Shackled by Diamonds

‘Anna Delane—you are a liar to tell me you don’t want this. Don’t want me.’

Leo’s hand closed around her wrist, drawing her to him.

She could not resist him. Her breathing quickened again, eyes dilating, heat flushing through her. Oh, God, she wanted this all right! Wanted him…

Leo felt her relax, felt the resistance ebb from her. Felt her go weak, the way he wanted her to be—weak with desire for him. Only for him. Now. Right now.

He started to slide his hands around her waist, to take her back in his arms, feel her soft, slim body pliant against his.

The blow took him entirely by surprise. And in that moment, as Anna drew her arm back with whip-like reaction from where the side of her hand had impacted on his upper arm, she pulled away from him.

Leo stared, disbelieving. She was standing there, in a martial arts fighting pose, balanced on the balls of her feet, one arm drawn back, elbow crooked and her hand fisted loosely at her hip, the other arm extended, warding him off, palm facing him.

‘I said no,’ she told him.

Her face was set. Only her eyes flared. Showing something in them he would not recognise. Refused to recognise.

‘What the hell,’ Leo said slowly, ‘are you doing?’

She drew her breath in sharply.

‘I don’t want this. I don’t want sex with you now. I don’t want sex with you now, here, in a hotel room that you’ve just tipped a waiter to open up for you. Just because you’re in the mood—’

His mouth twisted. ‘Anna. Do you think you faked your reaction just now? Like hell you did. You want it, and you’ve wanted it since last night, when you said no to me and then regretted it and were too damn stubborn to admit it. You’ve been wanting it all day—that’s why you lit up like a volcano just now. The way you always do—always have done with me—every, every time. So don’t come the hypocrite with me, Anna Delane, because we both know you want me—you want everything I give you! Everything you give me!’

Leo took a step towards her. Deliberately. Clear intent in his face.

Anger stabbed through her, like a knife slicing through a curtain. Vicious and violent. It had come out of nowhere, like a summer storm boiling out of the sky.

Taking her over.

Taking her over completely.

She felt its power surge through her, coruscating, burning. Released like a tiger, pouring through her.

‘I don’t give you sex at all!’ she hissed back at him. ‘You take it! You take it! And I won’t. I won’t be reduced to having quick, sordid sex like you want now!’

Dark eyes flashed in unleashed fury.

‘Sordid?’ Leo snarled. His face blackened. ‘Do I have to remind you,’ he bit out—and there was something in his voice that suddenly made Anna feel sick—‘why you are here at all on this island, with me? You’re a thief—a criminal!’

‘And so are you.’

‘Are you insane?’ he demanded.

It was his incredulity that did it for her. Sent the anger searing through her again. She knew she should not let it take over. Knew that, poised like this, her body both her weapon and her defence, she should hold the calm, the dispassion, the control that her sensei would insist on.

But she couldn’t. She couldn’t control anything.

Let alone her anger. It was coursing through her—destructive, burning.

‘You’re blackmailing me into sex with you, threatening me with jail, and that makes you a criminal.’

His hand slashed through the air.

‘Thee mou—I keep you out of jail and you call that threatening you?’ There were white lines incised around his mouth. His eyes were hard, hard as iron. Black iron. ‘I will not have you twist the truth into your own fantasy!’ Greek burst from him, staccato and rabid. ‘I have taken all I am prepared to take from you. Your stubborn, shameless refusal to show the slightest sign of guilt, or remorse, or contrition for what you did. You spit and snarl at me, refusing to acknowledge your crime. And now, now you dare to try and accuse me of criminal behaviour?’ More Greek broke from him. And a mask came down over his face. She could see it happening. Control. Total self-control of his emotions.

‘Put your shoes on. Pick up your bag. We’re going.’

He strode to the door, yanking it open. Anna could hear him striding down the path with heavy tread.

Slowly, very slowly, she came out of her blocking stance. Her body was starting to tremble. She felt cold and shaky.

Her breathing shallow, she stooped to gather her bag, her sandals, and then, with a strange, eerie sense of complete emotional dissociation, she left the cottage.

They drove back to the villa in silence. A silence so tangible it could have been cut from a knife.