‘But she is dead, Amber, and she can’t come between you any more. Lucas wants a flesh-and-blood woman.’ He held her slightly away from him, his blue eyes roaming the luscious length of her, camping it up with mocking male appreciation. ‘And you are certainly that!’
Amber grinned at his teasing; she could not help it.
‘Look at him—he is watching me like a hawk.’ Tim gestured with his head, and, glancing across the room, Amber saw Lucas rising up from the table, his whole attention fixed on her. ‘Believe me, Amber, he wants you and badly. He and I had a long talk last week. I’m sure he loves you even if he does not want to admit it. Take a chance.’
‘Take a chance on what?’ Lucas’s deep, melodious voice broke into the conversation. ‘You are already taking a big chance, Tim, dancing with my fiancée for so long. If you don’t mind.’
‘My pleasure.’ Tim grinned and, leaning forward, he dropped a swift kiss on Amber’s nose. ‘Go for it,’ he whispered before placing her hand in Lucas’s.
‘Are you sure that guy is gay? I saw the way he looked at you,’ Lucas queried, slipping a long arm around her waist, and clasping her other hand in his, holding her close to his strong body.
Tilting her head back, she looked up into his oddly serious face. ‘Jealous of Tim?’ she prompted with a chuckle.
‘I’m no fool; if your closest male friend had been straight I would never have invited him in a million years,’ he declared bluntly.
Amber couldn’t help it, she burst out laughing.
‘I’m glad I amuse you,’ Lucas said simply. ‘I have been trying to all night.’
The hint of a smile quirked the corners of his mobile mouth as his hand laced with hers and raised it to his lips. He brushed a kiss along her knuckles, before moving her effortlessly to the soft strains of the music.
‘Is that what you were doing?’ Seducing her more likely, Amber thought, and slid a slender arm up around his neck, tangling her fingers in the silky black hair at his nape. ‘I would have called it teasing.’ She pouted and did some teasing of her own, relaxing against him, and moving her hips in an exaggerated sway to the rhythm of the music. Her golden eyes gleamed mischievously up at Lucas.
His black eyes glittered over her lovely face. ‘Amber.’ One hand caressed her back down her spine, curving her in closer to the hard strength of his body, and heat pooled in her belly. ‘Watch it! You’re playing a dangerous game,’ his husky voice drawled as he curled their joined fists against her breast.
Her sensitive flesh swelled and her nipples peaked into tight buds against the smooth fabric of her gown as desire, sharp and physical, scorched between them. Amber could not drag her eyes away from his. She wanted him so much, she trembled. ‘I don’t play games,’ she whispered, and then, with courage she had not known she possessed, she asked, ‘but what about you?’ He’d played with her emotions once before; she had no reason to suppose it would be any different this time.
CHAPTER NINE
LUCAS had hurt Amber so much before, it terrified her as she waited for his answer. But Tim had told her to take a chance; after all, Christina was dead and Lucas was very much alive.
Something she was made vividly aware of the next second as, dropping her hand, he placed his through the silken fall of her hair to curve around the nape of her neck and tip her head back. ‘No, I never play games,’ he contradicted fiercely while his other hand, low on the base of her spine, urged her hard against him. ‘Does this feel like a game?’ His lean hips moved urgently against her, making her aware of his arousal. ‘Do you think I willingly walk around in this state aching for you? The chemistry between us is as strong as it always was, always will be.’
‘Not always.’ The memory of him walking out on her was ever present.
Lucas stilled, giving up any pretence of dancing. ‘Yes, even then,’ he confessed harshly. He knew exactly what she meant, and he was ashamed of his behaviour, but at the time he had been too blindly arrogant to see the truth. He had decided it was time he fell in love and married, and had set about doing it exactly the same way as he pursued a business deal. He had been so confident he’d been doing the right thing. Pleasing his father, and expecting it to please himself.
‘No,’ Amber denied. ‘Don’t bother lying.’ It was all a game to Lucas, anything to get his own way. ‘I was there, remember,’ she prompted scathingly. ‘You said I was disgusting, a hedonist. You as good as called me a whore,’ she fumed, all the old anger and resentment bubbling to the surface.
Lucas’s arm around her waist jerked tighter. His superb bone structure tautened and something that looked almost like pain glinted in his night-black eyes. ‘I was disgusted with myself, Amber, never you. Spiro’s statement after my engagement party that he was going to marry you had enraged me, but deep down I suspected it was a lie. Though it did not stop me using it as an excuse to see you again. I had to make sure, I told myself, and, seeing you so strong and defiant and desirable, I was lost to all reason, consumed by such an irresistible passion that nothing else mattered. I betrayed my fiancée, and I hated myself, so I took it out on you. You have
to believe me, and if I hurt you with my brutally callous remarks I am truly sorry.’
If… He’d almost destroyed her, and he had not even realised he’d been doing it…and yet, looking up into his taut, sombre face, she believed him. Plus he had actually done it, actually managed to say I’m sorry. For once the arrogant, all-powerful Lucas Karadines was admitting he was as susceptible to making a mistake as any ordinary mortal was.
‘Amber, I swear it was never my intention to hurt you, then or now. We are getting married tomorrow.’ His sensual mouth twisted wryly. ‘Can we at least try to forget the past and make it work? Make it real.’
His strong hand moved restlessly up and down her spine and with the heat, the strength of him enveloping her, she was tempted to agree.
‘Please,’ Lucas pleaded for the first time in his life. He had behaved like the worst kind of hide-bound, chauvinistic fool when he had let this woman go. Equating great sex with a girlfriend, but talking himself into loving what he had considered an acceptable wife. Now he knew better: love was an illusion; lust was reality. He might not like the way Amber affected him so instantly. But he was not fool enough to believe he could live with her without making love to her. He was no masochist.
Amber saw his eyes darken. She knew what he wanted, what he was asking, and was dizzied by the sensations snaking through her. She placed a hand on his shirt-front to steady herself. Involuntarily her hand stroked up over the front of his chest, feeling the uneven pounding of his heart beneath the fine silk of his shirt. He wanted her, and in all honesty Amber knew she ached for him. She was older now and she no longer saw Lucas as the perfect, infallible, godlike male she had years ago, yet she still loved him.
She was under no illusion as to why he was marrying her. He was not prepared to trust Amber’s word she would sell Spiro’s shares to him. It was ingrained in his character to trust no one; an asset in the top echelons of the business world, but on a personal level more of a liability, though Lucas would never see it as such. But the real question was, was she mature enough to forget all her old bitterness and anger, and take what was on offer? A few months of sexual pleasure at least, and maybe, just maybe Lucas might come to love her. Dared she take the chance?
‘Amber…’ his long fingers tangled in the silky gold locks of her hair, he urged her face to his ‘…what do you say?’
She could say no! And deprive herself of six months of pleasure and probably the only sex she would get in her life. She looked into his eyes, and was fascinated by the tinge of vulnerability that even the sensual hunger blazing in their depths could not hide. Or she could say yes! And pray she was mature enough to walk away with her pride intact when the time came.