Innocent in the Ivory Tower by Lucy Ellis Page A

potted histories of their empty lives until he and his billions walked into their world. One Hollywood actress had tried to persuade him she had never enjoyed sex until him. He might have been flattered had he not seen her by the pool of his home in Florida intimately entwined with another woman.
    He watched Maisy squirm, her round cheeks hot and pink, her red-gold curls a tangled out-of-control mass. She was using it to hide her face from him. He knew he could never let her know about
his
former life. She would be horrified. Little hot-to-trot Maisy had a great deal of girl-next-door in her.
    He’d known it yesterday afternoon, when he’d climbed back into the Ferrari and seen her mortification. She wasn’t a gold-digger. She was just a little out of her depth. When he’d lowered the levels she had risen to meet him. He’d been rewarded with the most incredible sex he had ever had.
    Be nice to me.
Even the sound of her voice stoked him. She loaded the simplest words with carnal meaning. Yet here she was blushing, embarrassed.
    He’d read her wrong. Again. Not only was she a good girl, she was a romantic.
    ‘How many men, Maisy?’
    He knew he should have framed that question more sensitively, but he didn’t
do
sensitive.
    ‘How many women, Alexei?’ She jerked up her face, embarrassed, but with that edge he was beginning to look forward to.
    ‘Too many.’ His answer surprised even himself.
    She made a wry face, but he saw a flash of hurt in her eyes.
    She must never know. It would tear a big hole in that romantic little soul of hers.
    Stunned, Alexei wondered where that thought had come from. Pushing it aside, he gave her chin a gentle pinch.
    ‘How many, Maisy?’ he pressed.
    ‘Just one. Once.’
    She looked almost defiant as she said it, as if daring him to comment. Alexei, rocked by that little announcement, did his best to disguise it. He hadn’t thought for one moment she was a virgin, but now he knew she might as well be.
    ‘Could you tell?’ she framed awkwardly as his silence stretched on.
    He pushed the hair out of her eyes. ‘I think I’m very lucky,’ he said genuinely.
    It was clearly the right thing to say.
    Maisy sprang up and squeezed him around the neck. She was happy. He had made Maisy happy for the first time since they’d climbed out of bed and everything had gone pear-shaped. There was a lesson there. Keep her horizontal as often as possible.
    But there was Kostya to consider.
    ‘Kostya,’ she said, right on schedule.
    ‘I’ll go.’ He didn’t know why he volunteered, but he was beginning to understand any chance of uninterrupted play with Maisy could only be engineered if he loosened her grip on Kostya.
    Besides, it was time to build a relationship with the boy.
    Maisy was fastening herself back into her white gown when there was a knock on the door. She froze. ‘Miss Edmonds?’
    She recognised the voice and went to open the door. It was one of the girls from the kitchen. She merely held out an armful of supplies: some fresh clothes and her bag of toiletries.
    Maisy accepted them wordlessly, then remembered her manners and thanked the girl. Jeans and a T-shirt and plain cotton underwear. Alexei had not chosen these for her. She knew him now. She also knew he was not going to be discreet about any of this.
    Well, Maisy, in for a penny, in for a pound.
    She emptied the toiletries bag and found bubble bath. A bath. She was going to have a bath.
    She filled Alexei’s big tub, carefully hung up her dress, and submerged herself in warm sudsy water. Her spirit felt light. For the first time in a long time she felt young and desirable, and for the moment free of any responsibility except for herself. She stretched out her legs and draped her arms along the sides of the tub. Her body ached in an unfamiliar but entirely satisfying way.
    Alexei had behaved as if he couldn’t keep his hands off her and she had gloried in his obvious enjoyment of her body. He had been so tender with