His Final Bargain(11)

She set her mouth in a contemptuous line. 'Nice to see you haven't let  the minor inconvenience of widowhood and single parenthood get in the  way of your sex life.'

His dark eyes glinted warningly. 'You are not being paid to comment on any aspect of my private life.'

'Did you get her to sign a confidentiality agreement too?' She threw him  an icy glare. 'Did you pay her heaps and heaps of money to keep her  mouth shut and her legs open?'

The silence was so tense it rang like the high-pitched whistle of a cheap kettle.

Eliza felt his anger. It was billowing in the air between them like  invisible smoke. It sucked all the oxygen out of the room until she  found it hard to breathe. She had overstepped the mark. She had let her  emotions gallop out of control. She had revealed her vulnerability to  him.

'Isn't jealousy a little inconsistent of you, given you're wearing another man's ring?' he asked in a deceptively calm tone.

She forced herself to hold his gaze. 'Relationships are not meant to be  business contracts. You can't do that to people. It's not right.'

His lip curled mockingly. 'Let me get this straight-you're telling me what's right and wrong?'

She drew in a sharp breath to try to harness her spiralling emotions.  'I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything. It's none of my business who  you see or what arrangements you make in order to see them.'

'You're damn right it's none of your business.'

Eliza bit down on her lip as he strode out of the room, flinching when  he clipped the door shut behind him. The sound of his car roaring to  life outside was like a glancing blow to her heart. She listened to him  drive out of the villa grounds, her imagination already torturing her  with where he was going and what he would be doing when he got there.





CHAPTER FIVE


LEO UNMOORED HIS motor launch and motored out to a favourite spot where  he could look back at the twinkling lights fringing the Amalfi coast. He  dropped anchor and sat on the deck, listening to the gentle slap of the  water against the hull and the musical clanging of the rigging against  the mast of a distant yacht as the onshore breeze passed through. A  gibbous moon cast a silver glow across the crinkled surface of the  ocean. It was the closest he got to peace these days, out here on the  water.

It was laughably ironic that Eliza thought he was off bedding a  mistress. He hadn't been with anyone since Giulia had died ten months  ago. Not that his relationship with her had been fulfilling in that  department. He had tried to make it work a couple of times in the early  days, but he had always known she was lying there wishing he were  someone else.

Hadn't he done the same?

He hadn't wanted to hurt her by treating her as a substitute, so in the  end they had agreed on a sexless arrangement. He could have had affairs;  Giulia had told him to do whatever he had to do and she would turn a  blind eye, but he hadn't pursued it. He had the normal urges of any  other man his age, but he had ignored them to focus on his  responsibilities as a parent and his ever-demanding career.

But his physical reaction to Eliza was a pretty potent reminder that he  couldn't go on ignoring the needs of his body. He had wanted her so  badly it had taken every ounce of self-control not to back her up  against the nearest wall and do what they both did so well together. His  groin was still tingling with the sensation of her body jammed tightly  against his. He had felt the soft press of her beautiful breasts against  his chest. He had desperately wanted to cover her mouth with his, to  rediscover those sensual contours, to taste the hot sweetness of her.

He had intended to keep his distance during her short stay. He had been  so confident he would be able to keep things on a business level between  them. But, reflecting on it now, he could see how that call from  Kathleen when he was in London for his meeting had completely thrown  him. He was used to having his life carefully controlled. His domestic  arrangements ran like clockwork. He had come to rely heavily on his  staff, almost forgetting they had lives and families and issues of their  own. When Kathleen had begged him for some time off he'd had to think  on his feet and the first person he had thought of was Eliza. He'd told  himself it was because she was a talented teacher and used to handling  difficult and needy children. But what if the subconscious part of him  had made the decision for a completely different reason?                       
       
           



       

He still wanted her.

Who was he kidding? Of course he still wanted her. But would a month be  enough to end this torment that plagued him? Those three weeks he'd had  with her had never left his memory. He could recall almost every  passionate moment they had spent together. The memory of her body lived  in his flesh. When he looked at her he felt his blood stir. He felt his  heart rate rise. He felt his skin tingle in anticipation of her silky  touch. The need to possess her was a persistent ache. Seeing her again  had brought it all back. The blistering passion she evoked in him. The  heat and fire of her response that made him feel as if she was his  perfect mate-that there was no one else out there who could make him  feel the way she did. It was going to be impossible to ignore the desire  he had for her when every time he came within touching distance of her  his body reacted so powerfully.

But wouldn't an affair with her create more problems, which he could do without right now?

On the other hand, he was used to compartmentalising his life. He could  file his relationship with her into the temporary basket. Wasn't that  what she would want? It wasn't as if she was going to end her engagement  for him. She'd had four years to do so and yet she hadn't.

He didn't understand how she could sell herself so short. What was she  getting out of her relationship with her fiancé that she couldn't get  with him? He had offered her riches beyond measure, a lifetime of love  and commitment, and yet she had thrown it back in his face. Why? What  tied her to a man who still hadn't married her? He didn't even live with  her. What hold did he have over her? Or was Eliza keeping a 'fiancé' up  her sleeve so she could flit in and out of any shallow little hook-up  that took her fancy? The ring she wore didn't look like a modern design.  What if she just wore it for show? What if it was her get-out prop?  'Sorry, but I'm already taken' was a very good way of getting out of a  relationship that had run its course. She might have picked the ring up  at a pawn shop for all he knew. If there was an actual fiancé Leo was  almost certain she wasn't in love with him. How could she be when she  looked at him with such raw longing? He was sure he wasn't imagining it.  From the first moment he had laid eyes on her he had felt an electric  connection that was beyond anything he had felt before or since.

But this time he wouldn't be offering her anything but an affair. He  gave a twisted smile. A shallow hook-up was what he would offer. He  would set the rules. He would set the boundaries and he would enforce  them if he had to. He would not think about the morality of it. If she  was willing to betray her fiancé-if there was one-then it was nothing to  do with him.

She could always say no.

By two a.m. Eliza had given up on the notion of sleeping. It wasn't the  jetlag or the strange bed. It was the restlessness of her body that was  keeping her from slumber. A milky drink usually did the trick but could  she risk running into Leo by going downstairs to get one? She hadn't  heard him return, but then, why would he need to? He had plenty of staff  to keep his household running while he indulged in an off-site affair  with his latest mistress.

Eliza slipped on a wrap and went downstairs. There was enough moonlight  coming in through the windows to light her way. Just as she was taking  the last step down, the front door opened. She gave a little startled  gasp and put her hand up to the throat where her heart seemed to have  jumped. 'Leo?'

He gave her a wry look. 'Who else were you expecting?'

Eliza pursed her lips. 'I wasn't expecting anyone. And I wasn't waiting up for you, either.'

A mocking glint shone in his dark eyes. 'Of course not.'

She jutted her chin at him. 'I was on my way to the kitchen to get a hot drink.'

'Don't let me stop you.'

Eliza looked at his tousled hair. Bed hair. Just had wild sex hair. It  maddened her to think he could just waltz in and parade his sexual  conquests like a badge of honour. 'How was your evening? Did it live up  to your expectations?'

Even in the muted light she could see the way his mouth was slanted with  a cat-that-got-the-canary smile. 'It was very pleasurable.'

Jealousy was like an arrow to her belly. How could he stand there and be so … so blatant about it?

'I just bet it was.'

'You would know.'

Her brows shot together. 'What's that supposed to mean?'

His smile had tilted even further to give him a devilish look. 'You've  had first-hand experience at spending many a pleasurable evening with  me, have you not?'