King's Ransom
Nearly forgetting that I wasn’t supposed to speak, I opened my mouth to ask him what he was doing. But he whipped the cap off his head and put it on mine, then, with surprising skill for a guy, he coiled my hair up underneath so it wasn’t showing.
I blinked up at him. Way, way up at him.
His eyes were the most incredible blue. The pupils had a dark ring of midnight around them before lightening up towards the iris, a shade that was exactly the same as the sky on a perfect winter’s day. They were made even more noticeable by the straight black brows and thick black lashes that framed them.
My heart gave a weird thump.
I didn’t know much about him, only that my father hated his guts because Dad and Augustus King had been rivals until Augustus had finally gone to jail. Dad had been hoping that once Augustus had gone he’d be able to grab what was left of his empire and take it for himself—he was nothing if not opportunistic.
But apparently Ajax King kept getting in the way.
Maybe that was why I hadn’t screamed when Ajax had appeared in the bathroom. Why I’d believed him when he said he wouldn’t hurt me.
He might have once been the heir to the biggest crime empire in Sydney, but he wasn’t now and any enemy of my father was a friend of mine.
Of course, I hadn’t been thinking straight when he’d appeared in the doorway and clearly I wasn’t thinking straight now if all it took to make my heart thump was one look into his eyes.
Forgetting that I’d promised not to speak, I opened my mouth to ask him what was going on but, before I could, he bent and picked me up in his arms.
My stomach dropped away, the world lurching around me; every question I’d been going to ask vanished from my head.
I’d never been held by a man. Couldn’t remember the last time I’d been held, full stop.
Had it been this hot? Because that’s all I was conscious of. An intense, stunning heat surrounding me. From the hard torso I was lying against and the strong arms locked around me. It made something restless and antsy inside me go utterly still.
I caught my breath.
‘Hide your face against my chest,’ Ajax murmured before heading straight to the door.
My brain didn’t seem able to process the instruction. Hide my face? Why? And what was he doing? Didn’t he know that—
There was a sudden crash as he kicked the door open and I caught one glimpse of Colin and the other guy—a new guard whose name I could never remember—and instinctively I turned away, hiding my face against Ajax’s broad chest, just like he’d told me to.
The cotton of his shirt had been warmed by the hot skin beneath it and his scent filled my senses. Sandalwood, maybe, and...cedar? I’d taught myself about perfumes once and remembered the scents. Anyway, it was amazing. I pressed my cheek against the fabric, feeling firm muscle beneath it, and inhaled, the smell of him going straight to my head.
‘What?’ Ajax demanded, his deep voice making his chest vibrate against my cheek. ‘Get the fuck out of my way.’
Silence.
I should have been paying attention to what was happening, but being in his arms was way too distracting.
The warmth of his body was soaking through the stupid white cocktail frock Dad had insisted I wear tonight, and I was conscious of how hard he was. Like he’d been carved out of rock, not muscle and bone.
The restless thing inside me had curled up and gone to sleep, as if it felt safe. As if it knew that he would protect me if anything went wrong, which was strange since I knew that men in general weren’t particularly safe to be around.
‘We’re looking for Miss Imogen White,’ Colin was saying. ‘She was in the—’
‘Don’t know, don’t give a fuck,’ Ajax said casually, continuing to walk with me in his arms down the corridor. ‘Go check the damn bathroom yourself. There’s no one in there now.’
‘But you must have—’
‘If you hadn’t noticed, I’m busy.’
There was more silence after that and, given that Ajax hadn’t stopped, it must have meant my guards hadn’t realised it was me in his arms. The suit jacket and cap now made sense; he’d been trying to hide my identity.
I’d relaxed totally against him, but curiosity stole through me and I began to turn my head, only to have him say gruffly, ‘Keep your head where it is. We’re not out of the building yet.’
I nodded and closed my eyes, inhaling warmth and spice and the faint smell of laundry powder from his shirt. His heart was beating beneath my ear and I could hear the rhythm of it, steady and strong and sure.
Like him.
Odd thing to think about a man I’d only just met and didn’t know. Maybe I was drunk. Maybe I was high. On him and his magical scent. Whatever, I accepted the thought without protest.
Not that it mattered. He could have been Jack the Ripper and I would have been okay with it if he could get me out of the building without being seen.
The thought of freedom being so close made excitement surge through me and if I hadn’t been held so securely in his arms I would have wriggled.
Keeping still was something I found difficult at the best of times, but most especially when I was excited or angry or sad.
A fidgety chatterbox, all the nannies had said about me.
A mess, said my father, looking at me with the disapproval that used to cut me so badly when I was a kid and longing for his attention.
My mother had died when I was born and if she hadn’t, things would have been different. Dad would have been different. But she had and he wasn’t, and all I remember wanting was his love.
He didn’t like my insatiable curiosity or the way I couldn’t stop moving. I used to try to stay still, to not piss him off by jogging my leg or humming or asking questions, or any of the other things I did that irritated him, but it had always been a constant battle.
But it wasn’t until I was eighteen that my inability to check myself had consequences. Terrible consequences.
Since then I’d tried to stay in the box Dad had put me in, but the fight against my restless nature was never-ending and quite frankly exhausting.
I didn’t feel exhausted now, though. Now I could have lain quiet and still in Ajax’s arms all day.
I rubbed my cheek absently against the cotton of his shirt, wanting to get closer to him, and he made a growling sound. ‘Fuck’s sake, don’t move until I tell you. Your hair will come down and people will see it and they’ll guess who you are.’
I stilled obediently. ‘Who do they think I am now then?’
‘Some girl I’m carrying back to my cave to screw.’
The words travelled down my spine like an electric shock. ‘Really? Do you often carry girls out of balls to screw?’
‘You can stop talking now.’
‘But what about—’
‘Quiet.’
There was a note of deep authority in his voice that calmed me, not that I needed extra calming right now. I was so calm I was nearly catatonic, lulled by his heat and the feeling of being held gently and carefully. As if I was something precious he didn’t want to drop.
A large group of people passed by us, their conversation loud, and then cooler air brushed against my bare legs, the glare of neon and streetlights illuminating the white of Ajax’s shirt.
We must be outside.
It felt like we were walking down some steps and I could hear cars.
Regret gripped me. Being outside meant he was going to put me down and I would lose his heat and that blissful sense of peace.
I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay here, in his arms, against his hard chest, listening to the certainty of his heartbeat.
There was the sound of a car door opening and his arms were loosening, and sure enough I was being let go and bundled into the back of a featureless black van.
‘Go,’ Ajax ordered the driver as he climbed in behind me, slamming the door closed. Then he pushed me down onto one of the bench seats, grabbed a seat belt and buckled me in as the van took off in a screech of tyres.
I clutched the seat belt as the van lurched, while Ajax sat down himself and did his own belt up.
The warmth that had held me so safe and still was seeping away, making me feel cold, the restless part of me stirring to life again.
‘Please tell me that’s it.’ I stared out the window as the building receded behind us, my heart racing, waiting for my guards to come spilling out. ‘Please tell me they’re not going to come after us.’
‘Oh, they might come after us,’ Ajax replied with infuriating calm. ‘But locating us is going to be a different matter.’
I turned to find his gaze on mine, satisfaction gleaming in his icy blue eyes.
My breath caught again.
He was sitting in a casual, arrogant sprawl, long legs outstretched, the material of his shirt pulled tight across his muscled shoulders and chest, as if he didn’t care that he was taking up as much room as possible. As if he was expecting me to move if I didn’t like it, but he certainly wasn’t going to.
He was like a king on his throne, staring at me as if I was a new country he’d just conquered.
Through the remains of the warmth left over from his touch, a shiver shot through me.
And all of a sudden it crashed down on me what had just happened and what it meant.
I was free of my father, but I wasn’t free. Not when I’d been kidnapped by Sydney’s baddest billionaire.
And I had no idea what he was going to do with me.
CHAPTER THREE
Ajax
I SAW THE moment the realisation hit her. The realisation of exactly what she’d got herself into. And, for the first time, wariness crept into her gaze.
It wasn’t fear, but I’d take wariness and about fucking time.
She’d been curled up in my arms, all warm and soft, relaxing as if I was her own personal hero all set to save her. And that shit wasn’t happening. Not when I wasn’t anyone’s goddamn hero.
Especially not when all I could think about was that tempting mouth of hers with that fascinating little mole just above her top lip. I wanted to kiss it. I wanted to lick it. I wanted to bite her bottom lip then suck gently on it, watch it get even redder and fuller than it was already.
Not that I would. She might be proving to be unexpectedly tempting, but I had a plan and I wasn’t going to deviate from it. Not when her continued virginity was such an important part.
She stared at me, that mesmerising energy she threw off still crackling all around her.
It was good that she was wary. Because I was dangerous.
Everyone treated me with caution, the more nervous giving me a wide berth. It was a reputation I cultivated because if there was one thing Dad had taught me, it was that fear kept people in line better than being nice ever did.
And people had to fear me. I didn’t want another Augustus King rising in this city and fear of what I might do to any pretenders to Dad’s empty throne kept the more ambitious at bay.
‘So,’ Imogen said, her long delicate fingers clutching at her seat belt. ‘This is fun.’ Then she had the gall to smile—a bit uncertain but a smile nonetheless. ‘Do I get to know where you’re taking me? And what you want with me? What about Dad? Won’t he be—’
I put a finger across her velvety pink mouth, silencing her, purely because I could.
Her eyes widened.
She looked ridiculously cute swamped by my jacket, with the cap pulled down over her pale hair, staring at me with those big green eyes.
I could still feel the imprint of her in my arms, the warmth of her body nestled against my chest. She’d rested there so quietly, yet I’d felt that live wire quality to her, a subtle vibration that had somehow crawled under my skin and stayed there. It made me think that she wasn’t the fragile little thing she’d first seemed. Certainly, when she’d pulled at my hand back up there in the bathroom, there had been a surprising strength to her grip. And even now, after I’d kidnapped her, I could see a glimmer of determination beneath the wariness in her gaze.
Curiosity flickered into life inside me, smouldering alongside the undeniable physical attraction. But I crushed both. Hard. She was a tool, a means to an end, and I couldn’t afford any distractions, not now.
‘We’re going to my house.’ I let my finger linger on her lips a fraction, to show her I meant business. Nothing to do with how soft they felt. ‘And I’m going to keep you there a little while.’
Her mouth turned up, giving me a smile that had no hesitancy in it whatsoever, the wariness draining from her clear gaze.
And for a second I didn’t quite know what to do with that. I was her father’s mortal enemy. She had to know who I was—what I was. She should be cringing in fear, not giving me bright smiles like I was her best friend.
‘Yay.’ Her lips moved against my finger, brushing against my skin, the warmth of her breath making me catch mine. ‘I was hoping you’d say that. Where do you live?’
Yay? What the fuck? And why the hell was I breathless? Luckily, physical attraction was the easiest appetite to control so I controlled it.
I dropped my finger. ‘That doesn’t concern you right—’
‘What kind of house do you have? Does it have a pool? Is it by the sea?’
‘It’s not—’
‘Can I go outside? Does it have a view?’
‘You’re not going to—’
‘How long can I stay? Will you be there?’ Her eyes were glittering with excitement and there was a flush in her pale cheeks, the live wire spitting sparks.
You’d think I’d just promised her the trip of a lifetime, not that I was going to hold her prisoner until her father did what I wanted.
Losing patience, I stared hard at her. ‘Interrupt me again and there’ll be hell to pay.’
Her lips pressed together obediently, but her eyes didn’t lose that excited sparkle. She didn’t even have the grace to look ashamed of herself. ‘I’m sorry. I always talk when I’m nervous.’ Then, clearly picking up on my irritation, she added, ‘I didn’t interrupt this time.’
‘This is a kidnapping. You do understand that, don’t you?’
She laughed. ‘I know. And?’
Laughing. She’d been kidnapped and now she was laughing. And, even worse, the husky, joyful sound sent a hot pulse down my spine, jump-starting something inside me. Something that had been dead a long time.
Shit. Just what I didn’t want.
I ignored the feeling and scowled. ‘You should be frightened of me.’
An arrested expression crossed her face, as if the thought had never occurred to her. ‘Should I? I mean, I was a bit unsure a moment ago. But...’ Her forehead creased. ‘Do you want me to be?’
The thing that had sprung to life inside me burned, her complete lack of fear for some reason more powerful than any aphrodisiac.
Dammit. I wasn’t looking to be attracted to her, for fuck’s sake. That kind of shit only got in the way and I was not looking for distractions right now. Not that I ever had. My own desires were irrelevant when I had a goal in mind and I let nothing distract me from that goal.
Including the bolt of electricity in human form sitting next to me.
I fixed her with a ‘don’t fuck with me’ look. ‘Anyone ever tell you that you ask too many questions?’
The colour in her cheeks deepened. ‘Kind of.’
‘Listen. You know who I am. You must have heard the rumours. They’re all true, understand? And yes, you should be scared. Because you have no idea what I’m going to do with you when I get you home.’
‘What are you going to do with me?’ She didn’t sound as if it worried her. At all.
Christ. If ever a woman needed a lesson in proper kidnapping etiquette, it was this one.
I leaned forward fractionally, letting my physical size intimidate her. ‘I’m going to ruin you, little one. That’s what I’m going to do.’
Or at least I would if her father didn’t do what I wanted.
Far from being intimidated, though, Imogen only frowned. As if I’d handed her a fascinating puzzle to work out. ‘Ruin me? Like...how?’
This was ridiculous. Did I really have to explain a sexual threat?
‘Like this...’ I reached out again and this time I brushed my thumb along her lower lip to illustrate my point, because the day I had to explain myself was the day I’d hand in my scary motherfucker badge.
Her mouth was just as soft and warm as it had been when I’d touched it not a minute or so earlier, and the burning thing in my gut flamed like a fucking firework.
Mistake. You shouldn’t touch her.
Bullshit. I didn’t make mistakes and I wasn’t a damn fifteen-year-old boy touching a woman for the first time. I could control myself. She had a pretty mouth but that was all. Pretty mouths were a dime a dozen and if I wanted one that badly, I’d find one. Later.
Her eyes went huge as I touched her. ‘Oh...’ The word was warm, exhaled against my skin. ‘That kind of ruin.’
So she understood. Good.
Yet she still didn’t look scared. Wary, yes, but there was definitely no fear in her expression.
Hell. What did I have to do? Pull a gun? A knife? A fucking bomb?
‘So how exactly do you ruin someone sexually these days?’ she went on, her eyes alight with interest. ‘It’s a bit nineteenth century, if you know what I mean. Virginity isn’t the big thing it used to be.’
‘That’s it?’ I dropped my finger from her mouth, ignoring the warmth that lingered on my skin. ‘That’s your response?’
‘Should it be different?’ A crease appeared between her brows. ‘If you’re going to ruin me or whatever—’ she waved her hand as if the ‘whatever’ was negligible and not the threat it very much was ‘—I’d like to know how you’re going to do it. Seeing as how I have a vested interest and all.’
‘Screwing you, that’s how I’ll do it,’ I growled, my patience starting to run even thinner than it was already, hoping that would quell her.
‘Oh, sure.’ She shrugged, very much unquelled. ‘Screwing goes without saying. But I’d still like to know how that ruins me.’
Shit, this woman was either simple or...she was playing me.
I was beginning to suspect it was the latter and if that was the case, she’d regret it. I could play that game better than she ever could.
‘You’re a virgin—’
‘Hey, how do you know that?’
‘Interrupt me one more time and I’ll give you back to your father’s men.’
Her mouth closed up tight. Interesting. She really didn’t want to go back. I filed that fact away for future reference.
‘As I was saying,’ I went on. ‘You’re a virgin and your father has been guarding that very jealously for a long time. You may not think it’s important, but it is for him because if he wants to make alliances with potential friends, he’s going to use you and your pretty hymen to do it. But how will that work when his virginal daughter has been in the hands of his enemy? Make no mistake. The ruin I’m talking about will make you mine and mine completely, and once you’re mine you’ll be useless to anyone else, including him.’
Emotion shifted in her eyes, gone so fast I wasn’t sure what it was. Not fear, something more complicated than that.
This girl seemed open and sincere, but maybe she wasn’t. Maybe there was more to her than there appeared.
The curiosity I thought I’d crushed earlier smouldered back into life, making me want to know exactly what more there was.
I’d always enjoyed a complicated woman—I was a man who got bored easily—and I hadn’t had complicated for longer than I cared to remember.
But no. This wasn’t about what I wanted and never had been.
Imogen took a soft breath, the fabric of her strapless white dress pulling tight across a pair of quite frankly beautiful little tits. The dress moulded to her generous hips too, outlining her rounded thighs.
Nice. Very nice. Not usually my type—tall, athletic women handled me better than small kittens like this one. But she was soft and strokeable, and undeniably sexy. What would she be like in bed?
Fucking wildfire.
Another pulse of heat burned through me, making my cock twitch.
‘So what does that mean exactly?’ She frowned. ‘Am I a threat or a tool for you?’
‘Both.’ I ignored the heat in my groin. ‘I want your father to leave Sydney. Only when he’s gone will I let you go.’
She glanced down at where her hands clutched at her seat belt, a lock of pale hair falling out from underneath the cap I’d put on her head and down over her shoulder. It gleamed like watered silk in the light coming through the windows. Pretty.
What would it feel like coiled around your finger?
Nothing. Because I wasn’t going to touch it.
‘That still doesn’t really explain this ruin thing,’ she said. ‘And you haven’t said what it involves exactly.’
‘What do you want? A fucking diagram?’
A flash of green glinted from underneath her pale lashes. ‘Actually, that would be super helpful. Especially since I don’t know anything about fucking.’
The heat I was trying to ignore burned a little hotter. Was she...flirting with me? Toying with me? If so, she was playing a dangerous game.
This wasn’t a date and I wasn’t some harmless boy desperate to kiss her hand. I was the oldest and most feared son of one of Sydney’s worst criminals, and I had things in my past that would wipe that expression off her face. That would make her look at me as if I was the devil himself.
Maybe it was time she learned that this wasn’t a fun night out and that I wasn’t some tame house cat she could stroke, who’d curl up in her lap. I was a wolf and I’d eat this Red Riding Hood alive.
‘You really want to know?’ I leaned right into her space, getting a kick out of the way she had to press herself against the window to keep the distance between us. ‘Are you sure?’
Her eyes went wide, her sulky, pouty mouth opening. And for a second I thought I saw fear there, but then it was gone and something else glittered in the green depths of her gaze.
Yet more excitement.
Shit.
‘Seriously, I am so sure.’ Her voice was on the edge of husky. ‘Tell me, Ajax. I’d really like to know how you’re going to ruin me.’
CHAPTER FOUR
Imogen
HE WAS VERY CLOSE, inches away. His broad shoulders blocked out the streetlights coming through the opposite window of the van, his body in that pristine white shirt and black suit trousers, a hard wall of muscle in front of me.
And his eyes. Electric blue, so vivid against his olive skin. Fascinating in a way I couldn’t describe.
He was so compelling. He made my heart shudder behind my ribs for reasons I didn’t understand.
This talk of being ruined... It was all I could think about.
Since I’d been taught at home by tutors, I’d never gone to high school, never dated. I’d never had a teenage crush, except once, on a guy I’d seen through the window of the car while I was on my way somewhere. I’d constructed a whole set of dreamy fantasies around him for at least a week until I’d lost interest in the whole idea.
If I’d had any girlfriends I’d have discussed my lack of a sex life with them. But I didn’t even have girlfriends.
What I did have, though, was an insatiable curiosity about pretty much everything, including all the things I wasn’t allowed to have.
Such as sex.
I’d learned how to get around the blocks Dad had put on my Internet years ago and I’d looked stuff up. Sexy stuff. Enough to have an idea of what I might like when it came to men.
One thing I hadn’t realised, though, was that looking at sex on a computer screen was very different to having an actual man right in front of you, looking at you so intently it made you want to burst into flames.
Like me, right now, with him.
‘S-so,’ I stuttered, unable to keep quiet, my heart racing. ‘You know, how does it happen? Do I have to take my clothes off? Do you touch me or—’