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‘Okay,’ she said on a resigned sigh. ‘You’ve got one minute. Why are you here? What do you want?’
‘I want you to come to dinner with me.’
Her skin goosebumped at the unexpected invitation. Dinner. It was a harmless enough concept, so why did she feel as if she herself was on the menu? After how close they’d come at the ball, would he be expecting her to move from the dining room to the bedroom with no hesitation? And would he be right? She bit down on her lip. Whatever her reservations, whatever her sense that there was more to this man than he revealed, the thought of following through on what she’d missed out on was more than tempting.
She’d certainly thought about it quite enough in the intervening days since the party—thought about what it would have been like to make love to this man, what it would have felt like to have him inside her. Would the reality come anywhere near the fantasy? Or would the real man surpass the man in her dreams?
She sucked in air, clamping down on her desires and on the spreading warmth between her thighs. It couldn’t happen. She’d had a fortunate escape once already. She’d almost made a total fool of herself and only just saved herself from certain humiliation. She couldn’t expect her luck to hold out a second time.
‘I’m sorry,’ she said, reaching past him for the handle to pull closed her door. ‘I’m busy tonight.’ Washing my hair.
‘Then make it tomorrow night.’
She swallowed. ‘I really don’t think that’s such a good idea. I’m sorry you’ve wasted your time.’
He didn’t take the hint, instead remaining exactly where he was. ‘My minute isn’t up yet. And I think you really do want to accept my invitation.’
‘Why on earth would I want to do that?’ she snapped, her patience worn thin.
‘Because it’s attached to a one-million-dollar donation to the foundation—that’s why.’
CHAPTER FOUR
THE disbelief must have been evident in her eyes even as her hand dropped from the door. Benefactors on such a scale were notoriously thin on the ground. They didn’t usually just fall into your lap like a ripe peach, without a great deal of time and effort spent shaking the tree. One million dollars. That kind of money would give a mighty kickstart to the foundation’s new overseas children’s assistance programme. And he was offering the foundation that just to eat with him!
Or was he?
‘Let me get this straight—you’ll give one million dollars to the foundation and all I have to do is have dinner with you?’
‘As simple as that.’
Nothing was that simple. Not in this town. She raised an eyebrow.
‘Are you trying to buy me, Mr Demakis?’
‘I said you could call me Loukas.’
‘You haven’t answered my question.’
‘I’m trying to make a contribution to the wonderful work of your foundation. Nothing more.’
‘So this isn’t some underhanded way of finishing what you started Saturday night?’
His head tilted, his eyebrows rising in speculation.
‘Is that what you’re hoping?’
Breath lurched inwards through her teeth, and she could only hope her cheeks weren’t betraying the sudden rush of heat to her skin. ‘I think you misunderstand me. I just need us both to be clear on this. I’m not interested in taking your money if there are certain strings attached.’
He paused a moment. ‘Do you really think I would pay one million dollars for what I could have had for free?’
Her eyelids fell shut as his words doused her in a cold dose of reality. Of course he was right. Why would he imagine he’d have to pay that kind of money for her? She’d shown how cheaply she could be bought when she’d been right there in that room with him.
Her eyes started open at the touch of his fingers as they drew her chin around to face him. ‘You shouldn’t take that the wrong way,’ he said.
Heart thumping wildly in her chest, she searched his brown eyes for meaning. What other way was there to take his words? But she didn’t have to say a thing. She knew the question was right there in her eyes.
‘When you make love to me,’ he said, his voice washing over her like rich velvet, ‘it won’t be because I have to pay you. It will be because you want to.’
