“Trust me, Your Mightiness. The feeling is mutual.” Alyssa glared at him. “When will you meet with your lawyers?”
Amazing, Lucas thought. She had to know she was on the losing end of the battle, that his attorneys would find a way to void the entire contract, but she was still behaving as if she were his equal.
She’d been like that in bed, too. Shy, at first. Holding back. Then, little by little, coming to life beneath his hands and mouth. Showing him what she wanted. What pleased her.
What had pleased him was the simple act of making love to her. Not that it had felt simple. He’d been with a lot of women, more women than most men, perhaps, but what had happened in this room, this bed, had seemed far more complex than anything he’d known in the past.
The act had seemed richer. Fuller. At the end, when she’d trusted him enough to let go and come with him…
When she’d done that, when she’d contracted around him even as the power of his own orgasm shot through him, he’d felt—he’d felt—
“Don’t just stand there, Your Highness! I want to know when this meeting will take place! And, of course, I intend to go with you.”
She intended to go with him? He almost laughed. She had no more right to attend a meeting with his lawyer than she had to keep claiming El Rancho Grande should be hers.
He looked out the window. The sky glowed pink with the morning light. No one would be in the Madrid offices of Madeira, Vasquez, Sterling and Goldberg, but that presented no problem.
The answering service would take the message. Ricardo Madeira himself would return the call within minutes.
There were occasional benefits to being Prince Lucas Reyes, even if this woman chose not to see them.
And having Alyssa with him might be an advantage. Let Madeira see precisely what he was up against.
“Be downstairs in one hour,” he said brusquely. “And be prompt, amada. I do not like to be kept waiting.”
Could an enraged woman pass up such an opportunity? He had taken all the time in the world to make love to her and she knew it, but she had the feeling she was losing their verbal war. Here was a chance to make points.
“Yes,” Alyssa said sweetly, “I know how quickly you like to do things.”
She knew instantly she had pushed him too far. His eyes went from gold to green; the bones in his face stood out in harsh relief.
“Really,” he said, very softly.
She stumbled back. “No,” she said, the one word a terrified breath.
It didn’t matter.
Lucas grabbed her. Drew her to him despite her struggles and caught her face with one hand.
“Watch what you say, amada. Or I may have to take you to bed again and make love to you until you beg me for release.”
“In yo
ur dreams!”
He laughed softly. “No, amada. In yours.”
He lowered his head and kissed her hard. Deep. Kissed her with a passion that bordered on cruelty. Then he flung her from him.
“An hour,” he said coldly. “Or I leave without you.”
The door slammed shut behind her. Alyssa didn’t move. Then, after a long moment, she touched the tip of her tongue to her lips, tasted Lucas, his heat, his possession…
And closed her eyes in despair.
There were tiny spots of blood on her thighs.
On the sheets.