‘Yet you ate most of your lunch, I noticed,’ she observed innocently.
At this, he gave an unexpected laugh and behind the concealment of his shades his eyes narrowed. She was brighter than he had thought. Much brighter. Not that it mattered, of course. Her intelligence was not the reason he wanted her. ‘So I did,’ he agreed smoothly. ‘Perhaps I found the meal irresistible because it had been served by your own fair hand.’
‘Or perhaps because you employ a world-class chef to cook it for you?’
He felt the sudden beat of his heart, because her sparring was turning him on almost as much as the silky-pale knees exposed by her cheap little dress. ‘Perhaps.’
‘And where have you been driving to?’ she questioned curiously.
Nikolai’s mouth hardened into a grim smile. He’d popped out to his wine merchant in a nearby town. When he’d seen her as he drove back, the closest thing he had to a conscience had told him that maybe he should just leave her alone. That she had worked hard during lunch and made no attempt whatsoever to flirt with him. In fact, she had a strange kind of innocence about her and he suspected it would be wrong to make love to her.
But her ripe young body and the tremulous parting of her fleshy lips were fast drawing a veil over his reluctant reservations. He wanted to kiss her and he wanted it badly. And she, he suspected, wanted it just as much.
‘I’ve just been to see my friend who delivers my wine for me. And giving the car a run in the process. I’m away so much that it sits idling in the garage for much of the time.’
‘Oh.’ In the distance, she caught a glimpse of his pale rose mansion and knew they couldn’t be that far from his estate. And suddenly, she felt a sense of disappointment that this sunlit car ride was going to come to an end. Did she communicate something of that disappointment to him—and was that why he shot her another swift glance?
‘Do you want to see something beautiful?’ he questioned suddenly.
Zara hesitated. But she had handled him okay so far, hadn’t she? Had refused to react to his murmured little innuendos and had somehow remained calm. And when would she ever get another chance like this—to see the beautiful south of France through an insider’s eyes?
‘Yes, please.’
He drove the car around several more bends, before bringing it to a smooth halt on a natural rocky viewing point, which jutted out from the winding road. ‘Take a look at that,’ he said softly.
For a moment Zara said nothing as she gazed down at bright turquois
e sea which glittered in the afternoon sunlight. The little coves which edged it were fringed with fine silver sand and there were green lines of parasol pines which looked like giant umbrellas. It was so beautiful that for a moment she struggled to find words which would do it justice. ‘Oh, it’s amazing,’ she breathed. ‘So…so blue—and there’s so much of it.’
‘The area is on a natural peninsula,’ said Nikolai. ‘Which is why the water seems to surround us. We have some of the best beaches along the Côte d’Azure—but we don’t have the massive tourist influx of Nice and Cannes, and we’re only a short drive from Italy.’
‘You sound like you’re selling real estate.’
‘Oh, believe me—I’ve done that before,’ he commented wryly.
She stared down at the sea—at the darker shades of rippling sapphire where the waters grew deeper. And she tried to imagine somebody actually living with this kind of beauty—waking up and seeing it every morning for the rest of their lives, if they wanted to. ‘You’re very lucky,’ she said, without thinking.
The word ‘lucky’ jolted Nikolai from his guided tour and brought reality crashing in like the waves on the rocks below. For a moment he forgot the fact that her hair gleamed like gold and that her sun-warmed body was just crying out to be touched. Lucky. He swallowed a bitter laugh. That was what people always said. What they always presumed about him when they saw the houses and the cars and the priceless antiques in the properties he had dotted around the globe. How he hated the word with all its random associations. As if he had been bestowed with precious gifts at birth—handed wealth and privilege—when nothing could be further from the truth. Sometimes he wondered what the reaction might be if he came right out and told it as it really was.
Was it ‘lucky’ to be abandoned like a feral animal and left to fend for yourself? And then to discover that you meant nothing to the woman who had given birth to you? That the supposedly most powerful bond of love which existed between mother and child had as much substance as a puff of smoke.
His mouth hardened as forbidden memories broke free like black clouds which swarmed into his mind and darkened it. Until he reminded himself that bitterness was a waste of time and energy. It had all turned out right for him in the end, hadn’t it? Even if the price he had paid had been an inability to trust anyone ever again. He couldn’t change the past—nobody could—but he could capitalise on the present and enjoy it. Because a man had to make his own luck in life …
‘Do you know that, right now, I feel like the luckiest person in the world,’ he said softly.
Unable to stop herself, Zara slowly turned her head to look at him, even though she knew that he was probably spinning her a line. Just as she knew he was going to kiss her and she wasn’t going to lift a finger to stop him. Because who could fail to be captivated by the sea and the sunlight, the fragrant air and the sensual softening of Nikolai’s lips? Wasn’t this one of those perfect moments which stayed in your mind for ever, no matter what happened afterwards? ‘So do I,’ she said truthfully.
He felt the wild kick of desire as he pulled her into his arms, remembering that she felt even better than she looked. All warm and soft and instantly accessible—with her windswept hair loose and spilling over her shoulders in silken disarray. With his thumb he traced the outline of her lips and when they began to tremble he bent his head and claimed them with his own.
The kiss was hard and urgent and a powerful jerk of desire arrowed through him as he inhaled her scent of roses and suncream. They kissed until there was no breath left and he pulled away from her, trying to regain some of the customary control which had momentarily deserted him.
‘I’ve been wanting to do that to you all day,’ he said unevenly.
‘Ha-have you?’
‘You know damned well I have. And more. Much more. Shall I show you how much?’
‘No.’ Her tongue snaked out over her lips. ‘We…shouldn’t.’