whose goal in life was to find a man to financially underwrite their desired lifestyle.
His gaze narrowed. Female predators were a familiar risk to any man to whom the press attached the label ‘wealthy’; he had discovered that a long time ago. He had been twenty-two and merely a millionaire the first time he had encountered the type of well-bred young woman who believed that a man like him—a self-made man who had come up from nothing—would be delighted to spend lavishly on her in exchange for the social cachet of being connected with her.
She had been the sister of the thrusting young entrepreneur with whom he’d had business dealings. Initially he had thought he must be mistaken, and that she couldn’t possibly be coming on to him as openly as she’d seemed to be. He had indeed been naïve. There had been an expensive lunch to which she had invited herself, he remembered, and an even more expensive afternoon’s shopping, when she had pointed out to him the Rolex watch she wanted. Like a besotted fool he had gone back to the shop and bought it for her the moment she had left him to return to her brother. He had then, even more besottedly, booked himself out of his hotel room and into a huge suite, had ordered a magnum of champagne and the most luxurious meal he could think of, and then wasted more time than he cared to think about dreaming of the pleasure that lay in store for them both. He would make love to her as she had never been made love to her before, and then, in the morning, he would kiss her awake and surprise her with the watch…
He had very quickly been brought back to earth when, instead of relishing his tender caresses, the object of his adoration had told him peevishly to ‘hurry up’, and then pouted and sulked until he produced her watch. The final blow to his pride, though, had been unwittingly delivered by her brother, who had informed him that his sister was as good as engaged to an extremely wealthy older man. Fortunately, although his illusions had been shattered, his heart had been left intact, and the whole experience had taught him what he considered to be a valuable lesson: the only difference between spoilt, pampered society women and the prostitutes of Naples was that the prostitutes had no option other than to sell themselves if they wanted to feed their children.
He had yet to meet a woman whose desire for him did not go hand in hand with her desire for his money, no matter how much she might initially deny it. Indeed, if he hadn’t been so fastidious he knew that he would have found it cheaper to hire the services of a professional than to satisfy the financial demands of the society women who had shared his bed. The discovery that the last one to do so had been contemplating being unfaithful to him with an elderly billionaire old enough to be her grandfather had confirmed his cynical belief that no woman was too beautiful or too well born to be above using her ‘assets’ to secure financial security.
He would take Carly to bed and he would ensure that both of them enjoyed the experience, and that would be that. Why shouldn’t he take advantage of what she was? She was a beautiful woman, and it was a very long time since he had last had sex, but her social standing cut no ice with him, and nor was he impressed by it—quite the opposite, in fact.
‘Here’s a list of our upcoming events and their venues,’ Carly announced a little breathlessly, after she had printed it off from the computer.
She hadn’t expected to be so acutely aware of Ricardo’s powerful and sensually invasive sexual aura. She wasn’t used to this kind of man, and there was an unfamiliar flutter in her stomach and a hyped-up sensation of excitement in her head. She felt both excited and apprehensive, as though somehow her whole body had moved up into a higher gear, a more intense state of awareness. It was simply her hormones responding to his hormones, she told herself prosaically. Her office was way too small for the two of them.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw that he was removing his suit jacket, and she discovered that she was sucking in an unsteady breath of reluctant female appreciation. Beneath the fine cotton of his shirt she could see the muscular hardness of his body. She had recently read an article in a magazine about the new fashion for men to wax their chest hair. He obviously didn’t subscribe to it.
The author of the article had propounded the theory that women found the abrasion of male body hair unwelcome against their own flesh. Carly’s tongue-tip touched her lips. A fine mist of sensual heat had broken out on her skin. Beneath her tee shirt her bra-covered breasts suddenly ached, her nipples pushing against the restraining fabric.
How could she be having such intensely sexual thoughts about a man she had only just met? It must be because she had been talking about sex to Lucy and Jules. Yes, that was it; her mind was obviously more focused on sex than usual.
He was still studying the list she had given him, plainly oblivious to what she was experiencing, and of course she was glad about that—wasn’t she? After all, she had never been the kind of woman who felt piqued because a man didn’t show any interest in her.
Because until now she had not met the right kind of man?
‘Perhaps if you were to tell me what kind of event you are thinking of having I might be able to pick out the best events for you to attend,’ she suggested hastily.
‘I haven’t made up my mind as yet.’
Carly looked blankly at him. She had naturally assumed that, like their existing clients, he must have a specific event in mind.
Ricardo permitted himself a small cynical smile. If his plans went ahead as he expected, the first event Prêt a Party would be organising for him would be a party to celebrate his acquisition. But of course he wasn’t going to tell Carly that. She, he had already decided, would be one of the first surplus-to-requirements ‘assets’ of the business to be offloaded.
‘I understand you are responsible for the administration and accounts of the business?’
‘Er, yes…’
‘You must be very well organised if you can carry out those duties and still have time to accompany clients to their events.’
‘I don’t normally. That is, I stand in for the others sometimes.’
She was making it sound as though she had to be coerced into doing so, Ricardo thought cynically. Of course he knew better.
‘Carly, your mother’s telephoned. She wants you to ring her—Oh, I’m sorry.’ The young girl who had burst into the office came to an abrupt halt, her face pink, as she realised that Carly wasn’t on her own.
‘It’s all right, Izzie, I’ll ring her later. Thank you.’ But as she thanked the younger girl Carly’s heart was sinking beneath her professional smile. She already knew what her adoptive mother would want. More money.
Carly did her best, but the truth was that the woman had no real understanding of how to manage money. The fortune her adoptive father had once had was gone, swallowed up in lavish living and unwise investments. A stroke had made it impossible for him to do any kind of work, and so Carly found herself in the position of having to support them as best she could. But it wasn’t easy. Her adoptive mother ran up bills and then wept because she couldn’t pay them—like a small child rather than an adult. Their anguished unhappiness and despair made her feel so guilty—especially when…
She was so lucky to have friends like Lucy and Jules, Carly reflected emotionally. She might get on reasonably well with her adopted parents now, but that had not always been the case. Without Lucy and Jules what might she have done to escape from the misery and the wretchedness that had been her own childhood? Taken her own life? She had certainly thought about it.
Where had she gone? Ricardo wondered curiously, watching anxiety momentarily shadow her eyes before she blinked it away. He cleared his throat.
