A Prize Beyond Jewels

The indecision in those beautiful moss-green eyes made Rafe want to put further pressure on her, to goad or seduce her, whichever worked, into accepting his dinner invitation. But he held back from doing either of those things. It had to be Nina’s decision; he had meant it when he told her earlier that he considered one dominating man in her life telling her what to do as being more than enough for any woman.

And so he remained silent, inwardly willing Nina to accept his dinner invitation, at the same time as he questioned himself as to when it had become so important to him that she did.

Maybe when her beauty had rendered him breathless when he’d first arrived this evening? Or as he’d watched and listened to her over dinner? Or perhaps when he had made love with her just now? Or maybe even before any of that? Possibly when he had first seen Nina in the gallery yesterday, and then spoken to her in the privacy of his office later that morning?

Whatever the reason—or when it had happened—his dinner invitation certainly had nothing to do with the irritation he felt at Dmitri Palitov’s warning. If anything, being warned off by a woman’s father—not that Rafe could ever remember meeting the father of any of the women he had been involved with in the past!—would normally have been enough to cause Rafe to retreat as far as possible in the opposite direction. Not because he would have been in the least concerned by that threat, but because he really didn’t do complicated where women were concerned, and having a woman’s father warn him off was definitely a complication.

Rafe had a feeling that this unexpected attraction to Nina Palitov was going to complicate the hell out of his life.

Nina drew in a shaking breath, knowing that her answer to Rafe’s invitation should be no—and not because of the reason Rafe had just given. Oh, no doubt her father wouldn’t exactly be pleased if she were to accept Rafe D’Angelo’s dinner invitation, but it was a displeasure her father would have to deal with for once. After the two of them had their talk tomorrow he would know that she wasn’t too thrilled to learn that he had warned Rafe off in the first place.

No, the reason Nina knew she should refuse Rafe’s invitation had nothing to do with her father, and everything to do with her not being sure it was a good idea to allow herself to become any more attracted to Rafe than she already was. If she spent a whole evening alone with him she had no idea if she would be able to resist him at the end of the evening.

She wasn’t a complete innocent, having believed herself in love a couple of times while she was at Stanford, both times with fellow students, one during her second year at university, the other one during her final year.

It hadn’t taken her long, however, to realise she wasn’t really in love with either man, possibly because she had found them both less than exciting physically. So much so that she had wondered what all the fuss was about. Nor had she had any particular interest in repeating the experience once she had returned to New York.

Her response to Rafe just minutes ago, to his kisses and caresses, had been nothing like either of those earlier experiences. She had been breathless with arousal, hadn’t wanted him to stop touching and kissing her, would have been perfectly happy if Rafe had just carried her off to her bedroom before stripping her completely naked and making love with her. She had ached for him to make love with her.

Just looking at him now, with that overlong dark hair tousled about that perfect, chiselled face, his black evening suit perfectly tailored to the broadness of his shoulders and muscled chest, his waist slender, and hips narrow above long legs, was enough to send a shiver of that same aching longing coursing through her own body.

He quirked one dark, mocking brow. ‘Are you usually this indecisive?’

Nina’s cheeks warmed with colour as she heard the rebuke beneath that mockery—implying, no doubt, that indecision was responsible for her father having taken over her life so completely.

‘Perhaps I just don’t think it a good idea to mix business with pleasure?’

Neither did Rafe, but he didn’t seem to have any choice in the matter this time, not when it came to Nina Palitov. She was who she was, and he was determined to spend an evening alone with her. Bodyguards or no bodyguards! ‘Yes or no, Nina?’ he challenged between gritted teeth.

‘Oh, okay—yes, I’ll have dinner with you tomorrow evening!’ She glared up at him impatiently.

Rafe held back his smile of triumph, merely nodding his satisfaction instead. ‘I’ll make the arrangements and call for you here tomorrow, at seven-thirty?’

She winced, and a frown appeared between those moss-green eyes. ‘I’ll need to know beforehand exactly where we’re going.’