Veretti’s Dark Vengeance

from behind until she dropped down among the cushions. Then he was there beside her, drawing the curtains against the rain.

‘Are you all right?’ he asked, reaching out in the near-darkness.

‘Yes, I think so-whoa!’

The sound was jerked from her as the boat cast off, rocking vigorously so that she reached out and clasped him.

‘The wind is making the water a little rough,’ he said. ‘Hold on to me.’

She did so, and felt his arm go beneath her neck, then tighten, to draw her closer to him. In the darkness his mouth touched hers and she thrilled at the sensation, moving her lips against his, inviting him eagerly.

She felt his hand at the front of her blouse, pulling the buttons open, finding the slip beneath, moving further, discovering that she wore nothing under the slip, leaving him free to caress her breast with fingers that were both gentle and skilled.

He knew exactly the right touch to give maximum pleasure, and he used it ruthlessly to tease her nipple to hardness, after which he laid his lips between her breasts. She knew he must be able to feel her heart pounding. There was no way of concealing what he was doing to her, and she didn’t try.

Instead, she paid him back in kind, letting her fingers find the place at the back of his neck where she knew he was sensitive. She’d learned it last time and now she used it to the full, relishing the sensation of his response, which he could no more hide than she could hide her own. He drew back a little, gazing down on her, his breath coming harshly.

‘Don’t stop,’ she whispered.

At once he dropped his head so that his mouth was against her neck, leaving a trail of heat and excitement wherever it moved. Her neck was long, swan-like, and he paid it the tribute of total attention, taking his time, not moving on until he was sure of her pleasure.

‘Helena…’ His voice sounded as she had never heard it before.

‘Yes,’ she murmured.

But suddenly there was a slight bump as the gondola came to a halt.

‘We’ve reached the hotel,’ Salvatore said raggedly. ‘We have to become respectable citizens again.’

She clutched him. ‘I’m not sure I can manage that.’

‘Neither am I, but we’ll have to pretend.’

He began to fasten her buttons. His hands were shaking.

‘I think I’m just about ready,’ she breathed.

‘Then come with me.’

Somehow they managed to walk sedately into the Illyria and across the lobby. In the elevator they stood side by side, not daring to touch each other until they were safely in her room. Then it was unsure which of them moved first, but they were in each other’s arms, kissing fiercely, desperately.

He began pulling away her clothes, tossing them onto the floor. The buttons on his shirt opened easily, revealing the chest beneath, thickly haired, rough to the touch, exciting.

There were no lights on in the room but outside the room lightning was beginning to flash. Boats passed, their lights gleaming through the windows, then gone again. Here in the bedroom her body flared into new life with every touch.

She leaned back until she could feel her own long hair touch her waist, while his kiss went lower, between her breasts, and she clasped her hands about his head, unable to suppress a groan of pleasure.

The warmth that suffused her went to every extremity, melting her will, making it one with his own until she had nothing left to hope for except that this should last for ever.

Which was exactly what he’d wanted.

The words were like a shriek in her head, warning that this was still and always a struggle for supremacy, and their fierce sexual attraction was simply another weapon for each to use against the other, at its most deadly when at its most glorious.

Her violent excitement began to die as a chill of doubt went through her. It was so long since a man had taken her to bed that now she faced the prospect like a virgin. She’d enjoyed the mounting passion, the teasing and enticement, but as she neared the moment of truth she knew she was afraid.

‘What is it?’ he asked, feeling her grow tense.

‘Nothing, it’s just-give me a moment. No-no!’ The cry was drawn from her as she felt his lips against her skin again. ‘Let me go.’

He released her so suddenly that she staggered and had to clutch him to avoid falling. Desperately she realised that her legs were now too weak to support her without his help.

‘You pick this moment to say let you go?’ he demanded harshly.

‘I can’t help it,’ she gasped. ‘I’m sorry, I can’t go on. This isn’t-what should be happening.’

‘I’d love to know what “should be happening” according to that cunning little brain of yours. Look at me!’

He gave her a little shake that forced her to meet his eyes with their look of grim condemnation.

‘What should be happening, Helena? Should I just trail forlornly away like a whipped puppy because you’ve decided against me? If you thought that you were deluding yourself. I’ve warned you before not to take me on. You were very foolish to ignore that warning.’

‘It’s not as you think-’ she cried.

‘Be glad you don’t know what I’m thinking right now. It would make you shiver. Who did you think you were dealing with?’

‘It’s just that I’m not quite ready-’

‘Don’t play the innocent with me. You knew what was going to happen when you walked through that door. You knew before that, in the gondola, back at the restaurant-unless I misunderstood what we were talking about.’

‘Let go of my arms,’ she said desperately. ‘Salvatore, I mean it. Let me go now.’

CHAPTER SEVEN

TO HER relief Salvatore released her. She backed away from him towards the tall window, but he followed her, speaking in a harsh, ragged voice.

‘You didn’t come up here with me expecting to hold hands.’ Suddenly his eyes narrowed and he drew a sharp, angry breath. ‘Dio mio, I was right about you all the time. You planned this whole thing, you scheming, spiteful little tease. Is this how you get your perverted pleasure?’

She was about to try to explain, to defend herself, but she was stopped by a flash of lightning that came through the window, illuminating the room for a second, then vanished. In that dazzling moment she saw the man standing close to her, the magnificence of his naked body.

Her mind was sharp with bitter irony. This was the moment that had haunted her thoughts and her fevered sensations, when she would see the truth about him, finally discovering if her fantasies had been correct. And they were. He was everything she’d hoped, his legs as long and muscular, his stomach as flat, his buttocks as taut.

She saw the arousal he was fighting to control, fierce, threatening, promising. His chest was rising and falling as though the effort to stay in command of his desires was torturing him, but there would be no yielding, for this man never yielded either to himself or another.

Here was the fulfilment of the dreams she’d barely admitted to herself, and it had happened now, at the worst possible moment. For above all she saw the terrifying look on Salvatore’s face; a look of sheer, murderous hatred.

It was like finding herself in an alien world. What she was seeing in him now was no mere annoyance at last- minute frustration; rather it was as though he’d been taken over by another man, one driven by deep, violent feelings beyond her experience.

Common sense warned her to end this quickly, calm him down, get rid of him as soon as possible, but she had the sensation of standing in the middle of a furnace. Far from being frightening, it was exhilarating, rousing her