He stood up and walked around the desk, to stand next to it and look out of the tall window at the skyscrapers of New York. His bold audacity at helping himself to such a view jarred on her already jangling nerves. She stood up, too, not happy to sit whilst he all but loomed so close.
‘Liev,’ she snapped, hardly able to contain the apprehension inside her. ‘What do you want this time?’
‘This time?’ He turned to face her and to her horror took a step closer, then another, until she could breathe in the scent of his aftershave, which only made her more worried as somewhere deep inside her the flicker of hot passion they’d shared stirred once more. She couldn’t allow him to dominate her, to drag her back to the night she’d loved with her heart and her body.
‘Yes, this time.’ Her terse words rushed out. ‘The last time you wanted something, it was to blackmail me in order to destroy my brother’s company. Not that you told me that—no, you lied and cheated your way into my...’
She stopped, inwardly cursing herself. She’d almost given herself away, almost told him he’d cheated his way into her heart. Just as she’d almost told him she loved him whilst they’d been in Central Park last weekend. Thank goodness she’d stopped herself each time. He could never know he had that power over her.
‘Into your what, Bianca?’ He took another step closer and she drew in a breath, determined not to step back, not to be intimidated by him, but even more determined he should never know the truth.
‘My family, my social circle. You told me you wanted acceptance and I tried to give you that, even though it was just a cover for the destructive revenge you planned.’
‘I did want acceptance, but things changed.’ He remained so close she could hardly think straight.
So he still wanted revenge. ‘If you have all you want, I think you should go.’
She turned away from him, looking out over the city as it shimmered in the heat of the afternoon. She didn’t need this conversation now, not when the launch was about to happen.
‘I’m not leaving, Bianca, not yet. Not when I don’t have everything I want.’
Her fingers curled tightly into the palms of her hands, her nails digging in painfully, focusing her mind. She whirled round to face him, her chin lifted defiantly. She would put an end to this right now.
‘What do you want, Liev?’
‘You.’
* * *
Liev watched Bianca’s eyes widen in shock and outrage, but this was no longer a time for dancing around issues and giving mixed messages. He had to tell her exactly what he wanted, exactly why he was here. The rest was up to her. He was totally at her mercy.
‘How dare you?’ She flung the accusation at him, disbelief in her eyes, on her beautiful face and in every move she made. Then she stepped back, watching him suspiciously as she did so.
‘Don’t deny it, Bianca. You want me as much as I want you.’ He moved towards her, but stopped when alarm entered her eyes. He had no wish to frighten her, not when everything he’d done this week had been done to avoid hurting her in any way.
‘All I want is for you to leave—right now.’ She squared up to him, just as she had done after he’d bought the bracelet, outbidding her and infuriating her.
If he was honest with himself, he’d fallen in love with her right then, but he just hadn’t recognised it as love. To him it had been the first stirrings of desire, but he’d pushed that aside in his quest for revenge. At least until he’d taken her to the island villa. It had been as they’d made love, abandoning everything in their past to enjoy that night, that he’d accepted he was in love with her, but that had been instantly quashed when she’d admitted to using her virginity just to get the bracelet. Instead he’d despised her. He’d thought she was as callous as he believed her brother to be.
‘That’s not the impression you gave to Dario.’ Now he really had her attention.
‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘He wouldn’t have told you.’
‘What? That you’d fallen in love with your blackmailer?’
She gasped and for a moment he thought she was going to crumple to the floor in shock. Her blue eyes were so wide, their colour so vivid. Then she dragged in a deep breath and fixed a furious expression to her face. ‘He had no right to tell any such thing.’
‘So, it’s true?’
‘No.’ Her voice rose and he knew she was lying, deceiving herself as well as him. All he had to do now was convince her that he loved her, that because of that love he’d changed all the plans for revenge. ‘I despise you. How can I ever love a man who wants to do nothing but destroy my brother and me in the process?’
‘How could you make love to a man, give up your virginity, if you didn’t love him?’ She paled as his words found their mark and he felt sorry for her, felt her pain and confusion, and wanted nothing more than to hold her, to kiss away that pain, caress away that confusion.
‘I did it for the bracelet, for my grandfather.’ She fiddled nervously with the simple gold locket around her neck and bit down on her bottom lip as she waited for his response.
‘I know,’ he said softly, and he moved towards her. ‘You have no idea how much it hurts me to think that I put you in that position.’
‘You blackmailed me, Liev, blackmailed me in order to ruin my brother. I can never forgive you for that—ever.’
The door opened and one of Dario’s staff came in. ‘Sorry. Ten minutes until we go live.’
‘Thank you.’ Bianca was visibly unnerved and her eyes met his, the questions in them clear. He’d do anything to take away her pain, to answer those questions, but in the light of what she’d just told him, he knew it might never happen.
‘Excuse me. I have to go.’
Panic sluiced through him. She had to know what he’d done in an attempt to mend the hurt he’d caused. He had to make her understand he loved her, but from the sound of that last comment, his time was very limited.
She looked at him. ‘I have work to do, Liev. I’d like you to leave.’
‘Not yet, you don’t. I need to explain.’ He stood so close to her he could smell her fragrance and he remembered how she felt in his arms. He had to fight for that.
‘There’s nothing to explain. You deceived me, blackmailed me and now you plan to destroy all that my brother has worked to achieve. How can there be anything to add to that?’
There was so much more to add, like the deal he’d struck with Dario after the heated argument which had revealed the truth of the situation. A deal that meant he could put right the past in a businesslike way and not hurt anyone in the process. He had, of course, faced Dario’s wrath over hurting his sister and it was then that her confession to her brother had unintentionally come out, but Dario must have got it wrong. She didn’t have feelings for him. From the contempt on her face, it was obvious she had no wish to see him at all.
‘I didn’t use anything you told me, Bianca—not to anyone but Dario.’ He’d never felt this out of depth before, this adrift in a sea of emotions he couldn’t control.
‘But what is to stop you leaving here right now and doing just that?’
‘There is only one thing that can stop me,’ he said, his voice gravelly and thick with emotion. ‘You.’
She shook her head. ‘It’s too late, Liev, too much has happened, and besides, I don’t believe you and certainly don’t trust you. You could leave here now and leak all you know, just moments before the launch, to the waiting press and achieve the destruction you so obviously crave.’
‘Why