‘I see.’ She paused. Pondered his words for a second. ‘And why would you want to wear me down?’
‘To get you to see things from my point of view.’ Even as he said it he felt like a heel, and shame rolled around inside him. ‘To persuade you to have an affair with me. You were so determined to deny the chemistry between us, it wound me up.’
She gave him a sexy little smile, took a step closer and put a hand on his chest. Every one of his senses was filled with her and a tremor went through him. ‘Games, Will?’
A muscle hammered in his jaw and he curled his hands into fists. ‘Perhaps.’
‘I see … Was the whole thing a set-up? Right from the start?’
‘God, no. Just this evening. I swear.’
She shot him a sultry smile and moved her hand down his chest and around to his back. ‘Good. Then that’s OK.’
Will was so bewitched by the feel of her hand idly stroking his back that at first he didn’t register what she’d said. And then it filtered into his head and he made himself focus. OK? Didn’t she care that he’d lied? What about the honesty she’d said she was so keen on? ‘Don’t you mind?’
‘Not particularly. Actually I’m rather flattered that you’d go to such lengths to get me into bed.’ She grinned. ‘And it’s worked, hasn’t it? I do want to have an affair with you.’
‘It’s not going to happen.’ Her hand could stop that. In fact he ought to remove it. And he would. In a minute.
‘Hmm. Now who’s the one denying the chemistry?’
‘I don’t deny it. I’m simply not going to do anything about it.’
‘Why not?’
A muscle ticced in his jaw. ‘You were right. I’d only hurt you.’ Not to mention what she could do to him. Was already doing to him just by putting her hand on him.
She tilted her head and regarded him for so long that Will’s insides began to curdle. ‘I appreciate you’re trying to be noble,’ she said, ‘but don’t you think that’s for me to decide?’
Will tensed. ‘I’m not going to change, Bella.’
‘I know that. I don’t want you to. And neither am I. All I want is a quick fling.’
He frowned. His heart thumped. A quick fling? Was she for real? ‘No, you don’t.’
Bella let out a frustrated sigh and withdrew her hand to fold her arms over her chest. ‘I’m getting a bit fed up with people telling me what I want. Look, I’ve thought it through, at length, and I want an affair. With you. Assuming you’re up for it, of course.’
Oh, he was up for it. More than up for it. So up for it in fact that he was in agony. And just like that his paltry defences, the ones that he hadn’t yet had the time to fortify, crumbled.
An affair didn’t have to hurt anyone, did it? Bella seemed to know what she wanted, and if she’d really thought it through as she claimed then he ought to respect that. She wasn’t stupid; she was perfectly aware of what an affair with him would be about.
And as for him, well, he’d had affairs before. Plenty of them in the last few years. And not once had he got his fingers burnt. So why did it need to be any different with Bella? As long as he kept his head, stuck to electrifying sex and avoided any kind of personal conversation, he’d be fine. They both would be.
‘And then what?’ he murmured as the possibility of an affair with Bella heated his blood and sent desire ricocheting around him.
‘We go our separate ways.’ She tilted her head. ‘I haven’t changed what I want,’ she said, ‘and I’m not going to. I still want to get married. I still want security and stability. However, in the absence of any progress on that front, I feel like some fun. Hot temporary fun. Do you object?’
Object? He could hardly think straight. ‘How could I possibly object?’ he said hoarsely.
‘Good.’ Bella grinned. ‘So … do you need to stick around any longer?’
And continue to suffer from aching frustration as well as having to muster up some kind of response to all the platitudes he’d received about how great it was that the collection was finally on display and what a wonderful commemoration of his father’s life it was? No way. ‘No.’
Bella gave him a slow smile and her eyes shimmered. ‘Then I’ll go and get my coat, shall I?’
CHAPTER ELEV
EN