﻿‘The child you’re carrying is the Sinclair heir.’ His face was an expressionless mask as he turned back to face her.

‘What if it’s a girl?’ she came back challengingly.

‘I already told you I’m the only grandchild—so, girl or boy, as soon as it’s born this child will automatically become the Sinclair heir,’ he bit out tersely. ‘I’m sure you aren’t unaware of what that means?’

Luccy had a sinking feeling she really wasn’t going to like the rest of this conversation! Not that it had been exactly enjoyable so far, but the way this was going she just knew it was going to get worse…

She frowned. ‘All it means to me is that my child’s father is named Jacob Sinclair the Third.’

‘Our child will be the Sinclair heir!’

‘So you’ve said. Repeatedly.’ Luccy grimaced. ‘But that will only apply until you have other, legitimate children—’

‘What makes you so sure that I don’t intend for this child to be legitimate?’ Sin cut in forcefully, those grey eyes once again glittering arctically.

Carole Mortimer was born in England, the youngest of three children. She began writing in 1978, and has now written over one hundred and forty books for Harlequin Mills & Boon®. Carole has four sons—Matthew, Joshua, Timothy and Peter—and a bearded collie called Merlyn. She says, ‘I’m happily married to Peter senior; we’re best friends as well as lovers, which is probably the best recipe for a successful relationship.’

PREGNANT WITH THE BILLIONAIRE’S BABY

BY

CAROLE MORTIMER

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

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CHAPTER ONE

‘THIS is really not a good idea, Paul!’

Luccy glared up at him as he pinned her against the wall in the hallway outside the hotel restaurant where she had earlier wined and dined him and another senior executive from Wow magazine.

Time was when Luccy would have been the one taken out to dinner, but there were too many excellent fashion photographers out there nowadays, all of them hungry for work. With only one prestigious contract with PAN Cosmetics, a subsidiary company of the mega-big Sinclair Industries, to recommend her—a contract that she couldn’t be sure would be renewed in three months’ time when a photographer like Roy Bailey had decided he also wanted it—Luccy badly needed this assignment with Wow if she didn’t want to be reduced to taking photographs of babies and weddings.

But she certainly didn’t need the assignment with Wow—with anyone!—badly enough to go to bed with one of its senior executives to get it.

Admittedly, Paul Bridger, the younger of the two men, had made several suggestive remarks to her during the evening—despite the fact that he had also mentioned having a wife and two children at home in Hampshire. However, Luccy had thought she had fended off those remarks without too much injury to pride on either side and both men had excused themselves after the meal with the promise that they would be in touch.

Except Paul had doubled back and was now propositioning her after she’d left the restaurant having paid a huge restaurant bill Harper-O’Neill Ltd could ill afford.

‘Oh, come on,’ he cajoled now as he pressed closer. ‘You know you’ve been giving me the come-on all evening.’ Paul smiled confidently as he moved his thighs suggestively against hers.

Luccy inwardly squirmed with distaste. What she should do was slap Paul’s face and tell him exactly what she thought of him! What she had to do, in order not to cause a complete scene in a public place, was put an end to this situation as quietly and quickly as possible…

She gave what she hoped was a light-hearted little laugh as she pushed him away playfully. ‘I really don’t think your wife would approve, do you?’

Blue eyes narrowed in a face that wasn’t unattractive— just married! ‘My wife isn’t going to know about it. Or is she?’ he added suspiciously, his hands now painful on her shoulders as he pinned her even more firmly against the wall.

Luccy moistened suddenly dry lips. ‘That depends—’

‘On what?’ Paul snarled.

‘Excuse me…?’

Luccy’s face flamed with embarrassment as she realised that she and Paul were blocking the hallway outside the restaurant, and one of the other diners was now waiting to go past them.

Luccy gave him a quick glance, noticing the man’s height first, as he was well over six feet. He was probably aged in his mid-thirties, with styled overlong dark hair, and eyes of piercing silver-grey, the suntan—and attractive American drawl—stating that he originated from much warmer climes than England in this wet and overcast June. His black, expensively tailored evening suit and snowy white silk shirt emphasised the broad width of his shoulders, as well as his muscled chest, slim waist, powerful thighs and long, long legs.

The slightly disgusted expression in that piercing grey gaze as it swept over Luccy and Paul wasn’t exactly encouraging. But, Luccy decided quickly, she could deal with that later—right now she needed rescuing!

‘David! How lovely to see you again!’ She gave the man a glowing smile as she took advantage of Paul Bridger’s momentary distraction at the interruption to duck under his arm and step away from him, moving to link her arm with the tall American’s. ‘Paul was just leaving. Weren’t you, Paul?’ she added pointedly.

‘I—’ He blinked, scowling darkly as he looked from Luccy to the tall man who stood so arrogantly disdainful at her side. ‘Yes, I was just leaving,’ he snapped, shooting Luccy one last narrow-eyed glare before striding down the hallway towards the front entrance of the hotel.

Luccy’s legs felt strangely weak once Paul had gone, and for a few seconds all she could do was cling to the arm of the man now standing beside her. A man she had never seen before in her life!

A man who now looked down at her with raised brows. ‘“David”?’ he asked dryly.

Luccy gave an apologetic grimace. ‘I’m really sorry about all that. A—a work colleague who got out of hand,’ she explained—although she seriously doubted, from Paul’s last glaring look, that she would ever get any work with Wow magazine now! ‘Er—do we know each other?’ she added. For some reason, the man looked vaguely familiar to her.

As far as Sin was aware he had never met this woman before. He would most certainly have remembered if he had!

Sin had been sitting alone at his table by the window in the hotel restaurant earlier when he’d seen this young woman enter, his attention snared as he’d watched her pause briefly in the doorway to look around the full restaurant before making her way decisively to the table where two men had sat talking together. Sin’s mouth had tightened with displeasure as he had acknowledged that his wasn’t the only male gaze drawn to the sensual sway of her hips as she walked.

She was probably aged in her late twenties, about five eight in height, Sin would have guessed, with very long silky black hair that gleamed with midnight-blue lights as it swung softly onto her shoulders and curled down the long length of her spine. The deep blue of her eyes was surrounded by long, long lashes of the same ebony colour, her skin a perfect unblemished magnolia, her nose small and straight, and the fullness of her lips glossed the same vibrant red as the knee-length dress she wore. High breasts and that sensuous sway of her hips as she walked seemed to give the impression that was all she was wearing!

Sin’s gaze had continued to be drawn to her throughout the evening as she had conversed animatedly with the two men as they ate their meal. He didn’t usually stare at women he had never met, but there had been something about this woman, something that had drawn his gaze back to her time and time again. Not that it had been his intention of approaching or talking to her, but then he hadn’t been the one to approach or talk to her now, had he?

He shrugged. ‘Maybe you recognise me from the restaurant?’

Luccy nodded. Now that he mentioned it, she did remember seeing him sitting alone in the restaurant when she’d arrived earlier; with his looks it was impossible not to notice him! But with her future on the line Luccy had dismissed him from her mind as she had focused all of her attention on the two executives from Wow.

‘I really do appreciate your help just now.’ She gave him a bright, dismissive smile.

His hand closed lightly over hers before she could step away from him. ‘You’re trembling.’ He frowned darkly.

Was she? Yes, she was. But was that because of Paul Bridger’s behaviour just now, or because she was so aware of the man standing beside her, his hand cool and yet firm as it covered hers?

Luccy gave a shaky laugh. ‘So I am.’ She grimaced. ‘I just wasn’t expecting—that.’ She gestured to where the disgruntled Paul had just left.

The tall American gave her a quizzical look. ‘Perhaps you should sit down for a while? A brandy might help.’

Luccy was starting to feel a little ridiculous; after all, Paul had only been trying his luck just now. He wouldn’t actually have forced her. Would he…?

‘You are upset.’ The American scowled fiercely as Luccy gave another shiver of reaction. ‘I have a bottle of brandy upstairs in my suite—I’m only offering to give you a medicinal brandy,’ he added dryly as he obviously saw Luccy’s dismayed expression. ‘I think you’ve probably been propositioned enough for one evening, don’t you?’

‘Sorry!’ Luccy exclaimed, knowing she was overreacting. After all, this man needn’t have come to her rescue; he could just as easily have exposed her as being a complete stranger to him. ‘Luccy,’ she invited huskily.

‘Excuse me?’

‘My name’s Luccy.’

‘Ah.’ He nodded. ‘Just Luccy?’

‘Just Luccy.’ This evening was enough of a mess already, without it becoming publicly known that the photographer Lucinda Harper-O’Neill, contracted to PAN Cosmetics, had been involved in an unpleasant scene in a hotel as prestigious as The Harmony!

Dark brows rose over those pale grey eyes as the American answered her. ‘Then I suppose I’m just Sin,’ he drawled softly.

Her smile was rueful now. ‘Interesting name.’

Sin studied the delicate perfection of Luccy’s profile—the deep, unfathomable blue of her eyes, like a flawless sapphire with the light shining behind it, that short nose, the fullness of her mouth, her small pointed chin—before allowing his gaze to move discreetly lower to the creamy swell of her breasts visible above the fitted red gown, her nipples clearly outlined against the flimsy material, as was the slope of her waist and the curve of her hips and thighs.

‘Maybe I should just call it a night.’ Long dark lashes lowered onto her creamy cheeks. ‘Much as I appreciate your help just now, I’m not sure it would be…sensible on my part to go up to your hotel suite with you.’

To hell with whether or not it was sensible—now that circumstances had allowed him to talk to her, to hear the husky sensuality of her voice, Sin wanted to know this woman better. A whole lot better!

His mouth quirked. ‘I’m sure I could get two character references if you’re willing to wait here—’

‘Now you’re making me sound childish!’ Luccy protested.

He raised dark brows. ‘What do you think? Will you risk it?’

Luccy thought that the way she had completely misread Paul Bridger had shown her just how naïve she was when it came to men. By accepting this man’s invitation she could just be jumping out of the frying pan directly into the fire.

She might be well on her way to thirty, but that didn’t mean she was in the least sophisticated when it came to reading men. There had only ever been one man in her life in an intimate way, when she was at university seven years ago, and that certainly hadn’t been very exciting. So much so that she hadn’t been particularly interested in repeating the experience since.

Yet just looking at this man—a man called Sin, for goodness’ sake!—was exciting!

Oh, for goodness’ sake, Luccy, she instantly chided herself again. The Harmony hotel was one of the most exclusive and expensive in London, and this man was a guest here, not a mass murderer. Besides, he was only offering her a glass of brandy to settle her shaken nerves, not a night of unbridled sex—and if by some strange chance he should offer the latter, she could always say no; unlike Paul, this man didn’t look the type of man who needed to force a woman into his bed!

Nevertheless… ‘Just a glass of brandy?’

He smiled. ‘Sure.’

Luccy still hesitated, half of her intrigued by this man, the other half—

‘There really is no need to be scared, Luccy,’ Sin reassured her ruefully.

Luccy bristled resentfully as she realised some of her thoughts must have shown on her face. ‘My caution has nothing to do with being scared,’ she denied sharply. ‘I’ve just escaped from one awkward situation—’

‘You believe I’m trying to get you up to my suite in order to seduce you?’ He raised arrogant brows.

‘No, of course not!’ Luccy’s cheeks blazed with embarrassed colour; what a way to treat the man after he had come to her rescue! ‘I’m just not in the habit of going to the hotel room of a man I’ve only just met.’ Especially considering the circumstances under which they had met.

The man called Sin shrugged broad shoulders. ‘All I’m suggesting is a reviving glass of brandy.’

Was he? Was his invitation really that innocent?

‘It’s a hotel suite, Luccy,’ he added impatiently. ‘With its own lounge, and not a bed in sight, I promise.’

Now he was starting to make her feel naïve and unsophisticated. ‘Okay, then, I’ll come,’ she decided, her eyes taking on a glittering determination as she saw the amused slant to that sculptured mouth.

‘After you…’ Sin indicated for her to precede him to the lifts, his gaze appreciative as the red silk of her gown clung to the thrust of her breasts and the gentle curve of her hips, her red strappy sandals adding to the length of her silkily long legs. Her beauty was all the more stunning because she seemed so completely unaware of just how sexily attractive she was.

But Sin was aware of it. Totally. Especially once they had stepped into the confines of the private lift together, the mirrored walls reflecting back numerous images of Luccy.

‘Mmm, nice,’ she murmured appreciatively seconds later as they stepped straight out into the luxurious sitting-room of the penthouse suite. ‘Are you sure you’re just an ordinary hotel guest?’ she added teasingly.

‘Pretty sure.’ Sin nodded. As it happened, he wasn’t just a hotel guest at all—he owned the hotel. Or, at least, his family did. As well as owning several more such exclusive hotels around the world, and businesses too numerous to mention.

Not that he had any intention of mentioning his family or their businesses to Luccy. In fact, he had been quite happy to fall in with the anonymity of their single name introduction; it was pleasant knowing that this chance meeting with Luccy held no hidden agenda after years of being surrounded by women who might or might not be attracted to him, but who definitely had their covetous eye on his name and wealth.

There had been many women in Sin’s life the last eighteen years or so. Beautiful, enticing, intelligent women. But this woman, beautiful, warm, and incredibly sexy, was all the more enticing to him because she obviously had no idea of his real identity…

Luccy’s eyes were wide as she looked around the opulent luxury of the room. She was sure that the paintings on the walls were originals, and that the gold decoration on the coving above was genuine, as were the tasteful ornaments placed so casually on the antique furniture. The two huge sofas were plushly upholstered, and she thought the blue patterned carpet was probably Persian.

Staying a single night in a suite like this one probably cost as much as she earned in a week—no, a month!

This man—Sin—seemed different in these opulent surroundings too, exuding a powerful sexual magnetism that made Luccy’s insides quiver, the quiet strength of his movements as he crossed the room to a tray of drinks giving him the appearance of an elegant predator.

Uh oh!

Maybe this really hadn’t been such a good idea after all. For it had never occurred to Luccy that she might not want to say no to a night of unbridled sex!

‘So what are you doing in London, Sin?’ she asked lightly to cover up her nervousness as he swiftly crossed the room carrying the two glasses of brandy.

‘Business,’ he dismissed as he held out one of the glasses to her, that pale silver-grey gaze fixed steadily on her face as he did so.

‘Just business?’

‘Mostly, yes.’

Luccy drew in a ragged breath, very much aware that she was probably well out of her league with this man. ‘And is your wife in England with you?’

He smiled, his teeth very white and even against the natural tan of his skin. ‘That was pretty slick, Luccy.’ He gave an appreciative nod. ‘But I would hardly have invited you up to my hotel suite if my wife was waiting for me in the bedroom.’

Luccy’s sense of unease deepened. ‘So is she at home in the States?’

That silver gaze was very direct. ‘I’m not married, Luccy.’

‘Oh.’ She took a reviving sip of the brandy, self-consciously aware that he was watching every movement she made. Luccy felt an answering quiver of awareness down the length of her own spine at being the complete focus of those intense silver-grey eyes.

Which was not supposed to happen, Luccy told herself firmly as she moved away to stand in front of the window and look out at the London skyline.

‘Would you like to go outside onto the terrace?’ he invited huskily, taking her glass from her hand and placing it on a table with his own before opening the door to outside and then waiting to one side for her to precede him.

Why not? The cool summer air might succeed in cooling Luccy’s own sudden heated awareness of him!

Although perhaps not, she realised as Sin, having observed her slight shiver at the sudden breeze, slipped off his dinner jacket and placed it about the bareness of her shoulders. The material was still warm from his own body, and smelled both of an elusively expensive aftershave and something else that was purely, powerfully male. This male.

It also allowed Luccy to appreciate that the wideness of his shoulders owed nothing to tailoring, or the muscled flatness of his chest and stomach to the cut of the white silk shirt, the increase of her pulse rate as she looked at him telling her just how dangerously aware she was of all those things.

‘This really is the most incredible view!’ she murmured appreciatively as she looked out over the illuminated skyline of London.

‘Incredible,’ Sin echoed, but he was looking at Luccy and not the view over the terrace.

He stood slightly to the left and behind Luccy as she stood near the four foot high railing, enjoying watching the way the breeze teased the long, dark tendrils of her hair, the moonlight giving a ethereal beauty to the pale oval of her face.

Admittedly, the two of them had met in strange circumstances, and Sin knew nothing about this woman but her name, and yet he knew that he wanted her, that he had from the moment he had looked at her in the restaurant earlier. He wanted to be against her, on her, inside her, with a fierceness he could never remember feeling for any woman before this one.

‘Amazingly beautiful,’ he said throatily, knowing that he still wasn’t talking about the London skyline she looked at so admiringly, that at this moment he could see nothing, was aware of nothing else but the delicately beautiful woman standing in front of him.

Luccy turned slightly, dark brows raised teasingly. ‘I didn’t even know London hotels had suites like this one!’

‘Perhaps they don’t.’ Sin’s teeth gleamed wolfishly in the darkness as he smiled. ‘This suite happens to belong to the owner of the hotel,’ he explained.

Those incredible blue eyes widened. ‘So you know him?’

‘Slightly.’

‘Well enough to use his suite, at least!’

‘At least,’ he confirmed non-committally.

Luccy felt even more out of her depth. This man, Sin, was obviously rich as well as arrogantly handsome if he was acquainted with the owners of The Harmony hotel. Which put him well out of range of her normal acquaintances.

‘It must be nice to have such influential friends,’ she commented lightly.

He shrugged those broad shoulders. ‘It has its moments.’

Luccy would just bet that it did!

This really had been the strangest of evenings, she decided ruefully. First she was propositioned by a man she had hoped to work for, and now she had ended up in the hotel suite of a man who was probably rich enough to buy out Wow magazine ten times over.

‘Perhaps we should go back inside?’ she suggested a little breathily as she realised just how close Sin was now standing to her.

Pulse-racingly so.

Maybe she had been working too hard? Maybe she had drunk half a glass of wine too much with her dinner earlier? Maybe seven years was too long to go between physical relationships…?

Whatever the reason, Luccy found she was seriously— tremblingly!—attracted to a man she knew only as Sin. And, what was worse—she could see by the sudden warmth in that silver gaze that Sin was completely aware of that attraction.

‘Are you feeling better now?’ he murmured.

‘A little, thank you.’

Sin became very still as he recognised the temptation of Luccy’s pouting lips. After that earlier unpleasantness would she run screaming if he were to kiss her? Nothing too heavy after that lout’s behaviour earlier; Sin just needed to know if the fullness of those perfect lips tasted as good as it looked!

He closed the short distance between them to look down at her in the moonlight. ‘May I…?’ he asked huskily, holding her gaze for several long seconds before he lowered his head to capture her mouth with his.

Her lips were warm and silky beneath his, with a taste of heated honey. Sin’s jacket slid from her shoulders onto the terrace as he deepened the kiss, so he was able to feel each warm curve of her body through the two layers of sheer silk that consisted of her dress and his shirt.

She tasted even better than she looked!

Luccy drew breath back into her starved lungs as Sin’s lips finally left hers, having known herself to be lost the moment his arms had moved about her so assuredly.

She trembled in reaction as his lips now trailed across her cheek and down her jaw, to the long column of her throat as he sought and found the area of sensitivity beneath her ear lobe. His tongue moved moistly across her quivering flesh before his teeth nibbled that lobe and created an aching pleasure so exquisite it bordered on pain.

Luccy’s breasts felt suddenly full and thrusting, the nipples highly sensitive, and her thighs had suffused with a fierce burning heat that took her totally by surprise. So much so that she knew she had to put a stop to this. Now.

She twisted lightly away from him, her hands resting briefly on his chest as she steadied herself before taking a step back. ‘Well, that wasn’t supposed to happen,’ she muttered uncomfortably.

His gaze was quizzical in the moonlight. ‘Are you sorry that it did?’

No, Luccy wasn’t sorry. Sorry didn’t even begin to describe the emotions this man aroused in her! The truth of the matter was Luccy could never remember feeling such an overwhelming desire to lose herself to the moment. To forget who and what she was and just enjoy the here and now.

It was a realisation that terrified the life out of her!

‘Perhaps we should go back inside; I’ll finish my brandy and then leave,’ she suggested, her heart pounding so loudly in her ears she was sure he must be aware of it too.

Sin looked at her searchingly. His desire for her earlier this evening had been instant, immediate, and, now that he had actually kissed her, held her, his body ached for more. He was pretty damned sure, from her response as he’d kissed her, that Luccy felt the same need too.

‘Could we at least go back inside?’ she prompted again at his continued silence. ‘It’s getting a little cold out here, don’t you think?’ As if to prove her point she shivered a little as she wrapped her arms about the slenderness of her waist.

Sin studied her for several long seconds, aware that Luccy’s smile seemed slightly forced, and that her deep blue gaze no longer quite met his.

Not surprising really when she had already fended off the unwanted attentions of one man this evening!

Luccy was right to try and slow things down between them, Sin acknowledged frowningly. And now that they had introduced themselves, there was no reason why he couldn’t invite her out to dinner tomorrow.

‘Sin?’ she pressed lightly.

‘Of course we can go back inside, if that’s what you want,’ Sin acquiesced warmly.

‘It is.’

‘Are you okay?’ Sin asked.

Her smile was definitely strained. ‘Fine,’ she said.

Sin bent to pick up his jacket before following her inside, knowing that, before she left, he needed to do his utmost to persuade Luccy to see him again…

CHAPTER TWO

‘SO, LUCCY,’ Sin murmured softly as he replenished their brandy glasses and set one of them down on the coffee table in front of where she had sat down on one of the sofas, choosing not to sit down himself yet; he couldn’t think straight when he was too close to her! ‘Why don’t we relax and you can tell me a little about yourself?’ he invited.

She looked back at him beneath lowered—guarded?— lashes. ‘There really isn’t anything interesting to tell,’ she claimed.

Sin’s mouth quirked. ‘I somehow doubt that very much,’ he contradicted.

She straightened, her breasts thrusting forward as she moved one of her hands and lifted the heavy weight of her hair back over her shoulder, once again drawing Sin’s appreciative gaze to the bare expanse of her throat and the swell of those creamy breasts against the red silk.

‘You first,’ she said.

He shrugged wide shoulders. ‘Like you, there isn’t anything of interest to tell.’

She gave a rueful smile. ‘And, like you, I doubt that very much!’

Sin smiled appreciatively at how neatly she had turned the conversation back onto him. ‘Well, I’m obviously American. As were my parents. And their parents before them,’ he added dryly.

She nodded. ‘Are you an only child, or do you have siblings?’

‘Only child. Only grandson, too,’ he expanded as he found himself drawn into sitting beside her on the sofa despite his previous decision not to do so.

‘Wow.’ She grimaced. ‘So, no pressure, then?’

Sin smiled in spite of himself. ‘As you say, no pressure,’ he drawled even as he reached out to pick up a tendril of her long blue-black hair, loving the silky feel of it as he curled it around one of his fingers.

He breathed in the heady scent of her perfume, his senses already aroused by her exotic beauty and the kiss they had shared on the terrace. He knew he should have resisted getting too close to her again so soon after that kiss…

‘What brings you to London, Luccy?’ he asked in an attempt to clear his mind of passionate thoughts.

‘Like you, business,’ she said.

Sin nodded. ‘And what work do you do?’

She hesitated before answering. Sin was patently not going to tell her much about himself; despite the attraction between them, he obviously wasn’t interested in having a close relationship with her. So perhaps it would be better to limit the amount of information she gave him about herself. ‘I—why don’t you try and guess?’ she suggested lightly.

Sin smiled derisively. ‘I’m not really into guessing games.’

She regarded him quizzically. ‘Oh, come on, it could be fun.’

‘Okay.’ Sin couldn’t resist her mischievous expression. ‘A model, perhaps?’

She laughed softly. ‘Don’t they have to be tall and willowy?’

This woman might not be tall enough to be a model, Sin acknowledged, but she was certainly stunningly beautiful enough to be one.

He relaxed back against the sofa. ‘So not a model, then?’

‘No.’ She smiled.

Sin shook his head. ‘I somehow can’t see you in an office.’

Luccy frowned. ‘Why not?’

He raised a mocking eyebrow. ‘If I had a secretary that looked like you I would never get any work done!’

‘Isn’t it a little chauvinistic of you to assume a woman has to be a secretary if she works in an office?’ she teased.

Sin gave a self-deprecating grimace. ‘Hmm, you have a point.’

Luccy’s earlier tension started to leave her as she realised she was quite enjoying this teasing conversation.

He shrugged. ‘Okay, so you work in an office…’

‘Actually, no, I don’t.’

He frowned. ‘Is it always this difficult to get a straight answer from you?’

Not usually, no, Luccy acknowledged ruefully. But she was loath to confide too much about herself. As well as her earlier concerns on a personal level, she doubted the management of PAN Cosmetics would appreciate it if the incident between herself and Paul Bridger ever became public knowledge. Jacob Sinclair, the owner of Sinclair Industries, was very strict concerning his policy of no bad publicity. So much so that it was actually written into employees’ contracts, including the one Luccy had signed with PAN Cosmetics the previous year.

Usually Luccy was completely professional when it came to her work—it really wasn’t her fault that men like Paul Bridger couldn’t behave in the same way!

And the situation she now found herself in? What woman in her right mind would manage to extricate herself from one potentially dangerous situation only to land herself in another one that could prove equally disastrous? In fact, more so, because Luccy hadn’t been attracted to Paul Bridger, whereas she was definitely attracted to Sin.

As that kiss outside on the terrace had proved…

‘Why are you so interested?’ She frowned at Sin’s persistence.

‘Because everything about you interests me,’ he drawled huskily.

Luccy felt the heat enter her cheeks as she easily read the expression in his eyes. This man didn’t just want to know about her—he wanted her!

She swallowed hard. ‘I’m a receptionist. To a photographer.’ Not completely untrue; she did act as her own receptionist on occasion, usually when Cathy was at lunch or off sick.

His brows rose. ‘Anyone I would have heard of?’

Only if she was very unlucky!

‘I doubt it,’ she dismissed.

‘And that guy earlier—’

‘Paul?’

Sin nodded. ‘You said he’s a work colleague?’

She had said that, hadn’t she? How complicated things became when you told just one little exaggeration of the truth!

She shrugged. ‘He’s more of a prospective client, actually. My boss is out of town so it was left to me to do the wining and dining this evening,’ she added lamely.

Sin nodded. ‘And do you have a husband, and possibly children, too, waiting for you at home?’ He was beginning to think that Luccy’s one-name introduction, and her aversion to talking about herself, showed all the classic signs of a married woman out for a night on the town.

Her mouth, that deliciously tempting mouth, curved into a rueful smile. ‘No husband, and certainly no children,’ she assured him.

‘And Luccy is short for…?’ Sin was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt concerning a husband and children, a glance at her left hand confirming that there was at least no indentation to the third finger, or evidence of slightly paler skin where a ring might have been hastily removed. He drew the line at becoming involved with a married woman.

‘It isn’t short for anything,’ she said mendaciously as she shook her head. ‘And as we obviously aren’t going to meet again after tonight, I really don’t see the relevance of any of these questions, do you? Or their answers.’

This man really didn’t need to know that her full name was Lucinda Harper-O’Neill. Or that she was a photographer, primarily in advertising, with her own studio and apartment right here in London.

‘We can’t know that yet.’

Luccy gave him a startled glance. ‘Can’t know what?’

‘Whether or not we’re going to see each other again. There’s no reason why we shouldn’t. I come to London quite regularly—’

‘And I’m not about to become your “regular London girl”!’ Luccy informed him slightly incredulously. ‘Look.’ She placed her brandy glass down on the coffee table in front of them, releasing her hair from his caressing fingers as she did so. ‘I really am grateful to you for—for rescuing me from a very awkward situation earlier, but I’m not grateful enough to hop into bed with you!’

His gaze was lightly teasing. ‘But we aren’t in a bed.’

‘We aren’t going to be in one, either,’ Luccy told him firmly.

‘Maybe not tonight—’

‘Not ever,’ Luccy insisted flatly.

‘How can you be so sure of that?’

She couldn’t—that was the problem! Each minute— second!—that passed, she only became more aware of this man. ‘Sin—’

‘Luccy,’ he came back softly even as he moved along the sofa so that their thighs touched, his arm along the back of the sofa behind her as he easily held her gaze with the intensity of his.

To say Luccy was unnerved by his close proximity was an understatement. She was completely overwhelmed by his sheer physical magnetism—and the heat of the desire that suddenly burned in those silver-grey eyes as he looked at her.

Her breath caught in her throat as he lifted a hand to cup and hold her chin, his gaze still fixed intently on hers as he gave her one last chance to tell him no.

Which Luccy already knew she wasn’t going to be able to do!

In fact, she had a feeling that every moment since she had first looked up and seen him standing in the hotel hallway had all been leading to this very point.

‘I’m aware of how upset you were earlier, so we won’t let this go any further than you want it to, okay?’ he assured her gruffly as Luccy stared up at him in fascination.

She moistened dry lips. ‘Okay,’ she breathed tremulously, having absolutely no will to resist anyway as Sin lowered his head towards her and his lips claimed hers in a kiss of such gentleness that it made Luccy ache inside. She had known from that single kiss out on the terrace that it was going to be like this if Sin ever touched her again.

Luccy groaned low in her throat even as her body curved into his, finding herself unable to do anything else but respond as she felt the heat of Sin’s body through his shirt as she reached up to grasp his shoulders, her own body flaring and coming tinglingly alive as the tips of her breasts responded to that heat. Sin seemed to take her response as acquiescence as his mouth suddenly hardened demandingly on hers.

Every other thought fled her mind as Sin’s mouth continued to plunder hers, tongue questing, stroking, before thrusting deep, drawing Luccy into a swirling maelstrom of emotions and needs, her nipples actually aching now, burning, wanting—

Luccy dragged her lips from his to groan low in her throat as she felt Sin’s hand against her naked breast, having no idea when he had slid the zip of her gown down her spine, and not caring either as he cupped and held her before finding that thrusting tip with light, caressing fingertips.

‘You can stop me at any time,’ he promised huskily.

Luccy couldn’t answer him. She knew she should probably take him up on his offer to stop now, but her body was firmly intent on having its own way. She couldn’t think when his caresses drove her wild with wanting more, needing more, Sin obligingly giving her more as his skilful hand became more demanding and his head moved lower to draw the tip of her other breast into the heated cavern of his mouth.

Luccy sank back against the cushions of the sofa, her body on fire, a deep aching need between her quivering thighs as Sin continued to make her burn with desire.

Sin had meant it when he told her he would stop at any time, but he was fast losing control, no longer sure he would be able to stop!

His gaze was hot and hungry as he raised his head to look at Luccy. At the twin peaks of her breasts with those rose-tinted tips and the flushed beauty of her face as he ran the pad of his thumb across one of those pouting nipples before once more slowly lowering his head to claim it with his lips and mouth. Immediately he felt her hips move restlessly beneath him with a greater, wilder need.

His hand moved from her breast to her knee, her skin as soft as velvet. He gently stroked along the length of her thigh before sliding under the soft silk of her gown to touch the delicacy of her hip bone, the flatness of her stomach, his touch telling him that he had been wrong about her being completely naked under the red silk gown; she was wearing the briefest scrap of lace, her curls already damp with her need as he cupped her there before seeking the heated warmth beneath that lace.

Luccy cried out at the first touch of Sin’s hand against the ultra-sensitive core of her arousal, her body seeming to melt as he stroked her there, his fingers moving in a rhythmic caress. His mouth moved from her breast to once more claim her lips, his tongue mimicking the rhythm of his fingers.

It felt as if Sin were everywhere all at once. Above her. Beside her. Inside her.

Luccy wanted him deeper inside her, hungered for his possession as his fingers caressed but didn’t quite enter her. Luccy writhed, lifting her hips to enable him to remove that scrap of lace, silently pleading with him to satisfy her torturous need. She cried out with pleasure as he finally gave her what she wanted. Luccy’s eyes widened as she felt the intensity of her pleasure increase to unbearable heights. Dear God, she was going to—

Luccy groaned low in her throat, eyes closing, desperately pulling his shirt open before she dug her fingers deep into Sin’s naked muscled shoulders as the pleasure consumed her, filled her, his ravenous mouth on hers even as she convulsed about those thrusting fingers. Nothing else mattered at that moment except that she didn’t ever want him to stop, wanted, ached, for this pleasure to go on and on.

Sin wrenched his mouth from hers to move lower, to give Luccy more as he once again drew one of her pink nipples into his mouth. He felt her back arch as she once more lost herself totally to that pleasure.

He lifted his head to look at her, her breasts full, the nipples pouting a dusky pink now from the ministrations of his mouth and tongue. She groaned as Sin gently parted her legs, before lowering his head and suckling the hardened nub nestled there as her groans turned into a pleading mewl.

Sin dealt quickly and efficiently with the fastening of his trousers as he knew that he couldn’t wait a moment longer to sheath himself inside her.

Luccy groaned in protest as his mouth left her, that groan turning to a soft aching sound as she felt the tip of his hardened shaft rubbing against her before slowly, inch by pleasurable inch, he entered her.

He was big and hard, steel encased in velvet, his hands moving to cup her bottom as he began to slowly move in and out of her. Luccy’s eyes closed in ecstasy at each thrust, her hand moving down to draw him deeper inside her as those thrusts became fiercer, his mouth once more claiming hers as she felt him tighten, harden, swell inside her before climaxing long and deliciously inside her, inciting wave after wave of new, totally uncontrollable pleasure.

Luccy returned slowly to a sense of who she was, where she was, and who she was with, never having experienced anything so wild and wonderful in her life before, her body still quivering from each pleasurably memorable caress.

She was Lucinda Harper-O’Neill, photographer for PAN Cosmetics, and she was lying half naked on a sofa in a hotel suite, her body still intimately—very intimately! —entwined with a man called Sin…

How had this happened?

She had spent the last seven years without even thinking about becoming physically involved with anyone, too engrossed in making a name for herself as a photographer to have room for anything else in her life. So what was it about Sin that had changed all that? Why him? What—?

‘I’ve always found self-recriminations after the event to be less than constructive,’ Sin advised quietly as he felt the sudden tension in the woman beneath him. He gave her a few seconds to let his words sink in before raising his head to look at her.

If anything she looked even more beautiful with that slightly bewildered look in those amazing blue eyes, her lips swollen from the fierce intensity of their kisses, and there was a rosy flush to her cheeks.

Sin felt no less bewildered himself by the wildness of their lovemaking, could never remember being so aroused by a woman—any woman—that he had almost ripped his own clothes off in his need to join his flesh with hers.

In fact, he still had most of his clothes on. Both of them did.

His smile was rueful as he raised one of his hands to lightly caress her flushed cheek. ‘Let’s finish undressing, hmm, take a shower, and leave all conversation until later,’ he suggested gently.

Luccy didn’t want to have a conversation at all with this man! She didn’t want to have anything with him, and was utterly mortified by what she had just allowed to happen.

She wasn’t the type of woman to indulge in a one-night stand with a man who completely swept her off her feet. Or, at least, she hadn’t been…

Regroup, Luccy, she instructed herself firmly. Gather your scattered wits together and just try to come out of this situation with some of your dignity intact.

She kept her gaze on Sin’s muscular chest—dear God, she had almost ripped his shirt off him minutes ago!— as she moistened her lips before speaking, the gesture not in the least reassuring as she instantly felt the sensitivity of their bruised fullness. ‘I don’t believe a post-mortem after the event is necessary, either,’ she told him evenly.

‘No post-mortem, Luccy,’ he assured her, gently stroking the hair at her temple now. ‘But maybe we could reassess your earlier decision not to become my “regular London girl”?’ he teased.

Her eyes widened as she looked up at him. Sin wanted to see her again? This wasn’t just some one-night thing to him while he was in London?

She swallowed hard. ‘I—could I take a shower first—alone—and think about that?’

He frowned darkly. ‘You don’t want us to meet again?’

All Luccy wanted right now was to be alone for a few minutes. She couldn’t think around this man!

‘I need to shower first,’ she insisted huskily.

‘But not together?’ He voiced his disappointment.

She would hardly be able to think while naked in the shower with an equally naked—totally distracting—Sin!

‘Luccy?’ Sin prompted as he sensed her hesitation.

She avoided his gaze. ‘If you don’t mind, I’ve always preferred to shower alone.’

Sin did mind; he could imagine nothing he would enjoy more at this moment than soaping her body all over before making love to her again under the hot spray of the shower. Neither was he particularly happy that she wanted to think about seeing him again.

What they had just shared had been extraordinary. Amazing.

But he appreciated it might have happened a little too suddenly for Luccy—for him too, if he was honest! But this was certainly not a casual one-night stand for him; Sin had every intention of seeing Luccy again whenever he was in London. Often.

But the comfort of a silk-sheeted bed in half an hour or so, when they were both showered and refreshed, would probably be more reassuring for Luccy. After all, they had the rest of the night to enjoy each other. All day tomorrow too, if Sin rescheduled his meetings. Maybe he would just cancel them indefinitely; Luccy was what interested him at the moment. Luccy, and getting to know each and every thing about her.

‘Fine,’ he agreed. ‘I’ll open a bottle of champagne and take it through to the bedroom while you’re in the bathroom, and then take a quick shower myself before joining you.’

Not too quick, Luccy hoped—because she already knew that no amount of time in the shower was going to change the fact that while Sin was taking his own shower she had every intention of leaving this suite, and the hotel.

And never seeing Sin again…

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