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Tease. She shot him a warning glance. Her skin tingled, her senses responding wildly to his proximity. She threw him a querying glance.
“You want Burlington Manor,” he continued. “I don’t. We can come to a mutually satisfying arrangement.” He ran his finger down the length of her neck.
Arousal surged through her. Don’t trust him. “I have funds available for transfer. My lawyer will be in touch.”
Rex ignored that. He lifted her hair free of her cheek. “I like your hair this way,” he said, running it through his fingers as he admired it. “It used to be shorter.”
The aroma of his cologne hit her. The familiar scent of him took her back. Inside a heartbeat she was seventeen and longed for him to hold her. Instead, he teased her relentlessly—making her horribly aware of her fragile confidence—and then he’d cast her aside and seduced one of her friends. That hurt. If he’d pursued her like this back then, instead of Amanda, it would have been a dream come true. Now it got her back up. He was a playboy, plain and simple He was asserting his power over her because he was a man who assumed he could toy with women for his own entertainment. “Stop playing games, Rex. Name your price.”
A slow smile spread across his face, his eyes gleaming as he gazed at her, looking at her lips as if he was about to devour them. “We live together at the house for an agreed term.”
It had to be a joke. She stared up at him and his intense blue eyes were so vivid they seemed to burn into her. “Oh for God’s sake, just tell me how much you want for your share.”
“I don’t want money. I want you.”
Her lips parted. She was stunned.
“No financial exchange. Just you?” he locked eyes with her “?in my bed, refusing me nothing.”
Images flashed through her mind, images of them locked together in fierce passion. Fighting away the rising tide of longing, she shook her head. “You can’t be serious.”
“I am, entirely so.” As if to emphasize his point, he moved one hand inside her jacket, where he cupped her breast and ran his thumb over her nipple.
Carmen couldn’t stifle her gasp. His touch knew no bounds, no protocol. It was breathtaking. The only barrier between his skin and hers was her shirt and the sheer lace bra she wore beneath it. Her nipple knotted and tingled. Her emotions were in chaos, and her trust in her body and its responses was fast waning. “You think you can have any woman you want. Well, I’m not for sale, Rex Carruthers.”
He shrugged. “I want you, and you want the house. This is the perfect opportunity for us both to get what we want.”
What surprised her more—that he claimed he wanted her, or that he knew she wanted the house so much? She wasn’t sure, but she despised him for putting her in this position, and even more, she despised herself for considering the idea. Her knees were weak under her. The hard surface of the car was the only thing holding her up.
“Come on, why deny the attraction now?” The lust in his eyes was tempered by humor. “I touched you like this before, and you liked it. You liked it a lot.”
Shame flooded her. Her eyelids fluttered down, but her attempt to deny the images assailing her was futile. They were scored on her memory, relived many times. He’d flirted with her and out of the blue she found herself in his arms and they were kissing. Their lust unleashed was dangerous, moving like wild fire. In hungry, eager embraces they’d almost gone all the way. Thankfully a noise from elsewhere in the house had broken them up.
“I was young and easily led,” she responded, squaring up to him as best she could, “I won’t be played with again—and certainly not for your share of the house. The suggestion is outrageous.”
His hand on her body felt good, though, and she hadn’t pushed him away, hadn’t been able to. That old sense of longing was a simmering fire she thought she’d quashed long ago. She forced it back, refusing to let him take charge of her.
“Come to the house this weekend, we’ll take it from there.”
Perhaps it would kill off all those idiotic teenage fantasies she’d had once and for all. Or joining him there could be the biggest mistake of my life. “I’ll come to discuss the deal, but you can’t force me to sleep with you!”
“I won’t force you, I won’t have to.” The knowing look he gave her right then was infuriating. It was also a massive turn-on. Undeniably masterful, undeniably masculine and controlled, he made her blood pump hard, her pulse wildly erratic.
“Make arrangements to be away from London for the next four weekends. Our time together will begin on Friday evening.” He glanced at his watch, stepped away.
“I’ll come to the house to negotiate a purchase, that’s all.” How was it he could push her buttons so easily? He was so self-assured, so knowing, while she clung to the side of the car, filled with torrid imaginings and confused thoughts and needs.
His eyes twinkled with dark humor. “Consider this, my darling, if you don’t agree to my offer we’ll have to share the house…forever.”
Forever?
With that final comment, he inclined his head and strolled back up the steps into Montague’s office, leaving her standing there with one hand gripping the car to hold her up—her clothes awry, her body awash with heat, her heart thundering in her chest.
