She glanced up at him. ‘You’re back,’ she murmured, and moved to give him space. And then he saw the stain. He paused for a moment, then stretched out by her side. He swept a few strands of hair from her face, his expression sombre.
‘You are sure I didn’t hurt you?’
The touch of Zac’s hand on her head and the warmth of his body reached out to Sally, and she lifted her eyes to his. For a moment she could have sworn she saw a look of uncertainty in the liquid depths.
‘I am fine, honestly.’
‘Damn it, Sally!’ He scowled ‘Do you have to say fine to everything?’
‘What do you want me to say?’ she asked teasingly. ‘You were a magnificent lover and I only wish I had known what I was missing, then I would not have waited so long?’ She tried a smile, ridiculously pleased he was back in bed with her.
‘You should have told me you were a virgin.’
Zac actually sounded aggrieved, and out of nowhere Sally was reminded of all the countless times her mother had tried to appease her father in the past—anything to keep him longer at her side. And she was in danger of doing the same.
Suddenly an icy touch of reality pierced the mindless sexual cocoon that Zac had woven around her.
How like a man to make out it was the woman’s fault…Then she remembered why she was there.
‘What difference would it have made?’ she demanded, and sat up, crossing her arms over her chest. If the coverlet had been anywhere to be seen she would have wrapped herself in it. She was here at Zac’s command, because of what her father had done, and she would not forget again.
‘Basically, you are paying my father for me to be your mistress.’ She shot him a cold, derisory glance. ‘I did try to warn you I might be bad at the job. So don’t blame me if you got less than you bargained for.’
His ruggedly attractive face darkened with anger, his lips drawing back from his teeth. ‘You’re right,’ he said tightly. ‘It makes no difference at all.’ His hand snaked out and caught a handful of her hair. ‘As for being bad…you are a very bright lady and you will soon learn everything you need to know to please me.’
Their eyes met, and she gasped at the predatory look she saw in his, but it was not fear she felt but an atavistic desire.
He jerked her head down and her heart beat out of control as his mouth took hers in a fierce, possessive kiss. His hands dropped to her waist and he lifted her to straddle his thighs—and what followed was like nothing that had gone before…
She fell forward and put her hands out, either side of him, to stop herself ending up splayed against his chest. Her hair falling around her shoulders, she looked at him through her lashes, seeing the barely controlled hunger in his eyes.
‘Stay like that.’ The command was harsh, guttural, and, raising his head, he licked each pouting nipple with devastating effect. Fierce arrows of pleasure shot from her breast to her pelvis. She felt his hands running up and down her spine, his great body pressing up into her. She was amazed that he could arouse her so instantly after what they had just shared. Dropping her head, she brushed her lush, swollen lips against his and kissed him, her tongue exploring his mouth with a feverish delight that he immediately reciprocated. Suddenly he grasped her hair and pulled her head back.
‘No more,’ he rasped, his black eyes searing into her.
His strong hands lifted her hips and she felt the power of his erection pulsing between her thighs.
‘I want to watch you—see the passion in your incredible eyes as you come for me.’
Sally closed her eyes to block out his dark, compelling gaze, a low moan escaping her as he positioned her to accept him. Her head fell back as he thrust up into her, the white-hot flames of passion growing as he lifted her, twisted her, bucked beneath her, driving her wild with the force of her need. She was oblivious to everything but his scent, his power, and the achingly exquisite pleasure, and she cried out as she shuddered helplessly, her body convulsing around him.
Still he did not stop. He reared up and without breaking contact placed her legs either side of his thighs. His hands flattened against her back, so her breasts were crushed against the hardness of his chest, and he took her mouth in deep marauding kiss that incredibly drove her higher again.
He demanded and she gave, their bodies locked together in a mutual, desperate, primitive mating. They kissed, they clawed, and finally he spun her beneath him. He paused and held her once again on the edge of ecstasy, his face a taut, dark mask of rigid control, his black eyes burning into hers.
‘Please…’ She groaned his name. ‘Zac…’
‘At last,’ he growled, and thrust deeper and faster, until the fire of passion finally burned out of control, consuming them both.
For a long time the only sound in the stillness of the room was Zac’s rasping breath. He lay with his head over her shoulder, his weight pinning her to the bed. Later Sally would hate him, and probably herself, but right now she hadn’t the strength.
‘Sorry…’ he murmured, and rolled off her to lie at her side. ‘I’m too heavy for you.’
And she had the oddest notion that the latter comment had been added as an afterthought. His sorry had been an apology for what had just exploded between them.
She didn’t bother answering. She had been exhausted before Zac arrived, and now she was exhausted in a different and amazing way, her body sated and at rest. She didn’t think she could even lift her head. Her heavy lids drifted over her eyes. All she wanted was sleep. She felt an arm reach around her shoulder and her eyes flew open.
‘Sally, are—?’
She cut in. ‘If you are going to ask me if I am okay, don’t bother. I’m fine.’
But she was shocked and, yes, slightly ashamed. She didn’t recognise the totally uninhibited woman she had become in response to Zac’s expert lovemaking.
‘You fulfilled your promise to be great in bed more than I could have possibly imagined,’ she told him truthfully. After all, she had almost begged him at the last…his apologies were not necessary. ‘But I really am too tired for any more tonight, so take your arm off me—you’re wasting your time.’
His arm was withdrawn, and she felt strangely bereft.
‘I was only going to cuddle you. Most women, I believe, like that sort of thing.’
‘Well, you should know—you have had plenty of experience. Thanks, but no thanks.’ She forced herself to look up at him; he was watching her, a dark, brooding expression on his hard face. ‘All I want to do is sleep, so if you wouldn’t mind leaving now…’
‘I could run a bath for you. It will help you relax.’
‘If I was any more relaxed I’d be unconscious. Please, Zac, just go. It must be late, and I have to be up for work in the morning.’
He slid off the bed and stood looking down at her. ‘If you are sure I can’t do anything for you?’
He’d done more than enough, Sally thought, but didn’t say it. ‘No—except close the door on your way out.’ And she closed her eyes to block him from her view, because he actually looked and sounded as if he cared, which she knew he did not.
She listened to the muffled sounds of him dressing. She felt him place the coverlet gently over her and brush his lips against her cheek, and heard his murmured, ‘Sleep well, Sally, and I’ll see you tomorrow.’ She didn’t open her eyes. ‘We have a deal, remember?’
She heard his footsteps on the wooden floor, and the door closing.
When she was sure Zac was gone Sally opened her eyes and slipped out of bed to pad along to the bathroom. She turned on the shower and stood under the soothing spray—except it did not soothe her. The events of the evening played over and over in her tired mind.
Zac and his ultimatum: become his mistress or watch her father destroyed. The amazing experience of making love—no, not love but lust. And Zac’s reminder when he left that they had a deal.
All that and the actual reality of her life combined together to almost defeat her.
&n
bsp; Overcome by a complex mixture of emotions, she felt the tears leak from her eyes. She cried for her mum and for herself until she had no tears left. Finally she turned off the shower, dried her eyes and her body, and walked back to bed. She withdrew a clean sheet from a cupboard in the unit, and changed the bedlinen. Then she took a cotton nightdress from a drawer, slipped it over her head and crawled into bed. She curled up into a ball and fell into a deep, blessedly dreamless sleep of sheer exhaustion.
Chapter Nine
SALLY blinked and opened her eyes. The brilliant rays of the morning sun shining through the window had woken her. Good, the rain from last night had stopped and the sky was a perfect blue, she noted, and stretched her limbs prior to getting out of bed. Then she remembered, as muscles she had not known she had screamed in protest.
She closed her eyes again, in a futile attempt to block out what had happened. But it was no good. A vivid image of Zac’s naked body poised over hers flashed in her mind: the moment he’d possessed her, and her own avid response not once but again and again. Her nipples tightened at the memory. She had almost begged him to take her the last time…Ashamed at her own reaction, she leapt out of bed and dashed to the bathroom.
Showered and dressed in a green button-through shirt-style dress in easy-care cotton, bought from a High Street department store, she made and drank a cup of coffee and ate a bowl of cornflakes. She washed the china in the sink and stood it on the draining board. Then, taking her keys off the hook on the wall, she put them in her taupe leather shoulder bag. She slipped her feet into flat matching sandals and, flinging the chain strap of her bag over her shoulder, she headed for the door.
The ringing of the telephone stopped her in her tracks. Her heart sank. Please not my mother, she prayed, and answered the phone.
‘Good morning, Sally,’ a deep husky voice drawled in her ear, setting every nerve in her body on edge. Oh, no! she groaned silently. Zac.
‘Good morning,’ she said stiffly. ‘What do you want? And make it fast—I am on my way to work.’
‘You know what I want, Sally. You,’ he delivered, with a deep throaty chuckle. ‘But for now I will settle for knowing what time you finish work. I will pick you up.’
‘That isn’t necessary,’ she snapped, and was glad he could not see her blush. ‘I will be back here by seven-thirty at the latest.’
‘Not good enough…What time, Sally?’ he demanded, all humour banished from his tone.
Reluctantly she told him five-thirty, and hung up.
Zac had done his homework and discovered that the museum staff usually left by a side exit door with a short flight of steps leading down to the pavement. He parked the black Bentley Coupe on the opposite side of the road and checked the time: five minutes to go. Leaping out, he leant casually against the passenger side of the car, his legs crossed at the ankles, and waited. He was totally unaware of the admiring glances cast his way by the passing female population, his whole attention focused on the exit.
He saw Sally the moment she walked out of the door, and he swept his gaze leisurely over her even as his groin tightened in instant response at the sight of her. She was wearing a simple jade-green dress, and the evening sun glinted gold on her red hair, looped in a knot of curls on top of her head. She was a vision in green and gold and she was all his…But not tonight. He was determined to keep his libido in check.
Sally was new to sex and she needed time to recover and to come to terms with what had happened between them. He had not been the most sensitive of lovers, certainly not the second time, and though the sex had been incredible he wasn’t exactly proud of the fact.
The beginnings of a smile curled his lips but quickly turned to a frown as he realised she was not alone. A tall, blond-haired man, impeccably dressed and carrying a briefcase, was at her side. Sally stopped on the bottom step, and the man said something to her that made her laugh. He flicked a stray curl from her face and kissed her cheek, then turned and strolled away with a wave.
Sally waved goodbye to her boss and turned to step down onto the pavement. She glanced to left and right. With a bit of luck Zac would be waiting at the front of the building and she could avoid him a little longer, she thought, still smiling. Then she glanced across the road and her heart missed a beat.
Zac was leaning with negligent ease against the side of a black convertible. Tall, his olive-toned skin sun-kissed to a deep gold, his black hair dishevelled, he was wearing navy trousers and a pale blue shirt, with a cashmere sweater draped across his broad shoulders.
How was it, she wondered, that Italian men had a way with casual clothes like no other nationality? He looked every inch the Italian tycoon, and pure alpha male. He made no move to approach her, but simply lifted a hand in greeting…or was it a command? Either way, it made no difference. Her choice had been made last night, and she walked across the road and stopped in front of him.
‘Hello…’ Lifting her chin, she connected with his dark eyes and said inanely, ‘I see you found me okay.’ Suddenly she was having difficulty breathing as his virile sexuality hit her like a blow to the heart. Not twenty-four hours ago she had been naked in bed with this man, behaving in a previously unimaginable way. Her cheeks turned pink at the thought.
‘Did you doubt it?’ he asked, with an arrogant arch of one ebony brow.
‘No, no…’ she murmured, taking a step back just as a car whizzed past.
Two strong hands grasped her waist and swung her high off the ground, dropping her into the passenger seat of the convertible. ‘Sit down before you get knocked down,’ he said, and, crossing to the driver’s side, he slid in beside her. He made no effort to start the car.
He turned to look at her, one hand on the steering wheel, the other arm draped along the back of the soft leather seat.
‘So who is the blond guy?’
Sally frowned, thoroughly flustered and not sure what he was talking about. No hello, no kiss…Not that she wanted one, of course…Just a snapped question.
‘I asked who was the man that kissed you goodbye.’
‘Oh, you mean Charles—my boss.’
‘I might have guessed. A kind, caring boss, I seem to recall you telling me. Now I know why. He wants you for himself.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. He is a thoroughly decent man, and friendly with all his staff.’
‘I bet he does not kiss them all,’ he drawled derisively. ‘Dio, Sally, you can’t be that naïve.’ He shook his dark head. ‘He is a man, and you are a very beautiful woman he sees every day at work. You must know he lusts after you.’
‘You are totally wrong—he is a happily married man with a child.’ For an instant Sally wondered if Zac was jealous…
‘As is your father, and according to you it never stopped him.’
‘That is a horrible thing to say—but coming from you it does not surprise me.’
He wasn’t jealous. He was simply being his usual arrogant self, presuming every man’s motives were as basic as his own.
‘Charles is a happy, totally committed married man, proud of his family—and I know because I have met his wife and daughter on countless occasions. So drop this pointless conversation and drive on. You’re blocking the traffic,’ she snapped, oddly dispirited by his attitude.
Zac was not convinced. He knew his fellow men. Married or single, few if any would be unaware of a woman as exquisite as Sally. Even Raffe, his assistant, happily married for five years, had taken one look at her, his eyes lighting up, and declared her gorgeous.
He started the car and smoothly pulled out into the rush-hour traffic. He glanced sidelong at Sally and saw again the sadness in her expression. He could have kicked himself for being such a callous idiot.
The first time they had met he had been irritated by the way she had virtually ignored him, but now he realised that, thanks to her father’s ill-conceived behaviour and her mother’s illness, she unconsciously dismissed any man who showed an interest in her. If last night had taught him anyth
ing it was that Sally truly was an innocent, and naïve when it came to men—hardly surprising, given she worked for a living and spent most of her free time visiting her mother.
The silence between them stretched and stretched, and even with bustle of the city all around them Sally was beginning to get nervous. ‘Where are we going?’ she finally asked, as the car stopped at some traffic lights.
‘I know a nice restaurant on the south coast overlooking the sea, about an hour’s drive from here.’
‘We are going out?’
Somehow she’d thought he would take her straight back to her apartment, but obviously not. So he could not be in that much of a hurry to get her back into bed.
‘Good,’ Sally murmured, and squashed the little devil voice in her brain that suggested otherwise.
‘Unless, of course, you had something else in mind? I’m easy…’ Zac drawled, giving her a lazy, sensuous smile that made her all too aware of what he was suggesting.
‘No, the seaside sounds great. I used to live by the sea until I moved to London to work. And after mum’s accident the house in Bournemouth was sold.’ She frowned. ‘Actually, when I think about it I have not been to the beach in over a year.’
They ate dinner on the terrace of a restaurant perched on a hilltop, overlooking a small cove where a few fishermen’s cottages surrounded the beach.
Sally chose pâté as a starter, as did Zac, and he ordered lobster with salad for the main course, followed by summer pudding and coffee.
They shared a bottle of wine, and Zac quizzed her about her childhood and her days as a student. She did the same, and discovered his parents had actually died when he was one. Far from being born with a silver spoon in his mouth, as she had thought, she was amazed when he told her he had spent his early years in an orphanage and worked for every single cent he had made. Some of his stories were funny, like the one about his abortive attempt to make his own olive oil, and how he had finally called in an expert. He made her laugh, and for once she allowed herself to relax.
Untamed Italian, Blackmailed Innocent Page 10
