Seduction: The Billionaire's Bride of Vengeance. Miranda Lee
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her mother’s huge range of silverware, inserted three unused candles from a box of six and lit them before blowing the original candle out.
She didn’t head back upstairs straight away, however, curious now over just how much her mother had left behind.
When Nicole had stayed in the house the other night, she hadn’t looked in all the kitchen cupboards. Once she discovered that the pantry had been emptied of food, and the fridge contained nothing but ice cubes, she’d ordered in a pizza that night, then had had Kara take her down to a local café for breakfast in the morning.
Everything was still there, she soon discovered. All her mother’s very expensive dinnerware, all the crockery and cutlery and glassware. Really, when you took into account the contents of this house, Russell might have actually got a bargain!
Not that Nicole wanted any of it. She didn’t.
Selecting a heavy-based whisky glass, Nicole was moving over to pour herself some water from the tap when she had a sudden thought: if Russell had moved in—which it seemed he had—maybe there was some juice in the fridge.
No, she quickly saw. But it wasn’t completely empty. There were four bottles of light beer and a single opened bottle of white wine, with a silver stopper in it.
Nicole picked it up and studied the label. It was French, which meant it was probably from Alistair’s wine cellar. Another bonus for Russell, she realised. Alistair’s taste in wine was just as expensive as her mother’s taste in furniture.
Nicole removed the stopper and took a sniff. It smelled fine. In fact, its delicious bouquet was very tempting.
What the hell? she thought, and half filled the whisky glass.
It tasted as delicious as it smelled, Nicole savouring the citrusy flavour on her tongue before swallowing. Before she knew it, the glass was empty. She almost refilled it but decided she didn’t want to be drunk when she went back upstairs. She wanted no excuses for her behaviour in the morning. She wanted to look back on this incredible night with a clear memory.
Nicole returned the bottle to the fridge and rinsed the whisky glass in the sink before picking up the candelabra and heading back the way she’d come.
It came to her, as she crossed the marble-floored foyer and began a careful ascent up the curving staircase, that she no longer felt cold. Perhaps it was the wine which had warmed her. Or maybe she was just growing used to the inside temperature, which was probably only marginally cooler than the very comfortable twenty four degrees at which the house was usually kept.
A sudden flash of light on her left sent Nicole’s head jerking round, only to be met by a reflection of herself in the huge gilt mirror which graced the wall halfway up the stairs.
What an amazing sight, she thought as she stared at her naked self in the flickering candlelight.
Often, during her partying years, Nicole would stop at this precise spot on the staircase to check her appearance before skipping down the rest of the stairs and making her entrance.
Nicole moved close to the mirror, frowning as she searched her face.
Who are you? came the silent question. You’re not the Nicole Power who used never to go to bed with a man till you’d known him for ages. All Russell had to say was how much he wanted you and you were his for the taking.
And now … now you’re going back up to him for more, aren’t you?
Yet you vowed not to have anything more to do with rich men.
You know what they are. Selfish, amoral and unbelievably arrogant. When he said he wanted you more than any other woman, he didn’t mean he wanted you for forever. This is just a one-night stand or a dirty weekend. A very dirty weekend. Don’t go thinking his feelings encompass anything fine or deep.
Nicole shivered as her eyes drifted down her naked body. It was the same body she’d always known, yet it was different. He’d changed it, changed how it responded to men, how it felt about making love.
Her flesh craved him and it would not be denied.
Nicole shook her head in defeat. There was absolutely no use trying to frighten herself off. Common sense had no sway over the power of a desire this intense. She wanted Russell to make love to her again more than she’d ever wanted anything.
Scooping in a shaky breath, she whirled and walked up the remaining stairs. Once on the landing, however, she turned away from the master bedroom to go first into what had once been her own bedroom. There, she hurried into the bathroom where she put down the candelabra and reached for the hidden pins which anchored her French roll. Having her hair up no longer fitted this bold creature who’d been born tonight in Russell’s arms. It had to be worn down, she decided recklessly as she combed her outspread fingers through her hair, down and loose.
‘Yes,’ she whispered as it splayed out over her bare shoulders in sensual disarray. When she shook her head a couple of locks fell down towards one breast, not quite covering the nipple.
She swallowed as she stared at the starkly erect peak.
He hadn’t touched her breasts since that time in the car.
But she hadn’t forgotten how it had felt.
A shiver rippled down her spine at the memory.
Time to go back. Not to wake him at first. Just to lie beside him, to feel the heat of his body, to press her skin to his.
That would be enough for now.
Russell woke to darkness, and the awareness of being alone in the bed. He knew before he felt the cold place next to him that Nicole wasn’t there. He was about to leap out and go in search of her when a strange light filled the open doorway of the bedroom, pale at first, then stronger.
He saw the candelabra before he saw her.
She seemed to float into the room, the candlelight casting a golden circle over her head, like a halo. She’d taken her hair down, he noted, bringing an ethereal quality to her nudity which he found exquisitely beautiful and perversely ironic.
Because she was no angel. More like a devil, tempting him all the time to care about nothing but what she could make him feel. She was a siren of the highest order. Beautiful and bold. And, he believed, born to be bad.
As she moved closer to the bed, some light eventually fell onto his face. And into his opened eyes.
‘Oh!’ she gasped, and stopped abruptly. ‘You’re awake.’
‘Yes,’ he agreed coolly. ‘And the electricity’s obviously still not on.’ Propping himself up against the pillows, he drew his knees up. He could not believe how quickly she could turn him on. She didn’t have to do a thing, just stand before him in her birthday suit and he was a goner.
Nothing new about that, Russell, he reminded himself ruefully as his eyes continued to feast on her. You’ve been a goner since the first moment you saw her in that shower.
His teeth clenched hard in his jaw as he realised it was going to take more than one wretched night to rid himself of his lust for Nicole Power.
The sound of a cellphone ringing startled both of them.
‘It’s not mine,’ he said, nodding towards where the sound was coming from.
‘If it’s Kara,’ Nicole said with a groan as she put the candelabra down and picked up her bag. ‘I’m going to strangle her.’
Russell welcomed the interruption. It would give him the opportunity to get himself under control.
He watched her pull out a sleek silver cellphone and flip it open. ‘Hello?’
Her face immediately reflected exasperation. ‘Mum! What on earth are you doing, calling me at this hour? Yes, well, it might be the middle of the day where you are, but it’s the middle of the night here in Australia!’
She threw an apologetic