Passion shivered through her, hardening her nipples and making her body soften, the pounding in her sex so hard now it hurt.
That she could make him ache, the way she ached, that she could make him want her, so much, strengthened the surge of vindication. The surge of triumph.
But then his calloused palms slipped under the hem of the cashmere sweater she wore, and his thumbs traced the line of her waistband igniting the skin across her back. And he bit softly into her bottom lip.
The light nip was like a bomb, detonating in her sex.
She wrenched herself free and stumbled back, coming up short when she hit a leather armchair.
Her ragged breaths matched his as they stared at each other.
She touched her fingers to her lip, aware of the sting from his teeth.
He looked devastatingly gorgeous, with his chest heaving, his dark hair mussed, the dimple in his chin even more lickable than usual and the thick ridge in his pants prominent enough to make her mouth water.
‘We shouldn’t have done that,’ she managed on a raw gasp.
I’m not the woman you think I am.
‘But we did.’ He ran his tongue over his lips. Could he still taste her? Because she could taste him.
She brushed her hand through her hair and became aware that the elaborate chignon the stylist had insisted on that morning had escaped its moorings.
‘We should...’ She attempted to repair the damage herself, frantically repinning the unruly locks as she spoke. ‘We should return to the reception, before anyone notices we’re gone, and gets suspicious.’
‘Everyone will have noticed by now,’ he said, the wry twist of his lips impossibly hot. ‘And I hate to tell you this, but I think the speculation about our relationship is a horse that bolted out of the paddock yesterday evening.’ He glanced down pointedly at the evidence of his arousal. ‘And is now doing a victory lap in my pants.’
The rush of heat and adrenaline racing through her body made it hard for her to concentrate. And a smile at the outrageous comment lifted her lips before she could stop it.
He huffed out a strained laugh. ‘I’m glad you find my discomfort so amusing.’
‘I don’t, I just...’ She tried to regulate her breathing, the flirtatious comment making her aware of the danger again. This was not funny, at all. He wanted to get her into compromising positions. Why had she let him? ‘It’s just, it’s complicated...’
So so complicated and getting more complicated by the second.
Having Leo want her wasn’t exciting. Or wonderful. Or cool. That was her sixteen-year-old self talking. It was a disaster.
Giving in to this...this explosive chemistry...would be wrong. Both ethically and emotionally and every which way in between. She wasn’t the woman he thought she was, but even if she were, the kind of marriage he was suggesting was a cold, clinical abomination of the term.
Nobody should be prepared to marry for the sake of securing a political union between two countries, or to provide an heir. It was nuts. And she was here to make him realise that, while her sister discovered the same while getting a life in New York. She was not here to obsess about his lips, or his chin dimple, or his delicious smile, or that magnificent...
Look away from his pants!
He was watching her again in that inscrutable and unbearably hot way he had, the twist of his lips more than amusement now. There was heat there too, and calculation. As if he knew exactly what her body craved and was figuring out the best way to use it against her.
Her pulse spiked.
She finished pinning up her hair as best she could and rubbed her finger across her lips hoping that her lipstick wasn’t too smeared.
‘Why don’t I go back in first, then you can follow when...?’ She glanced at the prominent ridge again that hadn’t softened at all.
‘You can follow when you’re ready.’ She made a beeline for the study door.
But as she passed him, he caught her wrist and drew her to a halt.
‘Not so fast.’ His thumb pressed into her pulse point, which went haywire as he tugged her round to face him. ‘I want this marriage to happen. I think it will be hugely...’ he paused, his eyes darkening with arousal ‘...beneficial for us both. And I’m not averse to persuading you how beneficial by whatever means necessary.’
It was a warning, plain and simple. She needed to be careful. To keep her hormones and everything else in check, or she might well end up doing something reckless and unforgivable... And Jade would be the one to pay the price.