‘Catriona,’ he said softly.
Now he loomed over her. She couldn’t tear her gaze away from the bottomless depths of his black eyes. Her mouth parted as she struggled to breathe because her heart was thundering. Anticipation spiralled through every cell. Was he going to kiss her? Was she going to let him? Where had her will gone?
He was so close now she could feel his breath on her skin and his eyes were mesmerising and she simply couldn’t seem to move. Then she felt the warmth of his fingers as he brushed the skin at the nape of her neck. She shivered, drawing in a shocked breath, but it was too late. He’d undone the clasp of the necklace before she’d registered his true intention. Now she could only stare as he stepped back and poured the glittering chain into his inside top pocket—right over the spot where his heart should be. Not that he had one of those.
He’d taken the diamond choker from her and she’d just let him.
She’d stood there like a vacant fool and let him reclaim the necklace. She’d let his good looks and his sexual magnetism render her brainless. How stupid could she get?
‘I can’t be your date,’ she snapped, furious with herself.
‘Why not?’
‘You have a girlfriend already.’
‘I do?’ He sent her a penetrating look.
‘Saskia something.’ She straightened and snarled, venting her annoyance on him, ‘I’m not helping you cheat on another woman.’ She knew how much that sucked. ‘Not even pretend cheating. So go ahead and call the police.’
She didn’t think for a second he would but, to her apprehension, he pulled his mobile from his pocket again.
Had she misread him? Did he want the police here, interrupting his terribly exclusive party? She’d have to explain all and wear yet more mortification, but that was better than letting this man win. Surely the police would let her off with a warning—as a first time offender, distraught by the loss of her family home and all that... She might even be able to keep Teddy’s name out of it.
She watched, breathing rapidly and still feeling too hot, as he held the phone up to his ear.
‘Saskia, darling. I wanted to be honest with you and let you know before you heard it from anyone else.’ He didn’t hesitate. ‘I’ve met someone else.’
Kitty’s jaw dropped. He’d phoned the latest model girlfriend? She stared at him in frozen fascination as he kept talking.
‘I know it seems sudden, but sometimes that’s how life works.’
Had he just broken up with the woman?
OMG. The phone call was swift and to the point and the arrogant bastard smiled at her the entire way through.
‘You just ended your relationship?’ she all but gasped as he ended the call. ‘Over the phone?’
‘Four dates doesn’t really constitute a relationship.’ He shrugged and pocketed his mobile.
‘And you never go much beyond five dates anyway.’ Teddy had told her that. Apparently, Alejandro’s appetite for a rapid succession of beauties caused frequent comment—celebration by some, such as Teddy, and derision from others. Kitty was firmly in the second camp.
His eyebrows flickered. ‘Don’t I? I don’t tend to keep count.’
Of dates or women? ‘You can’t just do that.’
‘I just did.’
‘You don’t care?’ Was it all that meaningless for him? His callousness was repellent, yet there was still that fickle, stupid part of her that was attracted to him.
‘No. I don’t.’ He laughed at her expression. ‘She doesn’t either. We both knew what we were in for.’
And what was that—a few meaningless hours in bed together? Kitty whipped up her anger on behalf of the woman. ‘You’re sure about that?’
‘Utterly.’ He looked bored as he glanced at his watch. ‘Now you needn’t have any scruples about being my date for the night.’
‘No way.’ She shook her head, still shocked at his callous phone call. As if she’d ever date someone so ruthless. ‘You’re heartless.’
‘If that’s the case—’ he reached for his pocket again ‘—then I will have to phone the police. Naturally, I will push for charges to be laid.’ He sent her a mock-apologetic glance. ‘It’s unacceptable for people to unlawfully enter houses and take whatever they find lying around.’
She narrowed her eyes. He was playing a game. He’d have called the police already if that was what he’d really meant to do. ‘You’ll do whatever necessary to get what you want, won’t you?’
He smiled as if that wasn’t something to be ashamed of. ‘Always.’
No doubt he’d blackmail, coerce, fight dirty and think nothing of it.
She gazed at him. He was hideously self-assured. Going through women like normal people went through pints of milk—on an almost daily basis and simply discarding the bottle when done. But that someone so shallow could be so attractive-looking? It was so wrong—the guy needed a warning label stamped on his forehead. Yet there was a whole roomful downstairs waiting to step up and be the next one. His looks and charisma had made things—women—far too easy for him.
He sent her that soft, suave smile, totally in control and at ease. ‘What’s it going to be, Catriona?’ he prompted her gently. ‘A night with me at your side, or a night in the cells?’
Her body recognised his beauty; her brain recognised he was a calculating bastard. She’d ensure her brain won this battle. She was certain he was not interested in her; he just wanted to teach her a lesson. That was obvious.
But he was the one who needed a lesson. The palm of her hand itched, but she’d never resorted to violence, not even in her worst attention-seeking teen tantrums and she wasn’t letting this devil get to her in a way no one else ever had.
Nor was she letting him win. She had no idea what he thought he was going to achieve by forcing her to stay with him during his party, but she wasn’t letting him have it. She’d make the night as difficult as possible for him. Then she’d tell the truth and demand Margot’s diamonds back.
‘Don’t call the police,’ she finally responded, answering demurely. ‘I’ll be your date.’
His eyes narrowed just the slightest, but his smile was ready and heart-stopping. He pocketed the phone again and then reached out and laced his fingers through hers. ‘I never thought for a second that you wouldn’t.’
‘YOU’RE VERY SURE of yourself,’ Kitty said, counting her breathing in an attempt to slow her speeding heart.
‘I’m sure of people,’ he answered. ‘They are predictable.’
Well, he definitely wasn’t predictable. And she refused to be—at least to him. ‘What is it you want from me?’ She tried to extricate her hand from his, but he wouldn’t release her.
‘What do you think I want from you?’ That smile now lurked in his eyes.
Her chin lifted. ‘If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking.’
His glance sharpened, but he spoke calmly. ‘Your time. Your undivided attention. And when every guest has gone tonight, we’ll have a reckoning.’
Something flipped in her belly. Half horrified, half intrigued, she couldn’t resist asking more. ‘What kind of reckoning?’
The smile he flashed was nothing short of wicked. ‘I think you’ve already