‘Show me out. I need to get back to the hotel and start organising everything. That animal is insane,’ he breathed, stepping carefully to avoid his canine companion.
‘What do you have to organise?’ Ella queried, shooing her pet away while wondering why Butch wasn’t picking up on her hostility towards his new idol.
‘Arrangements for your move,’ Nikolai advanced, pulling open the front door with a lean, powerful hand and stepping out into the cool evening air.
As Ella closed the door in the little dog’s face he began to fuss and bark in annoyance. ‘You think you’ve won, don’t you?’ she whispered bitterly as soon as she was free from the risk of being overheard by her family.
Nikolai swung round, dark golden eyes as bright as torches, a satisfied half-smile lifting his sardonic mouth. ‘I know I’ve won and you should be pleased. Everyone’s happy.’
‘Everyone but me,’ Ella cut in curtly.
‘I’ll make you happy. You’ll have fabulous clothes and fabulous jewellery,’ Nikolai assured her, one hand splayed across her spine to hold her still in front of him as he lounged back against the wing of his spectacular sports car.
Ella bristled like a cat stroked the wrong way, scorn lightening her bright green eyes to palest jade. ‘Those things aren’t going to make me happy.’
‘What about the even more fabulous sex?’ Nikolai husked, both arms locking her into place in front of him, his keen gaze watching the rise of colour in her cheeks.
He couldn’t stop touching her. He couldn’t stop noticing things about her either. It was as though he went into supercharged observation mode in her presence. She was blushing and for some reason he revelled in having that effect on her even while he was continually surprised at the level of her innocence. How could she have been engaged and yet remain so naive? True, the fiancé had been ill but the couple had been together for years. It must’ve been quite a particular relationship, he reflected in sincere puzzlement.
After all, Ella seethed with so much outright passion. At the hotel she had flared from a spark into a wild hot flame in his arms and her fiery generous response had been incredibly exciting. Indeed it was years since Nikolai had found any aspect of sex exciting. On a scale of one to ten his hunger for Ella had now veered into the seriously uncomfortable zone. The image of her lying against him quivering and gasping with release, her languorous green eyes pinned to him, would stay with him for ever. He didn’t think he had ever wanted a woman so much and that seriously bothered him. Did it bother him enough to stop the whole scheme in its tracks?
He was promising her fabulous sex. Of course he was, Ella reflected in exasperation. Nikolai was incredibly confident of his own abilities. And maybe there was some excuse for that, she conceded as her body leant forward seemingly of its own volition, drawn by the heat and dominance of his sizzling sexual charisma.
Nikolai bent his head and kissed her. It was a slow claiming as the tip of his tongue traced the lush fullness of her lower lip and then delved gently between. A breathy little gasp erupted from her parted lips and she stepped closer. His arms snapped round her and it was the work of a moment for him to swing round and press her back against the car, his sensual mouth driving down hard on hers, his lean, powerful body crushing her against the unyielding metal.
Her every skin cell seemed to erupt into life as heat raced through her bloodstream and a bolt of naked yearning surged from low in her pelvis. His mouth was all she cared about. She couldn’t get enough of him, was convinced she would never get enough of him. She gloried in the thrust of his arousal against her, the knowledge that Nikolai Drakos wanted her and couldn’t hide the fact.
I want this man, she acknowledged, shocking herself rigid. Not someone she loved or respected or even liked. He exerted a primitive pull on her senses, which she could only compare to an utterly mindless desire to put her hand in a fire. But was it so destructive? So wrong? Wasn’t it normal, even natural, that the physical side of her nature, which she had long been forced to suppress, should finally demand expression? And Nikolai was magnificent...
Nikolai wrenched himself free of her, breathing hard. She made him feel like a teenager with his first girl. It unnerved him and made the equivalent of defensive barriers of iron bars spring up inside him to police his very thought and reaction. She knocked him off balance, tore his control to shreds and he hated it. ‘I’ll be in touch,’ he said without any expression at all.
Ella backed on hollow legs to the doorstep and watched him drive off. He had behaved as if nothing had happened. The hard, high planes of his lean dark features had betrayed no emotion. His eyes had been veiled by those ridiculously long lashes of his and his voice had been cool in tone. So where did that leave her?
Set on the road to making the biggest mistake of her life? Or to making the biggest discovery? She would make that choice, Ella promised herself squarely, not him. Wanting him wasn’t going to make a fool out of her. She was bright enough to see that what he made her feel had nothing to do with love and caring. She wouldn’t let him hurt her. She wouldn’t let him use her. If there was any using to be done, she would be the user. And if he thought otherwise, he was in for a very big surprise...
CHAPTER FOUR
ELLA HAD TO smother a yawn while her nails were being done because she was bored stiff. A car had collected her and Butch early that morning and ferried them down to London. Parting from her father and grandmother had been tough but the knowledge that the family home was now safe and that her father was already making cheerful plans to open up a home office to work as an accountant had soothed her nerves. She had done the right thing, she was doing the right thing, she told herself urgently.
As soon as she had arrived in London it had been clear that her entire day had already been mapped out for her. Ella had been dropped off first while Butch and her luggage had travelled on to the town house where she would apparently be staying.
It was hours since she had arrived at the exclusive beauty salon where she had been waited on hand and foot, wrapped in fleecy towels and generally treated like an animated doll to be beautified. So far there was not one part of her that had not come in for some form of improving attention. She had been waxed and moisturised and polished to perfection. Her hair had been washed and conditioned and trimmed and now fell in silky waves round her shoulders.
* * *
In his office across the city, Nikolai couldn’t concentrate. She was within reach, in his home. He had never lived in his late grandfather’s house, however, and Ella would pretty much live there alone because Nikolai had no intention of giving up the privacy of his apartment. But his plan was coming to fruition. This very evening, Cyrus Makris would be back in London to attend the annual dinner being held to raise funds for Nikolai’s favourite charity. Cyrus was, of course, a generous benefactor. He always made a point of giving money to organisations that took care of the victims of abuse. His good reputation was of unparalleled importance to him and invariably his first line of defence. But whatever else he got, he wasn’t g
etting Ella, Nikolai reflected exultantly.
* * *
An older man wearing a bow tie and a smart black jacket opened the front door of the imposing town house. ‘Miss Palmer...please come in. I’m Max, Mr Drakos’s steward. I look after everything here.’
Ella walked into a surprisingly dark and ornate hall and looked around in surprise. She had somehow assumed that Nikolai would live in a very contemporary setting. But as she glanced into a massive, equally dark reception room and rolled her eyes at the clutter on every surface, she could see that indoors the clock of time had reset to the late Victorian Gothic era of interior decoration.
‘My late employer, Mr Drakos’s grandfather, didn’t like change. This was originally his wife’s family home and he kept everything the way it was after his wife passed. He got very annoyed if I moved anything.’
‘My goodness; with all this stuff, how did he even notice something had been moved?’ Ella exclaimed, spinning round to gape at her surroundings.
‘Like the present Mr Drakos, he was a very clever and very observant man,’ Max told her. ‘Let me show you to your room.’
‘Where’s Butch...er...my dog?’ Ella asked.
Max led her silently into a room with a tiled floor and a log burner. A scruffy terrier with flyaway ears lay sprawled across a rug there with Butch nestled against her. She was about twice Butch’s size but Ella’s pet showed no fear of the other animal. ‘Good grief,’ Ella framed as Butch leapt up and charged at her, his little eyes bright with welcome. His companion slowly sat up, voiced a half-hearted gruff bark before dropping her head down again, her attention welded to Butch.
‘That’s Mr Drakos’s dog, Rory. Officially she’s called Aurora. Rory took an immediate liking to Butch and has been cuddled up to him ever since. I expect she’s enjoying the company.’
‘I didn’t know Mr Drakos had a pet.’
‘She travels a lot with my employer. I’ll show you upstairs now.’ Max led the way up the elegant staircase.