She stared at him with almost agonizing awareness as he strolled towards her, her eyes sliding over the glossy blueblack hair, the high cheekbones, those thick, thick lashes that shielded brooding, night-dark eyes and down to the darkened jaw of a man who seemed to embody everything it meant to be masculine. He was dressed formally in standard business attire but even the tailored perfection of his dark suit couldn’t entirely disguise a nature that bordered on the very edges of civilised. Although he moved in a conventional world, Luc could never be described as ‘safe’ and it was that subtle hint of danger that added to his almost overwhelming appeal.
His attraction to the opposite sex was as powerful as it was predictable and she’d proved herself to be as susceptible as the rest when it came to his particular brand of lethal charm.
Feeling her heart pound against her chest, she wondered whether she’d been mad to come here.
She didn’t move in his league and she never had. They played by a completely different set of rules.
And then she reminded herself firmly that she wasn’t here for herself. Given the choice she never would have come near Luc again. But he was her only hope.
‘Luciano.’
His eyes mocked her in that lazy, almost bored way that she used to find both aggravating and seductive. ‘Very formal. You used to call me Luc.’
He spoke with a cultured male drawl that held just a hint of the dark and dangerous. The staggeringly successful international businessman mingled with the raw, rough boy from the streets.
There was enough of the hard and the tough and the ruthless in him to make her shiver. Of course he was tough and ruthless, she reasoned, trying to control the exaggerated response of her trembling body. Rumour had it that he’d dragged himself from the streets of Rio before building one of the biggest multinational businesses in the world.
‘That’s in the past.’ And she didn’t want to remember the past. Didn’t want to remember the times she’d cried out his name as he’d shown her yet another way to paradise.
He raised an eyebrow and from the look in his dark eyes she knew that he was experiencing the same memories. The temperature in the room rose by several degrees and the air began to crackle and hum. ‘And is that what this meeting is about? The past? You want closure? You have come to beg forgiveness and repay the money you stole?’
It was typical of him that the first thing he mentioned was the money.
For a moment her courage faltered.
‘I know it was wrong to use your credit cards—’ she licked her lips ‘—but I had a good reason—’ She broke off and the carefully prepared speech that she’d rehearsed and rehearsed in her head dissolved into nothing and suddenly she couldn’t think how on earth she was going to say what needed to be said.
Now, she urged herself frantically, tell him now!
But somehow the right words just wouldn’t come.
‘You did give me the cards—’
‘One of the perks of being with me,’ Luc said silkily, ‘but when you spent the money, you were no longer with me. I have to congratulate you. I thought that no woman had the ability to surprise me—’he paced around her, his voice a soft, lethal drawl ‘—and yet you did just that. During our relationship you spent nothing. You showed no interest in my money. At the time I thought you were unique amongst your sex. I found your lack of interest in material things particularly endearing.’ His tone hardened. ‘Now I see that you were in fact just clever. Very clever. You held back on your spending but once you realised that the relationship was over, you showed your true colours.’
Kimberley’s mouth fell open in genuine amazement. What on earth was he implying? It was definitely time to tell him the truth. ‘I can explain where the money went—’ She braced herself for the ultimate confession but he gave a dismissive shrug that indicated nothing short of total indifference.
‘If there is one occupation more boring than watching a woman shop, it’s hearing about it after the event.’ Luc’s tone was bored. ‘I have absolutely no interest in the finer details of feminine indulgence.’
‘Is that what you think it was?’ Kimberley stared at him, aghast. ‘You think I spent your money in some sort of childish female tantrum?’
‘So you cheered yourself up with some new shoes and handbags.’ He gave a sardonic smile. ‘It is typically female behaviour. I can assure you I’m no stranger to the perceived benefits of retail therapy.’
Kimberley gasped. ‘You are unbelievably insensitive!’ Her voice rang with passion, anger and pain and her carefully planned speech flew out of her brain. He thought she’d been shopping? ‘Shopping was the last thing on my mind! This was not retail therapy.’ Her whole body trembled with indignation. ‘This was survival. I needed the money to survive because I gave up everything to be with you. Everything. I gave up my job, my flat—I moved in with you. It was what you demanded.’
His gaze was cool. ‘I don’t recall a significant degree of protest on your part.’
She tilted her head back and struggled with her emotions. ‘I was in love with you, Luc.’ Her voice cracked and she paused for just long enough to regain control. ‘I was so in love with you that being together was the only thing in my life that made sense. I couldn’t see further than what we shared. I certainly couldn’t imagine a time when we wouldn’t be together.’
‘Women do have a tendency to hear wedding bells when they’re around me,’ he observed dryly. ‘In fact I would say, the larger the wallet, the louder the bells.’
‘I’m not talking about marriage. I didn’t care about marriage. I just cared about you.’
A muscle flickered in his lean jaw and his eyes hardened. ‘Obviously you were planning for the long term.’
It took her a moment to understand the implication of his words. ‘You’re suggesting it was an act?’ She gave a tiny laugh of disbelief and lifted a hand to her throat. Beneath the tips of her fingers she felt her pulse beating rapidly. ‘You think I was pretending?’
‘You were very convincing,’ Luc conceded after a moment’s reflection, ‘but then the stakes were high, were they not? The prospect of landing a billionaire is often sufficient to produce the most commendable acting skills in a woman.’
Kimberley stared at him.
How could she ever have been foolish enough to give her love to this man? Was her judgement really that bad?
Tears clogged her throat. ‘I don’t consider you a prize, Luc,’ she choked. ‘In fact I consider you to be the biggest mistake of my life.’
‘Of course you do.’ He spread lean bronzed hands and gave a sympathetic smile, but his eyes were hard as flint. ‘I can understand that you’d be kicking yourself for letting me slip through your fingers. All I can say is, better luck with the next guy.’
She stared into his cold, handsome face and suddenly she just wanted to sob and sob. ‘You deserve to be alone in life, Luc,’ she said flatly, battling not to let the emotion show on her face, ‘and every woman with a grain of sense is going to let you slip right through her fingers. Given the chance, I’d drop you head first on to a tiled floor from a great height.’
He smiled an arrogant, all-male smile that reflected his unshakeable self-confidence. ‘We both know you couldn’t get enough of me.’
She gasped, utterly humiliated by the picture he painted. ‘That was before I knew what an unfeeling, cold-hearted bastard you were!’ She broke off in horror, appalled by her rudeness and uncharacteristic loss of control. What had come over her? ‘I—I’m sorry, that was unforgivable—’
‘Don’t apologise