he’d spoken, she’d sensed something behind that playboy demeanor, something tightly leashed in and controlled.
A sleek, dangerous beast on a tether.
“Mr. Jackson,” she replied coolly, hoping he couldn’t see the thrum of her pulse in her throat. “We had an appointment at nine, I believe.”
He ran a hand through his dark hair. His eyes gleamed with interest as his gaze slipped over her. He had a day’s growth of beard on his face—and she’d never seen anything sexier in her life.
Neither, it seemed, had some other woman. Or, heaven forbid, women. Yes, she definitely could see Leo Jackson taking more than one woman home with him at a time.
Oh, dear… The images in her head were definitely not safe for public consumption.
But he stood in the door, looking so dissolute and sexy in his tuxedo from last night she couldn’t form a coherent thought as she studied him. The beast was concealed once more, so that she found herself wondering if she’d imagined it. But she had not, she was certain. He was smooth and magnificent—and not quite what he seemed to be at first glance.
His jacket hung open and his shirt was unbuttoned. The tie and studs were gone, probably tucked into a pocket. A bright smudge of pink was smeared across the pristine white of his collar. Lipstick, she realized with a jolt. And not the color Graziana Ricci had been wearing.
She was positive, looking at him, that he’d not spent the night in his own bed. In fact, she was pretty sure he hadn’t slept at all. She tried not to think of what he’d been doing instead—or whom he’d been doing it with.
While she had lain awake thinking about this man, he’d forgotten all about her. Clearly, as his lack of readiness and his delay in answering the door indicated. She only hoped her cheeks weren’t scarlet. What if he had a woman in there right now?
“I—I can come back later,” she blurted. “If you’re, um, busy.”
“Not at all,” he said smoothly, wrapping a hand around her elbow and pulling her into the room. She caught her heel and stumbled to a halt in the small foyer of his suite, her hands automatically bracing against his chest as she nearly lost her balance.
“Sorry about that, darling,” he said, his arms enveloping her. His broad hands were on her back, her waist, searing into her like a flaming-hot brand. Her heart skittered. She had an impression of a sleeping lion rearing its head and sniffing the air for prey.
“I don’t think you’re sorry at all,” she bit out, and then stifled a gasp when she realized what she’d said. No matter how she felt about Leo Jackson, it wasn’t permissible to be rude. She’d spent a lifetime learning the art of diplomacy, a skill she would have needed as Queen of Santina one day. And she’d just failed miserably, hadn’t she?
No wonder Alex had left her. Except, how was Allegra Jackson any better suited to be a queen, considering how scandalously her family had behaved last night?
If appearances were any indication, this particular Jackson had behaved very badly indeed.
Leo laughed, the fingers of one hand caressing the furrow of her spine through her clothing. Oh, if he kept doing that… Heat and light flared inside her, slid through her limbs until she wanted to mold herself to him like a second skin. His body was hard against hers, hot. It disconcerted her, and thrilled her. How could she react to this man so soon after Alex had turned her world upside down?
“Since you’ve landed in my arms, perhaps I’m not sorry,” he said.
No man had ever held her so close. Not even Alex. She’d learned to dance with men, to conduct herself with poise and grace, and she’d been in a man’s embrace before. But not this kind of embrace. This hot, needy, sensual embrace that was, on the surface, not improper at all.
Except for how it made her feel. Oh, yes, she felt quite improper when Leo Jackson had his arms around her. As if she wanted to feel skin against skin, mouth against mouth. As if she wanted to burn up in his arms and see what it felt like.
Ridiculous, since she didn’t even know him. The stress of the past few weeks had obviously affected her brain.
Anna disentangled herself from his embrace and took a step back. She tugged on the bottom of her jacket to straighten it. Then she patted her hair, happy that no stray wisps had escaped the confinement of her knot.
Leo shook his head as he studied her with an expression of bemusement on his face. “Afraid of what you might feel if you let yourself go, darling?”
Fire burst through her, making twin spots rise in her cheeks. “Stop calling me darling,” she said firmly. “And stop trying to seduce me, Mr. Jackson. It won’t work.”
She wouldn’t let it work.
The gleam in his eyes was predatory. Feral. Exciting.
Dangerous.
“Really? Not feeling the least bit angry about your fiancé and my sister? Not aching to put it all behind you with a few pleasurable hours?”
Anna lifted her chin. He’d seen right through her, hadn’t he? “Actually, that sounds quite lovely. But first I’ll need to find someone to spend those hours with.”
“I’m wounded,” he said lightly, though something in his expression made her take a step back.
“I doubt that,” she replied crisply. “You’ll have moved on to the next woman on your list without a moment’s regret, I’m certain. We are all interchangeable to you.”
Was that irritation flaring in his dark eyes? Anger?
Or pain? It shocked her enough that she couldn’t decide. But then it was gone so quickly she began to wonder if she’d imagined it. Did she want him to have a conscience so it would make this strange attraction to him more bearable?
Probably.
Still, her outburst went against everything she’d ever been taught. She was out of her depth lately, stressed and furious and hurt. She had to govern herself better. “Forget I said that. It was rude.”
“And you can’t stand being rude, can you, Anna?” His voice caressed her name exactly as she’d imagined it last night, while lying awake in her bed.
“It’s not the way I was raised,” she said primly. Then she glanced at her watch, because the air felt suddenly thick and hot and she didn’t know what else to do. “We’re running late, Mr. Jackson. Our boat is at the dock. We were supposed to leave five minutes ago.”
“Heaven forbid we are late. But you can cancel the boat. The tour will go much faster if we take my plane.”
Anna blinked. “Plane? Amanti is only twenty-five miles away by sea. The boat will have us there in under an hour, and then we can hire a car to take us around the island.”
His expression was patient but firm. “I need to see the coast. We’ll fly around the island first, and then land and have a tour, yes?”
Anna reached for her pearls, comforting herself with the solid feel of them between her fingers. He was overriding all her plans. It was
