The Ultimate Playboy(21)

                ‘If you really don’t want to be here, say the word and I’ll let you leave.’ That wasn’t strictly true. First he’d use his infinite skills to convince her to stay. Arrogance didn’t come into his awareness that he was attractive to most women, and, despite her mixed signals, this woman was as attracted to him as he was to her.

                She might need a little more work than usual—and the thought wasn’t unpleasing—but he was more than up to the task.

                He watched her debate with herself for an endless minute. Then she turned towards the window.

                Narciso forced himself to remain still, despite his every cell screeching at him to grab her. Picking up a control device, he pushed the button that allowed the glass windows to turn from opaque to transparent.

                Macau City lay spread before them in a cascade of lights, glittering water and awe-inspiring ancient Portuguese, Chinese and modern architecture.

                Since he’d started doing business here, his fascination with the city had grown along with his bank balance.

                But right now his fascination with her was much more paramount.

                ‘Tell me you’ll stay.’ His voice emerged rougher than normal.

                The thought that he wanted her badly, alarm bells or no alarm bells, made him frown. He’d trained himself not to want anything he absolutely could not have. It was why he calculated his every decision with scalpel-like precision.

                That way he avoided disappointment. Avoided...heartache...

                She turned from the window, arms crossed at that tiny waist. Her response took a minute, two at a stretch, but they were the longest minutes of Narciso’s life.

                ‘I’ll stay...for a little while.’

                He swallowed and nodded. Suddenly, his fingers itched to remove the pins in her hair, to see its silky dark gold abundance cascade over her shoulders.

                ‘Take your hair down,’ he instructed. The time for playing was over.

                Her eyes widened. ‘Why?’

                ‘Because I want to see it. And because you’re staying.’

                Her fingers touched the knot at the back of her head. Anticipation spiked through him only to be doused in disappointment when she lowered her hand.

                ‘I prefer to keep it up.’

                ‘If you’re trying to keep me hyped up with interest, trust me, it’s working.’

                ‘I’m not, I mean... My hair is no big deal.’

                ‘It is to me. I have a weakness for long hair.’

                Her head tilted to one side, exposing a creamy neck he longed to explore. ‘If I take my hair down, will you take your mask off?’

                As much as he wanted to rip his mask off, something told him to delay the urge. ‘No,’ he replied. ‘My house, my rules.’

                ‘That’s not fair, is it?’

                ‘If life was fair you’d be naked and underneath me by now.’

                A blush splashed up her exquisite throat and stung her cheeks. Molten lust rushed into his groin and spread through his body. Feeling restricted and seriously on edge, he shrugged off his tuxedo jacket and flung it over the long sofa. Next came the bow tie. He left that dangling to tackle the top buttons of his shirt and looked up to find her gaze riveted on him.