Playboy Boss, Live-In Mistress

CHAPTER FOUR

SIENNA made it to her bedroom, shimmied into her nightgown, crawled into bed, and slept hard for the rest of the night. Somewhere around sun-up she started to rouse, and toss and turn in the unfamiliar bed as her mind skipped backwards to another big bed in another lake-sized bedroom, and to the people that had populated it. Her mother, porcelain pale as she stared down at the shattered pieces of a broken vase. Her father roaring. Ranting.

‘Stupid passionless bitch.’

Never mind that he’d been the one to throw the vase.

‘Who are you to tell me what I can spend and where I can go? Who are you to tell me anything? Stupid crone.’

Sienna tossed and turned some more, needing sleep, not getting it. Her mother hadn’t been a crone. Her mother had been beautiful, inside and out. Beautiful, and kind, and completely in love with the brooding, black-hearted bastard she’d married.

‘You!’ Sienna heard her father say savagely as she fell back into fitful slumber, only this time he hadn’t been speaking to his wife. ‘Get out. Out of my sight!’ And as the drawing-room door had closed on her father’s rage and her mother’s frozen features, ‘You’re just like your mother.’ A smile then, a smile just for Sienna. ‘Pathetic, cowering, and weak.’

Sienna woke again at seven, startled into wakefulness when the bedside alarm buzzed into action. She certainly hadn’t set it. Presumably Rudy the former frigate midshipman had.

‘Man’s got a death wish,’ she muttered, groping for the clock and fiddling with its bits until it fell silent.

Not a good night’s sleep, all told. Not one of her happier memories, although there were plenty worse. Plenty worse.

She contemplated rolling over and ignoring daylight completely in search of less fitful slumber, but if she did that Lex would doubtless come knocking and that would be bad. Lex was dangerous enough as it was; no need to hand him his ammunition on a plate. So it was legs over the side of the bed and a heave-ho as she hauled her protesting body upright. She pushed her hair from her face and finally coaxed her eyes open.

Ah, yes. The other lake-sized bedroom. The one she fully intended to exchange for a smaller model at some stage during the day. Sienna had become adept at avoiding her childhood memories. It was either that or be crushed beneath the weight of them.

If her more recent memory served her correctly—and it usually did—the en suite was approximately fifty metres away, somewhere to the south. Sienna got there eventually and took her time in the shower, emerging a whole lot cleaner and slightly more awake.

A hike to the cupboard garnered underwear, dark grey trousers, and a button up white cotton shirt. If Lex wanted her to dress down, Sienna would deliver. For a time. It would make the impact of the suit all the sweeter if she ever did decide to wear it.

Sienna dressed fast, accessorised with some pretty leather sandals and a dainty bead necklace in brown, black and beige, and figured that if she looked any more nondescript she’d disappear altogether. She power-walked back to the bathroom to apply a light dusting of make-up, and then hiked over to the bedroom door and along the never-ending hallway towards the kitchen. There would be absolutely no need for her to use the downstairs gym at any time during her stay, she decided happily. There was more than enough exercise to be had from traversing this house.

No one was in the kitchen, the vast dining room, or the drawing room. The library stood empty, so too did the billiards room. Sienna looked towards Lex’s wing of the house but decided against going in search of him there. A man was entitled to his privacy. Someone—probably one of his former women—had once told her that he looked his absolute best between the sheets of a king-sized bed. Sienna didn’t doubt it, but she didn’t exactly want the image engraved on her brain either.

She went back to her room and collected her sunglasses and ventured downstairs with every intention of exploring the garden or maybe even heading out for a stroll. She hadn’t asked what time Lex wanted to start work this morning—she’d simply assumed they’d start around nine like most normal office workers. Knowing Lex that probably wasn’t the case. Lex had probably started work around six and was already in the hub wondering where she was.

Wrong.

Lex was swimming laps of the pool, his stroke smooth and powerful as he cut through the water with seemingly effortless ease. Sienna watched a little longer, wondering how she could have ever seen him as anything but the ruthless marauder he was. Smart. Sexy. Driven. Until yesterday she’d thought she was immune to him, but no. The rapid acceleration of her pulse at the sight of his sleek brown body suggested otherwise.

Sienna breathed deep, trying to push the attraction away, out of her body, out of her brain. She didn’t want it, couldn’t handle it. Couldn’t handle him. Not if he really did decide to pursue her. Time to stop staring, and fretting, and go and explore the garden before Lex stopped swimming and Sienna started swooning.

The pool gate opened with a click and closed with a clatter, and Sienna strolled leisurely down to the jetty and along it, enjoying every bit of this peaceful, pretty spot amidst the chaos of a major city. Trust Lex to find it and own it. Trust him to know how to enjoy it.

The jetty rocked gently with the footfall of another and she turned and watched as Lex strode towards her, his hair all wet and mussed, a beach towel riding low on his hips and the rest of him splendidly naked.

Sienna couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen Lex’s near-naked self. Ten years ago? Longer? She’d called him scrawny once—she remembered that. It had been the day of his fifteenth birthday. He’d pushed her off the catamaran they’d been sailing and refused to let her back aboard until she’d flattered him half to death about the potential of his scrawny, yet surprisingly strong physique.

He wasn’t scrawny now. Sienna stared at the stupendous example of raw masculine beauty heading her way—it was impossible not to. Lex’s potential had been well and truly realised.

So much for not wanting an image of him without a whole lot of clothing taking up space in her mind. Because this one was here to stay.

‘I like your sunglasses,’ he murmured when he reached her. ‘Although those lenses aren’t nearly dark enough for you to be looking where you’re looking.’

Oh. She dragged her gaze upwards past the washboard stomach and sculpted chest, over deliciously broad shoulders and finally found his face. ‘My mistake,’ she said. ‘Nice towel. Great towel.’

He sent her a marauder’s grin. ‘How’d you sleep?’

‘Like the dead.’

‘How do you feel this morning?’

‘Like the walking dead.’ Sarcasm dispensed, Sienna considered the question. ‘Not too bad, all things considered. Did I really buy ten thousand pounds’ worth of shares last night?’

Lex’s smile widened. ‘You really did.’

Which meant that Lex had probably seen exactly how much money she had in her account. He’d been sitting right beside her—he had to have seen her meagre bottom line although he’d made no comment. He probably thought it was her working account. No need to mention that it was her only account. ‘Do I still have ten thousand pounds’ worth of shares?’ she asked tentatively.

‘No, you have eleven thousand seven hundred pounds in cash. We could have realised more but I bailed early and went to bed.’

‘You’re forgiven.’ Hard to be cranky with a man who’d just made her seventeen hundred pounds richer.

‘I hate to sound like a broken record,’ he said, ‘but you’d tell me if you were having money troubles, wouldn’t you?’ He sounded earnest. He looked earnest. Sienna adored him for his persistence even as she cursed him for it. But she wasn’t about to tell him her money woes. If Lex knew of them he’d want to fix them for her and that was out of the question. The trick lay in making him see that helping her was out of the question. Sienna leaned her forearms against the jetty railing and stared down at the water, searching for the words that would make him understand. Finally, she thought she had them.

‘The thing is, I can accept your helping to train me as a PA because I know that if you turned around tomorrow and wanted to become part of the art world I’d do the same for you. I can accept your hospitality because I can offer mine in return, albeit on a somewhat more modest scale. Maybe you can teach me more about this day-trading caper. Maybe that’s an option I need to explore. But I won’t take financial help from you, Lex. If I did we wouldn’t be equals any more. And I need to be.’

Lex came to stand beside her elbow to elbow, only instead of leaning forward he leaned back against the railing and looked the other way. Once upon a time, Sienna might have leaned her shoulder into his and drawn comfort from that small contact, but not this time. Lex’s touch no longer seemed comforting and familiar. It made her as nervous as a skittish kitten who’d never been touched. What would it feel like to be gentled by Alex? She didn’t know. She wanted to know.

‘If I needed five pounds and you had it in your pocket would you give it to me?’ he said reflectively.

‘Of course I would.’ She knew where he was going with this. ‘If you asked it of me. But answer me this. If you knew there was a good chance that you’d never be able to repay me…would you ask me for it?’

‘Sienna,’ he began, and then stopped abruptly to run his hand through his hair before turning to glare at her.

‘At last he walks a mile in my shoes,’ she murmured.

‘They pinch.’

‘You lie,’ she said. ‘They fit you just fine. Which is why you won’t be offering to take care of my financial worries any time soon.’

‘I hate it when you’re right,’ he grumbled. ‘Especially when it feels so wrong.’

Lex headed for the yacht and stepped lightly aboard her, before turning to offer Sienna a hand across, expecting her to follow. Which she did. His thumb at her wrist was warm and rich with sensual promise. Sienna’s heart tripped and she let go of him fast. ‘What happens if you fall in love with a rich man and marry him?’ he muttered gruffly. ‘I can tell you now that he’ll want to take care of you financially.’

‘Marriage isn’t for everyone,’ she said carefully. ‘It’s not for me.’

‘I thought you might have grown out of that particular notion by now,’ he said lightly.

‘Nope.’ Maybe she had been carrying the intention never to marry around since childhood, but it still seemed to fit her just fine.

‘What about children?’ he said next. ‘You love kids. Don’t you want any of your own?’

‘Maybe.’ Maybe there were certain flaws in her plan of no commitment. ‘Maybe I’ll have to just commandeer yours every now and again, and, anyway, I thought men like you liked your women free of commitments.’

‘Not always,’ he murmured.

Not a lot she could say to that reply. Maybe it was time to change the subject. ‘May I come with you when you take Mercy Jane out next?’

‘You may,’ he said, his eyes lightening with the all too familiar promise of adventure. ‘You have to see this city from the water. Preferably at dusk. Watch it come alight.’

She’d watched it come alight last night, from the windows of the work hub, and marvelled at its beauty. It would be even more spectacular on the water—Lex was right. ‘Sounds wonderful.’ It sounded downright romantic, actually. Which, given the way her body had reacted to his nearness this morning, wasn’t such a good idea. Lex opened the hatch and disappeared below. Sienna made her way to the helm and started to admire all the nautical bells and whistles. ‘I thought I had a lead on those missing paintings a while back,’ she said idly. ‘A pretty little pond scene turned up in a private collection, origin unknown. I really thought I’d found the Monet.’

‘And?’ Lex’s voice floated up to her.

‘It was a Monet. Just not my Monet. If I could just find it…’

Lex reappeared in the hatch staring up at her, his expression guarded. ‘Then what? Then all your financial worries would magically disappear?’

‘That’s the plan.’

‘Even if you do find the paintings, how are you going to prove that they’re rightfully yours?’ Lex said next, with irritating logic. ‘The current owner might have the records to prove that they were purchased in complete good faith.’

‘Not the Monet.’ Sienna shook her head adamantly. ‘The others, maybe, but the Monet was mine. It was a birthday gift from my mother. She even let me choose it from the catalogue. She would never have sold it without telling me.’

Lex eyed her steadily. ‘But your father might have. He was perfectly capable of fencing those paintings and spending the change no matter who they belonged to.’

‘I know,’ she said quietly. ‘But I think that if he’d fenced them or sold them outright, word of them would have surfaced by now. People would have seen them by now.’ Two Picassos, a Rembrandt and a Monet—they were hardly insignificant doodles. ‘If nothing else there would be innuendo about who had them. Rumours. Whispers.’ And Sienna would have heard them. She hadn’t chosen a career as a curator on a whim. She wasn’t aiming to work as a PA for a wealthy collector on a whim either. If someone had those paintings squirrelled away, someone somewhere would know of them. It was simply a matter of moving in the right social circles and keeping her ears open. ‘No, the more I look for them, the more I think that my mother put them somewhere. For safekeeping.’ So that Sienna’s father wouldn’t do exactly what Lex had just suggested. ‘She just…died before she could tell anyone where they were, that’s all. One day, one day, I’ll find them.’

‘And when you do? What’ll they give you that you don’t already have? Wealth? There are other ways of acquiring wealth.’

‘Not just wealth,’ she said defensively.

‘What, then? Happiness? Closure? What?’

When they’d been younger Lex had been as enthusiastic as her about going on a treasure hunt, but as he’d grown older his attitude towards the missing paintings had changed. He’d long since stopped seeing them as a challenging puzzle, and he’d never viewed them as a miracle cure-all. These days he considered her continued search for them nothing but a waste of time.

‘Maybe closure,’ she said quietly. Her mother’s death. Her father’s…indifference. Somewhere amongst all the venom and passion and sheer destructive force that had been her parents’ relationship she still clung to the fragile belief that her mother in particular had had space in her heart for Sienna as well. ‘Maybe I do see them as some sort of proof that my mother thought about me before she died. That she tried to provide for me. That she cared. About me.’

Lex sighed heavily, his hard-eyed gaze softening. He didn’t say what she knew he was thinking. That if Sienna’s mother had really cared for her she would never have taken her own life.

‘Don’t equate those paintings with your mother’s love, Sienna. It’s not healthy,’ he said quietly. ‘Mary loved you. Dearly. That’s the way I remember it. Maybe that’s the way you should remember it too.’

‘I do.’

Sometimes.

‘I just don’t want to see you spend a lifetime searching for paintings you may never find,’ he said. ‘Maybe if you stopped looking back so hard you’d be more inclined to see those things that are right there in front of you.’

‘Like what? A way to solve the current financial crisis I refuse to admit to having?’ she countered. ‘I’m on it. Reality has been dissected and rearranged with an eye to fiscal improvement. Why do you think I’m here? Which reminds me, what time do you want me to start work in the mornings?’

‘Nine is fine. I usually start a few hours earlier to catch the end of the day’s share trading in the US but there’s no reason for you to start then. I break at seven-thirty or so for breakfast and head back up to the hub at around nine. That’s the general schedule.’

It was a punishing schedule by anyone’s standards, particularly when he worked late into the night as well.

‘Rudy normally serves breakfast in the drawing room,’ continued Lex. ‘This being his day off, he’s prepared all our meals in advance and left them in the fridge. Each meal has its own shelf. According to Rudy you’re to serve breakfast in the drawing room and clean up afterwards. Lunch is served in the drawing room as well and the cleanup procedure still applies. The evening meal is to be served at seven sharp in the dining room. Rudy trusts you know how to use a dishwasher and specifically told me to tell you not to mix meals.’

‘Is that so?’ she said airily.

‘They’re calorie balanced. Vitamin and mineral balanced too, for maximum uptake. Nutrition is another one of Rudy’s little specialities.’

‘The man’s a genius,’ she said. ‘Of course, there is a school of thought that allows you to balance calories, vitamins, and minerals by the day. Which means you could, theoretically, choose food from all three shelves at every meal. Rudy would never know. Come to think of it, if I served the meals, you’d never know.’

‘For some unknown reason Rudy took the time to write out the day’s meal menu and leave it on my desk,’ Lex told her with a grin. ‘He’s very thorough.’

‘Isn’t he just?’ The cur. ‘You do realise that I’m going to have to tweak something about those duties he left for me to do. It’s an ownership thing.’ Sienna didn’t wait for Lex’s answer. ‘Where would you like your breakfast served, Skipper? Out by the pool? Down here on the boat?’ She sent him a conspiratorial smile. ‘We could be really rebellious and eat breakfast in the kitchen. I’m good at that.’

‘Rebellion?’ he queried. ‘So I’m noticing.’

‘Eating meals in kitchens,’ she corrected. ‘From the fridge. You should try it some time, rich man. Take a walk on the wild side.’

Lex joined her on the bridge, his eyes telegraphing the promise of a very wild ride should she choose to take it. ‘You think I don’t walk on the wild side?’

‘I’ve never seen it,’ she said, moving aside to give him room to move and her room to breathe.

‘Then you haven’t been looking,’ he murmured. ‘Would you like to?’

‘Eat breakfast in the kitchen? Yes. I’m all for it.’

‘That’s good.’ His eyes had darkened. ‘But it’s not exactly wild behaviour, now, is it? Now, if I were to come up behind you and put one hand on the wheel and my other hand low on your stomach and pull you back towards me you’d probably find it unexpected,’ he whispered against her ear as his movements mirrored his words. ‘Hopefully you’d find it pleasant. But it’s not wild behaviour. It’s just normal behaviour.’

‘Ah…Lex? Not for us.’

She didn’t know which sensation affected her more, the heat of him at her back or the gentle pressure of his hand at her stomach. But together they set her aflame. Need warred with apprehension, both of them fierce, both of them demanding a response. The compromise was to close her eyes and stand very, very still.

‘A man might breathe in the scent of the woman he held in his arms and put his lips to the skin on her neck, but that wouldn’t be wild behaviour either,’ he murmured as his lips brushed her ear.

Sienna gasped. There was no air left for breathing. Nothing but heat that threatened to engulf her. ‘It wouldn’t?’ Because, as far as she was concerned, her body’s reactions were getting very wild indeed.

‘No. Not until you turned in my arms and put your hands to my chest and gave me your lips would things get out of control.’ Sienna trembled in his arms, she couldn’t help it, and Lex groaned and pressed her more firmly against him. ‘I’ve been thinking about what happened between us yesterday, Sienna. I’ve been thinking about it a lot.’

‘I’m surprised you found the time, what with your work schedule and all,’ she said, trying to sound unaffected and failing miserably. All she could feel was Lex at her back and all she wanted was more.

‘What can I say?’ Amusement laced his voice. ‘I’m a man who can multitask. I can also,’ he said as his lips grazed her neck, ‘recognise a problem when I see one coming. You and I, Sienna, have a problem. The only question is…what are we going to do about it?’

‘I’m for ignoring it completely and hoping it’ll go away,’ she said fervently.

‘You see, that’s where we differ,’ he murmured. ‘I’m more inclined to find out how big our problem is. What say you, Sienna? You want to find out once and for all how wild this is likely to get?’

She really did.

She knew she shouldn’t.

‘Turn around,’ he whispered.

Sienna turned around.

Hot colour rode high on Lex’s cheeks as he stared down at her with eyes that held more than a hint of her own turmoil at the changes taking place in their relationship.

‘You know what to do next,’ he murmured.

Sienna started where Lex’s towel left off, trailing her fingers over his stomach, ridiculously pleased when his breath seemed to catch in his throat and his stomach muscles clenched beneath her touch. His hands rested lightly on her hips, his feet were slightly parted, and she stepped in between them as her palms absorbed the pleasure to be found from tightly budded nipples amidst the damp tickle of chest hair. She lingered a while, learning the feel of him, delighting in the tremors that ripped through him. ‘It’s not so wild,’ she whispered.

Lex covered her hand with his and guided her hand to the back of his neck. ‘Yet,’ he muttered and bent his head to hers.

Sienna didn’t stop to think. She didn’t want to think, just feel and taste and take. His lips were firm as she’d thought they’d be. Warm as she’d always known Lex to be. Gentle, as she knew he could be. Nothing she didn’t want, but Sienna wanted more. He’d promised her wildness, he’d deliberately sown the seeds of her need for it. Sienna parted her lips and tasted him with her tongue, a leisurely slide along the join of his lips, a request for permission to enter. She expected consent but instead he pulled back.

‘Be very sure,’ he said gruffly. ‘I’m not playing, Sienna.’

‘Yes, you are,’ she said, her gaze firmly fixed on his mouth, but right now she didn’t care. ‘You always do.’

‘Not always,’ he murmured, and set his lips to hers. They parted readily beneath his, soft, willing, following him effortlessly into a kiss that shattered his composure into a million tiny pieces. Lex had known need for a woman before. The sharp end of desire, the wanton side of willing. Known it and revelled in it, but nothing like this. Not like this. He slid his hands over the lush curve of her bottom, drawing her closer, needing her closer still. Sienna gasped and her arms came up to twine around his neck as she pressed against him and all the while her kisses destroyed him. Deep and drugging at first, until she pulled back for an open-mouthed exploration involving the barest brush of lips and tongue and an innate sensuality guaranteed to send him mad. He had her pinned against the ship’s wheel with her thighs cradling him and her legs wrapped around his waist before she could do anything more than gasp. Another minute and he’d be carrying her down to the cabin and stripping her naked. Two seconds after that and he’d be buried inside her if he didn’t slow this insanity down.

He broke free of her kiss, eyes closed as he fought for control. ‘Don’t move,’ he muttered as she shifted slightly in his arms, framing his hardness even more snugly within the V of her legs. ‘Sienna, please.’

She stilled immediately and Lex opened his eyes cautiously, only to close them again at the baffled mix of hurt and confusion in her eyes. He’d started this seduction, not her. And for all his considerable expertise in the area he didn’t have the faintest idea how to finish it. ‘I don’t want to—’ But that was a lie. ‘I didn’t mean to—’ Also a fabrication. ‘I’m not—

‘Interested,’ she said raggedly. ‘For God’s sake Alex, how many times do you think you need to say it? I get the point.’

She really didn’t.

‘Let me go,’ she said, starting to pull away, all sharp elbows and panicked squirming. She was scared, he realised. Of him. ‘I’m done with walking on the wild side.’

He released her reluctantly and watched her scramble across the deck and leap from the yacht to the jetty, her cheeks flushed and her eyes glittering suspiciously.

‘I knew this was a bad idea. I knew it. Twenty years of friendship gone in a heartbeat and for what?’ she said from the safety of the jetty. ‘One stupid kiss! I valued our friendship, Alex. I needed it.’ Tears threatened to spill from Sienna’s eyes and Lex prayed they wouldn’t fall. He’d rather slit his own throat than make her cry. She looked away, looked out over the harbour, and her chest heaved. ‘Now what do we do?’ she said brokenly. ‘How are we supposed to get past this?’