Italian Tycoon, Secret Son

‘If we could have got through on the phone,’ he said at last, ‘do you have anyone to call? I mean, anyone who’ll worry about you.’

‘Not really. I’ve only got distant family, that I never see. I don’t mean that we’ve quarrelled, but they’re scattered all over the country.’

‘Friends? Lovers?’

‘Lovers, plural? Don’t be cheeky.’

She imagined him giving her a quirky grin. ‘Just one, then?’

‘No, I’m done with love. It’s a bore and a waste of time.’

‘Ah, yes, you mentioned him before, the one who wanted “something to get hold of”.’

‘I thought he was delightful at first. He could make me laugh, and that’s a big plus.’

‘Yes, it is,’ he said thoughtfully.

‘And you’d know, wouldn’t you? Make ’em laugh and then it’s off to bed. I used to watch him at parties, looking around him like the beacon from a lighthouse, calculating how long it would take to bring them under his spell.’

‘And that-’ In his indignation he propped himself on his elbow. ‘You think I’m like that? It’s what you’ve always had against me, isn’t it? He treated you badly and I get the blame. Woman, may you be forgiven! But not by me.’

‘Don’t give me the innocent act,’ she chided. ‘You and him might have come from the same mould. I’ve seen you look around the room in the same way.’

‘I won’t deny that I’ve had my moments-’

‘Ahh!’

‘But not on this kind of trip. Believe what you like, but I don’t try to seduce the girls in a party that I’m leading. For one thing, it would be unprofessional, and for another, their boyfriends would kill me. I’d end up down the nearest crevasse.’

‘You prefer a balcony to swing from?’

She heard his laugh in the darkness, and felt the vibration of his body.

‘All right, all right,’ she conceded. ‘You’re Mr Virtuous.’

‘Not entirely. There is one girl I had trouble being virtuous with. She always left me wondering, you see, and I could never work out whether she was tantalizing me on purpose, or just didn’t know how she was getting under my skin.’

She felt his lips close to her ear as he murmured, ‘I’ll never know, unless you tell me.’

‘What did you-’ Astounded by what she’d heard, she turned her head and found his lips brushing her cheek. Coming unexpectedly, it was like an electric shock. ‘What did you say?’

‘Did you know what you were doing to me? It’s kind of important to me to know.’

‘What I did to you? Haven’t you got that the wrong way round?’

‘Not at all. From the start, you set out to be a thorn in my side. The first day was all right. We had that chat in the evening and I thought, This is great. Here’s someone I can talk to. But after that you were possessed by the devil, and I think you did it on purpose.’

She recovered her poise enough to say, ‘Couldn’t you tell?’

‘No, that’s what I meant. I never knew. I still don’t know and it’s driving me wild. You’re such a little tease-’

‘I am not!’

‘Really? So it was just accident that you danced like that with Marcel, knowing it would put everything you have on display.’

‘I was decently dressed in trousers.’

‘It wasn’t your clothes, it was the way you moved-slinky, sensual, in tight trousers that showed you off to every man.’

‘Including you?’

‘You’re damn right, including me. And when we were outside you lured me on to kiss you, then backed off, leaving me looking a fool-and feeling one.’

‘Now wait a minute! It was you who lured me on, just to prove that no woman was immune to you, not even me. You admitted it.’

‘I did what?’

‘You said, “since you saw through me so easily…I might as well give up.”’

‘Well, of course I did!’ he exploded. ‘I had to say I hadn’t been serious, to save my face. I was going crazy wanting to kiss you, but you’d just been leading me up a blind alley and having a good laugh.’

‘And that’s just what you were doing. Making a point.’

‘Give me patience. I was the victim there.’

‘Well, you got your revenge, didn’t you, the next night,’ she countered.

‘What in heaven’s name did I do the next night? You were poorly, I massaged you to make you better. And I never put a hand out of place, so why are you complaining?’

‘Because you never put a hand out of place,’ she said furiously.

‘Did you want me to?’

‘Give me patience! It’s like trying to get through to a brick wall. Something stares you in the face and you can’t see it. And what’s funny?’ Renzo had given a snort of laughter.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said in a shaking voice. ‘It’s you talking about seeing what’s staring me in the face. Can you see anything?’

The darkness was black around them, but in her indignation she’d actually forgotten it. Now she was seized with longing to see him, but all she could do was reach out, touching his face, feeling the amusement that shook his body.

Had there ever been a man like this one? They were teetering on the edge of annihilation and he was laughing.

‘I don’t need to see you,’ she said. ‘I know you’ve got that wicked look, and you’re making fun of me-’

‘Making fun? After what you’ve put me through? Mandy-’

His voice changed as her fingertips brushed his lips.

‘Mandy…Mandy…Mandy!’

The last word was muffled as his lips touched hers in the kiss that had always been waiting for them, and had taken too long. Now she could be honest with herself and admit how badly she’d wanted this. His mouth was just as she’d known it would be-strong and generous, teasing, coaxing, silently imploring her to respond wholeheartedly.

There was no resisting that plea and she yielded to it with joy, moving her lips against his until his urgency overwhelmed her and she opened to him, letting him entice her with his tongue. He was as skilled as she’d known he would be, and at one time-a few days and a thousand years ago-she would have resented that skill. Now she revelled in it, answering with flickering movements of her own tongue, in an echo of the duelling that had always been how they communicated.

They were moving their hands, touching each other wherever they could reach, frustrated by the thick clothes they were wearing. But the need to be naked with him was greater than any cold, and she began pulling open her zips and buttons.

‘Careful, it’s freezing,’ he muttered, but he was fumbling with his own clothes as he spoke.

They helped each other undress and went completely under the blankets to escape the icy air. She could feel him beneath her fingers, lean yet muscular, full of tensile strength, exploring her as she was exploring him.

At first she was tentative, learning about the man even as she learned about his body. But suddenly she discovered that everything she did was right, because a thrill went through him, so intense that she felt it herself, and he said fiercely, ‘Do that again, don’t stop-don’t stop!’

‘I’m not going to,’ she said joyfully, redoubling her efforts and feeling him respond with vigour.

Mandy had known desire before but never like this, the feeling heightened by the fast approach of the unknown, sweeping her up, filling her with the desperate desire to experience this while there was still time.

And it was the same with him, she knew beyond a doubt. Life couldn’t end until he’d known this pleasure, this joy. From the start there had been a connection between them, starting in their minds, reaching out to their