Abbey couldn’t laugh at that confession. She thought about the half-brothers who had beat him up, and flinched. By the sound of it, his childhood had been very low on love and caring. It was little wonder that he had grown into a tough and ruthless adult, who believed he had no need for ties based on the more tender emotions, and who preferred to make money his most meaningful avenue of communication.

She investigated the panel of buttons on the wall and experimented, switching on and dimming the lights, opening the curtains and lifting a massive television screen and entertainment centre into view only to drop it out of sight again. She started to giggle. ‘I’m behaving like a toddler let loose on a computer keyboard, aren’t I?’

Nikolai strolled across the room. Overpowered by her giggles, Abbey was in a helpless heap on his bed. ‘This wasn’t quite how I pictured you in here,’ he acknowledged.

‘You’ll never give me vodka again,’ Abbey forecast.

Nikolai sank down on the bed beside her. She felt his presence and rolled over onto her back to gaze up at him. ‘I like looking at you,’ she told him helplessly. ‘But that’s just sex, isn’t it?’

Lean brown fingers gently smoothed the tumbled coppery curls back from her pale brow. ‘I like looking at you, too…’

There was an odd, almost wistful note in his dark, deep voice that quivered down her taut spine. She stared at him and suddenly she wanted him with a hunger that clawed at her like a physical pain. ‘Kiss me,’ she told him.

‘In Russian my answer would have to be Nyet.’

‘No?’ Abbey gasped, translating that negative in open astonishment. ‘Because of the contract we signed?’

‘Stuff the contract,’ he breathed, the pad of his forefinger tracing the tantalising pout of her full lower lip and slipping inside to probe when she opened her mouth.

In punishment for that teasing act, Abbey bit his fingertip and he withdrew it. ‘So, stop mucking around and get on the bed,’ she told him bluntly.

A reluctant smile slashed his beautiful mouth. ‘When did you become so dominant?’

‘I learnt it from you,’ Abbey fielded, breathless beneath the hard sensual heat of his appraisal and the glow of his approval, her heart beating so fast and urgently that it felt as if it were lodged in her throat. ‘It gets you what you want.’

‘When you were sober, you said you didn’t want this, lubimaya.’

The reminder was as unwelcome as the physical reluctance she sensed in him. She craved his wide sensual mouth like a drug and he was turning her down nicely, it was true, but a rejection was still a rejection and deeply wounding in the frame of mind she was in. She twisted away and pushed her mortified face into a pillow. He had taught her to believe that he found her downright irresistible and the rebuff, for whatever reasons, hurt and reminded her of Jeffrey’s lack of enthusiasm. ‘You don’t want me the way you said you did,’ she condemned tightly.

Nikolai swore in Russian below his breath. She was driving him insane. There she was on his bed, looking more seductive than any fantasy, and he couldn’t touch her because he didn’t want to be accused of having taken advantage of her in the morning. ‘You know that’s not true-’

‘Or maybe this is a revenge kick. I rejected you, so now you’re rejecting me just when I can’t cope with it!’ That final accusation emerged in a semi-wail as tears got the better of Abbey, whose desirability factor now felt at an all-time rock-bottom low.

‘How can you not know how wrong you are?’ Nikolai flipped her slim body over as if she weighed no more than a toy and glowered down at her, his tawny eyes smouldering. He carried her hand to his groin to prove his point.

Abbey blinked in surprise at that rather graphic demonstration of male interest. Her fingers lingered on the bold outline of his erection, caressing him through the fine wool of his trousers. ‘Oh,’ she said with a wealth of feminine meaning in her voice, satisfaction flaring inside her as she acknowledged his impressive arousal.

‘You’re torturing me,’ Nikolai groaned.

‘I want to make love to you,’ Abbey confessed, leaning over him to undo his belt and run down his zip. He slid off the bed and began to peel off his clothes for her. She watched him strip, responsive heat flaring in sensitive places as his rampantly male and athletic physique emerged from his clothing. He was hugely aroused and in that instant, when his eager impatience made her feel like the most desirable woman in the world, there was nothing she would not have done for him. Although she was a little short on actual expertise, her sheer enthusiasm more than made up for it. She kissed and caressed her path across his washboard-flat stomach. His fingers slid into her hair to hold her to him. She loved touching him and she adored it when he moaned and trembled beneath her enthusiastic caresses.

‘Come here,’ he told her urgently, finally dragging her up to him to claim her luscious lips with a raw driving hunger that left her dizzy. ‘You’re living proof that fantasies can come true, milaya moya.’

Still shocked by her own audacity, Abbey had little idea of what had come over her, only that for the first time in a very long time she had felt free to be herself. ‘Don’t tell me stuff like that if you don’t mean it,’ she warned him.

Nikolai wound long fingers into her tousled tresses. ‘And don’t you change your tune when you get out of my bed again,’ he traded in steely admonition. ‘No more blowing hot and cold.’

‘Yes, boss.’ Abbey laughed as he unzipped her dress, and then a comical expression of dismay froze her lovely face.

‘What?’ Nikolai demanded.

‘I’m sleeping with a client,’ she said in horror.

‘You haven’t yet, but I’m living in a lot of hope,’ Nikolai confessed facetiously, tugging her up against him to unhook her delicate blue bra, his hands rising instantly to cup her full breasts with an earthy sound of satisfaction. He pressed his lips to the sensitive nape of her neck while his skilful fingers teased her straining pink nipples.

‘I don’t think you’re going to be disappointed.’ Her voice was all over the place because she couldn’t hold it steady. She was out of breath and her heart was racing; excitement was already overwhelming Abbey. Just thinking about the pleasure about to be unleashed on her eager body sent her from cool to hotter than hot in the space of seconds.

Nikolai laid her down against the pillows like an artist arranging a tempting display. His spectacular dark golden eyes raked over her with unhidden heat and appreciation and it was balm to her squashed ego to recognise the strength of his desire.

‘I’d like to keep you in bed for at least a week.’

Her body pulsed with longing at the mere mention of such an indulgence.

‘So, the deal is…’ Nikolai breathed huskily, kissing a haphazard path down over her quivering body and teasing at the shallow indentation of her navel. ‘The deal is that before I go any further, you agree to stay here with me every night-’

‘All week?’ Abbey gasped, slender fingers smoothing his black hair in a caressing motion that came as naturally to her as if she had been doing it all her life.

‘All week and every night for two weeks,’ Nikolai emphasised with determination.

‘Two weeks? And if I say no?’ she enquired in a small voice.

Nikolai smoothed a carnal hand up over her slender shaking thigh to stroke his fingertip over the most sensitive spot in her entire body and provoke a startled gasp of response from her. ‘Say no and you get turfed out of bed and sent home in disgrace for behaving like a one-night stand.’

An incredulous giggle at that threat was dragged from Abbey. ‘You’re blackmailing me with sex?’

His fingertip inscribed an erotic circle of unbearable sensation and her hips jerked and her lips parted on a pleading whimper that she couldn’t hold back. ‘Yes. It’s a novelty to be with a woman who can’t be bought with diamonds. So what’s your answer?’

‘Yes, it has to be yes.’ If he had turfed Abbey out of bed just then she would have screamed with frustration. She couldn’t resist him. His lean hands parted her thighs and he pressed his mouth to her stomach and she trembled at the touch of his lips and his tongue on her sensitised skin. She remembered her wretched sense of betrayal earlier and marvelled that she was now in Nikolai’s bed and content to be there. As his exploration travelled in a much more intimate direction, shock snaked through her in a rousing wave. She protested; he ignored her. She stopped thinking, she stopped arguing, because her very senses were suddenly centred on the tender flesh at the heart of her womanhood and the exquisite torment of sensation he was using to win her acquiescence. Her excitement climbed until the first flutters of orgasm low in her stomach grew into a hurricane of meltingly sweet pleasure that whirled her up as high as the heavens and made her cry out his name.

‘And now it’s my turn again,’ Nikolai breathed unevenly, tugging her up and rearranging her on her knees in front of him.

His hands hard on her hips, he entered her slick wet heat with irresistible force. She gasped at that bold entrance, wildly aware of his every tiny movement. He reached down to fondle her breasts and stroke the taut peaks to pouting buds of tingling responsiveness. His powerful thrusts were fiercely thrilling and she was in a state of such extreme stimulation that she was totally out of control. He drove her to another shattering climax and she collapsed down on the bed, her senses spinning from the overload of excitement and her body exhausted by the abandoned response he had extracted.

He turned her over, framed her hectically flushed face with his hands and kissed her breathless. Struggling to breathe normally again, she responded by wrapping her arms round him and hugging him tight. Emotion was surging through her in a scorching volley and she couldn’t define what it was or restrain it. His passion exhilarated her to the very depths of her being, but what made her cling was the fact that in his arms she felt amazingly special and safe.