Four
He straightens when he sees me. He looks annoyed. Perhaps, he is pissed off that he invited Rupert and me to his mate’s fine party, and we’ve showed him up and behaved in a disgusting manner. But, quite frankly, I didn’t ask to be invited. The very last thing I need is another confrontation. I have quite enough on my plate. I consider ignoring him and walking right past but he raises a detaining finger. I look defiantly up at him. Thank God, for my shoes. They lift my eyes to the level of his straight, stern mouth.
His eyes scan my face, now devoid of all make-up. ‘Are you all right?’
Up this close his skin is sun kissed and his voice pure velvet. I fold my arms around my body and resist the instinct to take a step back, such is the immensity of animal power he exudes. It is magnetic and irresistible. It’s trite I know but he reminds me of a caged panther. Prowling and ready to pounce, full of suppressed restless energy. Muscular, strong.
I raise my chin, meet him square in the eye, and in my best secretarial voice, say, ‘Yes, I’m fine. Thank you.’
‘I need to talk to you.’
Oh God, he is going to lecture me. ‘So talk.’
‘Privately—through here, please.’ He gestures with his hand, and is careful not to touch me. The corridor leads to a door. He goes ahead of me and holds it open. I hesitate for a moment, then think, fuck it, I’m not scared of you, and walk through. The room appears to be some sort of library with walls full of shelves filled with leather-bound books. It smells of wood polish and tobacco. I hear him close the door and turn around to face him.
He is leaning against the door and simply watching me.
‘Well?’ I prompt.
‘Are you over eighteen?’
‘Yes.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Of course I am,’ I snap. ‘Not that it is any of your business.’
‘What will Lothian get for his money?’
So he did hear. Oh the shame. If the ground could have opened up and swallowed me… Fortunately, a fine anger comes to my rescue. How dare he? The audacity. Overbearing, arrogant bastard. With all the hauteur I can manage under the circumstances, I grate, ‘That’s private if you don’t mind, and if that was all…’
‘It’s not idle curiosity. I’m quite happy to double the sum if it’s what I think it is.’
I stare at him blankly. I can understand why someone like Rupert would have to pay, but Blake Law Barrington? He could have anyone he wants. Then it occurs to me that, perhaps, he is just toying with me. Perhaps it is a thing all rich men do.
My pride comes to the fore. I will not be humiliated twice in one night. ‘Whatever I have offered is for Rupert and Rupert only. Now please get away from that door and the hell away from me.’ My voice has risen in anger.
His eyes spark. ‘Do you know your eyes are like the blue of struck matches when you are angry.’ Then more softly, ‘Why would anyone, let alone a stunner like you, get involved with someone who, if the most impeccable sources are to be trusted, is an absolute brute? He beat one woman so badly he broke her jaw, and blinded her in one eye.’
I have drunk too much champagne. The whole situation has become impossible for me to deal with in my present condition. I have ventured where I should never have gone. I feel the sting of defeat in mybones. ‘What do you want from me?’
He leaves the door and walks towards me: again that sensation that he is a predatory animal. ‘Well for a start…’ He reaches me and suddenly jerks me towards him. I fall forward and am pitched against the unyielding hardness of his body. My palms come into contact with the smooth material of his jacket. Shocked, I am filled with the scent that Rupert called old money and establishment. Difficult to define, but it reminds me of rosemary, not because of its smell, but because it is so clear and distinct. Nothing wishy-washy about it.
Everything takes on an unreal appearance. The fabulously wealthy interior. The man outside that door that wants to rape me for money. The frighteningly remote man in front of me that brings into my body sensations I have never experienced before. A pulse at the base of his throat is throbbing. I watch it curiously. I have never seen it in a man before.
And then an arm comes around me, a fistful of hair close to my nape is grasped and tugged so my confused face is tilted up towards him. ‘This,’ he says and his mouth swoops down to possess mine. His breath smells like brandy or whiskey. Wicked, anyway.
Twice today I have had to endure a stranger’s uninvited and unwelcome lips, but my reaction to this overbearing man is shocking and immediate.
His mouth drives me wild in a way that I could never have imagined. Heat ripples through me, and the reasoning, reliable part of my brain, that part that has never failed me before, stops responding. Stops functioning. My arms snake up to twine around his neck and tangle in the thick hair. I thrill in his possessive hold.
He circles my tongue, sucks it deep into his mouth and kisses me with such ferocity that some slumbering beast inside answers his animal call. A dangerous excitement kicks hard in the pit of my belly. No man has ever done this to me in this way before. I cling to him. Like a blind animal that moves only with instinct I push my body into his. There is only the need to find more of such addictive heat. What I find is the thick hardness of his desire for me. It presses aggressively against the softness of my stomach and excites me beyond all reason.
A pleasure that is at once sweet and piercing courses through my body. This rock-hard erection is mine. I caused it. Heat pools between my legs. And suddenly I am wet with wanting and filled with an irresistible desire to have that hard meat inside me, as deep as it will go…
I totally forget where I am.
It is Rupert’s cold, hard voice that drags me back into that room. We had both not heard him enter. ‘I’m afraid she’s rather spoken for,’ he drawls, but there is so much suppressed anger that his voice is like a blast of icy air.
I snatch my mouth away from Blake’s. He is positioned between Rupert and me so his wide chest hides me from Rupert’s condemnation and my eyes, cloudy with confusion and desire, are still caught in his gaze. For a few seconds more he does not release me, but simply stares into my eyes with something approaching surprise. Then his eyes turn into hard granite chips and his body stiffens even as his hands tighten and curve protectively around my waist. Slowly he turns to face Rupert.
‘But still unpaid for, I believe?’ he says, and looks down with a smile at my flushed, troubled face. I have two very quick impressions. He is a brilliant actor and he is a cold man. A shockingly cold and unemotional being.
Rupert directs his astonished, vicious eyes at me. ‘You offered yourself to him too?’
I stare mutely at Rupert while his gaze moves derisively, hatefully over me. I feel myself cringe horribly, but I try not to show it.
‘Does he know how much you charge?’
One sculptured eyebrow rises gently. ‘Do you doubt I will be able to afford her?’
Rupert shrivels the way a leech that has had salt thrown on it does. ‘This is why you invited me here, isn’t it?’
‘Yes.’
‘What a joke!’ he taunts, but his jibe lacks any real bite. ‘The great Barrington can’t find his own whore. He has to steal mine.’
‘I didn’t steal her,’ Blake notes reasonably. ‘I just offered to pay more.’
Rupert’s eyes bulge, bug-like. ‘She’s just a cheap bloody tart. I’ve just finger-fucked her out there,’ he lies maliciously, jerking his dandruff-laden head in the direction of the door.
I feel Blake’s hand tighten around my waist. ‘Consider it an unearned freebie, then,’ he says quietly, but there is warning in the calm words. A warning that is not lost on Rupert. The air becomes tight with tension. I look from one man to the other. It is like watching two lions fighting for supremacy. But my body knows which lion it wants to win this fight.
Rupert shrugs. He knows he’d be a fool to go against a Barrington. He has much to lose. ‘If you think I’m going to fight over her you’re mistaken. Have her.’
He turns on his heel and leaves.
Blake lets go of me and I realize I am trembling. I lean against the desk, hating myself, but unable to stop—nothing is more important than the money—I ask, ‘Did you…did you mean it about the money?’
‘Yes.’
A sob of relief escapes my throat. I cover my mouth with both hands. ‘Thank you.’
He looks at me with narrowed eyes, as if surprised by the intensity of my reaction, but he does not offer any comment. ‘Did you have a coat?’
I nod, unable to speak.
‘Give me the ticket. I’ll get it.’
I rummage through the purse hanging by my hips, my hands unsteady, and shake my head glumly. For the life of me I cannot remember what I have done with it. ‘I’ve lost it. I think it might have fallen out in the…’ I am about to say loo when I decide I am not like them and I won’t pretend to be something I am not… ‘Ladies room.’
‘Let’s go. I’ll buy you another.’
‘I can’t leave without it. It’s not mine,’ I whisper.
He sighs. ‘It’s all right. I’ll get it. Is the coat…er…orange?’
I look at him carefully—there is an insult there, somewhere—but his face is blank. ‘Yes.’
‘Wait here. Don’t go anywhere.’
I stand in the middle of the room feeling light-headed. I’ve got the money and I don’t have to get raped for it. My hands find their way to my mouth. That kiss. The way it made me feel. Just thinking about it makes me long for the feel of his solid body melded into mine.
The door opens, and oh shit—Rupert walks in.
‘You look frightened. Why? I don’t wish you harm. In fact, I realize now that I am actually very interested in your offer. If I seemed unappreciative before please forgive me.’
‘There is,’ I say, shaking my head and taking a step backwards, ‘nothing to forgive.’
‘Is he really paying double?’
‘I don’t need more than what I asked you for.’
‘Then why go to him? He is no different from me. He will drop you like a bad mortgage when he is finished with you too.’
I nod. ‘Of course he will, but like you said, I came with a price. You wanted to bargain and he was willing to pay it.’ If only I can keep him talking until Blake returns.
‘So am I, now.’
‘Besides, you want fifty shades of gray and he just wants a woman.’
‘Perhaps I’ve changed my mind. Perhaps I just want a woman too.’
He comes closer.
‘Blake has gone to get my coat. He’ll be back any time.’
‘Not without this he won’t.’ He holds out my ticket.
He puts out a hand suddenly. I try to move back, but he grabs me by the arm, his grip vice-like, his fingers digging painfully into my flesh. He hauls me closer.
‘You’re hurting me.’
‘You’ll be surprised how much pain the human body can take.’
‘What do you want, Rupert?’
‘I feel aggrieved. Something I wanted and was promised to me has been stolen by another. I was given a taste of something, which I very much liked. You resist beautifully, Lana. Perhaps, you will do both of us. I will pay you too.’
I blink. I can’t believe what I am hearing. If it wasn’t so humiliating, it would be surreal. The surroundings I am in, the obviously powerful men who are suddenly apparently willing to pay huge sums to have sex with me.
‘I wouldn’t do that to Blake.’
‘He’ll never know and even if he does, he won’t care. It’s not like he wants to marry you. You’re just a fuck, Lana,’ he pronounces dismissively.
The door opens and Blake stands at the threshold with my orange coat folded over his arm. His face is like a closed steel door. He comes into the room and Rupert lets go of my arm and I immediately move away from him, rubbing my stinging flesh. Already there are red marks on it. Blake eyes them silently, then helps me into my coat.
‘Ready?’ he asks.
I nod.
He turns towards Rupert and socks him hard on the chin. So hard the ex-rugby player falls to the floor with a grunt.
‘She may be a cheap slut, but I’m paying what you baulked at, so she is my cheap slut now. You’d do well to remember that,’ Blake throws casually over his shoulder.
Rupert clutches his busted, bleeding lip and shows his fury to the only person he dares to. ‘You’re fired, Bloom,’ he shouts impotently.
Blake takes my arm and leads me out of that place. There is not a single person at that party that does not turn to watch us leave.