Read Online Heiress's Defiance by Lynn Raye Harris - Free Book Online Page B

battle.”
    His brows drew down. He looked reflective. “Perhaps this is true. And yet I do not wish to battle you tonight. Yes, I wish to conquer. But in a good way. In a most exciting way.”
    “Why can’t we conquer each other?”
    “Perhaps we can.” He bent toward her then, dipped his mouth to her collarbone. Lucilla closed her eyes and sucked in a sharp gaspas his lips and tongue moved over her skin. Oh, she was insane to allow it. Insane to even contemplate going to bed with Christos.
    “I wish I understood what this is,” she said on a sigh.
    He lifted his head to look at her. “It’s sex, Lucilla.”
    “I realize that. What I mean is why. Why you?”
    “You keep asking this, and there is no answer. It simply is.”
    She frowned. “That implies we aren’t in charge of our choices.”
    He looked puzzled. “This
is
a choice. I’m here. You’re here.”
    She pushed him back when he would have bent to kiss her again. “And if I wanted you to leave?”
    He didn’t hesitate. “Then I’ll go.”
    Somehow, she didn’t want that, either. She let out a frustrated growl. It was damned inconvenient to want the man you desperately wanted to destroy. “Wouldn’t you be happier if I offered my resignation and went on a pilgrimage to Tibet or something?”
    “It might make my task at the Chatsfield easier, but the truth is I wouldn’t wish you anywhere else.”
    “You say the damnedest things sometimes, Christos.”
    He pulled her tighter to him, until she could feel all the contours of his body against hers. Hard contours, solid contours.
Oh, my …
    She’d admired his body for weeks, slid surreptitious looks in his direction when he wasn’t watching—her and every other red-blooded female on the staff—and envied the women on his arm, though she knew she should not. It annoyed her a great deal to envy them, but she’d told herself it was simply because he
did
look like a Greek god and it was okay to appreciate that from afar.
    His hands slid down her back, over her hips. She thought he would kiss her but he did not. He looked at her very seriously while her heartbeat raced and moist heat slid between her breasts. “This is when you need to tell me to leave,” he said.
    “I know.” She dragged in a breath. She didn’t want him to let her go. But what choice did she have? She was so accustomed to denying herself that it came more naturally than the alternative. She dropped her hands from his chest and took a step back. “I—I think you should go.”
    “Do you really? Or do you just think you should say so?”
    She curled her hands into fists. Outside, rain slashed against the windows. “You must understand. I can’t sleep with you, Christos. Even though I want to.”
    He speared her with a look. “Very well.” Then he went and grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair, slinging it over his arm.
    Disappointment swirled inside her. She felt almost desperate with it. “Do you want the leftovers?”
    “You keep them.”
    He took his phone out as he walked toward the door. And that was the moment when she felt as if she would never be close to anyone again, as if everything she’d ever sacrificed had been for naught. She was lonely, isolated in her ivory tower of duty and devotion to her family and her career. When was it okay to take something for herself?
    When that something isn’t the one person standing between you and success.
    Dammit. Lucilla pulled in a deep breath as he reached the door. He stopped and shrugged into his jacket. And then he was looking at her again, those deep blue eyes searching hers. He reached out and slipped his hand along her jaw. “It was fun for once, Lucilla
mou
. No arguments, no anger. Perhaps we can get along, after all, yes?”
    Impulsively, she put her hand over his where it rested on her jaw. “I doubt it. You’ll make me angry tomorrow before I’ve had my first cup of coffee. But it
was
pleasant.”
    He smiled and her heart turned over. God, why