Matteo relaxed in his high-back black leather seat. “I did invite you to stay here rather than a hotel, if you remember,” he reminded. Although he was relieved now that the older man had decided he preferred to stay at a hotel in the heart of the city. Matteo certainly had no explanation—not one he would like to have given Leon, in any case—for his absence from the estate the evening before.
Leon sat in the leather chair opposite before looking across the desk at Matteo with enigmatic icy-gray eyes. “The hotel was a good decision on my part, it would seem.”
Matteo instantly tensed. “What do you mean?”
The other man gave a smile that came nowhere near reaching those pale gray eyes. “Things would now be rather awkward otherwise,” he drawled.
Matteo’s inner wariness deepened, although he hoped his expression remained outwardly pleasant. “Natalia still hasn’t told you when she’ll be arriving from Europe?”
Leon rested the ankle of one leg on the knee of the other, also giving every outer appearance of being relaxed. “I am not here to talk about when or if Natalia will arrive in London.”
“If?”
“If.”
Matteo breathed out an impatient sigh. “Leon, if you have something to say to me, then just fucking say it.”
The older man continued to look at him for several long and tense seconds before reaching into the breast pocket of his leather jacket. “What’s the saying? A picture is worth a thousand words? Or, in these days of instant technology, a video,” he derided as he pulled out his cell phone and switched it on before holding it out across the desk so that Matteo could see the lit screen.
The other man’s expression of contempt and the grunts and groans coming from the video were such that Matteo didn’t need to look at the screen to know what was on there.
It was him and Grace as Matteo fucked her up against the wall yesterday evening at the back of the bookstore.
He couldn’t stop himself from looking anyway. The image was taken from some distance away, was all dark shadows, the only light given off from the street lamp down the alley. But there was no mistaking that Matteo was the man thrusting his hips between the thighs of the woman whose legs were wrapped about his waist and her face buried against his shoulder. Or the sounds of their mutual pleasure when they both reached a climax.
The urgent call from Leon had come through immediately after he and Grace had separated and straightened their clothing, which meant— “You’ve been having me followed.” It was a statement, not a question. Matteo knew without a single doubt that neither Luca nor Antonio would ever have betrayed him by taking such a damning video, let alone pass it along to Brunelli.
“You were about to marry my only child. Of course I had you followed,” the older man snapped as he switched off the video and returned the cell phone to his pocket.
“Were?” Matteo prompted warily.
Leon’s expression was glacial. “I require loyalty from my men and business associates. I believe I have the right to ask for that same consideration from my future son-in-law.” His jaw tightened. “But I demand fidelity for my daughter from her husband.”
Matteo could see the alliance with New York slipping through his fingers, even though Gregori Markovic had assured him his alliance with him would stand.
Maybe he should have thought of that before inviting Grace to his sister’s wedding and dancing the tango with her before then seeking her out again just days later. He should certainly not have made love to her against a wall where anyone might—and did—see them together.
And yet… Matteo knew he would do it all again just to spend those few precious hours with Grace.
“Who is she?” Leon demanded.
“Who she is isn’t important.”
“You considered her important enough to endanger our alliance!”
Matteo stood to move out from behind the desk and begin pacing the room. “I can apologize for that till the end of time,” he finally spoke. “But ultimately, I can’t undo what’s already happened.”
“Your engagement to Natalia has not yet been announced, nor will it be until you can confirm this madness with this other woman has ceased.”
Matteo drew in a sharp breath. Could he promise that with any degree of honesty when his feelings for Grace were embedded so deep inside him? She was like a drug to him. Had become an obsession. Was he capable of resisting seeing her again? Being with her again?
“I suggest you take the time to think about what you will be giving up before answering me,” Leon snapped as he obviously saw Matteo’s hesitation. “This is a woman you desire right now, but our alliance, and the one with the Russians, will build a better and stronger future for all our organizations. Are you willing to throw that all away on a whim?”
In the bigger picture, Matteo knew what Leon said was the truth. But he also knew to doubt his willpower where seeing and being with Grace again was concerned.
But the same couldn’t be said of Grace. She had said goodbye to him last night. Not good night, but goodbye, and in a tone of unmistakable finality.
Maybe he couldn’t promise Leon never to see Grace again, but he knew that Grace had no intention of seeing him.
That didn’t change the fact that Grace was the woman Matteo was in love with. Which meant his marrying Natalia Brunelli would be completely unfair to her, whether or not he ever saw Grace again.
Matteo leaned back against the front of his desk. “Leon, there’s no reason why our business alliance
