His Final Bargain(21)

His gaze continued to hold hers unwaveringly. 'What if I wanted all of you?'

Eliza felt a momentary flare of alarm in her chest. She had experienced  his ruthless intent before. It was dangerous to be inciting it into  action again. What he wanted he got. He wouldn't let anything or anyone  stand in his way. Hadn't he already achieved what he'd set out to  achieve? She was back in his bed, wasn't she? And it didn't look as if  he was going to let her out of it any time soon. She held his look with a  steady determination she wasn't even close to feeling. 'The rest of me  is not for sale.'

His thumb moved back and forth over her cheek, slowly, mesmerizingly,  that all-seeing, all-knowing gaze stripping away the layers of her  defences like pages being torn from a cheap notepad. 'So which part have  I bought?' he asked.

'The part you wanted.'

'How do you know which part I wanted?'

'It's obvious, isn't it?' She brazenly stroked a hand down his naked  chest to the elastic waistband of his track pants, giving him her best  sultry look. 'It's the same part I want of you.'

She heard him suck in a breath as her hand dipped below the fabric. She  felt his abdomen tense. She felt the satin of his skin, the hot, hard  heat of him scorching her fingers as they wrapped around him. Her body  primed itself for his possession and she didn't care how sweet or savage  it was going to be.

She yanked his track pants down further and bent her head to him,  teasing him mercilessly with her tongue. He groaned and dug his fingers  into her scalp but he didn't pull away, or, at least, not at first. She  drew on him, tasting the essence of him, swirling her tongue over and  around him, making little flicking movements and little cat-like licks  until finally he could stand no more.

'Wait,' he gasped, trying to pull back. 'I'm going to-' He let out a  short, sharp expletive as she went for broke. She had him by the hips  and dug her fingers in hard. Her mouth sucked harder and harder, wanting  his final capitulation the same way he went for hers-ruthlessly.

He came explosively but she didn't shy away from receiving him. He  shuddered and quaked, finally sagging over her like a puppet whose  strings had been suddenly severed.                       
       
           



       

Eliza caressed her hands over his back and shoulders, a slow exploratory  massage of each of his carved and toned muscles. He had loved her  massaging him in the past. And she had loved doing it. He had carried a  lot of tension in his body even back then. There was something almost  worshipful about touching him this way, with long and smooth strokes of  her palms and fingers, rediscovering him like a precious memory she  thought she had lost for ever. 'You've got knots in your shoulders. You  need to relax more.'

'Can't get more relaxed than this right now.'

'I'm just saying … '

He lifted himself up on his elbows and locked gazes with her. 'We're  doing this the wrong way around. It's not the way I usually do things.'

She tiptoed her fingers over his pectoral muscles. 'You're paying me to pleasure you. That changes the dynamic, surely?'

He pulled her hand away from his chest and sat upright, his expression  contorted with a brooding frown, his gaze dark and disapproving. 'I know  what you're doing.'

'What am I doing?'

'You're playing the hooker card.'

She gave a little up and down movement of one shoulder. 'If the shoe  fits I usually wear it. I find it's more comfortable that way.'

'Is that really how you want to play things?'

Her brow arched haughtily. 'Do I have a choice?'

He held her gaze for a long pause before he let out a breath and got to  his feet. He scraped a hand through his hair before he dropped it back  down by his side. 'The money is in your account. I deposited it an hour  ago.'

'Thank you.' She gave him a look. 'Sir.'

There was another tight pause before he spoke. 'I have to go to Paris on  business. Marella has agreed to be here to help you with Alessandra. I  don't expect you to be on duty twenty-four hours a day.'

'How long will you be away?'

'A day or two.'

'Why don't you take us with you?' she asked. 'It's a shortish trip. It  shouldn't be too hard to organise. It would be a little adventure for  Alessandra. It will build her confidence to travel and mix with other  people other than just you and Marella and me.'

His jaw tightened like a clamp. 'Maybe some other time.'

Eliza suspected his 'maybe some other time' meant no other time. What  did he think was going to happen to Alessandra if she stepped outside  the villa for once? How was his little girl supposed to live a normal  life if he kept her away from everything that was normal? 'You can't  keep her hidden away for ever, you know.'

'Is that what you think I'm doing?'

'No one even knows you have a child, much less that she's blind.'

'I don't want my daughter to be ridiculed or pitied in the press.' His  gaze nailed hers. 'Can you imagine how terrifying it would be for her to  be hounded by paparazzi? She's too young to cope with all of that. I  won't allow her to be treated like a freak show every time she goes out  in public.'

'I understand how you feel, but she needs to-'

He stabbed a finger in the air towards her, his eyes blazing with  vitriolic anger. 'You do not understand. You don't have any idea of what  it's like to have a child with a disability. She can't see. Do you hear  me? She can't see and there's not a damn thing I can do about it.'

Eliza swallowed unevenly, her heart contracting at the raw emotion he  was displaying. He was angry and bitter but beneath all that was a  loving father who was truly heartbroken that he could do nothing to help  his little daughter. Tears burned in the back of her throat for what he  was going through. No wonder he was always so tense and on edge. 'I'm  sorry … '

He drew in a tight breath and released it in a slow, uneven stream. 'I'm sorry for shouting at you.'

'You don't have to apologise … '

He came back to where she was still sitting amongst the pillows, a  rueful look on his face as he brushed a flyaway strand of her hair off  her face. 'I know you're only trying to help but this is a lot for me to  handle right now.'

She lowered her gaze again and bit at her lip. 'I shouldn't have said anything … '

He stroked the pad of his thumb over her savaged lip. 'Of course you  should. You're an expert on handling children. I appreciate your opinion  although I might not always agree with it.'

'I just thought it would be good for Alessandra to stretch her wings a  bit.' She met his gaze again. 'But the press thing is difficult. I can  see why you want to protect her from all of that. But sooner or later  she'll have to deal with it. She can't stay here at the villa for the  rest of her life. She needs to mix with other children, to make friends  and do normal kid stuff like go to birthday parties and on picnics and  play dates.'                       
       
           



       

He studied her features for a measured pause. 'I might have to go back  to London some time next week. If you think Alessandra would cope with  it then maybe we could make a little holiday out of it. Maybe take her  to Kew Gardens or something. Smell a few roses. That sort of thing.'

Eliza gave him a soft smile and touched his hand where it was resting on  the bed beside her. 'She's a very lucky little girl to have such a  wonderful father like you. There are a lot of little girls out there who  would give anything to be loved by their fathers the way you love her.'

His fingers ensnared hers, holding them in the warmth of his hand.  'You've never told me anything about your father. I remember you told me  when we first met that your mother died when you were young. Is he  still alive?'

She shifted her gaze to their joined hands. 'Yes, but I've only met him the once.'

'You don't get on?'

'We haven't got anything in common.' She traced a fingertip over the  backs of his knuckles rather than meet his gaze. 'We live in different  worlds, so to speak.'

He brought her hand up to his mouth and kissed her bent fingers, his  eyes holding hers in a sensual tether that sent a wave of longing  through her body. 'Your tea and toast are cold. Do you want me to get  you some more?'

'You don't have to. I'm not used to being served breakfast in bed.'

He took her currently bare ring finger between his thumb and index  finger, his eyes still meshed with hers. 'Doesn't your fiancé treat you  like a princess?'

Eliza couldn't hold his gaze. 'Not any more.'

A silence dragged on for several moments.

'Why do you stay with him?'

'I'd rather not talk about it.'

He pushed up her chin to lock her gaze with his. 'Has he got some sort of hold over you? Are you frightened of him?'

'No, I'm not frightened of him. He's not that sort of person.'

'What sort of person is he?'

She flashed him an irritated look. 'Can we just drop this conversation?  I'm not comfortable about talking about him while I'm being paid to be  in your bed.'