Liev’s interest was piqued. One of those twin brothers was the reason he was here. Dario was now the owner of ICE, one of the most well-known computer companies which had become rich and successful by buying out other companies, then closing out the founders, destroying them until they had nothing. Just as they had done to his father.
Whilst Liev accepted that Dario hadn’t been responsible for the buyout which destroyed his father, he’d certainly turned a blind eye to the company’s past. Now, through Dario, Liev intended to expose all those underhand deals and the man who’d been behind them all.
‘Yes, they are. In fact, Dario is soon launching a new product.’ Bianca’s reply drew him back from the black hole of his childhood, her sweet voice full of pride. But how could she be proud of a man who advocated such practices? ‘This is Liev Dragunov, my...’
Bianca’s voice faltered very briefly, but he wasn’t going to give her the opportunity to create the wrong kind of speculation. ‘Her fiancé.’
‘Oh, Bianca, that’s so exciting.’ The younger woman beamed, probably because she was now in possession of one of the best bits of gossip this evening. He knew how women’s minds worked.
‘Yes, isn’t it?’ Bianca bounced back, her smile firmly planted on those painted red lips.
‘And what a ring.’ The woman cooed.
Bianca unashamedly showed off the large diamond ring he’d bought for the purpose. Every dollar it had cost proving to be a worthwhile investment.
‘We should take our seats, my love.’ Liev spoke softly and smiled down at her face as she turned to look up at him. Briefly her eyes filled with question, and then she smiled. A knowing smile that told him she knew exactly what he was doing.
‘Yes, darling,’ she said huskily, then turned back to the other woman. ‘It’s so nice to be looked after.’
Liev guided her through the guests, aware of the curious glances of women and the sometimes suspicious glares of the men. He knew that without Bianca he would never be accepted into their world, no matter how many millions he had. They closed ranks against strangers and self-made men like him, but with her at his side, those ranks were beginning to move apart.
* * *
Bianca seated herself at her designated table. Her name-card nestling close to Liev’s seemed strangely intimate, and as it had done when she’d first opened her apartment door this evening, her pulse began to race erratically, unsettling her more than she cared to admit.
He stood behind her as she took her seat and rested his hand on the back of her chair, leaning down to bring his head close to hers. She turned to look at him, startled by the realisation that she was close enough to kiss him. What would his kiss be like? Brief and cold or hard and demanding? Either would suit him. He smiled at her and she seriously wondered if he was second-guessing her thoughts. She blushed, worried that he knew she was thinking about kissing him.
‘You look beautiful this evening.’ His voice was deep and sultry and a new kind of intensity filled those icy grey eyes, warming them so they resembled the ocean as the sun’s midday rays danced on it.
‘Thank you.’ She wanted to lower her gaze, to break the tension which suddenly seemed to zip between them. She would have to be cautious. Liev Dragunov, her three-month fiancé and blackmailer, possessed charms that could be lethal to an inexperienced heart such as hers. A heart that had been torn apart by deceit and disappointment before it had even had the chance to truly experience love.
Strangely self-conscious, she looked away as more guests arrived at their table, and very soon the intimacy they’d just experienced was lost in a flow of conversation. Liev became immersed in a discussion with the other men and she was surprised to hear the pride in his voice when he spoke of his company.
She tried to concentrate on the women’s talk of the latest Broadway show but she couldn’t help listening to Liev, wishing he was talking to her like that. She felt the barriers she always kept well and truly up lowering as her curiosity increased about the man she was now engaged to. Sitting at the table, with others about them, she was more relaxed about being in his company, somehow tuned into his mood.
By the end of the meal she’d heard enough snippets of conversation to have built up a good picture of him, something she liked to do before representing a new client, but never before had she heard it indirectly from the client themselves. It was also what she’d tried to do when he’d initially contacted her. She recalled that gut instinct she’d had that there was more to him than he let anyone see and that he was as determined as he was unstoppable.
Now, to her cost, she knew that to be true. Liev Dragunov would stop at nothing to get what he wanted.
‘It has been a very successful evening.’ He took her hand from where it rested on her lap, startling her out of her thoughts. She glanced around to see just one of the four couples who’d joined them at their table remained, deep in their own conversation.
‘Yes.’ She forced the word out, but it sounded like a husky whisper, so she fixed him with a bold glare, only to find that smile which never fully showed tugging at the corners of his lips. ‘I’d like to go home now. I have a busy day tomorrow preparing for a customer launch.’
‘Your brother?’ His thumb caressed her hand, making her skin tingle and distracting her far too much, but his voice had a granite-hard edge to it.
‘Yes. As you obviously overheard earlier, my brother Dario is launching a new product next month.’ Irritated that he’d listened to her conversation, she snapped the words out. For some absurd reason, she didn’t want him to know anything about her family. It wasn’t as if they were really engaged. All she was doing was opening doors for him.
‘You, too, overheard much of my conversation if I’m not mistaken, Bianca.’ The feral warning in his eyes made them glint like ice in the morning sun, but she refused to be intimated by him. Blackmail was enough.
‘I didn’t realise you’d built your business up from nothing.’ Her honest curiosity got the better of her as did the need to rein in the increasing tension. ‘You will, of course, need to tell me more about yourself if I am to represent your company.’
‘Providing you tell me more about yourself.’ His eyes flared briefly with amusement, like a firework before it melted into the night sky.
‘I don’t think so.’ There was no way she was going to open up to this man and tell him about her family. She didn’t want to reveal the nightmare of losing her parents when she was so very young and the difficulty of growing up in the spotlight without them. He probably knew already, but she didn’t want to have to tell him anything. ‘I’d like to go home now.’
‘Very well.’ He stood up and she suddenly became overwhelmed by him. As she sat there and looked at him, at the broad width of his shoulders, she felt almost helpless, as if he’d somehow taken every last bit of control from her. She didn’t like it one bit. Just as Dominic had done, he was using her for who she was, what she could offer him. The only difference this time—Liev had something she needed.
She stood up, her height in heels almost coming close to matching his, but when he put his arm around her back, his hand resting on her waist and pulling her against him, she knew her ability to hold it all together much longer was slipping away. He was eroding her ever-present mask of confidence faster than the tide wiped away footprints in the sand.
‘I will get a taxi.’ All she wanted was to be on her own, to cease this charade of newfound love.
‘What kind of fiancé would that make me if I allowed you to go home alone in a taxi? I will at least take you to your door, Bianca.’
Aware that they were being watched and that getting the bracelet back rested on how quickly he was accepted by people like these, she smiled sweetly at him, placing her hand on his arm and leaning against him seductively. ‘I can’t think of anything better.’
His finger tipped up her chin, forcing her to look directly into the icy heart of his eyes. The world around them stopped turning and nothing else exis
ted. The glamour of the room and everyone in it faded away. All she could see was the handsome man who had claimed her as his fake fiancée. All she could hear was the hard thudding of her heart. All she could feel was the heat of his body.
‘It will be my pleasure.’ He lowered his head and before she could do anything his lips met hers. Instinctively she closed her eyes as her body swayed towards him and hated herself for it. Her heart rate accelerated wildly and heat surged from deep within her as he moved his lips against hers, teasing and coaxing a response from her. She couldn’t help herself as butterflies took flight in her stomach; she sighed softly, enjoying the sensation of his kiss, of knowing that he, too, enjoyed it.
As all those conflicting sensations whirled around inside her, he pulled back just enough to whisper, ‘And a very great honour.’
Those huskily whispered words pulled her back from insanity.
‘I don’t think you know the meaning of that word.’ Her low retort had a sharpened edge to it and she wanted to collapse back onto her chair with relief when he let her go.
Before he could say or do anything else, she walked out of the room, away from the watchful eyes of people she’d known all her life and away from whatever it was that had just happened between her and the man she supposedly hated.
* * *
Liev got out of the limousine and helped Bianca out. The night air was warm and, as ever, the city hummed with activity. Bianca was still all fiery control and simmering sexiness, testing him more than he’d ever thought possible. Just as that kiss had done. He could still feel her lips against his, still hear that soft sigh of contentment. For a brief moment he had melted her icy heart.
‘There is no need to come up with me.’ Her words were so cold they almost froze him out, and he wondered about the passionate woman he’d glimpsed as his lips had brushed hers. Did she ever let her guard down enough for that passion to take over? Was that why she hadn’t dated recently? The challenge to find out more about the ice princess was immense, but it would get in the way of his real purpose and he couldn’t be distracted by a beautiful woman, no matter how attractive the prospect was.
‘We need to arrange our next date,’ he said as he held open the lobby door for her and nodded at the doorman.
As they waited for the elevator, he thought of seeing Bianca again. He pushed aside thoughts of kisses and passion, focusing instead on the thrill of sparring with her. The thought of coming closer to the moment he could avenge his father’s demise by finding out about Dario Di Sione’s latest product launch and using it against ICE pushed him forward even though his conscience was beginning to tug with something he didn’t want to acknowledge.
The elevator doors swished open and he followed Bianca in, more aware than ever of the crackle of tension which still simmered around them.
‘Yes, I suppose we do if we are to be believed. Shall I arrange something this time?’ Her voice distracted him from thinking of things he had little right to think about. The moment his lips had met hers something had changed, and although a public kiss was necessary, he had never meant it to be one so filled with such explosiveness as that lingering touch of lips to lips.
‘Not this time.’ He forced his mind to focus, not prepared to admit that he intended to test just how far and fast the news of their engagement was spreading. The elite of New York’s restaurants were always able to accommodate those who moved in Bianca’s high circles, and it was time to test if he was yet ranked among them. ‘Just keep next Friday evening free.’
‘Friday it is, then.’ Her voice trailed after her, as did her perfume, as she left the elevator. For a moment he watched, bewitched by the sway of her hips, encased in emerald green silk.
Following her, he shook his head and blinked. He had to stop wondering what really dating Bianca Di Sione would be like. If he didn’t, his whole plan, one that had taken years to come to fruition, was at stake. And he couldn’t let that happen.
As a teenager living rough on the streets of St Petersburg, he’d vowed he would do all it took to seek revenge for his parents, for the life together they should have had, and if it hadn’t been for the underhand dealings of ICE, he wouldn’t need Bianca to gain him acceptance into any society.
If it hadn’t been for ICE, he wouldn’t have been forced to steal just to feed himself and the other poor urchins he’d met while living rough. He wouldn’t have been caught and sent to the youth prison camps, hidden away in the country. The gruelling years he’d spent there had made him a man before his time and now that man was ready to exact payment. So what if the delectable Bianca Di Sione was part of it.
‘Goodnight, Liev.’ Her voice pierced the past he’d slipped into and he quickly focused his attention on the woman who stood before him.
‘Goodnight, Bianca.’ He lifted her fingertips to his lips and kissed them gently. ‘Until next Friday.’
Before he could do anything else, he turned and marched away, because if he didn’t he was in danger of giving everything away by either allowing the past to get the better of him and demanding answers from her about the company her brother now headed, or by giving into the urge to kiss her—really kiss her.
CHAPTER FIVE
THE FOLLOWING FRIDAY Bianca sat at the intimate candlelit table of one of New York’s most exclusive restaurants and looked out at the unrivalled view of the city. If Liev had been able to secure such a table at short notice, she knew that word of their engagement was spreading through society.
Not only was it spreading through society. It was spreading through her family and she was ashamed to say that she hadn’t yet been able to tell them herself, as if by not doing so made it less of a lie.
She’d first had a call from Matteo and had hated that she’d had to deceive her older brother, telling him she was so happy, that she’d met the man of her dreams and hadn’t wanted to wait a moment longer. He had been sceptical, questioning her, and that had almost pushed her to tell the truth. But how could she say she was being blackmailed—for a bracelet?
Then calls from some of the others had followed and she had been forced to tell the lie over and over. She also agreed that once Dario’s launch was over they could all get together and meet the man who’d swept her off her feet. Except by then she would be nearing the end of her ridiculous deal with Liev Dragunov and hoped she would be able to stall them until she got the bracelet back. Once it was all over she could tell them she’d made a mistake, because under no circumstances did she want any of her family to know just what she was doing for her grandfather until she had the bracelet. She couldn’t risk Liev taking it back to Russia, not when it meant so much to her grandfather.
‘I’m impressed.’ She turned her attention from the view to the man opposite. The angles of Liev’s face, which had once made him look hard and unyielding, now made him appear more handsome. Or was it because he was actually smiling?
‘With our engagement making the headlines this week, there was no question of not getting a table at any of New York’s finest restaurants. It was, of course, a test to see just how far being engaged to you has brought me.’ His voice held a new lightness to it but she couldn’t relax.
She couldn’t afford to, not when he’d been on her mind all week, lingering on the edge of her thoughts as she worked on Dario’s forthcoming launch. When she’d opened a file for Liev, and had begun filling in the few details she’d overheard on their first date, she realised she knew very little else about him and checked again on the internet to find nothing much existed. There was nothing about his family, his education or his love life. Nothing. As if he’d never existed before he arrived in New York.
‘And are you happy with the progress so far?’ She watched the champagne bubble up in her glass, unable to maintain eye contact with him because of the whispers of awareness which brushed over her. They reminded her of how it had felt to be kissed by him and how much she’d wanted that kiss to continue.
‘It is a start, but not yet enough.’ His sharp
words forced her to look again at him. His tailored suit showed off his physique, giving him a razor-sharp business look she couldn’t help but admire. It was also blatantly obvious he wasn’t going to settle for anything less than he wanted.
‘We now need to begin planning your launch, which means I need to know a little more about you.’ She kept her tone as businesslike as she could, but with those grey eyes watching her so intently, it was almost impossible. Shyness began to creep over her. Something she hadn’t shown publicly for many years, preferring to hide behind a hardened mask of professionalism for which she was renowned. She was also well aware that she was referred to as the ice princess and had seen the gossip columns all week speculating if Liev was the man to melt that heart.
If only they knew the truth.
‘Is that something we should be doing on a date?’ His suggestive smile as he sat back to allow their first course to be placed on the table sent nerves skittering down her spine, closely followed by a tingle of awareness. Was that because he’d called tonight a date or because he’d smiled at her?
‘I need to know more about you and, if you recall, we are not dating. We merely have an agreement. One I would prefer to think of as business—unless you’d like to use the more unsavoury term of blackmail?’ She couldn’t quite keep the tartness from her voice. Saying it aloud reminded her of the anger that she was allowing him to do this to her, making her feel as insignificant as she had that night of the prom.
‘Very well. What do you need to know?’ The smile had left his lips and his eyes now glittered with barely concealed mistrust, confirming he was hiding something or that his reasons for demanding the three-month engagement were not what he’d led her to believe.
‘You mentioned at the charity dinner last week that you built your business up from nothing. That must have taken some doing and it’s something I can use. But I need to know more.’ Her business mind was beginning to take over, to leave the timid and vulnerable Bianca in the shadows, where she belonged.
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