1925 - Millionaire's Secret Seduction (14 page)

Her arm stretched around his broad back, which didn’t seem the slightest bit strained by carrying her not-very-sylphlike form. Every step jostled her against his warm chest, which was very comfortable for something so hard.

People stared. She couldn’t blame them. It wasn’t every day you saw a tall, handsome man carrying a girl in a gold dress down Sixth Avenue. Near Forty-Second Street a bus stopped right in front of them and she goaded him onto it. He carried her onboard, protesting that the floor was dirty. He paid the fare with her in his arms, then lowered her into the seat as if she was made of glass and might break.

“You okay?” He slid his arm around her shoulders as he settled in next to her.

“I don’t know,” she said truthfully. “I don’t seem to know anything anymore.”

“I hear you. That’s why sometimes you just have to go with your gut.”

“I’m not so sure. There are a lot of butterflies in mine.”

He rested his big hand right on her belly. “I can’t feel anything.” Then he looked up. “Then again. I’m experiencing a lot of other sensations right now.” His simmering black eyes locked onto hers. Before she knew what was happening their lips had joined in an act of atomic fusion and their bodies locked together in the cramped space of the bus seat. His hand rubbed the gold fabric of her dress, creating friction that sent sparks of stray energy crackling through her. She writhed against him, unable to control the sheer longing that made her fall into his arms without hesitation, every time.

“Fourteenth Street.” The announcement boomed through the bus.

“I think we need to get off here,” she breathed.

They staggered toward the door, blinking in the light. Dominic insisted on carrying her the few blocks to his house. Inside he climbed the flight of stairs without breaking a sweat.

“You can put me down now,” she protested as they crossed the threshold.

“No way.” His deep voice crept into her ear. “I don’t trust you. You might run off. There’s only one place I’m putting you down.”

The bed in the stark white bedroom was round. Not particularly surprising, given the rest of the house. Dominic laid her gingerly in its soft center, then just stood there, staring.

“What?”

“I love the way that dress falls off you.”

Bella glanced down. Her breasts were making a break for freedom. “My friend Risa made me wear it. She said that if it was a Studio 54 party, I had to wear a Halston dress. I don’t even know who Halston is.”

“Me neither, but I’m eternally in Risa’s debt.”

“I think it was cut for someone less…well endowed.” She tugged at the strained gold fabric.

“I think the fit is perfect on you.”

Her skin heated under his smoldering black gaze. “You do seem to have an appreciation for dresses.”

“I think my appreciation is for what’s inside the dress.” He sat on the edge of the bed and ran his thumb along her calf. “You do realize you have the most gorgeous body in the history of humankind?”

“Strangely enough, no one’s mentioned that to me before.”

“You’ve led a sheltered life.”

“I would have agreed with you two years ago, but I’ve pretty much been blasted out of my cozy shelter since my dad died.”

“I’m sorry for the bad things that happened, but I can’t say I’m sorry about you being blasted right into my arms.” He rested his hand gently on her thigh.

His black T-shirt gave her a glimpse of thick, tanned bicep. His broad forearm was lightly dusted with black hair. A sturdy platinum watch with a black face revealed that it was way, way, way past her bedtime.

His long fingers slid up her thigh, gathering her gold dress under his fingertips. Heat, and something stronger and deeper, rose inside her.

She wasn’t sorry she’d been blasted into his arms either.

Though she probably should be.

And maybe would be when Tarrant hit the roof tomorrow about Dominic leaving his precious party to chase her.

“May I kiss you?”

She couldn’t help smiling. And this time she had a different answer to his gracious question. “You may.”

His kiss was measured, deliberate. A taste.

He pulled back, leaving her lips parted and pulsing for more.

“May I disrobe you?”

She glanced down at her borrowed dress. “I think this vintage gown would be grateful to see the last of me.”

“Allow me.”

A hint of a smile played along his arrogant mouth as he tugged gently at the knot holding her halter top up. She could swear she saw a dimple as the knot finally gave way and the front of her dress cascaded down over her bare breasts.

“Wow.”

She couldn’t help laughing at the way his eyes raked hungrily over her bare skin. Apparently the “courtly gentleman” act was over. “You look like a kid in a candy store.”

“I feel like one. Can I have a lick?”

“Help yourself.”

She shivered slightly with pure anticipation as his greedy mouth approached her breast.

She pushed her fingers into his thick, black hair. The expression on his face was so serious—reverent, even—that she tried not to laugh as desire bubbled up inside her.

Her nipples tightened as he laid a soft but sure kiss on each
one. His tongue followed, then he drew each nipple into his mouth and sucked until the tips were pink. Bella’s breath came in unsteady gasps.

“Better than a Juicy Drop Pop.” His voice was husky.

“And doesn’t rot your teeth.”

He grinned, showing those wicked-looking white teeth. “Yeah, but sometimes eating candy on an empty stomach can make you even more hungry.”

He tugged at the tie around the waist of her dress. The knot loosened and slid undone. Heat pooled in her belly as he tugged her dress down over her legs.

She’d worn silky gold bikini underwear, an impulse buy in the Hardcastle lingerie department after Risa gave her the dress.

“It matches.” Dominic appeared to be transfixed by her skimpy undergarment.

“I do my best.” The area under her bikini was in danger of overheating under his intense gaze.

“Shame I’ll have to take it off.” He looked up, his eyes black and smoky. “If you don’t mind, that is.”

The arrogant tilt to his mouth dared her to object.

“Be my guest.” She lifted her hips as he shimmied the gold fabric down over her thighs.

Her arousal was evident in the moisture already gathering between her thighs. Dominic slid her panties down past her ankles, leaving her completely naked on the vast, round bed. She felt like an odalisque in a nineteenth century harem painting.

“One of us has way too many clothes on.” Her voice sounded disembodied, maybe because she was mesmerized by the way his black T-shirt draped over the thick muscles of his chest. “I think we need to rectify the imbalance.”

“That certainly sounds like a good scientific approach.”

Dominic hauled his T-shirt over his head in one swift
motion. Bella’s breath caught at the sight of his hard, flat belly, dusted with black hair. The angled overhead light picked out the roping, tanned muscles of his chest and arms.

His big fingers deftly undid his belt buckle and the button on his pants. Bella was too entranced to even think about moving. As he lowered his black slacks she realized she was holding her breath.

Not a good idea. She was already in danger of passing out.

He pushed his black cotton boxers down at the same time, revealing that he was every bit as aroused as she was.

“Wow.” She propped herself up on her elbows to get a better look. If she didn’t already know he fit inside her as if they’d been custom-made for each other, she’d be worried.

“Are you sure you don’t want a microscope to see more detail?” He was laughing at her.

“Was I staring?”

“That’s one word for it. Lucky thing I’m not self-conscious.” The bed shifted as he settled his solid weight on it.

Fire licked at her muscles as he moved closer. She’d never seen him without clothes on before. At least not when she was in her right mind. “I don’t think a microscope would be much use,” she managed. “They’re usually for looking at stuff that’s really small.”

“People have called me a lot of things, but ‘small’ isn’t one of them.” Dominic grinned.

His fingers brushed the length of her thighs, and rose to settle in the crook of her waist. His thumb skimmed her belly, causing a whirlpool of sensation inside her.

With both hands he lifted her and slid her to the middle of the bed, then he climbed over her and lowered his face between her legs.

She couldn’t suppress a whimper of delight as his tongue
swept over ultra-sensitive, swollen tissues that had been aching for his touch. He sucked gently, until her whole body shivered. His low moan reverberated against her quivering flesh and she realized her hands were fisted in his hair again.

Lucky thing he didn’t have a sensitive scalp. She pried them out, which took considerable effort, since what he was doing with his mouth made her body spasm and jump in an alarming way.

“You have good reflexes,” he murmured. “Either that or you’re really, really horny.”

“Or both,” she rasped.

“We’d better do something about that.”

“Not yet.” She wanted to prolong the wicked torment of being aroused almost to the brink of madness. And she wanted to bring him there too. “Lie on your back.”

His eyebrow raised and a smile crept across his mouth. He climbed off her and extended his long, muscled body along the mattress. His broad shoulders settled into the soft covers and he stared at her, his eyes dark slits of passion. “Your wish is my command.”

“Good.” She couldn’t hide the smile that spread across her face at the sight of him laid out before her, bronzed perfection against the soft, white cotton of the bedspread.

First she kissed his torso, taking her time, inhaling the rich, musky scent of his skin, enjoying the line of rough, dark hair along the centerline of his hard belly.

His erection pulsed as she drew near, and she could feel his anticipation in the beat of his blood. Slowly she lowered her mouth to the tip, and licked it. A bead of clear liquid whetted her appetite, and she took him into her mouth.

Dominic ground his hips into the mattress as she sucked hard. Her breasts brushed the skin of his broad thighs and her own breath came in ragged gasps.

A low groan made her glance up and she could see his hands fisted in the luxurious bedspread. An expression of pained ecstasy tightened his handsome features.

She rose and climbed over him. He pulled her up, then tipped them both onto their sides, facing each other. He looked into her eyes, his gaze sure and steady. “I want to make love to you, Bella.”

Her lips parted, but her brain was frozen. This was all so thoughtful. So careful. So planned.

I want to make love to you.

Her heart squeezed. His words cut far deeper than he intended. She wanted to make
love
to him. Not just sex, but something deeper and more powerful.

He leaned into her, grazed her cheek with his thumb. “Do you think we should?”

He wasn’t going to let her just fall into his arms. To take what he offered, then blame him later.

If she said “yes” there was no turning back. No regrets, no shame, no recrimination later when the fog of lust had lifted.

“I do.”

She flushed at the embarrassingly bridal sound of her affirmation, but Dominic didn’t see it because his eyes had already closed, his thick black lashes brushing his cheeks, then hers, as he claimed her mouth in a rough kiss.

There was nothing rushed, desperate or reckless about their lovemaking. It was slow, deliberate, and breathtakingly sensual.

They made
love
.

Bella felt so safe in Dominic’s warm, firm embrace, so cherished by the gentle caresses of his strong hands. She could feel his emotion in his caresses, in the catch of his breath, in the way he said her name as he climaxed, and then again, afterwards as they lay in each other’s arms.

“We’re going to get everything sorted out.” His breath was hot on her ear. “You and Tarrant, me and Tarrant, and you and me.”

You and me.

His pledge echoed in every chamber of her own heart.

Did she dare believe he was right?

His voice reverberated with conviction. With hope. She allowed that hope to bloom in her chest and grow into a vision of the future that was so beautiful as to be downright frightening.

This man had already wrought changes in her life that rivaled the nanotechnology breakthroughs in her lab. Shifts in the way she perceived things, transformations in underlying structure, new possibilities that she would never have previously imagined.

Dominic was falling in love with her. She could sense it in his touch, hear it in his voice, feel it reflected in the strange, new and astonishing feelings she now felt for him.

But he had developed feelings for his long-lost father. He loved Tarrant Hardcastle too.

And if he was forced to choose between them, this night of tender passion could be their last.

D
ominic stepped off the elevator in the corporate offices to find Tarrant standing in the area between the bank of elevators and the reception desk, holding a folded newspaper.

“What the hell is this?” Tarrant lifted the paper. “I knew I should have crushed her like a bug when I had the chance.”

“Tarrant,” Samantha clung to his arm. “Don’t overexcite yourself. You know how the media can be.”

“What’s going on?” Dominic held out his hand and Tarrant gave him the paper.

The headline smacked him in the face—Hardcastle Hijinks: Heir in Secret Affair Dominic squinted then read it again.

This was not good.

“Your girlfriend is what’s going on,” roared Tarrant. “She put a story in the paper about how I screwed her poor genius father out of his life’s work. It goes on to add that she’s black
mailing my newfound heir to keep her secret, seducing him with sex while she develops her scheme to sue the company.”

Dominic scanned the front page article.

Damn. He wasn’t exaggerating.

“‘Flamboyant egomaniac?’” Tarrant slapped at the paper with his fingers. “That’s defamation of character. They’re damn right someone’s going to be getting sued around here.”

Dominic reread the final paragraph.

“How did they get this information?” Dominic glanced up.

Tarrant’s aqua eyes glinted with fury. “You’re asking me? You know how. From that Mata Hari in white polyester you convinced me to keep on even after you found out she wanted to sue me.”

“No.” Dominic looked back at the paper. “Bella would never do this.”

“You’re blind. Of course she did. Who else would know enough?”

Dominic glanced at Samantha, who shrugged, her shoulders tense.

“Mr. Hardcastle,” the receptionist behind them spoke up. “You wanted to know when Miss Andrews arrived. Sylvester said she’s just entered the building.”

“Wait until I get my hands on that little—”

“Tarrant!” Sam plucked at his sleeve.

“Let me talk to her,” said Dominic. “Give me a few minutes and I’ll see what she knows about this. She won’t lie to me.”

“That’s what you think,” muttered Tarrant.

“Let him try,” pleaded Sam. She turned to Dominic. “We’ll go into your father’s office. Bring her there when you’re ready.”

Dominic took the elevator down to the lab. He got there first and was standing outside her elevator when the doors opened. He couldn’t help a rush of excitement at the thought of seeing Bella, even in the current crisis.

As expected, she was a breathtaking vision. He tried not to be distracted by the fitted black dress she wore with a demure strand of pearls. “Have you seen this?”

Her smile of greeting faded. “What?”

She took the offered newspaper and read the headline. “Oh my God.” Her eyes were wide when she glanced up. “I guess someone saw us at the party?”

“It’s someone with a little more inside knowledge, I’m afraid.” He took the paper back and read aloud. “‘Bella Soros, daughter of Lanark Award-winning physicist Bela Soros, has taken a secret identity and insinuated herself into a position at Hardcastle Enterprises in a quest for vengeance against the man she blames for stealing and destroying her father’s legacy.’” He kept his voice calm.

Bella’s hand was clapped to her mouth. Her unpainted fingernails turned pink from the pressure. “Who told them?” she breathed.

“Tarrant thinks you did.”

“Never! Why on earth would I?” Her forehead crumpled into a frown.

“To galvanize public opinion in preparation for your lawsuit. The article is unflattering to Tarrant, so you come out looking like a hero. And it gets worse.” He read on. “‘Tarrant’s newfound son and potential heir, Dominic Di Bari, has been seen getting up close and personal with the lovely Miss Soros.’” He avoided the picture of them in a sensual liplock, his hand buried in the folds of her gold dress. He glanced up in time to catch Bella’s blush. “‘Rumor has it that Di Bari discovered Soros’s underhanded dealings and has risked scandal to pursue a little sensual blackmail.’”

His voice growled a bit on the last line, injecting an uncomfortable air of truthfulness.

Bella snatched the paper and scanned it. He couldn’t keep his eyes off her black dress—conservative with its high neck and knee-length hem; devastatingly erotic in the way it molded to her stunning body.

“I had nothing to do with this.”

“That’s what I tried to tell Tarrant, but I think he needs to hear it from your lips.”

Those rose-colored lips pressed together, her cupid’s bow making two sharp points. He wanted to kiss them, and cursed himself for his total lack of perspective. Maybe he
was
foolish enough to believe anything that came out of that breathtakingly sensual mouth, regardless of whether it was true. “Do you promise me you had nothing to do with this?”

“I promise,” she gasped. “I can’t believe you think I would…” Her eyes flashed as she stared at him. “I could never do something like this.”

Her raw indignation speared his gut and strengthened his
already powerful feelings for her. “That’s what I told Tarrant. Come. We’ll go see him.”

She froze. He could tell she’d rather jump off Niagara Falls than go up to the corporate offices right now. “What will he do?” Her voice shook.

“Nothing. You haven’t done anything wrong. You’ve performed your job more than adequately, and when you tell him you don’t plan to pursue any action against him, he’ll have to forget the whole thing.” He narrowed his eyes. “Since you no longer plan to sue.”

“I just want to leave in peace.”

“You’re not going anywhere.” She didn’t get a chance to respond as he tugged her into the still-open elevator and hit the button for the corporate offices. He could almost hear her pulse pounding beneath her strand of pearls.

“Who do you think is behind this?” Her eyes searched his face.

“Someone who wants to stir up trouble. Which, knowing Tarrant Hardcastle, could be any one of a thousand people he’s ticked off over the years.”

The door opened. Bella hesitated and he half pushed her out into the foyer of the corporate offices, then grabbed her elbow to balance her when he realized she was wearing dangerously high heels. Why on earth did women dress like this?

She turned to frown at him and caught him admiring the bare, tanned skin of her toned calves. She raised an eyebrow. “Hello?”

“What?” he scowled back. “You dress to impress and now you’re pissed when I am?”

The hint of a smile flickered across her mouth. Then it vanished. “I’m nervous.”

“Don’t be.” He guided her past the receptionist and down the corridor.

Dominic strode with such confidence that Bella had to keep
convincing herself this was a make-or-break situation. Tarrant Hardcastle could break her—literally—with a suit designed to bankrupt her whole family and possibly even put her behind bars.

She gulped as Dominic rapped on the tall mahogany door of Tarrant’s office.

“Come in,” he barked.

Dominic ushered her in first. Bella tried to plaster a confident expression on her face, but she wobbled in her heels when Tarrant blasted her with that famous aqua gaze that had intimidated far tougher opponents.

“I had nothing to do with the article,” she stammered, saying anything that came to mind to fill the tense silence throbbing in the large, bright corner office.

Tarrant rounded his desk and stalked toward her across the gray carpet. “It is
true,
though, isn’t it?”

“Um,” she hesitated, terrified of saying the wrong thing and souring Dominic’s relationship with his father.

“Sure, it’s true,” Dominic cut in. “But she’s done planning to sue.”

“Well, I can’t live with a traitor under my roof. I’ve tried, and it’s not working out. Miss Soros will be escorted from the building as soon as this meeting is over.”

Movement in the corner caught Bella’s eye. For the first time she noticed Samantha, standing in a corner, her face taut with worry. Samantha’s eyes were fixed on Dominic.

Who didn’t budge. “If Bella goes, I go with her.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Tarrant walked up to Dominic and clapped a hand on his arm. “You’ll forget her in no time. The world is full of beautiful women. I’m only sad I didn’t get to know more of them.”

Dominic scowled, and Tarrant obviously realized he’d said
the wrong thing. “But then, as I’ve said before, I can see that you’re different from me, and that’s one of the many things I admire about you.”

“Bella is a fine scientist and an asset to the company. Her actions were driven by necessity and loyalty to her family, and if you have an ounce of compassion you’ll be sympathetic and look to the future, not the past.”

Tarrant faltered. “The future.” The words drifted from his tongue. “I won’t be here to see that. Well, not much more of it. You will though, my boy.”

“Will I?” Dominic cocked his head. “If I stay it’ll be on my terms.” He took a step toward Tarrant. His bulkier frame cast a shadow over the older man’s. “I’m glad to know you, and I’m grateful that you’ve finally acknowledged me as your son, for my mom’s sake if nothing else, but as I’ve said before, I don’t owe you anything.”

His words were forceful, controlled, but Bella could see emotion churning beneath the surface of his skin. Laying down this challenge must be hard for him. He now cared deeply about both his father and the company. How would he feel if Tarrant told him to go?

Silence stretched out over several seconds. Tension in the air grew so thick that Bella began to have trouble breathing. She shifted from one heel to the other, trying to keep her balance on the thick carpet. She began to wonder if she’d pass out cold on the floor and wake up in a crumpled heap on the hot sidewalk outside.

Then Tarrant broke into a raucous laugh. “That damn article is right. I am so goddam desperate for you to be my heir that I can overlook anything, even being laughed at in the damn New York press for being a patsy.”

“So Bella stays.” Dominic’s gruff words were a statement,
but Bella held her breath as the implied question hung in the air. “She’s responsible for turning the academic studies you bought into real-world products that will make money for the company. She should continue to develop her father’s work, it’s good for all of us.”

Tarrant’s sharp gaze swiveled to Bella. She tried to hold herself steady.

“Why would you risk your reputation, your career, on a fool’s errand to get your father’s work back?”

She felt Dominic’s body stiffen, probably with an urge to challenge Tarrant’s insult, so she raised her hand to stop him.

She was glad to tell them all. “My father was the most brilliant person I’ve ever met—a true genius, with ideas so revolutionary most people couldn’t even understand them. But he was also the sweetest, kindest and most loving man. He never cared much about the real-world application of his theories; for him it was the ideas that were important. I wanted to reclaim his legacy for my mother’s sake—and for mine—so we’d see that his dreams lived on and all his hard work would amount to something, instead of being forgotten in a file cabinet.”

She gulped for breath once the stream of words ran out.

Tarrant crossed his arms over his chest. “Well. I don’t suppose I’ve ever done anything to be worthy of such filial devotion.” He shot a glance at Dominic. No emotion showed in his face. “Can’t say I’ve ever wanted any. Much easier caring for no one and having no one care for you.”

He turned his cool gaze back to Bella. She trembled slightly. His jagged features seemed devoid of all compassion.

This is it. He’s throwing me out. Dominic will have to choose between us.

Her heart pounded as she thought of everything he’d be
losing. Not just the company, but the father he’d never had. He deserved better. He was born to run Hardcastle, and she wouldn’t let him be cheated of that because of mistakes she’d made.

“Don’t push Dominic out. Please! Especially if there’s so little time left. Every day is precious.” Her breath came in hard gasps.

Silence stung her ears and she felt every eye in the room on her. She didn’t dare look at Dominic. It was as if they were waiting.

She sucked in a breath. “I’ll leave right now. Do what you must.” Before she’d finished speaking she struck out for the door, her heels silent in the thick carpet. She knew it was the right thing to do. Time to take the burden of decision off everyone else and put it where it belonged, on herself.

Even if it meant losing Dominic.

A hand on her arm stopped her.

She jerked back and her eyes fixed on Dominic’s. Dark, intense, filled with emotion, his gaze arrested her. She couldn’t breathe. The hum of the lights hurt her ears. All she wanted was to fall into Dominic’s strong arms, but from his expression, the tension in his body, she had no idea if he wanted to kiss her or throw her out.

“I told you, you’re not going anywhere.” His voice was low, thick. “Not without me.” The raw emotion in his voice tugged at her heart.

“No one’s going anywhere. For crying out loud. Are you both trying to kill an old man?” Tarrant flipped open a humidor on the desk and whipped out a thick cigar. “I’m too old and sick for this kind of drama.”

He pointed his cigar at Samantha, apparently expecting a light.

She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes.

“I don’t care about the damn smoking laws.”

“What about your son’s lungs?” Samantha crossed her slim arms over her chic outfit. She was obviously a lot tougher than she looked.

Regret dripped through Bella that she’d turned Samantha’s attempt to help into a near crisis. “I’m sorry for everything I’ve done. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone. I just wanted to help my mom.”