Rescued by the Brooding Tycoon

‘Mmm, a bit sleepy. You did say we’re going early tomorrow, didn’t you?’

‘That’s right. Time for bed.’

On the way up in the elevator he slipped his arm around her. ‘Did you enjoy it?’

‘Oh, yes, it was lovely. Everyone was so nice to me, especially your father.’

‘Yes, I saw the two of you dancing.’

‘I couldn’t believe it when he asked me, but he was terribly gallant and charming.’

‘You should beware my father’s charm,’ Darius said wryly.

‘Oh, I know he was just being polite but…I don’t know…he was nice. He asked me about my antique shop, said he understood antiques were very profitable these days. I had to admit that it’s as much of a souvenir shop for tourists as an antique shop. He laughed and said that was life and nothing was really the way it seemed, was it? Hey, careful. Don’t squash me.’

‘Sorry,’ he said, relaxing the arm that he’d tightened sharply about her. Listening to her innocent pleasure when he knew how misguided it was brought a return of the rage that had attacked him earlier. But now it was a million times more intense, nearly blinding him with the desire to lash out against her enemy.

From the start he’d known of her strength, her defiance, her ability to cope, essential in a lifesaver. Suddenly he was discovering her other side, the one that could be slightly naive, that believed the best of people, the side she hid behind cheerful masks.

But the face she turned up to him now wore no mask. It was defenceless, the mouth soft, the eyes wide and trusting. He knew it would be a sin to betray that trust by kissing her, no matter how much he longed to. So he contented himself with brushing her cheek with his fingertips, and felt her relax against him.

What he might have done next he never knew, for the elevator reached their floor, the doors opened and the world rushed in on them again.

Now she was smiling brightly in a way that set him once more at a distance.

‘Sleep tight,’ he told her at her door. ‘We have to be up with the dawn.’

‘I’ll be there,’ she promised. ‘Goodnight.’

He thought she would give him a final look so that the sweet connection they had established might live again. But he was facing a closed door.

Inside her room, Harriet stood in darkness, listening as his footsteps moved away to his own door.

Her heart was heavy. Midnight had struck and Cinders had been forced to leave, not running away and leaving a shoe, but escorted by the Prince who’d been tempted only briefly before his common sense had rescued him.

It’s over. All over. Finished. Done with. Get undressed, go to bed, and stop indulging in fantasies. Didn’t you learn anything from last time?

Switching on the bedside lamp, she stripped off her beautiful attire with ruthless fingers and replaced it with plain cotton pyjamas. Her packing was done at top speed, and then she was ready for bed. Defiantly, she got under the duvet and switched out the light.

There was a knock at the door.

‘Who is it?’ she asked without opening.

‘It’s me.’

CHAPTER NINE

HARRIET opened the door a crack and saw him. He’d removed his jacket and bow tie and his shirt was torn open at the throat.

‘Can I talk to you?’

She stood back as he went past her. She would have turned on the bedside lamp but he stayed her hand.

‘Better just let me talk. I owe you an apology for my behaviour tonight.’

‘Do you? You didn’t offend me.’

‘That’s very sweet of you, but I got a bit possessive in a way that I promised not to. Just friends we said but I didn’t really stick to that, did I? I hadn’t expected you to look so beautiful-’

‘Thanks,’ she said wryly.

‘No, I didn’t mean that,’ he said hastily. ‘Oh, heavens, I’m making a mess of this. I only wanted to say that you were a hundred times more wonderful than I’d dared to hope and…Harriet!’

Then his arms were around her, pulling her tightly against him, and all the sensible restraint drained out of her as she received the kiss she’d been longing for, never completely admitting her own desire. Now there was no chance of denying it to herself or him. She felt herself soften and fall against him, reaching out so that he was enfolded in her arms as she was enfolded in his.

Her hands were exploring him, the fingers weaving into his hair before drifting down to his face. He raised his head from hers, looking down with a question in his eyes, as though wondering if he only imagined her passionate response.

‘Harriet,’ he whispered, ‘why have we…?’

‘Shh!’ She silenced him with her fingertips over his mouth. ‘Don’t speak. Words are dangerous. They mean nothing.’

She was right, he realised with a sense of relief. Words were nothing when he had her body against his. He could feel the cheap cotton against his hands and wondered how any woman could feel so lusciously desirable in those almost masculine pyjamas. They taunted him, hiding her beautiful body while suggesting just enough of it to strain his self-control.

Harriet felt as though she had lived this moment before, earlier that evening when he’d allowed his hand to drift indiscreetly behind her dress, but then been forced by propriety to restrain himself. She hadn’t wanted restraint either in him or herself, but she’d had no choice.

But she had choice now. She could choose to be warm, intimate, seductive, enticing, passionate. Anything but restrained. Her breathing came fast as he kissed her again and again, little swift kisses covering her face, her forehead, her nose, her eyes, mouth, then sliding lower to her neck.

He was so skilled, she thought in delirious delight. They might have been one person, so sensitively did he know the right way to rouse her-to make her want him-want him more-

‘Make sure you keep her for good…’

Without warning, the words screamed at her. Frantically, she fought them off but they danced in her consciousness.

‘You’re a clever man…’

She’d known that but never thought what it meant-until now-

‘Keep her for good…the clever thing to do…the clever thing to do…’

‘Kiss me,’ he whispered. ‘Kiss me as I kiss you…please…’

The clever thing to do. The words went through her like ice, quenching the storm within her.

‘Kiss me…’

‘Darius, wait…please wait…’

‘I don’t want to wait any more-Harriet, let me…’

She drew back to meet his eyes, and what he saw in her cooled his ardour as mere words could never have done.

‘This wasn’t part of the bargain,’ she said calmly. ‘Friends, remember?’

‘The bargain,’ he said slowly. ‘Ah, yes, the bargain. How could I have forgotten?’

‘Exactly. You, of all people, should know about bargains.’ As she said it she even managed a faint smile. ‘Let’s not complicate things by breaking ours.’

She could feel him shaking but he brought himself under control and stepped away.

‘You’re right, of course. I’ll say goodnight…er…sleep well. I’ll see you tomorrow.’

The door closed behind him, too quietly to hear, and then there was only darkness.

It was a long night. Darius spent it trying to order his thoughts, dismayed that they were suddenly rebellious, going their own way instead of obeying him as in the past.