LITMIR.BIZ

Скачать книгу

      He smiled and gently stroked a long finger against her creamy cheek. ‘Yes I am—really.’

      ‘Are you going to live wif us now?’ Emily asked, her thumb sneaking up to her little mouth.

      ‘That hasn’t been de—’ Charlotte began.

      ‘That is certainly what I will be doing,’ Damon said, interrupting her. ‘In fact we are going to go on a holiday together, just like a real family.’

      ‘In an aeropwane?’ Emily asked around her thumb.

      He nodded as he lifted her out of the cab. ‘Not just any old aeroplane, little one, but my very own private jet.’

      ‘I’ve never been on an aeropwane,’ Emily said, nestling against his shoulder, her eyelids beginning to droop once more. ‘Is Mummy coming too?’

      Damon met Charlotte’s mutinous look. ‘Yes, she is, Emily.’

      ‘Are you going to get married?’ Emily asked.

      Charlotte’s eyes moved away from the burning probe of Damon’s to address her daughter. ‘Not all mummies and daddies are married to each other,’ she explained.

      Emily’s little forehead started to wrinkle. ‘But I want to be a flower girl like Janie was. I want to wear a pretty dress and have flowers and stuff in my hair.’

      ‘I will see what can be arranged,’ Damon said and led the way into the hotel.

      Charlotte had to wait until Emily was settled and sound asleep in the second bedroom of the penthouse suite before she could confront Damon over his autocratic plans to take over their lives.

      ‘How dare you imply to Emily we’re getting married?’ she fumed as she came into the main room. ‘She’ll be so disappointed when she finds out the truth.’

      He held her flashing blue gaze for a lengthy moment without speaking. Charlotte didn’t care for the intransigent set to his features and wondered what was going on behind the dark screen of his eyes. She could almost hear the cogs of his incisive mind ticking over.

      ‘Emily has raised an important issue,’ he said at last. ‘She is a child crying out for a normal family life. We can give that to her.’

      Charlotte stared at him in alarm. ‘Don’t even think about it, Damon. You’re the last man I would ever consider marrying.’

      ‘I am not going to give you a choice,’ he said with an intractable set to his mouth. ‘If you do not agree to become my wife, you will find yourself not only without a job but without a daughter. There is not a judge in Australia who would allow a little child of three years of age to be exposed to a heroin-addicted prostitute, and you damn well know it.’

      ‘I am her mother! You can’t just waltz in and take her away.’

      He moved past her to get himself a drink from the well-stocked bar on the other side of the room. ‘Well, I am her father and, since I have not had any say in her upbringing thus far, I am taking full control now.’

      Charlotte drew in a breath that scraped at her raw throat. ‘How can you expect to know what’s in her best interests? You don’t even know how to be a father.’

      His eyes hit hers. ‘And whose fault is that?’

      She couldn’t hold the burning accusation in his gaze. ‘I told you I had no choice. I would have told you years ago, but you wouldn’t listen.’

      He moved back to stand in front of her, his height so intimidating she felt herself shrink backwards. ‘Tell me something, Charlotte—’ his voice was like an ice floe passing over her skin ‘—were you ever going to get around to telling me of her existence? You have known I was coming to Sydney for months. You could have at any time contacted me and told me and yet you did not. Not only that, over the last few days you have spent hours and hours in my company and yet you have not said a word.’

      Charlotte felt the probe of his gaze against hers and knew it would be pointless to lie to him now. ‘I was trying to work up the courage…’ she said, her throat moving up and down painfully.

      ‘I do not believe you.’

      ‘I was!’

      ‘You are lying. You have had numerous opportunities to tell me. No wonder you found it hard to look at me. All that talk of you finding things difficult between us was a pack of lies. What you were finding difficult was facing up to your guilt.’

      ‘I was going to tell you! I wanted to, but I was worried you’d do exactly what you’re doing now!’

      ‘You bitch.’ His embittered words slashed the air like a machete. ‘You thieving little lying bitch.’

      Charlotte raised her hand without thinking but he caught it in mid-air, his rapid block sending every bit of air out of her lungs.

      ‘You want to play it rough, do you, Charlotte?’ he asked, his fingers tightening around her wrist until she was sure it would bruise. ‘Go on, then. Hit me.’

      Her eyes blazed with hatred. ‘Let go of me or you’ll regret it.’

      He gave a mocking laugh as she pulled ineffectually against his hold. ‘How are you going to make me regret it, agape mou?’

      She kicked out with her foot but he spun her around so her back was towards him, every hard ridge and plane of his body now pressing against hers. She could feel his warmth seeping into her, the fragrance of his aftershave filling her senses and the unmistakable swelling of his erection probing her erotically from behind.

      ‘I do not think violence becomes you, Charlotte,’ he said against her neck, his lips a temptation she knew she would not be able to bear for much longer. ‘I prefer you purring like a kitten in my arms.’

      ‘L-let me go…’ Her plea was halfway between a gasp and a groan as he pressed even harder against her.

      His mouth found the sensitive skin behind her ear. ‘That was my mistake four years ago,’ he said. ‘This time I will not let you go.’

      She shivered as his tongue slid from behind her ear to her neck, tasting her in tiny teasing kisses that made her stomach quiver and her legs go weak and watery.

      He turned her in his arms and looked down at her, his eyes alight with desire as his hand cupped her breast, his other reaching between her legs, rubbing her intimately until she was leaning into him unashamedly. ‘See how you respond to me, Charlotte?’

      ‘I don’t want to respond to you…’ she breathed into the hot moist cavern of his mouth as it hovered just above hers. ‘It doesn’t seem right…’

      His lips brushed against hers, the tickling, teasing touch stirring her into a mindless frenzy of need. ‘What would indeed be wrong would be to ignore this passion that sizzles between us, Charlotte,’ he said, stroking her bottom lip with the rasping, sensuous glide of his tongue.

      She opened her mouth as his tongue pushed tantalisingly against her lips, her stomach hollowing in need as he thrust in once, stroked her tongue with his and then retreated. She brought her mouth back to his and met his tongue with her own, tentatively at first and then, when he responded with a deep groan, with even more fervour.

      It was a kiss of combat and the angst fuelling it somehow made it all the more thrilling. Her teeth nipped at him, inciting him to do the same, her bottom lip his tender target. He suckled on its fullness before capturing it with his teeth again in a series of playful little bites that had her senses instantly screaming for release.

      He pushed her backwards until she was up against the nearest wall, his mouth feeding hungrily off hers, his chest heaving in and out with the effort of staying in control.

      Charlotte didn’t want him in control. She wanted him in full-throttle mode, no holds barred. She tore at his shirt with her fingers, searching for the springy hair on his chest, her nails raking along

Скачать книгу