Shackled by Diamonds

As if she were making some kind of point to him.

But what kind of point was Anna Delane entitled to make to him? None, that was what. Yet she was as prickly as a hedgehog, trying to make him feel bad when it was she who was the criminal. Leo’s teeth clenched. Why the hell couldn’t she just be nice for once? Pleasant, attentive, eager to please? Eager, if nothing else, to earn the parole he’d promised her?

But not her. No. No, she was sitting there, ignoring him, chin in the air as if she had a bad smell underneath her fastidious nose.

From the corner of her averted eye, Anna saw Leo glowering at her. She refused to look at him. Every instinct told her not to.

Yet something was pulling at her. Something that made her want to just tilt her head slightly, so very, very slightly. Just a little. Just enough to see more of Leo Makarios than from the corner of her eye. To see him sitting there, lounging back in his chair, long legs extended, lean, taut body displayed for her, dark, molten eyes pouring through her, melting her…

No!

Doggedly she held her head rigid. Refusing to look at him.

It seemed suddenly essential that she did not look at him.

She lifted her coffee cup one last time, and set it down empty. And as she did so, of their own volition, pulled by something she could not prevent, her eyes were drawn to him.

To feast on him like a starving man.

Yes! Leo all but punched the air. He’d got her. Her eyes had wandered to him—wandered, and stuck. With absolute self-control he reached for his coffee, holding his gaze impassive. He lifted his cup, relaxing back in his seat, stretching out his legs and flexing his shoulders. He could see her expression register the movement, and his mood improved yet again. He sat back, letting her gaze at him, his own glowering expression quite vanished now.

He luxuriated in her covert observation for a few moments longer, then said, ‘Where would you like to go next, Anna?’

Immediately, her gaze cut out. The look of deliberate indifference was back in her face.

‘I have no opinion on the subject,’ she replied, and pretended to drink more coffee.

‘Then I’ll choose, shall I?’ said Leo, with exaggerated politeness.

‘Please do.’ She gave her acid-sweet smile again.

And again, for one bizarre moment, as his eyes caught hers, Leo wanted to laugh out loud. The girl was impossible, outrageous, infuriating—yet there was something about Anna Delane that he could not let go of…

Leo got to his feet, tossing some East Caribbean dollars down on the table. Incredulously, he watched Anna open her purse, then pause.

‘I don’t have any local currency,’ she announced. She glanced around and saw a bank on the corner of one of the streets leading back into the town. Without pausing, she darted across and went in. She emerged a few minutes later and came back to their table, putting down some coins next to his notes.

‘Take them back, Anna,’ Leo said, in a low, dangerous voice.

His good mood had gone—totally. He was right back to wanting to throttle her.

She stared at him. ‘I’m paying,’ she said, ‘for my coffee.’

Greek issued from him in a staccato fire. ‘God almighty, is this some kind of joke?’ He caught her wrist, halting her. ‘You stole a bracelet from me worth at a conservative estimate eighty thousand euros. Don’t even think of trying to make yourself look virtuous by paying for your own damn coffee and clothes.’ He brought his face closer to hers. ‘You’re a thief—nothing but a thief. Don’t ever think I am going to forget that and be impressed by you.’

Anna’s face had gone rigid. Her eyes were like pinpricks of green fire.

‘Understand this, and understand it well, Leo Makarios,’ she hissed at him. ‘I wouldn’t stoop to trying to impress you if it was my last day on earth. Think what you want of me—I don’t give a stuff!’

She twisted out of his grip, and stormed off.

Leo stared after her fulminatingly, then set off after her.

Damn the girl. Damn her to hell! She should be begging him to go easy on her! Should be using all her arts and beauty to try and captivate him, soothe his savage heart and plead for a lighter sentence. She should be making up to him, eager for his approval, his attention.

The way other women did.

Other women always made up to him, sought his attention, his interest. They put themselves out for him, exerting all their charms. They wanted to please him.

And yet Anna Delane, who had stolen his rubies and never shown the slightest sign of contrition about it, who had a thousand, million times more cause to want to please him, was as eager to please him as a piranha was to be a vegetarian!

She’s different in bed. In bed she wants everything you give her…