As Cat followed behind the men she noticed that, although Antonio was tall, Nicholas still had the advantage of a few inches and he was also more powerfully built, his shoulders wide, tapering down to narrow hips. She liked Nicholas’s body—liked the way it felt to be held by him. Realizing the direction of her thoughts, she frowned and hurriedly looked away. She really was going to have to stop thinking like this.
Once off the main hall, there were a few small boutiques selling jewellery and designer clothes. She glanced in the windows as she passed but there was no time to linger. The men stepped back, allowing her to enter the office ahead of them. And for the next hour there was no time to think about anything except her proposals for the campaign.
She was impressive in business, Nicholas thought as a little later they went through to the ballroom to assess the strategic elements of how the advert could work. He watched as she stood in the centre of the dance floor and looked around the baroque interior with undisguised excitement.
‘This is fabulous,’ she breathed. ‘It will be perfect for what we were discussing. You can almost sense history in here.’ She glanced up at the high ceilings and the walls, decorated with gold leaf and elaborate frescoes. ‘Do you still host masked balls in here?’ she asked Antonio.
‘Oh, yes, in Carnival time, which is just before Lent, we have many evenings of masquerade balls. You should come, the historical costumes are magnificent and you—if I may be so bold—would look ravishing in one, don’t you think, Nicholas?’
Cat caught the sardonic glitter in Nicholas’s eyes at the comment and blushed. ‘Well, thank you, Antonio,’ she hurried on, returning the focus of conversation firmly back to business before he could reply. ‘I was thinking that we could film a few people in costume at strategic places around the hotel—’ She wished Nicholas wouldn’t watch
her so closely. He made her nervous—he also made her intensely aware of the fact that she wasn’t wearing any underwear. ‘Em…. Jinking in with what we were er … discussing in the office.’ She glanced down at her notes and tried to gather her senses. ‘We should take a look at one of the master suites next. I think if we—’
‘We will go up there now, Catherine, as I think we have detained Antonio long enough.’ Nicholas had been leaning almost indolently against one of the pillars in the room but he detached himself from it now to walk forward. ‘I’ve requested my private suite to be prepared for us. We will take dinner there and conclude this conversation.’
Cat felt her heart thump with nervous anticipation. She was desperate not to be left alone with Nicholas, but Antonio was already taking his leave, assuring them of his utmost assistance for the plans they had been discussing. ‘Let me know when you have finalized your decision on this, Nicholas. And meanwhile may I wish you both a pleasant evening.’
‘Alone at last,’ Nicholas said mockingly as the hotel manager strolled away. ‘I think you made yourself a conquest there.’
She ignored the observation. Antonio probably treated every woman with the same level of charm. ‘You shouldn’t have been so quick to dismiss him,’ she said instead.
‘You think so?’ Nicholas’s eyes blazed with heat for a moment. ‘Well, you will have to contain your disappointment, Catherine.’
The derisive words made her blush wildly. She glanced down at the notes in her hand. ‘I meant that we still have rather a lot to get through,’ she blustered. ‘We could have used Antonio’s input—for instance, these outdoor shots—’
‘Right now my mind is focused on indoor pursuits.’ His eyes met hers boldly as she looked up.
She hoped he was referring to taking dinner but somehow, just by the way he was looking at her, she doubted it. And, to her horror, she was aware that, along with the feeling of apprehension inside her, the heat of sexual excitement blazed fiercely.
Angrily she fought the sensation down. For the sake of her self-respect as well as her work she couldn’t afford to let herself become used as just another conquest. ‘Well, if you don’t want to discuss the finer details of the advert any further, we should finalize the deal right now.’ She raised her chin and met his gaze firmly.
An enigmatic smile curved the corners of Nicholas’s mouth. ‘Let’s go upstairs, Catherine.’
The words were dangerously quiet. Go upstairs for what? she wondered frantically. To sign the deal—to have sex?
He stepped back, indicating with a rather imperious sweep of his hand that she should accompany him out. Cat hesitated, then, taking a deep breath, she walked ahead of him towards the door.
There was a lift directly outside the ballroom and the doors were open as if waiting for them. As they stepped inside, Cat was reminded forcefully of the first night they had met.
She watched as he pressed the button for the top floor and snippets of conversations played mockingly through her mind.
A sexual heat exists between us, Catherine. We’ve both known about it very forcefully since the first moment our eyes met.
Her eyes collided with his for a second and she could almost hear his voice.
This is inevitable, because the truth is that you want me as much as I want you.
Hurriedly she wrenched her gaze away from him. This wasn’t inevitable, she told herself fiercely—she would remain aloof and she would concentrate on business.
The lift opened and Nicholas led the way down a richly carpeted corridor to open a door at the end. Then he stepped back to allow her to precede him inside.
The room that Cat entered was exquisite. Whereas the suite at Nicholas’s London hotel had been ultra-modern in design, this one was completely in keeping with the character of the hotel, baroque yet lavishly elegant. They were in a lounge area and the Venetian glass chandeliers sparkled over gold-leaf antique furniture and heavily brocaded sofas. Outside on a terrace overlooking the floodlit beauty of the city, a candlelit table was laid for two.
Cat put her briefcase down on one of the side tables and tried not to look through the door that led towards an enormous four-poster bed draped in white muslin and rose-patterned chintz.
They were the most romantic surroundings she had ever seen, and the perfect setting for seduction.
But she wasn’t going to allow herself to be seduced, she reminded herself firmly. ‘I took the liberty of bringing along a contract for you to sign. It’s for the first three adverts.’