I stared at him steadily, my face wiped of all expression. Robert always said that the art of war was to never show your hand. Always take your enemy by surprise.
‘Well, I’ve never wanted to fuck you,’ I replied with elaborate politeness.
He took a long slow sip of his drink and regarded me quizzically over the rim of his glass. ‘Hmmm … how could he possibly have satisfied you?’ he wondered aloud.
I smiled coldly. ‘I loved him.’
Amusement flashed in his eyes. ‘Come on, the sex was shit though, wasn’t it?’
I smiled slowly. ‘Not that it’s any of your business, but I don’t remember ever complaining.’
‘If you think that kinky bastard’s flaccid dick was good …’
I laughed throatily. ‘Poor, spoilt Dorian. So many women at his command, but all the twisted fucker wants is to do his stepmother.’
His eyes glittered. ‘Pull your claws back in, Mother. There’s no need for them anymore. You worked hard and fast. One moment you were polishing his nails, the next you were polishing his knob. You’ve won. Hands fucking down. You’ve got it all. No one can take it away from you now.’ A bitter smile shaped his mouth. He took a step closer. ‘You don’t even have to pretend anymore. So come on, at least give yourself a little victory fuck. You know you’re gasping for it.’
‘If you lay one finger on me—’
‘So you cheat me out of my inheritance and you won’t even put out. Even the lowliest hooker will let you fuck her after she’s taken your money.’
‘It was not your money,’ I said through gritted teeth.
‘No?’
‘No. It was your father’s money and he could have left it to a cat’s home if he so desired.’
‘But he didn’t,’ he whispered. ‘He left it all to you.’
‘Lucky me.’
‘So how about the victory fuck then?’
‘No, thank you. Now how about you get out of this library and go enjoy the party. Your father would have wanted it.’
His reply was to let his glass drop. It shattered at our feet, the wine splashing up to my calves. He used that moment when I was distracted and surprised to grab me and swoop down on my startled mouth. His lips crushed, his teeth hurt, and the fumes from the red wine choked me. He ground his erect cock into my horrified body. I raised my hands and tried to push him, but he was surprisingly strong.
‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing?’ A voice like whiplash rang around the room.
Dorian released me unhurriedly and turned to look at his stepbrother insolently.
‘Do you mind? I’m saying hello to my dear stepmother.’
My shocked gaze flew towards Ivan and found his blazing eyes fixed on me. The gray was like molten silver. Oh my god. What a terrible mess! My hand went up to my throbbing mouth. My knees felt like jelly, but most of all I felt soiled by the accusing look in Ivan’s eyes. He thought I was a willing participant.
Feeling sick to my stomach, I stepped away from Dorian, but like a fool I stumbled slightly and from the corner of my eyes I could see Ivan make an involuntary movement as if to help me, but I placed my palms on the desk and stopped myself from falling.
‘I should get back to the party,’ I said shakily to no one and, without looking directly at either man, I walked past both. When I was outside the room I leaned against the wall and heard Ivan say in a hard voice, ‘As a matter of fact I do mind.’
‘Oh, don’t be greedy, brother. I’m perfectly willing to share. You can have your turn next.’
‘You’re drunk.’ Ivan’s voice was hard and cold.
‘And you’re a hypocrite. Don’t tell me you’re not lusting after her because I’ve seen the way you watch her.’
‘Go home, Dorian.’ Ivan’s voice sounded exasperated.
‘Always the spoilsport,’ Dorian said with a laugh.
Chapter 7
Tawny Maxwell
G
od! How I wished I had slapped him hard enough to make his arrogant, drunken head reel. It was a tangled web I was caught in, but I remembered my grandma’s words, In life you have to walk like you’re on a runway.
Dorian’s ugly words were still ringing in my ears, but with my head held high, I forced myself to put one foot in front of the other and started walking back towards the sound of laughter and music. Oh, Robert. Why on earth did you think I could do this?
I ordered a glass of brandy from a waiter and drank it really quickly. The fiery liquid spread a warm glow into my numb limbs. I felt myself relaxing. I had not eaten anything for hours and the alcohol was making me feel almost floaty. The tension seeped away. I looked around at the room full of strangers. Soon this would be over. All these people would be gone and I would be alone. I could make my plans then.
At the other end of the room I saw that Ivan had returned to the gathering. He was coming towards me when the woman he had come with waylaid him. Thank god. A waiter approached me with a tray of food and I picked something up and popped it into my mouth. It tasted of nothing. A thin, long-faced woman in a dark gray suit came up to me. Her lips were thin and painted blood-red and her eyes were watery and pale. I had no idea who she was. I smiled.
‘I’m so sorry for your loss, my dear,’ she said without introducing herself.
‘Thank you,’ I said, feeling buzzed and hoping it didn’t show.
‘He was such a good man.’
‘Such a good man?’ I echoed.
To my horror a mad giggle escaped my lips. I covered my mouth. The woman’s eyes grew huge with speculation. There was no way to explain that if she thought that he was such a good man she couldn’t possibly have known him. He was a ruthless man. He told me so himself. A man has to decide whether he wants good friends or he wants to be rich. He cannot have both. I chose to be rich.
‘Can I have a word?’ a steely voice on my right asked.
I turned gratefully towards Ivan. His eyes were no longer molten silver but ice cold.
‘Of course,’ I said coolly.
The nameless woman excused herself and left.
‘Don’t make my job more difficult than it needs to be,’ he grated.
Anger flashed through me. Fuck him. How dare he judge me? Still, I did not let him see my irritation. I twirled the stem of the crystal flute between my fingers and looked up at him with cold disdain. ‘Do you really think I would encourage my stepson to assault me at my dead husband’s wake?’
Something shifted in his eyes. He ran his hand through his hair. ‘God,’ he said. For a moment he looked as if he felt that by taking me on he had bitten off more than he could chew.
‘Why did you have the reading of the will in that way? You must have known Rosalind would react badly. Did it please you to see her attack me?’
His jaw tightened. ‘Don’t be stupid. I needed to see all their reactions.’
‘And now that you know, what help is it to you?’
‘Time will tell,’ he said mysteriously.
‘Anyway, thank you for coming to my rescue just now.’
At that moment the woman he had come with slinked over and touched his arm. He stiffened, all expression leaching away from his eyes. Slowly, he moved his eyes away from me and looked down at her.
‘Have you met Tawny?’ he asked.
She raised one perfectly shaped eyebrow at the mention of my name and deliberately allowed her eyes to fill with condescending amusement. ‘Ah, your stepmother? No, I haven’t.’
Ivan seemed to wince when she referred to me as his stepmother. ‘Tawny, meet Chloe Somerset. Chloe, Tawny.’
‘How do you do?’ she said in an offhand way.
‘Good. Thank you for coming,’ I said in an equally careless voice.
‘I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,’ she said throatily and turned towards Ivan, her expression becoming playful. ‘Darling, we need to be getting back. I have an early start tomorrow.’
Ivan frowned. ‘I can’t leave just yet. Why don’t yo
u let Paul drive you back?’
Chloe pouted at him. ‘How long will you be? You know how … restless I get when I’m in your bed.’
His voice was hard and impatient. ‘Then perhaps you should go back to yours?’
I cut in. ‘Look, you can go. I’m going upstairs soon, anyway. James will see the party out.’
‘We need to talk,’ he said sharply.
I nodded. ‘Yes, I know.’
‘I’m busy all day tomorrow. Are you free for dinner?’
Chloe took a quick intake of breath.
‘Yes,’ I said.
‘Good. I’ll pick you up at eight then.’
‘It might be better if we just have dinner here,’ I said quickly. I could not imagine anything more awkward than going out to dinner with him. Here at least I would be on my own turf.
‘See you at eight,’ he said and, turning away from me, left the wake. It gave a small jolt of secret pleasure to see Chloe run to keep up with his striding figure.
Chapter 8
Tawny Maxwell
I was in the Yellow Room having a dry Martini when James announced Ivan’s arrival.
My stomach contracted at the sight of him. He was like a force of nature. Even the air in the room changed. His hands hung languidly at his sides, but his entire body emitted the kind of tension of a prowling animal. From where I was I could make out the contours of his muscles under his shirt. Butterflies started fluttering in my belly. Suddenly the night ahead stretched as an uncomfortable, tense affair.
‘Hello, Ivan,’ I said nonchalantly from my seat. I had decided that I would be sophisticated and cool.
‘Hello, Tawny.’
‘Can I get you a drink?’ I asked civilly.
He turned towards James. ‘I’ll join Mrs. Maxwell in whatever she’s having.’
‘Very good, Sir,’ James said, and with a polite bow backed out of the room.
Ivan strolled towards the sofa next to mine, sat down, spread himself with his knees far apart, and fixed his silvery gaze on me.
I took a sip of my drink. ‘Good day at the office?’ I asked.
His eyebrows arched in surprise. He seemed to hesitate. ‘I didn’t go in today.’
I suddenly thought of Chloe. About how ‘restless’ she had been last night. ‘Ah, the pleasures of being one’s own boss,’ I said. It had been my intention to sound light and sophisticated, but it sounded like sarcasm.
The silence stretched and I glanced at my hands. I could feel his gaze on me and, as much as I did not want to admit it, I was starting to get really nervous. I felt as if he was studying me, looking right into me. Interminable seconds passed. Finally, I looked up, my eyes defiant.
‘What did you do today?’ he asked.
I didn’t miss the commanding tone in his voice. This was a man used to giving an order and having it obeyed. I looked into my drink. ‘I’m afraid I didn’t do much today,’ I murmured.
In fact, I had spent my morning in Robert’s room. It had brought me to tears because I walked in there expecting it to look like it always did and I found that the housekeeper had ordered the servants to strip the bed and remove the mattress. It had been taken away to be aired, but seeing the bed in that way shocked me and made his death real in a way that seeing him still and wasted inside the coffin had not.
I looked up and found him gazing at me expressionlessly. ‘You must get so bored here.’
I met his look levelly. ‘No.’
He seemed genuinely surprised and I felt a thrill of joy that I had caught him off guard. ‘So you will carry on living here?’
‘For the foreseeable future.’
He frowned. ‘You don’t plan on moving to London?’
‘No.’
‘Why not? You are a very rich woman now and London is very exciting when you are rich, beautiful and young.’
I felt myself blush. He thought I was beautiful. ‘I will go to London when necessary, but I won’t be moving there.’
‘Do you go up to London often?’
‘Well, I haven’t used the London flat in nearly six months. I didn’t like leaving Robert here on his own so I used to make sure that I finished whatever business I had and returned in time for dinner.’
James came in with a tray. Ivan thanked him and took his drink.
He raised it slightly. ‘To you,’ he said softly.
I looked at him warily.
‘Well, what will you do now that Robert’s gone?’
‘I’ll do what he wanted me to do.’
He stared at me with blankly. ‘What was that?’
‘For the last three years Robert bought islands with the intention of turning them into turtle sanctuaries.’
Ivan looked at me from narrowed, openly skeptical eyes. ‘Robert was setting up turtle sanctuaries?’
I nodded. ‘You seem very surprised.’
‘I am,’ he admitted. He leaned forward and the light from the candles seemed to flicker and shimmer in his extraordinary eyes. His eyes became alive and … hauntingly beautiful. I blinked at the amazing transformation. With the shadows thrown under his cheeks he was … suddenly … wickedly hot! So hot that a strange urge from somewhere unknown dared me to reach forward and lick those curving, sensuous lips. I stared at him, my mind burning with the thought. He leaned back abruptly. ‘What?’ he asked looking at me suspiciously.
‘I shook my head. ‘Nothing. Er … you were saying,’ I croaked.
He leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms. ‘I was saying Robert was like a father to me for ten years, but in all the time I knew him he never once showed himself to have an altruistic bone in his body.’
‘He didn’t want anyone to know.’
‘Why?’
‘I don’t know. It was like his redemption or something. If he had told everyone about it, it might have morphed into something else.’
A thought occurred to him. ‘Did you ask him to?’
‘No, he once went to Asia and someone took him to watch turtles laying eggs. He saw a giant leatherback turtle heave itself up the beach well past the high tide mark, dig an eighteen-inch hole in the sand, lay about a hundred eggs in it and cover it. To his horror, he then saw the locals not only torment the exhausted creature by shining torchlights at it, kicking sand into its face, picking up its flippers and riding it, they also immediately dug up its nest and stole every single egg from it. He said it hurt him to see her cry. At that time, he didn’t know then that her tears were actually a jelly-like mucous that she excreted to keep the sand out of her eyes, so he was much moved by her plight.’
He shook his head in wonder. ‘Fancy that. The old boy was moved by a big reptile.’
‘Leatherbacks are very beautiful,’ I said.
‘Well, I’m glad for him that he found something to love in his old age.’
I finished my drink. ‘He loved you too,’ I said softly.
He frowned and looked as if he was about to speak, but James appeared to announce that dinner was served.
I stood and Ivan held out his hand stiffly. I threaded my hand awkwardly into the crook of his, and together we went into the dining room. The long table had been set for two. For a moment I felt a pang of pain. This was our dining room. Robert’s and mine. We used to laugh until tears poured down our cheeks.
I sat quietly while the soup was served.
‘Bon appétit,’ I said, and carefully slipped my spoon into the creamy leek and potato soup.
‘Why did you stop visiting Robert?’ I asked.
He picked up his glass of Sancerre and took a sip. ‘I spoke to him on the phone.’
‘I see.’ I paused. ‘Did he ever mention anything about Dr. Jensen?’
He didn’t raise his eyes from his food. ‘No,’ he said quietly.
‘I just can’t understand why he was so mean to him in his will. He always spoke so highly of him.’
‘The contents of his will were a surprise to me too.’
It was the weirdest thing. Nothing
in his expression had changed, but I knew that he was being deliberately evasive. He knew something that he did not want to share with me. I stared at him until he raised his eyes and looked at me. ‘He missed you,’ I said softly.
His eyes flashed. ‘And you? Do you miss him?’
I put my spoon down and looked him in the eye. ‘With all my heart.’
He went quiet. Something powerfully intense simmered and rippled underneath the perfectly calm surface. A heavy, sizzling heat hovered in the air between us. We stared at each other. Then his gaze left my face and swept down to my breasts. My heart jumped in my chest and the tips of my breasts started to tingle and ache.
For his mouth.
Suddenly there were crystal clear images of my mouth on his throat, down that hard chest, and lower still. My tongue trailing, my fingers dragging down a man’s tight skin. My lips parted involuntarily and though I did not mean for the small moan of surprise and lust that escaped, it did. I was prepared for everything, but not this. What was this? I didn’t go around lusting after men?
Especially not him!
The small sound was as if someone had slapped him, his head jerked upwards, pulling his wandering gaze back up to my face. For a second he continued to look at me as if he wanted to devour me, then he drew a sharp breath, and the sudden crack in his armor was gone. Wiped out. So completely I felt as if I had imagined the entire episode. The classically handsome face tightened once more into a hard mask and his eyes became chips of ice again. Cold. Detached.
‘Sorry,’ he said not sounding sorry at all, ‘but I find this grieving widow act a bit hard to swallow. I don’t know what your game is, but quite honestly, I don’t give a damn. I’m executor of the trust until you are twenty-one and after that you are on your own, but in the meantime the less contact I have with you the better. Don’t call me unless it is absolutely necessary. Please put all your expenses through my office. I’m not Robert. You can’t bat your eyelashes and expect me to come running. I don’t like chaos. I don’t want to be distracted.’
I stared at him open-mouthed with shock. Where on earth did that come from? How could he go from sizzling hot to ice-cold? Then I became furious. How dare he? He was as bad as the other three. I didn’t do anything wrong.
The Bad Boy Wants Me: A Bad Boy Romance Page 27
