Theo nodded. ‘Good to hear it.’ Unable to stop himself, his gaze travelled down her body.
Faded jeans moulded her hips and her cream scooped-neck silk top left her arms bare. Its short-in-the-front, longer-at-the-back design exposed a delicious inch of golden, smooth midriff when she turned to shut her door and the air lifted the light material.
Heat invaded his groin, once again reminding him of their kiss last night.
The kiss that had blown him clean away and rendered him almost incoherent by the time her brother had rudely interrupted them.
Hell, she’d been so responsive, so intoxicatingly passionate, she’d gone to his head within seconds. What had set out as a hammering-a-point-home exercise to convince her he meant business had swiftly morphed into something else. Something he’d still been struggling to decipher when she’d been hustled off his boat by her suddenly protective brother.
One thing he’d been certain of was that had Pietro been a few more minutes returning to the top deck, Theo was sure he would’ve had his hands on her bare skin, exploring her in a more earthy way, propriety be damned.
Luckily, he’d come to his senses. And, from here on in, he intended to focus on his plan and his plan alone.
She went to the boot and bent over to lift the first case. The sight of her rounded bottom made a vein throb in his temple.
He stepped forward, grabbed the cases from her and handed them to his hovering butler. ‘I’m running late for my meeting. We should have done this last night like I suggested.’
He’d tried. But she’d stood her ground and he had quickly decided that there was nothing to be gained from getting into a slanging match with Pietro da Costa. That he’d also realised that his change of timing was to do with that kiss and nothing to do with his carefully laid plans had had him sharply reassessing his priorities.
‘I’m here now. Don’t let me stop you from leaving if you wish to.’
He smiled at the undisguised hope in her voice. ‘Now what kind of host would I be if I desert you the moment you turn up?’
‘The same as the one who blackmailed me into this situation in the first place?’ she replied caustically.
There was a thread of unhappiness in her voice that grated at him.
‘This will go a lot easier if you accept the status quo.’
‘You mean just shut up and do as I’m told?’ she snapped bitterly as she slammed the boot shut and walked towards him.
Unease weaved through him. With restless shoulders, he shrugged it away. ‘No. You can protest all you want. I just want you to be aware of the futility of it.’
She snorted under her breath, a sound that made his smile widen. She had spirit, and wasn’t afraid to bare her claws when cornered. Which made him wonder why she withstood the unreasonable control from her father. Were material benefits so important to her?
The heavy glass front door slid shut behind them and he watched her reaction to his house. It was an architectural masterpiece, and had featured in several top magazines before he’d bought it a year ago and ceased all publicity of the award-winning design.
‘Wow,’ she breathed. ‘This place must have cost you a bomb.’
Theo had his answer. Disappointment scythed through him as he watched her move to the bronze sculpture he’d acquired several weeks back.
‘I saw the exhibition on this two months ago. This piece is worth a cool half million,’ she gasped in wonder. ‘And that one—’ she pointed to another smaller sculpture he’d commissioned by his favourite New York artist ‘—is an exclusive piece, worth over two million dollars.’
His lips twisted. ‘Should I be worried that you know the monetary value of every piece of art in my house?’
She whirled to face him. ‘Excuse me?’
‘I hope we can engage in more meaningful dialogue than how much everything is worth. I find the subject of avarice…distasteful.’
Her gasp sounded genuinely hurt-filled. ‘I wasn’t…I’m just…that’s a horrible thing to say, Mr Pantelides.’
His eyebrow lifted. ‘I thought I kissed all the formality out of you last night?’
She flushed a delicate pink that made her skin glow. Her expressive brown eyes slid from his and she turned back to examine the room.