Sydney, the Temptress (The Delaneys of Killaroo)

by Fayrene Preston

  “Ethics have never bothered me overly much.” He came up out of the chair to cross the room and stand before her. “And I like the way you say Nicholas.” He touched her cheek softly. “You’re angry with me.”

  His touch sent warmth rushing through her. She ignored it. “How do you know that? You couldn’t possibly have had time to talk to Mike. I just left him.”

  “I saw the look you gave me from the casino floor. You have spirit, Sydney Delaney.”

  “And you have no manners, Nicholas Charron. Where do you get off sending for a woman as if she were some item on the room service menu?”

  “In the past, that’s all it has meant to me.”

  His stark honesty took her breath away.

  “In the past,” he repeated softly. “With you, there’s a brand-new slate just begging to be written on, and I can’t wait to begin.”

  An emotion she couldn’t label clogged her throat to the point that she had to clear it before she spoke. “Why?”

  “When I find out, I’ll let you know.”

  “I won’t be sent for, Nicholas, and I won’t be continuously watched.”

  “Solve the problem, Sydney. Stay with me.”

  She had never known such a frustrating man, or such an exciting man. She had to fight against her stutter. “Do you always do exactly as you please?”

  “Always.” While she pondered his answer he pushed his hands into his pockets and threw an idle glance around the room. “This is one of our smallest rooms. I don’t think I ever realized how small until I sat here, waiting for you.”

  “It’s fine for my purposes.”

  “Purposes? I suppose you’re talking about winning the five hundred thousand dollars.”

  She nodded, trying to calculate if she could make it around him to the other side of the room without brushing against him. She decided she couldn’t, so she stayed where she was, willing her composure back into place.

  “I’ll make you a deal. Tell me why you want five hundred thousand dollars, and I’ll never again send for you.”

  Unexpectedly she smiled, a smile as lovely and as secretive as Mona Lisa’s, a smile that told him nothing but tempted him to move mountains to find out the secrets held within that smile. Her smile stunned him almost as much as what she said next.

  “I’ll tell you this much, the money is for a man.”

  He moved away.

  Relief that he was no longer so close to her quickly faded as he reached his long arm across the bed and picked up the nightgown she had laid out earlier. Pale gold in color, it slid across his hands with sensuous ease.

  The color would make her skin lustrous, Nicholas thought. And if a man ran his hands across her skin to the silk gown, he would hardly know where material began and skin stopped.

  “Tell me, Sydney, why five hundred thousand dollars? Why not six or four?”

  The pale gold of her gown against the burnished copper skin-tone of his hands had her swallowing hard. The sight of such a hard, masculine man holding such a feminine garment—hers—set her nerves quivering with an excitement that she had trouble banking down.

  “I’ve told you all I intend to on that subject. It’s a private matter.”

  He held up the gown, put his face into it, and inhaled. When he raised his head, his eyes were almost black. “You smell like flowers at dawn that are just beginning to open their petals to the sensual warmth of the day.”

  Heat in her lower limbs made her legs go weak. She told herself that she had to do something to regain control of the situation. “How would you know what flowers smell like at dawn? I understand you never see the sun. You come out only at night, like some... some sort of vampire.”

  He laughed warmly, fully. Then he crossed to her and wrapped the nightgown around her neck so that she could feel its silken smoothness on the exposed nape. “The truth is, I like the night. Everything is gentler, more muted at night. Scars are less easily seen at night.”

  Using the nightgown, he slowly pulled her body forward until her breasts were pressed against his chest and her stomach was experiencing the pressure of the hard muscles of his lower abdomen. “But there’s also something else you need to consider, Sydney, because maybe there could be another truth at work here. Maybe I am a vampire. Maybe I need to drink from your innocence and your passion to live.” His next words were murmured barely above a whisper. “If you find that is the truth, what will you do? Will you run?”

  Silk... silk around her neck... words spoken with the sensuality of silk... his breath as soft as silk on her mouth. It was too much for her. “N-n-no. O-o-of course not.”

  A strange light came and went in his eyes, but Sydney didn’t see it. Her eyes were on his lips. and when they touched hers, she began to ache deeply, exquisitely.

  Nicholas’s head swam with her closeness. His body told him to take quickly. But his mind remembered her stutter, and a tenderness he had never before used with a woman took over. The nightgown slipped from his hands as he tempered his passion; he withheld his strength, and instead, with his lips, with his tongue, let the desire flow slowly and softly. He didn’t attempt to swamp her with his finesse. And a floodtide of sweetness came rushing back at him.

  Sweet passion. It was something he had never before experienced. It was a sweetness that he would enjoy savoring... for a week... for a month... maybe even longer.

  “N-N-Nicholas.”

  He lifted his head and looked down at her. With the effects of his kiss still on her lips, she appeared even more beautiful. But her eyes held a wounded look and he understood. He understood so much now.

  She walked as far away from him as the size of the room would allow. “You shouldn’t have done that.” There was a slight quiver in her voice, but if he heard it, he gave no indication.

  Instinctively he knew that if he gave ground now, he would never get it back. “You mean kiss you?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette. Taking his time, he lit it. “Why not? It was very nice. I enjoyed it. You enjoyed it.”

  “I—”

  “You what, Sydney? You didn’t enjoy it? There’s simply no way you’ll make me believe that. So tell me something else.”

  With shaking fingers she attempted to smooth her hair back into place, pushing at it in annoyance until she finally gave up.

  “Th-th-that’s just it, Nicholas! Words don’t seem to mean anything to you. Or maybe I should change that to I don’t say the words that make you listen.”

  Regarding her steadily, he took a final drag on the cigarette and crushed it out. Then he came to her and with a practiced motion swept all the pins from her hair until the glossy, plum-colored mass came tumbling down around her shoulders. “What is it, Sydney, that you think I want to hear?”

  “You want to hear yes.”

  “Oh, you’ll say yes to me, Sydney. There’s not a doubt in my mind. You’ll cry yes. You’ll shout yes. And it will be soon.”

  “H-h-hasn’t any woman ever said no to you, Nicholas?”

  He smiled. “Before you there have been no other women.”

  “Now it’s my turn to tell you that I don’t believe you. It’s well known that—”

  “Everything you’ve ever heard about me is probably true, Sydney. I want you to know that now.”

  She shook her head. “Y-y-you say the most extraordinary things. I don’t know what to believe.”

  He took her face between his hands and looked deep into her golden eyes. “Believe this. I will kiss you again... and again... and again. And then you will ask me for more.”

  Three

  Three nights had passed since Sydney had found Nicholas waiting in her room. At times she knew he was above her in his control room, watching her, but she was learning to handle his surveillance without letting it bother her too much. In some ways his unseen presence helped her, perhaps because she felt she had something to prove to him—that he didn’t affect her concentration and that she was indeed going to win five hundred thousand dolla
rs from his casino.

  But whatever the reason, she could actually concentrate on her gambling now, and the best part was that she was winning larger and larger amounts. She was pleased. Her plan was going well.

  Only a very small part of her wondered why Nicholas had decided to leave her alone. And she tried to convince herself it was merely mild curiosity that made her want to know.

  * * *

  Mike entered the control room and shut the door behind him. His eyes searched out and found the dark man who had been his friend for most of his adult life standing by the monitors. He crossed to stand beside him.

  Mike didn’t need to check the screen to know whom Nicholas was watching. “How’s the beautiful Sydney this evening?”

  Nicholas took a moment to light a cigarette. “Beautiful.”

  “That she is. Men are standing in line to gamble at whichever table she chooses. I’m afraid one of these nights I’m going to have a fight on my hands.”

  Nicholas’s lips barely curved into a smile. With the hand that held his cigarette he gestured toward her. “She’s winning.”

  “She told you she would.”

  “Sydney’s good. She’s very good and getting better every night. I just wish...”

  “You just wish what? That she were like so many other women who have fallen into your arms for a night, then left the next morning with barely a protest? No, you don’t.”

  Nicholas shot Mike a narrow look, then grinned reluctantly. Taking advantage of Nicholas’s momentary attention, Mike said, “Mandarin’s out.”

  The grin left his face with a suddenness that would have shocked anyone else but Mike. “Where is she?”

  “Hong Kong.”

  Nicholas’s gaze returned to the monitor that showed a full view of the table where Sydney sat. “Is Mandarin all right?”

  “She’s fighting an infection she picked up in that hellhole of a prison. But word is that soon she’ll be coming for you.”

  Nicholas smiled, this time without humor. “I didn’t expect anything less of her. Does she know yet that Josh is dead?”

  “I don’t know, but I want you to listen to me. I’ve beefed up security, and I expect you to cooperate. As long as you stay on the island, I can protect you.”

  “Why bother trying? Mandarin’s had ten years to plan her revenge. She’ll succeed.”

  A young man appeared at Mike’s side. Mike took a clipboard from him and scrawled his name across the bottom of the paper that was attached to it. Handing it back with a dismissive nod, he waited until the young man was out of earshot. “You lived in the East too long, Nick. There’s a streak of fatalism in you.”

  “I am a part of all I have seen.”

  “I was there with you, remember?”

  This time the humor came up behind Nicholas’s smile. “Thank God you were. We had some exciting times.”

  “Yeah. I have to admit that I miss it sometimes. This is all rather tame compared. Although”—his eyes lit up at the sight of a petite blonde just walking into the casino—“it does have its benefits.”

  Nicholas chuckled and moved to the wide sheet of one-way mirror. “I just know you’re speaking of the Great Barrier Reef.”

  “Of course I am.” His eyes stayed on the blonde as she threaded her way through the crowd, finally stopping at the bar that was separated from the area where the actual gambling took place. When Mike at last looked away from the monitor and spoke, his tone was thoughtful. “But how about you, old friend? You have the power and the money to live exactly as you want, but don’t you ever miss it all? The adventure? The danger?”

  Nicholas’s gaze rested briefly on Mike before returning to the casino floor below and to Sydney Delaney. “Not really. I put my time in with the human race. And for now at least, I choose to bring only select parts of the world to me. Until lately...”

  Mike followed Nicholas’s gaze. “Until lately, what?”

  With a quickness of movement that Mike had never gotten used to, Nicholas wheeled from the window and headed for the door. “Nick, where are you going?” Mike called. “Nicholas! Where are you going?”

  “Sydney hates to be sent for, so I’m going to her.”

  Mike gazed after Nicholas, utter astonishment written on his face. “He’s going to her? Well, I’ll be damned!”

  * * *

  The impact of Nicholas’s presence rushed through the casino like a tidal wave, growing stronger and picking up speed as person after person turned to stare at his progress across the room.

  Sydney became aware that something unusual was happening when the competent, deft hands of her dealer faltered, then ceased their motion altogether. Glancing up in puzzlement, she found the young man’s mouth had dropped open. Unable to resist, she twisted around to see if she could find out what had so stunned the usually unflappable dealer.

  Her gaze collided with that of Nicholas’s, and unable to control it, her heart leaped. Of course, she thought. She should have known. And she should have admitted to herself that she had been waiting for him....

  “Good evening, Sydney. Winning some more of my money, I see.”

  “I’m trying. What are you doing?”

  “I’m about to ask you to have dinner with me.” As if he had just become aware of the attention his appearance had caused, he lasered a glance around the room, sending his dealers back to their work.

  Sydney couldn’t help but smile at the reaction Nicholas commanded. The power of the man was evident, and in a room where there were a number of tuxedos, he wore his tuxedo with an ease and sophistication that made him stand out. “Isn’t this a little out of your neighborhood, Nicholas?”

  His dark brown eyes became fixed on her mouth. “You know, if Leonardo DaVinci were alive today, he would send Mona Lisa home and paint you instead.”

  “R-r-really?” Oh, hell! she thought. Why did he have to say such extraordinary things?

  In response to a barely seen motion of Nicholas’s hand, Sai materialized before them, seemingly from nowhere. “Cash Miss Delaney out and credit her account.”

  Sydney cast Nicholas a surprised look. “But I’m not ready to quit playing!”

  He leaned toward her and said softly, “Come on, let me take you to dinner while I’ve still got some money.”

  She found the curve of his lips awfully attractive, and suddenly she was in an exceedingly good mood. After all, he had come to her instead of sending for her, and she had been winning a great deal of his money and planned to win more. Why not go to dinner? she asked herself, all the while knowing exactly why she shouldn’t. The man represented a danger to her.

  “Where?”

  “That’s up to you. We have three restaurants to choose from, or we could go upstairs to the suite.”

  Some choice, she thought, allowing humor to enter into the situation—a nervous stomach caused by eating alone with him, or a nervous stomach caused by curious people watching them eat. At least, though, he had given her a choice.

  “I don’t fancy being the brunt of people’s stares. Let’s eat in your suite.”

  * * *

  Sydney wondered if Nicholas always had candles lit, and she wondered about the other women who had sat where she was sitting. She wondered how many there had been, and she wondered if he had made them feel as special as he was making her feel.

  The dining area was three levels up from the main floor. The table at which they dined was next to the window and was inlaid with onyx and rimmed with malachite; the surface of the table was polished to such a high degree that everything reflected off it as if the table were a still pond.

  She let her gaze drift around the rest of the room, and almost immediately her attention was caught by the crystal swan she had noticed the first time she had been in the room.

  She nodded toward the piece. “You moved the swan. The other night it was on the table by the wall.”

  He paused in the act of pouring himself another glass of wine. “That’s right. How did you remem
ber that?”

  She didn’t want to admit to having a photographic memory, because she didn’t want to get into the subject of how she was using it to help her win at blackjack. “It’s unusual, and I have a good memory.”

  He regarded her steadily. “Do you?”

  “It’s truly beautiful, but I have to admit that I like your black swans more.”

  He set the wine bottle down. “Then you’ve been to see them?”

  “Every afternoon. I’ve grown very attached to them. They’re the first black swans I’ve ever seen other than in picture books. When I was a little girl, it was a fantasy of mine to actually see them fly.” She smiled self-consciously. “I suppose it was because we didn’t have any black swans where I grew up.”

  “And where was that?”

  “On a sheep station called Killaroo.”

  “Really? Tell me, what’s it like to grow up on a sheep station?”

  She laughed. “It was wonderful. My two sisters and I considered Killaroo our own private wonderland. We were constantly finding new and exciting things to do. I have two truly extraordinary sisters. Manda can talk anybody into anything, and Addie doesn’t even have to try. Her mere presence is enough to cause people to fall under her spell.”

  “It stands to reason that you’d have remarkable sisters, since you’re so unique yourself.”

  “Me?”

  “You don’t see it, do you?” he murmured. “You have my men ready to kill for you. And since you’ve been at the casino, the house odds have increased dramatically. No man within ten feet of you can keep his mind on gambling. Your beauty stuns, Sydney, while your innocence draws.”

  His dark gaze rested on her with remarkable possession, and she reacted. “I’m not an innocent.”

  “Compared to me you are.”

  “Something tells me that compared to you the Marquis de Sade would be an innocent.” The minute she said it, she knew it was a bad joke, and she wished with all her heart for the ability to take the words back.

  With great gentleness he took her hand. “I’ve already told you that everything you’ve ever heard about me is true, Sydney, but try not to judge me too harshly.”