Bundle of Brides
Page 19
Lianne banked down the anger. ‘Tell me,’ she continued with seeming coolness. ‘Did you employ a private detective or a bodyguard?’
‘I ensured your protection.’
His voice held a certain bleakness and without thought her hand flew in an upward arc and connected with his cheek in a resounding slap. ‘How dare you?’
A muscle bunched at the edge of his jaw and his eyes were dark and dangerous. ‘Are you done?’
He could have caught hold of her hand mid-flight. The fact he hadn’t surprised her.
‘Not even close.’ She drew in a deep breath, then released it slowly. ‘My position with Sloane, Everton, Shell and Associates?’
His gaze was direct and unwavering. ‘You gained on your own merit.’
It was impossible to dampen down an edge of sarcasm. ‘Small mercy.’ It sickened her to think he’d received reports detailing her life since she left him. Where she worked, lived, who she met and what she did.
‘I take care of what is mine,’ Tyler assured with dangerous silkiness.
Nerves tightened into a painful ball inside her stomach. His words created an image of long nights and the scent, texture and feel of his body beneath her hands, her mouth. The way he could drive her wild…dear heaven, beyond wild with a lovemaking that broke all barriers. Fast and passionately driven, or long, tender and slow…he had the power to take her places she hadn’t known existed. Sensual nirvana, in all its connotations.
She’d thought it was enough. More than enough. Nothing, she’d imagined, could touch them.
Except reality intervened, intruding with a dogged persistence impossible to ignore. Mette…a tall blue-eyed blonde Danish model, known only by her Christian name, who’d built an international reputation gracing the European catwalks, and Tyler’s former lover…or so Mette had said. A woman who consciously chose to remain at the forefront, highly visible at almost every social function Tyler and Lianne had attended.
Now Lianne’s chin lifted and her eyes seared his. ‘I’m no longer yours.’
He was silent for what seemed an age, and his voice when he spoke was dangerously soft. ‘No?’
Could he read minds? See beneath her façade and determine the jangle of nerves creating havoc with her equilibrium? Know he was the cause? All because of the exigent sensual chemistry they had shared?
Except it was more than that…much more.
‘You can’t stay here,’ Lianne refuted adamantly. To have him share the apartment, even for the briefest time, wasn’t an option.
He lifted a hand and threaded fingers through his hair. ‘There are three bedrooms; surely you don’t begrudge me the use of one of them?’
‘You have to be kidding.’
He looked…tired. The result of a long flight, little sleep, and back-to-back business appointments?
‘A base, somewhere I can spend a night in between flights.’
‘There are places which cater for overnight guests,’ she voiced evenly. ‘They’re called hotels. Book a suite.’
‘Why do that, when I own an apartment?’ he queried with deceptive mildness.
‘I have a legally binding lease.’ She met his gaze with fearless disregard. ‘Nowhere in the fine print does it say I have to allow the landlord free residence at any time.’
‘Might I remind you we’re still husband and wife?’
‘Bound by a marriage certificate that hasn’t counted for anything in months?’
‘Your choice,’ Tyler asserted silkily. ‘Not mine.’
‘How can you say that?’ Lianne demanded in disbelief.
‘Easily. You were the one to walk.’
‘You cheated,’ she flung wretchedly, and saw his expression harden.
‘My answer is the same now as it was then.’
The memory of their argument was hauntingly vivid. Too vivid. ‘Get dressed, and get out.’
One eyebrow rose. ‘I pose no threat.’
That’s what you think. Even the mere thought of him sleeping in a room close to her own was enough to send her pulse-rate rocketing.
Given the circumstances of their separation, a few months down the track should have eased the heartache and diminished the need. It hadn’t, and she hated him for it, hated herself.
‘Or is it yourself you’re afraid of?’
He was right on the button, she conceded, and held down the anger. ‘That doesn’t deserve an answer.’
‘A bed, Lianne.’
‘As long as you understand it won’t be mine.’
One eyebrow rose. ‘I wasn’t aware I implied it might be.’
He was cool, way too cool, and she didn’t like it. He possessed a well-deserved reputation in the business arena for being a ruthless adversary. Someone to have as a friend, never an enemy.
To her, he was neither. Yet she felt she was treading on eggshells, wary, and hating the heat she tried so hard to subdue.
She was over him. Totally. Wasn’t that why she intended to seek a divorce? To be rid of him, so she could move on with her life?
So why in hell was her pulse racing to a quickened beat? Or her mind in conflict with the dictates of her body?
It was an itch, an urge, motivated by the memory of what had been. A time when they couldn’t keep their hands off each other, as if what they shared would never be enough…for either of them.
The fast passion, the long slow loving…
Stop it. The words remained locked in her throat, a silent scream that didn’t, couldn’t, find voice.
‘You’re doing this deliberately, aren’t you?’ Lianne demanded at last, and saw his eyebrow arch a little higher.
‘What, precisely?’
‘Taking control, creating a diabolical situation.’ Her chin tilted a little. ‘Tell me, are you doing it just for the hell of it?’
‘Why make something simple into such a big deal?’
‘Because simple doesn’t form part of your vocabulary!’
Temper ran warm colour over her cheekbones and lit her eyes with a fiery gleam. He wanted to reach out and trail his fingers over the heat, to feel it, then cup her face and cover her mouth with his own.
This close he was intensely aware of her, the clean smell of her hair, the soft floral perfume emanating from her skin…a subtle evocative scent that was essentially her. It was something she hadn’t sought to change, and it pleased him.
‘You think not?’
His drawled query made her edgy. So too did his body language. She wanted to take a backwards step, put some distance between them…except she stubbornly remained where she was.
‘Why are you here?’
His gaze didn’t shift from hers. ‘In Melbourne?’
He was toying with her, stringing out the play. It was an acquired skill. ‘That, too.’
‘I made my purpose apparent in Michael Sloane’s office.’
‘So you did,’ she managed with wry cynicism. ‘You intend to buy up property, residential and industrial, gut existing buildings or tear them down and rebuild. You’re good at it.’ His success was the stuff of legends. She took a deep breath, then demanded, ‘Why here?’
Tyler’s gaze lanced hers. ‘You have an objection?’
‘Several.’
‘Perhaps you’d care to name them?’ His voice was pure silk.
She wanted to hit him, and curled each hand into a fist in a bid for restraint. ‘Abandon the game, why don’t you, and cut to the chase.’
He waited a beat. ‘I made the decision to establish an Australian base.’
Her head tilted a little as she regarded him. ‘You expect me to believe that, when every move you make is a calculated manoeuvre?’
‘What would you have me say, Lianne?’
‘The truth might be a start.’
His silence seemed to stretch too long, and it took courage to hold his unwavering gaze.
‘I have never lied to you.’
‘Been there, done that,’ she reminded, and saw his jaw tighten.
‘The evidence was stacked against you.’
‘By a woman whose word you chose to trust over mine,’ Tyler reminded with hateful ease.
‘That’s supposed to change what happened? Forgive and forget?’ She was on a roll. ‘Please. Give me a break.’
Her eyes raked his powerful frame in deliberate appraisal. ‘I’m going to take a shower. I want you dressed and out of here by the time I’m done.’
It was a great exit line. One of the best. She only hoped he didn’t guess her nerves were a chaotic mess as she walked away from him.
Seconds later she carefully closed the bedroom door, then began to undress. Her fingers shook as she unfastened her skirt and she drew a deep steadying breath as she peeled off her tights, discarded underwear, then crossed to the en suite bathroom.
A leisurely shower would do wonders in easing the tenseness from her body, and she’d shampoo her hair. By the time she emerged, Tyler should be gone.
Half an hour later, towelled dry, she used the hair-drier, snagged jeans and a singlet top, then she twisted the length of her hair into a careless knot atop her head and emerged into the hallway.
The door to the guest bedroom was closed, and she swung it open automatically, choking back a sound that was a mixture of shock, irritation and anger at the sight of Tyler sprawled face down on top of the bed, asleep, with only a towel hitched at his waist.
The powerful musculature captured her gaze and held it with magnetic force as she lingered on the breadth of his shoulders, the flex of sinew, the strong spine beneath the golden tanned skin.
There was the temptation to move close and trace each ridge of muscle and vertebra indentation, to caress the smooth skin and thread her fingers through his dark tousled hair. To touch her lips to his nape…
Dear heaven, where had that come from?
Get a grip. Such wayward thoughts led to madness.
She had to get him out of here. Now.
‘Tyler.’
Calling his name brought no response whatsoever, and she bit back an unladylike oath as she crossed the room and shook the bed, then him.
To no avail, for he didn’t move.
‘Damn you, Tyler.’ The muttered condemnation held a mix of angry frustration as she grabbed hold of his shoulders and put strength into shaking him hard.
‘Wake up.’
A hand snaked out and closed over her forearm. ‘Tell me there’s a fire or some other life-threatening disaster,’ he muttered in a gravelly voice. ‘Otherwise get out and let me sleep.’
Lianne tried to tug her arm free without success, for he merely tightened his grip. ‘Get up, get dressed, and get the hell out of my apartment.’
Tyler effected a slow body roll to lie facing her, his eyes impossibly dark as he met her angry gaze.
‘We’ve already done that.’
She wrenched her arm and growled a husky expletive when he failed to release it.
His lips formed a mocking smile. ‘My mother would argue with you.’ He sounded indolently amused and it irked her unbearably.
‘Let me go, dammit!’ The temptation to lash out at him was irresistible, and she gave a startled gasp as he tugged her forward.
One second she was standing, the next she was fighting to retain her balance. Something he allowed her to do…just. Yet the threat of intent was there, the ease with which he held control apparent as he held her there, poised between tipping her down on to the bed or letting her go.
Time was held suspended as everything faded into the background. There was only the man, the moment, and a vivid reminder of the exigent chemistry they had shared.
Lianne was almost afraid to breathe as sensual awareness pierced her feminine core and began radiating through her body, searing every nerve, heating her flesh until she felt as if she was on fire.
For months she’d led a celibate existence, alternately hating him and learning to live without him.
Until today she’d thought she was on the path towards self-survival. Yet all it had taken was one look and she was pitched back to the pleasure and the pain of having loved him with her heart and soul.
She couldn’t, wouldn’t go there again.
Lianne banked down confusion and resorted to anger as she made another attempt to wrench out of his grasp. ‘What in hell do you think you’re doing?’
Did she realise how beautiful she was? Hair like spun silk, fine cream-textured skin and eyes the colour of brilliant sapphire. Know how easily she could arouse him? Just looking at her did it for him every time.
‘Defending myself,’ he drawled with a tinge of humour. He’d missed their verbal sparring, her spontaneity, warmth, her fire. Dammit, everything that was her.
‘So you should,’ she said fiercely. ‘Right now I could kill you.’
‘Have mercy.’ His voice held a gravelly quality. ‘I haven’t slept in thirty-six hours.’
He watched the fleeting emotions chase across her expressive features as he released her arm.
It was still there, the sensual chemistry they shared, simmering beneath the surface. For each of them. Knowing it was enough.
Tyler rolled on to his stomach, crossed his arms on the pillow, then lowered his head. ‘Close the door on your way out.’
Lianne remained where she was for a few seconds, speechless. Then the anger returned and with it the urge to do him bodily harm.
‘Don’t,’ he warned with dangerous silkiness. ‘Unless you want to deal with the consequences.’
His meaning was unmistakable, and the air between them became electric. So much so, she consciously held her breath as her senses turned traitor and consumed her body with need.
It was all too easy to recall how it had felt to be caught up in the sensual thrall they’d once shared. Possessed by each other to such a degree where nothing else had existed…only them, consumed by a sexual magic uniquely their own.
There was a part of her that wanted, craved, to turn back the clock, sink down and take him on a wild ride that would leave them both shaken and spent.
Are you insane? The silent voice of reason kicked in and broke the highly volatile thread of conflicting thought.
It was a madness she couldn’t afford, nor could she allow herself the luxury of remembering what they used to share.
Tyler had severed that special bond. It was over, long gone…dead. Wasn’t it?
She had to admit that her body was in conflict with the dictates of her brain. And she didn’t like it.
The temptation to heap ire on his hapless head was paramount. To throw caution to the wind and let her anger have full rein.
Except that would play right into his hands, and she refused to go there.
Instead she derived a certain satisfaction in retreating without a further word.
It indicated he hadn’t got to her, and it was she, not he, who was in control.
A fallacy, despite the façade. For inside she was a trembling mass of shattered nerves, swept back to a place she’d sworn never to visit again.
For the past few months she’d enjoyed the relative calm her life had become. The routine of work, the company of a few good friends. She didn’t need a man in her life.
Especially not a soon-to-be ex-husband!
With care she turned and quietly left the room, closing the door behind her with an almost silent click. Then she walked calmly out to the kitchen, fixed a salad and took the plate out on to the balcony to sit staring out over the panoramic vista as the sun sank slowly towards the horizon.
Food didn’t interest her, and after desultorily forking a few mouthfuls she discarded her plate and contemplated what her next step would be.
Attempting to physically remove Tyler wasn’t an option. And phoning the police and citing a domestic incident was overkill.
Whether she liked it or not, Tyler was there for the nigh
t.
So what? a devilish imp prompted. Deal with it.
She could phone one of a few close friends and suggest they meet for coffee, take in a movie. Or she could put in a few hours on her laptop.
Work, she decided as she tidied the kitchen, then she filched a diet cola from the refrigerator and took it into the room she used as a home office.
It was almost midnight when she saved the file and closed the laptop. Her shoulders ached and she felt weary beyond belief.
A hot shower should have acted as a precursor to easily acquired sleep. Instead she lay between cool sheets, staring at the shadowed ceiling until exhaustion brought a few hours of blissful oblivion.
CHAPTER THREE
LIANNE woke feeling as if she’d spent the night fighting a disturbing dream. Worse, her mirrored reflection merely endorsed it.
A shower did nothing to lift her mood, and even the skilful application of make-up couldn’t disguise the dark hollows beneath her eyes.
There were several stylish business suits in her wardrobe, and she riffled through the selection, chose red, signifying power…let’s face it, she needed all the help she could get! The straight skirt enhanced her slim curves and the fitted jacket could be worn without a blouse.
With her hair swept into a loose chignon, stiletto-heeled pumps, minimum jewellery, she was done.
Coffee, black, sweet and strong, had to provide a kick-start to the day, and she drew in a deep breath, then released it as she opened her bedroom door.
Please God, Tyler had already left, she offered in silent prayer as she made her way to the kitchen.
Except the Deity wasn’t listening.
Tyler was seated at the breakfast bar, cutlery in hand as he did justice to a plate of grilled bacon, eggs, toast, and freshly made coffee.
Dressed in dark tailored trousers, a deep blue shirt unbuttoned at the neck, he looked every inch the powerful magnate. His jacket lay carelessly tossed over a nearby chair, topped by a tie.
He glanced up as she appeared and she suffered his leisurely appraisal.
‘I was about to come wake you.’ His drawl held a tinge of humour as he remembered just how he’d stirred her into wakefulness…and her generous response.