At The Ruthless Billionaire's Command. Carole Mortimer

      When had Gregorio moved to stand so close to her? She felt overwhelmed by both his size and the force of his personality—a lethal combination that caused her heart to start pounding loudly again.

      ‘You have to go,’ she told him.

      ‘Do I?’

      ‘Yes!’

      Despite the food she’d eaten, Lia had no reserves of energy left to resist the pull of those dark and compelling eyes. No defences to fight the lure of that hard and muscular body. Even the reminder that he was Gregorio de la Cruz wasn’t working. She was caught like a deer in the headlights of a car as his head slowly began to lower towards hers.

      Gregorio was going to kiss her...

      No matter how exhausted and defenceless Lia felt, she couldn’t allow that to happen.

      ‘No!’ She raised enough energy to put a restraining hand against his chest, and that brief contact was enough to make her aware of the tensed heat of Gregorio’s body and the rapid beat of his heart. ‘You really do have to leave. Please.’

      His lips remained only centimetres away from her own, his breath a warm caress against her cheek.

      His nostrils flared as he breathed long and deeply before slowly straightening and then finally stepping away. ‘Because you asked so nicely...’

      Lia gave a choked laugh, able to breathe again now that he was no longer standing quite so close to her. ‘As opposed to threatening to call the police and having them kick you out?’

      ‘Exactly.’ He rolled down the sleeves of his shirt and fastened them before shrugging back into his jacket. ‘Think of me tomorrow when you eat all that chocolate cake,’ he added huskily, and then the door closed softly behind him as he let himself out of the apartment.

      Lia breathed easily at last once he had gone. What the hell had happened just now? She had almost let Gregorio kiss her, for goodness’ sake. She—

      Lia froze as she saw the business card sitting on top of the breakfast bar.

      The same business card she had refused to take from him earlier, with his personal mobile number embossed on it in gold.

       CHAPTER THREE

      ‘GOOD MORNING, LIA.’

      Lia felt all the colour drain from her cheeks as she stared up at the man standing on the other side of the reception desk at the London Exemplar Hotel.

      She had always thought that a person feeling the colour leeching from their face was a ridiculous concept: people couldn’t actually feel the colour leaving their cheeks.

      Except Lia just had. In fact the blood seemed to have drained from her head completely, settling somewhere in the region of her toes and leaving her feeling slightly light-headed as she continued to gape across the reception desk at Gregorio de la Cruz.

      He tilted his head, a mocking smile playing about those sculpted lips as he saw her reaction to his being here. ‘I did warn you that in future you should anticipate seeing me where and when you least expected to do so.’

      Yes, he had—but it hadn’t occurred to Lia that Gregorio might turn up at her new place of employment.

      Deliberately so?

      Or was it purely coincidence that Gregorio had come to the Exemplar Hotel on the morning she began working there?

      Lia very much doubted that. With a man as powerful and well-connected as Gregorio there was no such thing as coincidence.

      Which meant he had known she would be here. How he knew was probably by the same means he had acquired the address of her new apartment.

      She narrowed her eyes. ‘Are you having me followed, Mr de la Cruz?’

      ‘Followed? No,’ he dismissed. ‘Am I ensuring your safety? Yes,’ he admitted without apology.

      Lia’s brows rose. ‘Why on earth does my safety need ensuring?’

      ‘You are now alone in the world.’

      ‘We both know why that is!’

      ‘Lia—’

      ‘Is there a problem here—? Mr de la Cruz!’ Michael, the hotel manager, quickly hid his surprise as he greeted the other man warmly.

      ‘Good morning, Michael,’ Gregorio returned smoothly as the two men shook hands. ‘And, no, there is no problem. I just came down to say hello to Miss... Faulkner,’ he finished, with a knowing glance at the badge Lia had pinned on the left lapel of her jacket.

      It was a surname Gregorio knew didn’t belong to her.

      And he also apparently knew the manager of this hotel by his first name’

      An uneasy feeling began to churn in Lia’s stomach, growing stronger by the second and making her feel slightly nauseous.

      There was no such thing as coincidence where Gregorio de la Cruz was concerned.

      Which meant he had known exactly where she would be starting her new job this morning.

      He really was having her followed—might he even have had some influence in her attaining this job too?

      For what reason?

      The churning in Lia’s stomach became a full-blown tsunami as she searched for the reason Gregorio was doing these things.

      That guilty conscience she had accused him of having?

      No, he had denied feeling any guilt in regard to her father’s death.