Once he discovered that he couldn’t bully her, he’d leave her alone. He couldn’t really ruin the business, she reasoned, mentally running through their list of clients. He was calling her bluff.
Trying to frighten her into submission.
There was no way she was eating dinner with him. In fact there was no way she was going to see him again in any shape or form.
He might be arriving to collect her at seven-thirty, but she wouldn’t be here. And if she knew him well enough to know that he’d find her, then he should also know her well enough to know that she wouldn’t make it easy for him.
If he thought he was going to knock on the door and collect her, then he was in for a long and disappointing evening.
CHAPTER THREE
ZANDER strode out to his sports car, furious with himself and cursing his utter lack of control.
What the hell had come over him? he wondered savagely as he tossed the file on Phoenix PR onto the passenger seat and slid into the car, oblivious to the rest of his team and his bodyguards who immediately swarmed into the car parked behind. He’d virtually jumped her on her table and he never behaved like that. He was a man who prided himself on his self-discipline, on being able to operate without allowing emotions to interfere with his decision-making.
But Lauranne reduced his behaviour to a level so basic that he barely recognised himself.
He’d wanted to punish her—
It had been the shock of seeing her, he reassured himself grimly. He hadn’t expected to see her. And he certainly hadn’t expected to see Farrer.
It had been the desire to wipe Farrer’s name from her lips that had driven him to behave like that, staking a claim where none lay.
And the moment he’d felt her soft mouth open under his he’d been lost, overwhelmed by a raw physical need that he’d never experienced around any woman except Lauranne O’Neill.
Lauranne—
The biggest mistake of his life.
As if to taunt him, a powerful vision exploded inside his brain. A vision of honey-blonde hair and a soft mouth curved in a tempting smile designed to drive a man to the edge of sanity.
Lauranne, with her micro miniskirts, endless brown legs and hotly passionate nature.
Zander gave a humourless laugh. For most of his life he’d watched his father make an utter fool of himself over a string of women and he’d vowed never to do the same thing himself. There was no way he was ever going to get married. He wasn’t so stupid.
But then he’d met Lauranne—
He groaned and leaned his head against the seat of the car, almost able to feel the touch of her mouth on his. From the moment they’d met they’d been enveloped by a scorching fire of passion so intense and primitive that for a short while it had consumed both of them. To the extent that he’d done the one thing he’d always promised himself he’d never do.
He’d married her.
And to this day he didn’t understand why he’d done it.
Breathing heavily, Zander reached out a lean brown hand and flipped open the file that his lawyer had given him, his heart thudding as he gazed at the photograph on the first page.
Had he bothered to open the file sooner he might not now be suffering from a severe case of mental and sexual frustration, he reflected grimly, reminding himself to always check out every company that his lawyer suggested in future. Had he known it was her he would never have agreed to meet her.
Or would he?
Staring down at those amazing blue eyes, he felt a reaction so raw, so primitively sexual that his body stirred in the most masculine way possible. His mouth tightened in bitter self-condemnation. It had always been like that with this woman. From the first moment he’d seen her, sipping a cocktail in one of his bars by the beach, swinging one long tanned leg from the bar stool, he’d been hooked. His reputation for being cool had certainly not been earned on that occasion, he reflected with grim amusement. In fact he’d been so hot for her he’d used every technique in his armoury to ensure that she ended up where he wanted her.
In his bed.
His entire relationship with Lauranne had been one long burn of emotion. He’d brought out the hotly sexual side of her nature and somehow she’d found his sensitive side. Until then he hadn’t even known he had a sensitive side, but Lauranne had wriggled herself into places previously off limits to all females, no matter how beautiful or satisfying in bed.
Zander studied the cool, businesslike photograph of the woman that he’d once known in the most intimate way that a man could know a woman.
He’d been her first lover and that had given him a satisfaction that only a very traditional Greek male could ever truly understand.
She’d been his.
He’d held her as she’d trembled against him, swallowed her cries of ecstasy as he’d introduced her to the pleasures of sex for the first time in her life.
And he’d been ruthlessly unforgiving when he’d discovered her infidelity. His father’s experience of women should have more than prepared him for her betrayal, but the emotions he’d experienced had been so powerful that they’d shocked him. He’d felt out of control and he’d hated that feeling. He’d just wanted her out of his life before he was tempted to do something even more stupid than marrying her.
Like forgiving her.
His mouth tightened slightly as he scanned the rest of the file, taking in her astonishing achievements in the five years since he’d last seen her. Even as the anger simmered inside him, he found himself admiring the way she’d obviously managed to build a successful business from the ashes of the career that he’d personally destroyed.
But that didn’t surprise him. She possessed rare qualities, qualities that he’d spotted within moments of meeting her.
Everything about Lauranne was bright. Her mind, her wit and her shiny blonde hair that had wrapped itself around him in a silken seduction every time they’d made love.
Being with Lauranne had been like gazing into the sun. It had left him blinded and dazzled.
And now she wanted a divorce.
His jaw tightened. He’d never even thought about divorce before she’d mentioned it. He’d just put the whole disastrous episode out of his head and got on with his life.
Intensely irritated by the depth of emotion that the mere memory of Lauranne could evoke, Zander snapped the file shut, his eyes suddenly hard.
Swearing fluently in Greek, he pulled into the flow of traffic and made for his office. He needed a cold shower. A very, very cold shower. And after that maybe he’d be able to disengage his libido and engage his brain.
‘I couldn’t believe it when he walked into the room.’ Tom stared at Lauranne in utter dismay. ‘Tell me you threw him out.’
She gave a wan smile, thinking of Zander’s six-foot-three, muscle-packed frame. ‘Hardly.’
Tom paced backwards and forwards in front of her desk. ‘I need a cigarette.’
‘You gave up six months ago,’ Lauranne pointed out gently and he grimaced.
‘If Volakis is back in our lives then I’ll be taking it up again pretty damn fast.’ Tom’s face was white. ‘And tell me that the two of you are not still married and that you were just playing one of your games. You almost gave me a heart attack when you said “he’s my husband” in that chilly tone.’
Lauranne closed her eyes briefly and curled her fingers