He pulled open her door for her with more angry strength than the beautifully designed piece of equipment required. As she carefully maneuvered her high-heeled shoes over the sill of the car, his grim impatience with her transferred to the long fingers he clamped around her arm to help straighten her up. Arriving in front of him with more impulse than was necessary, she ended up almost flattened against him, which shocked her enough into glancing up.Their eyes clashed—his slightly narrowed and glinting golden warning shots for her to take care what she did or said next, hers sparking with bright defiance which dared him to make one of his cold, cutting comments gauged to knock her back down to size.But he went for a different kind of attack. He relaxed the corners of his hard, clipped mouth, slid a hand around her exposed nape, then lowered his head and captured her mouth with a hard, hot, plundering kiss!Astonishment thrilled through Vivian. It was so shockingly unexpected and so
When they finally began to sink downwards. Vivian saw a series of slated rooftops forming the shape of a large country house standing in the center of sweeping clipped green lawns sloping down to a tiny lake.As they settled on the grass a short walk away from the creamy painted walls of the house, she assumed that it must be a hotel. And only realized her mistake when Scott led the way in through the front door and she heard him greet a smartly dressed man, before strolling over to a side table to begin sifting through the small pile of letters she could see waiting there."This is a house," she murmured, pausing to look around the light and airy hallway.Scott threw her a glance. "What did you think it was?" "A hotel." His smile was more of a grimace. "This is my home—or the one I use whenever I'm here" Eyelashes flickering away from the sturdy staircase built of rich golden oak which took up central position, Vivian looked at him, then away again."How many homes do you have?" sh
So tranquil, she thought, when there was nothing tranquil about the man who must have had the pool and the goddess positioned there."So, what do you think?" He came to take the seat beside her, lazed back and stretched out his long legs."About the house? You must already know that it’s very beautiful." Vivian said. "I purchased it last year from a business acquaintance, who needed some heavy cash fast," he imparted casually. "The idea was to sell it on but the current housing market made me decide to hang on to it for a while." "That explains it, then," Vivian murmured.He turned his head to look at her. "Explains what?" he asked. "Did Anthony come with the house?" she responded with a question of her own."Yes," he confirmed, and she nodded her head."The decor and the furnishings?" His eyes started to narrow, and Vivian felt that needling spark of electricity filter into the air. She had to moisten her lips with the tip of her tongue before she could go on. "Your—stamp is not v
The networking started almost straight away. Scott kept her at his side as he walked the room, rarely needing to make an effort to gain attention because people were more eager to meet him. It was the quality of the man and his billionaire kudos, his entrepreneurial brilliance, his stunning good looks and his casually presented charm. He handled people with a low-key edginess that made them work all the harder to earn themselves an impressed glance or an approving smile. Smooth, Vivian described as she soaked him in like the rest of them.Then he ruined it for her when he turned to her and said, "OK, this is where I leave you on your own for a while." Like a kick in the gut she instantly turned as white as parchment. Scott released a sigh, catching her by the shoulders and turning her to face him."All you have to do is circulate and listen. If you know what they’re talking about, join in. If you don’t know what they’re talking about, then ask questions," he relayed as if it was real
"I am not making the scene—you are! Now—let—me—go!" With an angry tug she managed to yank her wrist free. As he went to grab hold of her again, she pushed at his body with her two clenched fists and enough angry strength to make him stagger back a small step, giving her just enough space to slither around him and get away.Shaking inside with anger and reaction, she hurried out onto the pool terrace. Scared that he might be following her but determined not to look back and check, she made for the first group of people she saw standing by the swimming pool, and with a deep breath to calm her unsteady breathing, she ventured close enough for them to notice her, and smiled gratefully when they widened the circle to invite her to join in.What the hell just happened? She had no idea who the man was? And all that talk about his sister and Scott, what was all that about? Her eyes glazed and her wrist was hurting, she noticed, carefully rubbing the place where he had dug into her bones. Some
What he could not see was who had been standing close enough to her to propel her into the damn pool because his full attention had been fixed exclusively on her."So the cuckoo almost drowned and I missed it," a disappointed voice drawled beside him. "What a shame." In no mood for Elizabeth Smith's twisted kind of humor Scott intoned flatly, "You lead a sad life, Elizabeth," then walked away, over to the almost deserted pool bar and ordered a drink while he awaited Vivian's return.By the time the two women walked out of the house again he was the only person left on the terrace. As a foil for each other Vivian's darkness next to Michele's flame was pretty much as good as it could get, Scott observed. Then his full attention had welded on Vivian's transformation from wet and bedraggled to long and curvaceous, a seriously slinky siren which almost blew his edgy control to bits.She was wearing a figure-hugging strapless black tube of a dress that was nothing short of mind-stopping. F
A set of long fingers supported the golden jut of his jaw while one finger lay across the thin stretch of his mouth. And his dark eyes glittered."I don’t know what happened," she answered, keeping to her decision to play the whole incident down."If you’re lying to me I will find out," he warned her quietly. "Augustus staff is checking film footage as we speak. I saw you fall, and I believe you were pushed. I want to know who you think did that to you and why you believe that they did." "It could just have been an accident," Vivian sighed out. "I don’t understand why you are obsessing on it." For an answer he dipped his hand into his pocket and drew out his phone. She knew without having to ask that he was going to call Augustus and get the information he wanted from him."You are such a bully—put your phone away," she snapped, adding another sigh of weary surrender this time when he continued to hold the phone at the ready, eyes fixed like stubborn black lasers on her pale face."I
Her reward was a lusty masculine growl that excited her dreadfully.Tightening his arms around her he lifted her up against him and fed her legs around his waist, then just stood there with her clamped against him, their parted mouths fused together and the intimacy taking place with their tongues a shattering mimic of something else he was doing to her.His hands were splayed across her silk-covered buttocks, the fiercely bold evidence of how he was feeling shocked and excited her in equal amounts. When she moved voluptuously against him she felt his shudder that blew the last of his common sense to bits.Turning to walk with her over to the bed, as they landed on the mattress in a tangle of clinging limbs, he pulled his head back. "What did you come here for?" he rasped out.Having to fight to try and understand the question, Vivian opened her eyes and just stared blankly up at him. His mouth was barely an inch away, his warm breath scoring her face. She could feel the pounding pump