Read Online Too Devious to Tame (The Giovanni Clan) by Doris O'Connor - Free Book Online

tingles of awareness up her arm.
    "Sorry, but are you sure you're okay? I mean, for a while there, they didn't think you would wake up. Dottore said something about aggravating the old brain injury and well—"
    Jemima leaned closer to him and put her free hand over his mouth to stop the torrent of words. He grimaced under her hand, but he did stop talking.
    "I'm okay, Giorgio, truly. You should know by now you can't get rid of me that easily. Bad pennies and all that..."
    "Don't!" He growled the denial against her palm, and the grip on her other hand tightened. Jemima gasped at the emotion she glimpsed in his tortured eyes for just a second, before his gaze fell on the bandage on her arm, and his features grew murderous.
    "I'm going get the bastards who are behind all this. I promise you, cara , if it's the last thing I do."
    She didn't doubt his sincerity for one minute, and she shook her head, curling her hand around his biceps. The muscles flexed under her fingers, and she dropped her gaze to his chest. Impossibly broad, it strained the fine cotton of his polo shirt, and the little evidence of chest hair she glimpsed made her fingers itch to touch him there. But she had to make him see—she couldn't let him risk himself.
    "Don't, Giorgio, it's not worth it. Besides, I ... I couldn't live with myself if ... if..." Her voice broke on a sob, and she dropped her chin on her chest, afraid to see the condemnation in his eyes.
    "Promise me, you'll keep safe."
    Giorgio's deep sigh made her look up.
    "I'm afraid it's too late for that, cara."
    With a grim smile he cupped her chin with one of his large hands, and his gaze roamed over her face.
    "What do you mean? What have you done? Damn it, tell me Giorgio," Jemima asked.
    "Nothing for you to worry your pretty little head over, cara ."
    "For cripes' sake, Giorgio, don't you dare." Jemima snatched her hand out of his, and tried in vain to give him a shove off the bed. So help her she was going to wipe that infuriating, amused smile of his face.
    "You will do yourself an injury, tesoro. I'm not leaving. Chill out and get well. That's all you have to do."
    Damn the man. When he smiled at her like that, with all of his attention fixed on her, she had a hard time doing anything but drool. From the amused twinkle in his eyes, he knew it, too. From somewhere she found her back bone and pushed away from him.
    "Don't you tesoro me. Unless ... unless you mean it."
      Oh, that worked, girl. Why don't you just shout it from the roof tops? You're so pathetic. And he didn't mean it, did he, so why did he find this so funny?
    "Don't you dare laugh at me, you … you, Neanderthal. I am perfectly capable of looking after myself and you—"
    Giorgio did laugh then. Her fingers itched to wipe that amused chuckle of his face, even as a small part of her simply melted, as his deep laugh wrapped itself around her senses. They used to laugh together. She remembered happier times with a flash of clarity so intense it took her breath away. And she yearned for those happy times. She wanted to get back there, but now was not the time for frivolity. How could he be so calm about all of this? They had almost been killed again, and he was just sitting there, laughing at her, looking far too sexy for her liking.
    "Si, you have done such a brilliant job looking after yourself lately." His expression sobered, and he reached out to twirl a strand of her hair around his finger. "I like your hair long. It suits you, cara."
    "What? Stop changing the subject, and leave my hair alone. It's a mess like the rest of me."
    She slapped his hand away, ignoring the army of butterflies having taken up residence in her tummy at his closeness, and the teasing look in his eyes.
    "I will get us out of this, Giorgio, I promise. I will remember. I just have to. Somehow this is all connected, and I'm not going to stand by and let you or Elise or anyone else take the blame for what I did. I've messed up so badly in the past, I know