That every evening she worked until she was exhausted and then just went home and fell into bed. That she was afraid to slow down in case her emotions caught up with her. In case she suddenly started to feel.
Emotionally numb and physically exhausted was the only way she could safely exist.
But Zander wasn’t interested in emotion. He just didn’t do emotion.
He’d deleted their brief marriage from his memory with the same ruthless efficiency with which he organised the rest of his life.
Lauranne lifted her chin. Thanks to him, she’d learned not to do emotion either. If he wanted to talk business, then they’d talk business. ‘The business is a success thanks to Tom. He financed this business with his own money. He took me on when no other company would touch me.’ Her voice shook as she reminded him of the facts. ‘If it hadn’t been for him I would have had no way of earning a living.’
He rounded on her with a ferocious growl. ‘Don’t mention his name in my hearing.’
She felt the hairs stand up on the back of her neck. ‘Give me one reason why not.’
His eyes flashed fire and flame. ‘Because you were mine,’ he said thickly, his tone pure masculine possession. ‘Mine. And Farrer did what no other man would have dared to do. Only ignorance could have prompted him into such a foolish and risky course of action.’
Her heart was thudding so hard she thought it must be visible to him. ‘He didn’t know what sort of man you are.’
‘I’m Greek,’ he announced flatly. ‘And Greek men know how to take care of their women.’
She needed no reminder of his heritage. It was part of who he was, visible in everything he did and everything he said.
‘Your relationship with women is stuck in the Stone Age. If Versace made loincloths you’d be wearing one.’
‘I didn’t notice you complaining when you were naked under me.’ His voice was a rich, masculine drawl and she felt it curl its way around every part of her damaged and fragile heart. The vision of lying naked with him was all too clear and she felt an unwelcome coil of heat low in her pelvis.
The discovery that part of her still craved him came as an unpleasant shock.
She lifted her chin, struggling to hang onto her dignity. ‘I’d like you to leave right away.’
‘Because you don’t trust yourself around me, Lauranne?’
‘Because I’m afraid I might bruise you if you stay within thumping distance,’ she said grittily. ‘Fighting always was what we did best.’
He lifted an eyebrow mockingly, back in control once again. ‘That’s not how I remember it, agape mou. We did a lot of things extremely well.’
Their eyes clashed and she caught her breath, remembering, feeling—
Oh, God, she didn’t want to feel…
‘Go, Zander. Just go.’
But he didn’t go. Instead he strolled towards her, his eyes still locked with hers in blatant challenge.
She forced herself to hold her ground. Forced herself not to turn and run despite the quivering of her body and the lurch of her heart.
‘You always reminded me of a firework,’ he murmured, his tone conversational as he steadily closed the distance between them. ‘Sparky, full of fire and beautiful enough to make a man gasp. And dangerous to handle.’
His words made her breathing jerk. ‘Come any closer and you’re going to find out just how dangerous. And stop pretending that we had any sort of relationship that meant anything. To you it was just sex and you were only interested in me because I refused you.’
‘Not true,’ he shot back instantly. ‘I was interested because you challenged me. With every flash of your blue eyes and every lift of that delicate chin, you challenged me.’ He came to a halt directly in front of her, a smile playing around his firm mouth. ‘But it’s true that no woman had ever run away from me before. It was a first.’
‘You are impossibly arrogant.’ She gave an exclamation of disgust and his smile widened.
‘I’m honest. And we both know that you were just playing games. You were mine from the moment I saw you sitting on that bar stool, that tiny skirt showing every inch of your fabulous long legs, your golden hair trailing down your back like a beacon lighting up the night sky.’
Her pulse was fluttering and she shook her head in denial. ‘I never would even have spoken to you if I’d known who you were.’
He lifted a hand and touched her hair with gentle fingers, his touch making her tremble.
‘You couldn’t help yourself, Lauranne. And neither could I. It was stronger than both of us—’
And it was still stronger than both of them.
This close she was aware of every single inch of him. She could see the strong column of his throat, smell the tantalising male smell that she associated only with Zander, and she could feel the power of his sexuality with every traitorous bone in her body. He was just so wickedly attractive, she thought desperately, remembering the way he’d murmured huskily to her in Greek as he’d rolled her under him on a warm sandy beach.
She pushed the thought away, wondering why the brain remembered good when there was so much bad to choose from.
‘If I’d known who you were I would have known you were trouble. Your reputation alone would have made me run a mile.’
Dear God, how could she feel like this? Even after everything he’d done to her, she could feel the heat of desire burning inside her, the incessant throb of the blood in her veins.
It was as if her body were suddenly coming to life after five years of hibernation.
Only Zander had ever done this to her.
Only Zander drove her to a pitch of sexual excitement that eclipsed the workings of her brain.
And he hadn’t even touched her—
He was dangerous, deadly and thoroughly addictive.
‘You were a fascinating mixture of sparky and shy,’ he observed, totally ignoring her snappy response. ‘Nervous of me but excited and intrigued at the same time.’
Suddenly it was difficult to speak. ‘I was right to be nervous of you. I should have run a mile.’
‘Instead of which you married me.’
His cool statement sucked the breath from her lungs. Yes, she’d married him. Because she’d been so madly, crazily in love with him that from the day she’d met him the only word in her vocabulary had been ‘yes.’
‘Everyone makes mistakes, Zander.’ And she was still paying for hers. Every minute of every day. ‘You’re ruthless and cold-hearted and I truly don’t believe that you have a compassionate bone in your body.’
He stared at her for a long moment, a muscle working in his lean jaw. ‘There are plenty of people out there who would agree with you,’ he drawled, ‘which brings us back to the reason I’m here.’
Her brain did an emergency stop. She’d actually forgotten that there must be a reason for his visit.
‘You’re here because your people made a big mistake,’ she reminded him caustically. ‘You wouldn’t have come if you’d known it was me. And now you know, you can leave the same way you came in.’
‘I don’t think so.’ There was a strange light in his eyes. ‘You see, after five years I’ve finally found a use for you. You’re going to work for me again.’
CHAPTER TWO
LAURANNE stared at Zander in stunned silence.
He