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‘Your mother has been hounding me with emails, demanding to know how her precious daughter is doing.’
She stiffened, her hands momentarily stilling in the water. ‘What did you tell her?’
‘Nothing, so far. She doesn’t quite rate in my list of priorities. Not yet anyway.’
She tried to hide her relief by glancing away. Zak allowed her a moment’s reprieve before he continued, ‘That’s not to say I won’t send her the response she seems to crave. I was curious about one thing, though...’
Her gaze snapped back to his, apprehension flashing in her eyes. ‘What?’
‘Her continued insinuation that this project, you being out here, is all some sort of perfunctory exercise for you. A stepping stone to what you’re really after.’
Again, emotion flashed in her eyes, frustration and perhaps even hurt. But she mastered her expression, a little too admirably. A different need hammered at him, one that wanted to see her...undone. Unfettered.
‘If you think I’m going to dishonour my mother by maligning her just to prove a point, you’ll be waiting a long time,’ she snapped.
Loyalty. A quality he would’ve admired if not for the disturbing reactions teeming inside him. ‘You want me to make up my mind one way or the other about you, then prove it.’
‘I thought I already had this past week.’
‘Work is work, and I’ve yet to make up my mind on that score. Like you said, this is personal. Prove that all this isn’t some sort of tedious playing-hard-to-get game.’
Her beautiful eyes narrowed and she expelled a stunned breath. ‘Reverse psychology? Really? What do you want? For me to prove I can indulge myself with you for a few minutes, then walk away instead of begging for a ring on my finger the way you believe I yearn to?’
The curiously husky note in her voice intensified the pressure in his groin. The scenario wasn’t as deplorable to her as she pretended.
He smiled, the voice whispering at the back of his mind that he was enjoying this far too much ignored as he replied, ‘It doesn’t necessarily have to be a few minutes. A fraction of time to show me you can operate with no strings attached. An hour or two will suffice.’
She gasped, and this time he swore he saw the colour suffusing her face. Either the challenging Lady Barringhall was prone to blushing or her innocence was more than surface deep.
The hot coil of possessiveness and need was totally misplaced and deeply unwelcome. And yet there it was, sinking twin talons into him as he watched her alluring face.
‘You want to kiss me as much I desire you to, Violet. There’s no shame in admitting it,’ he stated boldly. ‘Or perhaps it’s the begging part that worries you? Would it please you if I took that off the table too?’
She inhaled sharply. But despite her desire to cling to outrage, Zak read her interest loud and clear. Saw the way her gaze dropped to linger on his mouth before darting away. ‘You can have any woman you want, according to the giddy tabloid headlines. Why are you here, needling me, Your Highness?’
Never had his title sounded so sultry, so insistently arousing, falling from a woman’s lips. He wanted to hear her breathe it all over his skin, wanted her gasping it when he buried himself deep inside her.
His fists bunched beneath the water as the powerful surge of need momentarily stunned him. ‘I could never resist a challenge. Perhaps I wish to see how long you can truly hold out.’
Her eyes glinted and for a moment Zak fear
ed he’d finally pushed her too far.
In the next moment, however, Violet tripped him up completely by slicing through the water. She came straight at him, one hand sliding up his nape to fist his wet hair while the other curled around his shoulder.
And because he absolutely didn’t want to spook her into changing her mind, Zak held stone-still, watching a touch of confusion then resolution settle on her face. Held his breath as she levered herself closer, plastered her chest against his.
And slid her lips over his.
One moment. Two. Five excruciating seconds he managed to hold out.
Then he sealed her in his arms, glorying in the smooth, supple feel of her skin as he locked her to him and took over her far too tentative exploration.
She tasted even headier than before, the sensual slide of her tongue when he breached her sweet lips a lightning bolt to his system.
Dio, how was she doing this to him? Even as he tasted and savoured, his hunger built, threatening to shatter his control. A soft, throaty moan left her mouth. The sound curled around him, hardening his already rock-hard shaft.
She registered her effect on him, gasped against his lips as he groaned, and deepened the kiss until he was unsure where her body ended and his started.
