I stopped breaking my spine for others the day I took my father’s place as President of BellaDonna Hotels & Resorts. And while this man might have a face that could make an angel weep, there’s not a chance in hell that I’ll start jumping to attention just because he gave an order. Been there, done that. I’ll forever bear the scars to prove that I learned my lesson the hard way.

“Don’t tell me,” I say with heavy sarcasm, “that this is where I’m meant to drop to my knees and do whatever you tell me.”

He never takes his eyes off mine. “You make that offer to every stranger you meet?”

“You’re my first. Chalk it up to me feeling the Christmas spirit.”

“I get the feeling, Miss Donna, that you’re a gift most would die to unwrap.”

My smile is slow, cunning. “Only if you’re eager to enjoy the taste of coal, Mr. . . .?”

“Subtle.”

His faintly amused tone at my obvious fishing makes my cheeks burn. Palm to my neckline, I search the crowd for Lucian and spot him on the far side of the room with his arm slung protectively around Elaine Constantine. The Donnas aren’t old New York—not in the way of the Rockefellers or Astors—but power is a curse that we’ve been plagued with since my grandfather immigrated to the States in the late seventies.

Once upon a time, I would have known every person attending this party.

And once upon a time, it only would have taken a snap of my fingers to know everything there is to know about this man, from his shoe size to his first job to which way his dick hangs.

These days, I’m forced to settle for bluntness and hope it’s returned in kind. “I don’t know you.”

Though he doesn’t lift his foot off my gown, he shifts his big frame in a way that makes him appear that much larger, that much more . . . intimidating. Something niggles at the back of my head, a memory that’s there and gone again before I can clasp it with both hands and pull at the individual threads.

“Without a little mystery,” he drawls, the challenge in his gaze sparking fire, “you might walk away and never look back.”

“That’s not possible.”

“You sound pretty confident about that.”

Pointedly, I glance down at his foot. “You’ve captured me.”

“Temporary imprisonment,” is his silky rejoinder.