Lily’s heart beat heavily in her chest. So that was what was behind his earlier probing. She had been right. He wasn’t interested in her as a person. She hated the fact that for a brief moment she had toyed with the idea that he might actually like her. Talk about living in a dream world.
She swallowed, not wanting to dwell on the way that made her feel—because she couldn’t—wouldn’t—continue to be disappointed by his low opinion of her.
She looked furtively around the small space and realised she was trapped between some sort of cupboard and Tristan and would need to push past him to return to the dining room.
For a minute she considered ignoring him, but she knew how well that would go down. And nobody had ever benefited from pulling a tiger’s tail that she knew of…
‘I wasn’t anyone’s drug mule and I don’t know who the drugs belong to or how they ended up in my bag. And, contrary to popular belief, I don’t have a lover right now. Sorry to disappoint you on that score.’
His brooding gaze held hers, and Lily resisted the urge to slick her tongue across her lips. He looked annoyed and intimidating, and a lot like he had when he’d thrown her out of his family home six years ago.
‘What happened in my father’s study six years ago?’ he asked suddenly, and Lily wondered if maybe he really was a mind reader!
‘You threw me out of your home and told me not to contact Jo again,’ she said immediately.
‘Which you ignored.’
Her eyes widened. ‘Did you really expect me to cut myself off from her?’
His lips curved up slightly, as if he found the question amusing, but his eyes remained hard. ‘Of course I expected it. But there’s nothing I can do about that now. And that’s not what I was asking about and you know it.’
If he was asking about the private party he had interrupted at Jo’s eighteenth that was his problem. If Jordana hadn’t already told him that she had instigated the party then Lily wouldn’t do it either. It wouldn’t serve any purpose but to make him think poorly of Jo, and Lily had no intention of ruining relations between them so close to the wedding by being some sort of tattle-tale after the event.
‘I see no point in rehashing the past,’ she said.
‘Well, that’s too bad, because I do.’
Lily unconsciously squared her shoulders. ‘Actually, it’s too bad for you, because I don’t.’
Tristan’s eyes narrowed dangerously. ‘You were keen enough to talk earlier.’
‘And you pointed out what a terrible idea that was, and now I’m agreeing with you.’
‘Careful, Lily. That’s twice you’ve agreed with me…Don’t want to make a habit of it.’
Lily leaned forward and balled her hands on her hips. ‘Well, here’s something else I agree with you about—we need to set some ground rules before we go any further, and your macho “I’m in charge” routine just isn’t going to cut it. Especially in public.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes, really.’ Lily angled her chin up, ignoring the mocking glint in his eyes. ‘And the first rule is that what happened back in your office is never to be repeated.’
‘Now, how did I know you were going to say that?’ he murmured silkily.
‘I don’t know. Putting that off-the-scale IQ of yours to good use for once?’ she quipped, a sense of her own control making her reckless.
‘Don’t pretend you didn’t want it,’ he grated. ‘You’ve been eating me up with your eyes ever since I picked you up today.’
‘Oh!’ Lily forgot about the fact that they were in a public space. ‘You are something else!’
‘So I’ve been told.’
‘I just bet you have. You have quite the reputation as a ladies’ man, but if you think I want to join their lowly ranks you can think again.’
‘That’s not how you played it six years ago,’ he sneered.
‘Six years ago I was too young to know any better—and don’t forget I was high as a kite,’ she lied. Why not really play up to his nasty opinion of her? Answering honestly before hadn’t done much to change his opinion of her.
‘Well, that might be.’ His eyes flashed in response to her taunt. ‘But you weren’t high back in my office, and the way you tried to crawl up my body you wouldn’t have stopped until I was deep inside you and you were completely sated.’
Lily gasped. His words conjured up a sensual image that caused her pelvis to clench alarmingly. ‘You’re delusional if you think that,’ Lily spat breathlessly.
The cupboard’s doorknob poked into her back as she instinctively moved back when Tristan closed the small space between them.
His eyes glittered dangerously into hers. ‘A challenge, Honey?’
‘No!’
‘Oh, yes.’
He placed a hand either side of her head and leaned in, his mouth so close she could feel his warm breath on her lips, smell the coffee and wine he’d consumed.
Lily’s heart sounded as loud as a road train in her ears, and her pelvis continued to clench in wicked anticipation of his kiss. Try as she might, she couldn’t seem to find the will to resist his animal magnetism that was pulling her under.
Tristan’s gaze held hers for a lifetime. ‘Oh, yes,’ he whispered again. ‘Definitely a challenge.’ He straightened away from her and dropped his arms, his expression closed. ‘But, as gorgeous as you undoubtedly are, I’m not interested—so go play your games somewhere else.’
THE ride to Tristan’s home was tense, to say the least. Lily was still fuming over the humiliation of nearly embarrassing herself before, when she had almost reached up and pulled Tristan’s taunting mouth to hers. Something she hadn’t even been aware she was about to do until he’d pulled back.
Until he’d pulled back.
She swallowed a moan of distress and watched one neon sign become another as Tristan steered his silver Mercedes through the streets from Park Lane to Hampstead Heath—one of London’s most prestigious addresses.
How dared he tell her that he wasn’t interested in her? As if she would care! How about the fact that she wasn’t interested in him?
And he’d certainly been a little more than interested back in his office. Interested in sex, anyway. Not that she would have let it get that far. But deep down she knew what he was trying to say. She wasn’t his type. He thought her attractive, but nothing more.
Frank Murphy, her stepfather, had warned her about men like Tristan. ‘They’ll take one look at that face and figure and, believe me, they won’t care about your personality. You give them what they want and you’ll get a reputation for being easy.’ Like your mother. The unspoken words had hung between them and Lily shifted uncomfortably at the memory.
Her mother had been ruled by her desires. Or, more specifically, her desire for Johnny Wild, but Lily wasn’t like that. Which was one of the reasons she resented this attraction she still felt for Tristan. She’d sworn never to fall for an unattainable man, and here she was all but salivating over one.
Dammit, Tristan was right. She had wanted him earlier in his office. Had, in fact, been completely enthralled by the sensations and