‘Oh...’ she mumbled, climbing out into what felt like a phalanx of overprotective men as Sev’s security team converged to escort them into and through the airport at speed.
‘Where’s the party being held?’ she asked, breathlessly trying to keep up with Sev’s long, fluid stride. He was so tall as well, and looked even taller in the tailored black dinner jacket and long tailored trousers he wore.
‘A country house in Norfolk. Our hosts are Oliver and Cecily Lawson. He’s a businessman,’ Sev imparted almost curtly as a door into the VIP lounge was held wide for their entrance. ‘It’s a fancy-dress party but I don’tdofancy dress.’
‘Fancy dress?’she repeated with a frown. ‘But why don’t you do it?’
‘My mother is also very fond of costume parties,’ Sev revealed with a biting edge to his dark drawl as they stood in the almost empty VIP room. ‘She dressed me up as a cartoon character when I was eight and I was groped by a pervert at one of her parties. So, I don’t do fancy dress any more.’
Amy stared up at him aghast, her attention locked to the carved perfect symmetry of his lean, darkly handsome features. ‘A pervert?’
‘A powerful politician...long dead now,’ he extended grudgingly between clenched teeth. ‘You look amazing, by the way, and there are very few, if any, women who could still look amazing under lights as bright as these.’
The abrupt change of subject startled her. ‘Thank you, but I’m more interested in what happened to the manafterhe—’
Sev elevated a cynical brow. ‘Nothinghappened to him. My mother slapped my face and accused me of lying and I was sent back to school in disgrace.’
‘Oh, my goodness, Sev...what sort of a mother is she?’ she whispered in horror.
‘Not a caring one. Annabel is the only gold to be found in the dross of the Aiken clan,’ he told her grimly. ‘My father’s relatives are completely normal though.’
Only Amy remembered him telling her that he hadn’t got to know his father until he had grown up and all she could think then with pained compassion was that he must have been a very unhappy child. Her hand sought out his in a consoling squeeze that utterly took him aback, shocked dark eyes glittering down at her. ‘I’m so sorry you had to go through that experience without help...’
Sev saw actual tears of sympathy glistening in her extraordinary violet eyes and his lush black lashes fluttered down for a split second while he inwardly cursed his attack of oversharing and her extraordinary empathy. What the hell was the matter with him? Why did the barriers come down and the secrets come flooding out only with her? What was it abouther? The way she looked at him? The softness of that breathy little voice or those incredible eyes? Why the hell had he told her about that frightening incident? Something that, after his mother’s reaction, he had never told to another living soul?
‘So, won’t we look odd not wearing fancy dress at the party?’ Amy prompted, considerate enough to recognise when a subject needed to be changed.
‘No, I’m rich enough to be forgiven for my idiosyncrasies and you could be dressed up as a fairy-tale princess in that gown. I did consider ordering a mask for you, but I didn’t want that beautiful face of yours hidden,’ Sev admitted, a little of the tension escaping his tall muscular frame.
He wanted the evening over, Oliver Lawson done and dusted and buried, staked like a vampire by his rich wife’s discovery that her husband had a secret daughter conceivedafterhis marriage. That desired objective achieved, he could forget about Lawson. His civilised revenge would be complete. Cecily Lawson was no fool and she would mete out her own punishment. Sev could do nothing more because he was not prepared to expose his sister’s former relationship with Cecily’s husband.
After it was done, he would take Amy home with him, fill her in on her background andtieher to his bed so that she couldn’t go back to work, because she worked way too many hours. He had never met a woman so unavailable and she was straight as a ruler as well, wouldn’t evenconsiderlying and calling in sick to be with him, because hehadsuggested that option after their one and only night together. Amy would give him his downtime, his relaxation. She would be his reward for not smashing Lawson’s teeth down his throat like a caveman.
They landed in a rough paddock and Sev lifted her out, carrying her over to the neatly mown path that led towards the big brilliantly lit house ahead. There were other helicopters sitting parked and a vast array of luxury cars fronting the building as well. Amy breathed in deep, terrified that in some way she might let Sev down by saying or doing the wrong thing. She would keep quiet, concentrate on being a good listener, she told herself, because letting Sev down in public when he had been so kind to her wasn’t a possibility she could bear to entertain.
He paused for a moment on the path, gazing down at her before he lifted her up to him and kissed her breathless, crushing her lips under his, plunging his tongue into the moist interior of her mouth, sending a fizzing, desperate energy tunnelling through every skin cell. ‘You taste so good,’ he growled, setting her down again like a doll.
‘I’ve probably covered you in lip gloss,’ she warned him shakily.
‘It was worth it,’ he said, wiping his mouth and angling a slashing smile down at her that made her burn.
His hand welded to her spine, he ushered her into the house where a maid whisked away her evening coat and another proffered champagne. Sev steered her through the chattering groups with ease, pausing now and then to speak to someone who hailed him, briefly introducing her before moving on into a ballroom where several couples were already dancing.
‘I think some people mistook the Christmas theme for Halloween,’ she whispered with amusement, watching a man in a neon skeleton suit twirl while his partner, dressed as a ghost, pranced around him. Here and there she saw one or two other people, who hadn’t bothered to dress up, but they had chosen to wear masks.
A flashy brunette sporting a sort of fantasy jungle outfit that exposed ninety per cent of her perfect body swam up to them and draped herself with frank familiarity over Sev as if Amy were invisible. She whispered something in his ear, giggled and studied him with lascivious heat in her dark gaze. He said something brief, shrugging her off like an annoying mosquito, and walked on. They joined a crowd who were already seated round a table and Sev was relentlessly teased for not having worn a costume or mask. He took it in good part. The men talked about business while the women chatted about holidays, children and fashion.
‘Sorry, I’m not asking anything about you,’ the woman beside her remarked, after Amy had sat listening to her talk wittily about her villa vacation in Italy. ‘I think it’s because we never see Sev with the same woman twice and it seems like a waste of time making the effort to get to know his partners.’
It was an eye-opening comment and not accidental either, for Amy recognised the gleam of malice in the other woman’s appraisal. It had been said to let her know that she wasn’t anything special in Sev’s life but, since Amy had always had a modest opinion of herself, the arrow of spite missed its target.
‘I suppose you’re a model or an actress or something,’ the woman continued in a tone of boredom.
‘Or something,’ Amy responded, grasping Sev’s hand with a smile as he extended it down to her to walk her in the direction of the buffet.
‘I thought you looked in need of rescue,’ Sev murmured as he passed her a plate. ‘Eliza can be a bit of a shrew with other women.’
‘She supposed that I was a model or an actress—’