‘The old hospital, which was frankly far from perfect, was largely destroyed some time ago in a storm. I made sure that it was rebuilt to the highest specification. The infrastructure here is not complex but it is essential it all works. The locals depend on exporting produce, and naturally on some tourism. The tourists, in particular, are the wealthy sort who expect things to run like clockwork. Including the hospital, should one of them decide to take ill.’ He grinned. ‘There’s nothing more obnoxious than a rich tourist who finds himself inconvenienced.’
‘And I’m guessing you don’t include yourself in that category?’ Katy teased. Their eyes met; butterflies fluttered in her tummy and her heart lurched. They hadn’t had a chance to talk about what had happened because she had disappeared off to her own quarters, and here they were now, caught up in unexpected circumstances.
She had no idea whether this was something that would be more than a one-night stand. She hoped it was. She had connected with him and she would feel lost if the connection were abruptly to be cut. It panicked her to think like that but she had to be honest with herself and admit that Lucas was not the man she had originally thought he was. He still remained the last person on earth she could ever contemplate having an emotional relationship with, but he had shown her the power of a sexual relationship and, like a starving person suddenly led to a banquet, she didn’t want the experience to end. Just yet.
But nothing had been said and she wasn’t going to engineer round to the conversation.
‘Do you think I’m obnoxious?’ Lucas questioned softly and she blushed and squirmed, so very aware of those dark eyes fastened to her face.
‘My opinion of you has changed,’ Katy admitted, thinking back to the ice-cold man who had forced her hand for the sake of a deal. She thought that her opinion also kept changing. She didn’t want to dwell on that, so instead she changed the subject. ‘What about Maria? When will we find out what the outcome is?’
‘There’s every chance it will be a positive one.’ Lucas glanced at his watch. ‘I personally know the surgeon and there’s no one better. I’ve contacted her family, who will be in the waiting area, and as soon as the operation is over I’ve asked to be called. I don’t anticipate any problems at all. However...’
‘However?’
‘It does mean that there will be a small change of plan.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘We will no longer be based on the yacht. For a start, without Maria around, there will be no one to attend to the cooking and all the other little things she takes care of, and it’s too late to find a replacement who can stay on board. So we’ll have to relocate to my villa. I can get someone to come in on a daily basis and, furthermore, I will be on hand in case there are any complications following surgery.’
He paused. ‘Maria worked for my father before he...began steadily going off the rails. My mother was very fond of her, so I’ve made sure to look out for her and her family, and also made sure to carry on employing her in some capacity when my father’s various wives decided that they would rather have somewhat smarter people holding the fort in the various properties.’
His mobile phone buzzed and he held up one hand as he spoke in rapid Italian to the consultant, the concerned lines on his face quickly smoothing over in reaction to whatever was being said on the other end.
‘All’s gone according to plan,’ he said. ‘But, had she not reached the hospital when she did, then it would have been quite a different story. Now, why don’t you wait here while I have a word with some of her family? I won’t be long. I’ll also arrange for your clothes and possessions to be transported to the villa.’ He looked at her, head tilted to one side, then he patted his pocket. ‘You can call your parents, if you like,’ he said gruffly. ‘I’ve been checking your phone, and I see that they’ve taken you at your word and not texted, but I expect they’d like to hear from you.’
He handed over the phone and her eyes shone, because more than anything else this demonstrated that he finally trusted her, and she found that that meant a great deal to her.
‘What can I say to them?’ she asked, riding high on the fact that she was no longer under suspicion. A barrier between them had been crossed and that felt good in the wake of what they had shared.
‘Use your discretion,’ Lucas told her drily. ‘But it might be as well not to mention too many names, not that I think anything can go wrong with the deal at this stage. It’s a hair’s breadth away from being signed.’ He stood up, leaving her with her mobile phone, and it felt like the greatest honour bestowed on her possible. ‘I’ll see you shortly and then we’ll be on our way.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
LYING ON THE wooden deckchair by the side of the infinity pool that graced the lush grounds of his villa and overlooked the distant turquoise of the ocean, Lucas looked at Katy as she scythed through the water with the gracefulness of a fish.
The finalising of the deal had taken slightly longer than Lucas had anticipated, but he wasn’t complaining. Indeed, he had encouraged his Chinese counterparts to take their time in sorting out all the essential details on which the takeover pivoted. In the meantime...
Katy swam to the side of the pool and gazed at him with a smile.
Up above, the sun had burnt through the early-morning clouds to leave a perfectly clear, milky, blue sky. Around them, the villa afforded absolute isolation. It was ringed with trees and perched atop a hill commanding views of the sea. Lucas had always valued his privacy and never more so than now, when he didn’t want a single second of his time with her interrupted by so much as a passing tradesman. Not that any passing tradesman would be able to make it past the imposing wrought-iron gates that guarded the property.
He had dismissed all help, ensuring that the villa was stocked with sufficient food for their stay.
Just him...and her...
Right now, she was naked. He had half-expected, after that tentative surrender four days ago when she had placed her small hand on his thigh and sent his blood pressure through the roof, that a three-steps-forward, one-step-back game might ensue. He had predicted a tussle with her virtuous conscience, with lust holding the trump card, but in fact she had given herself to him without a trace of doubt or hesitation. He had admired her for that. Whatever inner battles she had fought, she had put them behind her and given generously.
‘It’s beautiful in here.’ She grinned. ‘Stop being so lazy and come and swim.’
‘I hope that’s not the sound of a challenge,’ Lucas drawled, standing up, as naked as she was. He couldn’t see her without his libido reacting like a lit rocket and now was no exception.
‘Is sex all you ever think about, Lucas?’ But she was laughing as she stepped out of the pool, the water streaming off her slick body.
‘Are you complaining?’ His eyes darkened and he balled his hands into fists. The urge to take her was so powerful it made him feel faint. He wanted to settle her on a towel on the ground and have her hard and fast, like a teenager in the grip of too much testosterone. Around her he lost his cool.
‘Not at the moment,’ Katy said breathlessly, walking straight into his arms. They had a lot of sex but, in fact, they also talked as well, and laughed, and enjoyed a level of compatibility she would never have thought possible when she had first met him.
He was still the most arrogant man she had ever met but there was so much more to him as well. She had no idea what was going to happen when they returned to London and she didn’t think about it. Maybe they would carry on seeing one another...although how that would work out when she was his employee she couldn’t quite fathom. The gossip would be out of control and he would loathe that.
For the first time in her life, Katy was living in the moment, and she wasn’t going to let fear of what might or might not lie round the corner destroy her happiness.
Lucas cupped her pert bottom, which was wet from swimming, and kneaded it between his hands, driving her closer to him so that his rock-hard ere
ction pushed against her belly.
She held him, played with him, felt the way his breathing changed and his body stiffened. She couldn’t stop loving the way he reacted to her. It made her feel powerful and sexy and very, very feminine.
‘I’m too big for deck-chair sex,’ Lucas murmured.
‘Who said anything about sex?’ Katy breathed. ‘We could just...you know...’
‘I think I’m getting the picture.’ He emitted a low, husky laugh and settled her on the cushioned deck chair, arranging her as carefully as an artist arranging a model he was about to paint, lying her in just the right place with her legs parted, hanging over either side of the chair, leaving her open for his attentive ministrations.
Then, sitting at the foot of the chair on his over-sized beach towel, he tugged her gently down towards his mouth and began tasting her. He slid his tongue into her, found the bud of her clitoris and licked it delicately, feathering little explosions of sensation through her, and he continued licking and teasing, knowing at which point she would begin to buck against his mouth as those little explosions became more and more impossible to control.
When he glanced up, he could see her small breasts, pointed and crowned with the dusky pink of her nipples, which were pinched from the water cooling on them. Her lips were parted, her nostrils flared as she breathed laboriously and her eyes were closed.
A thought flashed through his head. His condoms were nowhere to hand. What would happen if he were to sweep her up right now, hoist her onto him and let her ride them both to one of the body-shattering orgasms that they seemed strangely adept at giving one another? What if he were to feel himself in her without the barrier of a condom? Would it be such a bad thing? It wasn’t as if pregnancy would be a certainty.
Shock at even thinking such a thing stilled him for a second. He’d never had thoughts like that in his life before and it implied a lack of self-control he found disturbing.
He killed the wayward thought that had sprung from nowhere and drove a finger into her, rousing her deep inside, and feeling her begin to spasm as she began to soar towards a climax.
She came against his mouth, arching up with an abandoned cry of intense satisfaction, and then and only then did he allow her to touch him, with her mouth and with her hands.
The errant desire to take her without protection had been ruthlessly banished from his head but it left a lingering taste of unease in his mouth as they both subsided and flopped back into the pool to cool off.
Katy swam to Lucas but he stiffened and turned away, striking out into the water and rapidly swimming four lengths, barely surfacing for air as she watched from the side. He’d rejected her just then. Or maybe she’d been imagining it. Had she? He certainly hadn’t done the usual and held her against him, coming down from a high with his body still pressed up against hers.
Sensitive to the fact that this was not a normal situation, that it was the equivalent of a one-night stand stretched out for slightly longer than the one night, Katy got out of the pool and walked over to her towel, anchoring it firmly around her so that she was covered up. Then she watched him as he continued swimming, his strong, brown body slicing through the water with speed and efficiency.
He didn’t spare her a glance and after five minutes she retired to the villa and to the en suite bathroom which had been designated for her but rarely used, now she and Lucas were lovers.
The villa was magnificent, interestingly laid out with lots of nooks and crannies in which to relax, and huge, open windows through which breezes could circulate freely through the house. It lacked the slick sophistication of his yacht and was rather colonial in style with a stunning mixture of wood, billowing muslin at the windows, shutters and overhead fans. Katy loved it. She settled with her book into a rocking chair on the wide veranda that fronted the villa.
She kept waiting for Lucas to show up but eventually she gave up and nodded off. It was a little after four but still baking hot and, as always, cloudless.
Allowing her mind to drift, yanking it back every time it tried to break the leash and worry away at Lucas’s reaction earlier on, she was scarcely aware of time going by, and it was only when she noticed the tell-tale signs of the sun beginning to dip that she realised that several hours must have passed.
In a panic, she scrambled to her feet and turned round, to find the object of her feverish imaginings standing framed in the doorway...and he wasn’t smiling. Indeed, the humorous, sexy guy she had spent the past week with was noticeably absent.
‘Lucas!’ She plastered a smile on her face. ‘How long have you been standing there? I was reading...er... I must have nodded off...’
Lucas saw the hurt beneath the bright smile and he knew that he had put it there. He had turned his back on her and swam off, and he had carried on swimming because he had needed to clear his head. When he’d finally stopped, she was gone and he had fought against the desire to seek her out because he was not going to allow a simple sexual liaison to get out of control. When they returned to London, this would finish and his life would return to normal, which was exactly as it should be. So he’d kept his distance and that would have upset her. He clenched his jaw and focused on what really mattered now, which was a turn of events that neither of them could have predicted.
‘You’ve been talking to your parents. What, exactly, have you told them?’
‘Lucas, I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
‘Just try and think.’ He moved to stand in front of her, the beautiful lines of his handsome face taut and forbidding. ‘Did you tell either of them where you were? What you were doing here? Who you were with?’
‘I...you’re making me nervous, Lucas. Let me think...no; no. I just told Mum that I was in Italy and that it was lovely and warm and that I was fine and having a good time...’
‘I have just spent the past hour on the phone with the Chinese company. It seems that they were told by Powell that I was the wrong kind of person to be doing business with—that I was the sort of guy who seduces innocent girls and shouldn’t be trusted as far as I can be thrown. It would seem that news travelled and connections were made. Someone, somewhere, figured out that we’re here together and social media has taken the information right into Powell’s hands and given the man ammunition to blow my deal sky-high at the last minute.’
The colour drained from Katy’s face. When he said that ‘connections were made’, it was easy to see how. They had been into the little town several times over the past few days, checking on Maria and doing all sorts of touristy things. He could have been recognised and, whilst she wouldn’t have been, someone could have sneakily taken a picture of them together and tagged them in something they posted online. The mind boggled.
‘This is not my fault, Lucas. You know how pervasive social media is.’ But it was her fault. She was the one with the connection to Duncan and, if gossip had been spread, then who knew what her mum might have mentioned to anyone in the village? Someone might be friends with Duncan on Facebook or whatever. Guilt pinked her cheeks, but before she could go on the defensive he held up one imperious hand to close down her protest.
‘I’m not going to waste time going back and forth with this.’ He frowned down at her and sighed. ‘I’m not playing blame games here, Katy, and you’re right: there’s no privacy left anywhere. If anyone is to blame, then it’s me, because I should have been more circumspect in my movements here. The place is small, I’m a well-known face, it’s close to the busiest time of year for tourists and they have smart phones. But the fact remains that I have now been left with a considerable problem.
‘No, perhaps I should amend that: when I say that I have a considerable problem, it might be fairer to say that we both have a considerable problem. Your ex approached Ken Huang and told him a story, and there’s an underlying threat to go to the press and take public this sordid tale of a young, innocent girl being taken advantage of by an unscrupulous billionaire womaniser.’
Katy paled.
‘Duncan wouldn’t...’
But he would.
‘He’s played up your innocence to the hilt.’
‘He knew...’ Katy swallowed painfully. ‘He knew that I was inexperienced. I never thought that he would use the information against me. I trusted him when I confided in him.’
In the midst of an unfolding nightmare, Lucas discovered that the deal which should have been uppermost in his mind was overshadowed by a gut-wrenching sympathy for her vulnerability, which Powell had thoroughly taken advantage of.
Lucas dragged over a chair to join hers and sat heavily, closing his eyes for a few seconds while he sifted through the possibilities for damage limitation. Then he looked at her.
‘The man has an axe to grind,’ Lucas stated flatly. ‘Tell me why.’
‘Does it matter?’
‘In this instance, everything matters. If I need to use leverage, then I need to know where to apply it. I don’t play dirty but I’m willing to make an exception in this case.’
‘It ended really badly between me and Duncan.’ She shot him a guilty, sidelong look before lowering her eyes. ‘As you may have gathered. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I’d found out about his wife and children after I’d slept with him, but I think he was doubly enraged that, not only did I find out that he was married, but he hadn’t even succeeded in getting me into bed before I’d had a chance to find out.’
‘Some men are bastards,’ Lucas told her in a matter-of-fact voice. ‘It has to be said that some women leave a lot to be desired as well. It’s life.’
‘You mean those women your father married,’ Katy murmured, distracted, thinking that on some level their approaches to life had been similarly tarnished by unfortunate experiences with the opposite sex. It was easy to think that, because you came from a wildly different background from someone, the things that affected the decisions you made had to be different, but that wasn’t always the case. Money and privilege had been no more guarantee of a smooth ride in his case than a stable family background had been in hers.
Cipriani's Innocent Captive Page 10
