Page 22 of Gamble On Passion

'You're joking; what on earth for? It's only won once in two years.'

'Well, this meeting is patronised by the Queen Mother,' she said defensively.

'And that's your reason for picking it?' He threw back his dark head and burst out laughing. 'Jacy, you will never make a gambler. If I were you I would keep your investigative instincts for your career. They won't help you on the race track, but I can if you do as I say.'

'For your information,' she grinned, poking him playfully in the chest, 'I have won a considerable amount of money today.'

Leo put his glass down on the table and took her hand in his. 'OK, please yourself; far be it from me to come between a woman and her intuition,' he drawled cyni­cally, his dark eyes grazing over her smiling face. 'But be warned...' He drew her forward, taking her hand behind her back to hold her hard against his tall frame. 'You won't win.'

His nearness was like a potent force enveloping her. She felt the leashed power in his body; she had never known a man who could affect her as physically as Leo did. The smile left her lips and she stared up into his glittering dark eyes, and inexplicably a shiver of fear slithered down her spine. 'How can you be so sure?' she asked softly, and she saw something dark and dangerous flash in his eyes.

'Because I always do, Jacy...'

CHAPTER SEVEN

Jacy, held captive in his hold, her golden eyes trapped by the desire she recognised in Leo's, felt the shiver turn into a tingling sensation down the length of her spine. He was a hard man, all steel, the toughest man she had ever met or was ever likely to. Yet she knew with a deep feminine instinct that Leo was as aware of her as she was of him. The words he spoke were probably true. But they were secondary to the invisible tension that en­veloped them.

'And also because I'm a genius,' he opined, his voice harsher, and, as though he resented the tension between them, he released his hold on her.

'And modest with it,' she murmured sarcastically.

'Of course.' The corner of his mouth quirked in the beginnings of a grin and with a slow, salacious study of her feminine curves, neatly displayed by the high-necked blouse and hip-hugging skirt, he added, 'And you are immodest enough for both of us in that outfit.' His arm curved around her waist under her jacket. 'The tie at your throat is begging to be unknotted. How anything so masculine in design can appear so feminine is one of the mysteries of life.'

'Well, we women need some secrets,' she responded with a mock-flirtatious flutter of her long eyelashes, playing his sophisticated game.

'And you, I think, have more than most. Gambling appears to be another one of your vices,' he said hardly.

'Another one? I wasn't aware I had any vices.' Until I met you, she wanted to add. Her lust for Leo was her one great weak spot, and inside she died a little. Leo desired her, but it was becoming more and more obvious that his opinion of her as a person had not changed at all.

'If you say so, my sweet. I won't argue; your character or lack of it isn't what I am interested in.' His dark head bent and he pressed a swift, hard kiss on her full lips, and before she could take him up on his comment an announcement over the public address system an­nounced that the horses were going down for the last race.

Suddenly they were besieged by the rest of the party-businessmen demanding from Leo if his horse stood a chance, a rush to place bets, and a hasty scramble for the best view of the track by some, while others were content to watch the race on the television screen pro­vided in the private box. Throughout it all Leo kept Jacy pinned to his side, making it very obvious she was his woman.

For the next half-hour she lived in a mad whirl of excitement. She deliberately squashed any lingering doubts about the wisdom of taking up with Leo again. She only had to look at him to recall the hard potency of his superb male form, and feel the heat curl in her belly. She smiled and laughed, entering wholeheartedly into the various discussions with the ease that long years of working in a high-powered job and travelling exten­sively to interview and investigate businessmen from the bankrupt to the multi-millionaire had given her.

On a purely practical level, she acknowledged, at eighteen she had been no match for Leo, but now she could confidently move in his sophisticated world with comparative ease, and the thought was oddly com­forting, in that they had something in common other than sex. Still, it did not stop her eyes from lingering on his impressive features or her pulse from racing like a gauche teenager's every time he smiled down at her.

Finally the race was off, and she watched along with everyone else as the horses chased around the two-mile four-furlong course. She couldn't repress a groan as hers fell at the fourth jump, but by the final straight she was cheering Greek Legend along with everyone else. Her own stubborn pride had made her stick to her choice, and when Leo's was first past the post she was picked up in his arms and swung around while Leo grinned like an overgrown schoolboy on his first date. When he finally set her back on her feet and she recovered her breath she managed to say, 'Congratulations. But don't say it...'

I told you so...? As if I would be so cruel...' He laughed, and insisted she join him at the presentation of the trophy in the winners' enclosure.

Leading in the winning horse, standing in the ring with Leo as he accepted the trophy and fat cheque, cameras whirling, and then joining him for a cheerful walk back up to the box for a celebratory toast, Jacy was beguiled into believing he cared.

Liz caught her arm as Leo was accepting the con­gratulations of Tom and his boss. 'Leo taking you back to London, is he?'

'I-'

'Of course I am, Liz,' Leo cut in briefly before turning back to Tom. 'Thank you, Tom, I'll be in touch.'

'It's customary to ask first,' Jacy muttered, not re­alising she had spoken out loud.

'Oh-oh, I smell a fight,' Liz quipped. 'Good luck, Leo.' And she was swallowed up by the crowd.

'Why? Are you going to refuse?' Leo queried silkily. 'I was under the impression you had missed me the past couple of weeks, but perhaps I was misled.' His arm tightened around her waist.

'No,' she admitted. Her golden gaze rested helplessly on his bronzed face. What was the point in denying herself or Leo? 'And I did miss you,' she answered honestly.

'I find that hard to believe. You're a very beautiful, very sexy woman. Didn't you feel just a little deprived, waiting for me?' he queried with a cynical smile that did not quite reach the deep brown eyes lingering watchfully on her glowing face.

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