Mediterranean Tycoons: Dark & Demanding. Jacqueline Baird

a suite with her boss? For a man who ran a huge international corporation it was odd Nick seemed to know an awful lot about a small company like Stubbs and Company, and had even asked more. As her imagination took flight, industrial espionage sprang to mind…

      Later still, wearing the dress she had packed originally to wear at the gala to end the seminar, she studied her finished image in the long mirror. With her long hair swept back into a French pleat, ending in a loose tumble of hair on the top of her head, and the careful application of eye-shadow and mascara and her lips outlined in a dusky-rose lip gloss, she looked cool and poised. But she was nowhere near as cool inside; she could not banish her suspicion of Nick’s motive from her mind.

      Sighing, she turned away from the mirror, and slipped her feet into three-inch-heeled silver sandals that matched the silver strapless dress she was wearing. Maybe Nick was right and she was paranoid? She straightened up, and adjusted the chain of the diamond crucifix at her throat. She looked good, she was attractive, so why was she plagued with insecurities? Maybe that was what love did to one?

      No, she was not in love, Liza told herself; she needed to get a grip. So far she had allowed Nick to call all the shots and it had to stop. She wanted some straight answers to some straight questions from the man. If they were not forthcoming then she was going to leave tomorrow. If Nick was telling the truth and he really had a great desire for her, he would follow her, and if he didn’t then better to know now before she got in too deep.

      The door flung open, and Nick walked into the room. ‘Dios, Liza.’ He stopped, his dark eyes roaming over her from the cool beauty of her face and lower to where the silver strapless gown revealed the gentle swell of her breasts, then lovingly clung to every perfect inch of her to end mid-thigh. She had legs to die for… ‘You look incredible.’ She reminded him of some fabled Valkyrie, a Norse goddess, and he felt the most inexplicable pain in his chest.

      ‘Have you ever heard of knocking?’ Liza smiled but stepped back as he walked towards her, an unmistakable gleam in his eyes.

      ‘We are way past that stage.’ Nick’s glance slanted meaningfully at the bed, and back to roam slowly over her once again.

      ‘You maybe, but not me,’ Liza said firmly. But her pulse was racing at the sight of him. In a formal dinner suit he was devastating.

      ‘Am I missing something here?’ Nick asked drily, and caught her hand, bringing it up towards his chest. ‘I thought we were past playing games, but if you insist on formality…’ He bowed his dark head and kissed her hand.

      Her fingers curled against the tingling sensations shooting up her arm, and when he lifted his head she saw the desire tinged with anger in the depths of his dark eyes.

      ‘Not formality,’ she countered steadily, ‘but good manners never come amiss. And I told you last night I am not sleeping with you when your mother is at home, and this time I mean it.’ Her blue eyes clashed with his. He was watching her intently, a curious expression on his starkly handsome face.

      What on earth was she doing lecturing Nick Menendez on manners? She grimaced at the thought. ‘I’ll forgive you this time, Nick.’ She opted to tease. ‘Now, where is the party?’

      ‘I know where I would like it to be,’ he drawled mockingly with another glance at the bed, ‘but it seems that is not an option.’ And tightening his hold on her hand, he added, ‘anyway, duty calls. But, be warned, we are leaving at midnight for a drive if that is the only way to get you alone.’ And to illustrate his point he bent his arrogant dark head, and ran his tongue along the curve of her breasts above the bodice of the dress.

      Instant excitement lanced through her body. ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ she jerked back.

      ‘Please, Liza, no innocent outrage, we both know it is a lie,’ Nick drawled cynically, staring down into her brilliant blue eyes. She was stunningly beautiful, and incredibly sexy, but he was a lot older and a lot smarter than he was when he had hungered after her in a stable all those years ago. Life had taught him that women were devious creatures, and this one was probably more treacherous than most. Two hours ago he had left Liza eager and wanting, but something had changed, and why the hell he was trying to protect her he did not know.

      ‘Come on,’ he said flatly, ‘we’ll be late,’ and with her hand still in his he pulled her out of the bedroom.

      Nick had just spent a painful half-hour being lectured by his own mother on his relationships with women; he did not need any more hassle from the fairer sex, though he was beginning to think there was nothing fair about them.

      His mother had told him quite frankly she knew perfectly well he used women for his own gratification with no thought of commitment. But if he had any idea of treating the lovely Liza in the same way he could forget it.

      If any other person talked to him as his mother had done he would have felled them. But she was his mother so he had contained his temper, though it had been a near thing when she had caustically informed him that she was certain the reason Liza had stayed away since she was sixteen had to be because Nick had made a pass at the girl and terrified her, and he was not to repeat the mistake. Liza was a good girl.

      He’d almost lost it then and told his mother the truth. Good in bed, yes! But as for the rest… The injustice of it still made him see red.

      Tightening his grip on Liza’s arm, he hurried her through the long corridors to the main part of the house. Dark eyes hard, he glanced at her exquisite profile; he was trying to save the woman from almost certain arrest, but to hear his mother talking he was one stop short of a sex maniac.

      But, even worse for a man who prided himself on being in control, he knew he was on very shaky ground. Plus, if he took Liza at her word, his sex life was down the drain as long as they stayed here.

      What a dilemma. He was between a rock and a hard place and he did not like it. Damn it to hell! He was much too wily and jaded a male to fall for typical feminine ploys, and rescuing damsels in distress had gone out in the last century with the advance of feminism. So what had possessed him to act like a misguided knight to save Liza? He had no answer, or not one he was prepared to admit to. But he had discovered it was not easy trying to act the white knight, especially when he was thinking below his waist most of the time, and that was Liza’s fault as well.

      Liza was quietly fuming. ‘Wait a minute, Nick.’ He had almost dragged her through the house without giving her time to catch her breath, but now they could hear the music playing and they had almost reached the entrance to the huge salon.

      ‘Before we go any further,’ Liza stopped and that got his attention, his dark eyes glancing impatiently down at her, ‘I want to know how you knew the name of my boss Henry Brown. I never told you but you mentioned him first at dinner last night, and also how did you know I was sharing a suite with him?’

      So she had finally noticed the one real slip he’d made. He wasn’t surprised; she was an intelligent girl. ‘You have a very low opinion of your own attraction if you have to keep searching for a reason to be with me, other than sex,’ he said bluntly. ‘And a very fertile imagination, Liza; a bit of business espionage, something like that on your mind, hmm?’ And tightening his grip on her wrist, he added, ‘I don’t usually explain my actions to a woman, but I will make an exception in your case. It is quite simple; when I arrived at your hotel last night I asked for you at Reception. The girl there was very chatty,’ Nick opined hardly. ‘She told me you were sharing a suite with a Henry Brown.’

      His crack about a low opinion of herself and sex hit a nerve, but it did not stop her questioning his response. Was a receptionist supposed to give out that kind of information? Liza didn’t think so. But then, remembering her first sight of Nick in the hotel, leaning on the desk laughing with the girl, and her own jealous reaction, she had to accept his answer was perfectly feasible. Nick could charm anything out of any woman, she thought drily, and felt stupid for asking. ‘Do you mind? You’re hurting me,’ she snapped.

      ‘Not at all.’ He dropped her wrist as if it was something unpleasant. ‘It would never do for us to be seen holding hands, family friend