The Billionaire's Marriage Bargain

by Mortimer, Carole

  Beautiful.

  Kenzie was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

  His wife.

  But not his wife.

  Maybe not, but she wasn’t any other man’s wife yet. And she still owed him…

  ‘Thank you once again for all that you did this weekend,’ Kenzie told Dominick late Sunday morning as she got out of the car he had parked outside her apartment building.

  She felt a surge of relief that it was all over, and she could finally get away from Dominick’s domineering presence.

  Not that he hadn’t continued to behave impeccably during the rest of their stay at her parents’ house. It was just the fact that he was there that was so unnerving.

  And she hadn’t slept well again last night. Dominick hadn’t seemed to have the same trouble, the even tenor of his breathing telling her that he had fallen asleep almost as soon as his head had touched the pillow.

  She had thought only the innocent slept like that—and innocent was something Dominick most certainly wasn’t!

  He was out of the car now and standing on the pavement beside her, her overnight bag in his hand. ‘I’ll take this up for you,’ he offered lightly.

  ‘There’s no need,’ she refused, frowning. ‘I can easily carry it myself.’

  ‘I’m sure you can.’ He nodded, his smile derisive. ‘But you must realize we haven’t finished discussing this—transaction, yet,’ he reminded her softly.

  Kenzie’s shoulders stiffened, her chin lifting as she met his challenging gaze.

  ‘I’m not in the mood right now, Dominick!’

  ‘The mood for what?’

  Her cheeks flushed with anger. ‘For whatever you have in mind!’

  Dominick smiled, his eyes darkening, and his teeth very white against the tanned skin. ‘Right now I have it in mind to take your bag upstairs for you and let you make me a cup of coffee. If I change my mind about any of that, I’ll let you know!’

  Despite his mockery Kenzie was still reluctant to invite Dominick up to her apartment. Not because she had anything to hide. She simply didn’t want his presence there, in the private space she had made for herself the last few months. Dominick had nothing to do with her life as it was now, and after being with him again this weekend that was the way she wanted it to stay.

  ‘Kenzie, didn’t last night prove to you that I’m not filled with unrestrained lust every time I’m alone with you?’ he taunted scathingly at her continued silence.

  Her blush deepened. ‘I never thought that you were!’

  ‘Didn’t you?’ he questioned, a glint in his eye.

  ‘No,’ she assured stubbornly. ‘Look, Dominick, you’ve had your fun with me—’

  ‘My dear Kenzie, I haven’t even begun to have fun yet!’ he promised.

  His idea of fun and hers were vastly different, then!

  ‘Besides,’ he added softly, ‘we really do need to discuss what you’re going to give me in return for this weekend.’

  ‘Give you?’ she echoed sharply.

  ‘Give me,’ Dominick repeated softly, reaching up to smooth the frown from between her eyes. ‘Don’t frown, Kenzie, you’ll get lines. And then what would Carlton Cosmetics, and especially Jerome Carlton, have to say?’ His mouth had tightened perceptibly.

  At that moment, she didn’t give a damn what Carlton Cosmetics—or Jerome!—had to say about anything. She was far more concerned with what Dominick would want from her, what he would demand she give, after he had so generously given up this weekend for her.

  It didn’t help that the skin on her forehead tingled where he had touched her!

  ‘Fine,’ she snapped, taking her bag from him. ‘Then you had better come up and discuss it, hadn’t you?’

  Dominick watched with narrowed eyes as she turned and walked away, enjoying the sensual sway of her slender hips in her tight jeans and the way her hair cascaded down the length of her spine.

  She was his.

  Every sensual, delectable inch of her was going to be his again. She just didn’t know it yet.

  He was smiling when he stepped into the lift she had held for him, that smile widening as he could sense her deepening annoyance as the lift ascended. An angry, spitting Kenzie was much easier to deal with than that coolly dismissive one!

  ‘Come in,’ she invited tersely after unlocking the door to her apartment and going inside to throw her overnight bag down on a chair.

  Dominick took his time, looking around him with interest. The apartment was decorated with soft autumn colours interspersed with touches of emerald-green and Mediterranean-blue, and the prints on the walls were of dreamy scenes from the late nineteenth century, with women in floaty dresses and hats, and men wearing frock coats.

  In sharp contrast, his own apartment, where he had taken Kenzie after they were married, was very contemporary, with lots of glass and chrome and leather furnishings, the paintings on the walls originals by up-and-coming modern day artists.

  He had never realized Kenzie’s tastes were so different from his.

  Having spent the weekend with Kenzie’s family in the ex-vicarage set within its acre of garden, Dominick recognized that the village girl in Kenzie was still very much alive.

  ‘Nice.’ He nodded appreciatively as he turned back to look at Kenzie.

  A very tense Kenzie, he thought, who looked as if she expected, despite what he had said downstairs, him to pounce on her at any moment.

  Well, she was going to be disappointed.

  He’d really meant it when he’d told her he had no intention of collecting on his side of their bargain now. No, he intended to prolong that satisfaction for as long as possible. He’d wanted to make her suffer a little, in the same way he suffered every time he imagined her in Jerome Carlton’s bed!

  Kenzie gave an impatient shake of her head, not interested in what he did or didn’t think of her apartment. ‘Just say what you have to say and then go.’ She glared, not at all comfortable with his invasion into her private sanctuary.

  Instead of doing any such thing Dominick dropped down into one of her big overstuffed terracotta-coloured armchairs. ‘You aren’t being very polite, Kenzie,’ he drawled. ‘I told you I could do with a coffee after the drive.’

  ‘It’s usual to ask!’ she snapped irritably.

  His dark brows raised mockingly over his amused brown eyes. ‘A black coffee would be much appreciated, thank you.’

  ‘Have a hangover, do you?’ she came back tartly, thinking she really would end up with lines if she didn’t stop frowning so much!

  ‘Sorry to disappoint you, but not at all. I only had one glass of champagne at the wedding reception, and from experience it isn’t a drink that gives me a hangover,’ he replied, completely unconcerned by her bad humour. ‘As I’m sure you remember, I happen to prefer my coffee black.’

  Getting him the coffee wasn’t the problem, especially as it meant she could escape into the kitchen for a few minutes’ respite from his disturbing company.

  It was the time he was going to spend in her apartment drinking it that was the problem.

  He hadn’t told her what he wanted from her yet, and she very much doubted he would leave until he had.

  She didn’t doubt that Dominick was enjoying himself, his air of amusement having become much more pronounced this morning.

  Away from her close-knit family, Kenzie was having more trouble, and much less opportunity, to remain aloof from him. Which, of course, was exactly what he wanted.

  Damn him.

  Dominick relaxed back in his chair as Kenzie left the room, easing the tiredness from his body. Last night, he had pretended to be sleeping, he had lain awake long after Kenzie had finally fallen asleep.

  Plotting.

  Planning.

  Savouring.

  He was not going to rush something that was giving him so much pleasure just thinking about it.

  ‘Here,’ she said briskly. when she returned from the kitchen and handed him the cup of
black coffee.

  ‘Thank you,’ he said with exaggerated politeness. ‘Aren’t you joining me?’ he prompted lightly as she dropped down into the chair opposite to look across at him broodingly.

  ‘Just tell me what you want from me, Dominick,’ she snapped. ‘And let’s stop playing games!’

  ‘You really aren’t being very—gracious, are you, now that I’ve kept my side of the bargain?’ he chided.

  Kenzie opened her mouth to give him another sharp reply, instead firmly closing it again, her lips clamping together as she realized that he was only speaking the truth.

  But he was the one who had made a bargain of this and only after she had told him she really would be very grateful if he would do her this favour…

  Yes, but—

  No buts. She had said that, and that was exactly what he had done. Was it any wonder that he now wanted payment?

  ‘Sorry,’ she muttered between stiff lips. ‘What is it you want from me, Dominick?’

  ‘Well, let’s get one thing straight from the first, shall we?’ He put his coffee cup down to sit forward in his chair, his expression intent, his gaze narrowed as he looked deep into her eyes. ‘I have never been into taking unwilling women into my bed!’

  He had never needed to, she thought. Before the two of them had met Dominick had been known for his numerous affairs with glamorous, beautiful women, affairs that he had always ended rather than the other way around. In fact, she was probably the first woman to ever walk away from him!

  Which was the reason for Dominick’s anger, of course…

  But they couldn’t just—she couldn’t just—

  Going to bed with Dominick in that way, so cold and calculated, was completely against the way she had lived her life so far. But all of Dominick’s comments so far over the course of the weekend seemed to suggest that was exactly what he was going to demand.

  Kenzie willed herself to calm down, to settle into the mental relaxation she often escaped to during the long, interminable waits she experienced between photographic shoots. She tried to breathe deeply and evenly, and was able to meet Dominick’s gaze quite calmly when she looked at him.

  After all, hadn’t he just told her that he wouldn’t take an unwilling woman to his bed?

  She would just have to try to ensure, no matter what the provocation, that she was never willing!

  Dominick stood up abruptly, moving over to look at the bookcase along one wall of the room. ‘You obviously like to read.’ He nodded at the well-thumbed rows of paperbacks lined on the shelves.

  ‘Yes,’ she acknowledged quietly, slightly thrown by his change of subject.

  He nodded. ‘So do I. In fact, I’ve read most of these titles, too.’

  Her eyes widened in spite of herself. ‘I never remember you reading anything but contracts and the business section of the newspaper when we were together!’

  He shrugged broad shoulders. ‘That’s probably because we always found plenty of other things to do when we were together other than reading fiction books.’

  Like making love.

  How strange that she should learn now, after living apart for months, that the two of them actually had a similar taste in reading.

  What else was there about him, other small personal details, that she hadn’t had the opportunity to learn during their nine months of marriage? All they had been able to think about at the time, all that had interested either of them when they hadn’t been caught up in their individual business commitments, was being with each other…

  Dominick could see the surprise, and the puzzled interest, in Kenzie’s eyes, and decided that he had probably gone far enough for one day. The best way to succeed in anything, he had learnt over the years, was to always walk away leaving the other person wanting more, wondering…

  And he did intend succeeding where Kenzie was concerned. In not only getting her back into his bed, but getting her there willingly. Willingly was the most important part, if she did but know it!

  He bent to put his empty cup on the low coffee-table before straightening. ‘Are you free next weekend?’

  ‘I—yes, I think so,’ Kenzie confirmed vaguely, obviously surprised by the question as she stood up to follow him to the door.

  Dominick paused in the open doorway. ‘Then keep it free, hmm?’

  ‘Why?’ she said sharply.

  He shook his head. ‘I have—some details, to finalize, before I can confirm that.

  Perhaps we could have dinner together one night in the week—’

  ‘Dinner?’ she repeated in frustration, shaking her head. ‘Dominick, I’m not going out on a date with you!’

  ‘—so that we can discuss this further,’ he finished pointedly, his brows rising over reproving brown eyes.

  ‘But—’

  ‘In the same way that we met for dinner last week when you wanted to discuss your sister’s wedding with me, remember?’ he reminded, in a mocking tone.

  ‘Oh. Yes.’ She looked uncomfortable now.

  ‘Although I would like the two of us to actually eat something this time!’ he added derisively.

  ‘Don’t take me to Rimini’s, then,’ Kenzie told him firmly. ‘It would remind me too much of when we used to go there together when we were married,’ she added dismissively as he gave her a questioning look.

  When they were married?

  They were still married, damn it!

  But if it meant Kenzie would relax a little, he was quite happy to fall in with her suggestion that they go somewhere else. Somewhere new, perhaps, where the restaurant didn’t remind either of them of someone else.

  His mouth thinned as he thought of Kenzie’s ‘someone else’.

  ‘Or when you went there with Jerome, perhaps?’ he asked impatiently.

  Kenzie gave an irritated shake of her head. ‘You know, Dominick—’ she sighed in despair ‘—one day you’re going to actually listen to me when I tell you I wasn’t involved with Jerome Carlton four months ago, and that I’m not involved with him now, either!’

  ‘Oh, I listen, Kenzie,’ Dominick assured her. ‘I just happen to know that you aren’t telling the truth!’

  She could accept that the fact she had spent so much time in Jerome Carlton’s company just before she’d left Dominick, and that when she had left it had been to fly to America with the other man, could have all looked more than a little suspicious to Dominick’s accusing eyes.

  But what she hadn’t accepted then, and still didn’t accept, was that Dominick hadn’t even attempted to believe her denials. He had seemed convinced from the outset that she was involved in an affair with Jerome, and nothing she said or did would convince him otherwise.

  She certainly wasn’t convincing him now, she thought, seeing the cold scepticism in the hardness of his eyes.

  ‘Let me know about dinner, hmm?’ she prompted abruptly, really wanting—needing!—him to leave now, the strain she had been under this weekend definitely starting to catch up with her.

  ‘Oh, I’ll let you know, Kenzie,’ he assured her, seeing that strain in her eyes, and the paleness of her cheeks, his mouth twisting derisively as he knew just his presence was causing her this distress.

  He’d barely begun!

  Chapter 8

  ‘Okay, Dominick, that’s it! I refuse to let you play this game with me any longer!’

  Dominick swivelled his chair slowly from his quiet contemplation of the river flowing smoothly beneath his office window, his eyes fixed in cool enquiry as he looked across the width of his huge oak desk at Kenzie’s flushed and angry face.

  His gaze moved slightly sideways as he took in his secretary’s questioning presence in the open doorway. ‘Thanks, Stella,’ he said, nodding dismissively.

  ‘Play nice, you two,’ she murmured ruefully before backing out of the room and closing the door behind her.

  Dominick’s gaze returned to Kenzie’s annoyed pink face. ‘You were saying…?’

  Kenzie glared at him, wanting nothing m
ore at that moment than to wipe that smile of self-satisfaction from his handsomely smug face. ‘I said I’ve had enough—’

  ‘I think I understood that bit,’ Dominick interrupted, relaxing back in his leather chair. He was dressed formally in a dark business suit, snowy white shirt and silver-coloured tie. ‘I’m simply at a loss to know what it is you’ve had enough of…?’

  ‘I’ve had enough of you playing with me,’ Kenzie bit out fiercely, thinking how arrogant her husband was.

  ‘I think I got that bit too—’

  ‘How dare you have Stella call me up and tell me to meet you at some restaurant called Tonio’s at eight o’clock this evening?’ she cut in impatiently, knowing that Dominick was enjoying her anger. Damn him!

  ‘Ah.’ Dominick nodded in consideration. ‘Is eight o’clock too early for you? Or too late, perhaps?’

  Kenzie’s gaze narrowed dangerously. ‘It’s this evening that’s the problem,’ she snapped. ‘I haven’t just been sitting around all week waiting for you to snap your fingers so I can come running when you do!’

  ‘No?’ he questioned mildly. ‘Then what have you been doing?’

  ‘I work too, you know,’ Kenzie told him impatiently. ‘And for your information, I’m busy this evening!’ she added with satisfaction.

  Even if she hadn’t been busy she would have told him she was after his high-handed behaviour.

  Dominick eyed her silently for several long seconds, liking this outraged Kenzie much better than the controlled one of the weekend.

  Not that her obvious anger made the slightest bit of difference to the outcome of this encounter; annoyed and incensed Kenzie only added to the challenge.

  ‘Why didn’t you just tell Stella that when she called?’ he prompted mildly.

  ‘Tomorrow evening will do just as well for what I have in mind.’

  Although their present location wasn’t at all suitable for what he wanted, Dominick acknowledged self-derisively. Kenzie looked so fiercely beautiful, with her hair loose about her shoulders, her eyes blazing green, and that becoming flush to her cheeks. The fitted blouse and pencil-slim black trousers she wore clearly outlined the perfection of her body, and he wanted nothing more than to lay her naked on his desk and make love to her here and now until she cried out for mercy!