He knew that sound. He looked at her face and saw her innocent green eyes had darkened into those of an outright sinner. His body quickened; she saw it happen; her mouth stretched into a knowing smile. ‘It will be interesting to see if you change your mind about that,’ she taunted silkily.
It was no use, Ethan gave up—as he always seemed to do. Swinging his chair around, he sat himself down then drew her in between his spread thighs. ‘No,’ he refused, knowing exactly what she believed was going to come. Instead he tugged the zip shut on her trousers, then took a firm grip on both of her hips and brought her tumbling down on his lap. Kisses on the mouth were much less evocative than kisses elsewhere. This way at least he would manage to hang onto some of his dignity if anyone should happen to walk in here.
By the time the kissing stopped, her eyes were glazed—but then so were his. ‘I’m going to send you packing now,’ he told her huskily.
‘But you would rather come with me.’
It was no lie. ‘If that tattoo hurts later, we are going to have a row,’ he warned.
‘It won’t,’ she stated confidently.
The telephone on his desk began to ring. Maybe it was good timing on its part because it put a stop to what was still promising to develop into something else.
‘Up,’ he commanded, and used his hands to set her back on her feet, then urged her towards the door. ‘Now go and don’t come back.’ On that brisk dismissal he reached out for the phone. ‘And leave my labourers alone!’ he added as she was about to walk out of the door.
She turned, sent him a look that stirred his blood. Then she caught him off guard, yet again. ‘I did it for you, you know,’ she softly confided. ‘You’re going to love it, I promise you.’
‘Ethan Hayes,’ he announced into the telephone, as he stood up to open the blinds so he could watch Eve walk towards the car he had hired for her to use.
The whole site had come to a stop. He watched it happen, watched her take no notice of any of the remarks that flew her way. He also saw her pause, look back and wave to let him know that she knew he was watching her. By the time she’d turned away again he knew that his own departure wasn’t going to be that far away.
He was right, but for the wrong reasons. ‘Ethan—’ it was Victor ‘—you are not going to like this, but I need to ask you to do me a very big favour…’
Eve had been back at the villa for less than half an hour when she heard Ethan come in through the door. Not expecting him for hours yet—even with the invitation she had left behind her earlier—she had just curled up in a shady spot on the terrace with the book her grandfather had given her for her birthday. It was a rare first edition of classical Greek love poems to add to the collection he had been building for her since her first birthday.
But the moment she heard Ethan’s step, the book was forgotten, a look of surprised delight already lighting her face at this major triumph in managing to get him to come back early because he couldn’t resist the invitation she’d so blatantly left him with.
‘I’m on the terrace!’ she called out and uncurled her feet from beneath her then stood up to go and meet him halfway. She reached the door through to the sitting room as he appeared in the arch leading into it from the hall. He stopped, she stopped. It took less than a second to make her welcoming smile fade from her face when she saw the expression on his. It was like being tossed back eleven days to that bar on the Caribbean beach, he looked so different.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
‘WHAT’S wrong?’ she asked sharply, absolutely sure that something had to be, because no man changed so very much in such a short space of time without having a reason for doing so.
He didn’t reply, not immediately anyway. Instead he built the tension by grimly yanking the tie loose from his collar and tossing it aside then releasing his top shirt-button before issuing a heavy sigh.
‘We need to talk,’ he said on the back of that sigh. That was all, no warm greeting, no teasing comment about the little red heart she was wearing for him.
Fear began to walk all over her self-confidence, ‘W-what about?’
‘You and me,’ he replied, ran a hand round the back of his neck as if to attempt to ease the tension she could see he was suffering from. ‘We’ve been living a lie for the last ten days, Eve. Have you ever stopped to think about that?’
Think about it? She lived with it! Ate, slept and made love to it!
‘For me it stopped being a lie from the first time we made love, Ethan,’ she answered. ‘So maybe you had better tell me whether you’ve thought about it much recently.’
Her sarcasm hit a nerve, but instead of an answer he made a grimace that she just did not like. Something had happened; it had to have done to change the man she had left only an hour ago into this person who was so uptight she could actually feel his tension cutting through the air like a sharp knife. And worse: he had stopped looking at her.
‘I have to go away for a few days,’ he suddenly announced.
That was the root of all of this tension? ‘Well, that’s all right,’ she murmured, unable to believe that was the answer to what was bothering him. Forcing
