The Ultimate Playboy(33)

                ‘I’m fine.’

                ‘If you say so.’ He relaxed against the pillows. Sleep would be elusive with her so close. For a moment he wondered why he was torturing himself like this.

                Keep your friends close and your stalkers closer?

                He suppressed a grim smile, grabbed the remote and doused the light in the bedroom. But with one sensory factor taken away, her erratic breathing became amplified.

                Good. If he was to be tortured with images of what sex between them would be like, it was only fair she experienced the same fate.

                ‘What happens tomorrow?’ she asked quietly.

                ‘Tomorrow we talk. And by talk I mean you come clean, completely, as to why you’re here. Because if you hold anything back from me, I won’t hesitate to throw you to the wolves.’





                                      CHAPTER FIVE

                RUBY WOKE WITH the distinct feeling that something had changed. It took a millisecond to realise what that something was.

                ‘You took my clothes off?’ she screeched, her fingers flying to the hem of the black T-shirt that had miraculously appeared on her body.

                The man who lay so languidly beside her, his head propped up on his hand, nodded.

                ‘I feared you’d suffocate in your sleep in that dress. Despite your dubious reasons for being here, even I would find it difficult to explain death by designer gown to the authorities. You were quite co-operative. I think it was the only time you’ve been co-operative since we reached my suite, which tells me you were as uncomfortable as I suspected.’

                She licked her lips and struggled not to squirm under his scrutiny. At least her bra and panties were intact. But the fact was she didn’t recall what had happened. And there was only one worrying explanation for that. ‘I was tired,’ she bluffed.

                ‘Right.’ Silver eyes bore into her until she felt like a fly hooked on a pin.

                His gaze dropped to her twisting fingers, and she abruptly stilled the movement. ‘Tell me what happened. Exactly.’

                One brow rose at her firm directive but Ruby was desperate to know what had happened during the night. She’d tossed and turned in agitation until sheer exhaustion had finally pulled her under some time before dawn.

                ‘You tried to escape a few times. I brought you back to bed.’

                God. No. It’d happened again...

                Definitely time to leave. She tried to move, and felt a snag on her foot. Shoving aside tangled sheets, she stared in horror at the rope tied around her ankle.

                ‘You tied me up again! Do you have a thing for bondage?’

                His eyes gleamed. ‘Until last night, I’d never needed to tie a woman to keep her with me.’

                ‘Oh, well, lucky me. Did you tie me before or after you took off my dress?’

                ‘After the second time you tried to take the door off its hinges to make your escape, we came back here and I relieved you of your suicidal gown and put the T-shirt on—’ A deep frown slashed his face. ‘Are you saying you don’t remember any of this?’