The Dare Collection November 2018. Christy McKellen

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СКАЧАТЬ is he why you’re feeling out of sorts tonight?’

      When he raised his gaze again, his expression was chillingly neutral. ‘Enough, Leonora. It’s your turn to balance the soul-baring deficit.’

      Tension clenched my belly. ‘I wasn’t aware it would be due so soon.’

      He shrugged. ‘You’ll agree that a few things have taken us both by surprise since we met. This just happens to be one of them. So who was he, Leonora? Is he the reason you’re in a hurry to sell the yacht?’ he asked, his voice tight.

      ‘What makes you think I’m in a hurry?’

      ‘I’ve done my homework, too, Leonora.’

      The arrival of our drinks stopped me from replying. By the time Maximo took our food orders and departed, I had myself under better composure. ‘I thought I was done with the South of France.’

      ‘Was? Why?’

      ‘Because this was never meant to be a long-term thing.’

      Intelligent eyes rested on my face. ‘You’ve grown a multimillion-euro business, which you were just going to pack in and walk away from?’

      I attempted to shrug away the unnerving sensation that I’d nearly made another mistake. Let betrayal get the better of me. ‘Yes.’

      ‘What was the plan?’

      I watched him raise his glass and take a long sip of wine before I answered, ‘I wanted to prove a point to myself.’

      ‘To yourself or to him?’ His keen intuition threw me. At my gasp, his mouth twisted. ‘It’s written all over your face, Leonora.’

      My fingers circled the rim of my glass as I debated my answer. In the end I went with opening up to him because what I’d achieved was nothing to be ashamed of. Adam’s betrayal had cut deep but I’d triumphed over it. I was a financial success, with a business I was damn proud of.

      ‘It was supposed to be a five-day semibusiness trip before our wedding. We were both into sailing and planned to open a boating company after we got married.’

      His nostrils flared but he didn’t speak.

      ‘We were supposed to attend a three-day course on a superyacht to learn the ropes together but we couldn’t afford it in the end so he went and I stayed at a hostel in town. He called at the end of the first day to say the owner had extended his stay for the full five days at no extra charge. I was a little pissed but Adam was excited and I couldn’t say no. Turned out the owner of the superyacht was a shipping heiress with more money than she knew what to do with. I’m assuming at some point one of them seduced the other or maybe it was a simultaneous seducing. Who the hell cares? Bottom line is I got a call on the last day of the trip from Adam to say he wasn’t coming back. He’d already called his parents to tell them the wedding was off.’

      ‘Fucking bastard. So you stayed?’

      ‘No, I flew back home and licked my wounds for two months.’

      Something flickered his gaze but he remained silent.

      ‘Then I took my share of our savings and came back here.’

      ‘You wanted to succeed where you’d lost before.’ It wasn’t a question. I liked that he got my determination and my ambition.

      ‘Yes. And I did.’

      ‘Good for you. Success is the best way to fuck your enemies over.’

      His praise warmed me and when he raised his glass to me, I let myself get lost in that hard, edgy hunger in his eyes.

      I sipped my wine, watching him over the rim as he returned my stare with an unwavering one of his own.

      ‘Are you speaking from experience?’ I eventually asked, unable to curb my curiosity.

      ‘Of course I am,’ he replied. ‘I didn’t get to where I am without knowing a thing or two about being fucked over.’

      The arrival of our food didn’t save me from the intensity of his unblinking stare. To be honest, I wasn’t sure I wanted to be saved any more.

      ‘Are you going to elaborate or shall we talk about the weather now?’ I asked as he spooned stuffed peppers and cufte onto my plate. Although he served himself, he made no move to eat. I took a bite of the delicious food, chewed and swallowed.

      His smile evaporated far too quickly. Long, elegant fingers toyed with the stem of his glass, his pensive gaze raking my face to rest on my mouth for a long moment before rising to spear mine again.

      ‘I was betrayed by my fiancée, too.’

      Shock squeezed my insides tight. ‘You were engaged?’

      His phone buzzed. He slid it out of his pocket, read the message and tucked it back. ‘Yes. Eat up, Leonora.’

      I stared blindly down at my plate, then back at him. ‘Are we in a hurry?’

      ‘I sure as fuck hope so. Vadim has agreed to the final terms of the deal. His lawyers have just sent the signed papers to me.’

      My heart lurched wildly, then proceeded to bash itself crazily against my ribcage. ‘And that means...?’

      Gideon sat forward, trailed his forefinger over my lower lip. ‘It means I’ve been a good boy long enough. Now I intend to be very, very bad.’

      I had very little memory of finishing my meal. But I must have because by the time Maximo appeared to clear the table, my plate was empty.

      ‘Are you ready to go?’ Gideon’s demand was rough, barely coherent.

      At my nod, he rose, tossed down a handful of crisp notes and meshed his fingers through mine. Whatever he muttered to Maximo on the way out made the other man smile. I added a quick smile of my own before we burst out into the quiet street. Lightning forked from where our hands connected and radiated through my body. Anticipation rippled through me, dragging a jagged little sound from my throat.

      Gideon froze, his grey eyes spearing mine on the shadowed street. ‘Fuck, I’m not even touching you properly and you’re already turned on, aren’t you? I can’t wait to experience all this sexiness.’

      Was it possible to both love and hate that level of arrogance? I remained in place when he started to move again.

      He dropped my hand and planted himself in front of me. ‘What are you up to, Leonora?’

      ‘Are we headed back to the yacht?’

      That edgy look in his eyes increased a hundredfold. ‘Yes. Any objection?’

      I laid a hand flat on his chest, felt the hard thump of his heartbeat beneath my palm. ‘No, but I’d like to start with a clean slate so let’s even out the odds right now.’

      The look on his face was a reward of its own. He laid his hand over mine, trapping it against his chest. ‘I’m up for that. What do you have in mind?’

      We СКАЧАТЬ