Her voice was scratchy from sleep and she was burningly aware—even as she said that—of how bad this looked. She cursed herself for allowing her weariness to get the better of her.
Luc’s head reared back, arms folded across his chest. ‘I walk into my bedroom and find a woman, pretending to be asleep, waiting for me...like I said, they’re usually in my bed and wearing a lot less but the message is essentially the same. They’re here for one thing.’
Nessa was speechless at his sheer arrogance. Eventually she managed to get out, through waves of indignation and far more disturbing physical reactions, ‘Well, I hate to burst your ego bubble but that was the last thing on my mind. I was cleaning your room, then I sat down for a minute and I fell asleep. I apologise for that. But I did not come here to...to...’
He raised a brow. ‘To seduce me?’
Before she could respond to that, he continued as if she hadn’t spoken. ‘I might as well tell you now that kinky role-play doesn’t really do it for me. I’m a traditionalist that way. When I make love it’s intense, thorough and without the need for embellishment.’
A flash of heat went up Nessa’s spine to imagine just how intense his lovemaking would be. Little beads of sweat broke out between her breasts and in the small of her back. Anger rose too. Anger that it was him who was firing up all her nerve-endings.
‘I am not here to make love with anyone. My only crime was to fall asleep on the job and if you’ll excuse me now I’ll leave you in peace.’
She went to step away and out of his orbit but he caught her arm after muttering something that sounded very French and rude under his breath. His hand encircled her whole upper arm and his fingers were brushing the side of her breast. Nessa’s pulse rocketed, and in the dim lights of the room—night had fallen outside...just how long had she been asleep?—all she could see were the forbiddingly gorgeous lines of Luc’s face.
‘Peace?’ He almost spat the word out. ‘I’ve had precious little peace since your brother absconded with one million euros and then his temptress of a sister turns up to play sidekick. Just what is your agenda, Nessa? What game are you playing here? Because I warn you now that you will get burned if you think you can play with me and get away with it.’
His dark intensity was totally intimidating, but somehow Nessa managed to pull her arm free and step away. Shakily she said, ‘I’m not playing any games. I wouldn’t know how. I really didn’t come here with some nefarious intention to seduce you.’
She bit her lip to stop a semi-hysterical giggle from emerging. She wouldn’t know how to seduce her way out of a paper bag, never mind a man like Luc Barbier. The very notion was ridiculous.
His mouth thinned. ‘You really expect me to believe that you fell asleep like Sleeping Beauty in the fairy tale, waiting for her prince?’
Heat rushed into her cheeks—she had been mooning about his suite like some lovelorn teenager earlier. It wasn’t like her at all. ‘I don’t believe in fairy tales,’ she said stiffly. ‘And don’t worry, I know you’re no prince.’
He put two hands on her arms now, swinging her around to face him properly. His eyes had turned to cold steel. ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘I...’ Words got stuck in Nessa’s throat. She couldn’t seem to concentrate on anything but Luc’s face above hers. The sensual lines were mesmerising. ‘I didn’t mean anything.’
Except she had, she realised. She’d just articulated it badly. This man was no prince, he was a marauding sultan, or a king. Uncultivated and suave all at once. Infinitely hard but also soft, as when he’d put a hand to his horse.
His mouth twisted. ‘I might never be a prince, but you’re in no position to look down on me, the sister of a common thief who thought she could seduce her way to paying back her brother’s debt. Like I said, you could have saved a lot of conversation if you’d been waiting in my bed naked instead of playing out this elaborate charade of innocence.’
Nessa’s hand had lifted and connected with Luc’s cheek before she even realised what she’d done. Shock coursed through her system as the sting registered on her hand and Luc’s face turned from the blow. All her anger drained away instantly.
He turned back slowly, face even darker now, a livid handprint showing on his cheek. Horrified, Nessa used his name for the first time. ‘Luc, I’m so sorry. But I didn’t mean it like that, and Paddy’s not a common thief. He’s really not—’
‘Stop talking, you little hellcat, I don’t want to hear another word.’ His voice was rough.
Before Nessa could even think of uttering another word, Luc had pulled her right into him, so that her body was welded to his. All she could feel was whipcord strength and heat.
All she could see were his eyes, fathomless and like molten steel. She realised he was livid and yet she felt no fear. She only felt an intense excitement. She opened her mouth but he said, ‘Not another word.’
And then his mouth covered hers, and words were the last thing on Nessa’s mind as heat fused with white light and poured into every vein in her body to create a scorching trail of fire.
Shock rendered her helpless to Luc’s savage sensuality and her own immediately rampant response.
Luc’s arm went around her back, arching her into him even more, and his mouth began to move over hers. But this was no gentle exploration, and it left any other kisses she’d shared with boys in a far distant universe. This did not leave her cold, or unmoved. This was igniting her very soul.
It was mastery, pure and simple. And domination. And punishment. And yet despite all those things that should have had Nessa tensing and squirming to be free, she strained to be even closer, raising her arms to twine them about Luc’s neck. If she could have climbed into his skin, she would have.
She opened her mouth under his, instinctively seeking a deeper kiss, wanting to taste him with every fibre of her being. His fingers threaded through her hair, catching her head, angling it so that he could give her exactly what she wanted, but on his terms.
He consumed her, demanding nothing less than total surrender, and Nessa knew only one thing: that she wanted to surrender, with no doubt or hesitation in her mind. It was as if every moment in her life had been building up to this conflagration.
She was drowning in liquid heat and could feel it, slippery, between her legs. Luc’s mouth left hers and she heard a soft moan emanating from her mouth. He trailed kisses over her jaw and down her neck. Her head fell back, too heavy.
The only sounds in the room were harsh breathing and the thump thump of her heart. Luc’s hand was on her shirt, deftly opening the buttons. Cool air hit her bare skin and her nipples drew into tight, hard points.
The world tipped on its axis and Nessa only realised moments later that Luc had sat down on the edge of the bed, bringing her with him so that now she sat on his lap. She was dizzy, and thought that this must be how it felt to be drunk: light-headed and euphoric.
He was pushing her shirt open, and she looked at him and saw an almost feral expression on his face. He cupped one of her lace-covered breasts. Breasts that had always felt very inadequate to Nessa. But now when she looked down she could see how she perfectly filled his palm. As if she’d been made for his hands alone.
He
