“I think you may be right.” The wealth of satisfaction in his voice told Ellie something else about this enigmatic man who wanted to marry her.
He had things to prove to himself…to his grandfather…andto the father he’d never met.
Remembering her role as hostess, she asked, “Would you like coffee…or an after dinner drink?”
“Neither, thank you.”
Now, why did the way he said that make shivers dance along her nerve endings? “It was your idea to come up,” she reminded him.
“To settle one of your concerns in regard to marriage, not because I crave more liquid refreshment.”
“You plan to settle my fears?” How very noble of him. “In what way?” Though she thought she could guess.
He leaned forward, invading her personal space completely and his body heat called to her while his dark eyes mesmerized. “Guess.”
“What about the no sex before marriage integrity thing?” She’d meant to ask the question in a sarcastic tone, but her voice came out breathless and much too inviting. Darn it.
“I plan to marry you. It is up to you to set the date.” He might as well have shrugged, he sounded so casual in that pronouncement.
And right then she realized he really did plan to marry her. Not hope. Not want. But the man had aplan and was fully confident in his eventual success.
“So, it’s okay to seduce a virgin if you intend to marry her?” Again that breathless voice that was really starting to get on her nerves.
She sounded like she wanted his reassurance, but she didn’t. Did she? Not this way…not planned. But Sandor was a planner and he worked best with a schedule. She’d known that since the beginning. She just hadn’t expected it to dictate this part of their relationship.
“You have said you are not a virgin.” He didn’t sound like he was bothered either way.
“And you didn’t believe me.”
“You have no reason to lie.”
“No, I don’t.” But he’d still doubted her. Why was that again? Oh, yes…her father’s security reports and his own investigator’s report. But still he should have believed her. Shouldn’t he?
She tried to catch thoughts that spiraled away as her body’s reaction to his nearness began to take precedence. “If I was a virgin, would you be planning to seduce me in cold blood?”
That made him smile, a purely predatory expression that held no comfort for her feminine concerns. “I assure you there will be nothing cold about it.”
“Now, you see, I have a hard time understanding how you’re going to…” Her brain short-circuited as his hand moved from the back of the couch to her shoulder.
He brushed her collarbone with his thumb. “Yes?”
“Yes?”
His lips hovered above hers. “You were saying?”
“I was saying…” She desperately grasped for reality. “You…I…”
“You…I…what?” he taunted, his voice laced with laughing, masculine triumph.
His amusement sparked her pride and her memory and she pressed her head back into the couch, away from his descending mouth. “I still don’t see how you expect to convince me of your passion when you are touching me with theintent of convincing me. It’s no different than offering a potential client an enhanced guarantee.”
The words sounded positively brilliant to her befuddled brain, especially when she considered how many she’d managed to string together.
He looked less than impressed however with her argument. “I can promise you that I do not see you as a client.”
She wasn’t so sure about that. Now that she’d verbalized the thought, it had taken surprisingly strong root in her mind.
He moved infinitesimally closer. “I want you. Once I have had you, the truth of my desire will be impossible for you to ignore,pethi mou .”
“You’re so darn sure of yourself.” She crossed her arm over her small chest and did something totally out of character. She pouted, her lip protruding…the whole bit. And it felt good.
He smiled as if he found her reaction charming and brushed his fingertip down her arm to where it crossed with the other, and then traced the one closest to her body so the back of his fingers made contact with skin bared by her low neckline.
Heat and pleasure rolled over her in a tidal wave of sensation and she gasped.
He stopped with his fingertip in dangerous proximity to her breast. “It is the fact that I am so sure of you that really bothers you, I think.”