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Authors: Sara Craven
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looked up and seen him watching and listening in the doorway. Recalled even more acutely how her clean fragrance had assailed his senses as he’d knelt beside her to free her skirt.
The dress had been a beguiling one altogether, he thought. In other circumstances it would have been so simple to release the sash, and let it fall apart, revealing the warm sweetness beneath the silvery folds. So enticing to touch her as he wished, and feel her smooth skin under his mouth.
He found himself smiling, wondering if she would blush as deeply when she was aroused.
Not a wise thought to take to bed with you, he told himself wryly as he began to turn off the lights in the room. And he must be insane to indulge in this kind of adolescent fantasy about a girl he needed to keep, coolly and clinically, on the far edge of his life.
But, then, only a fool would have allowed himself to be caught in this kind of trap in the first place.
And found he was sighing with unexpected bitterness as he walked to the door.
It was a long time before Laura fell asleep that night. She was tired, but aware of too many disturbing vibrations in the house to be able to relax completely. And her one recurring thought was that she was no longer sure she could go on with this charade, which was becoming far too complicated.
And, she suspected, unmanageable.
What was Paolo going to demand she did next? she asked herself, exasperated. Actually become engaged to him?
Once she’d got him to herself tomorrow, she would be able to talk to him seriously, she thought with determination. Persuade him that things had gone far enough, and his mother had been given sufficient shocks to last a lifetime. Surely the Signora must be convinced by now that her plan to marry him off was dead in the water—especially after that stunt he’d pulled at dinner, she thought grimly. They didn’t need to take any more risks.
Now, somehow, she had to persuade him to take her away from the Villa Diana. Or, if she was really honest, separate her from its owner.
In spite of the heat, she found herself shivering.
She had been following Guillermo through the passages when it had suddenly hit her just how much she’d been hoping that the Count himself would offer to accompany her.
And how many kinds of madness was that? she asked herself with a kind of despair.
She’d been in his company for only a few hours, and already her awareness of him was threatening to spin out of control.
For God’s sake, grow up, she told herself wearily, giving the pillows a thump.
Yes, there’d been times when the courtesy she knew he’d have shown to any guest under his roof had seemed to slip into kindness, but that could have been an attempt to make amends for his aunt’s unfailing rudeness. And she’d be fooling herself if she thought otherwise, even for a moment.
The Arleschi Bank was considered a model of its kind, keenly efficient, highly respected, and superbly profitable, which was why Harman Grace were so keen to represent it. And it was clear that the bank’s chairman played a key role in its achievements.
Count Alessio Ramontella lived in the full radiance of the sun, Laura thought, whereas she occupied some small, cold planet on the outmost edge of the solar system. That was the way it was, and always would be. And it was her bad luck that their paths had ever been forced to cross.
She closed her eyes against the memory of his smile, its sudden brilliance turning the rather ruthless lines of his mouth to charm and humour. She tried to forget, too, the warmth of that swift brush of his lips on her hand, and the way even that most fleeting of touches had pierced her to the bone.
It occurred to her that if Steve’s kisses had carried even a fraction of the same shattering charge, he’d probably have been a happy man at this very moment, and Paolo would have had to look elsewhere for a partner in his scam.
I really need to get away from here, she told herself, moving
The dress had been a beguiling one altogether, he thought. In other circumstances it would have been so simple to release the sash, and let it fall apart, revealing the warm sweetness beneath the silvery folds. So enticing to touch her as he wished, and feel her smooth skin under his mouth.
He found himself smiling, wondering if she would blush as deeply when she was aroused.
Not a wise thought to take to bed with you, he told himself wryly as he began to turn off the lights in the room. And he must be insane to indulge in this kind of adolescent fantasy about a girl he needed to keep, coolly and clinically, on the far edge of his life.
But, then, only a fool would have allowed himself to be caught in this kind of trap in the first place.
And found he was sighing with unexpected bitterness as he walked to the door.
It was a long time before Laura fell asleep that night. She was tired, but aware of too many disturbing vibrations in the house to be able to relax completely. And her one recurring thought was that she was no longer sure she could go on with this charade, which was becoming far too complicated.
And, she suspected, unmanageable.
What was Paolo going to demand she did next? she asked herself, exasperated. Actually become engaged to him?
Once she’d got him to herself tomorrow, she would be able to talk to him seriously, she thought with determination. Persuade him that things had gone far enough, and his mother had been given sufficient shocks to last a lifetime. Surely the Signora must be convinced by now that her plan to marry him off was dead in the water—especially after that stunt he’d pulled at dinner, she thought grimly. They didn’t need to take any more risks.
Now, somehow, she had to persuade him to take her away from the Villa Diana. Or, if she was really honest, separate her from its owner.
In spite of the heat, she found herself shivering.
She had been following Guillermo through the passages when it had suddenly hit her just how much she’d been hoping that the Count himself would offer to accompany her.
And how many kinds of madness was that? she asked herself with a kind of despair.
She’d been in his company for only a few hours, and already her awareness of him was threatening to spin out of control.
For God’s sake, grow up, she told herself wearily, giving the pillows a thump.
Yes, there’d been times when the courtesy she knew he’d have shown to any guest under his roof had seemed to slip into kindness, but that could have been an attempt to make amends for his aunt’s unfailing rudeness. And she’d be fooling herself if she thought otherwise, even for a moment.
The Arleschi Bank was considered a model of its kind, keenly efficient, highly respected, and superbly profitable, which was why Harman Grace were so keen to represent it. And it was clear that the bank’s chairman played a key role in its achievements.
Count Alessio Ramontella lived in the full radiance of the sun, Laura thought, whereas she occupied some small, cold planet on the outmost edge of the solar system. That was the way it was, and always would be. And it was her bad luck that their paths had ever been forced to cross.
She closed her eyes against the memory of his smile, its sudden brilliance turning the rather ruthless lines of his mouth to charm and humour. She tried to forget, too, the warmth of that swift brush of his lips on her hand, and the way even that most fleeting of touches had pierced her to the bone.
It occurred to her that if Steve’s kisses had carried even a fraction of the same shattering charge, he’d probably have been a happy man at this very moment, and Paolo would have had to look elsewhere for a partner in his scam.
I really need to get away from here, she told herself, moving
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