Master of Her Virtue - By Miranda Lee Page 0,63

silver tie. They said ‘clothes maketh the man’ but in Leo’s case he made the clothes. Formal clothes, casual clothes; he looked great in anything. And nothing.

‘What can I say?’ he said with a smile as he came forward to take her hand and lift it to his lips. ‘You look stunning.’

Violet didn’t say a word, her returning smile somewhat brittle.

He kept on holding her hand whilst his eyes searched hers. ‘I’ve been doing some thinking whilst you were getting ready.’

‘Oh?’ she said, her chest and belly tightening. ‘What about?’

‘Us.’

Violet swallowed as she tried to get some saliva into her suddenly dry mouth. ‘What about us?’ Even to her own ears, her tone sounded coldly indifferent, which was not what she intended. Fear had made her tone clipped and hard.

His brows drew together in a deep frown, his blue eyes darkening. ‘You do want to keep on seeing me, don’t you, Violet? I certainly want to go on seeing you. Look, I realise we live thousands of miles apart. I also realise you’ve been the one to travel to the other side of the world this time, not me. But we could meet each other halfway in future.

‘I have to go to Hong Kong in July to suss out a movie project. That’s only about an eight-hour flight for you. We could meet up for a long weekend. Or a week, if you can get the time off. Then there’s Dubai...’

‘You have business in Dubai as well?’ she bit out as several emotions started welling up inside her. Dismay and disappointment followed by the fury of a woman who felt not scorned, but used.

He didn’t appear to notice, of course, his attention all on making plans for his own selfish ends. ‘Actually, no, I’ve just always wanted to go there and it’s about halfway to Australia as well. We could meet up there at some stage later on in the year. Then, next Christmas, I could come back to Sydney to stay with Henry.’

‘Really? And is Henry to know about our...er...relationship?’

‘God, no. Not yet, anyway.’

Not yet and not ever, Violet thought bitterly. She was to be his dirty little secret. His long-distance mistress. And not his only bed partner, either. Only a fool would believe a man of Leo’s considerable sexual appetite would do without sex between the odd dirty weekend with her. She’d been a fool to believe he’d waited for her this time.

This last thought had her snatching her hand away from his, startling him.

‘I’m sorry, Leo,’ she said, struggling to stop her voice from shaking. ‘But that won’t do for me at this point in my life. I want more than a part-time boyfriend who lives on the other side of the world. Not that I don’t enjoy being with you. I do; very much so. Joy said I was a lucky girl to have you as my first lover and I have to agree with her. You’ve given me a great introduction to sex. I will be eternally grateful to you.’

‘Grateful,’ he repeated, his face somewhat blank, the way people looked when they’ve had a shock. It pleased Violet that she had shocked him. No doubt he had thought she would just fall in line with his wishes, like the naive, silly little fool she’d been when they’d first met. But she wasn’t that girl any longer. No, siree. Not even remotely!

She even managed to find a coolly polite smile. ‘Yes, of course I’m grateful. I’m sure lots of girls have simply dreadful experiences when they first try sex. I’m glad now that fate made me wait for a man like you. Someone older and very experienced. I’ve enjoyed our time together very much, Leo, but it’s time for me to move on. Thank you for your kind offers but I must decline.’

He just stared at her and Violet was taken aback by the expression in his eyes. If she didn’t know better, she would say he looked quite devastated. But then he smiled, a strange, rather sad smile.

‘How ironic,’ he murmured.

‘What is?’ she said sharply, never having liked it when people made cryptic statements like that without further explanation. Henry did it all the time.

He shrugged and turned away from her. ‘Best you don’t know, Violet.’

‘I hate it when people do that to me,’ she threw after him. ‘It’s totally selfish. But then you’re a selfish man, aren’t you?’ she snapped, the temper she’d been trying to control finally getting the better of her. ‘Selfish