you dare say a word against my father. He is a better man than you will ever be.’
‘Not in business,’ Thanos drawled sarcastically.
Tahlia flushed. ‘I accept he had made some unwise decisions, but there were reasons…’ She glanced at Thanos’s mocking expression and halted abruptly. She refused to discuss her mother’s health problems with him when she was sure he would accuse her of lying to gain his sympathy. Her anger dissipated as quickly as it had arrived, leaving her feeling drained and despairing as the realisation hit her that there was no hope of saving Reynolds Gems from the administrators.
‘I wish more than anything that I’d never met James Hamilton,’ she said huskily. ‘And I hope with all my heart that your sister makes a full recovery.’
She swung away from him, choking back the tears she was determined would not fall until she was outside his office. Her knee collided painfully with the coffee table.
‘Damn it!’She stumbled, dropped her briefcase, and bit back an oath as it burst open and spilled its contents over the floor.
No doubt Thanos was enjoying seeing her on her knees, she thought furiously, as she knelt and began to scoop up the pages of figures that spelled the demise of Reynolds Gems. She dashed her hand over her eyes and froze when she realised that he had crouched beside her and was helping to gather up her paperwork.
‘Thank you.’ She took the papers he handed her and slowly lifted her head, startled to find him so close. The tang of his cologne drifted around her, teasing her senses, and she could feel the dry heat emanating from his body. How could she be so agonisingly aware of him when he had made it clear that he despised her? she wondered despairingly.
It was suddenly imperative that she stood up and moved away from him, before he realised the effect he had on her, but her muscles had seized up. Her eyes were drawn to his—and shock ricocheted through her when she glimpsed the unmistakable feral desire blazing in their depths.
HOW could he feel this overwhelming sexual attraction to Tahlia when he loathed her? Thanos wondered furiously. His brain acknowledged that she was an immoral slut, but his body was responding with humiliating eagerness to the delicate fragrance of her perfume. He could not tear his eyes from the soft curve of her mouth, and the tantalising fullness of her lips was proving an irresistible temptation. His desire for her was an unexpected complication that filled him with self-disgust, but no amount of reminding himself of Melina’s injuries could banish the fierce urge to crush Tahlia’s lips beneath his.
Thanos was going to kiss her. Tahlia saw the smouldering intent in his eyes seconds before he lowered his head, and she was stunned by the realisation that she wanted him to. He believed she had slept with his sister’s husband, and he had made his opinion of her quite clear, but for reasons she could not understand she made no attempt to deny him and simply waited, heart thumping, for his mouth to claim hers.
The first brush of his mouth sent a quiver of reaction through her. His lips were firm, sliding demandingly over hers, but Tahlia’s pride belatedly came to her aid and she clamped her mouth shut, fighting the overwhelming temptation to respond to him. He hated her, she reminded herself. And he thought he had good reason to destroy Reynolds Gems in a bid to hurt her. He adamantly refused to believe that she had not set out to deliberately steal his sister’s husband, and if she gave in to the urgent clamouring of her body and kissed him back it would surely confirm his belief that she was the immoral slut he had accused her of being.
But she had recognised the sizzling sexual chemistry between them at the art gallery, and now it was raging out of control, consuming them both. When he caught hold of her hand and drew her to her feet she went unresistingly—now they were standing so close, yet not quite touching, and her senses were inflamed by the subtle scent of male pheromones, the intoxicating heat emanating from his hard body that made her long to close the gap between them and have him crush her against his muscular chest.
His lips hardened, became more urgent, and her will-power crumbled beneath the onslaught. With a little gasp she opened her mouth, and he immediately thrust his tongue deep into its moist warmth, exploring her with shocking eroticism as he snaked his arm around her waist and jerked her close, hip to hip, her soft breasts pressed against his rock-solid body.
His hungry passion was like nothing she had ever experienced before, and it drove every thought from her head other than her frantic need for him to continue kissing her. She forgot that they were standing in his office, forgot that he owned Vantage Investments and had refused to save Reynolds Gems from collapse. She was only aware of him, of the demanding pressure of his lips and the faint abrasion of his jaw against the softer skin of her cheek as he angled her head and deepened the kiss to another level that was flagrantly erotic.
She was aware of the melting warmth between her thighs, and the rigid proof of his arousal pressing into her belly. With a low moan of capitulation she moved her hands to his shoulders. She would have wound her arms around his neck, but he abruptly snatched his mouth from hers and jerked his head back, his eyes glittering with contempt as he stared down at her.
‘What’s the matter Tahlia—has Damian Casson come to his senses and dumped you in favour of his wife? Surely you won’t find me a good substitute to relieve your sexual frustrations when you’re only attracted to married men?’ he taunted, his voice dripping with sarcasm that made her skin crawl.
Tahlia gasped, and acting purely on impulse she raised her arm and cracked her hand across his cheek. ‘You arrogant bastard,’ she choked, shaking with anger and humiliation. ‘You kissed me. What were you trying to do—prove how irresistible you are?’
‘I certainly proved something,’ Thanos drawled as he strolled back across the room and leaned his hip against his desk, folding his arms across his chest in an indolent stance that disguised the fact that his heart was slamming beneath his ribs. ‘The sexual alchemy between us is as potent as it is inexplicable, and I admit I kissed you because I was curious to see how you would react.’ His eyes narrowed on her white face. ‘Hit me again and I promise you will regret it.’
Tahlia stared at the livid red mark on his cheek and felt sick. She had never struck another human being in her life, and she was shocked and ashamed by her violent display of temper. It was no good reminding herself that Thanos had deserved it. He had kissed her, but she had wanted him to, she owned miserably. Despite knowing his low opinion of her, she had been unable to resist him. What did that say about her morals? she wondered despairingly.
Thanos kept his expression deliberately blank, giving no clue to the internal battle raging inside him as he sought to bring his hormones back under control. Kissing her had been a mistake, he acknowledged grimly. He was furious with himself for succumbing to the temptation of her lush mouth, and his temper was not improved by the knowledge that he wanted to kiss her again, to slide his lips down her throat to the pulse beating frenetically at its base, then tug the pins from her hair and run his fingers through the pale red silk.
He studied her dispassionately, wondering if the tears clinging like tiny sparkling diamonds to her lashes were meant to make him feel remorse or pity. He felt neither. She deserved to lose her company, and she would still not suffer a fraction of the trauma his sister had suffered.
He had planned Tahlia’s downfall during the endless days and nights he had sat at Melina’s bedside, waiting for her to regain consciousness. He had felt so helpless and so afraid, he remembered grimly. He who had never feared anything, who had fought his way out of poverty to the pinnacle of success, had been scared
