All That Glitters Read online

  Then an idea struck her. He had given it to her himself. Why not let him believe that she had been so mistreated that she feared all men now? He had seemed receptive to that idea…

  "I don't want to talk about it," she muttered, keeping her face turned into his shoulder.

  His arms tightened about her. "You have to talk about it," he said forcefully, putting his mouth against her temple. "You have to get it out in the open, where you can understand it."

  "I—I don't think I can," she said breathlessly, for his arms were preventing proper breathing. "Give me time, Nikolas."

  "If I must," he said into her hair. "I won't hurt you, Jessica; I want you to know that. I can be very considerate when I get what I want."

  Yes, he probably could, but he was thinking only of an affair while she was already beginning to realize that her heart was terrifyingly open, his for the taking—except that he didn't want it. He wanted only her body, not the tender emotions she could give him.

  His hands were moving restlessly, one stroking over her back and bare shoulders, the other caressing her thigh and hip. He wanted to make love, now, she could feel the desire trembling in his body. She groaned and said, "No, Nikolas, please. I can't—"

  "I could teach you," he muttered. "You don't know what you're doing to me; a man isn't a piece of rock!"

  But he was, pure granite. Her slim body arched in his arms as she tried to slip away from him. "No, Nikolas! No!"

  He opened his arms as if he was freeing a bird and she slid from his lap to the floor, sitting on it like a child, her head resting on the sofa. He sighed heavily. "Don't wait too long," he advised, his deep voice hoarse. "Run upstairs and do whatever you have to do before we go for a drive. I have to get out of here or there won't be any waiting."

  He didn't have to tell her a second time. On trembling legs she ran upstairs, where she combed her hair and put on makeup, then changed her shoes for modest heels. Her heart was pounding wildly as she returned downstairs to him. She hardly knew him, yet he was gaining a power over her that was frightening. And she was helpless to prevent it.

  When she approached him, he stood and pulled her close with a masterful arm, and his hard warm mouth took hers lazily. When he released her, he was smiling, and she supposed he had reason to smile, for her response had been as fervent as it was involuntary.

  "You'll be a blazing social success," he predicted as he led her to the door. "Every man will be at your feet if you continue to look so fetching and to blush so delightfully. I don't know how you can manage a blush, but the how really doesn't matter when the result is so lovely."

  "I can't control my color," she said, miffed that he should think her capable of faking a blush. "Would you rather your kisses had no effect on me?"

  He looked down at her and gave her a melting smile. "On the contrary, my pet. But if it's excitement that brings the flush to your cheeks, I shall know when you are becoming aroused and will immediately whisk you away to a private place. You must tell me all of your little signals."

  She managed a careless shrug. "Before you whisk me away to be ravished, I suggest that you first make certain I'm not in the midst of a fight. Anger brings on the same reaction, I'm told. And I don't imagine that even your backing will smooth away all the rocks!"

  "I want to know about any rocks that stub your toe," lie said, and his voice grew hard. "I insist on it, Jessica. I won't have a repeat of the sort of trash I read this morning, not if I have to muzzle every gossip columnist in London!"

  To her horror, it did not sound like an empty threat.

  * * *

  Chapter Five

  When the doorbell rang, Jessica went very still. Nikolas put his hand on her waist and squeezed gently, then that hand urged her inexorably toward the door. Involuntarily she resisted the pressure and he looked down at her, his hard mouth curving into a dry smile. "Don't be such a little coward," he mocked. "I won't let the beasts eat you, so why not relax and enjoy it?"

  Speechless, she shook her head. In the few days that she had known Nikolas Constantinos he had taken her life and turned it upside down, totally altered it. This morning he had given his secretary a list of people to call and invite to his penthouse that night, and naturally everyone had accepted. Who turned down Constantinos? At four o'clock that afternoon Nikolas had called Jessica and told her to dress for the evening, he would pick her up in two hours. She had assumed that they would be dining out again, and though she hadn't looked forward to it, she had realized the futility of resisting Nikolas. It wasn't until he had her at his penthouse that he had told her of his plans.

  She was angry and resentful that he had done all of this without consulting her, and she had scarcely spoken to him since her arrival, which seemed to bother him not at all. But underneath her anger she was anxious and miserable. Though well aware that, with Nikolas backing her, no one would dare be openly cold or hostile, she was sensitive enough that it didn't really matter if their dislike was hidden or out in the open. She knew it was there, and she suffered. It didn't help that Nikolas''s secretary, Andros, was there, his contempt carefully hidden from Nikolas but sneeringly revealed to her whenever Nikolas wasn't looking. It had developed that Andros was a second cousin to Nikolas, so perhaps he felt he was secure in his position.

  "You're too pale," observed Nikolas critically, pausing with his hand on the handle to open the door. He bent and kissed her, hard, deliberately letting her feel his tongue, then straightened away from her and opened the door before she could react in any way other than the delicate flush that rose to her cheeks.

  She wanted to kick him, and she promised herself that she would have his hide for his arrogant action, but for now she steeled herself to greet the small clusters of people who were arriving. Stealing a glance at Nikolas, she saw that his hard masculine lips wore a light coat of her lipstick and she blushed anew, especially when several of the sharp-eyed women noted it also, then darted their glances to her own lipstick as if matching the shades. Then he stretched out one strong hand and pulled her closer to his side, introducing her as his "dear friend and business partner, Jessica Stanton." The dear friend description brought knowing expressions to many faces, and Jessica thought furiously that he might as well have said "chere amie," for that was how everyone was taking it. Of course, that was Nikolas's intention, but she did not plan to fall meekly in with his desires. When the second half of his introduction sank in, everyone immediately became very polite where for a moment she had sensed a direct snub. Chere amie was one thing, but business partner was another. He had made it obvious, with only a few well-chosen words, that he would take any insult to Jessica as an insult to himself.

  To her surprise and discomfiture, Nikolas introduced one tall, smartly dressed blonde as a columnist, and by the pressure of his fingers she knew that this was the gossip columnist who had written that vicious little bit about her for the Sunday paper. She greeted Amanda Waring with a calm manner that revealed nothing, though it took all of her self-control to manage it. Miss Waring glared at her for a fraction of a second before assuming a false smile and mouthing all of the conventional things.

  Her attention was jerked back to Nikolas by the spectacle of a stunning redhead sliding a silken arm about his muscular neck and stretching up against him to kiss him slowly on the mouth. It wasn't a long kiss, nor a deep one, but nevertheless it fairly shouted of intimacy. Jessica went rigid as an unexpected and unwelcome flame of jealousy seared her. How dare that woman touch him! She quivered and barely restrained herself from jerking the woman away from him, but if Nikolas himself hadn't released the woman's arm from his neck and stepped back from her, she might still have created a scene. The glance Nikolas gave her was as apologetic as one could expect from him, but the effect was ruined by the gleam of amusement in the midnight depths of his eyes.

  Deliberately Nikolas drew his handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the redhead's coral-beige lipstick from his mouth, something he hadn't done when he had kissed Je