‘Why do you say it like that?’
‘Like what?’
‘Like you think Chad’s sleeping around on me.’
‘Well, you’re sleeping around on him.’
‘Last Friday night was the one and only time.’
‘What about tonight?’
‘You can’t possibly count tonight. You’re forcing me.’
‘Ahh, yes. So I am,’ he said, but his tone was sarcastic, as though he knew full well she was more than willing.
Jordan closed her eyes against this most terrible truth. What kind of person was she to do this? Okay, so she was going to break her engagement. That, at least, was the right thing to do. But she was still going to spend the night with a man who didn’t care for her, and who had a girlfriend back in Melbourne.
Both of them were technically being unfaithful to their partners.
Gino was right. She was just as bad as he was.
When she opened her eyes again her dessert was sitting in front of her—some kind of chocolate concoction, with swirls of cream and berries decorating the plate. The waiter had also refilled her wine glass.
She reached for it first, hoping to drown her scruples with alcohol. Gino, she noted out of the corner of her eyes, was already eating his dessert. By the time she picked up her dessert fork he’d finished.
‘Do you intend working after you’ve become Mrs Chad Stedley?’
Jordan sighed again. She wished she could tell Gino to shut up, in no uncertain terms, but she doubted he would comply.
‘I will never give up working,’ she told him, her tone curt.
‘Not even when you have a baby?’
Jordan gritted her teeth. ‘Not even then.’
‘Do you want children?’
Jordan hated the way her heart lurched. ‘What business is that of yours?’ she snapped. He didn’t want to marry her, or have children by her. All he wanted was to have sex with her.
‘Just curious.’
‘Don’t be. We made a deal. And it only includes access to my body. Not my soul. Or my goals. Now, if you don’t mind, I would like to leave this topic of conversation alone for the rest of this dinner. I’ve agreed to what you wanted. Be happy with that.’
‘I won’t be happy till you’re in my arms again.’
Jordan smothered a groan. Why did he have to say things like that? And why did she have to respond so mindlessly?
She closed her eyes, thinking that happiness would never be hers again. Not if she did this. Being with Gino again would destroy her. She could feel it already—the disintegration of her will, the longing to surrender herself to him. It was insidious, this power he had over her. She could feel it, radiating out from him, drawing her into his spell.
Jordan put down her fork, knowing that this time she would not be able to force herself to eat a single bite.
‘Men like you should be castrated,’ she muttered.
Gino laughed softly. ‘Then what would women like you do?’
‘Have some peace in their lives.’
‘How boring that sounds. At least you won’t be bored tonight. You’re going to feel more alive than you have in years.’
‘And you, Gino? What will you feel?’
He smiled at her. ‘You do like cross-examining people, don’t you? My feelings will be my own. I don’t share them with women who hate me.’
‘Yet you expect me to share your bed? How perverse is that?’
‘Extremely perverse,’ he whispered as he leant towards her, his breath warmth against her ear. ‘I will think about your hatred when you stand naked before me. And when you beg me to do it to you—as you will, Jordan my sweet. Because I know that part of you through and through. I know your secret needs and desires. You might hate me, but down deep, in that place reserved for the darkest of truths, you want me as much as I want you. No. Perhaps not that much. Here—give me your hand and see what you’ve already done to me.’
Jordan stiffened in the chair when he took her hand and pulled it into his lap, pressing it against him.
‘Stop that,’ she hissed as she snatched her hand away. ‘I will not be humiliated by you, Gino. You will treat me with respect. If you cross the line of decency just once, the deal’s off. I’ll tell Chad myself I had a one-night stand with an old boyfriend and take my chances. Do I make myself clear?’
‘Perfectly.’
‘I have no intention of leaving this dinner with you, either. I will go to the Regency independently. Leave my name and a spare key card for me at Reception.’
‘But they’ll think you’re a paid whore if I do that!’ he protested.
‘They wouldn’t be far wrong, then, would they?’
Gino scowled. ‘I’ll tell them that my wife will be joining me after a late flight from Melbourne.’
‘No,’ Jordan snapped. ‘I will not pretend to be your wife.’
‘You’ve become very stubborn.’
‘I’m an adult woman now, Gino, not a silly young girl.’
‘I preferred the silly young girl,’ he said, his expression still disgruntled.
‘I’m sure you did. So the deal’s off, is it? You don’t want me any more now that you’ve discovered the stubborn new me?’
He stared into her eyes for a long moment. ‘Stop trying to pick a fight with me, Jordan. You and I both know that neither of us wants that. Now eat your dessert; it’s delicious.’
‘I can’t eat any more,’ she said, and pushed the plate away.
‘You need taking in hand, woman. Which I will take pleasure in doing as soon as this dinner is over.’
‘In your dreams,’ she snapped.
‘No. In the French Bordello suite at the Regency. In a four-poster bed. All night long.’
JORDAN was standing at the window behind her desk, staring blankly down at the city, when her office door opened.
‘I thought I’d find you here,’ Kerry said.
Jordan turned and smiled a small smile
