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He followed her round to the far side of the table, where she indicated his seat, right next to hers. Fortunately, nobody made any move to remove the place-settings on either side of them, meaning their conversation would not be easily overheard. Also fortunately, Kerry was seated to the left of Frank, on the same side of the table as Jordan, which meant she wouldn’t witness any telling interplay between Jordan and Gino.
Once they’d settled in their chairs and the entrées had been served—tempura prawns on a salad base—Jordan decided to stop playing word games and cut to the chase.
‘You’re being here tonight is not a coincidence, is it?’
‘My hiring Stedley & Parkinson as my legal representative was a coincidence.’
‘But you knew I’d be here tonight?’
‘Yes.’
Jordan’s frustration level rose. ‘Care to elaborate on that?’
‘No.’
Jordan tried to think. Gino had always had difficulty taking no for an answer. She’d rejected him last Friday night. Had he had her investigated, perhaps? Found out where she worked? Found out about Chad?
She wouldn’t put it past him.
‘It must be difficult for you,’ Gino said quietly, ‘with your fiancé overseas. You must miss him.’
Jordan’s heart lurched. ‘How do you know that Chad’s overseas?’
‘Maybe Frank told me.’
‘He didn’t, though, did he? You’ve had me investigated.’
‘My, my, what a suspicious mind you have. Must come from being a lawyer.’
‘What is it that you want of me, Gino?’
He put down his entrée fork and slanted a smile her way.
It was a wickedly provocative smile—one which set her heart racing. And not from anger.
‘What I’ve always wanted when I’m around you, Jordan,’ he murmured, his sexy black eyes suddenly going from arctic cold to tropical heat.
When her hand began to tremble, she too put down her fork. Jerking her eyes away from his, she picked up her wine glass, gripping the stem tightly as she lifted it to her lips and swallowed a deep gulp.
The action allowed her to recover her composure a little. But her heart was still thudding loudly behind her ribs.
Finally, she turned her head to face him, her expression firm.
‘I did not become engaged till after last Friday night,’ she told him.
‘And you think that exonerates you?’ he muttered under his breath. ‘You called me a liar and a cheat, Jordan. Yet all the while you were the liar and the cheat. I know exactly what happened last Friday night. You thought you could have your little bit of Italian rough whilst your wealthy lover was away. But when you found out I wasn’t who you thought I was, you panicked and did a flit. But not before you dumped a whole lot of guilt on me. You even called me a coward. No one calls me a coward, Jordan, and gets away with it.’
Jordan’s head spun with his vicious attack.
But Gino wasn’t finished yet.
‘What would happen, do you think, if I told your precious Chad what you were up to while he was away? I doubt you’d be wearing that ring for long. Or working here at good old Stedley & Parkinson’s. They’re a rather old-fashioned firm, aren’t they?’
Once again all the blood drained from Jordan’s face. It was as well she was sitting down. Shaken, she picked up her wine glass again and took another swallow, giving herself some more time to regroup. Finally, she put down the glass and picked up her fork.
‘So this is what tonight’s about, is it?’ she bit out, spearing another prawn. ‘Revenge. How typically Italian.’
‘Indeed,’ he agreed. ‘You would have done well to remember that when you wounded my pride and my sense of honour.’
‘You call it honourable to have me investigated?’
‘A man has to do what a man has to do.’
‘And what do you have to do, Gino?’
‘I have to be with you again, Jordan,’ he said, his voice vibrating with the most seductive passion. ‘Tonight.’
Jordan only just stopped herself from gasping with shock. Instead, she lanced Gino with a dagger-like glare.
‘Dream on, buster. Look, I told you last Friday night, and now I’m telling you again: it’s over between us—has been for ten years. Last Friday was a big mistake on my part.’
Gino smiled a coolly confident smile. ‘If you don’t do as I ask, I will inform your beloved fiancé of what happened last Friday night. Somehow I don’t think it will rate with him that, technically, you weren’t engaged at the time.’
‘Why, you ba—’
‘Hush,’ he broke in swiftly. ‘You wouldn’t want dear old Frank hearing you swear at such a valuable new client, would you?’
Jordan shot him another savage glare before grabbing her wine glass again, and emptying it down her throat with a speed which had several pairs of eyes glancing her way across the table in surprise.
She never drank much at these company dinners. Never did anything which anyone could call remotely reckless, let alone wicked.
Jordan knew Gino’s ultimatum was wicked. And without care for her future well-being. His wanting her was strictly sexual, his desire made stronger by his need to strip her not just of her clothes, but her pride.
But, despite all that, Jordan had the dreadful suspicion that in the end she would go along with what he wanted—not to keep him silent, but because, down deep, she wanted to spend the night with him.
That had to be wicked. She had to be wicked.
Either that, or she was still in love with Gino.
But how could she love a man who would do such an appalling thing as try to blackmail her into bed?
No, this wasn’t love which was making her blood roar like red-hot lava around her veins. This was lust. A lust so exciting and so powerful she had no chance of resisting it.
Sexually, she was putty in his hands. Always had been. Always would be.
At the same time, she could not allow Gino to suspect her weakness. That would be setting herself up as a perfect victim for his voracious carnal appetite. Safety lay in letting him think that she despised him for doing to her.
Though she wasn’t at all sure that she did. His daring excited her almost as much as his desire.
God, but she was hopeless where he was concerned.
Thank heavens she’d perfected the art of steely composure to cover any inner nerves.
‘Blackmailers are notorious for never being satisfied,’ she said curtly. ‘If I do as you want, what’s to stop you demanding more after tonight is over?’
‘I give you my word that if you spend tonight with me I will go home to Melbourne in the morning and never bother you again.’
‘Pardon me if I don’t put much store in your word.’
‘What alternative do you have?’
‘I could tell Chad what happened last Friday. He might understand.’
‘I wouldn’t,’ Gino growled.
And neither would Chad, Jordan conceded.
‘It’s not too much to ask, is it?’ Gino went on. ‘One night with me, in exchange for a lifetime as Mrs Chad Stedley.’
‘What’s to stop you causing trouble in my marriage at some future date?’ she asked curtly.
‘Nothing—other than my word. But I presume once you’re married you will move to New York. As much as I’m going to enjoy having you at my beck and call tonight, I doubt I’d travel that far for a repeat performance.’
‘Does your family know that you’re a heartless, conscienceless bastard?’
His face darkened. ‘Leave my family out of this.’
‘Gladly.’
‘So, what’s your answer, Jordan?’ he snapped. ‘Do we have a deal or not?’
Jordan grimaced, then gritted her teeth. Why was it just him who could make her heart race like this? Who could make her forget her pride? Could make her crave the things he did to her?
It infuriated her that she was so weak with him when normally she was a strong person, with a mind of her own. If it was any other man she would tell him to go to hell. There again, if it had been any other man she would not have willingly had sex with him last Friday night.
‘You do realise I will hate you for ever for doing this?’ she grated out under her breath.
‘It’ll be worth it,’ he returned coldly.
What would be worth it? she wondered, and worried.
An image popped into her mind, that of herself standing naked in front of him last Friday night and swearing that he would never see her like that again.
Bold, brave, foolish words. Words which Gino was obviously determined to make her regret.
The waiter taking away their empty entrée plates put paid to any conversation for a short while. The second of their crystal wine glasses was filled. Still white, but a Chardonnay this time, instead of the crisp Chablis which had accompanied the seafood cocktail. Clearly the main course was going to be something light.
‘I should tell you to go to hell,’ Jordan bit out, once the waiters had moved away from them.
‘You should, but you won’t. You’ll do what I want.’
‘Don’t be so sure.’
‘But I am. Because I’m not the only one here who’s heartless and conscienceless. Not to mention ambitious. Oh, yes, let’s not forget ambitious.’
‘You know nothing about the woman I am.’
‘Neither do I want to. I might have once. But I now prefer to keep my knowledge of you to the biblical kind. So is it a deal, Mrs Stedley-to-be? Will you trade total surrender of your body tonight in exchange for my silence?’
‘Total surrender?’ she repeated, aghast and aroused at the same time.
‘Didn’t I mention that?’
‘No,’ she said, shaken by the level of her sexual excitement.
‘I will not ask you to do anything you haven’t done with me before,’ he said.
Jordan suppressed a groan. That didn’t leave much, if anything at all. Her sex-life with Chad had never been as adventurous as it had been with Gino. Not even remotely.
‘You have ten seconds to seal this deal,’ he said, with chilling finality, ‘or I will do what I said I would. Immediately. I have your fiancé’s personal phone number in the menu of my cellphone. A simple visit to the gents will give me the opportunity to call him right now.’
Jordan would have called his bluff if he’d been any other man.
But she knew Gino meant it.
‘In that case,’ she said, her stomach contracting as she tried to imagine the consequences of Gino’s appalling ultimatum. ‘It’s a deal.’
CHAPTER TEN (#ulink_f55fde6a-ca16-59b5-bae5-46912270375b)
WHEN she agreed, it confirmed to Gino what he’d suspected all week: the sweet, sensual, sincere girl he’d once known and loved had turned into a cold-blooded, gold-digging bitch.
She didn’t love Chad Stedley. How could she when she’d gone to bed with him last Friday night?
But she was wearing Stedley’s engagement ring.
Gino had been furious when he found out she was engaged.
No, furious didn’t do his emotions justice; he’d been absolutely livid.
He’d come here tonight without any definite plan in mind. He’d just wanted to look her in the eye and let her know that he knew what kind of woman she was. But the moment he’d set eyes on her, standing there with her back to him, looking sexy in that prim little black dress, desire had consumed every pore in his body. By the time she turned round, he’d hated her for the way she could make him crave her, despite everything.
Blackmailing her into bed had not been on his agenda, however, till she’d added insult to injury by arrogantly pretending she didn’t know him.
That had been the moment when he’d resolved to bring her down a peg or two. To use her own ruthless ambition against her, at the same time satisfying his own rapidly escalating desire.
Even so, he’d still been shocked when she’d agreed to his proposal. Shocked and stirred. Right now, he was so turned on it would have been embarrassing if he hadn’t been sitting at a table.
‘I hope you’re happy now,’ she muttered.
