the foyer.
Wolfe curved an arm along the back of her waist, and she didn’t need prompting to smile. This was pretend time, and it was a given that the woman on Wolfe’s arm would receive attention … some of it overt, mostly discreet.
She could do this … Hadn’t she schmoozed and talked the talk at numerous stellar events in Sydney with Suzanne and Darius?
Except there, she knew people. In New York, there was only Wolfe.
‘If you leave me on my own,’ she warned quietly, ‘I’ll kill you.’
His hand slid up her spine in a soothing gesture as he leant close. ‘I’m almost intrigued to let you try.’
Camera flashbulbs were in abundance, capturing the society guests as they arrived, and Lara felt a sense of relief as they reached the immense area adjoining the grand ballroom.
Uniformed waiters and waitresses circled, offering champagne, orange juice and mineral water, and she declined alcohol in favour of orange juice.
Captains of industry, society doyennes, together with some of New York’s finest were in attendance, together with a cast of seemingly thousands—well, at least one thousand, she estimated as she sipped orange juice and watched fellow guests work the room.
‘Darling Wolfe.’ The faintly husky, slightly accented voice oozed sensuality and belonged to a stunning brunette, who was perfection personified from the top of her head to the tips of her designer pumps … and who made no secret of wanting to eat Wolfe alive, if she could.
Maybe she had.
Not an image on which Lara particularly wanted to dwell, for it conjured up other erotically graphic visions that were best ignored.
‘Stefania.’ He leaned forward and brushed his lips to her flawless cheek.
‘My wife, Lara,’ Wolfe introduced smoothly, and Lara saw the beautiful green eyes narrow fractionally.
‘I’d heard the rumour you had married, but I did not believe it.’ She touched light fingers to his mouth. ‘Why, cara, when what we had was so good?’
Lara watched as he captured her hand and gently removed it. ‘We share a friendship.’
‘Friendship, darling?’
‘You were aware it could be nothing more.’
The words were kind, his tone quiet, but the sudden, fleeting glitter in those beautiful green eyes evidenced the woman’s reluctance to accept them, and her mouth formed the perfect moue before she offered Lara a brilliant smile.
‘You have my congratulations.’
If looks could kill, Lara would be dead on the floor.
‘Why, thank you.’ She could do polite charm. Anything else was unacceptable.
‘Wolfe, amigo.’
The hearty male voice provided a welcome intrusion, and Wolfe returned the greeting with a warm acknowledgment.
‘Raf.’
‘I left a message with your PA.’ He turned towards Lara. ‘Raf del Avica. You have my congratulations. My wife had given up hope Wolfe would ever tie the knot.’ His expression became polite as he acknowledged Stefania, then he offered Lara a conciliatory smile. ‘Do you mind if I borrow him for a few minutes?’
What could she say? ‘Not at all.’
‘You wear Wolfe’s ring,’ Stefania uttered with quiet vehemence as soon as both men moved out of earshot. ‘But you’ll never have his heart.’
This conversation had all the portents of digressing into a slang-fest. Verbal dignity was the only way to go. ‘You know what they say,’ Lara intimated with a faint smile. ‘A reformed rake makes the best husband.’
‘And why is that?’
Timing was everything. ‘He’s had the rest and selected the best.’
A soft derisory laugh issued from Stefania’s lips. ‘Don’t fool yourself. A man in Wolfe’s position only marries in order to breed an heir and a spare.’
Lara watched as the exotic young woman turned away and drifted through the crowd.
Well, that was fun!
She let her gaze linger on Wolfe as he conversed with Raf del Avica, noting the superb cut of his dinner jacket as it moulded his shoulders.
It was crazy, for all it took was a look and the blood fizzed in her veins. Instant recognition of a magnetic force over which she had little control … cataclysmic from the first moment she’d met him, and unrelenting in the intervening years, much to her dismay, for it had coloured her perception and become the measure by which she’d regarded the few men in her life.
Men who had been equally attractive, but lacking in the special something that set Wolfe apart.
Sexual chemistry … pheromones. Intense sensuality.
At that moment he turned, almost as if he sensed her appraisal, and she summoned a brilliant smile as he moved to her side.
‘Tell me,’ she began quietly, ‘how many more women can lay claim to you?’
One eyebrow slanted a little. ‘Stefania?’
‘We exchanged an illuminating conversation,’ she enlightened in a dry voice, and saw the edge of his mouth curve with humour.
‘Who won?’
‘Let’s just say it was a draw.’
Minutes later the ballroom doors opened and the guests began seeking their reserved seating.
Everything ran like clockwork, Lara observed, the introductory speeches smoothly professional while uniformed waiters served drinks.
It was a sell-out, despite the expensive ticket price, and there was kudos for the entertaining artists who’d waived their usual fee in order to support a very worthy cause.
Wolfe played the part of loving husband a little too well … with a light drift of his fingers over her shoulders, the press of his hand to her thigh, lifting her hand to touch his lips fleetingly to her palm.
The most outrageous was an attempt to offer her a tempting morsel of food from his fork.
If this was a game, then two could play … and she did, resting her hand on his thigh a little too long. Only to repeat the action, dangerously high, in a seemingly innocent gesture as she engaged the guest seated opposite in scintillating conversation about the endangered species in east Africa.
‘I had no idea you were so knowledgeable,’ Wolfe accorded, and she offered him a teasing smile.
‘Why … I’m just full of surprises.’
He leant in close. ‘If you move
