He walked further into the room and pulled off his tie, flicking it down onto a sofa while his large hand went to open the top button of his shirt. Gypsy wanted to back away, but couldn’t as the window was already at her back.
‘I heard about the tabloids getting pictures. There were bodyguards waiting outside. You would have been protected.’
Gypsy threw up her hands. ‘Oh, I’m sorry—is that something I’m just meant to know by osmosis? And what good would bodyguards have been with a hundred paparazzi snapping pictures of me and my child?’
He came closer, and Gypsy could see the glorious olive tone of his skin, that stunning bone structure, and the slightly crooked nose which hinted at a past which contained violence. Despite his urbane exterior, a sense of barely leashed danger oozed out of him.
His mouth was grim. ‘I didn’t call you back because I was involved in intricate negotiations and could not break away.’
Gypsy smiled bitterly. ‘Oh, I’m sure you were. Nothing is as important as negotiations, or making your next million.’
His eyes flashed at that, but he just said, ‘I knew you and Lola were safe. If I’d thought for a second you were calling about something serious—’
Gypsy gasped. ‘That was serious! Our safety was compromised, and we were forced to stay inside like fugitives. Not to mention the fact that our faces are all over the tabloids and everyone is wondering who this secret family is.’
Horror trickled through Gypsy at the thought of people digging and finding out about her history. She had a very real fear that if Rico found out who her father had been, and what she had done when he’d died, he would hold it against her—use the information to make her seem like a weak mother. And if he ever found out about her mother’s mental instability…
Fear galvanised her as she squared up to Rico. ‘I’m leaving in the morning. Taking Lola with me, back to our flat. Your plans are not going to work. I have rights as Lola’s mother. I’ve given you a chance to see her, but I will not let our lives be turned upside down like this.’
Gypsy went to stalk past Rico, but he caught her arm in a bruising grip.
She looked up and tried not to be aware of how tall he was. ‘Let me go.’
His mouth was a grim line. ‘You’re not going anywhere, Gypsy. We don’t have the test results back yet, and that mob outside will follow you and hound you until they know every last detail of your life.’
He articulated her fears exactly. Bitterness blinded her. ‘Which is exactly what you planned, isn’t it? You expect me to believe that you didn’t know about the pictures? Tell me—is one of those filthy editors your friend? Can you feed him stories when you want? Manipulate things to suit you? Manipulate us?’
It had been one of her father’s favoured modus operandi—the manipulation of the media.
‘No.’ Rico sounded incensed, insulted. A muscle clenched in his jaw. ‘Of course not. The paparazzi are always on my trail. I’ll admit I was aware of them lurking yesterday—and, yes, I’ll admit that the thought of some pictures turning up didn’t bother me too much. But I didn’t anticipate this level of interest.’
His hand was still on her arm, making Gypsy feel all sorts of sensations, making her forget why she was so angry. He was so close—too close. She tried to pull away but his hold increased. She felt desperation rise.
‘Let me go, Rico. You had no right to expose us like that, and you didn’t mind the thought of pictures turning up because you had to realise that it would constrain our movements. No wonder you went back to work today. I’m taking Lola tomorrow, and we’ll leave London if we have to.’
Rico whirled her so fast that Gypsy lost her balance and only stayed standing because he gripped both her arms. He stared down at her and she was mesmerised by his eyes. He shook his head, and his harsh hold on her arms inexplicably gentled, even though he was silently telling her of his refusal to let her go. His eyes roved her face, and Gypsy’s mouth tingled betrayingly where his eyes rested on it for a long moment.
To her utter chagrin and horror she couldn’t remember exactly why she and Lola had to get away so badly. She was back in time, staring up at Rico for the first time and thinking that he had to be looking at someone else—he couldn’t be looking at her like that.
His hands drew her closer, and Gypsy felt her feet moving against some dim and distant will she was trying to impose.
Rico was finding it hard to remember what they’d been talking about. He was forgetting the tinge of guilt he’d felt at Gypsy’s accusation. While he certainly hadn’t intended for them to be hounded by the press, he had seen the advantage in allowing it to become public knowledge that he had a daughter. But now, as he looked down into Gypsy’s deep green eyes, all that faded.
His voice was rough and deep. The words felt as if they were being pulled out of him. ‘Dammit, I still want you. I couldn’t forget about you, no matter how hard I tried. That’s why I came after you.’
Gypsy fought the clamour of her pulse, threatening to suck her under. Everything she’d been angry about was disappearing under a wave of need so strong it was making her shake. She fought not to give in to Rico’s pull, and said scathingly, ‘You were thinking of me even as you slept with that woman the other night?’
He smiled, and it was pure danger, ‘Jealous, Gypsy? Because if you are then surely that means you haven’t been able to forget about me either.’
‘Damn you to hell, Rico,’ Gypsy said shakily. Too many nights when she’d woken aching for this man’s touch were mocking her now.
‘Well, if I’m going to hell then you’re coming with me.’
He pulled her right into him, and her T-shirt and jeans were no barrier against his long, lean, hardening body. A tremor of pure arousal shot through her as his head descended. For a split second Gypsy tried to articulate something negative, but their breaths were mingling, and then his mouth was slanting over hers with expert precision and she was lost…
She was back in time, on the street outside that club, after putting her hand over Rico’s mouth because she didn’t want to know his name, because she didn’t want any kind of reality to intrude on the moment. And he’d pulled her into him and kissed her for the first time.
The kiss then, as now, had been the culmination of an intense build-up. His mouth was hard and firm, and yet soft enough to make her melt and yearn and lean into him even more. Tacitly telling him of her approval, of her desire. Rico groaned deep in his throat and deepened the kiss, plundering Gypsy’s mouth, finding her tongue and stroking along it with erotic mastery. His hands had moved down to clasp her hips, fingers digging into her waist. Her hands clung to broad shoulders. She could feel her hair loosen from its topknot and fall down over her shoulders.