Too Proud to be Bought by Sharon Kendrick

difficult to think straight when his thumb was stroking reflectively at the curve of her hip like that. ‘I just feel as if I’ve gone back on my word,’ she said.
    ‘Oh?’
    ‘Back in London, I told you that if I accepted the job, then I intended our relationship to be professional.’
    ‘And maybe you meant it when you said it. But deep down you must have known that you were fighting against the inevitable. Just as you must know that it’s pointless fighting it now,
angel moy.
When this kind of chemistry exists between two people, then it would be a—’ he touched his palm to her breast and saw her fight to stop her eyelids from fluttering to close ‘—crime not to let it combust,’ he finished thickly. ‘In fact, I think it’s going to combust again any minute now.’
    ‘Nikolais …’
    ‘Mmm?’
    ‘What do you think you’re…doing?’
    ‘Why don’t I give you another clue?’
    ‘I…ohl’
    He hadn’t planned to make love to her again. Not yet. But neither had he planned the urgent stab of desire which was arrowing through him and which made the parting of her thighs as irresistible as the slow and delicious thrust with which he entered her. It should have been wild sex. Dirty sex. But when she whispered her fingertips on his face like that and planted those little kisses on his lips it felt like something he wasn’t used to. It felt like tender sex.
    ‘Zara,’ he said unsteadily as he felt pleasure begin to pulse through his body.
    ‘I’m here,’ she whispered, her lips moving over the curve of his jaw and feeling his big body shudder as she traced him with kisses. She clung to him like someone who was drowning—and that was exactly what it felt like, she realised. Drowning in a pleasure which was mingled with a conflicting swirl of emotions. She wanted to burst with happiness at the way he was making her feel—and yet she had to keep telling herself that it wasn’t real. None of this was real.
    And when it was over she picked up her scattered clothes from the kitchen floor and began pulling them on over her warm and sated body, aware of his icy gaze raking over her as she tugged the rumpled skirt down over her bottom.
    ‘Go and take a shower,’ he instructed softly. ‘And I’ll have something sent over for you to wear by the pool.’
    For a minute Zara thought about protesting—but only for a minute. Because wouldn’t it be hypocritical if herpride made her refuse his offer? Act all outraged and pretend that nothing had happened between them—as if she didn’t want to spend the rest of the day in his arms? She wanted him—and he wanted her. And unless she was planning on lying by his pool in her bra and pants, maybe she should just accept gracefully.
    ‘Okay,’ she said quietly.
    On shaky legs she walked back to her room, where she showered and made herself a cup of coffee and sat drinking it while looking out at the beautiful mountains outside her window. She was still wrapped in a towel when Nikolai walked in—a scarlet bikini dangling from one hand, while in the other he held a matching embroidered silk kaftan.
    Zara looked at them in confusion as he handed them over, her fingertips kneading at material which was as light as air and quite the most exquisite thing she’d ever seen. ‘Where on earth did this come from?’
    ‘I had it sent from one of the little boutiques at Villefranche-sur-mer.’
    ‘Just like that?’
    He shrugged. ‘I’m not going to apologise for finding a solution to your clothing problem.’
    ‘And are they used to sending out urgent consignments of swimwear whenever you ask them?’
    ‘It’s never happened before. But then, most women come a little better prepared than you.’ His eyes narrowed as he saw her looking at him warily—and he was still so enthralled by her that he decided to tolerate her questions. But she had better learn that his patience would only go so far. ‘It’s not a big deal,’ he said silkily. ‘And certainly not