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for her response, noting the instinctive little frown which pleated her forehead. ‘You’re surprised,’ he observed.
    ‘Well…’ For once in her life she was lost for words. ‘I guess I am, a little.’
    ‘Because it’s reputed to be the birthplace of gangsters?’ His words were dipped in caustic irony. ‘Or maybe you think that if someone’s born in a place like that then they stay there—is that it?’
    She shook her head a little. ‘No…no, that’s not what I meant at all. It’s just difficult to imagine you being…poor, that’s all.’
    ‘Is it?’ The dark lashes came down to shutter his eyes. He looked like a lion, Lara thought. The way a lion looked when you thought that it was asleep, only to discover that it was garnering all its energy to pounce. Lots of men tried to pounce on her, and usually it made her recoil, but Darian Wildman was a different propositon entirely. The lashes parted again and the golden light from his eyes washed over her.
    ‘For a woman who eats whatever is put in front of her, you aren’t managing very well tonight,’ he mused.
    ‘I’m not very hungry,’ she confessed, wondering if this deliberate change of subject meant that she should now withhold her line of questioning. But somehow the questions no longer seemed important—not when he was looking at her like that.
    ‘Me neither.’ He wondered if her lack of appetite was rooted in the same reason as his own. He held her gaze, saw the way her lips parted, and knew that she didn’t want to be here any more than he did. He felt another short stab of desire. ‘Which makes ordering pudding a complete waste of time, don’t you think?’
    She nodded, but a feeling of disappointment threatened to well up and spill over. Was he bored and wanting out? Had she overstepped the mark with her intrusive line of questioning? And where did she go from here?
    The golden eyes glittered and his dark, lean body was very still. ‘Are you tired?’
    Lara stared at him as something in his voice told her that the evening was not yet over. Yet the implication behind his question made her tense just as surely as it made her body begin a slow, irresistible flower into life.
    This is dangerous, she heard a voice inside her head warning her, but she ignored it. ‘Not really,’ she said, as though she couldn’t care less one way or the other.
    ‘Then why don’t we continue this fascinating discussion back at my place? You can enjoy one of the finest views over London while I give you…’ He paused, his voice lingering deliberately. ‘Coffee.’ The golden eyes glittered, and dazzled her with their precious fire. ‘What do you say, Lara?’
    It was what they called a loaded question, and the unmistakable air of sensuality he exuded warned her that a wise woman would thank him politely and say no. If lionhe was, then why be foolish enough to walk meekly into his den?
    But she might not get this chance again, and here he was offering opportunity on a plate. She reassured herself that he was far too sophisticated to do something as crass as leaping on her if she didn’t want him to. The only thing she had to fear was the fact that she did want him to.
    Miraculously, she kept the excited tremor from her voice. ‘Sounds good,’ she said carefully.
    ‘Then I’ll get the bill,’ he said, equally carefully, and his eyes narrowed.
    For once, he hadn’t expected it to be quite so easy.

CHAPTER SIX

    ‘O H, IT’S beautiful,’ said Lara softly. She leaned over the balcony and gazed out. The mist of earlier had cleared, and now the lights of the city sparkled like precious gems against the navy velvet of the night sky. ‘Just beautiful.’
    Darian eased the cork from a bottle of wine and watched the way the breeze ruffled her dark silken hair, so that it fluttered behind her like a banner. ‘Yes,’ he agreed slowly.
    For once he had been wrong—imagining it would take more than a little persuasion to get her to come back here