She had been such a child, thinking herself grown up enough to seduce a man such as Ian. Believing she could walk in, and one step at a time, find something he wanted no woman to touch. Believing that she could somehow touch his heart as easily as she could touch his body.
Not that she had expected it to be easy. She hadn’t.
And it wasn’t as though her heart had given up on Ian. That was impossible.
She was young, true. But she knew her heart, just as she knew that her body responded to no one as it did to him. Which left her between a rock and a hard place, so to speak.
Ian would keep the relationship purely physical now. He would use her own inexperience against her, just as he had the night before, to keep his control. It wasn’t possible to wage this battle on an equal footing.
She breathed out wearily, shaking her head at the mess she had found herself in. She should have anticipated this. Her mother had warned her that Ian would not be as easy to conquer as she had convinced herself he would be.
“Ms. Mattlaw, you have a call…” the house butler, Jason, spoke behind her, interrupting her morose thoughts as she turned to him.
He extended the cordless phone to her, nodding coolly before turning and retreating.
“Hello?” She frowned as she raised the receiver to her ear.
“Courtney, it’s Tally Conover.” The smooth cultured voice spoke with lazy amusement. “We didn’t get to talk much during your introduction party. I’m Lucian and Devril’s wife.”
“I remember you. Ian was quite insistent on pulling me away from your group.” Courtney smiled at the memory of Ian’s harassed expression.
“I heard you still had quite a bit of shopping to complete,” the other woman drawled. “I’m at loose ends today and thought I would invite you to join me as I hit the stores. With the parties coming up in the next few months, I find myself in need of new shoes, and perhaps a dress or two.”
And a bit of gossip to finish out the trip, Courtney read between the lines quite well.
“Sounds good. Where should I meet you?”
Tally chuckled knowingly. “Jason will inform Ian I called you, so I may as well pick you up myself. How about around eleven? We could stop for lunch, and then begin shopping in earnest. We might even extend the trip to dinner if you like. We could invite Terrie Wyman and a few others and have a real girls’ night out.”
“Why do I get the feeling I should bring the barbeque sauce,” Courtney responded with an edge of self-mockery.
“No darling, they baste you in your own juices at a roast. I promise, you’ll survive the outing,” Tally assured her, her laughter filled with friendly mockery. “So, are we on?”
“Of course,” Courtney responded, as though there had been no doubt. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
There as a small stretch of silence, then a light chuckle.
“I think you’ll fit in well, Courtney. I’ll pick you up in about an hour and a half then. Bring plenty of credit cards and wear comfortable shoes. I haven’t been shopping in weeks.”
The line disconnected as Courtney moved from the tabletop and began to walk back to the house. Tally Conover, who claimed to be married to both Conover twins and rumored to, at the very least, hold both men in the very palm of her hand. The gossip Courtney had heard regarding the other woman was vivid to say the least. The jealousy she had heard in the voices of the supposedly decent women who had sneered contemptuously, had been rife.
As she stepped back into the house, Ian’s butler materialized from another room, glancing at the phone she carried questioningly. The man had to be a robot.
“Jason, could you inform Ian I’ll be out for the day.” She handed him the phone as she headed to the stairs. “And possibly this evening as well.”
“Of course, Miss Mattlaw,” he responded coolly. “Shall I tell him where you’ll be?”
She stopped at the first step and turned back to the butler with a frown. Why the hell would Ian care?
“That’s not necessary,” she said coolly. “I’m certain I’m old enough to go out alone now. I’ll have my cell phone with me if he needs me though.”
He inclined his head once again, his expression composed, reflecting little if any emotion.
“I will relay your message then.”
Courtney had the oddest desire to snort derisively at his arrogance. As though she were somehow putting him, or Ian, out with her plans. Devil take them both, she was tired of wandering around this bloody mansion waiting on Ian to find a few spare moments to spend with her. And after last night, she wasn’t even certain she wanted to see him.
After giving her that long-awaited orgasm, leaving her voice hoarse from her own screams, and leaving her body tender from his lust, he dared to sleep elsewhere, to not even be there when she awakened. As far as she was concerned, there was little chance that he even cared if she returned before morning.