Millionaire's Secret Seduction(23)

Knock, knock, knock.

Bella straightened her lab coat and headed for the door-and escape. "I  have a meeting to lead. I'll leave you to answer for yourself."

She opened the door with a practiced smile. "Hi, Sue. I was just copying  some notes." She realized too late her hands were empty. "I left them  in the file. I'll grab them later."

Sue glanced past her, and Bella couldn't resist looking back at Dominic.  Somehow the paper had disappeared. His suit jacket was buttoned over  any offending protrusions. "Sue, this is Dominic … Di Bari." He'd said he  wasn't changing his name. "He's learning all about the company. Do help  him out if he needs anything, as I'm late for a meeting." And with  another officious smile she swept out of the room and took off across  the lab at a brisk pace.

Though she didn't manage to miss Dominic's last words. "See you at the party."



The party.

Bella glanced around anxiously as she walked up to the velvet rope at Studio 54 in the glare of paparazzi cameras.

She'd waited for Dominic to find her and finish what he'd started in the copy room.

But he didn't.

She'd jumped every time the door opened, started every time the phone  rang. She checked her e-mail with bated breath. Even scanned the train  platform on her evening trips back to the house, where she'd taken to  staying nightly.

No Dominic.

Probably just busy, she tried to reassure herself. She certainly was.  Despite her strong reservations, she'd arranged to have the nurses he'd  hired bring her mom home. It would have been petty and selfish not to.

And her mom had already shown signs of making a dramatic recovery,  spending hours in her beloved garden and willingly eating the food from  it. The nurses, and a doctor who'd been hired to make twice-weekly  visits, said it was likely she'd recuperate fully from a severe but  temporary "nervous breakdown."

The dramatic turnaround, and the strange way in which it happened, had  Bella's emotions stretched to the max, and she wasn't sure if at any  moment she'd burst out laughing or collapse into tears of happy relief.

The very last thing she wanted right now was to see Dominic. He'd not  only kept her betrayal secret, but now he'd brought her mom back from  the brink of slow death. His actions touched her deeply, and scared her.

He held her life in the palm of his hand, when she'd always taken such  pride in managing it herself. Worse yet, the uncontrollable desire she  felt for him was totally inappropriate under the circumstances-or under  any circumstances. And if she saw him she couldn't be sure she wouldn't  jump all over him in a rush of pent-up emotion and white-hot lust.

She drew in a shaky breath as she handed her invitation to the huge  bouncer at the door. The pounding beat of the music jangled her nerves  as he ushered her inside. She'd barely entered the lobby when she was  accosted by Tarrant's young wife.

"Oh my goodness, Bella, don't you look marvelous! Halston as well."

Bella resisted the urge to glance down at the swingy, gold vintage dress her fashion maven friend Risa had borrowed for her.

Samantha's figure-skimming white halter top did have a similar cut. "He  was a genius, wasn't he? Aren't you mad that we missed the seventies the  first time around?"

Bella forced a friendly laugh. The vivacious blonde appeared genuinely  happy to see her, which was odd since they barely knew each other.

"Come in, let me introduce you to some people." Samantha threaded her  bony, tanned arm through Bella's and pulled her into the club. Music  pulsed over the sound system, and she heard Grace Jones's smoky voice  singing, "I need a man."                       
       
           



       

Great.

Everywhere she turned her heart leapt with excitement at the thought  that she might see Dominic-and her stomach clenched in terror at that  same prospect.

Could she be any more pathetic?

"Fiona! Have you met Bella from Cosmetics?"

Samantha gestured to a petite redhead in a slinky teal dress that hung from one shoulder. Thin gold hoops swung in her ears.

"Hi, Bella." Fiona's hand was cool. "I hear you have some big-deal  product coming out next week." Her voice sounded almost accusatory.

"Yes, ReNew. It restores the appearance of smooth skin."

"How marvelous. What would we do without smooth skin?" Fiona's mocking  voice could have passed for humor with the trace of a smile, but her  perfect porcelain skin remained unmarred by an expression. Her blue-eyed  gaze was down right chilly.

Bella hesitated. Could Dominic have told Fiona about her? She was his  sister-or at least his half sister. A finger of ice-cold fear crept up  her spine, which was bared for all to see by the plunging back of her  halter dress.

"Fiona put the whole party together." Samantha dove between them,  shattering the tense silence. "She's a genius at research. She even  hired one of the original DJs. The records he's playing are the exact  same vinyl discs that played here thirty-odd years ago."

"Samantha loves historical relics. Like my father." Fiona winked.

Samantha managed a natural-sounding laugh. "Your father has the heart of a teenager."

"Yes. That's always been his problem. How many of his progeny did you manage to round up for tonight, Sam?"

"Just Dominic. I haven't seen him yet, but he promised to come." She  turned to Bella. "I've been working hard trying to get in touch with  Tarrant's other children, but I imagine it's awkward for them to hear  from a long-lost parent out of the blue."

"Jeez. I can't imagine why." Fiona scanned the crowd, her face expressionless as a statue.

Bella wanted to dislike the frosty redhead, who was obviously doing her  best to make everyone uncomfortable, but she couldn't. This poor girl  had been Tarrant's only child until he suddenly decided to unearth the  others he'd fathered accidentally.

Why was he doing it? Was Fiona not enough for him? Bella knew that if  she asked that question, it must ring as loud as the pounding sound  system in Fiona's head.

Fiona was pretty, but not in the cover girl mold of the women Tarrant  surrounded himself with. It couldn't be easy for a girl like her growing  up in his hard-edged, glittering world, and watching him divorce her  mother and then marry a woman almost her own age.

She tried to make polite conversation. "The club looks wonderful. Probably better than when it was first open."

"Oh yes, we've got everything down to the last detail. Even the man in  the moon with a cocaine spoon logo on the dance floor." Fiona tilted a  slim brow.

"No real cocaine though!" Sam patted Bella's arm. "That's one authentic detail we left out."

"Sam's on the board of the Just Say No Foundation," murmured Fiona.  "Ruins the authenticity, but what can you do." For the first time a  genuine smile snuck across her face, and she and Samantha laughed. Bella  joined in. Thus the three ladies looked like they were actually  enjoying each other's company when Dominic walked up.

Bella tried to act natural while her pulse accelerated beyond all healthy limits.

"Hey, little sis." He kissed Fiona on the cheek.

"Hi, Sam." He kissed her too. Only one kiss for each of them, Bella was gratified to note.

"We Are Family" by Sister Sledge was spinning on the turn-table. Bella  felt appropriately left out for a split second, then Dominic turned to  her.

She offered her cheek for a casual peck, like the ones he'd given to Fiona and Samantha.

Dominic glanced at her cheek, and a wicked smile crept over his arrogant  mouth. "Uh-uh. No way you're getting off that easy." He leaned in and  gave her a big smooch, full on the mouth. She even got a cool taste of  tongue before he pulled back, leaving her wide-eyed and gasping for  breath.                       
       
           



       

What on earth was he doing?

Samantha and Fiona both looked a little surprised, but Samantha  recovered quickly. "Dominic, I'm so disappointed you're not wearing a  fitted suit and a gold medallion."

He shrugged. "My white three-piece is at the cleaners."

His usual shirt and tie were replaced by a black T-shirt that skimmed  his muscled chest and well-developed arms. Black pants encased his long,  powerful legs.

She could see why he always wore a suit. With his dark good looks and  threateningly hard body, he looked quite different out of one. Much less  respectable and businesslike.

Far more dangerous.

Her body's instant reaction made her wish she had a sturdy lab coat over her skimpy gold dress.

Why did he kiss her like that in front of Samantha and Fiona? Curiosity  and anxiety prickled over her, joined by a disturbing hot swell of lust  as Dominic lifted her hand and kissed her fingers.