* * *
Viktor knocked impatiently on Madison’s door thirty minutes before they needed to be at Jeremy’s ostentatious home in Presidio Heights.
Viktor had not given himself time for a drink or idle chitchat on purpose. After the kiss at the overlook, he did not want to risk his self-control before the dinner.
If his grandparents weren’t going to be there, as well as the photographer from the magazine, he would never have left Madison that afternoon. But she deserved to show up to her engagement dinner on time and not looking like she’d spent the hours before in bed.
He’d told her the truth earlier. Six years ago he’d seen her as barely a woman when she’d kissed him.
He’d been shocked by his own body’s response to her overtures, realizing for the first time that she was an adult and not a child. Not that he’d given that revelation much credence.
Not at first, but after a year of avoiding her and indulging in more liaisons than his workaholic regime usually allowed for, two things had become obvious.
He missed Madison and she was the only woman he wanted sharing his bed. She was still too young and Viktor’s plans didn’t include marriage for at least a few more years.
Anything else with the daughter of AIH’s president and owner was out of the question. And not just because Viktor considered the older, driven businessman a friend.
Viktor wasn’t sure when he realized his own business ambitions included marrying Madison, but it was well before he broached the subject in any oblique way with Jeremy. The older man’s concern regarding what would happen when Madison inherited full control of the trust gave Viktor the traction he needed for Jeremy’s approval of his own future plans.
He’d had the rings commissioned and intended to launch his courtship of Madison in the coming weeks when Timwater sent a spanner into the works with his “breakup interview.”
If Viktor had started his pursuit of Madison earlier, the opportunistic man would not have had a chance to hurt her with his lies. It was unacceptable bad timing that had left Madison vulnerable.
It angered him. Viktor did not do bad timing. And he did not get caught by surprise. But he had not anticipated Timwater’s betrayal of his long-standing friendship with the heiress.
While it had not precipitated long-term action on Viktor’s part that he wasn’t already planning, the intolerable situation had brought things to a head before he intended. And it had forced him to work around Jeremy’s knee-jerk response to his daughter’s misadventure.
While that might have ended up working in Viktor’s favor, it had come with additional emotional cost to Madison.
He might be ruthless, but that was not okay with him. Her well-being was his responsibility now.
The door opened and Viktor’s thoughts scattered.
Madison’s copper curls flirted around her face, her blue eyes vibrant and flashing with a response to his presence that found a corresponding reaction in his body.
Lips entirely too kissable despite the dark color staining them in a perfect scarlet bow curved in a smile of welcome. “Hi, Vik. Are you coming in?”
She’d encased her tempting body in a 1950s-inspired couture cocktail dress in a shiny dark blue that rustled as she moved.
The skirt was full, nipping in at the waist, and the bodice fitted, the artistically cut neckline dipping to reveal the hint of cleavage he found more sexually alluring than any woman he’d seen in a dress that revealed most of her breasts.
“You...” He cleared his throat, finding it unaccountably dry. “You look beautiful.”
Only after he spoke did it occur to him that he had not answered her question.
“Thank you.” She blushed, something she rarely did anymore. “It works?” The nerves that slipped in to tinge her smile were something else she didn’t show others. “Only I wanted your grandparents to see me, not the...”
She didn’t have to finish. “It will be all right. Deda and Babulya are eager to see you and welcome you into our family.”
“They know we are engaged? Have they seen the articles?”
Ignoring his own best intentions, he pushed into the apartment and right into Madison’s personal space.
She gasped and looked up at him, eyes wide, breath hitching. “Vik? What?”
He curved his hands around her waist, enjoying the soft slide of the fabric and the heat of her skin under it even more. “They know we are engaged and they are delighted.”
“Oh.”
“They know about the stories and they are furious with Timwater.”
“They don’t believe them? You told them he lied, didn’t you?”
“I did and they don’t.” Viktor reveled in the implicit trust in his ability to make things right that could be read into her questions.
“Thank you.”
Mindful of the crimson color on her lips, he bent down and pressed a soft kiss to the side of her neck, staying to inhale the subtle fragrance of honeysuckle mixed with orange and a hint of vanilla and her own unique scent. “You smell good.”
“It’s my perfume.”
“It’s you. Rosewater would smell just as delicious against your skin.”
She trembled against him, her hands pressing into his chest. “Vik.”
That was all she said. Just his name. But it was a plea, whether to step back or to do something about the electricity arcing between them, he did not let himself contemplate.
He stepped back. “We need to go. Everyone is waiting.”
“Including the photographer.”
“He has his instructions to be as unobtrusive as possible.”
Madison grimaced, her opinion of how unobtrusive that could actually be very clear.
He looked around and spied her coat over the back of an armchair. Viktor had always enjoyed Madison’s efficiency and was glad to see that she had not developed the habit of keeping a man waiting that he always found more irritating than intriguing.
Grabbing the coat, he offered it to her. “We need to head out.”
“You cut it a little close.” But she didn’t hesitate to let him help her into the fitted wool trench coat the same crimson red as her lips.
He saw no reason to hide the truth. “Protecting us both from how much I want you.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked, sounding genuinely confused as she did up the oversized black buttons and tied the belt on her coat.
“You must realize the prospect of having you in my bed has my libido in overdrive.” The truth of that was never more blatant to him than in how hard he found it to lead her out of the apartment without once mussing the color of her lipstick.
However, nothing said he had to curb his desire to touch her completely. They made their way to the elevators with his arm around her waist.
“But why would it?” Could she sound more innocent?
He didn’t think so.
“You are an incredibly beautiful woman.” But more importantly, she was the one woman who sparked desire hot enough to do his ancestors proud.
“You didn’t want me before.”
“We discussed this. You were barely more than a child.” And he had wanted her.
“You’re