Ruthless Russian, Lost Innocence(40)

‘What time is it?’ she murmured, wishing she knew the protocol for greeting the man you’d spent the night having great sex with, but who seemed to have turned into a stranger in the cold light of day.#p#分页标题#e#

He flicked back the sleeve of his jacket and glanced at his watch. ‘Just after eight.’

Ella gave a yelp as reality hit with a vengeance. ‘I have to be at rehearsals at nine. Gustav blows a fuse if any of the orchestra members are late.’ She jerked upright, the rosy colour in her cheeks deepening as she dislodged the sheet and Vadim’s eyes immediately dropped to her bare breasts.

‘Where are the rehearsals?’

‘Cadogan Hall, near Sloane Square,’ she mumbled as she snatched the sheet around her.

Vadim strolled over to the wall of wardrobes, opened a door and selected a robe from several that were hanging inside. ‘Here,’ he said, walking back to the bed and handing it to her. ‘It’ll probably swamp you. I’m afraid I don’t have anything in your petite size.’

‘Thank you.’ Ella took the robe and glanced across at the others in the wardrobe, startled by the realisation that he kept bathrobes in a variety of sizes-presumably for the occasions when he invited a woman to spend the night with him. It was extremely thoughtful of him, she reminded herself, trying to ignore the heavy feeling in the pit of her stomach that she was just another blonde who was passing through his bedroom.

‘My offices are not far from Cadogan Hall, so I can give you a lift. What time will you finish tonight?’

‘The orchestra will finish late afternoon, but I have additional rehearsals for my solo performance coming up in Paris, and I don’t suppose I’ll get away until at least six o’clock.’

Vadim shrugged. ‘Fine. I usually work until then. I’ll meet you at six-thirty for dinner. Do you want to go on somewhere afterwards? I’ll ask my secretary to arrange tickets if you’d like to see a show.’

Ella’s gaze flew once more to the selection of bathrobes he kept for his lovers. ‘I don’t think so,’ she said quietly. ‘In fact I think it would be better if we kept last night as a one-off. I don’t want to have an…an affair with you,’ she faltered, flushing when his piercing blue gaze settled thoughtfully on her face. She had the unnerving feeling that he could read the jumble of emotions whirling around her head. ‘Neither of us wants to be tied down in a relationship,’ she reminded him, despising herself for the way her heart rate quickened when he dropped down onto the bed and wound a few strands of her hair around his fingers.

‘I agree,’ he said coolly. ‘But surely the very fact that we have no desire for a relationship makes us ideal candidates for an affair? There’s nothing to stop us being lovers for as long as either one of us wants it to last. And besides,’ he murmured, his voice dropping to a deep, sensual tone that caressed her senses, ‘one night was not enough for either of us-was it, Ella?’

She gasped when he pushed her flat on her back, but the sound was smothered by his mouth as his head swooped and he claimed her lips in a fierce, hungry kiss that left her in no doubt that one night had not satisfied his desire for her. Last night had not been enough for her either, she thought despairingly. He only had to touch her and molten heat flooded through her veins, and the hot, restless ache in her pelvis made a mockery of her decision to distance herself from him.

Agreeing to an affair with him would only be dangerous if she allowed her emotions to become involved-but she would never do that, she assured herself. She knew what kind of a man he was, and that knowledge made her safe from him-so why not enjoy his sexual expertise? whispered the reckless voice in her head.

When he pushed the sheet down and bent his head to take one dusky pink nipple into his mouth she could not restrain a soft moan, and she arched her back in mute invitation, sliding her hands into his silky black hair to hold him to the task of pleasuring her.#p#分页标题#e#

Vadim was tempted, desire corkscrewing through him when he kissed Ella again and felt the tentative foray of her tongue into his mouth. For the first time in his life he was actually contemplating putting pleasure before business. As head of his company, he answered to no one. He could spend all morning making love to Ella and turn up at his office at lunchtime if he pleased. But the realisation that she could exert some sort of hold over him brought his brows together in a slashing frown. No woman had ever caused him to change the way he ran his life. The company he had created from nothing was the most important thing in his life, and women were merely an entertaining distraction from his hectic work schedule-even this woman, he reminded himself fiercely.