Until today. Oh the bloody idiotic irony of it all. She’d finally met a man she could fancy, even if she wasn’t sure she actually liked him all that much. Dream Lover … but certainly not Mr Right.
‘What’s wrong, Jess?’
‘I’m not cold. I’m not … It’s just …’
He surged forward, and suddenly she was in his arms. ‘I didn’t mean it like that. No, never like that.’ He kissed her hair, lightly and chastely. Too goddamn chastely. ‘Your skin is cold. You are shivering.’ He pulled away a little way, and gave her a smile, possibly the sweetest one she’d ever seen, yet she guessed he could wield it like a weapon when he needed to. ‘I bet your feet are cold too. Let me give you a foot massage, Jess. I’m really good at it. Go on … give me a chance.’
He was right. Her feet were like blocks of ice. And his hands were warm, so warm …
‘Yes, I think I’d like that.’ She’d like it a lot. His hands on her. Feet were a safe location though, not dangerous. ‘My feet are a bit chilly. It was the soggy shoes, I guess.’
Oh, what the hell am I babbling about? The most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen … He made a pass at me. I’m sure he did. And of course … I back off. I am frigid!
Ellis slid off the settee and settled on his knees in front of her. Grinning up at her, he shrugged out of his jacket and flung it haphazardly in the general direction of the seat. As it slid off onto the floor, he ignored it, and unbuttoned his cuffs, rolling up the sleeves of his pale patterned shirt.
Flowers. Delicate little flowers, in blue and green. How can he be wearing a poncy flowered shirt and still be the very essence of a man?
Then he laid his hands gently upon her.
The sensation of his touch was so intense that she gasped, and the gasp was reflected in his face in an expression of puzzled surprise, that morphed into triumph. Well, not exactly, more a strange satisfaction. ‘Whoa, don’t worry. I won’t hurt you,’ he said quietly, his thumbs starting to work, firm yet gentle, and somehow managing not to tickle, even though she was usually ticklish.
Instead, banners of heat unfurled inside her. They started in her chilly feet, but within heartbeats deployed in other areas too. Her throat, her back … deep in her belly.
Oh hell, I don’t know whether I like this. Oh God, I do! Yes, I do!
How could he do that? How could he caress her feet, yet it feel like he had his hands all over her body, moving, moving and pleasuring? The urge to wriggle was excruciating, like an engine revving inside her. Equally intense was the desire to plunge her fingers into his thick dark hair and draw his face towards her. So he could give her another pleasure elsewhere that she’d only fantasised about …
She clenched her fists hard on the seat beside her.
‘What’s wrong? Don’t you like it? Your feet really are chilled.’
‘I’m fine. It’s all right. But maybe I should be going. Everybody will wonder what the hell I’m doing up here. Especially old Jacobson and his cohorts.’
Ellis’s fingers stilled, but he didn’t let go. In fact, for a moment he looked down at her foot, in his hands, and Jess almost imagined he was going to dip forward and kiss it. Good God, she was going mad!
‘Why would you care what he thinks? What anyone thinks?’ His eyes were harder suddenly, but still beautiful.
‘Of course I care.’ She tried to pull away her foot, but his hold was implacable. Both feather-light and unyielding at the same time. ‘Mr Jacobson is my boss. He’ll still be here when you’re long gone, and things might be weird for me if I hang around much longer with you.’
He gave her a long look, a strange complex scrutiny. Was he weighing up what to say next? And what the hell might that be in this bizarre, peculiar situation. The weirdest she’d experienced in her life.
‘Nothing will happen to you, Jess. Nothing that you don’t want to happen.’ His thumb moved slowly over her skin, and then, just as if she’d been prescient, he did swoop forward and press a kiss against her toes. ‘And if anything I’ve done today makes life awkward for you, Jess, you have my word that I’ll do everything in my power to set things right. That’s a promise.’
His voice was vehement, almost wild, and his eyes harder than ever. But Jess hardly noticed it. All she could register was that kiss, that fleeting kiss, his mouth against the tender skin of her foot.
‘That’s stupid. Why would you do that? I’m nothing to you. Just one of thousands of drones you employ.’ Her voice sounded strange to her own ears, reedy, almost feverish.
He released her foot, but before she could spring away, he captured the other and kissed that too.
‘I’d do it because I want you, and I think you want me.’
Jess’s mouth opened, but she couldn’t frame words. She blinked, only just resisting the urge to shake her head and clear it. So she could wake up from this weird extension to one of her own night-time fantasies and find herself back at her desk, doodling a sketch on her notepad, trying to capture the essence of the eyes, the lips, the hands of a man she’d never see again.
‘Ah … I see I’ve gone too far again,’ murmured Ellis, releasing her foot and pushing himself upwards, sitting beside her. ‘I’m sorry, I do that … I do it a lot …’ He snagged his plush lower lip between his teeth. His eyes glittered. ‘But mostly, the women I do it with are right on the same page with me. Often several pages ahead.’ Was that a world-weary note? As an ultra-wealthy, no longer married man he was a prime catch.
Jess was still numbed. Every nerve in her body was in a firing tumult, yet incapable of making her move. Overload. That was what it was. Overload.
He took her hands and kissed them too, one after the other.
‘What’s different about you, Jess?’ His scrutiny bored into her, blue-green fire, setting her alight, freeing her from her paralysed state, sending new patterns of instructions to her nerves and sinews, the blind, carnal command to surge forward, throw her arms around him. Kiss him … touch him … know him. Know him and compel him to know her.
Don’t be bloody ridiculous!
She tried to struggle. To rise. He still held her in that tender, implacable way.
‘What is it? What is it?’ he continued softly, as if musing to himself as he raised her hand to his lips again and kissed her palm this time, gentle yet provocative. She felt the brush of his soft stubble against her skin. ‘There’s something about you, some mystery, and it’s driving me crazy. Making me act like a barbarian.’ He kissed the other palm this time. ‘It’s exhilarating though. Exciting … Are you excited?’
‘No, not in the slightest!’ Finding strength at last from somewhere, Jess snatched her hands away, and sprang to her feet. She was such a liar. She’d never been more excited in her life. In every sense of the word. ‘And there’s nothing in the slightest bit special or different about me, Mr McKenna, as you’d quickly discover. Now, may I go? I’ve a lot of work to do.’
Not waiting for his answer, she marched across to the radiator and her skirt. For an instant, she considered retreating to Jacobson’s bathroom again, but it would only waste time. Instead, she quickly shrugged out of the robe, tossed it over the radiator and reached for her skirt. Trying not to imagine what Ellis McKenna was seeing, she stepped into the skirt and zipped it up smartly. The hem was almost completely dry now, but it wouldn’t have mattered if the entire garment was dripping wet. She had to get out of there.
Her shoes were almost dry too, when she stepped into them.
Damn, her bag was on the settee, close to where he was sitting, and watching her. His eyes were bright, yet his expression was slightly perplexed; he was still puzzling over her. Probably quite a new experience for someone so confident in himself and his ability to weigh people up.
You’ve probably never met a virgin over twenty-five before, so you don’t recognise one when you see her.
‘You are special, Jess, and I’d love to know your secret …’ He rose to his feet, but didn’t approach her. It felt like a stand
off, the O.K. Corral, or a Fistful of Dollars. ‘You’re bright and intelligent. You’re smart and brave. And you’re beautiful. But there’s something else. Will you tell me?’ His gorgeous eyes narrowed, and he drew out the moment. Then he deployed a weapon the Man with No Name had never possessed, his beautiful, quizzical, complicated, almost entreating smile. ‘Please?’
‘Alright already, if you insist.’ Her heart revved up. What the hell was she doing? ‘That secret you’re so desperate to know is … I’m a virgin!’
5
‘Wow!’
Apart from Ellis’s exclamation, the proverbial pin could have dropped.
What the hell is wrong with me? Why did I say that? Why did I tell him, of all people?
Hearing the ‘V’ word from her own lips like that was a shock. It did not compute. How could she possibly have revealed her most intimate secret, the one that not even her closest friends were privy to?
How? How? How? To this man …
‘Well, I’m not sure quite what I was expecting, Jess.’ Ellis McKenna looked almost as shell-shocked as she was, but he smiled too. A small, subtle, almost wondering smile. There was no mockery in it, but perhaps just the beginning of challenge. ‘But somehow, now you tell me … I can see it. A purity … No sexual calculation … You’re just a beautiful, honest woman. Thank you for telling me. I feel honoured.’
Jess affected a shrug, trying not to show how flustered she was. ‘I probably shouldn’t have told you, Mr McKenna. It’s not really a big deal, or an issue.’ She strode forward. Action seemed to be the only possible way to control her shaking. Steeling herself she moved closer to him, snatched up her shoulder bag, and then, in a supreme effort of control, she stopped herself shooting away from him, and held out her hand. ‘I think it’s better if I just go now, and get back to work. It’s been … interesting … and it’s broken up what would otherwise have been a humdrum morning. Thank you for the chocolate and cookies.’
He regarded her steadily, then accepted her hand, and shook it, no nonsense, releasing her again immediately. He made no attempt to stop her when she walked away.
Planning to open the door, walk out and not look back, Jess cursed inwardly when she found herself turning. The part of her he’d rocked to her very foundations just couldn’t resist one last glance. She had to print him in her memory. Despite everything, she’d still draw him … and finally give Dream Lover a face.
He didn’t look smug and macho. He was barely even smiling. He still looked a bit puzzled, at a loss. Had he expected things to go differently? It seemed as if he had.
Yet his voice was confident and even. ‘My name is still “Ellis”, Jess, and thank you … thank you again for telling me your secret. You’re very brave.’
Oh damn him, the devil. He was getting to her with niceness now, as well. Not that it mattered. She’d never see him again.
‘Goodbye, Ellis.’
Before she could balk again, she opened the door and walked out, keeping her face as straight and composed as she could, and just nodding fleetingly to Jacobson’s secretary as she passed.
‘So, what’s he like? What did he want? Did he make a pass at you?’
The questions came thick and fast over tuna salad in the canteen. Jess would have gone out and found somewhere to eat alone, away from her well-meaning but nosy work-mates, but she knew it was better to brave their curiosity sooner rather than later. And besides the rain was still pouring down outside.
‘No! Don’t be ridiculous,’ she said quickly, smiling in a way she hoped looked nonchalant when she was as far from nonchalant as it was possible to be. ‘He just wanted to make sure I didn’t catch a cold. I think he’s a bit eccentric, to be honest, a bit weird. Maybe not quite right in the head.’
I couldn’t fake it with you, Ellis McKenna. You saw through me. You knew there was something. I’m going to have to try and pull the wool over everybody else’s eyes
‘Well, that’s a damned shame,’ said Pamela, who was in Jess’s section, ‘He’s the fittest thing I’ve seen in here for a long time. In fact ever. It’s disappointing that he didn’t make a move. Still, I suppose if he’s married and all that …’ Clearly every female in the place had immediately checked out his ring finger.
Emma, the third girl at their table, piped up, ‘Well, I’d have made a pass at him. Even if he is married. He’s freaking gorgeous!’
Jess stabbed at a cold green bean. Her appetite was non-existent. The only thing she fancied was hot chocolate and cookies, and she’d walked away from those, along with a certain other temptation. The one she didn’t want to get into with the women around this table. They were all buddies, like Cathy at home, and some of them told very wild stories about their sex lives, but Jess had always managed to dance around the subject of her sex life. Or total lack of it. It would’ve been far too embarrassing to reveal that she was still a virgin. She always talked vaguely of boyfriends that she’d had before she’d taken this job. It’d been all too easy to let her lunch buddies assume she’d done the deed with at least one or two of these mythical men.
‘He’s a widower, apparently,’ Jess pointed out, pushing her plate away.
‘Wahey, so he’s available! God, I hope he comes here again. Some of the rest of us might get a crack at him next time.’ Emma’s appetite appeared to be improved by the news of their visitor’s marital status, and she reached out to stab a choice bit of tuna from Jess’s plate. ‘Imagine it … He looks like a film star and he’s a billionaire. What’s not to like, eh, Jess? You missed your chance. You should have jumped all over him. He must have fancied you or he wouldn’t have invited you up to the inner sanctum.’
‘He is very handsome,’ Jess admitted cautiously. It was a lie, really. Ellis McKenna was far beyond simply handsome. ‘But it wasn’t anything like that. Honestly. He just singled me out because he’d given me a lift in the rain. I think he just wanted to quiz a typical employee about day-to-day life at the Windsor coalface. Nothing more than that.’
Two sets of wide eyes said ‘yeah right’, but neither girl pressed. She wondered if they really did know or suspect her secret, but they were too nice to ask the awkward questions.
‘Anyway, it’s certainly brightened up a crappy day for us all, hasn’t it?’ observed Pam, with a dreamy expression on her face. ‘I thought this place was the dump of all dumps, and the last chance saloon job-wise, but just thinking about working “under” Ellis McKenna makes it worth staying put.’
‘He’s only visiting for the day, love,’ countered Jess. ‘A royal visit to inspect the drones and all that. We’ll probably never see him again.’
Again, came that stab of pain. But why? Realistically, Ellis McKenna could never be more than a fantasy object, the future face of Dream Lover. He’d given her a foot massage and made a pass of sorts, but he’d probably already forgotten her. Any ideas that he might be the one to help her get rid of something she was getting mighty fed up of saving … well, they were patently ridiculous.
‘Ooh, I don’t know,’ said Emma. ‘I was talking to someone from personnel who knows a bit more. Apparently, he actually has a house in this area. Some stately pile or other that belonged to a Brit branch of the McKenna family.’ She paused and took a long slurp from her juice carton. ‘With any luck he’ll decide to settle down there and he’ll be popping in to see us every day!’
‘Ah, but doesn’t the McKenna empire have holdings all over the world? They must have posh pads everywhere,’ Pam said thoughtfully, ‘America and Australia, at least. He’s probably lived all over the place, and if he’s got the pick of them, why on earth would he decide to take up residence here in the arse end of the universe?’
America? Australia? Well, perhaps that explained the hard-to-pinpoint accent. Like everything about him, his voice had intrigued her. He’d sounded, well, basically English, but with other notes too, a bit American but not quite wholly so.
You speak like velvet, every syllable a seduction.
‘Well, he obviously likes the arse end of the universe,’ said Emma, her eyes widening. She was staring over Jess’s shoulder towards the serving counter at the other end of the canteen. ‘At least this particular cheek of it … I do believe our glorious leader is down here to dine amongst us plebs! He’s just walked in.’
Don’t look round. Don’t look round.
Jess had to grit her teeth to stop herself rubbernecking. The volume of chatter in the room had quadrupled in the last few seconds, and everybody she could see was staring towards the counter. The men all looked surprised and curious, and the ones who were chatting up a female lunch companion looked downright annoyed! Every woman in the room was clearly bedazzled, just as they’d been during Ellis’s royal progress through the work-floor.
‘Aren’t you going to look?’ demanded Pam. ‘I’d give even money he’s looking for you.’
‘Don’t be daft. He’s not interested in me. All this “getting down with the employees” and chatting to random people … it’s just an act,’ Jess said, stabbing at the remnants of her salad again, ‘a ploy to seem like the big nice guy super boss. There’ll probably be redundancies next week, when he’s gone, regardless of his bullshit for the troops.’
‘Why so bitter? You said he was nice,’ Pam said, her eyes still scoping the far end of the room.
He is nice. He’s more than nice. But I … I … I can’t forgive him. He’s started something, and he’ll be gone in an hour and I’ll never see him again.
She’d feel differently tomorrow. Probably mightily amused by it all. Perhaps grateful, and changed too, and ready to be bolder and, well, live a little.
But today, now, it was all too confusing. ‘He was perfectly fine,’ Jess said, ‘but let’s face it, he’s an obscenely wealthy man who employs us, amongst many, many thousands of others. He hasn’t got where he is today by really being “nice”, has he? It’s all an act.’
‘Well, we’ll soon see … Incoming!’ Emma’s eyes were bright and her face pink … and suddenly wreathed in her best ‘pulling’ smile.
How to Seduce a Billionaire Page 4
