The Spanish Tycoon's Temptress Page 0,4
which to accomplish that objective. And if she were hurt in the process, he didn’t give a damn. She’d lost the right to his concern when she’d betrayed him with another man.
“I got in like any other person would. Through the door,” he told her sarcastically. Then checked himself. He wasn’t here to start a fight. He was here to get her to the alter and that was it. “How have you been?” he asked, moving closer to her. In the dim light, she didn’t appear to be taking care of herself very well. There were dark circles under her pretty eyes and he already knew that she didn’t have any food in her apartment. “You look tired.”
Elana’s body was having a hard time adjusting to the fact that this particular man was standing in her apartment. When the shivering started, she crossed her arms over her stomach in a protective gesture. She’d been so in love with this man. Seven years ago, nothing in the world had mattered except being with him, seeing his smile and sharing her day with him. She’d been so overwhelmed with those feelings that she hadn’t realized what a bastard he was. He’d left her without any word, no explanation. The only way she knew that it was truly over was when she’d seen the picture of him at some society function with a blond woman on his arm.
She glared at him across the room, furious with herself for reacting to his presence after all these years. “Don’t you have some party to go to? Or a woman to seduce?”
Gaston looked down at her and almost smiled. “I do, as a matter of fact,” he replied evenly, knowing that he had to convince her to trust him and seduction was probably part of the process. He gritted his teeth, not wanting to touch this woman in any way. He hated the thought of even kissing her, much less making love to her. Hopefully it wouldn’t have to come to that. He could get her to the alter with an abbreviated seduction, but after the wedding, he could set her aside and go about his business. He just had to get that book. And fast. His father’s health was fading quickly.
She really didn’t like the look that came into his eyes. It was speculative, almost cruel and she shivered again despite her admonition to remain aloof. “So why are you here? Obviously I didn’t invite you.”
“We need to talk.” He pushed images of her naked body out of his mind, telling himself that he wasn’t interested in her that way. She had one purpose, and only one. Thoughts of her lovely breasts pressing against his palm had nothing to do with that purpose. He looked back down at her, his eyes dropping lower. Even if those breasts looked like they would fit perfectly in his palm. Where the rest of her had slimmed down, he realized, her breasts had actually filled out. They were larger, fuller, more lush than he remembered.
Dammit! He wasn’t going to think of her in that way. She was a means to an end. A tool to achieve his goal. Or more appropriately, an obstacle to overcome.
She took a wary step back with the hardness that had entered his eyes, terrified of what he might be thinking and unaware that she was about to put herself into the still-open refrigerator. “You left without any word seven years ago, Gaston. Why don’t you just do the same disappearing act again? I don’t need to hear anything you have to say.”
He reached out and pulled a curl from her chin, tucking it behind her ear and ignored the way she tried to pull away from him. “Even if it means getting funding for your wheat project?” he asked softly.
Elana froze. That was probably the only thing he could have said that would get her to listen. But then she realized what she was doing and shook her head. “I don’t need your funding. I’m perfectly fine.”
He laughed softly and shook his head. “Your current grant funding runs out at the end of this week. What’s more, you don’t have anything to show prospective clients that you’re making progress. And I know why.”
Despite her promise, her eyes looked up at his face, her heart clenching with pain as she drank in the handsome man who had hurt her more than she’d thought possible. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Gaston had to admire her