbed emotion. ‘As your fiancée, Mrs Carlton is obviously——’
‘As my what?’ Reece cut in incredulously.
It was Diana’s turn to look at him searchingly now, his utter surprise at her statement perfectly obvious. So obvious that she knew she must have made a mistake…
She didn’t know how she had, not when he had told Charles in Paris that he wanted the wedding gown she was modelling for his bride——But had he actually said it was for his bride? she suddenly realised. Now that she thought back to the conversation, he had only said the bride. But Barbara Carlton had been the woman with him in Paris, she was sure of it.
She shook her head; none of this made any sense any more.
Reece looked at Diana in total amazement. Barbara, his fiancée?
Barbara was a beautiful woman, and he admitted that five years ago, when they first met, the two of them had indulged in an affair. But even then they had both known exactly what they were doing, and what each of them wanted from the relationship—for Barbara a physical closeness with someone who understood the other demands she had in her life, with Carlton Cosmetics to run, and a thirteen-year-old daughter to bring up alone. Reece had comfortably accepted those demands upon her time and emotions; in fact it had suited him too that the relationship didn’t ask for more of him, that the two of them had a mutual respect for each other’s abilities, as well as an attraction to each other.
But marriage? God, the thought had never entered his head after the disaster he had made of things the first time around, and he doubted it had entered Barbara’s either. In fact, he was sure it hadn’t.
Reece knew, and accepted, that it was in his arrogant nature to despise the weakness of failure, and he certainly made a point of never repeating his mistakes. He couldn’t begin to understand how Diana had ever jumped to the conclusion—because ‘jumped’ she certainly had!—that Barbara was to be his wife—that initial physical relationship between himself and Barbara was over long ago, although they still liked and respected each other, especially in a business capacity. In fact, Barbara had looked at him with knowing amusement when he had told them he wanted the model Divine for their new publicity campaign, passing a cutting remark about ‘following in his son’s footsteps—or did she mean bedrooms?’!
Reece’s mouth thinned as he remembered that latter comment; he didn’t want to think about the depth—or otherwise—of Chris’s relationship with Diana. For the first time in his life he was aware of the emotion jealousy, and it was an emotion he felt weakened him when he would rather have been strong.
As for Barbara’s mockery about his interest in the model Divine, Barbara was as aware as he that he actually owned fifty-one per cent of Carlton Cosmetics, while Barbara remained as working figurehead of the company; in other words, Barbara could bitch all
she wanted, but at the end of the day it would be Reece’s word that counted.
Although, in the circumstances, Barbara was entitled to feel a certain amount of apprehension about involving Divine with the company; it had been Diana’s friendship with Chris that had threatened Chris and Madeleine’s marriage plans, those same wedding plans he had discussed so amiably with Cathy in New York only——Ah!
‘Your fiancée,’ Diana repeated at his incredulity, uncertainly this time, obviously realising she had made some sort of mistake.
He shook his head, in control of the situation again. For a few minutes, when she had looked at him so contemptuously a short time ago, he had thought he must have imagined her response when he held her in his arms. But if all this time she had thought he was engaged to marry another woman—God, she must have thought he and Chris both made a habit of indulging in extra-relationship affairs!—no wonder she held herself so aloof from him. He couldn’t wait now to melt her defences completely!
‘Barbara is a friend and business associate,’ Reece clarified firmly. ‘But she is also Madeleine’s mother, and we were all in Paris together because Madeleine wanted to see the show. After Chris’s tardy treatment of her in the preceding weeks, taking the two ladies to Paris seemed like the least I could do,’ he added drily. ‘Of course Madeleine was curious to see you too,’ he grimaced. ‘Which is probably the reason she decided, contrarily, that she had to have the wedding gown you modelled that evening, when she married Chris.’ He shook his head disgustedly. ‘Women!’
Diana still frowned. ‘Madeleine…?’
He nodded confidently. ‘She was with me that night too, sitting on my other side,’ he supplied impatiently when Diana still looked puzzled.
Her brow cleared slightly at this explanation. ‘The blonde…’ she finally sighed.
Reece shrugged. ‘Madeleine is a blonde, yes,’ he confirmed dismissively. ‘She was the one who wanted the Oxley wedding gown. For when she marries Chris,’ he repeated pointedly, still not too sure of the state of Diana’s own relationship with Chris, although remembering her outrage a few minutes ago, when she thought he was an engaged man kissing her, he really couldn’t believe she and Chris had any more than friendship now. He had to believe that!
But, even if there hadn’t been a Madeleine in Chris’s life, he knew now that he could never have allowed Chris to marry Diana; he couldn’t see himself spending the rest of his life lusting after his own daughter-in-law!
And each time he saw Diana he wanted her more. Almost five weeks now since he had last seen her, and rather than moving on from that initial fierce attraction he had felt towards her he had become even more obsessed with making her his than he had been before! She had to be his. Had to be.
And yet he still knew, as surely as how much he wanted her, that she was going to turn down the offer Carlton Cosmetics had made her…
* * *
The young blonde girl sitting at Reece’s other side that night…! Diana hadn’t known, hadn’t realised——She couldn’t even remember the girl properly now, had only registered offhandedly that a redhead sat one side of that empty seat and a blonde on the other. That had been Madeleine, Chris’s fiancée.
It was no surprise, then, knowing of Chris’s relationship with Divine, that the other girl had decided she had to have that particular wedding dress.
And now that she knew Madeleine was the bride she could see that Reece wasn’t on the point of marrying Barbara Carlton. That knowledge changed things, changed them considerably.
‘I was mistaken,’ she accepted with a cool inclination of her head.
‘But…?’ Reece prompted softly, watching her with intensely narrowed eyes.
She gave an acknowledging smile at his astuteness. ‘But I still have no intention of going anywhere with you when I leave this office!’
He shrugged dismissively, as if he had already guessed that. ‘Not even lunch?’ he persuaded.
‘There would be little point in that,’ Diana replied coolly, her emotions firmly under control again now, even more so now that she was aware of Barbara Carlton’s true place in his life. ‘I would just be wasting your time——’
‘Oh, I doubt that,’ he murmured softly.
The steadiness of her gaze told him exactly what she thought of his suggestive tone. ‘I hope the new Carlton Cosmetics line is a success.’ She picked up her clutch-bag in preparation of leaving. ‘I really do.’
‘But you have no intention of being involved in its launch,’ he drawled derisively.
‘None at all,’ she confirmed drily, turning away dismissively.
She had almost reached the door when she felt him grasp her arm and pull her back around to face him, his calm of a few seconds ago completely erased, his face twisted with anger. ‘Don’t turn your back on me!’ he grated furiously.
She shrugged, unwilling to show him how much his hold on her arm was hurting her. ‘The days of someone backing out of a room, bowing subserviently, are long gone, Reece,’ she told him tauntingly. ‘But if that’s the sort of behaviour you ask for in an employee it’s as well I turned down the offer to work for Carlton Cosmetics!’ She looked at him with cool green eyes.
Reece’s fingers dropped abruptly away from her arm. ‘Damn you, you know that wasn’t what I——What do you want from me, Diana?’ he demanded with frustrated anger. ‘What?’
‘Want from you?’ she repeated lightly, knowing it was still too soon to tell him that. ‘You don’t have anything I want, Mr Falcon,’ she told him derisively, her eyes mocking.
‘You respond to me, damn it,’ he bit out between clenched teeth, eyes glittering furiously.
‘Absolutely nothing I want,’ she said softly.
For a moment he looked as if he might actually strike her, and then he brought himself under control again, his hands clenching into fists at his sides. ‘Get out of here,’ he told her savagely. ‘Before I do something we’ll both regret!’
She raised her brows challengingly. ‘Do you ever regret anything, Reece?’ she asked huskily.
‘I regret ever meeting you!’ he told her frustratedly.
Finally, with a little half-smile of satisfaction, Diana left.
Reece Falcon was going to regret meeting her a lot more before this was finished!
CHAPTER SIX
‘MY GOD, you look awful,’ Chris told Reece cheerfully as he walked past the latter on the way into his luxury penthouse apartment, Reece having opened the door to him a few seconds earlier.
Reece followed him through to the sitting-room at a more leisurely pace. ‘Thanks for that vote of confidence from my nearest and dearest!’ he returned acidly.
Chris gave a dismissive shrug before dropping down into one of the deep armchairs. ‘I’m only telling you the same thing your mirror must every time you look in it to shave—although——’ he looked up frowningly at his father ‘—that doesn’t look as if it’s been too often, lately, by the look of you. What have you been doing with yourself?’ He pulled a face at his father’s less than immaculate appearance.
Reece sighed his impatience with the criticism; as Chris so rightly pointed out, he could see every time he looked in a mirror just how awful he looked! But it had been a long week, and he certainly didn’t need this. ‘Absolu—precisely nothing,’ he corrected abruptly as he realised what he had been about to say; he didn’t need any reminding of Diana and the things she had said to him last week.
Chris gave him a disparaging look. ‘Well, if this is what doing nothing does for you I recommend you stop it immediately!’
He looked like hell, he knew he did. He had lost weight, he had dark shadows under his eyes from lack of sleep, a grey pallor to his skin. But the way that he looked was nowhere near as bad as he felt.
During those first few weeks after meeting Diana, when he had tried to stay away from her, he had filled in his time doing all the things he usually enjoyed, spent time with dozens of women who if not as beautiful as Diana, were at least m
ore amenable. And he had worked sometimes until he just collapsed into bed at night too tired to do anything but sleep. And none of that had erased Diana from his thoughts. This time, with no choice but to stay away from her—she had made it more than clear she didn’t want to see him again!—he had decided to take a week off work and just stay at his apartment, read some of the books he had been stockpiling away for when he eventually found time to read them, watch a little television, a few videos. And after a week of that he was climbing the walls, going quietly insane—and no nearer getting over his obsession with Diana than he had been a week ago!
‘What a comfort you are to me, Chris!’ He grimaced his derision.
His son looked unrepentent. ‘Would you rather I lied and told you how well you’re looking?’
‘I would rather you weren’t here at all——Oh never mind!’ Reece dismissed impatiently, throwing himself down into the armchair opposite Chris, wearing denims and a loose shirt, his feet bare in the thick pile carpet. ‘What do you want, Chris?’
His son grimaced. ‘No one, apparently, has seen or heard from you the last week, so I thought I had better come over and make sure you’re still alive!’
He raised dark brows derisively. ‘It took you long enough!’
Chris shrugged unconcernedly. ‘I didn’t realise until yesterday that you hadn’t been into the office——’
‘Not having been in yourself either, I suppose,’ Reece guessed shrewdly, knowing by Chris’s unrepentant grin that he was right.
‘There have to be some perks to being the boss’s son,’ Chris shrugged. ‘So I took a week off to spend time with Maddy.’
‘How are things between the two of you now?’ Reece’s eyes were narrowed questioningly, although Chris certainly looked cheerful enough. Although that wasn’t that reassuring, now that he thought about it—Chris had looked cheerful when he’d imagined himself in love with Diana too!
‘Fine,’ Chris dismissed carelessly. ‘When I told Maddy you had taken the unprecedented step of having a week’s holiday, and then hidden yourself away here from everyone, she agreed with me that perhaps you were sick and we should——’
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