SILENT DESIRES

“It is not ridiculous for me to think this. He looks at you with the eyes of a man who has claim to you.” Dash said.

“There is such a thing as the claim of friendship.” Tess replied.

“And friendship requires late night visits to his hotel room?” he asked, making Tess even more angry.

“I’ve never been to his hotel room late at night, for goodness’ sake. I’m hardly the type to carry on a brief affair, or did you miss the hopeless-in-bed description?” she said. As the words left her mouth, she realized with chagrin she’d given Dash what he wanted-a definite answer to whether or not she was sleeping with David.

He didn’t look smug, however. He was too busy glaring at her. “Stop repeating that bitch’s words as if they are gospel. She knows nothing of you or your passions. You will be a consuming fire in my bed, of that I am certain.”

“Your bed?” Tess repeated, not sure if she had heard him correctly. What the hell brought that up.

He sighed. “I have no plans to seduce you tonight, so you can relax.”

“But you do plan to seduce me?” She asked. What the hell was happening today? She pinched the inside of her elbow to make sure she was not sleeping and having some bizarre dream. Pain radiated to her wrist. She was awake.

“Perhaps you will care to tell me what restaurant caught your approval on your first day in the city?” he asked, ignoring her question.

Certain she’d had all the seduction talk she could take for one night, she eagerly accepted his change of subject. She told him about their visit to the nightlife of the Psiri where she’d sampled out of this world food at one of the many small cafés that did not even open until six in the evening.

“It was a lot like Soho, but I felt more comfortable in Psiri than I ever did visiting that section of New York City. Maybe that’s because I went there with my roommate from college. Her friends were all very gothic.” Tess could still remember how out of place she’d felt in the avant garde atmosphere.

“Psiri is fantastic and a lot more laid back. I didn’t feel like I was on display, if that makes any sense.” Her manners and introverted ways had made her feel out of place in Soho, but the Psiri was patronized by so many different nationalities, no one person stood out.

Dash shrugged, his broad shoulders moving fluidly. “I have never been to Soho and it has been several years since I indulged in the nightlife of Athens.” he said.

“I suppose it’s hard to do normal things like drink ouzo in a small bar on a busy street when you’ve got a security team trailing you.” Like the one in the nondescript car behind the limousine, she thought.

“They don’t follow all the time and there is a lack of time as well. I have spent the better part of the last six years building my business holdings. My socializing has been of necessity targeted to that end.”

“Just like my dad.” Tess said.Belonging © NôvelDram/a.Org.

“Perhaps.”

“Is that what tonight is about? Are you doing my father a favor in return for which you are angling for some kind of business coup?”

Dash went curiously still. “What makes you ask this?” he asked.

It was her turn to shrug. “I don’t know. I guess it’s just hard to believe you’ve thought about me at all over the past three weeks”

She ignored his threatened intent to seduce her as macho posturing. It must be a male thing. “It’s not as if you’d called or anything. And I know I’m not your average date.”

He might socialize for business, but the companions he chose to do it with were invariably gorgeous and terribly sophisticated. Much like the model he had turned away from at that party to dance with Tess instead. She still found that inexplicable. One of his previous lovers had been a dispossessed princess with a reputation for fast living. His latest was an Italian supermodel who gave sultry new meaning.

Tess was as far from such a being as Dash was from an awkward teenager.

“Accept that it pleases me to see you,” he said.

“Why should I?”

“Because I say it is so.” Exasperation laced his every word and she wanted to kick him.

“You can say anything, but it’s your actions that show what you really feel.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” he asked.

Their arrival at their destination prevented further conversation.

Dash helped Tess out of the limousine. Who would believe such a shy little thing could be such a temagant as well? After her response to his kiss at the party, he had been sure wooing her would be the easy part of the deal with Neal Patchett. However, she was hardly falling into his arms in gratitude for his pursuit.

By the saints, she was contrary. She melted against him when he took her in his arms, but she had the tongue of an asp.

That tongue was silent during the elevator ride to his penthouse. She kept her gaze averted too. He wondered at this. He wondered also if she was enamored of that blond buffoon who had put his lips on her.

A definite rapport existed between them. She said she did not sleep with him, but it was not because the man was averse. Anger still simmered beneath the surface at the memory of another man touching the woman who was to be his.

Okay maybe she wasn’t his yet. And even if she was going to be for only a short time, it didn’t mean that she could go around with other people. She was going to be fully his…. till he got his shares back. And then they were going to get a divorce. He wasn’t ready to get married and definitely wasn’t going to stick to one that he was blackmailed into.

He found her very attractive, also nice to be with. So it wouldn’t be so hard to do Neal’s bidding. He would marry her to get his shares back, and since he found her intriguing, the idea of being married to her for a short while didn’t seem like such a bad idea. And they could have some fun while the marriage lasted.