CHAPTER NINE

       Ajax

      IMOGEN WAS LOOKING up at me, her eyes wide and dark, her delectable mouth all red from my kiss. Her hands were gripping the front of my T-shirt so tightly it was like she was afraid to let me go, her chest rising and falling fast and hard. The scent of roses and the faint musk of feminine arousal were winding tight around me, making my breath catch.

      I shouldn’t have kissed her. Why the fuck had I?

      All I’d meant to do was ask her why the hell she was in my room after I’d explicitly told her she wasn’t allowed up here.

      But then she’d touched me. Despite my very real anger, she’d simply put up her small hand and those delicate fingers had run along my jaw, lightly, gently. And she’d looked at me as if she’d never seen anything like me before in all her life. As if I was fascinating to her.

      People were afraid of me. They were never fascinated by me.

      For some women my reputation was a turn-on and I was a trophy. Bedding the most dangerous man in Sydney had a certain status factor.

      Yet there was no fear in Imogen, either of me or my anger, and it got me hard. The way she’d begged me to kiss her, because her first kiss should be with someone she wanted...

      Hell, how could I deny her?

       You wanted to kiss her. Two days and she still affects you as badly as she did the night you kidnapped her.

      She did. That was a fact. And fuck, I did want to kiss her. So why shouldn’t I?

      It was only a kiss...

      Except now I was hard as a rock and the scent of her was driving me crazy. And there was a part of me that had forgotten about the goddamn big picture. That wanted nothing more than to lift her against the closet door and fuck us both into the middle of next week.

      Except her virginity was the leverage I needed against her father and if I took it, that leverage would be gone.

       There are other methods you can use to get rid of him.

      Sure there were. But those were Dad’s methods and I didn’t use them. I was better than that.

       So what? You can fake a doctor’s certificate if need be.

      Yeah, but I’d given my word as a King that I wouldn’t touch her and that still meant something.

       You know White doesn’t give a shit about your word.

      He might not, but I did. The King name was mud in this town and my brothers and I wanted that to change. And that meant standing by our promises, keeping to the agreements we’d made.

      And going back on my word would make me no better than Dad.

      ‘No? Okay then.’ The disappointment in her voice caught at me. ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have asked for a kiss. I just...’

      The skin of her jaw beneath my fingertips was very warm and her hair brushing the back of my hand where I held her was very soft. It felt silky, and I caught a faint suggestion of what it would feel like spread over my chest.

      I couldn’t lie, couldn’t tell myself I didn’t want her. But those big picture goals were more important than what I wanted for myself and always would be.

      I couldn’t sacrifice them for a couple of hours in bed with a woman, no matter how lovely she was.

      ‘You just what?’ I prompted, trying not to let myself become mesmerised by her pink mouth and the little mole just above it. She’d tasted sweet when I’d kissed her, and yet tart at the same time, the flavour lingering on my tongue. What would the rest of her taste like?

      There was a worried look in her eyes, as if she couldn’t decide on what to say. Then her mouth firmed. ‘Okay, the truth is that I was hoping for some revenge on Dad. You know what he’s been using me for, a trophy for his friends to build alliances. And he doesn’t care how I feel about it. And I’m pissed off, Ajax. When I lose my virginity, I want it to be with someone who’s my choice, not his. Someone I’m attracted to.’ She kept her gaze on mine as she turned her cheek into my palm, nuzzling into it like a little cat. ‘Someone like you.’

      There was determination in those green eyes of hers. A hint of the strength that I’d seen when I’d first come up behind her in the bathroom at the ball. This woman wasn’t only wide-eyed questions and restless energy. She was more complex than that, which was both fascinating and intensely sexy at the same time.

      ‘I’m your father’s enemy, though,’ I murmured. ‘He’s not going to like it.’

      ‘I know. That’s kind of the whole point. That’s what makes it perfect.’

      Revenge. Hell, that was a concept I could relate to.

      I kept my hand where it was, against her cheek. ‘But your virginity is vital to my plan working, remember?’

      Disappointment flashed across her expressive face. ‘In that case, you’d better let me go.’

      I didn’t want to. She could have her revenge, couldn’t she? And maybe I could get a little something for myself too. Such as her, all silky and strokeable beneath me.

       It’s a slippery slope. You know this.

      Fuck, I did know. It was the tiny slips that led to greater ones. Small actions that didn’t seem like massive deals, that eventually brought you down. That’s how I’d finally managed to bring my father down, after all.

      And if I took Imogen, if I got rid of the only thing I could use against White, what would I have left?

      The only other language he understood was violence and I could not go down that road again.

      The disappointment in Imogen’s eyes was loud and clear. But there was also something else under that, something that hooked into my chest and twisted hard.

      ‘What?’ I asked roughly, my hand still against her cheek, even though I knew better than to keep it there. ‘Don’t look at me like that.’

      ‘You’re the only one.’ Her voice was hoarse. ‘You’re the only one who’s ever made me feel like this.’

      Ah, Christ. What was she doing saying shit like that to me? ‘I’m not special, Imogen. How many men have you even met?’

      ‘Enough.’ She lifted her