Read Online The Count's Prize by Christina Hollis - Free Book Online

out each day with a smile on his face, and that was enough to reassure most people that he was happy. Now the sunlight had shone into more than that secluded glade. It had thrown back the shadows from the most private place inside him. It was somewhere so dark, not even Dario was aware of how deep its secrets went. All he knew was that this morninghe had let his nonchalant shield slip. So what was different about today?
    Dr Josie Street
, he thought.
    Their kisses had torn away everything; he’d been captured by the simple pleasure of that moment, of that woman, in a way he hadn’t experienced in years. Raw, naked lust had risen up, overwhelming all his finer feelings and making him almost lose control. Shame burnt through him—for a moment he’d forgotten Arietta.
    When Josie had stormed away after their spectacular kiss, Dario had found himself unable to follow her. Instead, he had let out a stream of curses. He had enjoyed many women since losing Arietta, so what had happened today to make him say
her
name out loud?
    Maybe it was because Josie was so different from all those other women. She had something they lacked. For a start, she might appear composed and serious, but he sensed that deeper down there was a core of fire. The women who usually competed for his attention never hid their passion. They tried to use it as bait. Josie fought to hide hers every inch of the way.
    In that respect we’re alike
, he thought with a jolt of recognition. Most of the time she coped by staying silent, but that would never work on him again—not after he had felt the heat of her response and the passion of her kisses. Those few incendiary moments had unleashed the tigress in her, but instinctively Dario knew that if he casually took advantage of her awakened passion then Josie would never forgive herself. Or him.
    There was another reason why he held back, too. Time had dimmed Arietta’s memory but, for some reason,it had burst back into life when he’d responded to Josie. She attracted him in a way that no other woman had since Arietta, but he had no desire to go through that much pain again. And he suspected that if he pursued Josie, that was exactly what would happen.
    For the rest of the day, Josie could think of nothing but Dario’s kiss and the feel of his body. As she worked her way around the grounds of the Castello Sirena, her senses were tuned to detect him. Every moment she spent practising her Italian with the farm workers and villagers, she was secretly wondering about Dario—where he was and what he was doing.
    Later, when she retreated to her room to write up her notes, she finally found out. As the shadows lengthened, the growl of a high-performance engine passed beneath her window. Looking out, she saw a beautiful royal-blue sports car accelerate away down the lime avenue.
    That told her Dario’s take on their encounter was very different from her own.
    He must have put her out of his mind already. He was going back out on the town.
    The next few days were a horrible mixture of routine and denial for Josie. Her mind kept telling her to forget about Dario. Her body had different ideas. Each time she thought of him, her pulse ran riot. She coped in the only way she knew how, by drawing up a punishing schedule of surveying and study for every day of her projected stay. She ticked tasks off that ‘to do’ list like a metronome. Every evening she fell into herdreamily comfortable bed, satisfied with what she had achieved. It was a routine that had got her top marks for as long as she could remember. It also shielded her bruised heart and kept a tight lid on her newly discovered libido. But soon her emotions fought against being confined any longer. The moment she closed her eyes, images of Dario filled her mind. The sound of his sports car roaring away as he set off on another night of pleasure made her pictures of him still more vivid. She could almost feel his hands around her waist, his cheek brushing her