When he came back, he lay down beside her and gently pushed her tangled hair back from her face.
‘It’s no use, my darling,’ he said as he caressed her still flushed cheek. ‘I simply can’t let you go.’
Nicole stiffened in his arms.
‘I’m going to Thailand with you.’
She just stared up at him.
‘What’s the problem now?’ he demanded to know. ‘You don’t want me to go with you?’
She did. Of course she did. But something didn’t feel right. Everything was happening too quickly. Last night. And now this.
They weren’t in love. How could they be? Love didn’t happen that quickly.
Or did it?
OK, so she’d never experienced anything like what she had last night. Or just now.
But that wasn’t love. Not yet, anyway.
‘That’s not the point,’ she said, trying to be sensible. ‘I only met you a few days ago. Look, like I said earlier, I won’t be gone forever. If you like, I’ll come back for Christmas.’
‘Christmas is more than a month away. I can’t do without you for that long.’
‘I’m afraid you’ll just have to.’
‘I can’t. I’ll go crazy.’
‘This is crazy,’ she said, even as she felt herself weakening. ‘You can’t just drop everything and fly off overseas at a moment’s notice. I thought you said you were a workaholic.’
‘I was, till I met you. I’m not at work today, yet Sunday is top dog in the real-estate business. You might not have noticed but I texted a message to my office to say that I wouldn’t be in today. Then I turned off my cellphone. Trust me when I say that’s a first in several years.’
Nicole frowned.
Trust. That was the bottom line. There’d been something about Russell when she’d first met him which she didn’t trust. He’d come across as hard and predatory, a rich man who would stop at nothing to get what he wanted. Which was her, at this point in time.
But for how long?
‘Don’t say no,’ he said, his eyes going all smoky as he cupped her face and his head began to descend.
She just couldn’t resist him.
‘All right,’ she said, and surrendered her mouth to his.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
‘YOU’RE spoiling me,’ Nicole said when Russell came into the bathroom with her freshly laundered dress and underwear.
She was lying back in the bath, wallowing in the relaxing warmth and trying not to worry over her growing addiction to this man. Truly, she simply could not keep her hands off him.
Russell hadn’t joined her in the bath, claiming that if he did she’d turn him on again and they’d never make it to dinner. Instead he’d headed for the other bathroom, where he’d showered, shaved and dressed before returning in a smart grey lounge suit and an open-necked white shirt that highlighted his olive skin.
‘Out of that bath, madam,’ he ordered, ‘and into these clothes, post-haste. I’m starving.’
‘I don’t think I have the energy for dinner,’ she complained.
‘I don’t wonder. Come on. Up and out of there. Our booking is for seven-thirty and it’s already ten to seven.’
Russell left the room, closing the door after him, leaving Nicole to sigh, then drag herself out of the water. With only lipstick and a small comb in her evening bag, she didn’t take long to get ready. Fifteen minutes later they were in the car and on their way across the bridge, Russell having chosen a well-known seafood restaurant on the quay for dinner. It was called Neptune’s, after the god of the sea, and positioned on the upper level of a renovated warehouse. Its spectacular view of the harbour meant it was very popular, though the exorbitant prices did keep the clientele exclusive.
Nicole rather suspected Russell had chosen it to impress her.
She didn’t mention she’d been there before. Because let’s face it, she thought, there weren’t too many restaurants in Sydney—even the most expensive ones—which she hadn’t graced at one time or other.
‘Rather than tell you how beautiful you look,’ he said with an admiring glance her way, ‘I will just say that you are the only girl I’ve ever been with who looks fantastic, au naturel.’
Being a typical female, Nicole focused her mind on the other girls he’d been with, rather than his very nice compliment.
‘And how many other girls have there been?’
This time, his glance carried a rather smug smile. ‘You’re jealous.’
‘Don’t avoid the question. How many girlfriends have there been before me?’
‘So you’re happy to call yourself my girlfriend now?’
‘Russell McClain, I’ve just spent the entire day in bed with you. If I’m not your girlfriend then I’d have to be the biggest slut of all time. Which I’m not. On top of that, I’ve agreed to your coming to Thailand with me. That rather smacks of some kind of relationship, don’t you think? Now answer my question, please.’
‘Don’t get your knickers in a knot. Sorry, but I can’t tell you an exact number. I don’t keep count. But I would hazard a guess at forty. Maybe fifty?’
‘Good lord, you are a playboy!’
‘Nicole, I’m thirty-six years old. At that age, I don’t think that fifty’s too unacceptable, do you?’
‘I guess not. How many were you in love with?’
‘None.’
‘Really?’
‘Really.’
Now, why did that make her feel so good?
Because you think he’s in love with you, that’s why. You think you’re special. You think … you think too darned much sometimes, Nicole Power.
‘Is that why you’ve never got married?’ she heard herself ask before she could snatch it back.
The silence in the car was excruciating. And embarrassing.
Nicole wished she’d kept her silly mouth shut. The last thing you started talking about at the beginning of a relationship was marriage. It made men run a mile, which was the last thing she wanted Russell to do.
‘Marriage hasn’t fitted into my workaholic lifestyle,’ he said at last. ‘I will definitely consider it, when I meet the right person.’
His head turned and so did hers. Their eyes met, his glittering at her with a thousand possessive lights.
‘I don’t want to scare you off, lovely Nicole, with premature talk about love and marriage. For now, I just want to get to know you better. And to never let you out of my sight,’ he added with another of his wickedly sexy smiles.
The subject of marriage was dropped after that, Russell turning the conversation away to her seafood preferences. By the time the car was safely stowed in a small car park at the back of the quay, both agreed that lobster was their favourite, with oysters and prawns high on the list.
But her heart was racing all the while.
When Russell opened the passenger door and took her hand, that same heart lurched tellingly. When he smiled down at her, she smiled fatuously back. When he pulled her up onto her slightly shaky legs, she was more than ready to be kissed.