Sarah Holland - The Dominant Male

‘Yes, of course. Forgive me.’ Humiliating colour stung her cheeks. ‘Welcome to Solomon Associates, Mr Stone. How may we help you?’

He smiled with lazy satisfaction. ‘Well, now, that’s the kind of welcome I prefer!’

Rhiannon’s green eyes filled with furious rebellion as she thought to herself, You rotten, power-wielding snake!

‘I’ve been discussing the possibility of switching all my accounts from Rawdon and Taylor to Solomon’s. I’d prefer to test the water first, so I’ll only hand over one account initially. I’d like you, Miss Windmorr, to work on it for me.’

‘I’m afraid I can’t at the moment,’ she informed him. ‘I’m still working on Carillo’s Cuban coffee.’

‘What a pity,’ said Gabriel softly. ‘In that case, I’ll have to withdraw my offer.’

Her jaw dropped in shock.

‘Er, Mr Stone,’ Steve said rapidly, shooting a furious glare at her, ‘I’m sure Rhiannon will be pleased to work for—’

‘I did want her to handle my account,’ said Gabriel with a smile and a sinister note in his voice. ‘Only her. Nobody else.’

‘I’m sure she’ll agree to—’

‘But, if she prefers not to—’ Gabriel strode coolly past her towards the door ‘—I shall have to take my business elsewhere.’

‘Rhiannon!’ Steve exploded, dark eyes blazing.

‘Yes, all right!’ she muttered thickly, and turned, calling resentfully, ‘Please wait, Mr Stone!’

He turned, a mocking smile on his hard mouth.

She hated him—and desired him—more in that moment, standing there with the light of victory in his eyes, than she could ever have thought possible.

‘Of course I’ll work on the account,’ she said tightly.

‘I’m delighted to hear it,’ Gabriel drawled with a cynical smile, and moved back into the room, arrogance itself as he stood there, dark head lifted with authority. ‘Mr Solomon—would you be so good as to leave us alone now, to discuss the details?’

‘Yes, of course!’ Steve hurriedly moved away while Rhiannon stood rigidly, aware that she was being set up but helpless to stop it. ‘Just tell my secretary when my office is free again.’

Gabriel Stone gave a cool nod, and a second later the door had closed, leaving them alone.

The silence between them seethed with sexual attraction, fierce cross-currents of emotion, and an awareness of each other that was nothing short of electrifying.

Rhiannon spoke first—out of necessity as well as nerves.

‘How did you engineer this?’

‘Simple,’ he drawled. ‘I just had my secretary ring your boss and say the magic words: “Mr Gabriel Stone would like to meet with you in one hour’s time.”‘ He smiled lazily. ‘Of course, he said yes. They always do.’

‘Must be nice to be so powerful!’

He laughed softly. ‘Yes, it is!’

‘And what about the rest of your plan? Sending that ridiculous gift, that insulting invitation and—’

‘I wanted you to be angry by the time your boss summoned you. I wanted you to refuse to work with me in his presence, just to make sure you understood your position.’

‘And what is my position?’

‘Powerless,’ he drawled mockingly.

Rage blazed through her veins so fiercely that she practically had to nail herself to the floor to stop herself hitting his dark, arrogant face.

He smiled. ‘I suppose you want to slap my face. That’s only natural. A pity your hands are so effectively tied.’

‘My hands are not tied!’ she choked out ‘I can hit you any time I want!’

‘Go on, then. See where it gets you.’

She fumed impotently, hands curling into fists at her sides.

‘Darling,’ he murmured, ‘never make a threat you’re not prepared to carry out.’

‘Don’t you dare call me darling!’ she said under her breath, tears spurting suddenly to sting her eyes. ‘I loathe you for what you’re doing. And just what do you hope to achieve by it anyway?’

‘I would have thought that was perfectly obvious!’

‘Sex?’ she whispered fiercely, her vision blurring.

‘No need to say it like that!’ He frowned. ‘I saw and felt how much I turned you on. I can assure you the feeling is mutual. Surely, after years of a sexless relationship with that clown, you should be eager to feel like a woman again? So why the frightened whisper? Anyone would think I wanted to do something terrible to you instead of make love to you.’

Rhiannon had already looked away, breathless with horror at the continuing accuracy of his guesses—not only about her response to him as a woman, but about her sexless relationship with Bobby.

There was a tense silence.

She didn’t look round but she could feel his eyes on her, and she knew he was thinking—thinking hard, trying to figure out why her reaction should be this way.

‘Rhiannon…?’ he said under his breath, sensing the depth of the change in her emotions.

The note of compassion in his voice made tears sting her eyes, and she went rigid with the fear that she might break down.

His footsteps sounded behind her. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘Nothing!’

A big gentle hand touched her shoulder. ‘Hey…look at me…’

‘No!’ she said thickly, feeling pathetic as she struggled not to cry, standing with her back to him like an obstinate child while the tears burned at her eyes.

The seconds ticked away in tense silence and Gabriel Stone felt the tremors of emotion in her shoulders as he held her.

‘Come on,’ he said softly. ‘Why the big emotional display?’

‘I’m not being emotional!’

‘Then what are you doing?’ He laughed seductively. ‘Any minute now you’ll stamp your foot like a little girl and—’

She reacted as though stung. ‘Don’t laugh at me! My personal feelings are none of your business!’

‘But I’m going to make them my business.’ He turned her with infinite care, as though she were a precious piece of porcelain.

Her tear-filled eyes met his.

‘Ah…’ The tough face softened.

‘And don’t patronise me either!’

‘Forgive me,’ he murmured with a smile. ‘But it melts the strongest heart to see you show such helpless femininity. You’re quite a powerful woman, you know, Rhiannon. It’s touching to see how very female you can be.’

Rhiannon felt absurdly flattered, and hated herself for it. ‘I suppose that brings us very neatly to the point, doesn’t it? You want to dedicate yourself to reducing me to a state of helpless femininity!’

‘Why, so I do!’ he drawled with a flash of mockery in his eyes. ‘But I thought my intentions towards you were understood. Or weren’t you listening to me on Saturday?’

‘I was listening…’ She lowered her lashes, staring at the dark red silk tie against the white shirt and powerful chest.

‘Then you know,’ he said deeply, ‘that I want you badly enough to find out why you’re involved in that dull, sexless relationship.’

‘You have no proof that it’s dull or sexless!’

‘Rhiannon, I could see it with my own eyes.’

‘Because he didn’t kiss me? How do you know he didn’t ravish me as soon as we got home that night?’

He tensed, frowning. ‘I don’t believe it!’

She carried on staring at his chest.

‘Well?’ he demanded thickly. ‘Did he make love to you? Has he ever made love to you?’

I could lie, she thought, holding her breath. I could say Bobby made love to me and then he’d go away, never come back…never make wild, passionate love to me…

‘Tell me!’ Gabriel bit out under his breath, and his long fingers tightened on her shoulders. ‘Tell me, damn you, or I’ll—!’

‘No.’

He relaxed. He even drew a sharp breath. Those eyes moved rapidly over her face and the white line of his mouth curved as he gave a wry smile.