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  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.