Heiress's Defiance Read Free Page B

smiling, though she kept biting her lip to stop. He wished she would let it out because he was certain a smile would transform her face.
    “I have met my quota of souls for the day, unfortunately.”
    She arched an eyebrow. “Tomorrow is a new day. I’m sure you’ll find some lives to wreck before the morning runs out.”
    He took a sip of champagne, uncharacteristically amused. She was acerbic and tart, not at all what he was accustomed to in a woman. It was a novelty, and he enjoyed it more than he should. He never cared if he was liked. Companies hired him to do the tough jobs, to make the decisions no one else would.
    He didn’t care if this woman liked him, either—but he found himself hoping she wouldn’t go away just yet.
    “It is on my schedule,” he said.
    “Of course it is.” She pulled in a deep breath and turned away from the painting asif she had made a final decision to slice herself off from the allure of it. “Tell me about you, Christos. Where did you grow up? What did you like to do as a child?”
    Her questions punched him in the gut. He never talked about his childhood. It was too painful. Too dark and disgusting. Compared to hers, even with an absent mother, his was hell on earth.
    “I grew up in Greece. I had a happy life, I got an education and I went to work. What else is there to know?” The lies flowed easily from his tongue these days. He’d had years to practice them, after all.
    She was staring at him. “Where in Greece? Near the sea? Inland?”
    Ice formed in his veins. He did not like it when people pried. “Everywhere in Greece is near the sea.”
    “That’s a very vague answer.”
    He shrugged as if it were nothing to him. “We are not friends, Lucilla. There is no point in engaging in idle chitchat. You do not care about my childhood, nor I yours. You care about what I am doing to your precious company, and I care about returning the Chatsfield name and all it stands for to its former glory. We are not on opposite sides, no matter how you wish to view it. And we don’t needto engage in polite banter in order to pretend we like each other.”
    Her eyes had narrowed considerably. And her color was high. The flush over her breasts was intriguing. He wanted to slip her gown off her shoulder and press his mouth just above her heart.
    “With an attitude like that, no wonder you don’t have any friends. You refuse to let anyone get close enough to be a friend.”
    He snorted. “And do you really want to be my friend, Lucilla? Or is there something more to this query?”
    She tilted her chin up. “No, I don’t want to be your friend. But I
was
trying to be polite. I thought maybe life would be easier if we at least pretended to like each other.”
    He took a step closer to her, watched the thrum of her pulse kick up in her neck. He had to admire that she did not back away. She stood her ground, though she had to tilt her head back to look up at him since he towered over her.
    “I am quite willing to pretend, Lucilla
mou.
I find myself utterly intrigued by the cut of that gown and the mystery of what lies beneath. If you wish, we can leave together and pretend to like each other in my bed.”
    Her eyes grew as wide as saucers. Thecolor in her cheeks bloomed redder than before. And then she looked completely furious, as if he’d tricked her somehow. He didn’t have time to figure it out because she poked him in the chest with a manicured finger.
    “You are not serious, Christos, and this isn’t funny.”
    “I was not trying to be funny.”
    She poked him again, harder this time. “I saw you come in and I know who you’re with. Don’t insult me by pretending you find me more appealing than you do your supermodel girlfriend.” She dropped her finger and straightened her shoulders. “I am not that desperate or that stupid and I resent you thinking I am.”

CHAPTER TWO
    L UCILLA’S HEART BEAT hard and fast as she met Christos’s icy blue gaze. She knew her color was