Ignoring the tug of regret in his gut, he withdrew from her and rolled onto his side. The rain was easing, and in the silver moonlight glimmering through the window she looked pale and ethereal, with her wet hair streaming around her shoulders. But the stunned expression in her eyes made him grimace. He had not planned to make love to her. The discovery of her innocence had put her off-limits as far as he was concerned, and his sole intention when he had chased after her was to ensure her safety. But from the second he had pulled her into his arms, away from the edge of the swirling river, and held her trembling body against him, he had been lost. No woman had ever got to him the way Ella did, nor aroused him to the point that his usual cool logic was replaced with mindless, fevered desire. Even the knowledge that she was a virgin had no longer mattered, he thought grimly. Driven by his desperate hunger for her, he had followed the dictates of his body rather than his brain as passion had overwhelmed him. But now guilt tore at him.
‘Did I hurt you?’ he asked roughly.
Ella’s eyes flew to Vadim’s face. ‘No,’ she said truthfully. There had been no pain this time, just a wondrous feeling of fullness as he had joined his body with hers. ‘You ruined my dress, though,’ she added, blushing as she dragged the grey silk across her breasts and discovered that every button was missing.
His slow smile stole her breath. ‘I’ll buy you a new one.’ He stood up, held out his hand to help her to her feet, and then to her shock scooped her up into his arms.
‘I can walk,’ Ella protested as he stepped out of the summerhouse and strode up to the house, apparently unconcerned that he was stark naked. It was lucky that Kingfisher House was not overlooked by neighbours, she thought as she clung to his shoulders. Her heart lurched when he walked straight past the doors leading to her flat, on into the main house, where he climbed the stairs and carried her through the master bedroom to the en suite bathroom.
‘I should go back to my room,’ she murmured when he set her on her feet and slid her torn dress over her shoulders. The walk back to the house through the rain had cooled her skin, and shock at her wanton behaviour in the summerhouse was setting in, so that she felt a ridiculous urge to cry. In those moments when Vadim had taken her to the very pinnacle of pleasure she had felt as though their hearts had become one. But of course it was an illusion—because if Vadim had a heart he kept it under lock and key, and she would never be so foolish as to fall for a playboy who viewed women as a means of entertainment. ‘I’m all in,’ she whispered as her dress slithered to the floor and his brilliant blue eyes blazed over her naked body.
‘I know,’ he said, and the unexpected gentleness in his voice tugged at Ella’s heart. Her eyes were huge in her delicate face, and she looked achingly vulnerable. He should have taken her to her room and bade her goodnight. But for reasons he refused to decipher he’d wanted her with him. She was shivering with cold, and he lifted her and carried her into the shower. ‘This will warm you up, and then you can sleep,’ he promised, smiling at her shocked expression when he picked up the bar of soap and began to smooth it over her breasts.
By the time Vadim had soaped every inch of her body, shampooed her hair and held her against him while the spray rinsed them both, Ella was tingling all over, and his ministrations with a towel caused molten heat to surge through her veins. The feeling of being cared for was dangerously beguiling, she acknowledged when he carried her through to the bedroom, slid into bed beside her and drew the sheet around them. They’d had fantastic sex, but it meant nothing to either of them, she reminded herself firmly. But when he drew her into his arms, so that her head was resting on his chest, a feeling of utter contentment stole over her and she fell asleep, unaware that he remained awake watching her for long into the night.
CHAPTER EIGHT
ELLA was awoken by the gentle breeze which stirred the voile curtains. The doors were ajar, revealing a cloudless blue sky, but her eyes were drawn to Vadim, who was standing on the balcony, staring out over the garden. He was dressed in a superbly tailored suit and looked devastatingly handsome, but his stern profile made him seem so remote and forbidding that it was almost impossible to believe he was the same man who had woken her just before dawn and made passionate love to her.
Just thinking about how skilfully he had aroused her with his hands and mouth made her blush, and as he turned and stepped into the bedroom she was acutely conscious that she was naked beneath the silk sheet.
‘What time is it?’ she murmured, wishing she knew the protocol for greeting the man you’d spent the night having great sex with, but who seemed to have turned into a stranger in the cold light of day.
He flicked back the sleeve of his jacket and glanced at his watch. ‘Just after eight.’
Ella gave a yelp as reality hit with a vengeance. ‘I have to be at rehearsals at nine. Gustav blows a fuse if any of the orchestra members are late.’ She jerked upright, the rosy colour in her cheeks deepening as she dislodged the sheet and Vadim’s eyes immediately dropped to her bare breasts.
‘Where are the rehearsals?’
‘Cadogan Hall, near Sloane Square,’ she mumbled as she snatched the sheet around her.
Vadim strolled over to the wall of wardrobes, opened a door and selected a robe from several that were hanging inside. ‘Here,’ he said, walking back to the bed and handing it to her. ‘It’ll probably swamp you. I’m afraid I don’t have anything in your petite size.’
‘Thank you.’ Ella took the robe and glanced across at the others in the wardrobe, startled by the realisation that he kept bathrobes in a variety of sizes—presumably for the occasions when he invited a woman to spend the night with him. It was extremely thoughtful of him, she reminded herself, trying to ignore the heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach that she was just another blonde who was passing through his bedroom.
‘My offices are not far from Cadogan Hall, so I can give you a lift. What time will you finish tonight?’
‘The orchestra will finish late afternoon, but I have additional rehearsals for my solo performance coming up in Paris, and I don’t suppose I’ll get away until at least six o’clock.’
Vadim shrugged. ‘Fine. I usually work until then. I’ll meet you at six-thirty for dinner. Do you want to go on somewhere afterwards? I’ll ask my secretary to arrange tickets if you’d like to see a show.’
Ella’s gaze flew once more to the selection of bathrobes he kept for his lovers. ‘I don’t think so,’ she said quietly. ‘In fact I think it would be better if we kept last night as a one-off. I don’t want to have an…an affair with you,’ she faltered, flushing when his piercing blue gaze settled thoughtfully on her face. She had the unnerving feeling that he could read the jumble of emotions whirling around her head. ‘Neither of us wants to be tied down in a relationship,’ she reminded him, despising herself for the way her heart rate quickened when he dropped down onto the bed and wound a few strands of her hair around his fingers.
‘I agree,’ he said coolly. ‘But surely the very fact that we have no desire for a relationship makes us ideal candidates for an affair? There’s nothing to stop us being lovers for as long as either one of us wants it to last. And besides,’ he murmured, his voice dropping to a deep, sensual tone that caressed her senses, ‘one night was not enough for either of us—was it, Ella?’
She gasped when he pushed her flat on her back, but the sound was smothered by his mouth as his head swooped and he claimed her lips in a fierce, hungry kiss that left her in no doubt that one night had not satisfied his desire for her. Last night had not been enough for her either, she thought despairingly. He only had to touch her and molten heat flooded through her veins, and the hot, restless ache in her pelvis made a mockery of her decision to distance herself from him.
Agreeing to an affair with him would only be dangerous if she allowed her emotions to become involved—but she would never do that, she assured herself. She knew what kind of a man he was, and that knowledge made her safe from him—so why not enjoy his s
exual expertise? whispered the reckless voice in her head.
When he pushed the sheet down and bent his head to take one dusky pink nipple into his mouth she could not restrain a soft moan, and she arched her back in mute invitation, sliding her hands into his silky black hair to hold him to the task of pleasuring her.
Vadim was tempted, desire corkscrewing through him when he kissed Ella again and felt the tentative foray of her tongue into his mouth. For the first time in his life he was actually contemplating putting pleasure before business. As head of his company, he answered to no one. He could spend all morning making love to Ella and turn up at his office at lunchtime if he pleased. But the realisation that she could exert some sort of hold over him brought his brows together in a slashing frown. No woman had ever caused him to change the way he ran his life. The company he had created from nothing was the most important thing in his life, and women were merely an entertaining distraction from his hectic work schedule—even this woman, he reminded himself fiercely.
Even so, it took all of his formidable willpower to ease the pressure of his lips from the moist softness of hers, and regret tugged in his gut when he lifted his head and sat up. ‘Forget going to the theatre; we’ll follow dinner with an early night,’ he drawled, his mouth curving into an amused smile when colour flared in her cheeks. He watched the confusion in her eyes slowly turn to frustration when she realised that the foreplay was not going to end with another mind-blowing sex session, and he felt a pang of sympathy that, like him, she was going to spend the day in a state of aching arousal. ‘But right now you have twenty minutes to get ready, or you’ll miss your lift,’ he informed her, ignoring her yelp of protest as he flicked back the sheet.
Ella hastily thrust her arms into the robe. ‘You think you’re God’s gift, don’t you?’ she snapped, incensed by his arrogance, and furious with herself for her shaming inability to resist him. She marched over to the door, but his mocking laughter followed her into the hallway.
‘I know I’m the only man who turns you on, angel face. And, more to the point, you know it too,’ he said softly.
Vadim’s taunt stayed with Ella all day, and for first time in her life she was unable to concentrate on her music—much to the wrath of the RLO’s conductor, Gustav, who expected perfection at all times.
‘Are you okay?’ Jenny asked her during a much-needed break. ‘You look pale.’
‘I didn’t get much sleep last night,’ Ella muttered, and then blushed scarlet at the memory of her energetic night with Vadim. Fortunately Jenny seemed not to notice.
‘The storm was awful, wasn’t it? Why don’t you tell Gustav you’re feeling unwell and need to go home?’
‘No, I can’t do that.’ Ella shook her head. ‘I’d never let the orchestra down, and anyway I need to practise for my solo concert. It’s only two weeks away, and I’m already nervous.’
By sheer effort of will she managed to get through the rest of the rehearsal without incurring more of Gustav’s sarcasm, but she was dismayed that Vadim had the power to affect the part of her life that she held sacrosanct. Music meant everything to her, and she could not contemplate an affair with him if it would be detrimental to her career. But when she walked out of Cadogan Hall and saw him leaning against his gunmetal grey Aston Martin, the painful jerk of her heart beneath her ribs made a mockery of her determination to play it cool with him.
‘Hi,’ she greeted him, striving to sound nonchalant.
The amused gleam in his eyes told her he was aware of her internal struggle. He moved with the grace of a big cat, slid his hand beneath her chin and claimed her mouth in a slow, drugging kiss that drove every thought from her mind other than the hot, pulsing need that had been simmering inside her all day. ‘How did rehearsals go?’
‘Badly,’ she muttered tersely, resenting the way one kiss weakened her so that she had to cling to him for support.
His sensual smile stole her breath. ‘My day wasn’t great either,’ he admitted, frowning when he recalled how memories of making love to Ella had interrupted his usually razor-sharp thought processes throughout the day. ‘Perhaps we were both distracted by the same fantasies.’
‘I don’t know what you mean,’ she said stiffly.
Vadim laughed and drew her so close against him that she could feel the tantalising hardness of his arousal nudge between her thighs. ‘I’ll tell you mine, and then you can tell me if yours were the same,’ he drawled, and proceeded to whisper the shockingly erotic daydreams that had plagued him, even during an important board meeting, so that Ella’s face was scarlet by the time he’d finished.
‘Were your thoughts along the same lines?’ he queried, his amused smile changing to an expression of sensual hunger when he felt the shiver of desire that ran through her. Ella couldn’t answer, her mind still filled with the image of him making love to her across his desk, and with a muttered oath he opened the car door and bundled her inside. ‘We’ll eat at a little Italian restaurant I know. The food’s excellent and, more importantly, the service is quick,’ he growled, the sultry gleam in his eyes leaving Ella in no doubt that dinner would be followed by the early night he had promised that morning.
The food at the Trattoria Luciano was as good as Vadim had promised, but Ella barely tasted her chicken cacciatore, and, despite having only eaten a couple of apples at lunchtime, her appetite had deserted her. Throughout the meal she could not tear her eyes from Vadim, and although he did better justice to his lasagne al forno he did not finish it, and gulped down his glass of red wine before he took her hand and practically dragged her from the restaurant.
He did not say a word on the drive back to Kingfisher House, his tension so tangible that Ella began to think that she had annoyed him in some way. But no sooner had she stepped out of the Aston Martin than he swept her into his arms and strode purposefully into the house.
‘You have been on my mind all day,’ he admitted harshly as he took the stairs two at a time, shouldered open the door to the bedroom and dropped her onto the bed.
He came down on top of her and captured her mouth in a searing kiss that sent liquid heat flooding through her veins. She was on fire for him instantly, and when she tugged at his shirt buttons and ran her hands over the crisp dark hairs that covered his chest she knew from the erratic thud of his heart that he shared her desperation to experience the tumultuous passion they had shared the previous night.
Her clothes, his, were a barrier he swiftly removed, and he paused only to don protection before he pushed her legs apart and found the moist heat of her femininity with unerring fingers.
‘Did you think about me today, Ella?’ he growled against her skin, before he closed his lips around the taut peak of her nipple and suckled her until she gasped with pleasure. ‘Did you think about this?’
‘This’ was him sliding one finger and then two deep inside her, and caressing her until she hovered on the edge of ecstasy. ‘Yes,’ she groaned, knowing that it was pointless to deny it when he could feel the slick wetness of her arousal. During rehearsals she had struggled to concentrate on playing her violin because her mind had insisted on reliving every glorious moment of his lovemaking the previous night. Nothing had ever come between her and her music, and she was dismayed by the level of her fascination with Vadim, but right now nothing mattered except that he should possess her.
‘Please…’ She gripped his silky dark hair when he lowered his head to her other breast and flicked his tongue across its dusky crest. She hadn’t known that she was capable of this level of need, and she held her breath when he positioned himself over her and entered her with a hard, deep thrust that caused her vaginal muscles to convulse around him.
He was her man, and she belonged to him for all time. The words thundered in her head in time with the rhythm of his body as he drove into her again and again, and when he covered her mouth with his she responded to his kiss with an uncontrollable passion that blew his mind.
It couldn’t last. His hunger fo
r her was too intense for a leisurely seduction, and he increased his pace, thrusting deeper still and filling her so completely that she arched beneath him and cried out as pleasure crashed over her in a shattering orgasm. The feel of her internal muscles tightening around his shaft was too much for Vadim, and he fought briefly for control, lost it spectacularly, and felt a shudder run through his powerful body as it experienced the sexual release it craved.
Afterwards, when their breathing had finally slowed and he’d rolled off her, she kept her eyes tightly closed, feeling suddenly embarrassed at her wanton response to him.
His rough laughter grazed her skin. ‘It’s too late to be shy now, angel face. I knew the moment we met that you would be a wildcat in bed,’ he added in a satisfied tone. It was the truth, Vadim mused as he swung his legs over the side of the bed and headed for the en suite bathroom. That night in Paris he had been shocked by his powerful attraction to Ella, and by the instinctive feeling that they were destined to be lovers. But the idea that she was his woman and his alone was a dangerous one.
He did not want a relationship with her, he reminded himself. Undoubtedly his desire for her would soon pall, and then he would walk away from her—just as he had done with his many previous mistresses. There was no place in his heart for Ella, only in his bed, and the fact that her soft grey eyes and shy smile tugged at his insides was all the more reason to remember the vow he had made after Irina had died, that he would never allow any woman to touch his emotions again.
When Vadim emerged from the bathroom Ella assumed he would rejoin her in bed, but to her disappointment he crossed to the wardrobe, took out jeans and a shirt and proceeded to dress. ‘I have to work for a couple of hours,’ he explained when he caught her confused expression. ‘Why don’t you catch up on some sleep? I’ll be up later.’
Ruthless Russian, Lost Innocence Page 11
