Billionaire's Revenge(19)

Looking skyward, he thought of the young Sara Balfour. She fooled him then just as she fooled him again. He thought her to be sweet, kind, the other contractors preferring to deal with Sara who was meticulous and considerate. She had always been polite but distant, the only woman who had not thrown herself at him, unlike her sister. Darius thought that she was perhaps shy, finding himself nervous to do the one thing he most wanted – ask her out- until the day she took such pleasure in firing him, his mouth setting in a thin line.

Damn that woman; even now his body tightened at just the memory of the way she reacted in bed. Taking a deep breath, he remembered the way he too had reacted, his hand clenching as his lips curled into a self-mocking smile. That morning he watched her, guilt filling him. Maybe he had not understood what happened six years ago, maybe he had been blinded by his hatred for her before her coldness and words angered him.

With another frown he knew that she had certainly suffered, her family throwing her to an animal like Nigel Lipton, this not sitting will with him. Standing straight he set his mouth firmly, pushing the feeling of unease and guilt from him. She treated him in the worst possible way and for that she was only reaping what she had sown, and maybe he was taking things too far, but he had not finished with her yet, not by a long shot. With that the decision had been made that he would hold onto her for as long as it took to get the little minx out of his head, a small smile now turning up the corners of his mouth. Payback was a bitch and so was Sara Balfour - well two could “make the best of a bad situation”.

The doors sliding open onto the foyer revealed the manager himself, a kindly man who walked with him to the bar; pointing out the tall man he had come to meet. Darius moved forward, his hand outstretched a more professional smile on his handsome face.

As promised an hour later, Sara was ready for the cheery Rachel. Once more she was dragged around boutique after boutique, Rachel meticulously working through her assigned list, Sara knowing that she was being prepared for the next two weeks, embarrassed by the amount of sexy underwear that had been bought. Rachel however waved away her protests, her eyes sparkling wickedly as she raised her eyebrows suggestively. “Oh Sara...if you’ve got it flaunt it girl...and you’ve got it” Sara unable to hold back the return chuckle as she shook her head.

Rachel informed her that all of the purchased clothes would be delivered to Darius’ house as the two drank coffee, Sara so unaware how tiring shopping could be. Passing a jewellers as they prepared to leave, Sara stopped, her eyes staring at something in the window. Asking Rachel to wait she moved inside, a huge grin on her face as she returned fifteen minutes later, chucking.

“Darius insisted that I used his credit card...and I like to do as he tells me” Rachel gave a laugh and nod. “Oh Sara sweetie...that is the kind of instructions I could live with...you hang on to him” Sara gave a nervous half-smile not prepared to say more of her situation with Darius.

At six that evening Rachel once more returned her to Darius’ suite, the man himself appearing as she moved into the main living room. A smile sat on his lips, lips which Sara found herself staring at, the memory of how they trailed over her body causing small flutters of nerves to fill her stomach. “Did you get everything?” His soft words pulled her attention back to him, her mouth tightening. “Yes. Don’t worry I will not be embarrassing you” His lips twitched as his look dropped down her pointedly, Sara still wearing the jeans of the previous day topped with a shirt which Rachel insisted they buy, a lazy drawl his only response, “Good to know”, before he became more serious.

“The car is downstairs...we are leaving now” Darius strode purposefully out of the suite, Sara nervously trailing behind him as they silently rode the elevator down to the car which waited at the hotel entrance. She was surprised as Darius himself slipped behind the wheel of the luxurious sports car having first ensured that she was placed in the passenger’s seat. Sara held back the small groan as she sank into the softest leather seats she had ever sat in. Wordlessly, he pulled the car into the busy city traffic, Sara allowing her eyes to flick over him, so in control and comfortable behind the wheel of the powerful and sleek vehicle. “I ordered my accountants to stop their investigation into your brother-in-law’s fraud. The shortfall at the moment is being hidden with my own money...all of which I will be getting back when he is caught”

His sudden statement made her jump, unaware that she had been lost in reverie, memories of the same hand stroking her, sliding along her body, his movements sure then as they were now. Sara bit back the groan which rose to her soft mouth, knowing how much money they were talking about, her head nodding slightly.