Pregnant by the Billionaire

Looking at Luccy from beneath hooded lids, he could see that she was just as angry…

Because she had been found out?

Whatever the reason, those deep blue eyes sparkled when she was angry, her cheeks became flushed, and her breasts strained against the soft material of her sweater. As for that blue-black hair! Just looking at its soft silkiness reminded him of how that long ebony swathe had fallen so enticingly about the nakedness of her shoulders the night they had made love together.

‘No,’ he bit out, ‘I don’t find being with you anywhere near as painful as a visit to the dentist.’

‘It’s early yet,’ Luccy retorted swiftly.

‘I have nothing else to do this evening—what about you?’

Luccy repressed a quiver down the length of her spine as she easily heard the underlying threat in his voice. ‘Can we just get this over with?’

‘By all means,’ he agreed smoothly.

‘Well?’ Luccy prompted impatiently after at least a minute’s silence had stretched between them.

He frowned darkly. ‘I was giving you the opportunity to explain yourself.’

‘How can I do that when I have no idea what you’re talking about most of the time?’ It had taken a tremendous effort of will on Luccy’s part to come here this evening, the least this man could do was cooperate.

Sin’s mouth thinned. ‘I’d hoped the games would be over this evening.’

‘Maybe they would be—if I knew what game we were playing!’

‘I thought we had agreed it was blackmail—sorry, leverage?’

Luccy felt the heat in her cheeks. ‘I still have no idea what you meant by that remark. As far as I can see, the only one guilty of using leverage is you—by forcing me to come here this evening!’

Sin’s patience faded completely in the face of her continued claim of innocence. He hadn’t expected this to be a pleasant evening, he was too coldly angry for that, but he would certainly have respected Luccy more if she could at least have been honest with him once she was found out.

‘Okay, let’s start with exactly when it was you realised who I am,’ he growled.

Luccy eyed him blankly. ‘Who you are?’

Sin gave an impatient sigh. Damn it, he didn’t enjoy being made a fool of! ‘I can see this is going to be a long evening, after all,’ he rasped.

‘No, it isn’t,’ she said. ‘You tell me who you are, I’ll go “wow”, and then I can leave. Yes?’

‘No,’ Sin grated. ‘But Wow is probably as good a place as any to start this conversation.’

Luccy became very still, her gaze wary now. ‘You’re referring to the magazine?’

His mouth tightened. ‘I’m referring to one of its executives. Paul Bridger, to be exact, a man we both met—in my case, briefly—three evenings ago.’

Luccy nodded slowly. ‘When he propositioned me and you interceded, yes.’

Resulting in Luccy having received a very politely worded letter the following day, from the secretary of Dale Harris, the other executive at that dinner meeting, informing her—surprise surprise!—that they had decided against contracting her to do any work for their magazine.

‘I won’t deny you gave a charming performance that night, but it really wasn’t very fair on Paul Bridger,’ Sin bit out disgustedly.

‘Not fair on him?’

He nodded. ‘You had already agreed to go to bed with him in exchange for being given a photographic assignment with the magazine he works for—’

‘I most certainly had not!’ Luccy glared at him indignantly, her hands clenching into fists at her sides.

‘He says you did.’

‘He—! When did you talk to him?’ she demanded incredulously. ‘Why did you talk to him?’

Sin looked at her coldly. ‘Let’s just say I found the way you just disappeared the other evening while I was in the shower a little—questionable, to say the least—’

‘It didn’t occur to you that I might have been embarrassed by what had just happened between us?’ she asked exasperatedly.

‘No,’ Sin said. ‘But I was definitely curious enough to know that it might be in my best interest to—see you again. I had a little difficulty tracking you down at first,’ he acknowledged ruefully, ‘but enquiries at the hotel restaurant established that you had been dining with two executives from Wow magazine that evening. It wasn’t too hard to find out the names of those executives, or to make an appointment to see the younger one—’

‘You’re incredible, do you know that?’ Luccy gasped disbelievingly.

He gave an unapologetic shrug. ‘I went along to Bridger’s office this morning and had an illuminating little chat with him before coming to your studio.’

Luccy stared at him. Just stared at him. Sin had—Then he had—And he believed Paul Bridger’s version of what had happened that night rather than her own? It was unbelievable! Absolutely unbelievable!

More than that, it was damned insulting!

‘How very Sherlock Holmes of you!’ she snapped.

‘I thought so.’ Sin’s smile was completely lacking in humour.

She gave a disgusted shake of her head. ‘And that night I thought you were—I believed—You’re no better than Paul Bridger!’

His lips curled with distaste. ‘Not a pleasant individual, I grant you. Although it wasn’t exactly pleasant of you, either, to threaten him with the fact that he’s married.’

‘I didn’t threaten him. You were there in the hallway. You heard some of what was said—’

‘I heard you mention Bridger’s wife,’ he admitted grimly.

Luccy became very still. She had mentioned Paul’s wife to him that evening. But only out of desperation, as a deterrent, not—

‘He expected—He wanted—I only mentioned his wife because I was only trying to remind him of his—of his responsibilities,’ she defended herself, realising just how lame that sounded.

‘He claims you were trying to blackmail him into giving you work. His boss—Dale Harris is his name, I believe?—he seems to believe it too.’

This was a nightmare. An unbelievable nightmare. She had taken Paul and Dale to dinner, had paid for the whole damned evening—and now it seemed she was going to be made to pay in another way, too.

‘Let me try and get this straight,’ Luccy exclaimed. ‘You believe I tried to blackmail Paul Bridger into giving me work on the magazine he works for by threatening to tell his wife that he tried to get me into bed after our business meeting? You’re also of the opinion, based on that belief, that my ultimate intention was to somehow blackmail you, too?’

‘That works for me, yes.’ Sin nodded slowly. ‘But having transferred your attention onto me so impulsively it must have presented something of a problem for you when I told you that I didn’t have a wife, let alone kids.’

Luccy frowned at his continued insistence that she had deliberately planned what had happened between them that evening. ‘Even supposing—just supposing!—that your accusations were true, what do you possibly have that I could want?’

‘Off the top of my head?’ he drawled derisively. ‘Your future employment seems like a good enough incentive.’

Luccy had heard enough. She really had. ‘What future employment are you talking about?’

‘You still have a contract with PAN Cosmetics, I believe?’

Luccy became very still. He had mentioned the PAN contract earlier today, too. As he had just mentioned her future employment…

‘What does any of that have to do with you?’ she asked warily.

Mocking brows rose over those icy grey eyes. ‘Still pretending ignorance, Luccy?’

She wasn’t pretending at all! But she had a definite premonition she wasn’t going to like his answer when it eventually came!

‘Sleeping with the boss just isn’t what it used to be, is it?’ he derided.

The boss? What boss?

The only boss Luccy had came with her contract with PAN Cosmetics…

She swallowed hard. ‘You work for PAN Cosmetics?’

He gave an impatient sigh. ‘I own PAN Cosmetics, Luccy. As you are well aware,’ his voice grated harshly.

He owned…?

Luccy didn’t just stare at him now—she goggled. ‘Jacob Sinclair is head of Sinclair Industries, the company that owns PAN Cosmetics…’ Was that strangulated voice really her own?

‘Yes.’

Luccy could barely breathe now. ‘But Jacob Sinclair is—Isn’t he an elderly man, almost eighty?’

‘Jacob Senior is eighty, yes,’ Sin confirmed. ‘He also stepped down as Chairman of Sinclair Industries almost ten years ago. As I’m sure you are well aware,’ he added pointedly.

And why should she have known that? She worked exclusively with PAN Cosmetics, not Sinclair Industries.

Luccy could only stare at Sin as she waited for him to drop the next bombshell—one that she was sure was going to completely devastate her!

‘Ordinarily, his son, Jacob Junior would have inherited that position, of course, but unfortunately Jacob Junior was killed in a car accident ten years ago.’ His eyes were cold as he looked at Luccy.

Luccy moistened suddenly dry lips. ‘So who did take over as chairman?’

Sin gave a weary sigh. ‘Do we really have to continue with this act of ignorance on your part?’

‘Just humour me, will you?’ she rasped, totally agitated as he continued to play with her.

His mouth tightened. ‘Jacob Sinclair the Third, Jacob Senior’s only grandchild now controls all the companies under ownership by Sinclair Industries. Which, of course, includes PAN Cosmetics.’

Luccy’s eyes widened as the truth suddenly hit her with the force of a blow to the chest. ‘You?’

‘Me.’ He gave an unpleasant smile.

Him. He was Jacob Sinclair the Third. The grandson—and the only grandchild!—of Jacob Sinclair Senior.

The man who had become Luccy’s lover three days ago…

The man who now believed—with the help of that lying louse Paul Bridger!—that she had deliberately transferred her attentions to him that evening because she had spotted a bigger fish to fry.

Her cheeks burned. ‘I didn’t know!’ she gasped weakly. ‘How could I possibly have known when you introduced yourself to me only as Sin that night?’ she added accusingly.

‘You introduced yourself only as Luccy, remember?’

‘That was because—because—’

‘Because you had recognised me in the restaurant earlier but didn’t want me to know who you were!’ A nerve pulsed in his tightly clenched jaw.

If Luccy had recognized this man as Jacob Sinclair three evenings ago, in the restaurant or anywhere else, then they wouldn’t even be having this conversation!

Not that it mattered now. This man owned and ran Sinclair Industries, and consequently owned PAN Cosmetics, too.

The same man who was going to ensure that Lucinda Harper-O’Neill never worked for PAN Cosmetics again. Or possibly anyone else, either?

‘Don’t look so downcast, Luccy,’ he jeered. ‘You aren’t the first woman to use her body in order to try to get what she wants.’ His mouth tightened.

Luccy stared at him. ‘This—Are you saying that something like that has happened to you before?’

‘Just the once,’ he growled, the coldness of his expression telling her that it was not a pleasant memory—for him or the woman involved!

She swallowed hard. ‘What happened…?’

His eyes narrowed to steely slits. ‘Just a lowly employee of Sinclair Industries who thought she would like a promotion.’

‘And she went to bed with you to get it?’

His face darkened ominously. ‘Luccy—’

‘What happened to her?’ Luccy persisted.

He shrugged. ‘After her employment was terminated? I have absolutely no idea.’ His eyes glittered angrily.

Luccy gulped. ‘I think I would like that glass of wine now,’ she said shakily.

‘I don’t believe getting drunk is the answer to your problems,’ Sin drawled mockingly even as he stood up to pour wine into the second glass before handing it to her.

Luccy ignored the comment, her hand trembling slightly as she took the glass from him. ‘So.’ She drew in a shaky breath after taking a sip of the chilled wine. ‘Where do we go from here?’

‘Where do you want us to go?’

Luccy looked up at him warily, seeing him for exactly what he was now. Not only the billionaire chairman of Sinclair Industries, but also a hard, powerful, and ruthless man. ‘What do you mean?’

He grimaced. ‘Well, obviously I have now made it clear to you that any attempt on your part to use our past—relationship, shall we say, as leverage of any kind, in order to renew your contract with PAN, is out of the question…’ He looked up as Luccy stood up abruptly, his expression one of hard challenge as she began to pace the room agitatedly.

Luccy made no attempt to disguise her dislike as she glared across the room at him. ‘I can assure you I did not—and most definitely still do not—have any intention of ever discussing that evening again. With anyone!’

‘I’m pleased to hear it.’

‘And that includes you!’ Luccy snapped as she saw Sin’s derisive expression. ‘It was a mistake—’

‘It was certainly a serious tactical error on your part,’ he agreed.

Luccy slammed her glass forcefully down onto the table, mildly surprised when it didn’t instantly shatter. ‘You seduced me that evening—’

‘I believe it was a mutual seduction,’ he corrected harshly.

‘If it was mutual then why are you bitching about it?’ Luccy was beyond even attempting to keep this conversation polite. Why should she bother when Sin had done nothing but insult her since coming to her studio this morning?

Why was he bitching? Sin questioned himself suddenly.

Probably because, although it had been ten years since he had last been this gullible, Sin could still clearly remember the humiliation he had felt, the sheer fury, at knowing how naïve and stupid he had been.

So much so that he could cheerfully have wrung Luccy’s neck right now.

He had found his conversation with Paul Bridger this morning offensive, to say the least. The other man, once he’d realised the purpose of Sin’s visit, becoming extremely insulting about Luccy as he talked of the way she had encouraged him to believe they would be going to bed together at the end of the evening. That those insults were obviously true, going on the part of their exchange Sin had overheard, had only made his own conversation with Bridger more unpleasant.

‘Nothing else to say?’ she challenged Sin scathingly now.

There were a lot of things Sin could have said. But he wasn’t about to say any of them. ‘I believe the next move is up to you.’

She scowled. ‘Obviously you will be terminating my employment with PAN Cosmetics immediately—’

‘No.’

She raised startled brows. ‘No…?’

Sin gave her a scathing glance of his own. ‘You have three months left to run on your present contract, I believe?’

She eyed him warily. ‘Yes, so?’

He nodded. ‘Then you will continue to fulfil your obligations to PAN Cosmetics for that amount of time.’

‘That’s very—surprising, of you,’ Luccy said warily.

‘It’s business, Luccy,’ Sin rasped.

‘And once that contract is over you will make sure I never work again, is that it?’ she asked.

He continued to look at her coldly for several long seconds. ‘I haven’t made my mind up about that yet.’

Luccy knew by the absolute implacability of his expression that there was no point in her continuing to proclaim her innocence; this man simply didn’t believe her. ‘Let me know when you have!’ she retorted before marching in the direction of the lift.

‘Where the hell are you going?’

‘I’m leaving, of course.’ She stabbed her finger on the button to open the lift doors.

Sin stood up. ‘I don’t believe we’ve finished talking yet—’

‘I have,’ she assured him grimly as she stepped into the lift, her eyes glittering as she turned to face him before the lift doors slowly closed.

Sin was scowling darkly as he listened to the lift descending, knowing that the conversation hadn’t gone at all as he had thought it would.

The tears he was sure he had seen glittering in Luccy’s eyes didn’t make much sense to him, either…

CHAPTER FIVE

‘CHAMPAGNE?’

Luccy didn’t need to turn and face the owner of that silkily soft voice to know who it belonged to. It might have been eight weeks since she had last heard it, but, as she had guessed at the time, she hadn’t succeeded in forgetting a single thing about Jacob ‘Sin’ Sinclair, least of all the silky seductiveness of his voice!

She had wondered about—and dreaded!—seeing him again at this glitzy party being given in the New York Sinclair hotel to celebrate the launch of PAN Cosmetics’ new brand of lipstick. But, as she was the photographer for all the publicity shots that had blitzed the media for the last month, it would have looked distinctly odd if Luccy had refused her own invitation to attend. Especially as she had decided that this particular photography assignment for PAN Cosmetics was to be her last…

Which didn’t make it any easier for her to break off her present conversation in order to turn and face Sin!

Despite the fact that the reception room in this New York hotel was full of the press, as well as the rich and famous, Sin had had absolutely no problem picking out Lucinda Harper-O’Neill in the sparkling crush of people. For one thing it was impossible not to spot that distinctive long, blue-black hair. For another, she was looking beautiful again in red…

Had she deliberately worn red again this evening as a challenge to him for that night two months ago?

Whatever her reason for wearing it, there was no doubting that Luccy looked stunningly beautiful, her low-necked, sleeveless red gown a shimmering sparkle of sequins that hinted at her curves rather than clung to them, and revealing a long expanse of shapely legs, the red high-heeled shoes she wore adding an extra three inches to her height. Her long blue-black hair was loose again tonight and curling silkily down the length of her spine, the deep blue of her eyes emphasised by long, curling black lashes, a delicate blush to her cheeks, and the fullness of her lips once again glossed a deep, tempting red.

Sin had stood across the room watching her for several minutes before approaching and speaking to her, his body tensing as he watched her conversing with one of the male executives of PAN Cosmetics, her beautiful face animated, her blue eyes glowing, her cheeks satiny smooth, and those red-glossed lips full and smiling to reveal her small, even white teeth.

That the man she was talking to was totally captivated by her glowing beauty was more than obvious—if Darren Richards leant any closer over the bare expanse of her creamy breasts he was going to lose himself down the front of that glittering red gown!

Sin turned his hard silver gaze on the older man. ‘Richards,’ he greeted tersely. ‘I believe my grandfather was looking for you a few minutes ago…’ he added pointedly.

Luccy, having turned to face Sin, barely noticed as Darren Richards excused himself and hurried away, her attention all on Sin. He looked tall, dark, and breathtakingly handsome in the black evening suit and snowy white shirt and bow tie, the expression in those silver-grey eyes totally unreadable as he coolly returned her gaze, holding out one of the two champagne glasses he carried.

‘I won’t, if you don’t mind.’ She shook her head as she held up her glass of sparkling water.

‘Fine.’ He shrugged before disposing of one of the glasses on the tray of a passing waiter. ‘Have you been working your brand of magic on one of the PAN executives this time?’

Luccy had decided before coming to New York that if she and Sin did meet again she would not allow him to get under her skin. ‘Do you think I succeeded?’ she came back dryly.

Once again Sin couldn’t help but admire her easy confidence. ‘Judging by the way Darren almost fell into your cleavage? I would say that’s a yes,’ he confirmed mockingly. ‘The only problem is, Darren doesn’t have the final word over any future contracts you may or may not have with PAN.’

Luccy met his gaze unblinkingly. ‘But you do?’

‘Of course.’ He gave a derisive inclination of his head.

‘Pity.’ She gave him a sweeping glance before turning her attention to the rest of the room. ‘Did you say that your grandfather’s here?’

Sin’s mouth curved into a humourless smile. ‘He may be eighty but he still makes a point of always appearing at these occasions. Would you like to meet him?’

‘No, I don’t think so, thank you,’ she refused lightly.

‘He doesn’t bite,’ Sin assured her dryly.

Unlike this man, that silver gaze warned Luccy!

‘You don’t want any champagne. You don’t want to meet my grandfather. What do you want, Luccy?’ he asked softly.

The huskiness of his voice caused a tingling at Luccy’s nape and sent a quiver of awareness down the length of her spine, the bodice of her gown suddenly feeling too tight as her breasts swelled in response.

This man was playing with her, Luccy easily guessed, and he was enjoying doing it too!

‘From you?’ she bit out. ‘I thought I had already made it clear at our last… meeting, that you don’t have anything that I want.’

‘I believe what you wanted was another contract with PAN?’

She looked at him coldly. ‘There are plenty of other companies who have just as big an advertising budget, you know.’

‘Wow and Paul Bridger came up trumps, after all, did they—?

‘Where are you going?’ Sin reached out to take a light hold of her arm as she would have walked away.

‘Anywhere that you aren’t,’ she snapped. ‘For your information, I haven’t seen or spoken to Paul Bridger—or anyone that knows him,’ she added pointedly, ‘since talking to you at your hotel that evening. How about you?’

Sin raised a disdainful eyebrow. ‘Why the hell would I want to see him?’

She shrugged those creamy shoulders as she looked at him challengingly. ‘Oh, the two of you seemed to have so much in common.’

Insulting as well as courageous, Sin acknowledged ruefully. Not that she had lacked courage the last time they had spoken, she just seemed different in some way. Or was it himself that was different? He’d had the same eight weeks to think of this woman and wonder if he really had been wrong about her, as Luccy had insisted so vehemently.

In the circumstances it was unfortunate that the first time he’d seen her this evening she had obviously been charming yet another executive, of PAN this time!

Luccy looked pointedly at the fingers that still encircled her arm. ‘Take your hand off me, Sin,’ she instructed softly. ‘I’ll give you three seconds and then I’m going to start screaming,’ she added when he continued to frown down at her.

His mouth twisted. ‘That would definitely make you the centre of attention!’

She raised dark brows. ‘I believe that would bother you more than it would me.’ After all, there were hundreds of members of the press present…

His eyes darkened with amusement as he slowly released her. ‘Aren’t you becoming a little—reckless, Luccy?’

‘Am I?’ She resisted the effort to rub the tingling spot on her arm where Sin’s fingers had just touched her. ‘Or maybe it’s just that I don’t care to be in the company of a man who has the opinion of me that you do,’ she said sarcastically.

‘And what opinion is that, Luccy?’

She gave a dismissive laugh. ‘I don’t believe I’ve ever met anyone else who has believed me capable of blackmail—let alone actually accused me of it!’ Her voice had hardened over the last words, her eyes glittering angrily as she looked at him in furious challenge.

Sin’s gaze was narrowed. ‘You have to admit—’

‘I don’t have to admit anything, least of all to being guilty to any of the accusations you made against me,’ Luccy insisted. ‘And, fortunately, I don’t have to stand here and hear them repeated, either. I find it rather warm in here, so if you’ll excuse me—’