Amy winced. ‘I’m still wondering what it all cost. Nothing was priced at that place. There wasn’t a single price tag on anything I saw.’
‘What does it matter?’ Gemma laughed. ‘By the sound of it, this guy has plenty of money. If he wants to take you to some super-fancy party, why shouldn’t he help out?’
Amy nodded, striving to emulate her friend’s down-to-earth take on the situation. She kicked out a toe to take yet another appreciative look at the glistening dark purple and diamanté finish on her high heels. ‘Every girl should get to play Cinderella for a night just once,’ she agreed, breathing in deep and anxiously glancing down to check the swell of cleavage that the corset top of the dress exposed. ‘You don’t think it’s too revealing?’
‘No, I don’t. If you’ve got it, flaunt it! I love the colour the most...it’s really different.’
‘Yes, I was expecting to be fitted out with a designer little black dress, not something magical like this...’ The delicate full skirts swishing round her ankles, Amy studied the deep violet hue of the shimmering fabric below the lights. ‘Since Sev’s paying for it, I hope he likes it.’
‘Don’t forget the evening coat...’ Gemma sighed enviously, shaking out the silky garment and extending it. ‘A coat that matches and then the shoes and that adorable little clutch bag. It’s just the most amazing outfit... People will notice you.’
Amy winced. ‘I don’t want to be noticed by anyone but Sev.’
For an entire week she had thought of nothing but the night she had spent in Sev’s arms. It had been a night of passion such as she had never expected to experience, a revolutionary encounter with a sensual self she had not even known existed. In the aftermath she had been shocked by how much she had enjoyed sex. Well, sex with Sev, at least, she adjusted, her face burning. Every time he had touched her that night, she had succumbed. A couple of days afterwards Sev had invited her to an art showing but she had already had to ask Harold for an evening off to go to the party and it would have been too much for her to ask for a second, so she had had to decline with regret, which meant she hadn’t seen Sev since that night.
Even so, he had phoned her several times, ensuring that she didn’t feel neglected or forgotten. There had been little chats about nothing in particular that she treasured, chats that had centred on daily events at the surgery or on Harley. It hadn’t got much more personal than that from his side and that continuing reserve of his had bothered her. The closest they had got to personal was when she had asked how his sister was doing. Apparently, Annabel had made a good recovery and was returning to work, but no further information had been offered.
Sadly, Amy had waited in vain for Sev to invite her over after the surgery had closed in the evening. She wouldn’t have objected to intimacy without a date attached, because she was the one unavailable and she missed him, but he hadn’t made that move and Amy didn’t want to seem pushy or off-puttingly keen, and so she hadn’t made that suggestion. What that meant was that she was rather more nervous about the evening ahead and already wondering if Sev was regretting inviting her to accompany him. Or was she being paranoid? Imagining the new worrying distance she had sensed in his voice during his calls?
A couple more hours and it would all be over, Sev thought with relief as he swung into his limo to pick up Amy. Annabel would be avenged, and Amy would walk away with a diamond necklace worth a king’s ransom and the knowledge of her paternity that she should always have had. It would be a fitting conclusion to an unpleasant business. And at the end of the night they wouldcelebratetogether, he reflected with a slashing smile of satisfaction, thinking that just for once he might not be so quick to ditch a woman to seek the next because Amy had proved to be something else. A something else that Sev had never come across before: a woman who looked for nothing from him other than himself. She had made such a fuss about accepting that one stupid dress and she was forever asking him about the kind of stuff he never discussed with anyone, hungry forhimthough, not hungry for what he couldgiveher...except in bed. And between the sheets Amy had been even more of a revelation. Innocent but sensual, an untaught but absolutely instinctive lover.
He still could not quite credit that a virgin had given him the best sex of his life, and discovering that he was the only lover she had ever had had proved surprisingly arousing as well. He had gone from guilty unease over that unexpected bombshell to the acceptance that they were both adults who had relished the encounter.Dio...he had enjoyed that night and her over and over again and staying away from her all week had been a serious challenge for his libido. Thankfully, however, common sense had kicked in and restrained him from giving way to temptation. First of all, he had had to prove to his own satisfaction that hecouldstay away from her if he chose to do so. And of course, he didn’t want to give Amy the wrong message either. He didn’t want her to start thinking that their little fling had a future, because of course it didn’t, he reasoned wryly. Inevitably he would,eventually, get bored and move on.
Amy stepped out onto the street and moved towards the limousine with an uncertain smile. For several disturbing seconds Sev couldn’t take his eyes off her. He had specified violet for the dress, described exactly what he wanted and paid a premium price for that luxury and the reward was the reality that Amy looked as ravishing as a fairy princess, the subdued glitter of the gown enhancing the natural glow of her porcelain-fine skin and her brilliant eyes, the delicate drape of the fine fabric shaping her tiny slender frame, framing an impossibly small waist and the soft pale swell of her breasts rising from the lace-edged bodice. He went instantly hard as she climbed into the limo, a waft of subtle fragrance accompanying her as she settled onto the seat beside him.
She met eyes set beneath black brows and it was as if a shot of live electricity sizzled through her body. Her palms went damp and her tummy lurched, a giddy exhilaration momentarily gripping her. With difficulty she clasped her trembling hands together on her lap while she told herself to calm down.
‘I have a gift for you,’ Sev murmured, sliding an oblong shallow case off the seat and laying it on her lap.
Amy frowned. ‘But why? I mean, it’s not my birthday or anything.’
‘No, it’s not your birthday until next month,’ Sev told her, startling her with his knowledge of that date, because she could not recall either him asking or her telling him when her birthday was. ‘But I thought you might like to wear this tonight.’
Her heart sank at the suggestion that what looked like a jewellery box was truly one because accepting the dress and accessories had been a big enough stretch of what she thought was right and decent in a relationship. Her fingers flipped open the case and a river of diamonds shone as the streetlights outside illuminated the jewels with rainbow fire. ‘Oh, my goodness, I couldn’t accept something like this!’ she gasped in dismay.
‘Let me...’ Long brown fingers deftly detached the necklace from the case and touched her shoulder to turn her round. ‘Try it on.’
‘But I don’t want to,’ she told him uncomfortably. ‘I can’t possibly let you give me something so valuable.’
Cool metal rested against her skin and she shivered, recalling his hands gliding over her sensitive skin that night.‘Sev...’
‘Maybe it’s fake?’
She pressed cool fingers to the item. ‘Is it?’ she asked hopefully.
‘No, it’s not. Make use of it this evening, see how you feel then,’ Sev suggested coolly. ‘You don’t own any jewels. I simply thought you would feel less bare wearing something.’
Unnerved by that cool tone and afraid that she had offended him, Amy paled, mentally scrabbling for something soothing to say. ‘It’s not that I’m not grateful...it’s just too much. We haven’t known each other very long.’
‘I was worried that you would feel self-conscious tonight without jewellery.’
Amy swallowed hard. ‘Look, I’ll wear it for the evening and then return it to you, if that’s all right. Thank you very much.’
‘It’s just a token,’ Sev said dismissively, coiling back into the corner.
Amy patted the necklace uncomfortably and dropped her hand uneasily again. A...token? Adiamondnecklace? She would’ve preferred to take it off again but there was a cool light in those stunning dark golden eyes of his and it made her wary. She would wear it for the evening and return it afterwards, she told herself. Sev was in the strangest mood, she acknowledged worriedly, wondering if he had had a bad day, a bad week, whatever, but she was reassured by the near sizzle that lit the air when their eyes collided. As the limo drew up at the airport, she froze in surprise.
‘We’re using a helicopter to get to the party,’ Sev explained as she looked at him in bewilderment. ‘I don’t like long drives and it would be an even longer drive home.’