had deliberately transferred her attentions to him that evening because she had spotted a bigger fish to fry.
Her cheeks burned. ‘I didn’t know!’ she gasped weakly. ‘How could I possibly have known when you introduced yourself to me only as Sin that night?’ she added accusingly.
‘You introduced yourself only as Luccy, remember?’
‘That was because—because—’
‘Because you had recognised me in the restaurant earlier but didn’t want me to know who you were!’ A nerve pulsed in his tightly clenched jaw.
If Luccy had recognized this man as Jacob Sinclair three evenings ago, in the restaurant or anywhere else, then they wouldn’t even be having this conversation!
Not that it mattered now. This man owned and ran Sinclair Industries, and consequently owned PAN Cosmetics, too.
The same man who was going to ensure that Lucinda Harper-O’Neill never worked for PAN Cosmetics again. Or possibly anyone else, either?
‘Don’t look so downcast, Luccy,’ he jeered. ‘You aren’t the first woman to use her body in order to try to get what she wants.’ His mouth tightened.
Luccy stared at him. ‘This—Are you saying that something like that has happened to you before?’
‘Just the once,’ he growled, the coldness of his expression telling her that it was not a pleasant memory—for him or the woman involved!
She swallowed hard. ‘What happened…?’
His eyes narrowed to steely slits. ‘Just a lowly employee of Sinclair Industries who thought she would like a promotion.’
‘And she went to bed with you to get it?’
His face darkened ominously. ‘Luccy—’
‘What happened to her?’ Luccy persisted.
He shrugged. ‘After her employment was terminated? I have absolutely no idea.’ His eyes glittered angrily.
Luccy gulped. ‘I think I would like that glass of wine now,’ she said shakily.
‘I don’t believe getting drunk is the answer to your problems,’ Sin drawled mockingly even as he stood up to pour wine into the second glass before handing it to her.
Luccy ignored the comment, her hand trembling slightly as she took the glass from him. ‘So.’ She drew in a shaky breath after taking a sip of the chilled wine. ‘Where do we go from here?’
‘Where do you want us to go?’
Luccy looked up at him warily, seeing him for exactly what he was now. Not only the billionaire chairman of Sinclair Industries, but also a hard, powerful, and ruthless man. ‘What do you mean?’
He grimaced. ‘Well, obviously I have now made it clear to you that any attempt on your part to use our past—relationship, shall we say, as leverage of any kind, in order to renew your contract with PAN, is out of the question…’ He looked up as Luccy stood up abruptly, his expression one of hard challenge as she began to pace the room agitatedly.
Luccy made no attempt to disguise her dislike as she glared across the room at him. ‘I can assure you I did not—and most definitely still do not—have any intention of ever discussing that evening again. With anyone!’
‘I’m pleased to hear it.’
‘And that includes you!’ Luccy snapped as she saw Sin’s derisive expression. ‘It was a mistake—’
‘It was certainly a serious tactical error on your part,’ he agreed.
Luccy slammed her glass forcefully down onto the table, mildly surprised when it didn’t instantly shatter. ‘You seduced me that evening—’
‘I believe it was a mutual seduction,’ he corrected harshly.
‘If it was mutual then why are you bitching about it?’ Luccy was beyond even attempting to keep this conversation polite. Why should she bother when Sin had done nothing but insult her since coming to her studio this morning?
Why was he bitching? Sin questioned himself suddenly.
Probably because, although it had been ten years since he had last been this gullible, Sin could still clearly remember the humiliation he had felt, the sheer fury, at knowing how naïve and stupid he had been.
So much so that he could cheerfully have wrung Luccy’s neck right now.
He had found his conversation with Paul Bridger this morning offensive, to say the least. The other man, once he’d realised the purpose of Sin’s visit, becoming extremely insulting about Luccy as he talked of the way she had encouraged him to believe they would be going to bed together at the end of the evening. That those insults were obviously true, going on the part of their exchange Sin had overheard, had only made his own conversation with Bridger more unpleasant.
‘Nothing else to say?’ she challenged Sin scathingly now.
There were a lot of things Sin could have said. But he wasn’t about to say any of them. ‘I believe the next move is up to you.’
She scowled. ‘Obviously you will be terminating my employment with PAN Cosmetics immediately—’
‘No.’
She raised startled brows. ‘No…?’
Sin gave her a scathing glance of his own. ‘You have three months left to run on your present contract, I believe?’
She eyed him warily. ‘Yes, so?’
He nodded. ‘Then you will continue to fulfil your obligations to PAN Cosmetics for that amount of time.’
‘That’s very—surprising, of you,’ Luccy said warily.
‘It’s business, Luccy,’ Sin rasped.
‘And once that contract is over you will make sure I never work again, is that it?’ she asked.
He continued to look at her coldly for several long seconds. ‘I haven’t made my mind up about that yet.’
Luccy knew by the absolute implacability of his expression that there was no point in her continuing to proclaim her innocence; this man simply didn’t believe her. ‘Let me know when you have!’ she retorted before marching in the direction of the lift.
‘Where the hell are you going?’
‘I’m leaving, of course.’ She stabbed her finger on the button to open the lift doors.
Sin stood up. ‘I don’t believe we’ve finished talking yet—’
‘I have,’ she assured him grimly as she stepped into the lift, her eyes glittering as she turned to face him before the lift doors slowly closed.
Sin was scowling darkly as he listened to the
