“I wanted to know if there is anything I could do that would stop you taking this elsewhere?” She looked down to her lap where her hands were clasped together. His stare made her feel foolish and small.
“You mean the police?”
Tess nodded her head, unable to find the words she needed to speak.
This was so hard. In her mind she had thought it would be simple to request some leniency. The man in front of her was every bit as domineering as her father had said. He looked too hard and cold to listen to her. She was a librarian, not a businesswoman.
Duncan James was extremely handsome as well. Tess couldn’t deny his appeal. His dark brown hair, which was lighter than her own raven colour, was gorgeous, and it made him appear darker. From what the magazines had said, he had Italian heritage running through his veins. His eyes were black as they stared at her. His body was hard and muscular. For a businessman he was well defined. She knew he must work out to look the way he did. She understood why he dominated the gossip magazines every week with more tales of his personal exploits and even worse, his callousness in the business world.
“How do you suggest I keep the law outside of your father’s theft and the manipulation of my clients? He not only stole a lot of money from my company, but he nearly damaged my reputation. So, Miss Williams, how could I possibly help your father?” The sarcasm was not lost on Tess. It was practically dripping from his tone. He folded his arms walking to sit on the end of his desk. His feet were close to hers. She felt hot and uncomfortable being so close to him.
“My father has been through a trying time—”
“Do you seriously believe that is a good enough excuse to steal other people’s hard-earned money?” He kept interrupting her. His tone never dropped back down from its hostility.
“How much has he actually stolen, Mr. James?”
He gave her an approximate sum that caused her eyes to open wide.
How could Erik steal that much money without getting caught ‘til now?
What on earth would he spend it on?
It made her trip here pointless. There was no way she would be able to repay such a ridiculous sum. For the first time in a long time Tess disliked her father.
Chapter Two
Duncan observed his ex-employee’s daughter. She was extremely beautiful. Her looks seemed out of place considering her father’s bland, pretentious appearance. Her long black hair ran wild around her face. Her dark brown eyes were so striking that he thought at first she was wearing contacts. Unlike his fashion models, Miss Williams had real curves. There was no amount of clothing that could disguise her full breasts. Her curves were covered in that dreadful discoloured suit. When she fidgeted it showed the generous curve of her breasts, the indent of her waist and generous flare of her hips. Her complexion was flawless and smooth. Her skin looked soft to the touch. His palm ached to stroke her cheek to see if it was as flawless as it looked. Her voice was soothing to listen to. It was an effort not to close his eyes and simply listen to her. Her words flowed over him like the delicate silk of a bed-sheet. His cock thickened inside his pants. The desire to take her was strong. Duncan couldn’t recall the last time he’d been so affected by a woman. He stared at her beauty and knew he had to have her.
She was definitely a female that deserved a male’s appreciation. Preferably his own attention.
His response to her unnerved him.
No woman had left him feeling like this. He was the one who was in control. No one else. Miss Williams left him aching with the need to touch and possess her. He mentally shook himself when he noticed she was waiting for a reply. Duncan needed to gain control. She was here because of her father, nothing else.
Never before had he been so taken with the looks and the sound of a woman that he’d missed what she was actually saying. Most women talked incessantly, and he had the ability to drown them out.
What on earth could she have said? Duncan had been so busy appreciating her beauty he’d not paid attention to the conversation before him.
“What did you say, Miss Williams?” He turned from her trying to get his confused brain to work properly.
“My father is a good man. An honourable man. If there is anything he or I could do to stop you pressing charges, we’ll do it.” Her voice expressed her desperation. She clearly didn’t know her father that well. From his few short meetings with Erik Williams he’d not been given the best of impressions. The older man seemed like a money-grabbing slime-ball who’d do anything for a dollar.
Duncan took his seat behind his desk. He considered what she’d said. She seemed desperate that there were no criminal damages brought against her father. He stared at her for several moments. She glanced down to gaze at her lap. He saw her hands fidgeting in her lap. She wasn’t used to any male attention. He was sure of it. She wanted to protect her father, while he was in need of a wife to get his family home. His rightful inheritance. A plan, or rather a business contract, began to form in his mind.
It was callous, but he didn’t care. He wanted what was rightfully his, and he would do anything to get it. Even blackmail a woman to marry him if he had to. Tess Williams needed him far more than he needed her. He ran his fingers through his hair at the thought of owning her. She would be his to do with as he saw fit.
“Tell me, Miss Williams, do you have a boyfriend?” he asked. Her name sounded right rolling off his tongue. There were many more exciting ways he wanted to say her name.
The question surprised her, and she answered straight away. “No. My name is Tess.” She felt uncomfortable with him referring to her by her surname.
“Thank you, Tess. Do you have a lover?”
“No.”
“No special someone waiting at home?” He fired questions at her, making sure his plan wouldn’t fail.
“Not that it’s relevant, but no. I have no one at home waiting for me.” He watched as she glanced back down at her lap before looking at him again. “What has my private life got to do with the problems of my father?” Her voice held suspicion.
Duncan had to give her credit. She knew deep down that she was caught in something. She might not know what she’d gotten herself into, but it didn’t matter. Duncan always got what he wanted. Tess Williams had just gone to the top of his list of things he wanted.
“Absolutely nothing.” He looked her over once more making sure that he was making the right decision. His ability to make good and firm decisions was what had kept him on top for so many years. At forty years old he was a successful businessman in his own right. He would have told his father’s lawyers to fuck off if it hadn’t been for his mother. She deserved justice after everything she’d been through. He’d see to it that she was restored in her home.
Tess needed him to stop any damage coming to her father. She was beautiful, and it would be no hardship to bed her. His cock stirred at the image of her laid out on his bed, her pussy dripping wet waiting for his cock. Duncan felt his body respond to the idea of bedding this temptress.
Temptress! In the clothes she was currently wearing she looked more like a drab mouse. Still, any man with half a brain would be able to see the luscious curves hidden beneath the baggy clothes. Would her fire be as passionate as he imagined? Duncan couldn’t wait to explore everything with the woman in front of him. She had a submissive persona about her. He liked that. Duncan liked being in control and having the women submit to him.
He knew he would have her caught between a rock and a hard place. She would do exactly as he wanted, and she wouldn’t have a leg to stand on.
Control. He would have complete control over Tess Williams. He would find the experience pleasurable. He knew how to give his woman pleasure, and he would certainly enjoy keeping Tess occupied in the bedroom.
Certain that he was making the right decision, like any natural predator he struck. “Depending on what you are prepared to do for your father, it can have everything to do with it.”
He sat back waiting for her to speak. She frowned back at him, her eyebrows drawing slightly together. Duncan stared at her face and knew he wanted to see her screaming in orgasm. He shifted in his seat trying to ease the ache in his groin.
She ran a hand through her hair. The wild locks fell all around her face. He pictured them wrapped around his fist as he fucked inside her sweet cunt. The lust began to build inside him. He knew without a doubt a marriage between them would never be a business arrangement and would never be only on paper.
He wanted Tess.
She licked her lips. The action looked nervous to him. Did he affect her as much as she affected him?
“How could my private life have anything to do with the situation where my father has put himself?”
Duncan smiled. Her confusion worked in his favour.
“Tell me, Tess, what are you prepared to do to stop criminal charges being brought against your father?”
“Anything,” she said without hesitation.