Deal With the Devil--3 Book Box Set

‘How do you feel about having dinner here on the terrace this evening? We can go out, if you like, or dine in the hotel restaurant. But I thought in view of the fact that we shall be returning to London tomorrow morning, in our new role as an engaged couple, this evening might be a good opportunity to discuss any concerns you might have about the future.’

‘Dinner on the terrace sounds wonderful,’ Lucy told Marcus truthfully. They were in her suite, having just returned from Palma.

‘We’re going to have to talk about Prêt a Party, and how you visualise its future at some stage,’ Marcus continued.

Prêt a Party! Lucy realised with shock that she had barely given her business a thought since she had Marcus had stepped onto their flight to Palma.

‘Oh, you don’t—’ She began immediately to reassure Marcus that he did not need to worry that she would be expecting him to rescue her ailing business from debt, and then stopped. Andrew Walker had said that he didn’t want her to mention their discussion to anyone at this stage, and until he actually came back to her with a firm offer there wasn’t really anything to discuss, was there? If she told Marcus now that her problems with her business were over, that Prêt a Party had a potential investor, and then had to tell him that she had been let down, she was going to look very silly and gullible. Just as she had done when Nick had cheated her. She could still remember how angry and contemptuous Marcus had been then. She didn’t want that to happen a second time.

‘Must we talk about Prêt a Party tonight?’ Lucy asked him. ‘Only…’

‘Only what?’ Marcus probed.

‘Only I thought that tonight could be for…us,’ Lucy whispered, pink-cheeked. She could feel her blush deepening as she saw the way he was looking at her.

‘For us? Well, it certainly might be a good idea if we discuss some of the practical issues we need to sort out.’

Disappointment filled her. That was not what she had meant at all.

‘Practical issues?’ Did he mean things like contraception? Lucy wondered uncertainly. If so, she would have to find the words to tell him that she relished the experience of feeling him inside her without anything between them so much that she would prefer it if she made herself responsible for that side of things and took the contraceptive pill.

‘Yes. Practical issues,’ Marcus repeated. ‘Such as where we are going to live. I’d prefer to keep my Wendover Square house as our London home. After all, it’s been in my family for nearly two hundred years.’

‘It is a lovely house,’ Lucy agreed, ‘especially with the garden. But I’ll want to redecorate it. And I’ll definitely want an espresso-maker in the kitchen,’ she added teasingly.

‘The decorating I do not have a problem with,’ Marcus returned dryly. ‘The espresso machine might require some in-depth discussion and a compromise. Perhaps even some compensation. But I like the idea of us looking for a house in the country,’ he continued.

‘Mmm, I’d like that too. Though I’ll want to continue to work, Marcus.’

‘Of course. So shall I,’ he agreed drolly, before looking at his watch and telling her, ‘But remember, since we have been having sex without contraception, you could already be pregnant. Running a business and caring for a new baby wouldn’t be easy. Look, it’s six o’clock now and I need a shower. Why don’t I go to my own suite, order dinner for eight, have a shower, get changed, make a couple of phone calls and then meet you outside on the terrace at, say, seven-thirty?’

‘Perfect,’ Lucy told him, although she was disappointed when he walked over to the communicating door, opened it and walked through it without kissing her before he left.

She would have a shower herself, she decided. Then a small smile curled her mouth as she glanced towards the bath. The thought of enjoying a long lazy soak was very tempting, especially with her memories of the erotic pleasure it had led to later.

She hadn’t brought any ‘occasion’-type clothes with her, which was another reason to prefer having dinner on their own terrace.

She reached for the telephone and pressed the numbers for Room Service, so that she could order some coffee, then closed the shutters and pulled out the folding door that enabled her to close off the shower and bathroom area from the rest of the bedroom. Being surprised in the bath by Marcus was one thing; having one of the waiters walk in whilst she was in the shower was something else again—and something that she most definitely did not want to happen.

It didn’t take her long to shower. She loved the luxury of thick, fluffy and constantly replenished hotel towels and bathrobes, she reflected, as she dried herself and then smoothed her body with delicious-smelling lotion before pulling on her robe and folding back the sliding doors.

Her coffee had arrived, and she went over to the occasional table to pour it, pausing with a small frown when she saw the dark green, gold-embossed gift-wrapped box lying on the table next to the coffee tray, beside the complimentary hand-made chocolates provided by the hotel. She recognised the name embossed on the ribbon immediately. It was the name of the jewellers they had been in that afternoon.

This hadn’t been provided by the hotel, Lucy reflected, as she picked up the box and started to unwrap it. And it was too large to contain her earrings. Her suspicions turned to certainty when she removed the wrapping paper and opened it to find inside the bangle they had been shown in the shop.

Marcus had bought it for her? As well as the earrings? He really was spoiling her. Materially, yes, he was spoiling her. But she would much rather have been spoiled by his love.

In the end they decided that they might as well stay in their robes for dinner. There was no one to see them, after all, and besides, it added a special intimacy to their evening. Lucy looked down at the bangle she was now wearing. The full moon was bathing the terrace in its cool sharp light. Lucy picked up one of her prawns and dipped it in mayonnaise, licking her fingers after she had finished eating it, and then smiling.

‘What’s the smile for?’ Marcus asked.

‘I was just thinking about that scene in Henry Fielding’s Tom Jones—you know, the sex and food one…’

‘Oh, yes? Is that a hint?’

Lucy shook her head. ‘Certainly not,’ she retorted self-consciously, but when he stood up and started to walk very purposefully towards her, her heart did a backflip in giddy excitement and anticipation.

But when he stopped in front of her it wasn’t to take her in his arms, as she had been hoping. Instead he produced the small box that contained her earrings.

‘I should have given you these.’

He sounded so abrupt and cold that Lucy frowned. He might have said that he wanted to marry her, but he certainly wasn’t behaving as though he did.

‘You shouldn’t have got me this as well,’ she told him, touching her bangle. ‘The earrings are more than enough.’ As she spoke she reached for the box, but to her surprise Marcus shook his head and reached for her hand, pulling her firmly to her feet.

She had to hold her breath as he carefully inserted the earrings into her earlobes. Not because she was afraid he might be too rough, but because she was afraid that she might betray to him just how she felt about him. The sensation of his warm breath on her bare skin was so sensuously erotic that it made her whole body melt with longing for him. She knew that she was trembling inside with the intensity of her feelings, and that very soon she would be trembling outwardly as well.

The earrings were in place, and, had he loved her, this surely should have been the moment when Marcus bent his head and kissed her—a truly special and intimate moment they would both remember for ever—but instead he was moving away from her.

And then, so suddenly, so shockingly that her whole body thrilled erotically, he came back to her, pushing the robe off her shoulders with hard knowing hands that kept her arms straight so that it could fall away completely, while he kissed her so fiercely that she could feel the heavy, erratic thud of his heartbeat as though it were throbbing inside her

own chest.

The only sound to break the silence was the acceleration of their combined breathing, and then, as abruptly as he had taken hold of her, Marcus released her mouth and began to caress her eagerly responsive flesh.

Moonlight celebrated the beauty of her naked body. The terrace was private enough for Lucy to know that they could not be overlooked, and there was something gloriously erotic and exciting about standing naked in the moonlight as Marcus caressed her skin with delicate fingertips, brushing his lips against her throat.

‘You’re wet,’ Marcus murmured thickly as his fingers dipped into her sex.

‘You made me like that,’ Lucy answered him shakily. After all, it was true.