page20 (1/1)

With Sienna it had been different—or at least he’d thought it had They had been much more serious about each other And when the sordid truth had been revealed to hied It had made hi

To a man impervious to self-doubt it had been a hard lesson to learn—that his judgeer And if there had still been one sment of his character which had believed in the fantasy of the perfect woman, then she had banished it for ever He would never ain

‘What if…?’ Sienna hesitated, feeling as if she was fighting for more than just her self-respect She couldn’t bear it when he looked at her that ith such cold condemnation written in his eyes ‘What if you could understanddone the photos?’

‘Greed is never difficult to understand!’

‘You have to understand that it wasn’t like that—it really wasn’t! I needed the ently’ She sucked in a breath and it felt like hot fire scorching down her throat Would he believe her? ‘To pay for an operation for my mother’

There was a pause, and then he said, ‘Bravo!’ He gave a small silent handclap and then looked around, an expression of mock amazement on his face ‘But what has happened to the violins?’ he taunted sarcastically ‘I can’t hear the for you to put food in their mouths?’

‘It’s true, I tell you—it’s true!’ She wanted to stand up and rush round and druainst him despite all that she’d vowed But she couldn’t—was that another reason why he had chosen the restaurant? To protect himself from an emotional scene? To enable hi that she wouldn’t be able to fight back?

‘Whether you choose to believeto you Why don’t you have one of your henchmen run a check on me?’

His eyes narrowed ‘What kind of operation? Cosery, perhaps? Was she once as beautiful as you, Sienna, and could not accept that ti her of her beauty?’

Oh, how he ht your corner with pride and with dignity Sienna bit her lip as she remembered her mother’s pain and—nearly as bad—her worry ‘It certainly wasn’t vanity, but neither was it a h maybe in a way it was She needed a hip replace school, you see Without the operation she faced disablement and the closure of her beloved business’

Sienna looked down and realised that her hands were shaking, but that was nothing coain, and this tireen eyes Just

believe me! they said And never had a sense of injustice burned so strong

‘She was at her wits’ end, Hashim, and so was I So I took the easy way out—I admit that I had once been told that I could h for the catwalk but that ure could make my fortune I wasn’t at all interested at the time, but I remembered it when I needed to And I did it A one-off which I never repeated nor ever would’ She stared at hi that dark-eyed look of censure ‘And that’s the truth I swear it’

There was silence for a mo development—if it was true And if it was then perhaps it htly less conteive her for what she had done?

Never!

In the world Hashiinable to think of the naked for money and men’s pleasure He closed his mind as he pictured the calendar as clearly as if someone had just put it down on the table in front of him Because they weren’t just nude shots—no rapher had tried to make them She looked…she looked…He felt an involuntary shudder run through his big body and the pooling of lust in his groin

She looked as if she was begging the viewer to drive hihs!

And no e the fact that she had posed for the erotic shots But neither did it change the fact that he wanted her—and he would not rest until he had lost himself in that exquisite body And only when he had done that, could he cast her aside and forget her