Revenge and Redemption Read online

  “Don’t be, it was a turn on.”

  Luke’s husky voice assailed Penny’s senses once more and then stole her breath away with another all-consuming kiss. She tried to rein in her overexcited hormones. A futile exercise. She’d simply never been kissed so well in all her life. The way he gently nibbled at her lips, first the top and then the bottom, before he sucked them between his own lips and teased them with his tongue, gently prying them further apart and sliding it inside her welcoming mouth, wrestling her will into submission.

  His kiss had Penny’s whole body buzzing with need, with heat, with longing and yes, with lust. A lust she’d never felt for anyone but him. She felt him press his thigh between her legs, felt herself start to move against him, grinding her hips, searching for something—exciting. Dangerous. Elusive.

  Something about this man made her insides twist with raw wanton passion, made her need him more than she needed her next breath. Made her crave him like a drug.

  Drugs were bad.

  Drugs used you up.

  Drugs made you dependent.

  Suddenly she wanted the kiss to end. Because through the haze of passion shone the knowledge the man doing these wondrous things to her body didn’t actually like her. How could he? He still blamed her for her part in the Cassidy Holdings fiasco. And how could she let herself become dependent on a man who didn’t even like her?

  A lead weight settled in her stomach, crushing her mood with a mighty thud. Reluctantly she tried to push Luke away. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

  “Yes we should,” he said as he tightened his hold on her, pushing his thigh harder between her legs as he savaged her throat with his mouth.

  Penny tilted her head back, the feel of his lips against her hammering pulse sending a jolt of pure desire straight to her core. She moaned. She fisted her hands in his hair and pulled his mouth back to hers, ravished him with that desire. Until she felt his hands at her waist, unzipping her jeans. Unzipping himself.

  She panicked. She pushed against the solid wall of his chest. “No. Stop. Please.”

  Luke stopped, his hands poised to push her jeans down her legs, eager for the feel of her molten heat, itching to discover what lay between her legs. Would she be smooth, her skin shaved clean? Or would he find soft curls, the sign of a real woman?

  Would he ever find out? He clenched his jaw with the effort of pulling away from her, turned his back to catch his breath, to calm himself, to hide his disappointment and frustration.

  “Why?” he growled over his shoulder as he adjusted himself and thought of every turn off he possibly could to lessen the throbbing tension in his trousers.

  “You know why.”

  “Yeah, I know why,” Luke agreed as he zipped up his trousers and turned to face Penny. “Because I’m blackmailing you and you’re not that kind of girl.” She scowled at his sarcastic tone. “Sorry, was that not dignified?”

  Her eyes darted away from his. “I just think it would be best for everyone if we try to keep this strictly business,” she said, the lack of conviction evident in her breathless voice.

  Luke dropped the attitude and smiled handsomely, moving forward again. He placed one hand on the bench either side of Penny, effectively blocking any route of escape. “You can try all you like, Miss Royale,” he said, his voice smooth and warm, “but the fact of the matter is we will be working quite closely together for the next few weeks, and you can’t deny that you find me attractive.”

  He watched her knuckles whiten as she gripped the bench behind her. He saw her swallow hard and lick her lips, her head tilting, readying for his kiss. Then he saw her eyes narrow, the spark of temper blowing away the haze of lust, and his cock twitched with life once more. Damn her.

  She leaned forward and met him eye to eye. “Are you saying this was a pity thing? Poor pudgy Penny doesn’t have a man in her life so I’ll give her a few thrills? Is that what this is, Mr Hardcastle?”

  Luke had to choke back the urge to laugh, then suppressed a groan of pure need as his cock strained towards her. Why did she have to look so sexy when she was mad at him?

  “I’m not saying anything of the kind,” he replied with deceptive calm. “I’ve already told you I find you attractive.”

  “And I’ve already told you I know what you’re up to. Nice try, Luke, but no deal.”

  Luke’s frustration intensified as he pushed away from the bench. Penny couldn’t have misconstrued his actions more completely if she’d tried. All he wanted to do was rid himself of the ache that had been swelling his groin from the moment he saw her bend over to retrieve her chair in her office. It wasn’t hard to guess what Penny was thinking, though. She thought he was going to seduce her, use her, chew her up, and spit her out.

  Maybe he would.

  Or worse, maybe he’d find out she really was the perfect woman he’d fantasised about for a decade.

  “Fine. We’ll do it your way. Strictly professional. Happy?”

  Penny nodded at Luke’s sharp tone and glowering golden stare.

  “I should go. I have an early meeting.”

  She walked Luke to the door and pretended not to watch his lithe, effortless movements as he pulled his suit jacket on and took something from his pocket.

  “Here, take this,” he said stiffly. Penny looked at Luke’s hand. In his palm was what looked like a small remote control. “It’s a digital voice recorder. I want you to record every and all conversations you have with Selina.”

  Penny looked Luke in the eyes. All emotion was gone. He was definitely back in business mode. She reached out and took the device and turned it over in her hands.

  “This is the manual. It has fresh batteries, and Penny, I fully expect you to use it. I will debrief you after every meeting you have with Selina and I will collect the recordings from you when I do. Here, take this, too,” Luke added as he pulled out his wallet. He handed her five hundred dollars. Her mouth fell open in shock.

  “I realise you’re probably not used to seeing this much money all at once, Miss Royale, but please try not to leave your mouth hanging open. It’s not very professional.”

  Penny clenched her jaw.

  Luke opened the door but stopped in the doorway. “By the way, why haven’t you started looking for non-Hardcastle-owned premises?”

  Penny’s eyes narrowed as she studied Luke’s inscrutable face. “Why?”

  “Humour me.”

  “Because I don’t have the funds to move anywhere else,” she gritted out, “but you already know that.”

  Luke smiled but there was nothing happy in his expression. “Yes, I already know that. I just wanted to hear you say it out loud.”

  “Why?”

  “To remind you of our deal, just in case you’re thinking of changing your mind.”

  “I know the consequences if I don’t do what you want, Luke.”

  “Maybe you should remember that. For the next time you feel like changing your mind.”

  Penny’s nostrils flared with anger. So that was it, huh? He was pissed because he didn’t get his own way, because she’d made him pack up his bat and balls and go home. Well, screw that!

  “Get out before I slap you again!”

  Luke’s lips spread in a predatory smile, then he very deliberately slid his eyes down Penny’s body. She fumed with indignation, then with embarrassment as she remembered what he’d said in the kitchen. Slapping him was a turn-on.

  “Get out,” she said again.

  Luke’s smile turned smug. “Goodnight, Miss Royale. Don’t forget to call me when you’re done with Selina.”

  And he was gone.

  Penny slammed the door shut and winced as she heard the windows rattle in protest. Why did he have to be so infuriatingly handsome? He had absolutely no physical flaws that she could exploit as turn-offs.

  “Rude, arrogant, snide, malicious−”

  What was he playing at tonight? Pin the tail on the gullible idiot? Or Penny piñata, perhaps? Batter her defenc
es enough and see what goodies fall out. Like her breasts. Not that they’d actually fallen out. Not quite. But she was sure they would have had she allowed Luke to continue whatever little game he’d been playing.

  She scowled as she collapsed onto her couch, trying again to understand her feelings for the man. She’d made out with guys before, she’d kissed and touched and aroused. But never with a man of Luke’s calibre. And she’d certainly never felt such an overwhelming need before. A need to—what? Make love? Have sex? Fuck?

  She cringed at the word, but yes, that was exactly what he made her feel, made her want, made her crave. And that was exactly the one thing she’d said she’d never give him.

  What with wanting to keep her dignity and all that.

  Because she was doing such a bang-up job of it right now.

  She glared at the voice recorder in her hand and sighed loudly, putting the little device down before the urge to fill it up with a stream of insults directed at Luke overtook her good sense.

  She’d tried so hard over the past eighteen months to pull her life together and make it something of her own. She’d be damned if she let anyone take away her hard-earned freedom and independence. Not Luke Hardcastle, and certainly not Selina Royale.

  Penny sighed again as she stepped down from her soapbox and conceded the truth. She was trapped, and she knew it. She just prayed that Selina didn’t find out what she was up to because then she really would be in danger of losing everything. At least there was a chance, a slim chance to be sure, but a chance nonetheless, that Luke was bluffing. Selina, on the other hand, wouldn’t hesitate to crush her like a bug and dance on her remains.

  Penny hauled herself to her feet and meandered through her usual nighttime routine. Have shower, wash hair, get dressed for bed. Clothes in the washing machine ready for the morning, check the locks, finish tidying the kitchen, lean against the bench where Luke had kissed her and mentally slap herself for being so weak and stupid—

  But she had to admit, the man certainly knew how to kiss.

  “Of course he does, you twit. He changes girlfriends like he changes underwear,” she said aloud as she started plucking the dead leaves from the parsley plant she had growing in the kitchen. “Big, stupid, sexy, womanizing−”

  Not that Penny could blame those women for being suckered in. Luke’s beautiful golden eyes alone would have most women falling at his feet. Combine that with a voice that could melt steel and a body that felt like it was carved in stone and the man made quite an impressive package. He was charming, brilliant, and of course, wealthy. Not that Penny cared about money the way some women did. She knew firsthand you couldn’t buy happiness, no matter how much money you had.

  She was content just making enough to get by.

  After double checking the locks, Penny took herself off to bed. She snuggled under the blanket and closed her eyes, hoping a good night’s sleep would help eradicate this evening’s disasters from her memory, but every time she closed her eyes, images of Luke kissing her and touching her crashed into her mind’s eye like morning traffic on the Gateway Motorway.

  Her whole body tingled with sense memory as she remembered how his warm hands had felt sliding across her bare flesh. How his soft lips had felt pressed against her neck, how they’d made her squirm with wanting as he’d travelled across her collarbone and lower still, down into the V of her blouse, to the swell of her breasts—

  Until she’d made him stop.

  Luke Hardcastle up close and personal was vastly different from Luke Hardcastle fantasy man. From afar he’d been her knight in shining armour. In her face his armour was just as tarnished as everybody else’s. Yet still she craved him, him and his angry, sexy, passionate heat.

  For as long as she could remember Luke had had this bizarre effect on her. Just a glimpse of him coming and going from Hardcastle Tower used to send her heart rate into the stratosphere. Now that she’d had a taste of him, those cravings were only going to get worse.

  She rolled over again and sighed loudly. Why did he have to tell her she was attractive? Why did he have to give her that faint glimmer of hope that she could mean more to him than a means to an end?

  No. She had to hold on to the facts, to what she knew to be true. Luke was using her. Luke was not above lying and cheating and telling her whatever she wanted to hear to make his life easier. Penny grimaced as she wondered how he’d react to the knowledge that she would have helped him knock Selina off her perch—if he’d bothered to ask her first—simply because she’d dreamed of marrying him when she was a teenager.

  Right. Like he needed any more ammunition against her.

  Chapter Seven

  Penny sat at the reserved table at the back of Jorge’s Café and waited nervously for Selina. She fiddled with the voice recorder under the table, made sure the settings were right, and slipped it inside her coat pocket. She sipped on her drink and ignored the urge to chew her fingernails off.

  Then she saw her.

  Selina Royale. Entrepreneur. Aunt. Bitch.

  Selina stood at the entrance of the café and scanned the room with her best superior look. She spotted Penny at her usual table and smiled as warmly as she was able to, which to Penny’s mind looked something like a jackal sizing up its prey. She raised a hand in a halfhearted wave at her aunt and tried to smile.

  “Hello, Penelope.” Selina’s condescending tone grated on Penny’s nerves.

  “Hello, Aunt Selina,” Penny said, trying to sound as calm as possible even with her insides in knots.

  Selina’s beady eyes raked over Penny’s attire. “You’re looking…well,” she said as she sat down and snapped her fingers at the waitress.

  A petite sour-faced blonde dressed from head to toe in tight black clothing and a long black apron with Jorge’s Café stamped on the front of it hurried over to their table. “I’ll have the usual,” Selina said as she declined a menu. “Penelope?” Penny quickly looked down the list and settled on grilled fish and salad. “Good for you, dear, and about time, too. I always said you were too fat.”

  Penny swallowed down an acidic retort and replied instead, “Yes, thank you, Aunt Selina,” knowing the submissive statement would please her aunt, and hating herself for saying it. But it worked. Selina smiled with satisfaction, obviously glad that her niece still knew her place in the world: under Selina’s heel.

  “So, how’s business?” Selina asked, from habit more than actual interest Penny was sure.

  “Fine. Better than fine, actually. It’s great.”

  “Really?” Selina sniffed. “How much do you need?”

  Penny frowned. “I beg your pardon?”

  “Money, Penelope, how much money do you need?”

  “I don’t need any money, Selina,” said Penny defensively. “I told you I’m doing great.”

  “Then why were you meeting with Luke Hardcastle? And don’t try to tell me again that he’s your new landlord. I know for a fact that is a lie.”

  “You know no such thing!” Penny whispered. “Luke is my new landlord, although why he would want to own buildings as old as that I’m sure I don’t know, and the reason I was meeting with him was to negotiate new leases on behalf of the other tenants.”

  Selina looked shocked by Penny’s assertiveness. She looked even more shocked when Penny rose from her chair and picked up her handbag. She threw a hundred-dollar note down on the table and made sure that Selina could see the rest of Luke’s flash cash in her purse.

  “I don’t know what I was thinking,” she muttered to herself. “All I wanted to do was say hello, maybe mend some bridges, but you’re never going to forgive me. You’re never going to give me a second chance. Lunch is on me, Aunt Selina. Enjoy.” Penny began to walk away.

  “Penelope, wait,” Selina called. Penny stopped and waited. “Please, stay for lunch.”

  Penny turned slowly and saw Selina gesturing to the empty chair. She took a moment to pretend to think about it and then she sat down again.

&nbs
p; “Well, it would seem you’ve found a voice in the past eighteen months, but just remember who you’re talking to now, my girl. I won’t stand for any more insubordination on your part.”

  “Yes, Aunt Selina,” Penny said.

  “I know Hardcastle is your new landlord,” Selina said. “I simply assumed your business was failing and I needed to be certain you weren’t trying to boost your capital by selling off my trade secrets. But you’re right. Why would he want that particular piece of real estate? What makes it special?”

  “I don’t know,” Penny lied.

  “But I’ll bet you could find out,” Selina said. “I find it extremely hard to believe that a man as importantly wealthy as Hardcastle would stoop so low as to discuss lease terms with the likes of you. He has lawyers to do that for him. No, I think he’s trying to seduce you.”

  Penny laughed out loud even as the memory of the previous night flooded through her brain, and squeezed her thighs together to quash her body’s traitorous reactions.

  “What on Earth for? Luke only dates models, Selina. Somehow I don’t think I qualify.”

  “Good point. You are far below his normally high standards. I mean, look at you, Penelope, really. What is with that skirt? Can’t you do something better with your hair?”

  “Like what?” Penny asked tightly.

  “Like run a brush through it for starters, and the scarf?” she tsked, “Honestly, I think I almost prefer those juvenile ponytails you used to wear. And another thing…”

  Penny subconsciously fiddled with the red scarf she had used as a headband and clenched her jaw as she realised how quickly her aunt’s criticisms had her fretting again that she didn’t measure up.

  I am Penny Royale, proprietor of Royale Teas and Small Business Woman of the Year, Penny chanted over and over in her head in a valiant attempt to stem the tide of insults she was being forced to endure, and would be forced to endure again when she was debriefed by Luke.