A Dangerous Game (35 page)

will last."

"Why do you put up with it?"
 
Ingrid asked.

"I don't understand you."

Jacey shrugged.

"He's a very attractive man.
 
You said so yourself.
 
And he gives me a

great orgasm."

"His body is attractive," Ingrid agreed.

"But to be called, and fucked, and sent home?
 
That is degrading.
 
You

are letting him control you.
 
Is this what you really want?"

"He isn't controlling me," Jacey said lightly.

"It's just a fantasy thing.
 
We're playing games."

"Nicolas Schlemann does not play games," Ingrid said.

"Dump him.
 
Give him a taste of his own medicine.
 
There are plenty of

men out there.
 
If they're not good at sex, you can teach them."

"I like Nicolas," Jacey said.

"I don't want anyone else."

But it was only partly true, although Jacey didn't want to admit that

to Ingrid.
 
She enjoyed sex with Nicolas, and she intended to stay with

him until he dumped her, and gave her the chance to play the woman

scorned.
 
But when she had an idle moment, and was able to let her

thoughts wander, she found them centring more and more on Leonardo

Marquez.
 
Why?
 
she asked herself.
 
Ever since the nightmare with

Faisel, she had never been attracted to younger men, and Leonardo was

at least ten years her junior.
 
Furthermore, there had been something

innocent about him that made her sure he was a virgin and she had never

liked inexperienced men.
 
So why Leonardo Marquez?

After Ingrid had left the office, Jacey leant back in her chair and

recalled the time she had noticed Leonardo watching her.
 
He was sure

he wouldn't like me, she thought, but he found me interesting.
 
That

must have confused him.
 
And maybe excited him?
 
She remembered the way

his hair had fallen forward, a heavy, uneven fringe that almost reached

his eyebrows.
 
She remembered the delicate slant of those brows, and

the slightly petulant mouth.
 
Then she remembered Ana Collados

describing Juanita Marquez's Italian lover as tall and thin, and rather

shy, commenting that her niece was besotted with him for at least a

year.
 
If he looked like his son, Jacey thought, I can understand

exactly what she saw in him.

She tried to imagine Leonardo without his clothes.
 
Not completely

nude, but in an interestingly brief bathing slip.
 
He would lack

Nicolas's taut strength.
 
His body would be more angular, but his tan

would probably be darker, and, if he had any body-hair, that would be

dark too.
 
She imagined the ridges of his ribs would be visible.
 
His

stomach would be flat, but not yet hard with muscle.
 
His legs would be

long and lean, and his bottom small.
 
And his cock and balls?
 
She

smiled.

They protruded attractively from between his thighs in the bathing slip

she had mentally dressed him in and their weight strained the narrow

holding thongs.
 
She imagined cutting them, snapping them, letting all

that enticing flesh bulge free.

Leonardo would probably try to cover himself.
 
She would grasp his

wrists and force his hands apart.
 
He would have to stand there, naked,

while she inspected him.
 
Despite his embarrassment, being forced into

that position would excite him.
 
His cock would swell and rise, and he

would blush and apologise.
 
And, she thought, smiling to herself, she

would thoroughly enjoy his humiliation.
 
That would teach him to judge

her arbitrarily.
 
Maybe she would even pretend to be angry with him.

She had a tantalising vision of him bending over, his neat bottom

exposed and ready, perhaps quivering a little in anticipation, and then

her own hand landing flat on it, in a satisfying flurry of slaps.

She realised, in surprise, that it was arousing her.
 
She had never

really been interested in sexy spanking games before, apart from the

one occasion with Anton.
 
But now the scene was in her mind she found

it difficult to dislodge.
 
Wriggling in her chair, she felt herself

growing moist and warm at the idea of disciplining Leonardo, and her

imagination began to invent other scenarios, mostly ones which involved

her ordering him to take his clothes off, or where she stripped him

herself.

The telephone suddenly interrupted her reverie.

"Dr.
 
Muldaire?
 
Jacey?"
 
For a moment she did not recognise the

voice.

"I hope I haven't caught you at an inconvenient time?"

"Raoul?"
 
She dismissed all thoughts of Leonardo from her mind.

"I'm just about to start my rounds.
 
Is this important?"

"To me," he said.

"I'm coming to La Primavera to visit a friend.
 
I have a personal

favour to ask of you."
 
As if sensing her rejection, he added quickly,

"Not for myself.
 
It's for Leonardo."

Later, when Raoul was sitting in front of her in her office, as

beautiful as ever in a dazzling, white open-necked shirt, and

immaculate sand-coloured chinos, Jacey could hardly believe what she

was hearing.

"But your brother doesn't even like me," she protested.

"He won't want to come and take English lessons from me."

"He will," Raoul said.

"Actually, he reads quite well already, but he hasn't had much chance

to practise his conversation.
 
All you would need to do is talk to

him."
 
He smiled.

"It might improve his manners as well."

"Your English is excellent," Jacey pointed out.

"Surely you could coach him?"

"I don't have time," Raoul said.
 
He leant forward.

"Jacey, my little brother will kill me if he discovers I've told you

this, but he actually asked me to approach you.
 
I think he's

fascinated by you."

Jacey masked her surprise.

"Oh, I see," she teased.

"You're acting as a matchmaker."

Raoul smiled.

"I'm sure Leonardo would be shocked at such a suggestion.
 
He's an

innocent.
 
I don't think he'd know what to do with a real woman."

But I know what I'd like to do with him, Jacey thought, after Raoul had

arranged a date for her first meeting with Leonardo.
 
Rather than

visiting the Marquez villa, Jacey preferred that Leonardo came to La

Primavera.

"It'll save time," she said.

"And stop any tongues wagging.

Leonardo could always say he was visiting friends."

"If you're worried about Nicci finding out what you're doing," Raoul

said, 'he will anyway."

Jacey shrugged.

"Nicolas won't be jealous of Leonardo."

He'll be sure that I couldn't possibly find a younger man like Leonardo

sexually attractive, she thought.
 
And up until now he would probably

have been right.

Although she found Leonardo physically appealing the thought of holding

him at arm's length was surprisingly seductive.
 
She liked the idea of

being obvious about what she had to offer, but withholding an

invitation for him to take advantage of it.
 
She knew very well that he

would not force himself on her; he would sit there and suffer.
 
She

could tease him, and enjoy watching him getting uncomfortable.
 
She had

never had sexual control of that kind before.
 
She began to look

forward to giving Leonardo his first lesson, and wondered whether he

was anticipating it with as much pleasure.

In fact, when he arrived at her room, he looked cross rather than

eager.
 
He was dressed in a light weight suit, and a shirt and tie, and

carrying a zipped leather folder.
 
He asked, in Spanish, if he could

take off his jacket, and when she nodded, he removed it slowly.
 
Once

again she admired his loose-limbed body.
 
His waist was so narrow, she

thought she could span it with her hands.
 
He looked like a healthy

young colt.
 
His trousers were smartly casual, and not tight enough for

her to see through fabric what she hoped to see in the flesh later.

Having taken rather too long to arrange his coat over the back of the

chair she had positioned for him, he sat down, hugged the zipped folder

close to his body like a shield, and fixed her with a reproving gaze.

"This was my brother's idea," he said in Spanish.

"Speak English," she said abruptly.

"And put that folder on the floor."

"I have brought paper," he said in English.

"I might like to take notes."

"You don't need to take notes," she said.

"Put it on the floor."

He hesitated, and then put the folder down.
 
Without it he suddenly

looked vulnerable.

"Now talk," she ordered.

She saw his lips tighten, and wondered again why she found his mouth so

sexy.

"What do you want me to talk about?"
 
It sounded like a challenge.

"Good heavens," she said crisply.

"Talk about anything you find interesting.
 
Films, books, food.