Blackmailed by the Italian Billionaire (15 page)

He left early in the morning, not returning until evening, and she hadn’t repeated the mistake of interrupting his morning swim again. There was only so much temptation a girl could take. And face-to-face with a naked Luc was way past her limit, so she’d loitered in her room until she heard him leave in the morning.

They shared the evening meal, where Luc was invariably charming. She was snarky in return. She knew it was a defense mechanism, but the alternative was succumbing to that charm, and that was not an option. And after dinner, he disappeared into his office.

Resisting temptation aside, she’d actually enjoyed her time in London. The possible loss of her home had been weighing on her since her mother’s death. That, combined with her grief, had made the last few months emotionally exhausting. Now it was as though a huge weight had been lifted from her.

She’d done some sightseeing, and spent the rest of the time in the roof garden, swimming in the pool, lying among the lush vegetation, reading books from Luc’s extensive library. Waiting for him to come home. She’d also done a lot of thinking; the truth was, she didn’t believe Luc would do anything with those pictures. While he wanted to find her father, he wouldn’t hurt her in the process; whatever else he was, he was an honorable man. So there was nothing to hold her here. The thought had not produced the happy effect she would have expected.

“I don’t actually see much of him,” she said in reply when she realized Claire was still waiting for an answer.

Claire sighed, obviously disappointed by the lack of details. “Well, you’re finished,” she said. “Want to look?”

Lia stood up, took off the protective cover she was wearing over her dress, and turned to the full-length mirror.

“I’m not quite sure I believe that’s me,” she said, staring at herself. She peered down from her reflection to the perfection of her French manicured nails and almost grinned. Kelly would die when she saw her.

They had performed magic. Her hair was up in a smooth chignon with tendrils curling over her ears. Very elegant—Lia almost laughed as the word flickered through her mind. It was not a word she had ever expected to use regarding herself, but she had to admit she looked pretty good. She’d been a bit worried when Claire had opened her makeup case that she would end up like a painted doll. And Claire did seem to have spent ages applying the cosmetics, but the effect was so subtle it appeared as though she were wearing none. Except her eyes looked huge, deep blue, her mouth glossy pink, and her skin luminous and flawless.

The dress was a dark midnight blue that did indeed bring out the color in her eyes. With a halter neck and floor length, it clung to every line of her body. Her shoes were silver sandals, with a modest two-inch heel. Maggie had tried to persuade her to wear higher heels, but Lia pointed out that it didn’t matter how elegant high heels are if she spent all night tripping over them. She’d won her case.

“You look like a princess,” Debbie said dreamily.

The front door slammed.

“Is that Luc?” Claire squeaked.

The girl had been asking the same question every few minutes. It was obvious how Maggie had persuaded her to come. The possibility of catching a glimpse of Luc was well worth the effort.

A minute later, a knock sounded at the door. She heard Claire’s indrawn breath and almost smiled.

“Come in,” she called. Her own breath caught in her throat at the sight of him. She stared, her eyes wandering over his tuxedo-clad figure. The suit was obviously made for him; it fit perfectly, emphasizing the broad shoulders and lean hips of his powerful physique.

The two girls stood beside her, openmouthed, all sophistication vanished.

“You look beautiful,” Luc said as he came into the room.

“Well, you can thank Claire and Debbie for that—they’ve been working on me for at least two hours.”

Luc glanced briefly at the girls and nodded. Claire almost swooned.

“Luc?” she asked quietly as the two girls packed away their equipment while casting not-very-subtle glances at Luc. “Is it a big party?”

He raised an eyebrow. “Quite big.”

“Would you notice two more?”

He frowned.

“Claire and Debbie,” she said. “They’ve worked really hard. They had a tough job. Look at what they had to start with.”

Luc ran his gaze over her and smiled. “Why not.” He took out a card and scribbled something on it. “Tell them to give this to the man at the door. He’ll let them in.”

Lia went over and told the two girls, handed them the card. “You can come.”

“Really?”

Claire squealed and hugged her, but carefully so as not to mess up her finery. She almost dragged Debbie from the room. “Come on, we need to get ready. It’s going to take hours!”

“Thank you,” Lia said, as the door closed behind them. “You’ve made their day. Well actually, their life probably.”

She turned to him; he was resting against the dressing table, watching her. His eyes were hooded, showing nothing, and a wave of shyness washed over her. Her heart started a deep throbbing inside her rib cage, and her legs wobbled.

He held out a hand, and she took a step toward him and placed her palm in his.

“Lia, you are beautiful.”

“It’s amazing what makeup can do. At least, if you’ve got your own beautician and hairdresser that is,” she added nervously. “You don’t look so bad yourself.”

He smiled. “I want to talk to you before we leave.”

She peeked up into his face but couldn’t read his expression. “You do?”

“Hmm.”

“What about?”

He considered her for a moment. “I wondered if we could have a truce tonight.”

Lia pursed her lips. “What sort of truce?”

“Oh, just enjoy ourselves.”

“How do we do that?” Lia found she was holding her breath.

“Forget your father for the night. Forget why you’re here. Just enjoy the party.”

She studied Luc, so beautiful, then glanced behind him at her own reflection in the mirror. This wasn’t real—it was some sort of fairy tale, and she was filled with a longing to do as he asked. It might be pretending, but wasn’t that okay? Couldn’t she be Cinderella for one night?

She nodded, and he smiled, then lifted her hand and kissed her palm. A ripple of sensation shivered through her.

“Good,” he said. “I have something for you.”

Releasing his hold on her hand, he reached into his pocket, pulling out a small box. He flipped it open. Inside was a ring. Lia stared at it; she knew little of jewelry, but even she could tell it was fabulous—a deep, dark blue sapphire. Luc took the ring from the box and picked up her hand once more, stroking his fingers across the sensitive skin of her wrist before slipping the ring onto her finger.

It was beautiful but heavy, weighing her hand down.

“Don’t you like it?” he asked.

“It’s gorgeous. I wasn’t expecting it, that’s all. This whole fake engagement thing makes me feel a little uncomfortable. I’ve never been very good at lying. I know you think I’m some sort of actress, but honestly, I’m totally crap at it.”

“Well, leave the lying to me,” he said smoothly.

She looked at him closely. “Are you a good liar, Luc?”

“When I need to be.”

His words sent a ripple of apprehension running through her. What did she really know of him? She studied her pink-tipped toes, peeking out of her silver sandals, for a moment, unsure what to say. Luc sighed and slipped a finger under her chin, lifting her face so she couldn’t avoid his gaze.

“Don’t you like the ring?” he said. “I thought all women liked jewelry.”

He sounded almost bewildered and she patted his arm. “I do like it, honest. It’s beautiful—though I really can’t see myself grooming the horses in it.” She shook her head. “I wish I could tell Kelly and Pete the truth.”

“No.” The word was implacable. “Trust me,” he said. “Everything will be fine. Now come here.”

His warm hands rested on her bare shoulders, drawing her toward him. She stiffened for a moment, then allowed herself to be pulled gently into his arms. Staring into his face as it came closer, she was quite unable, or unwilling, to do anything to prevent the kiss she sensed was coming. His lips were on hers, and she melted against him, her hands sliding around his waist beneath his tuxedo jacket. He deepened the kiss, his lips hard against hers, demanding, and she opened her mouth to him. His tongue pushed boldly into her mouth, tasting her, probing as he pulled her closer against the hard length of his body.

It seemed as if she had waited forever for that kiss. She never wanted it to stop, meeting him more than halfway, her own tongue sliding against his.

He groaned. His hands on her shoulders tightened, then he raised his head and put her away from him. “We have to go.” Reaching out, he ran a finger over her lips. “I’ve ruined your lipstick,” he said when she remained silent. “I’ll give you five minutes. But Lia, tonight after the party, we need to talk.”

Lia watched him walk away; she turned to stare at herself in the mirror, trying to clear the sensual haze induced by his kiss. Suddenly, she wanted the party over, wanted to be back here with Luc.
Just get through the night
, she told herself.

How hard could it be?

…

“I presume this is some sort of alien abduction scenario,” Kelly said. “You’re not really my friend Lia—you’ve just taken over her body.”

“Ha, ha,” Lia said.

Lia had spotted Kelly the moment she came in. Her friend stood inside the door, wide-eyed and in awe of the entire proceedings. Hardly surprising—their life in the village hadn’t prepared them for this sort of thing—although Kelly devoured society magazines voraciously so she should have known what to expect. She had managed to dress the part very well, considering the short notice Lia had given her, in a floor-length dress in her favorite fuchsia pink. Lia let out a sigh of relief at the sight of a familiar face and rushed over. She hugged Kelly, not knowing whether to be flattered or worried by the absolute shock on her friend’s face.

“No, really, Lia, you look…” Kelly paused as if searching for the correct words, “…well, totally un-Lia-like.” She stood back and examined her. “It’s quite scary.”

Lia reached forward and gave her another hug. “I’m so glad you could make it. I know it was short notice, but I couldn’t bear the thought of not knowing anybody here.”

“Yes, well, really it was difficult fitting it in to my extremely busy social life, and I was going to say no, but after all you are my best friend so I thought maybe I should make the effort. It’s bound to be a drag—swanky parties get sooo boring after the first dozen or so.”

“Well then, luckily you’ve still got eleven to go. Did you come on your own?”

“Actually, I came with Pete. We thought we could give each other a little moral support.”

“You did? That’s great.”

“He’s really cut up about this, Lia.”

Lia shifted uncomfortably. “You know there’s never been anything like that between the two of us.”

“I know that, you know that, unfortunately Pete’s always been a bit confused on the issue. But don’t worry—this is probably the best thing that could have happened to him. Maybe he’ll take his eyes off you now and look at someone else.”

Lia narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure it’s moral support you’re after here, Kel?”

Kelly grinned. “Let’s just say I’m hopeful. Now, where’s this mystery man of yours? I’m dying to see him. I couldn’t get any details out of Pete.”

Lia knew exactly where he was. Across the room, he stood talking to a small group of people. The side with the scar was away from her and he was perfection personified, his black silky hair brushing his collar. As if sensing her stare, he turned from the people to face her. He raised his glass, his eyes on hers, and a slow, sensual smile curved his lips. The party vanished.

“Earth calling Lia, earth to Lia.”

Kelly prodded Lia sharply in the side when she continued to ignore her.

Lia shook her head. “What?”

Kelly rolled her eyes. “Mystery man?”

“He’s there.” Lia waved a hand toward Luc. He’d turned back to the group and stood in profile. Kelly followed the gesture.

“Wow,” she muttered. “In fact double, triple wow. Well, it’s easy to see why poor Pete’s had his nose put well and truly out of joint. So how did you meet him?”

Lia studied her feet, avoiding Kelly’s gaze as she answered. “We ran into each other, and it was just like you said—a whirlwind. I couldn’t help myself. Neither could Luc.”