Mistletoe Mistress

'Come and see the view,' he interrupted authoritatively.

She joined him at the huge patio windows which opened on to a large balcony, beyond which it seemed as though all Paris was stretched out before her, taking great steadying breaths as she did so.

'Do you want to go outside?' he asked quietly.

'No, I do not' It was clipped and terse.

'Come and see the rest of it, then,' he said calmly.

He wasn't giving her time to think, let alone talk; that much registered. He was bulldozing her along as though this were all/air accompli, and it wasn't. She couldn't let it be. What would people say? What obvious conclusion would they come to if she allowed him to install her in a place like this?

The rest of the apartment was equally superb-the separate dining room in pale gold, the massive fitted kitchen and breakfast area, the en suite bathroom, a splendid marbled construction in cream and honey-brown, and the bedroom with its huge four-poster bed and silk hangings. It was all incredible, larger than life- very much like Hawk Mallen, Joanne thought as the anger began to take over, flushing her cheeks scarlet.

'You must see I can't live here, Hawk.' She faced him after the tour in the same spot they had started in, just inside the front door. 'It would make my position at Bergique & Son impossible from the start.'

'Why?' The huge, high-ceilinged room suited him perfectly; he had perfect domination over his surroundings as he stood watching her silently, his hands thrust in his pockets and his blue eyes narrowed like lasers on her hot face.

'You don't need to ask that, surely, not a man of the world like you?' she said cuttingly. 'Everyone would assume I was your mistress; you know they would.'

'I would have thought that could only strengthen your position,' he said with outrageous arrogance. 'Give you the sort of edge you need.'

'I don't need an edge from you.' She drew herself up straight, her face fiery. 'I'll sink or swim by my own efforts, thank you-'

'Don't be so childish.' The complete lack of emotion m his voice and face made her even madder.

'Childish?' Her voice was far too shrill but she didn't case. 'I'm not so childish that I don't know why you've rented this place, Hawk Mallen. And that little man downstairs knew too, didn't fee? In feet the whole world and his wife probably know.'

'Perhaps you'd like to be more specific?' he said softly.

'Do I have to spell it out?' she hissed furiously, his composure all the more irritating when she was so uptight she could barely speak.

'Humour me.' There was a thread of steel in the gravelly voice now but for once it didn't intimidate her. Whatever he said, however he explained it away, she just knew he had originally set this place up thinking she would become his mistress. How dared he? How dare be assume so much?!

'You thought I would allow myself to be bought, didn't you?' she accused grimly, watching him with angry eyes as he crossed the room to stand just in front of her, his big body formidable. 'You arranged all this, the apartment, everything, thinking I would agree to deep with you. I know it's the truth, Hawk, whether you admit it or not.'

'I wouldn't insult your intelligence by pretending anything else.'

It was said coolly, and without the slightest shred of embarrassment, and for a moment she was so taken aback she just stared at him before her hand lashed out and connected with the tanned skin of his face in a ringing slap.

'You…you-'

'Now just hold on there.' He caught one hand, and then the other, as she attempted to hit him again, and she saw, with a measure of satisfaction despite the circumstances, that his cool had quite gone. 'Hold cm a damn minute, will you, woman? I admit I'd hoped we might get together when I looked at this place, but that wasn't the sole reason for buying it I wanted to know you were safe, in a good environment and with some protection-'

'You liar-'

'I never lie, Joanne,' he said grimly. 'If you had agreed to start a relationship with me that would have been the icing on the cake, of course it would, I admit it, damn it, but there was never any question of buying you. I know enough about you to realise you can't be bought.'

'Do you? Do you indeed?' she shot back furiously. 'Then tell me, if the new manager were old and ugly, or married, would you have got this particular apartment? Is this the normal sort of package you give to new employees you aren't worried about impressing?'

He stared at her for a good thirty seconds, his face working, and she knew he wanted to deny it but also that he couldn't, the devastating honesty that was an integral part of him blocking the words, and then he pulled her against him, so violently she almost lost her breath before his mouth swooped down on hers in a kiss that was all fire and fury.

'No!'

She fought him-afterwards she reminded herself over and over that she had fought him-but it had been too late the moment his lips had touched hers. That very second she had begun to drown in a multitude of sensations that had no rhyme or reason to them, her love for him taking over so completely that what was all wrong felt terrifyingly right.

He had moulded her into his frame from that first moment, his male body encompassing hers in a manner as old as time, the perfect jigsaw, and she was left in no doubt as to the state of his arousal.

And he knew. He knew her resistance was paper-thin, because after the first few minutes his hold on her slackened, just enough to prove she was in his arms because she wanted to be.

She moaned, she couldn't help it, as he began to nip and taste and savour her mouth, exciting her so seductively, so expertly that she was quivering and moist in his arms when the kiss was no longer light and teasing, but a declaration of intent.

Joanne shivered helplessly as the sensuous mouth played with her shell-like ears before moving to the sensitive skin of her throat, seeking the slight swell of her cleavage just visible under her businesslike blouse. He was good, he was so, so good, and although she knew he didn't feel the same, that he had stated exactly what she could expect from him, her heightened emotions were quelling all lucid thought.

There was electricity flowing through her veins instead of blood; she could feel it in every nerve and sinew as it created an ache that was unbearable.

His body heat released the faint trace of expensive aftershave that was still on his skin, and she couldn't believe what the erotic fragrance did to her senses, entwined as she was in his arms.

He thrust his tongue into her mouth, in the same way he wanted to thrust into the warm, pliable female body that was so soft and fluid against his strong male frame, and as he felt her answering response sensation exploded through him like raw fire, causing him to become rock-hard.

'Joanne, Joanne…' His breathing was lagged as the palms of his hands slid over the smooth silky skin of her stomach, the warmth of her, the slight moisture on her flesh, creating a pleasure-pain that was overwhelming.

All that had happened earlier that day-the knowledge that he was manipulating her, the whole situation, to his and the Mallen Corporation's advantage-just didn't seem to bear any weight when she was in his arms. Joanne knew it-a tiny rational part of her mind was shouting the warning with all its might-but it was ineffective against the bewilderingly new sensations she was experiencing for the first time.

His hands were in the glowing red silk of her hair, pulling her head gently back to tilt her mouth for greater invasion.

Was this how her mother had felt with the man who had given her her one and only child? Joanne asked herself helplessly. She had always sensed her mother had felt something special for her father-not that she had ever admitted it, but despite her bitterness and resentment that Joanne looked like him there had always been a longing in her eyes when she had spoken his name that hadn't been there with all the others.

Perhaps she had felt like this; perhaps you only felt like this once in a lifetime and that was why her mother had wasted the rest of her life trying to find that elusive feeling again?

Her body was boneless now, her legs trembling so much it was only Hawk's arms holding her against him which were keeping her upright, and she could hear herself murmuring his name, moaning his