The Platinum Collection: A Convenient Proposal: His Diamond of Convenience / The Highest Price to Pay / His Ring Is Not Enough. Maisey YatesЧитать онлайн книгу.
she reached up and straightened his tie, her fingertips brushing his skin just above his shirt collar, sending lightning shooting through her. She cleared her throat. “You’ll do fine.”
A smile curved his lips, and yet she could see that he was strained. “Of course I will. I win every fight I step into.”
He walked away from her toward the front of the room, taking his position on the stage. And then he began to speak.
“I would like to thank you all for coming here tonight. I would like to thank most especially my beautiful fiancée, Victoria Calder, for arranging such a civilized event. If left to my own devices you would all be eating cocktail weenies from a buffet.” That line elicited laughter from the audience. “I am not known for my sophistication and manners—that much is true. What I am best known for is my fighting. Times have changed for me—my life has changed. But what has not changed is the foundation I was built on. Things that I learned under the mentorship of Colvin Davis. A native of New Orleans, Colvin came to London to change his fortune, then he traveled to Russia looking for champion fighters and found...me. A disappointment, I would think. But he saw my potential. What happened after that changed life for both of us.” He shifted his position at the podium, and Victoria held her breath, willing him to keep talking. To keep going. To keep fighting. She could see his discomfort, but she imagined the audience didn’t. He had a good mask. But she knew him well enough to see beyond it. When had that happened? And why?
He continued. “The values he instilled in me were the values that enabled me to become not only an award-winning fighter, but a successful businessman. He gave me control when I had none. He helped me manage my anger when anger was all I had. He gave me life when before all I had was survival. This is what I want to offer the children who come to the gyms I hope to establish with this charity. A place with mentors, a place for them to learn patience. To learn to protect themselves. And the values to know when to use it. An important part of martial arts is the control you learn along with it, and it is that control that changed my life. I hope you will allow me to pass this on to others. I hope you will allow me to change life for these children the way it was changed for me. I hope you will be moved to give generously.”
It was completely silent in the room, not even the sound of clinking cutlery on plates breaking the reverie that had settled over them. “I know my reputation has not always been exemplary. I have enjoyed my fame, my money. Coming from poverty, having access to so many new things...it turned my head. But Colvin brought me from the darkness, and without him I would not be here standing before you. And without Victoria Calder I would not be here tonight.” He gestured toward her and all eyes were now on her. She smiled, easily, never finding it a challenge to play to a crowd. And yet, this felt different. This was affecting something in her chest, making her feel things. For him. And she would use it now. Use it to make this look real. He was lying now, giving her credit where none was due, and he was doing it to lend validity to a charity that was coming from his heart, not hers. She wouldn’t fail him now. It seemed essential somehow. As if this moment was pivotal. As if it somehow overshadowed the mistakes of the past, the present large and full, more important than it had been in years. With the past looming large and the future her hope, now was so often lost. But not in this moment.
“It is she who inspired me to take what assisted me in bringing it to the world. She who inspired me to use my gifts to help others. I will stop boring you now. Enjoy your dinner, enjoy your dancing, enjoy your evening.”
There were applause and Dmitri walked down from the stage, making a beeline for the back of the room, and for her.
Victoria was about to say something to him, about to compliment him on his performance, when the band began to play again.
He did not let her speak. Instead, he extended his hand to her. She took it and she found herself being drawn in close to his body.
“And now, my dearest fiancée,” he said, “I think you should dance with me.”
She should have been the one to suggest dancing, considering she was supposed to be the bastion of manners and grace. She had not expected for Dmitri to be the one to make that overture. But then, she had not expected he could look so good in a suit. So, he seemed to be offering up surprises all over the place.
She smiled, acutely aware that all eyes were on them. “Of course.”
She allowed him to lead her out to the center of the dance floor, forced herself to relax against his body as he pulled her into his arms. Her breath caught as he leaned in, his breath fanning over her cheek. “I should like to avoid as much social interaction as possible.”
She let out a nervous laugh, strangely disappointed by the fact that his asking her to dance was merely a diversion. Because he had made such a romantic statement in his speech, she had no doubt that they would not be interrupted out here on the dance floor. People would be content to simply watch them lost in their apparent bubble of love.
“A room with five hundred people may not be the best venue for solitude.”
He placed his hand on her lower back, tightening his hold on her. “Perhaps. But this is what we came here to do, isn’t it?” he asked.
“And so far, I think we have done it very well.” She didn’t know why, but she wanted to reassure him. Perhaps because she knew that giving the speech had been outside his comfort zone, and yet he had done it.
“A compliment?”
“Don’t sound so surprised.”
Their dancing was little more than swaying to the music while holding each other, and she found it slightly disconcerting. Because it seemed rather less like dancing as an activity and rather more like something people chose to do if they wanted to touch each other in public and could not think of another socially acceptable way to accomplish that.
“You have a way of taking a tone that sounds a bit like a disapproving schoolmistress.”
“Not the sort of mistress I’m supposed to appear to be.”
“I think not.” He lifted his hand and cupped her chin between his thumb and forefinger. “You’re supposed to appear to be the sort of mistress who warms my bed, not one who sends me to bed alone without supper.”
“It’s a good thing that we are putting on a very convincing show, then,” she said, looking away from him to try to gauge the reactions of those still sitting at the tables. He tightened his grip on her chin, preventing her from keeping her focus away from him.
“Perhaps you should give me a kiss.”
Her heart slammed against her chest. “I thought you weren’t going to seduce me.”
“I’m not.” He slid his thumb along the outer edge of her lower lip. “I am simply keeping up appearances.”
She suddenly became acutely aware of her mouth, and her lips felt exceedingly dry. She hadn’t been aware of that at all only a moment ago, and now it was all she could think about. That she needed badly to moisten her lips. Ridiculous. And she felt too self-conscious to do it. Even more ridiculous.
Still, she found herself running her tongue along the surface of her lower lip, then her upper lip. He shifted his thumb higher, and something wicked overtook her, something that she would not have ever said lurked inside of her, not even at her deepest, most hidden depths. But apparently, it did. She stuck her tongue out again, letting the edge of it touch his thumb, the sharp tang of salt from his skin a force that rocked her body.
Their eyes clashed and held. “Do you know what you are inviting?”
She nodded slowly. “I think I do.”
She raised her hand to touch his face, and he caught it, pulling it back down to her side. “You can’t be asking for sex, darling. Because you have not given me what I require.”
Her breath caught. Of course. That little leather wristband that would signify her freely given choice. That would have to be given to him in a thinking moment, not a feeling moment. That would drastically cool the heat between