скачать книгу бесплатно
It would be too much to hope that those thoughts might be of the two of them making love, of course, but Sin found himself unable to think of anything else but making love to Luccy as she sat there looking so temptingly beautiful; her face was glowingly lovely in the early evening sunlight, that long ebony-blue hair loosely secured on top of her head, completely exposing the long, creamy expanse of her neck and throat. The tee shirt she wore was clinging wetly to the firm thrust of her breasts just beneath the water, the darker nipples clearly visible against the white material.
Sin had moved stealthily to the side of the tub before bending down behind Luccy, his hands instinctively curving about the thrust of those breasts even as he bent to taste the creamy expanse of her throat with his lips.
A familiarity Luccy had obviously taken exception to!
‘You might at least have given me some sort of warning that you were there!’ Luccy could feel the embarrassed colour heating her cheeks even as she continued to glare up at Sin, aware that her breasts were totally aroused from the unexpectedness of Sin’s hands cupping them in that way.
‘Coughed, you mean?’ he taunted even as he began to unbutton his wet shirt.
‘Something like—What are you doing?’ she demanded sharply as Sin finished unbuttoning his shirt before taking it off completely and dropping it down onto the wooden decking.
‘I thought I might join you,’ he told her huskily as he slipped off his shoes and socks before unfastening his trousers.
‘I—but—you can’t, Sin!’ Luccy shook her head frantically as he removed his trousers and stood there wearing only figure-hugging black boxers that left absolutely nothing to the imagination—as they proudly showed off the firm thrust of his arousal!
He paused with his thumbs hooked into the waistband of those boxers. ‘Why can’t I?’
Any number of reasons that Luccy could think of. All of them to do with the fact that she simply wasn’t used to having a man strip naked in front of her. Even—no, especially—a man she knew as intimately as she knew Sin. And who knew her just as intimately.
Luccy swallowed hard. ‘Look, I’ll get out and—’
‘If it makes you feel more comfortable, I’ll keep my boxers on,’ Sin offered as he unhooked his thumbs to look down at her mockingly.
‘Keeping your boxers on isn’t going to make the slightest difference—That was not an invitation for you to remove them!’ Luccy gasped as Sin did exactly that, instantly rendering her speechless.
Oh, God…
Sin was beautiful. Absolutely, completely, totally male and utterly beautiful.
The darkness of his hair grew slightly overlong to rest on the broad expanse of his shoulders, his face like a bronzed mask in the evening sunlight, chest muscled, stomach flat, his thighs—oh, dear Lord, those thighs!—firm and muscled as they flanked his blatant arousal, his legs long and lightly dusted with dark hair. Even Sin’s feet were beautifully shaped.
In the course of her work Luccy had worked with lots of male models over the years, in all states of dress and undress, but none of them had been as ruggedly compelling as Sin. Or made her senses sing in awareness…
‘Can I get in now or do you want to look some more?’
Luccy’s embarrassed gaze returned to Sin’s mockingly handsome face. ‘I really wasn’t in a—position, to look before,’ she came back tartly to cover that embarrassment.
‘Feel free,’ Sin invited huskily, grey eyes gleaming like silver.
Luccy instantly turned away from all that blatant maleness. ‘Don’t be ridiculous, Sin,’ she snapped dismissively, deliberately keeping her gaze averted when she felt the water move slightly as Sin climbed into the hot-tub with her, the long length of Sin’s thigh brushing against hers as he sat down beside her. ‘It’s probably time I was getting out anyway—’
‘Stay, Luccy,’ he encouraged throatily, so close now that the warmth of his breath disturbed the loose tendrils of hair beside her exposed ear, his arm curved along the top of the wooden tub behind her. ‘Did you miss me?’ he asked softly.
Luccy was totally unnerved by Sin’s close proximity, her shoulders tensed as she sat slightly away from the back of the tub in order to avoid coming into contact with the warmth of his arm. ‘You’ve only been gone a couple of hours,’ she pointed out.
Strangely, though, she had missed him, the house having suddenly felt very empty with only herself and Wallace in residence. But Luccy didn’t intend telling Sin that!
‘So I have,’ he murmured ruefully, his arm bending slightly behind her as his fingers began to play with the loose tendrils of hair at her nape. ‘Did you think of me while I was away?’ he added gruffly.
‘No, of course not—’ Luccy had turned sharply to look at him, and then wished she hadn’t as she found her face now only inches away from his, those silver-grey eyes totally mesmerising.
Sin had certainly found himself thinking of Luccy while he’d been in the city the past couple of hours!
None of his previous relationships had ever involved actually living with a woman, and with the penthouse suite at the Sinclair Hotel at his disposal he’d never brought women back to his home in order to sleep with them, either.
The clinging wet tee shirt Luccy was wearing revealed more than it concealed as Sin felt his gaze once again drawn to the darkness of her nipples so clearly outlined against the white material, and he wondered what else she was wearing…
Another of those scraps of lace, he discovered as his hand moved caressingly along the length of her thigh to her hip. Black this time, he found as he moved her tee shirt slightly to one side so that he could touch the warmth of her waist before cupping the fullness of her breast, watching the way Luccy’s eyes darkened, her lips slightly parted as the soft pad of his thumb moved across the rigid nipple.
‘You’re thinking of me now, though, hmm?’ he murmured.
‘Of how you like my hands touching you. Of how it would feel if I were to bend down and suck—’
‘Don’t, Sin,’ she groaned breathlessly.
‘Why not?’ he challenged huskily as he looked up and saw the flush of arousal on her cheeks.
‘Because I won’t become another of the women you seduce in your hot tub!’ she roused herself enough to protest.
‘Another of the women I seduce in my hot tub?’ he repeated incredulously.
‘No,’ Luccy insisted tautly as she very firmly removed Sin’s wandering hand before moving slightly away from him.
‘What makes you think I have a parade of women through here?’ Sin asked curiously.
‘The costume I found in the changing-room,’ Luccy snapped. ‘The costume with a 36C top.’
‘And you are?’
‘At the moment? A 32D, and growing,’ she added ruefully; Luccy had always been slightly disappointed that her bust size had stopped when she reached the age of sixteen, but she had definitely started to expand in that area since becoming pregnant.
Sin’s gaze warmed appreciatively. ‘I’m not complaining.’
‘Sin—’
‘The costume in the changing-room belongs to my mother, Luccy,’ he interrupted.
She blinked. ‘Your mother?’
Sin was so close to Luccy now that he could see the darker flecks of blue in her eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes that a man could lose his soul in…
‘My mother uses that costume when she’s here,’ he expanded, wondering suddenly whether he was in danger of losing his soul to her. ‘I never bring women here, Luccy,’ he assured her even as he gave in to the temptation to allow his lips to once more taste the creamy expanse of her throat.
That throat moved convulsively as Luccy swallowed. ‘You brought me here.’
‘Ah, but you aren’t “women”,’ Sin murmured as he tasted the lobe of her ear now.
‘I’m not?’
‘Not at all,’ Sin responded. ‘You’re the future mother of my children, and the future mistress of this house.’
Until that moment, the owner of that black bathing costume now explained, Luccy had been in danger of succumbing to the air of intimacy that surrounded them, of losing herself totally in Sin’s seduction. But this stark reminder of Sin’s intention of seducing her into marrying him completely evaporated her rapidly escalating arousal.
She moved sharply away from him. ‘I said don’t, Sin!’ she repeated more firmly as she stood up and moved towards the step to get out, totally uncaring of the way the white tee shirt clung to her; after all, there was nothing there that Sin hadn’t already seen, touched, or kissed!
‘Why the hell not?’ he growled as he looked across at her.
‘I am not going to be the mother of your children or the future mistress of this house!’ Luccy was breathing hard in her agitation.
‘That’s exactly what you’re going to be—’
‘No, it is not!’ Luccy turned back to face him, her face flushed with anger now. ‘I allowed you to bring me here only so that we could discuss future arrangements for after the baby is born. I’ve already told you why I have absolutely no intention of marrying you, let alone having other children with you.’
Sin’s mouth was a taut line. ‘And I’ve already told you that the alternative, my setting you up in a house somewhere and then only being allowed agreed visitation rights, is not an option, either!’
‘I haven’t asked for any of that—’
‘What other alternatives are there?’ he rasped coldly. ‘Come on, Luccy, if neither of those is acceptable, what else is there?’
‘I don’t know.’ Tears glistened in her eyes. ‘I just know that I can’t marry a man—any man—because I’m expecting his baby!’
Sin nodded grimly. ‘Because your sister did and the marriage was a disaster.’
‘Well, it was!’ Luccy cried. ‘She and Rory despise each other now.’
‘And you think that might happen to us, too?’
‘You don’t particularly like me now, so, yes, in eight years’ time you’ll probably hate the sight of me.’
‘Oh, I like you now, Luccy,’ he muttered.
Luccy shot him an impatient glare. ‘You’re talking about in a sexual way!’
He shrugged bare shoulders. ‘It’s a good place to start.’
‘It’s a good place to finish, too!’
Sin’s expression was grim. ‘We have at least one advantage over your sister and her ex-husband that I can see.’
Luccy tensed warily. ‘Which is?’
His mouth twisted derisively. ‘You would be marrying a billionaire—’
‘Sin, don’t you dare start accusing me again of wanting you for your money,’ she warned angrily. ‘I’ve seen how most rich men treat their wives, and I can assure you that I have no intention of marrying you and being left in this house like some—some—’
‘Some what?’ Sin asked, dangerously soft.
‘Some trophy on the mantel—’ Luccy made it sound like an insult ‘—while no doubt you remain in the city night after night, at your conveniently “always available” suite at the Sinclair Hotel, entertaining your girlfriends!’
Sin’s mouth tightened at how close a description it was to the way his life was now. But that was as a single man. It would be different when Luccy was his wife. ‘You’re asking for fidelity, is that it?’
‘No, that is not it!’ Luccy said heatedly. ‘Don’t you see, Sin? I just don’t want to marry you!’
Yes, Sin did see—it was just that there was no other alternative that was acceptable to him.
‘I’m expecting your baby, so therefore I must become your wife.’ Luccy shook her head in utter denial. Then she said, coolly and calmly, ‘No way, Sin. Absolutely no way will I ever marry a man for that reason.’
Sin could only watch in absolute frustration as Luccy climbed out of the hot tub before pulling on her robe and marching back into the house, her cheeks flushed with temper, her head proudly high, and her shoulders stiff with resolve.
It was a resolve Sin had every intention of breaking.
One way or another…
CHAPTER NINE
‘YOU’RE looking very beautiful this evening.’
Luccy eyed Sin warily, having joined him outside on the terrace for a drink before dinner—wine for Sin, once again a glass of sparkling water for Luccy—and finding herself once again slightly unnerved by the pleasantness of his tone as he commented on the midnight-blue knee-length dress she wore, her hair loose and gleaming about her shoulders.
Quite what she had expected Sin’s mood to be after their disagreement earlier, she didn’t know, but she certainly hadn’t expected his first words to be a compliment on her appearance!
‘Thank you,’ she accepted huskily, having no intention of telling Sin how devastatingly handsome he looked in the black evening suit and snowy white shirt he had changed into. If she didn’t mention it perhaps she could ignore it. Maybe. Although she somehow doubted it. Distance, that was what she needed. If not physically, then at least verbally.
‘Sin, we still haven’t resolved our differences of opinion concerning the future—’
‘Not now, Luccy,’ Sin cut in firmly. ‘Let’s just enjoy the peace and beauty of the evening, instead, hmm?’
Enjoying the peace and beauty of the evening wasn’t a good idea when Luccy was so aware of Sin that just being alone with him like this was making her toes curl!
That air of intimacy, the total physical awareness, was so thick and heavy between them now that Luccy almost felt as if she could reach out and touch it. As she wanted to reach out and touch Sin…
Luccy could barely breathe, let alone make the conversation she knew was necessary to dispel that air of expectation, as if they were both poised on the brink of—
The brink of what?
Luccy stiffened her spine, determined to dispel this air of intimacy between them once and for all. ‘Sin, I’ve decided that it really would be for the best if I went back to England tomorrow.’
Sin had been determined, after their disagreement earlier, to make this a pleasant evening for both of them, with no discord between them, and now Luccy had introduced—deliberately?—the one subject sure to cause a resumption of that contention.
‘I would much rather continue telling you how beautiful you are,’ he said instead.
She gave him a reproving look. ‘To what purpose?’
He frowned. ‘Sorry?’
Luccy sighed. ‘Sin, I’ve fallen for your seduction routine once already—’
‘Don’t you have that rather confused?’ he rasped, suddenly appearing very intimidating in the rapidly darkening evening.
