by Lucy Leroux
His gaze found Elynn instantly. She was wearing the dress, but the satisfaction he felt that she’d actually worn it faded the instant he realized how many men were looking at her. Her lovely face and petite curved figure captured every male’s attention, despite the relative modesty of her gown. What skin she was showing looked like creamy silk, and her hair gleamed blue-black under the lights.
Damn. The wolves are circling, he thought as he started to make his way through the crowd to where Elynn was smiling politely at a sandy-haired young man. To anyone else, she would have looked normal, but he could see the signs of her discomfort even from where he stood.
He was still a fair distance away when he was stopped by a hand placed on his arm. “Alex, darling, how are you?” purred a young socialite whose name he couldn’t remember.
“Fine, fine. And you…Farah?”
“It’s Fiona,” the socialite said with a little moue of irritation. But the next second she smiled and drew closer, pressing her breasts against his arm. “It’s so good that you came. We don’t see enough of you,” she said in a sultry voice, surely calculated to intrigue him.
“I’m around,” he said flatly when Elynn looked up and saw him.
She took one look at the clingy blonde and her polite smile faltered and faded away. Alex didn’t waste any more time on the grasping socialite.
“Excuse me,” he said before pulling away abruptly.
He tried to get to Elynn, but he was stopped two more times by business acquaintances. Meanwhile, his quarry shifted to another group, her tenacious admirer in tow. By the time he made his way to the other side of the ballroom, he couldn’t see her anymore. However, the sandy-haired guy was making his way out to the terrace. Angry now, Alex strode out of the ballroom after him.
“Elynn? Are you out here?” the stranger called out eagerly as Alex followed him out onto the relative privacy of the terrace.
Irritated, Alex looked behind him to make sure they weren’t being observed before he put a hand on the kid’s shoulder. “She’s not waiting for you,” he said implacably as he yanked the smaller man by the collar. “Go inside.”
“But…” the young man sputtered, struggling a little under his hold.
Alex drew himself up to his full height, which was half a foot taller than his adversary. “I said, go inside,” he repeated, giving the guy a shove toward the ballroom doors for good measure.
He didn’t bother to look behind him when the kid stumbled back indoors. Sheep usually followed his orders without question. Taking the garden steps two at a time, he started to look for Elynn in the garden.
It took him a while, but he eventually found her moving furtively back to the ballroom doors. She was still hiding; making sure her admirer wasn’t in sight before she went back in.
On silent feet, Alex snuck up behind her. He put one hand over her mouth and used his other arm to sweep her off her feet. Elynn struggled, her cry muffled by his hand.
“Shh. It’s just me,” he whispered before he carried her away, his hand still over her mouth.
He made his way to his favorite greenhouse a little distance away from the main house. Once inside, she made a distinctly frustrated ‘Alex!’ sound from behind his hand. He laughed, turning her in his arms, pressing her against him as he removed his hand and replaced it with his lips.
After a small hesitation, Elynn parted her lips for his probing tongue. She tasted of the sweet wine they were serving inside. With a groan, he stumbled to the wide, cushioned bench where he used to lie on cloudy winter days, soaking up the warmth of the greenhouse. He laid her down on it and stretched out over her, his hardness seeking her softness. Elynn gave a little gasp, but she didn’t sound as if she was afraid. And that was good, because he couldn’t stop touching her. He let his hands roam over her chest and waist.
Impatient, he tugged the skirt of the dress up and skimmed her panties down and off as he moved lower down her body. “I want to taste you. I missed your taste,” he breathed against the soft skin of her inner thighs.
Elynn gave a little moan as his tongue flicked out to touch her. The scent of her arousal filled his lungs. A little too eagerly, he took hold of her thighs and moved to guide her legs over his shoulders.
“Alex?” she asked uncertainly.
“It’s okay, baby, just let me touch you,” he said as he bent down and took her with his mouth. Her slightly salty, musky taste exploded on his tongue and he groaned. “God you taste so good,” he whispered.
Alex was on a fire. Stark hunger and need pulsed in his veins. He was so hard it almost hurt. And Elynn wasn’t freezing up on him. He desperately wanted to be inside her, but he couldn’t do that. It was too soon, and this was not the place.
In spite of the mantra he repeated in his head, he crept up Elynn’s body to her mouth, stopping to kiss and cup her breasts along the way while his restless hands continued to stroke and caress the rest of her silky skin.
And her hands were on him too, stroking his back and cupping the back of his head as he kissed her.
“Elynn, you have to stop me. Tell me to stop,” he ground out.
He hadn’t meant for this to happen. If he hadn’t seen that kid chasing after her, then his jealousy wouldn’t have been sparked, and he wouldn’t have carried her off like this.
But Elynn wasn’t listening to him. She was too far gone, her little moans and rapid breathing her only answer. Then her hands moved between them and down his body. They both froze when she reached the iron hard shaft straining toward her through the material of his pants.
He held his breath as he watched her small hands trace him over the cloth. Unable to stifle a groan, he held himself still. Her fingers became determined, taking hold of his trouser front and tugging on his zipper.
They had both stopped breathing, making the sound of the far door opening and the burst of conversation that followed extremely loud. A drunken couple had come into the greenhouse, presumably to find a place to do what they were doing. Alex cursed under his breath and stood up. He grabbed Elynn by the hand and dragged her behind him out the back door into the warm summer night.
“Alex, my panties!” she hissed, trying to pull him back so she could go and get them.
He stopped short and turned to look down at her, “It’s too late. If I go back for them, they’ll see me, and then they’ll want to know who I was with.”
And it was true. He was little bit of a celebrity, even in their own circles, and this kind of gossip after years of living in relative quiet would start a feeding frenzy.
“Don’t worry,” he said, “if they find them they won’t have any idea whose they are.”
Elynn moaned with embarrassment and covered her eyes with her hand. Alex couldn’t stop himself from giving a husky laugh before he proceeded to straighten out her clothes and hair. With the handkerchief he’d had tucked into his breast pocket he wiped traces of her lip-gloss off his mouth.
He straightened his coat and tie before propelling her back to the ballroom doors. “Go make nice with the parents,” he instructed.
She frowned at him, but she went.
****
Elynn fled to the bathroom to check on Alex’s repairs to her coiffure and dress before she rejoined their parents. Her cheeks were burning over the way Alex had basically ordered her inside. Letting him touch her was making him bossier than usual. Or maybe you’re just more sensitive about it now.
Oh God, what are we doing? she thought with a thrill of panic. She couldn’t believe what was happening to her. What Alex was doing to her. What she wanted him to keep doing. That much she could acknowledge. She didn’t want him to stop trying to seduce her. But she couldn’t imagine that he’d actually thought things through. If their parents ever found out, there would be hell to pay.
Eventually the party began to wind down. When she couldn’t find Alex, she went upstairs to her old room. She was spending the night there so that she could have lunch with Costas and Mary before they left fo
r Italy.
She shouldn’t have been surprised to find him in her room, but her heart jumped anyway when she saw Alex sitting on her bed.
“You didn’t tell me you were spending the night here,” he said, raising his brows at her.
“I want to see them off tomorrow. Are you staying?” she asked from just inside the door.
He still had a suite of rooms at the house, but he hadn’t used them in years. She glanced down at the bed. It was too small for him, but she couldn’t help but picture him in it. His eyes flared, looking her over in a heated appraisal that told her he knew exactly what she was thinking.
“It’s your own fault. You shouldn’t have told them you were staying here.”
His voice was full of reproach.
“I’m not inviting you into my bed,” she whispered.
“Yet.”
She couldn’t deny that, and he knew it. They would end up in bed together, and from the way things were going, it would happen soon.
Alex drifted over to her and put his hands on her hips. “I’ve spoken to your supervisor,” he said unexpectedly.
Her head shot up to meet his dark burning gaze.
“Why?” she asked suspiciously.
“I informed him that you wouldn’t be working this summer. That you had opted to take the summer off after all to recharge your batteries before you resumed your studies. He approved.”
Elynn’s jaw dropped, and her temper bubbled to the surface. “How could…” she began in a loud voice, but he swooped in and stopped her mouth with his.
Too soon, he raised his head to look into her eyes. “They’ll hear you if you shout like that,” he said quietly, his calmness grating on her nerves.
“I can’t believe you! Why did you do that?” she hissed at him.
“You’re going to be busy,” he said softly, tracing her lips with his index finger.
Distracting her from her anger, she mumbled, “Doing what?”
“You’re spending the summer with me,” he breathed before stealing one more heart-stopping kiss.
****
Alex left as quickly as he could. He didn’t trust himself to sleep under the same roof with Elynn while his father and Mary were still around. He was outside, reaching for his keys, when he found her panties in his pocket. He must have shoved them in his pocket after he took them off her and hadn’t even noticed.
Laughing aloud, he switched them to his breast pocket, symbolically placing them over his heart. Smiling, he got into his car and drove back to London.
Chapter 9
Elynn stayed on at Costas’ house long enough to see him and her mother off on their trip. She’d had a restless night, unable to sleep because she had been reliving every time Alex had touched her and was trying to decide what to do.
She was about to throw her bag into her car when an SUV and a limousine arrived, blocking the drive. Elynn straightened up when Alex got out of the limo with a warm greeting. A stocky man who resembled a bouncer came up and took the keys and bag from her unresisting hands. Meanwhile, Alex guided her into the back of the limousine before she regained her composure enough to utter a single word.
“Where are we going?”
“My home. Summer starts now,” he said, wrapping her in his arms and pulling her in for a searing kiss.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” she began apprehensively as he leaned over to press the lever to raise the privacy partition.
She had come to the decision not to change her plans for the summer. If Alex wanted to spend time with her, then he could do it when he came to Oxford or when she went up to London.
He was bending to kiss her again when she stopped his lips on their descent with her hand. “I’ve been thinking about it, and I can’t go and spend the summer with you as if I were one of your…your women,” she said.
It took a lot of effort to keep her voice steady and reasonable now that he was in front of her.
Alex’s face grew cold. She waited, but he didn’t respond, turning away although he continued to hold her. Frustrated, Elynn wrenched at his shirt collar to make him face her. Her small show of aggression must have amused him, because his reserve cracked a bit, enough to let the glimmer of a smile break through.
“You’re not one of my women, you’re my woman. There’s a difference,” he said finally.
That little announcement threw her. “What does that mean?” she asked suspiciously.
She hadn’t forgotten the sexpot Sonia. Or the fact that he had still been seeing her, even after he said they weren’t involved anymore. And now he was telling her that she was his woman. She waited for an answer, but Alex was obstinately silent as he held her, choosing to play with her hair instead. He brushed a lock off her face and followed it down to where it fell against her collarbone and breast.
Blushing hotly now, Elynn could feel her completely justified temper slipping away. “I can’t spend the summer with you. I have things to take care of,” she protested.
“Your apartment will be looked after. I wouldn’t want your mushroom kits to dry out. In fact, I’m having them moved to London for you. The turtle and fish are also being taken care of,” he said pulling her closer to his side with a satisfied sigh.
After that, he fell silent again, continuing to play with her hair instead of talking, occasionally stealing little nibbling kisses that drove her crazy.
The trip back into the city felt like minutes, but it must have taken the better part of an hour. Eventually they stopped in front of a large, gracious house in Kensington.
She got out of the car and gave the imposing facade of the house a thorough once over. “Where are we?”
“Home. What do you think?” he asked with an expectant air.
“It’s beautiful, but what happened to the penthouse?”
“I thought it was time for a change,” was all he said as he led her inside.
The interior of the house was beautiful but sparsely furnished. “Did you just move in?”
“Yes, just this week. I wanted the perfect place for us to spend some time together, but I still need a place in town near the office. We can stay here this week and shift down to the Oxford house on weekends when we’re not actually on the road. It took a little time to find the perfect house. The decorator hasn’t had time to do much, but I didn’t want to wait, so I had some essentials put in.”
It was almost too much to process. “I still don’t know what made you decide you wanted a house now. Another one. Aren’t you going to miss the penthouse?”
“No. This is what I want now. Why don’t you help me decide how to furnish it?” he said as he led her through the mostly bare rooms.
“What do you mean?” she frowned as she looked around. The spacious interior had an open modern floor plan that didn’t match the classic exterior of the house. “You want my decorating advice?”
“Of course,” he said, stopping to watch her as she walked through a lovely room with curved walls that opened onto a small sunroom.
She raised her hands. “I don’t know anything about decorating a house. You’ve seen my place, it’s pretty…basic.”
“That’s only because you haven’t had a blank canvas before. And I’m not asking you to pick out the end tables and throw pillows. Just give me your impressions. What would you do if this were your place? The decorator will take care of the rest,” he said, leaning against the doorframe, his eyes tracking her movement before extending his hand to her.
And with that tantalizing offer, she let him lead her throughout the house. When pressed, she made a few suggestions. He was indulgent with her more non-traditional ideas and encouraged her to speculate wildly on some totally off-the-wall decorating themes.
“I think you should do an Arabian nights thing in here,” she said when they circled back to the room with curved walls.
Alex laughed and pulled her close for a scorching hot, but brief, kiss.
“If you’re going to laugh at my ideas, I’m
going to keep my mouth shut,” she said with pursed lips as she gave him a little push.
“I love your ideas. I’m going to implement all of them. Especially the Atlantis themed room and the Arabian Night’s room. I’m going to love playing the Sultan. And you’re going to love playing my favorite harem girl,” he teased as he pulled her back for more kisses.
She gave a distinctly nervous laugh and let him continue his tour in silence. The last room he showed her was the master suite. Her tummy did a little flip when she saw the huge four-poster bed. He didn’t stop at the bed however, just continued crossing the room to throw open the bathroom doors. After leading her inside, he showed her the Jacuzzi tub and power shower. When he began to show her how to use the shower’s complicated control panel, she stopped short.
“Alex, where am I sleeping?”
He stopped fiddling with the shower controls and led her to the bedroom. He sat her down on a large divan and studied her carefully, keeping a grip on her fingers.
“I would like you to sleep in here with me,” he said.
Elynn caught her breath and looked down at their joined hands. He waited for her to speak, apparently unwilling to say another word until she decided.
“Alex, do you really want to do this? With me, I mean?”
“More than anything.”
Blood rushed to her cheeks but she still didn’t look him in the eyes.
“Why?”
“Because I’ve waited long enough.”
“It’s only been a few weeks,” she couldn’t help saying, still not meeting his eyes.
Though it felt a lot longer, only a little time had actually passed since he had first touched her with more than just brotherly affection.
“It’s been a lot longer than that for me,” he said.
Elynn’s eyes shot up. A thrill race up her spine…but then she remembered Sonia Steele and her dramatic exit from Alex’s bedroom. She withdrew her hand and crossed her arms across her chest. “I find that hard to believe. I know better than to assume you’ve been interested in me for very long.”
