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Dani turned at the unfamiliar voice, at the urgency with which it had spoken. But just as quick she looked at Alex because his hand suddenly crushed hers—his grip had gone boa-constrictor tight.
He’d frozen. His ready smile wiped. He didn’t even say hello to the man who’d threaded his way to where they stood. He was about an inch shorter than Alex and dressed in a suit that Dani recognised as made to order. Flecks of grey peppered his dark hair, but despite his age he was still a good-looking man—a hint of charisma in the smooth face, his smile practised.
‘I hoped you’d be here tonight.’ Yes, the smile was definitely practised, because his eyes were too watchful, betraying a hint of uncertainty. ‘I’ve tried calling you.’
Alex didn’t even blink.
The man shifted, glanced at Dani and offered her a wider version of the smile before his attention flicked back to Alex. ‘Aren’t you going to introduce me?’
The silence stretched. The awkwardness excruciating. What was the problem here? Didn’t Alex want to introduce her? But instinctively she knew it was this man that he had the problem with, not her. And it was some problem—she’d never have guessed a master of people skills like Alex could be so impolite.
‘Dani, this is Patrick. Patrick, this is Dani.’ He finally spoke. No qualifiers, no descriptors, no other info. Just names. Totally different from how he’d spoken with any of the others they’d mingled with tonight. His face had gone totally masklike. ‘I didn’t realise you were in New Zealand.’
‘I thought it would be a good idea. I take it you’ve had the results back.’
‘Yes.’ Alex’s mouth barely moved as he replied, his eyes like stones.
Dani felt goose bumps rise over every inch of her skin. Alex’s voice was blowing a chill direct from Antarctica.
The two men stared at each other. Alex stood ramrod straight and still, unrelenting in his cold scrutiny.
‘It would be good to talk.’ Patrick shifted his feet, his tongue touching the corner of his lip.
Was that the faintest touch of a plea in his comment? Dani almost felt afraid—the undercurrents swirling between the men seemed dark and downright dangerous. Alex seemed dangerous. The aggression she could feel mounting in him was raw. And this silence was too horribly long.
‘Not now.’ Alex shattered it. Brutally dismissive. Unbelievably cold. Then he turned, practically dragging Dani away with him.
Dani swallowed and half skipped to keep up. Stunned by this facet of Alex she hadn’t known existed. He went straight to the bar, ordered her a wine and himself a neat whisky. He knocked it back in one swallow. It was the first drop of alcohol he’d had all night. Dani sipped her wine slowly, wondering if he was going to have another, wondering what it was about the Patrick man that had him feeling so lethal. But he turned, looked her over, his eyes nothing but fire now.
‘Dance with me.’
She couldn’t refuse, her heart thudding as she felt the barely leashed emotion in him. He held her close—much closer than when they’d danced before. The music was loud, the tempo fast, but all the energy zinged from him—electrifying her nerves. And then she felt the change within him, from anger, to passion—but no less intense. He pulled her closer still, his hands firm on her body—moulding her to him. The way he moved was incredible, intoxicating, dizzying—indeed she stumbled.
He took her by the elbow and led her to a secluded table on the far side of the dance floor. He poured her a glass of water from the carafe on the table.
Dani took a sip of the cool liquid and asked before she lost the nerve. ‘Who’s Patrick?’
His eyes were dark, unreadable in the flashing lights from the dance floor. ‘No one.’
She had another sip of water, unsurprised by his answer. It wasn’t any of her business anyway. He pulled his chair closer, facing her rather than out to the floor. And then his hands disappeared.
‘What are you doing?’ She could hardly move her mouth enough to ask.
‘Nothing.’ Beneath the table his fingers were lightly caressing her knee—rubbing over the silk hem of her dress and onto her skin.
Nothing? Nothing like the lift?
His fingers moved higher.
‘I’d have thought a high-society fundraising dinner wouldn’t be the place for public displays of lust,’ she choked. ‘Aren’t you too well bred for that?’
‘Who said I was well bred?’ His hand slid higher up her thigh, the touch suddenly far more insistent.
Dani gulped. ‘I thought you were staying away.’
‘Was I?’
‘Stop it.’
Make me. He didn’t say it. He didn’t need to. He was so used to getting his way, wasn’t he? He understood the power of his charm. The way people had fawned over him tonight proved it. He thought he could get away with anything.
And maybe he could.
But Dani was suddenly filled with the urge to better him—just the once. The thrill of the challenge was irresistible, and what better way to drive away the shadows in his eyes from his frosty encounter with Patrick?
‘All right.’ She turned towards him. ‘If this is what you want.’
She lifted her hand to his face, ran her hand down his smooth jaw. Leaned closer and breathed in. She loved the light, crisp scent of his aftershave. She dropped her hand to his chest, feeling the beat of his heart and its acceleration, the heat of his skin burning through the shirt. Sizzling—that was Alex.
She moved her hand again, placed it lower—far higher up his thigh than his fingers had ventured up hers. She twisted her wrist, spreading her fingers, stroking his already rigid length, encircling it and then squeezing.
She was unable to stop her smile as he stopped breathing. His discomfort registered even more on his face. His mouth snapped shut, jaw went militarily square. She saw the ripple in his muscles as he struggled for control.
She leaned closer, her mouth a millimetre from his skin, and teased him some more. ‘Dare you to walk across the dance floor now.’
His breath hissed out between his teeth as he jerked, flinging far back into his seat and out of her reach. No, he wasn’t really into public displays at all, was he?
Triumphant, she met his eyes, her smile widening with the thrill of the dangerous line she was treading.
But then he moved. His grip on her upper arm was hard and he stood so fast that she stumbled as he hauled her up beside him. His other hand went around her waist, clamping her so she was just in front of him. He pressed his hot, hard body against her back. Insistent, he pushed her forward.
She walked. She had no choice. Right across the dance floor.
But he didn’t release her once they were clear; instead he guided her out of the room completely, down a corridor, and left, down another corridor.
Halfway along that he swiftly turned her, his arms powerful as he pulled her close. He pressed her against him, one hand slid beneath the hem of her dress. Her knees sagged at the touch and he pushed her until her back hit the wall. But he kept pushing until his body was sealed hard to the length of hers. Save a scrap of satin, a whisper of silk and his strained trousers, they were as intimate as two people could physically be.
Her gasp rasped in her ears and her most feminine muscles clenched instinctively, the hungry ache down low unbearable.
‘Don’t play with me and think you can win.’ His words dropped into her ear like sparks of wildfire—igniting frustration, temptation and anger. He felt so good against her. So incredibly good. She gazed at him, anticipation smothering any chance of thought.
‘My turn to dare,’ he taunted.
Her awareness surged to new heights, her body supersensitive.
‘Kiss me.’ He’d loosened his hold yet she couldn’t escape, couldn’t make herself push away the heat. Instead she wanted him closer again.
Pleasure and satisfaction—his promise of both beckoned her. His fingers stroked her thigh, inching higher, then higher, delicately tracing across her soft skin and sending r
ipples of sensation out to the rest of her body—especially those secret parts.
‘Kiss me.’ He flexed—closer—a minuscule movement with maximum impact.
Her lashes drooped as she studied him up close, no longer conscious of anything else but him. He tilted his chin at her, just the way she had at him in the lift that day, and his lips twisted into that irresistible smile.
