Net of Lies (6 page)

‘I see we are under constant observation
.’ He nodded toward the dark camera staring down at them from the corner of the room with unnerving precision. ‘Do you also tape the visitors’ conversations?’

‘
Not as far as I know, Raoul.’ Something pulled at his heart as she said his name, her first private words to him since they were alone. He let her walk ahead so that he could admire her svelte silhouette and the elegant dress clinging to her tiny waist and lovely hips. It was sexy enough to draw a man’s eye instantly without being provocative or vulgar. She wasn’t showing too much skin, but quite the opposite. Except for her long neck and the pure line of her shoulders, the rest of her lovely body was covered up with decency that was absolutely deceptive. A sudden surge of desire electrified his body. He knew exactly what was hiding beneath those midnight-blue folds, and he longed suddenly to expose it to his eyes and hands once again.

‘What pieces
were you interested in?’ Her voice brought back some of his sanity, and he shrugged in a negligent gesture that was just the beginning of his plan for that evening.

‘
Why don’t we start with the special gallery? The one Marc saves for his more promising customers? I don’t think I want to waste my time with this area here.’ He wanted to move ahead. Even the smallest delay was dangerous to his carefully prepared plan. Every single minute in her presence would make him crave her more and more, and the true purpose of his visit would fade into the background if he allowed his starved body to take charge over his mind. He could already feel the tiny insistent tendrils of infatuation unfurling from their sleep, and the familiar ache of desire that demanded to be fulfilled made it hard to concentrate.

‘
I’m afraid I won’t be of much help there.’ She sighed, and his eyes followed the movement of her soft, pink lips, imagining their taste and texture. ‘As I mentioned before, I don’t really know a lot about that part of the gallery. That’s why I was insisting that Marc should have come with us in the first place.’

She could be lying,
he thought, trying to calm the heady rush of exhilaration at her free admission. His reaction made him realize how much he wanted her to be innocent. The thought of her being involved in this cruel and greedy scam was unbearable.
What do you care if she’s as deceptive as her new boyfriend?
he thought icily, trying to recover his equilibrium.
It’s nothing to you.
The reminder lifted a huge weight from his shoulders. However, how persuasive he could be to himself at that moment didn’t matter. All that was true was that Marc had accepted him as a potential client, and as such, he would be allowed entry into the very
sanctus sanctii
, which obviously had to be postponed. He knew perfectly well what this cunning bastard had planned.

Marc
had sent Kate to show him around, perfectly aware that she was not really able to take him to the very heart of the business. He had used his girlfriend like a beautiful tease whose role was to soften him up and make him more receptive to the idea of closing the deal on Marc’s terms. That evening was just a prelude to the carefully orchestrated plan. Marc’s Machiavellian scam was as elaborate and precise as Raoul had been warned. Only, it had backfired for obvious reasons—Marc’s miscalculations and a mix of bad luck and fate. He couldn’t have guessed that the man he was hoping to close his deal with was none other than a former lover of his girlfriend—her first lover to be exact.

But if she was telling the truth
—and his gut told him she was—things were different than what he had expected. He couldn’t trust his instinct, though; he had done so before, convinced that their love was strong enough to share with her the twisted truth about his life. He was confident she would understand and trust him to find a way out. He’d thought her love was just as strong and definite as his was.

He would be very careful not to read to
o much into her innocent face and soft voice, his iron self-control kicking in as he followed her deeper into the large room that was what he guessed must have been the main viewing salon.

‘From the way he talked about you, I assumed you
were an insider through and through, Kate.’

H
er eyes darkened in defensive resentment and confusion.

‘
He seems to know you very well. Is it normal for you to have such a deep relationship with every boss you work for?’

‘I wouldn’t go
so far as to say that.’ Her chin lifted challengingly as she eyed him with visible fury. ‘Why? Are you jealous?’

‘
Never…’ Anger was building inside him, blinding him with helpless desire to strike out and hurt her as deeply as she’d hurt him before. He lashed out at her spontaneously. ‘To be jealous, you have to care about someone, Kate. Don’t you know that? And I stopped caring for you a long time ago.’

‘That’s good
.’ She didn’t even flinch. Only the unnatural shine of her eyes told him she was on the verge of tears.

He didn’t know if
she was just humiliated or was affected by his heartless admission that he was over her.

‘I think it would be best if we could stop hurling any more insults and innuendos
at each other.’ Determined and strong, she stood next to him, her face barely reaching to his shoulder. ‘I’m here to show you around, and I would appreciate you cooperating and doing exactly that, all right?’

He had been dismissed.
Damn,
he thought angrily as she pointed to the large painting next to her and described it briefly. Nobody dismissed Raoul de Santos y Lorrena—especially not a woman like her, who had already tested his patience to its limits.

‘I will make it short
, then.’ He stepped closer, the sleeve of his immaculate suit brushing her skin as he pointed to the long line of paintings hanging on the wall, a strategically placed lamp illuminating each of them to bring them to their best presentation. ‘I will take them all, this wall over here.’

She
struggled visibly for composure, her lovely face shocked into silence. If he’d been less angry, he might have burst out laughing at the rare instance of absolute surprise in her eyes.

‘
You do realize how much it will cost you, Raoul?’ She had finally found her voice, and her eyes were earnest as she probed. ‘There are twelve paintings here, each of them selling for a few thousand pounds. Have you read the catalogue?’

‘I find it touching
, Kate, that you’re trying to save me a few pounds here and there. I promise you not to mention it to your boss, who might not exactly appreciate your honesty.’ He felt his anger evaporating, her absolute honesty bringing back the memories of the days gone by. ‘As it is, I think I can afford to buy a few pieces without blowing too big of a hole in my budget. And yes, I have gone over the catalogue thoroughly. It’s the part that isn’t listed in there that I’m mostly interested in, though.’

‘
Then I think we are done for today.’ She exhaled, her relief as visible as if she’d put a sign on her forehead. ‘You have to talk to Marc. I know that he has a certain part of his exhibition tucked away, as a safety precaution. You have no idea how many people are willing to cross the line to obtain something they’re after.’

He knew very well
—better than her, apparently. But he would discuss
that
with the man who was a sorry excuse for an art dealer and her lover—he wasn’t quite sure which title angered him more. His generous purchase would not only open the door to more private dealings, but would also provide him with the bargaining chip in a game that had not been in his initial plan, but had become, beyond any doubt, equally important.

‘Not so fast, Kate.’

She stopped dead in her tracks, then looked back at him, her eyes wide open. For a second, he was tempted to ignore the numerous cameras staring down at them from the ceiling and pull her closer. This whole evening had slowly led to him losing the battle with his need to touch her. They were alone; the burly guard had politely retreated to his front office. Something told Raoul that she wouldn’t be calling the guard for help, either. He had no doubts that it was not because of the way she felt for him. He was definitely not that naïve anymore. But she wouldn’t want Marc to find out the truth about their relationship. The temptation to test how far he could push her was growing with each passing minute.

Just one taste of
her beautiful mouth
… He watched feverishly as she turned even paler and swallowed convulsively. He had dreamt about kissing her many times, only to wake up sweaty and frustrated, his body screaming for release. She featured in his erotic dreams with a frequency that made him doubt his sanity, his attempts to find peace in other women’s arms failing miserably.

‘What else is there to say?’
She took a step back, cautiously and slowly, as if trying not to provoke him into anything she might regret. Once again, she reminded him of a defensive wild animal, trapped and cornered. Regretful to admit that her visible fear excited him even more, he felt the hunter in him waking up. He wanted to be the only one to wipe the scared look of a deer caught in the headlights from her face. He needed to feel her react, passionately and honestly, as she had two years ago. He wanted to feel her mouth opening under the demand of his lips, soft and accommodating as he explored the heated, moist cavern. And he craved her response, remembering the exhilaration that raced through his veins as he felt the first tentative sweep of her tongue caressing his.

He felt himself hardening at the memory, his body un
comfortable with pent-up sexual tension. His celibacy was getting in the way. He fought to control his atavistic urge to pull her closer and take her right there on the marble floor of the gallery, regardless of the watchful cameras.

‘There are things I would like to talk about, Kate.’ He managed to sound almost normal,
despite the painful pounding of the blood in his temples and in lower, more private regions of his body. ‘But you’re right. This isn’t the right place for that. Especially if we don’t want to have it on camera, with your face looking like you’re dealing with the devil himself. I wonder what Marc would think of it,
querida
?’

‘You
had it all planned, hadn’t you?’ She was visibly shaken. ‘Bringing me here, I mean. You didn’t need me showing you around, did you? Not when all you did was cast a quick glance around and then buy half of it.’

‘I changed my plans.’
He shrugged indifferently. ‘I did plan on spending more time in here, initially. But since you seem to be so blissfully unaware of the part of the exhibition that interests me most, there’s really no point in prolonging this part of the evening.’

‘
All it would have taken was to ask Marc about the private gallery!’ She wasn’t buying it, he could tell. Anger marring her lovely features, she stared at him challengingly, her slim shoulders straight and proud. ‘He could have set it up right away. He knows very well that I couldn’t really provide you with any of that information.’

‘
Something tells me he wouldn’t do such a thing.’ His wry response caught her off guard, and she watched him silently, her lovely chest heaving. ‘I think he would much prefer to let you take me here, no matter how unsuitable you might be for actually doing the business I’m after. I would bet my last shirt that he is hoping that you manage to charm me with your unquestionable sex appeal and beauty and that he’d rather not disappoint me on that count.’

‘How dare you!’
She was ravenously furious, balling her hands into fists.

He
imagined her attacking him physically, which was not so great to imagine, and his whole body tightened up a notch in an involuntarily response.

‘Marc isn’t anything like that
. I should know.’ She reminded him of an angry kitten, hissing at him and ready to pounce. ‘If you’re suggesting he is just trying to send me here with you as some kind of a sexual favor, you’re sick. But then again, why should I be surprised, right? Coming from a man who managed to have sex with me for six months while quietly planning a wedding with someone else. Thank God not everyone is as twisted as you, Raoul Santos!’

He was at her side with one smooth move, faster tha
n lightning, and she gasped as his palm closed around her arm. ‘Careful, Kate,’ he spat through gritted teeth. A muscle pulsed in his jaw as he fought to control the red-hot wave of fury she’d managed to stir within him. ‘You’re jumping to conclusions here, and I would be only too happy to set you straight, so don’t provoke me.’

‘
Or what? Are you going to hit me, Raoul?’ She laughed indignantly, her lovely face burning with a fire that matched his own vehemence. ‘I don’t care if you do. You might act all high and mighty, but it doesn’t change anything, now does it? Keep your sleazy assumptions about other people to yourself, especially about Marc. He is a thousand times the man you will ever be, and dragging him into the gutter doesn’t change it. I loathe you and your lying ways!’

He wasn’t sure which made
him madder, being compared to Marc as she defended him with a passion that hurt to listen to, or her unshakable belief that he was nothing but a scumbag who didn’t even deserve a second glance. In the end, it didn’t matter. Her reckless response swept away the last remnants of his self-control, and he pulled her to him roughly, his mouth coming down on hers with unstoppable force.