The Playboy's Ruthless Pursuit

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‘What?’

She closed her eyes and shook her head. Impossible to explain the situation without being rude again.

‘Nothing,’ she added, opening her eyes and throwing him a wan smile. ‘I’m a little tired.’

‘You don’t look tired,’ he said. ‘You look beautiful.’

Oh, Lord. He was like the Chinese water torture. ‘Please don’t,’ she said with a low groan.

‘Please don’t what? Tell you that I think you’re wonderful? I’d like to ask you out, Alice. To dinner, with me paying next time.’

Alice could not believe how tempted she was to just say yes. Yes, yes, please take me out to dinner then take me back to bed. It shocked her, the strength of that temptation, not to mention her desire. Fiona had been so right about Jeremy. He was seriously dangerous.

‘Thank you for asking me,’ she answered. ‘I’m flattered. But my answer has to be no.’

His eyes narrowed as they scanned her face. ‘Why is that, might I ask? You just said you liked me.’

‘Do I have to give you a reason? Maybe I already have a boyfriend.’

‘Do you?’

‘No,’ she said, lifting her glass of white wine to her lips. So much for her decision not to drink. But Lord, this man would drive any woman to drink.

‘Girlfriend?’

Her startled gasp sent wine splashing over the rim of her glass.

With the speed of a quarter horse jumping out of the stalls, Jeremy whipped the snow-white handkerchief out of his breast pocket and dabbed at where the wine had run down her chin and throat, heading for her cleavage.

‘Don’t do that,’ she snapped, even as her arms broke out into goosebumps.

‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ he countered as he continued to mop up the wine.

Both George and Mandy said something but she wasn’t listening, her focus solely on where that infernal handkerchief was straying, down towards her bullet-like nipples.

Just before he reached them, his hand stopped and he put the handkerchief away. Alice was not sure if she was relieved or disappointed.

‘So what’s your real reason for refusing to go out with me?’ he asked her quietly as she snatched up her fork and attempted to finish her starter. ‘And I’d like the truth, please.’

She swallowed one meagre mouthful before putting the fork down. ‘If you must know, it’s because of your reputation.’

He looked bemused. ‘And what reputation is that?’

‘Come now, Jeremy, you must know what people say about you. You’re a playboy.’

‘Oh, is that all?’ he said, and laughed. ‘And that’s your only reason?’

She blinked at him. ‘You don’t think that’s a good enough reason?’

‘I’ve never come across it before.’

She just stared at him, thinking that she had never come across someone quite like him before, either. He was arrogant, yes, but with a wonderfully easy-going manner, which was both disarming and seriously seductive.

‘I would imagine that not many women would say no to you, Jeremy,’ she said truthfully. ‘But I am. Please don’t make a big deal about it. I’m not interested in wasting time on a man who thinks dating is a game and women are interchangeable.’

‘I couldn’t imagine ever thinking you were interchangeable, Alice. I can see that you are absolutely unique.’

‘Why? Because I’m saying no to you?’

When he smiled she wanted to slap him. And kiss him. And say yes to him.

Her shoulders straightened as they did whenever life put her back against the wall.

‘It’s time for us to go auction off a few things,’ she said coolly, and stood up.

CHAPTER SIX (#ulink_0280dabc-3a13-591f-86e0-9469b38ce426)

BY THE END of the evening, Jeremy concluded that if he ever lost all his money and didn’t want to return to banking he could become an auctioneer. Whipping up enthusiasm for the items on offer came naturally to him. But then, he’d always had the gift of the gab. He especially loved the thrill of the bidding wars, plus the moment when he brought the gavel down and said, ‘Sold!’ The whole process had been exciting. And profitable for the women’s refuges. Alice seemed very pleased with the results. They had raised over four hundred thousand pounds from the auction alone, with the profit from the dinner lifting the total to half a million. Dear old George had contributed more than his fair share, bidding determinedly against a few other bidders for the privilege of having his name—plus his darling wife’s—in Kenneth’s next thriller. Mandy had been over the moon.

‘I can hardly believe it,’ Alice said afterwards. ‘I never dreamt we’d raise so much. Of course, I have you to thank, Jeremy,’ she added. ‘You were brilliant.’

Jeremy didn’t get too carried away with her compliment. There was still a wariness in her eyes during her dealings with him. Logic told him he was probably wasting his time pursuing Alice. But logic could not compete with the desire for her that had grown with each moment he spent in her company. She possessed a heady combination of mystery and allure, of unconscious warmth one moment and frosty reserve the next. It did irk Jeremy that, for the first time in his life, his reputation as a playboy wasn’t working for him. It usually whetted female interest, most women wanting to see if he could live up to his reputation as a lover. Others obviously imagined that they would be the one to ensnare his heart and make him settle down. They didn’t know they were fighting a lost cause. A few went out with him just for fun. They were the ones he liked best.

Alice obviously wasn’t any of those. She was a serious girl, with a serious outlook on life. He wondered if her slightly anti-men attitude came from something that had happened to her in the past, or maybe from where she worked. It could hardly endear the opposite sex to Alice if she was constantly dealing with women who’d suffered from domestic or sexual abuse from their boyfriends or husbands. He would never hurt her. He just wanted the opportunity to get to know her, and, yes, to get to know her. Was that so wrong?

Yes, Jeremy, came a voice he wasn’t used to hearing. Possibly his conscience? Alice is not the sort of girl who could handle a fling with a man like you. You would probably end up hurting her, whether you meant to or not.

Rubbish, another voice argued back immediately. His male ego perhaps? You’re exactly what Alice needs. Dating you will make her lighten up a bit. You can give her a fun time, and pleasure. Lots and lots of pleasure!

His loins prickled anew at this last thought.

Naturally, this second voice won the day, Jeremy refusing to be deterred despite Alice’s earlier half-hearted rejection. She was attracted to him. He was sure of it. She just had to get to know him better...

‘I have some wealthy friends who would be only too glad to make a substantial donation to your cause,’ he said as he accompanied her back to the foyer of the hotel. He was thinking of Sergio and Alex, who were both generous givers to charity, Alex especially. ‘I’ll give them a call tomorrow and get back to you. And then there’s the matter of my own personal donation.’

A startled Alice ground to a halt, throwing him what could only be described as a panicky look. ‘But I don’t expect you to donate a thing,’ she said hurriedly. ‘You’ve already been more than generous with your time tonight.’

‘It was no hardship. I enjoyed every moment. But I didn’t pay for my dinner. Neither did I buy anything at the auction. I can well afford to make a donation, Alice. I thought I might match what you raised tonight pound for pound. Now don’t go thinking there any strings attached to this offer, because there aren’t,’ he continued before she could protest. ‘So who will I send the money to?’

‘What?’ She seemed totally flustered.

‘You have registered a proper charity, haven’t you?’

‘Yes, of course I have. It’s called Save Our Refuges.’

‘Right. I’ll tell my friends.’

‘The Bank of England is handling the donations for us. You can just transfer the money straight into the account. The details were on the email I sent to all the guests. But of course you weren’t a guest, were you?’ she added, frowning. ‘I’ll email Madge in the morning with all the information. But honestly, Jeremy, you don’t have to donate that much money.’

‘Why not? I can afford it. Besides, money doesn’t go all that far these days. If you want to open more refuges you’re going to need a lot more than a million pounds.’

‘I suppose so...’

‘Your charity will also need a few well-heeled patrons, like moi. You will need help, Alice, if you want to achieve the goals you set out in your speech. I’ll tell you what, since you won’t go out to dinner with me, why don’t you drop by my office one day this week and we’ll have a think tank on what other fund-raising activities you can employ? I’ll see if Madge can join us. She’s a smart lady and a fabulous organiser. I’m sure she’d love to be involved. How about Friday afternoon? Are you free then? If you’re busy, we can make it next week some time.’

Alice still seemed reluctant, yet fiercely tempted at the same time. He could see a war going on in her eyes. But she would not, in the end, Jeremy believed, look such a gift horse in the mouth.

‘I...well...yes, I suppose I can make it on Friday afternoon. But not till around four. Is that too late for you?’

‘Not at all. Four would be fine.’ Step one accomplished, which was to make her see that he wasn’t such a bad guy. ‘I’ll have Madge email our address. Let her know if you can’t make it and we’ll reschedule.’ Good to not sound desperate to see her again. Yet he was desperate. Weirdly, irrationally desperate. Jeremy could not envisage letting Alice just disappear from his life. He hadn’t been this captivated by a woman in years. Or this challenged. She wasn’t going to be an easy conquest. But, then, he didn’t really want her to be a conquest. Despite his reputation as a ladies’ man, Jeremy was not a rake, or a libertine. He genuinely liked women, liked their company, in bed as well as out. Seduction was not his usual game, possibly because he rarely had to employ such tactics. Getting a girl to go to bed with him had always been so damned easy.

Alice, however, was not going to be easy. Hell, he couldn’t even get her to go out with him let alone go to bed with him. His pursuit of her was going to take patience, and some cunning. But he was sure she would be worth it.

His eyes ran over her one last time, imprinting her lovely face and figure in his memory bank so that he could download it into his mind at will during the next two days.

‘I’ll go get your coat,’ he offered.

* * *

Alice could have told him that she would get it herself, but she knew that feminist defiance was useless against a man of Jeremy’s nature. He might be a playboy, but he was also a gentleman of the old school who knew how to treat a woman. Alice felt both flattered and frustrated by his gallantry. She also felt flattered and frustrated by his determined pursuit of her. Clearly, he thought that making himself a patron of her charity would make her so grateful that she would finally agree to go out with him.

Silly man. She had no intention of doing so, despite the moments of sexual weakness, which he had effortlessly evoked in her tonight. But she would take his help, and his money, which was much needed by people who didn’t have the resources or the resilience to help themselves. As she watched him walk over and collect her coat, she wondered if he had any idea at all what the women and children who fled to refuges had suffered. Or if he cared. Hard to imagine that a man of his wealth and background really cared about those less fortunate than himself. Or really cared about her, for that matter. She was just an attractive girl who’d dared to resist his charms and say no to him. She’d become a challenge, one which he smugly thought he’d eventually overcome. She’d seen the spark of triumph in his eyes when she’d agreed to come to his office on Friday.

Alice’s mouth curved into a wry smile. If he thought she wasn’t aware of his not very subtle ploy, then he was very much mistaken. Or maybe he didn’t mind if she guessed how far he was prepared to go to get her, or how much he wanted her.

A shiver ran down Alice’s spine at this last thought, a shiver that didn’t bear too close an inspection. Because down deep, in that place reserved for unpalatable and somewhat scary truths, lay the fact that she secretly wanted him back. Perverse, really, given there was nothing to admire about Jeremy Barker-Whittle except his movie-star looks, his silver-tongued voice and his old-fashioned manners, all of which were either God-given or practised traits. He didn’t show any genuine qualities that she could like and respect. Why, he’d actually laughed over his less than admirable reputation. What kind of man did that?

When he started walking back towards her with her coat draped elegantly over one arm, Alice steeled herself for what was to come next. She knew that if she put out her hand to take her coat he would ignore it. So she placed her purse and laptop down on a nearby armchair and waited till he got close enough before turning and lifting her arms away from her sides in expectation of his sliding the coat up them and over her shoulders. Which he did, oh, so smoothly, Alice despising the involuntary tremor that ran through her tensely held body.

‘Where do you live?’ he asked her as she struggled for total calm. ‘Maybe we could share a taxi?’

What could she say? Silly to lie. ‘I share a flat in Kensington,’ she admitted as she picked up her laptop and purse.

By the time she glanced up at him, he was looking at her with surprised curiosity.

‘That’s where I live,’ he said. ‘In Kensington.’

‘Really?’ Was fate conspiring against her at every turn? She was trying to resist the man, not be thrown into his path each time. ‘What a coincidence.’

‘But a convenient one,’ he said, smiling.

‘Convenient?’ she repeated somewhat archly.

‘We should definitely share that taxi.’

‘Well, yes, yes, I suppose so,’ she said reluctantly.

* * *

Jeremy’s sudden rise in temper startled him. Anger was not something he liked in others, or himself. He considered it poor form at the best of times. Only when severely provoked did he surrender to the temporary but often self-destructive comfort of fury. It had been many years since he’d lost it. Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t truly lost his temper since his last year at boarding school when he’d come across one of the younger boys being bullied as he’d once been bullied. The fight that ensued had seen him almost expelled, only his father’s paying for a new science block stopping that unfortunate event. Jeremy had rarely been grateful to his father for anything, but he was that day. He’d really wanted to go on to university, and he might not have been accepted if he’d been expelled. Since then, Jeremy had steered well clear of all uncontrolled outbursts.

Occasionally, when annoyed with someone, he resorted to sarcasm. But that was as far as he usually went. The temptation to say something caustic to the ever reluctant Alice was acute, but counter-productive. So he simply smiled through clenched teeth and waved her ahead of him out towards the taxi station.

The ride from the hotel to her address in Kensington was blessedly short, with Alice sitting as far from him as possible with her knees pressed primly together, her laptop resting across her thighs, her head turned steadfastly towards the window. She didn’t say a single word. Neither did he. Jeremy was half regretting his decision to pursue this girl. As intriguing as he found Alice, she wasn’t worth losing any sleep over, or spending a small fortune on. His earlier assumption that she was attracted to him could be wrong. Either that, or she had some serious issues where the opposite sex was concerned. Maybe she’d been treated badly by a past boyfriend, some arrogant rich brute who’d cheated on her perhaps, leaving her bitter and cynical over men in general, and wealthy ones in particular. It would explain so much. Her chilly responses to his overtures. Her contempt of his reputation as a playboy.

By the time the cab pulled up outside her address, Jeremy felt confident that he’d hit on the reason behind her wariness where he was concerned. He couldn’t have been wrong about her finding him attractive. No way.

‘Thank you for tonight, Jeremy,’ she said stiffly when she finally turned her head to look at him. ‘You were a brilliant auctioneer, and a very pleasant dinner companion.’

He gazed deep into her eyes. ‘Maybe we can do it again some time...’ But without the auction next time.

Despite the dim light in the back of the cab, he saw the heat that suddenly flooded her cheeks, saw the startled widening of her eyes. Clearly, Alice was not used to blushing, wasn’t used to having her composure rattled.

‘We can discuss future auctions on Friday,’ he added smoothly, his eyes still locked with hers.

‘What? Oh, yes. Friday.’ She seemed to have difficulty dragging her eyes away from his. Turning abruptly, she reached for the door handle before throwing an almost frightened glance over her shoulder. ‘Please don’t get out,’ she said before he could do so. ‘I’ll see you at your office on Friday around four.’ And she was gone, fleeing the cab with an unflattering speed, leaving Jeremy to smile ruefully at her ongoing resistance to the sexual chemistry that had just flared between them. Not just flared. It had fairly sizzled, with a heat that had left her flushed and him frustrated in a fiercely cruel fashion.

Jeremy watched her bolt up the stairs to the front door of her flat, the kind of flat that only rich girls lived in. She didn’t turn back to wave at him before letting herself into the stylish town house. A light came on immediately, showing him that her flat was on the ground floor, which was always the most expensive. The upper floor and the basement flats would be cheaper. Though not much. Since investigating property prices in London more thoroughly, Jeremy knew that the most dilapidated flat in this area cost close to a million pounds.

He sat staring at the far from dilapidated town house for a few seconds before telling the driver to go on, his mind and his body in turmoil. It annoyed him that he hadn’t found out a single personal detail about Alice tonight other than her lack of a boyfriend. He hadn’t satisfied his rabid curiosity about her at all, let alone satisfied that other urgent need that had now arisen to torment him. Jeremy could not remember the last occasion he’d gone home alone after a date with a girl he liked. In actual fact, he couldn’t recall that ever happening. Not that tonight was a proper date, he reassured his bruised male ego. Still, it rankled that for the first time in his life a girl had actually said no to him, especially one who he felt confident was sexually attracted to him.

By the time Jeremy exited the taxi in front of his stylish mews house three streets away, his resolve was firmly back in place, his ego refusing to accept her rejection. The bottom line was that he wanted Alice Waterhouse as he’d never wanted a girl before. And he meant to have her. End of story.