Marchese′s Forgotten Bride
Marchese's Forgotten Bride
Michelle Reid
How can she tell him that she's expecting his twins?When Alessandro Marchese strides into the headquarters of his latest acquisition, one person is particularly struck by his awesome presence. . . The tingling of Cassie's skin lets her know her new boss is the man who left her ; pregnant with twins! And now it seems he's forgotten her altogether!But the formidable Italian is more affected by Cassie than he lets on. The darkness of his memory is lifting. Now Alessandro needs just one more thing to complete the picture ; Cassie, with his wedding ring on her finger. . .
Stop accusing me of lying, he said, removing the now empty glass from her nerveless fingers.
Cassie was trying to hold icy wet black silk away from her breasts without losing her dignity. Shed soaked her face and the sides of her hairwater was dripping off the end of her nose and her chin. On a growl of impatience Sandro took possession of her wrist again, using it to haul her like a piece of quivering baggage back across the room and into the square hallway, then across it into another room.
It was a huge white space of a bathroom, with unforgiving lighting that set Cassie blinking as Sandro threw a switch. Grabbing a towel off the rail, he tossed it at her.
Dry your front, he instructed, then picked up a smaller towel and stepped up close to use it on her dripping face.
By now the water had warmed to her body heat and she was feeling calmerthough no less shaken by what hed said. What is it about you that makes you say these things? she fired at him fiercely as she pressed the towel to her front.
Think about it. His fingers took possession of her chin to lift it upwards, so he could dab the water from her cheeks. Whats in it for me to make up a story as off-the-wall as this?
He was rightwhat was there in it for him? You meanyou really dont remember meat all?
Michelle Reid grew up on the southern edges of Manchester, the youngest in a family of five lively children. But now she lives in the beautiful county of Cheshire, with her busy executive husband and two grown-up daughters. She loves reading, the ballet, and playing tennis when she gets the chance. She hates cooking, cleaning, and despises ironing! Sleep she can do without, and produces some of her best written work during the early hours of the morning.
Recent titles by the same author:
THE GREEKS FORCED BRIDE
THE DE SANTIS MARRIAGE
MARCHESES FORGOTTEN BRIDE
BY
MICHELLE REID
MILLS & BOONPure reading pleasure
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk/)
CHAPTER ONE
THE restaurant bar had become so crowded that Cassie discovered it was a struggle to lift her glass to her lips. Not that she minded standing there, soaking up the bright, noisy atmosphere, she told herself, eyes busily taking in the sight of her fellow workmates all dressed up in their best party glamour for this evenings introductory treat laid on by their new boss.
It had been so long since shed been to anything like this and it felt so good to be here. Shed even indulged in a frighteningly expensive new dress for herself, made of a smooth black-on-charcoal embossed silk, which skimmed her slender figure and felt fabulously stylish and chic. With her hair professionally cut and styled for the first time in years, now her pale golden locks felt wonderful as they brushed against her naked shoulders whenever she moved her head.
Your eyes are sparkling like big shiny emeralds, Ella remarked dryly beside her. Youre loving this, arent you?
A brilliant smile enhanced the shape of Cassies rose-glossed mouth. Id forgotten what its like to actually enjoy being a part of such a noisy, mad crush!
Well, heres to a lot more of the same now the twins are a bit older. Ella somehow managed to lift her glass high enough to chink it against Cassies. No more skimping and saving and emulating an overworked drudge now you dont need to pay those crazy pre-school nursery fees.
From single working mum to wild party girl in one leap. Cassie laughed. Do you want me to do a bit of husband hunting at the same time?
God, no. Ella shuddered and Cassie watched a cloud settle across her friends pretty face.
Ella was fresh out of a long-term relationship with a guy whod dumped her six weeks away from their wedding day with the classicIm just not ready to be tied downexcuse. Cassie knew exactly what that felt likethe dumping part anyway. Only in her case shed been left pregnant with twins.
Hes history, Ella, she reminded her firmly, forget about him.
With a blink of her long black eyelashes Ella nodded, setting her bobbed dark hair swinging around her face. Yes, Ive moved on, havent I?
Havent we both? Cassie thought. With bells on, she agreed and gave their glasses a second chink. Think huge great bodybuilder with the temperament of a pussycat instead of razor-sharp share-dealer with the genetic make-up of a slithery snake.
Ella burst out laughing at the comparison between her current lover and the one that had got away. The sound of her laughter caught the attention of several people crushed in around them and with a shift of bodies their conversation changed to include those around them. The next few minutes went by with the easy camaraderie that came from people who worked in close proximity five days a week, and the party atmosphere moved up a gear with the help of the free-flowing wine. The crush tightened then eased and tightened again as people began to circulate.
When are they going to start herding us upstairs to eat? Ella sighed a while later. Im starving.
I think we must be waiting for the new boss to arrive, Cassie said, squeezing a sip of wine from her glass.
Well, if it gets any more crowded in here well be like sardines in a can, her friend complained, although I wouldnt mind playing sardines with the guy thats just walked in here with our MD and a clutch of scary bigwig types
Turning her head to look in the direction that Ella was looking, Cassie just wasnt prepared for what came next. Shock struck her blindside. For the next few horrible seconds she felt as if she were falling off the edge of a cliff! Her legs went hollow beneath her then started to fill up again from her toes with a tingling wild rush of hot static as instant recognition screamed through her head. She had not laid eyes on him in six long years, yet each lean, hard, vital inch of him battered her senses with a familiarity that dragged her heart to a shuddering stop.
And who could miss him? she thought helplessly as her heart lurched into action again with a blunt, hammering beat. He was so tall he stood a good head and shoulders above the others clustered around him, even with his dark head tilted down a little so he could hear what their short and portly MD was saying over the noisy buzz of conversation filling up the bar. Yet Cassie knew the top of that head; she knew it so intimately it could have been only an hour ago that shed run her fingers through the thick layers of vibrant black silk. Her fingers even twitched tautly around her wineglass in stinging recognition, almost sending the glass and its contents crashing to the white marble floor beneath her strappy black mules.
Methinks we are getting our first eyeful of our new boss, Ella murmured beside her, and just feel the change to the buzz in here
It took Cassie several seconds to absorb that piece of information because she was too busy trying to deal with the buzz going on inside herself.
No, she managed with a shivery cold whisper, that isnt him.
Are you sure? Ella took a moment to reassess the man in question, while all Cassie could do was to stand there, locked in her own private form of hell. Then, No, its got to be him, Cassie, her friend determined. That totally gorgeous piece of manhood just cant go by any other name than the oh-so-sexy-sounding Alessandro Marchese.
The name rolled off Ellas tongue like a sensual fantasy. Cassie suffered a stinging, sharp jolt to her chest. Alessandro Marchese? Was Ella looking at a different man?
You mark my words, we are looking at a few billion dollars of hot Italian breeding standing over there, cara, Ella mocked dryly, and, if Im not mistaken, the lady in red clinging to his arm can match him gene for superior gene
The lady in red
Wrenching her gaze sideways, Cassie confirmed that indeed she and Ella were looking at the same man as she stared at the fabulously beautiful, glossy black-haired creature wearing an exquisitely cut blood-red dress who was clinging to his arm while she listened to what the two men were saying. They looked at ease with each otherintimatelike two lovers whod been lovers for a very long time.
And Ella was right, they did suit each otherin the same way that the name Alessandro Marchese suited him far better than the plain Sandro Rossi Cassie had known him by did!
As she dragged her eyes back to him, a burning, sick bitterness dried up her throat when she discovered that hed lifted his head up and she was now getting a full-on view of his facea face that had lost none of its raw masculine impact in the six years since shed last looked at it, she acknowledged painfully. Those long, lazy eyelids, the straight, fleshless nose, the slender and firm yet shatteringly sensual mouthLike someone harbouring a death wish, Cassie drank in the smooth stretch of gold skin across his stunning high cheekbones and the way his lavishly long and thick black eyelashes almost brushed against those stunning cheekbones as he turned a wry, sexy smile on the woman in the red dress.
If shed had the strength in her legs she would be walking over there to slap that smile off his lying face! Alessandro MarcheseWho was he trying to kid? Was he a crook or something that he had to use an assumed name these days? Or was she the one whod been lied to? The one whod been sucked in by his fabulous dark looks and his gorgeously intense sincerity, the one whod been so skilfully romanced and thoroughly seduced then left like an unwanted breakfast when hed swanned off back to his native Italy to get on with his real life?
The sting of betrayal stalked down her backbone like taunting fingers as she studied the way he was standing there exuding the supremely relaxed self-assurance which came automatically to smooth-tongued, sexually confident brutes. Cassie hated him yet she could not stop herself from feasting on him, couldnt stop her eyes from sliding down the column of his strong, bronzed throat to the width of his broad shoulders set inside a superbly crafted dark lounge suit, and across the white shirt that did absolutely nothing to subdue the hard-muscled power in his long, lean physique.
And she remembered it all, every intimate detail, from the hair-roughened power of his rich golden torso, with its satintight abdomen that felt like warm, living satin to touch, and the sleek, corded sinew which angled so dramatically down the narrow bowl of his hips to the
She had to get out of here
The need struck with a startling punch of delayed reaction that sent her slender body jerking up straight. As if he picked up the violence in her reaction, he lifted those heavy eyelids and looked directly into her face, forcing her into a head-on collision with a pair of piercingly deep-set blacker-than-black eyes that shed wished, hoped, prayed she would never have to look into again!
Time suddenly ground to a shimmering standstill. The bright, noisy chatter filling the bar just stopped as if someone had thrown up a glass wall, shutting the two of them off from everyone else as six long years of grimly burying his memory shattered in the wild rush of images that began to rampage around her head.
Sandro laughingSandro smiling that dryly amused smile when shed shyly tried to flirt with himSandro holding herkissing herSandro oh, so gentle then turning hot and fierce and devouringly intense as they made love.
A shaft of pure sexual fire stroked right down her middle, catching Cassie out so badly she sucked in her breath. The breath forced her lips apart and made his fabulous eyelashes flicker as he honed his attention on to her mouth, and her whole body stung and tightened in direct response to that luminous dark glance. She didnt want to feel like this. She wanted to be left cold by the sight of him and she was appalled that that was not how it was!
Like a man slowly tracking old pleasures, he lifted his gaze to take in the waterfall shine of her pale gold hair brushing against her trembling white shoulders, then dropped to where the strapless structure of her dress hugged the creamy thrust of her breasts. The message powering out of his eyes was so hot and so elementally sexual Cassie felt a terrible flush of agonised awareness prickle her fair skin. She wanted to cry out in shrill, pained, angry protest but she couldnt. She had never felt so agonisingly exposed to her own wretched weakness in her entire life.
It did not occur to her that it had taken him this long to recognise her, until he finally lifted his eyes back to her eyes and she watched his lazy, searching expression alter to a look of shock. For the next few taut seconds she actually thought he was going to keel over, the way his eyes widened then turned as black as Hades and his face drained of its beautiful bronzed tan. She stopped breathingshe stopped doing anythingbreathing, hearing, thinking
Then he stiffened his long body up and abruptly turned his back on her, blanking her out with a cruel, ruthless economy that was like having a door slammed in her face.
Again.
Left totally, utterly stunned and shaken by the sheer brutality of his rejection, Cassie thought that she was the one going to faint. Someone accidentally knocked her arm, almost spilling her drink, but she barely noticed. Someone else spoke to her but she couldnt work out a single word that they said. She knew shed gone pale because she felt pale; a clammy kind of chill had settled over her flesh. And worsemuch worsewas the way an already badly wounded part of her was cracking open like a fissure forming a fresh wound over a jagged old one in recognition that he could still do that to her after all of these years and here of all places, in full view of all her work colleagues.
Somehowshe didnt really know howshe managed to turn away from him. She managed to draw in a few shallow breaths. She was feeling so badly shaken up inside it took all her control not to start moving like a battering ram in her desperation to get out of the now suffocating crush.
Do you think theyll let us go and eat now? she heard Ella murmur wistfully.
And it came as a further shock to realise that the whole shattering incident must have only lasted a few seconds. Yes, she breathed like a metal-encased robot set on automation.
Who was she?
The question lit up Alessandros brain like a bolt of lightning and sent a too-familiar pain whipping across the front of his head, forcing him to lift a hand up to rub at his brow.
And he felt weird, as if something was scooping him out from the inside.
Could instant sexual attraction be so strong it could threaten to take the legs from beneath you? he wondered. It was yearshe couldnt remember the last time the sight of a beautiful woman had felled him so completely as the blonde had just done. And he was angry with himself for letting it happen here of all places, with a woman whod just become one of the newest members of his international workforce. It was unprofessionaland damned inconvenient when he
Headache, Alessandro? Always aware of any change in his mood, Pandora spoke, her voice reaching him softly laced with concern.
No. Dropping the hand from his face, he found himself turning to narrow another look at the blonde.
Even her rear view sent that same instant shaft of fire burning through him, almost knocking him sideways with its power. And her hairher hairthere was something about the colour of her hair and the way it caressed her slender white shoulders
Youve gone a worrying shade of pale, cara, Pandora persisted. Are you sure you?
Jet lag, he dismissed with irritation, most of his attention still fixed on the blonde. We have just arrived here straight off a fifteen-hour flight. Dont fuss, Pandora. You know it annoys the hell out of me.
Who was she? And why was he getting this gut-shaking feeling that he had seen her somewhere before?
And you worked instead of resting His companion ignored his warning. One day, Alessandro, you will
Beside him, Jason Farrow suddenly clapped his hands together, drowning out the rest of what Pandora was saying and making Alessandro fight the need to wince as the unwelcome sound crashed through his aching head.
Ladies and gentlemen, may I please have your attention? the current MD of BarTec prompted, causing silence to fold around the room as everyone looked expectantly in their direction.
Grimly trying to shake off the strange sensations running through him, Alessandro took in the full impact of a hundred pairs of eyes honed exclusively on him.
He knew her. The more he thought about it the more sure he became that hed met her somewhere before. Her pale golden hair, her luminous green eyes, her full, soft, sexy pink mouthHe tried not to frown as he tracked through his memory banks looking for clues as to how or where he knew her, with that weird, hollowing-out feeling increasing as he did
Her gently moulded cheekbones and small, straight nose, her cute, slightly pointed chin
He disentangled himself from Pandoras clinging hand, shocked suddenly by how appalled he felt to have her show such intimacy with him.
Can I ask you all to offer a warm welcome to the new owner of BarTec, Alessandro Marchese?
Having been forced to turn around again, Cassie saw that Sandroor whatever it was he called himself these dayswas still frowning as if something had thoroughly ruined his day. Well, join the club, she thought as a flow of acid contempt for him thankfully cleared out her battered feelings of hurt and dismay. Who the heck did he think he was that he felt he had the right to blank her as if she were nobody?
She listened to the second wave of applause ripple through the bar area, though she didnt bother to join in. She would rather cut off her hands than applaud this man. She hated him. Now that she was looking at him without the first incapacitating rush of shock cluttering up her emotions, she was remembering just how much she hated and despised Sandro Rossior, in this case, Alessandro Marchese.
Grazie molto per la vostra accoglienza calorosa the man himself responded in a rich, deep, sensually delivered Italian which caused a collective gasp of delicious appreciation from the females present in the bar, while his beautiful companion touched his arm and murmured something to him that turned his frown to a grimace, then a short second later into a smile that clutched Cassies stomach muscles in a vicelike grip and just captivated everyone else.
My apologies, he murmured, allow me to repeat that in EnglishThank you very much for your warm welcome
Oh, my, Ella breathed beside Cassie. Now, that was very, very sexy indeed. Do you think he deliberately set out to disarm us all with the piece of theatre?
Probably, Cassie thought cynically, fighting to keep her bitter feelings from showing on her face. In truth she was surprised the sharp-eyed Ella hadnt noticed what had been passing between her best friend and their new bosssurprised that the whole darn room hadnt noticed!
Sandro was now busy charming everyone as he mapped out his plans for the company, and he did it by conveying an air of smoothly polished self-assurance aimed to allay everyones fears about their future at BarTec. Lowering her eyes, Cassie listened without really hearing, unwillingly tuned in to the flowing resonance of his voice but without catching more than the odd word because her mind was elsewhere, rolling back the years to a time when shed first heard that voice.
It hadnt changedhe hadnt changed. Whatever he preferred to call himself these days, he was still the man whod used those sexy dark base tones and his easy-going charm to make her fall in love with him before casting her aside once hed enjoyed the pleasures of her body, leaving her desolate, pregnant and alone.
A second crash of applause woke her up with a shudder. Sandro had finished speaking and was now smiling down at the woman in the red dress. Cassie wanted to leave. It was horrible just how badly she wanted to just walk through that door and go. But Sandro was still blocking the exit along with his cluster of smartly dressed minions, who all looked as slick and as sharp as he did.
Could she squeeze past them without him noticing? Would he care that she was leaving if she did? The sizzle of temptation fizzed through her body alongside the angry bitterness already swimming through it.
At last we get to be fed. Ellas dry comment forced her to take note of the way everyone was beginning to make a move towards the stairs which led to the restaurant above, and grim common sense arrived as Cassie felt herself swept up in the general exodus.
She knew she could not afford the luxury of just walking out of here. She needed her job at BarTec. She did not need the rash of questions bound to fly at her if she did decide to go.
Tagging along beside Ella, she listened to her friend chattering away ten to the dozen about their gorgeously interesting new boss to those crowded around them while Cassie just felt completely shut off.
I dont know you. I dont want to know you. Please dont ring this number again
Those cold words of rejection echoed around her head. From fierce, dark, passionate lover to contemptuous stranger in the blink of an eyelash. To hell with the fact that hed been her first lover, or that hed left her pregnant and terrified and bewildered. Sandro had taught her the hardest way possible that men like him had no conscience whatsoever when it came to pursuing a woman they desired until theyd caught her, and no honour at all when it came to dumping them after their desire had been slaked.
CHAPTER TWO
CASSIE and Ella found themselves placed at the same table in the farthest corner of the restaurant along with the rest of their colleagues from the accounts department. The only stranger at the table was a very good-looking, smartly presented man who introduced himself as, Gio Rozario, one of Alessandros team.
The meal progressed through its different courses with everyone firing eager questions at him, which he fielded with friendly ease and a return volley of questions of his own. He seemed genuinely interested in all of them. He charmed them all the way his employer had done downstairs in the bar.
Barely touching her food, Cassie watched and listened and contributed very little. Shed already noted that each table had at least one team member sitting at it, and it didnt take many brain cells to work out that the seating had been intentionally arranged this way so the spies in their midst could gather in information and impressions about BarTec employees, which they were bound to feed back to their boss.
In other words, the Marchese mob was deep into work mode while the rest of them were off-duty and off-guard. Clever, she thought grudgingly. The wine was still flowing freely and she would be prepared to bet that by the time this evening was over few of them would walk out of here with many secrets intact.
Without her wanting them to do it, her eyes drifted across the room to the huge circular table set in the middle of the restaurant where her one major secret sat dining with the members of the board. He looked relaxed, like his team, in control of the conversation happening around hima smooth and sophisticated corporate giant with the body of an athlete and the profile of a heartbreaker.
And he had the same vibrant dark hair and eyes as Anthony
Oh, Godnot bothering to fight the need to escape any longer, Cassie got to her feet. Excuse me, she mumbled, I need to visit the ladies room, then she picked her up her evening purse and walked blindly towards the stairs.
Under cover of his half-lowered eyelids, Alessandro watched the slender blonde traverse the room towards the stairwell. She must be going to use the wash room which was situated downstairs in the bar area, he judged, tension singing along the corded sinew of his groin as he followed the sensual grace with which she moved.
This first full view hed had of her without the crush blotting most of her out sent his gaze flowing down the delicate curves of her slim figure displayed inside the little grey and black dress she was wearing that did a lot to enhance the creamy smoothness of her skin. Fine-boned, he observed, slightly built with a nicely curving, neat behind and fabulous long legs with neat ankles elevated by the heels of her shiny black mules.
She started walking down the staircase, her silky, pale hair swinging forward as she bent her head to watch her footing on the shiny white marble steps, an elegant white hand reaching out to grasp the banister rail. Something stung across his front, like sensual fingernails scoring the hairs covering his chest, and once more the bolt of lightning shot through his head.
He frowned, having to fight the need to lift his hand up and rub at his aching brow again. At the bend in the staircase he saw her stop to fumble in her evening bag and watched her lift a mobile phone to her ear.
Who was it she wanted to talk to? A lover? A husband?
Lips flattening back against his teeth, he wished he knew why the prospect of either was having a gut-grinding effect on him.
Cassie Janus, Jason Farrow inserted smoothly beside him.
Forced to look in the other mans direction, Alessandro schooled his expression to reveal absolutely nothing but a mild question as to what it was the other man was talking about.
I noticed your interest earlier, the current MD confided as if it should earn him brownie points.
Sandro said nothing, though he was absolutely sure Jason Farrow had not said all that he wanted to say. And anyway, he was waiting to find out if the name Cassie Janus made some kind of connection in him.
It didnt.
She heads our accounts team, the older man supplied helpfully. Has a mind like a calculator, though you wouldnt think it to look at her, heh?
Alessandro had been predisposed to dislike Jason Farrow before hed even met him but that sexist remark tied it up for him. If Farrow had dared to add a conspiratorial wink Alessandro suspected he would have stood up and hit him.
A company the size of BarTec was small fry by comparison to the big fish he usually liked to bury his teeth into. However, the company had developed some ground-breaking technology in microelectronics he would much rather have safely caught under the Marchese umbrella than let his competitors get hold of it. So when Angus Barton decided to sell BarTec due to ill health, hed jumped at the chance to buy him out. Angus was a close friend of his late fathers. Even if he had not been interested in anything BarTec had to offer he would have lifted the load of responsibility from Anguss weary shoulders based on that long friendship alone. It was Angus whod confessed hed made some rash decisions during the months before he decided it was time to sell. Elevating Jason Farrow to the position of managing director had been one of those decisions. Hes a self-opinionated bully. He certainly bullied me, anyway. The sad grimace his fathers old friend had offered up had not been a comfortable thing to behold because it had shown a man who knew he was losing the will to fight his many battles.
This evening had been arranged as a way of easing the troubled minds of those employees important to him, as to what he meant to do with the company, and to weed out those who were not going to make it beyond the scrutiny of his team. Jason Farrow was fast becoming the name at the top of that throw-away list. He looked what he was, a well-shod, well-fed, self-promoting dinosaur who dared to see power in voicing such observations to him. When he got to know him better, he would learn the hard way that it wasnt the case.
As it wasYou have a problem with women in the working environment? Alessandro prompted casually.
God, no, they lighten my day! Farrow declared with a nerve-needling grin. Though I still have to be convinced that women are capable of giving one hundred per cent to their careers, female hormones being what they are, he confided. Cassies situation makes her one of the luckier ones working at BarTecshe was Anguss little pet. Angus employed her when really she wasnt up to taking on the commitment required of her. Still Farrow shrugged, unaware that Sandros eyes had lowered and narrowed as he bit back the desire to question Farrow further as to what stopped Cassie Janus from giving her full commitment to her job. Thats what you get when you let personal feelings get in the way of good business sense, BarTecs managing director continued in a slightly peevish tone. I had a much better candidate lined up for Cassies job but Angus knew her late father, so
Behind his lowered eyelids Alessandros brain shut out the rest of what Farrow was saying when his instincts suddenly sharpened on what he saw as a link between himself and the woman whod managed to knock his senses for six.
AngusHad he met her during one of his weekend stays with Angus Barton?
You of all people must agree that there is no place in business for sentimentality, he tuned back in to catch. Shes easy on the eyes, as youve already noticed, but a pretty face and figure can be a distraction best kept out of the office, in my opinion.
Alessandro had heard enough. Pandora he drawled to catch the attention of the member of his team sharing this table with him.
Pandora Batiste turned her glossy dark head and smiled the kind of naturally sensual smile that had the power to blow most mens libido to bits.
Tell Mr Farrow what you do to earn the outrageous annual salary I pay to you, Alessandro urged casually.
Pandora laughed. Outrageous indeed. I earn every euro and you know it, Alessandro, she scolded him, then turned her drop-dead smile on Jason Farrow. As from Monday morning you and I will be working closely together to make my transition into Angus Bartons venerable shoes as painless for everyone as we can possibly make it, Mr Farrow, she enlightened. I hope I can rely on your loyalty and support
The message was as clear as the ruddy hue that flooded into Jason Farrows face. He was about to find out the tough way that there was indeed no room for sentimentality or distraction in business with the beautiful Pandora around to pull rank on him.
Alessandro picked up his barely touched glass of wine and rose to his feet. If you will excuse me, its time for me to circulate, he murmured smoothly and strode off, grimly satisfied Farrow had received a mental kick in the teeth in return for his sexist remarks and for bullying Angus.
AngusHis frown came back as he crossed the stairwell, aware that his feet wanted to take him down those stairs to confront Cassie Janus about his suspicion that theyd met before but even more aware that with Farrows eyes burning a hole in his back he could not afford to be seen to be singling her out.
She was a distraction, he acknowledged, if only to himself. And why did Farrow believe he had a right to question her commitment to the company? Was this a case of another rash decision Angus had made as his illness began to take hold?
Cassie was standing in the now-empty bar area with her eyes closed as she listened to the soothing voice Jenny, her next-door neighbour, was using to reassure her that the twins were OK. All tucked up in bed and fast asleep, Jenny told her. Theyve been absolute angels. You should let me do this for you more often, Cassie. Its a real treat for me to play granny when my own grandchildren are so far away. And I have to admit, she added with a chuckle, its lovely to be able to watch anything I like on television other than Larrys endless football.
The angels had been angels because Cassie had witnessed the deal being struck between them and Jenny when they thought she wasnt paying attention. Having eagerly presented Jenny with a box of chocolates, the twins had then gone into a dance of miming appeals which translated as Just one chocolate each without Mummy knowing and well go to bed when you say. Jenny had played along with them, of course, and of course Cassie had let them get away with it. She now had this cosy image of her next-door neighbour stretched out in the stuffed old armchair in front of the TV set with her shoes off and her feet resting on top of the old coffee table while the box of half-ravaged chocolates rested conveniently on her lap.
So what did you decide to watch? she asked, feeling a smile relax some of the tension from her mouth at last.
Jenny named a romantic movie from the stack shed brought with her. You dont rush back home, now, she ordered. Im nicely set up here for at least a week! Oh, and Bella said, if you rang, to remind you to take a photo of your new boss on your phone so she can see what he looks like!
Well, that was a promise she was going to break, Cassie thought bleakly as she put her phone away. Nothing on this earth was going to make her risk her sharp-eyed daughter noting the similarities between her twin brother, Anthony, and Alessandro Marchese.
She even shivered at the prospect as she made herself go back up to the restaurant. The first thing she saw as she turned the bend in the stairs was Sandro standing by one of the tables across the room. Her gaze swept down the length of his back and his long, powerful legs trapped inside the elegant cut of his suit, then stayed lowered, her lips pressing together as she walked back to her own table and slipped into her seat as a burst of laughter erupted across the room.
That guy knows how to make a good first impression, she heard Ella say.
Alessandro believes a relaxed and friendly working environment aides good will and increased productivity, Gio Rozario responded loyally. You will like him, I promise you.
I just bet, thought Cassie, unable to stop herself from watching Sandro move on to the next table and realising belatedly what he was doing. He was visiting each table in turn and shed badly timed the moment shed used the loo excuse because it was clear that he was moving around in this direction.
Now she was trapped, and knowing it heightened her tension to a point that she became acutely aware of his every move, every smooth syllable in his deeply modulated and beautifully accented voice. Each table he approached his designated spy came respectfully to his or her feet, then followed through by introducing each individual at the table complete with a pocket rsum, which fed Sandro fodder to weave into his disarming charm aimed to put everyone at ease with him.
Cassie was impressed by his tactics, though she didnt want to be. She was annoyed with herself for the way her senses were sending tingling shock waves to every nerve-ending the closer to their table he came.
Does he hire himself out? Ella murmured curiously. I could do with someone like him around the next time I visit my family.
Giotheyd already been told to use his first namelaughed. Ask him, he invited. Alessandro is pretty good with families, coming from a large one himself. Good at smooth set-downs too.
Hes pretty good with families? Cassie felt a bubble of hysteria rise to her throat. For a horrible moment she thought it was going to break free. Then her slender spine stiffened as she picked up Sandros presence arriving at the table directly behind her. She could even smell his subtly unique scent and feel the heat from his body, he was standing so close to the back of her chair.
Why Sandro? she asked herself tautly while everyone else was busy talking, joining in the light banter Gio Rozario and Ella were generating between the two of them. Why did he have to be the new owner of BarTec?
A flood of laughter suddenly erupted from the other table, encouraged to do so by a final comment made by the big man himself, then Cassie felt him turn to face them. Like a puppet pulled by his masters strings, Gio rose to his feet.
Snatching her hands down onto her lap, she balled them together in a tense-fingered clench as she listened to Gio begin the round of smoothly toned introductions and just prayed the screaming tension she was feeling was not showing in her posture or her face. He was standing so close to her one of his long, powerful thighs was in danger of brushing her naked shoulder so the skin there itched and tingled with tension and burned as it absorbed his body heat.
Gios short potted history of each one of them was handed to his employer with a light touch which gave Sandro clues as to what to say to put each person at ease. He was fabulous at it, a true social connoisseur with that beautifully relaxed tone of voice and an accent that could probably turn the hardest female to melting mush. Half a dozen times Cassie tensed up inside when he reached out with an arm across her shoulder to shake the hand held out opposite her. Each time her awareness of him intensified to a place somewhere between a wildly hot resentment and sizzling self-defence.
Had he done it deliberately? Had he chosen to stand directly behind her chair so he could put off until the very last moment the point when he had to look her full in the face and acknowledge her?
Ella Cole She picked up Gios voice as if from a foggy distance. Ella is, she assures me, the lynchpin which keeps the accounts department running smoothly.
A secretarial tyrant in other words, Ella happily described herself. Scary but nice, she added as Cassie watched with the unblinking eyes of a bat as that long-fingered hand attached to a luxuriously dark silk-suited arm swept across her front to take Ellas hand.
It would be her turn next. She was the only one left. She was about to be forced into touching the hand that knew her body more intimately than any other mans hand, and she didnt know if she could bear it, didnt know if she could bring herself to touch him, be polite to him, pretend that all of this hurt and bitterness and anger crawling around inside her wasnt there.
And Cassandra Janus. Cassie tuned in to the sound of her own name being spoken, and felt a sickening tension grab her stomach as Sandro took a step to one side of her chair so that he could face her side-on.
This was it, she warned herself. Any second now he was going to offer her that hand and she was going to have to accept itlook up into his handsome, lying face and
Cassie is the bright new star in the accounts team Gio explained as the hand oh, so predictably appeared in front of her.
Cold now, so cold her fingers would not allow her to straighten them out of the tense clench she held them in, Cassie flicked her eyes up to his face. It was like being hit full on by six long years of agony. This close up he was even more shockingly spectacular to look at than shed allowed herself to remember.
Cassandra Janus he repeated slowly, turning Janus into the evocatively sexy Janoos the way he had used to do all those years ago, which dried Cassies throat until she felt parched. And his eyes, those deep-set, heavy-lidded, rich dark brown eyes, were daring to look at her with such cool, polite interest as he added, I feel I should know the name from somewhereHave we met before by any chance?
Had they met before? Was he joking? Or was this his ruthless way of warning her to take care what she said? Dear God, Cassie thought as hysteria almost erupted from her in a shriek of high-pitched laughter.
Having to draw on every ounce of composure she had stored in her, No, she managed as calmly as she could do, we havent met before, Mr Marchese.
Deliberately ignoring the way shed all but bitten his name out, Alessandro, please, he invited.
Cassie throbbed where she sat. He would have to nail her to a wall and threaten to throw knives at her before shed call him by that name, she vowed fiercely. What did he want from herblood?
And that hand still waited for her to place her own in it. Feeling light-headed with tension now, she managed somehow to uncurl her cold fingers and lift her hand to place it in his. An instant rush of electric recognition shot up her arm to gather like a hovering bullet just behind her ribs, close to her madly hammering heart.
As if he felt it too, his strong fingers closed over hers more tightly than they should.
Angus headhunted Cassie from Jay Digital a year ago, his spy continued with his pocket rsum with no clue as to what was passing between his boss and Cassie, which was probably the best move Angus ever made. I have been reliably informed that what Cassie does not know about financial performance and risk management could be written on the back of a postage stamp.
Interesting Sandro murmured, making Cassie cringe inside her own skin because he already knew shed been studying for a MBA part-time when theyd met.
Yet she vaguely suspected that hed barely heard a word that Gio was saying. His eyes still burned into her eyes, her hand still lay captive in his. And the electric tension they were generating between them just kept on building and building, dragging a frail, shaken breath from Cassies lips. His ridiculously long eyelashes flickered as he lowered his gaze to her parted mouth and she shivered.
She watched a frown begin to crease his smooth features.
Cassie is also one of those highly admirable people that successfully juggles the demands of her career with the demands of being mother to five-year-old twins, Gio Rozario continued like a well-programmed robot.
Hearing the twins mentioned snapped Cassie back to reality. Unable to stop the bitter flash that spun out of her eyes into his, she snatched her hand back then dropped it onto her lap, where she returned it to a tense-fisted clench.
What happened next was pure drama. No one expected it. Certainly not Cassie, who was in the process of dragging her gaze away from his.
She heard a groan, felt Sandro grab the back of her chair with his hand and flicked a glance up to his face in time to catch the shaft of pain that creased it, followed by his swiftly draining pallor, just before she felt her chair start to shift.
After that she had no time to register anything because her chair was being pulled right out from beneath her and somehow she was on her feet, trembling and shaking and staring as six feet four inches of powerfully built male dropped like a stone, taking her chair with him, to end up stretched out between two tables near her feet!
One of those dreadful pin-drop silences hung for a second. The whole thing was so out of the ordinary and bizarre, the entire room just froze in a breathless wait for him to curse or something then climb back to his feet.
But he didnt move, and in the next few skin-flaying seconds it took Cassie to register that he looked horribly lifeless, the rest of the room was erupting in a cacophony of sound that shattered the silence.
Gasps, cries, chairs screeching on the white marble flooringshe was vaguely aware of being pressed to one side as Gio rushed past her, followed closely by a flash of red. Shocked murmurs of, Did he slip? Is he drunk? Why isnt he moving? ricocheted off Cassies buzzing eardrums and she blinked, her shocked eyes swimming into focus on the crouching huddle that was Gio and the woman in red kneeling beside Sandro, urgently yanking at his tie and the collar of his shirt.
He looked greyhe looked dead.
Cassie heaved in a deep, thick, gasping breath of air and out of nowhere, just nowhere, she whispered, Sandro, and was falling to her knees, all but knocking Gio sideways in her urgency to get to him.
Sandro! She cried out his name again, and sent a second shock wave rampaging around the stunned assembly.
CHAPTER THREE
EXPLAIN to us what happened back there, Cassie.
For such an outwardly genial character Gio Rozario had suddenly developed a core of steel. He was leaning against the edge of the desk in the restaurant owners tiny back office, into which hed hustled her, having been forced to bodily remove her from Sandros prostrate form.
Standing beside Gio was the woman in the red dress whod joined them a few seconds later. For such a beautiful creature, Pandora Batisteas shed introduced herselfhad a way of turning her liquid brown eyes into glass, Cassie noticed as she gave a helpless shake of her head.
I cant explain it, she answered, still so badly shaken by what had happened that she couldnt keep her shivering limbs still where she sat.
You dived on him, Gio described.
Her mouth trembled, cold and shivery like the rest of her because she stillstill couldnt shrug off those horrifying seconds when shed thought that Sandro had dropped down dead at her feet.
Because shed wished for itoh, so many times over the last six years when things had been tough for hershed wished with all of her aching heart to see Sandro dead at her feet.
So did you, she fed back, staring down at her right palm, which still pulsed with the reassuring beat of Sandros heart from when shed laid it against his chest.
I know him, you do not, Gio argued. Or we assumed you did not, he then amended after a pause. He spoke to you
Cassie closed her eyes and saw the deep, dark chasms of Sandros eyes when hed opened them and looked into her face. CassieMadre di Dio hed mouthed weakly, then hed closed his eyes again and Gio had pulled her away from him.
Please, she said anxiously, will one of you go and find out how he is?
You called him Sandro, Pandora Batiste took over, ignoring Cassies plea. Nobody calls him Sandro. He despises it. He has been known to blow into a spectacular rage if hes ever referred to by that name. So why did youa supposed stranger to himfeel free to use it?
A wry kind of smile tilted Cassies tense, pale lips. It was news to her that Sandro held such an aversion to the name, since it was he whod given it to her in the first place. Call me Sandro. Will you allow me to buy you lunch? A coffee, then? OK, may I just sit here and worship in silence?
You know each other, the glassy eyed beauty insisted. I witnessed your initial shock when you first caught sight of him in the bar. I felt Alessandros shock when he saw you.
With an effort Cassie lifted up her face to look at them both standing there, leaning against the desk with their arms folded and their eyes fixed on her while she sat shivering on her chair.
It annoyed her. Their whole superior and dominating attitude infuriated her. You have no right to interrogate me like this, she protested.
We are not interrogating you, Gio denied the charge, we are simply concerned about what took place and
Curious, Cassie amended curtly, feeling a return of some much-needed mental strength, but I will not have this conversation with you, she informed the two of them. And I would be more impressed by your so-called concern for Sandro if you were out there with him instead of in here with me.
Alessandro is being taken care of It was Pandora Batiste who stressed the name.
How can you know that? Cassie looked at her. I would have thought your time could be better spent finding out why he passed out like he did!
Thats what were doing
No, youre not. Youre trying to bully information out of me that you have no right to demand. Is he drunk? she asked sharply then. Has Sandro turned into a drunk, as well as a?
As well as a what? a different voice prompted from behind her.
Shooting to her feet, Cassie spun around to find the man himself standing in the office doorway. Her throat dried up. He looked dreadful, still as pale as death even if he was standing on his own two feet. And his eyes were too darkas black as deep caverns hollowed into his skull.
Are you all right? She couldnt stop the strained question from leaving her aching throat.
He didnt answer. Flattening out his mouth, he just moved his eyes away from her to look at his two assistants and dismissed them with the barest shift of his dark head.
Damage control, he instructed as they both shot away from the desk in unison. Jet lag, migraineI dont care what excuse you use so long as you make it convincing, he added as they walked towards him, then find me a route out of here that does not require an audience.
The door closed behind their retreating figures, leaving Cassie blinking at the mute obedience Sandro had commanded from them. If Pandora Batiste was his lover then she had to be a pretty darn subservient lover to take that kind of attitude on her beautiful chin.
As he returned his gaze to Cassie, she felt her own small chin shoot upwards in a defiant gesture brought on by what she had just witnessed. She was regretting now that shed asked him how he was feeling, because he was clearly very all right, going by that tough performance. And if he was standing there like that and looking at her like that because he intended to bully her around in the same way, then he had another think coming.
Tension sparked in the atmosphere, generated mostly by her defiant stance. And still he said nothing, just slowly drifted his eyes over her as if he was carefully dissecting her inch by nerve-stripping inch.
How old was he now? she questioned as she suffered his scrutiny without allowing herself to flinch. Thirty-twothirty-three? If hed told her the truth about his age six years ago, that was. Hed given her a different name, so why not a different age? Anyway he looked years older right now as he stood there, leaning heavily against the door and with his face still drawn by the ravages of whatever it was that had sent him crashing to the ground in the first place.
Nor did he look so sensationally elegant, she noticed, her eyelashes flickering as she glanced down to where his shirt hung open at its snowy white collar and the knot of his tie rested low on his chest.
You have not answered my question.
Cassie lifted her cool gaze back to his. I have absolutely nothing to say to you, she informed him.
You had plenty to say to my two assistants.
You think so? Her arms snapped up to wrap around her narrow ribcage in a piece of body language that had to be screaming self-protection at him. Then why dont you go and ask them for your answers so you wont need to hold any kind of conversation with me?
There was a short silence while his eyes narrowed. Her insides started to sting as if she were being attacked by a swarm of bees. You are very hostile, he murmured eventually.
Yes, arent I? Cassie agreed. And you dont think I should be?
To her surprise he offered up a gut-stingingly attractive half-twist of a smile. To tell you the truth, Im not sure.
Baffled by that answer, Cassie pressed her lips together and waited to find out where he intended to go with this weird conversation. She had been expecting anger, shed been expecting threats. He couldnt want the ugly truth about the real him to come out because it would tarnish his supercharming image. Closeting himself away in this room with her was, in her view, only helping to increase the fever of speculation that must already be rife out there.
Look, she said when she couldnt stand the silence between them any longer, neither of us wants this confrontation, Sandro. So why dont you move away from the door and Ill just leave?
Sandro, he echoed and uttered an odd laugh, then he lifted his hand to rub at his forehead when it suddenly creased with pain again, triggering a twinge of concern inside Cassie she did not want to feel.
I think you need to sit down, she advised stiffly.
Mmm, he responded but made no move to leave the door.
Watching him rub at his brow for a few seconds longer, she let out a sigh and gave in to the growing pulse of concern that was nagging at her. Picking up the chair she had been sitting in earlier, she carried it across the room to set it down against the wall next to the door.
Here, she said abruptly. Sit down before you fall down again.
When he swayed a little she was compelled to reach out and grasp his arm. Firm, warm skin and solid muscle flexed against her palm and her fingers as he allowed her to guide him into the chair, folding his long body down onto it before leaning forward to rest his forearms on his knees.
My apologies, he said as Cassie snatched her hand away, his voice sounding thick and slurred.
Cassie said nothing, hating what was running through her now because it was all too complicatedly wrapped up in her son and the way Anthony could look when he was feeling poorly but trying his hardest to deny there was anything wrong with him until she gave him no choice but to accept it.
I am not drunk, this father of her children insisted from under cover of his massaging fingers.
So hed heard her say that? Fine, she responded. Whatever she added with a heck of a lot more indifference because she didnt like the way she was beginning to feel.
I do not drink alcohol, he persisted, probably driven to do so by her tone. If you had been observing me during the evening you might have noticed that I still had the same glass of wine I began the evening withuntil it smashed to the ground when I did, of course, he added with a dryness which seemed to give him back some energy, and he straightened in the chair.
He still looked like death. Cassie suppressed the need to shudder. Then youre sick, she said, and if youre sick you need to see a doctor.
S?, he acknowledged. I will do so after we talk
That threat alone was enough to slam all her defences right back into place again. She tensed up, her body going rigid inside the little black dress. I dont think so, she refused.
You know me, yes? he persisted. But for some reason you prefer to deny it.
What is this? Cassie flashed out on a flare of anger. Some kind of weird game youre trying to play with me, or has your English deteriorated along with your ability to stand up on your own?
He stood up, long, powerful legs thrusting up off the chair without a hint of a stagger, and, letting out a sharp gasp, Cassie was suddenly regretting the taunt when she found herself standing toe to toe with the lean, hard, very vital version of Sandro towering over her, as intimidating as hell.
This is no game, I promise you, he stated grimly. You speak to me as if I am your enemy. What is it you are trying to hide?
Im trying to hide something? Cassies green eyes opened wide. Lets get this straight, Sandro. You blanked me! You turned your back on me! When you had no choice but to face me at the table you greeted me like I was some absolute stranger then still had the damn barefaced cheek to ask me if wed met before!
So you do know me! Something bright burned out of the centre of his eyes and he stepped even closer, almost blocking out the light in the tiny back room.
Cassie started trembling, her senses clamouring like maniacs because he was too close now and they certainly knew him. They could feel him, smell him, even taste him. Six years without her so much as setting eyes on him meant absolutely nothing to them, she was discovering, especially when she had never let another man get this close to her since him!
Back off, she urged, turning her hands into ready clenched fists tucked tightly in against her ribs.
He didnt seem to hear her, and his colour was coming back, pouring rich olive tones into his skin, the power emanating from him now showing no hint of the weakness he had been displaying a minute before. You know me, he repeated as if it was some kind of major breakthrough. What I need to know is how you know me!
I dont know you, Mr Alessandro Marchese, Cassie flared up in hot opposition to his intimidating stance. Briefly, however, I used to know a real rat of a man called Sandro Rossi!
Thereit was out. Hed made her say it.
Happy now? Her green eyes blistered him a hostile glance. Though, why you needed me to admit to something we both clearly would prefer to forget is a complete mystery to me. Now back off, she repeated icily, before I start yelling for help at the top of my voice!
He went one step further and turned his back on her, reeling on the heels of his shoes. Dio mio, he breathed. Somehow I knew it.
Knew what? Cassie all but shrilled at him.
That we had met before.
And this, she muttered, is the craziest conversation Ive ever been involved in!
You dont understand As he spun around again, severe shock lashed his skin to the fabulous bone structure, making Cassies stomach churn into trembling knots. You see, I dont remember you
Standing trapped by her own open-mouthed disbelief, How dare you say that? she breathed.
He frowned. You are confused. I understand that. Lifting a hand out towards her, when her green eyes sparked and her creamy shoulders racked backwards in violent protest, he sighed and dropped the hand again. This is the reason I said that we need to talk.
Talk? Pushing out a deeply scornful laugh, she said, When you can toss out lies as glibly as you do, Sandro, trust me, talking with you is a complete waste of time!
I do not tell lies! he denied, stiffening up in furious objection to the charge.
Then what about the one when you promised to come back for me then didnt bother? Cassie challenged, firing up with hurt along with the question that had been burning holes in her heart for six long years. Or the one on the telephone when you denied wed even met?I dont know you. I dont want to know you. Please dont ring this number again! she quoted word for crucifying, thick and hurtful word.
I said that? Hed gone totally white again.
Give me a break. Dragging her eyes away from him because she did not want to see or accept that the way he kept changing colour like that had to mean he was being hit hard by something pretty shattering tonight. Once upon a long time ago I might have been an easy target where you were concernedbut not any more!
I do not believe I said something as cruel as that to you, he breathed in thick denial, his long brown fingers clenching at his sides. It is not in my nature to speak to anyone like that!
Well, you said it to me. Cassie had to tug her lips together when they tried to wobble uncontrollably because nothing had ever wounded her as much as those cruel words of rejection had done. Am I allowed to leave here now or have you got anything else you want to talk about?
No one has attempted to stop you from leaving, he husked out.
Caught by the raw strain shed heard in his voice, Cassie made the stupid mistake of glancing at him again and saw that the hand was back up at his brow. Something creased up her insides to see such a big, powerful man standing there like that, but she refused to give the feeling room to grow.
Thank you, she said with icy curtness, and with a twist of her body she made herself turn to face the door.
Two seconds later she was on the other side of it with her eyes closed and her heart pounding as if shed just run a mile. She had a feeling hed swayed again but she had not hung around long enough to find out.
I dont remember you, her brain threw up at her in a seething flash of derision. If he didnt remember her then why had they had that confrontation at all?
The sudden sound of movement sent her eyes shooting open. The first thing she became aware of as her gaze became focused was that the whole restaurant seemed to have emptied while shed been shut inside that tiny back room. The next thing to hit her was the low, buzzing sound of conversation floating up the stairwell and she realised that everyone must have moved back down to the bar.
Hovering at the top of the stairs, she swallowed tensely, trying to pull her ragged senses together before she had to go down there and face up to the full battery of BarTec curiosity she was certain would be waiting for her.
And she was trembling all over with reaction now. In the last couple of hours she felt as if shed been fed through the emotional wringer a hundred times! First the shock of seeing Sandro standing in the restaurant bar entrance, then the stomach-curdling humiliation when hed blanked her out.
I dont remember you
Hed remembered her OK when hed plied that heated scan down her body! And hed remembered her when the delayed look of shock hit his face!
Andno, she couldnt go down there and face everyone. What was she supposed to say? Oh, we knew each other once. The memory of it drove him to drink wine until he was drop-down drunk.
I am not drunk
Just another lie hed fed to her. For what other excuse was there when a strong, healthy man just collapsed like that?
There is another exit, his deep accented voice quietly murmured.
Cassie swung around on her slender heels, so startled her heart burst back into an overloaded beat. Sandro had come out of the office without her hearing him and was now in the process of closing the door. Her defences shot back up, her insides catching her with a tight, dizzying squeeze because he looked so differentagainas if hed pulled up his own defences and now the cool, smooth corporate giant was back on show. Hed even done up his shirt collar and straightened his tie, she saw, her mouth going dry when her head decided to throw up an image of her teasing fingers doing that for him on the morning hed left for Florence, all those years before.
H-how do you know? She had a fight to push the question beyond the fresh lump of hurt blocking her throat.
I spoke to Gio. He started walking towards her and as she tensed automatically Cassie thought she saw an angry glint move across his eyes but he strode right past her, though his voice fed out the same moderate coolness when he said, Follow me if you prefer to leave quietly. Its this way
Continuing to hover for a few more moments, Cassie wavered between her two choices that really were not choices at all. She either bit the bullet and ran the gauntlet waiting for her down there in the bar or she bit the bullet and let Sandro lead her out of here by a back door.
Are you coming or not?
Hed come to a stop in front of an emergency-exit door at the back of the room she had not noticed before. With a reluctance that had to show in her body language, she set her feet walking towards him, heavily aware she could not face those people downstairs. Although, she asked herself bleakly, how was she going to be able to face them in two days time when she went into work on Monday morning?
With a touch from his long fingers Sandro pushed down the heavy bar to spring the lock on the door. Beyond it was a narrow set of stairs lit by emergency lighting that barely scraped the stair walls.
Watch your step in those shoes; these treads are steep and narrow, he instructed.
Lips pinned fiercely together, Cassie watched him go first, the width of his shoulders stretching almost wall to wall. Following him, she curled her fingers like talons around the sloping banister rail because they tingled so badly with a need to reach out and clutch at his shoulders for extra support on the rickety stairs.
At the bottom of the stairs was a tiny vestibule. As he reached it he turned and stretched out a hand towards her.
Dont be squeamish, he clipped out when she froze two steps up from him. My fingernails are not tipped with poison and the bottom step is loose and uneven. If this exit meets health and safety requirements I am in the wrong business, he drawled as, once again, Cassie bit the bullet and settled her hand in his.
His strong, warm fingers closed over her cool, slender fingers. That same rush of electric recognition shot up her arm as it had done when shed been forced to take his hand before. Concentrating all of her attention on the uneven steps, she arrived in the vestibule so close to him that her breasts brushed against his jacket lapel. Appalled by the pinch her nipples gave in response to the abrasive brush, with only the silk of her dress to act as a buffer, she very nearly did what shed been trying not to do and fell off her spindly heels in her jerky effort to put space between them.
His other hand arrived low on her back to steady her. Instead of opening up a gap between them there was suddenly no gap at all. Unable as she was to stop it, a muffled breath left her throat and she looked up and was hit head-on by the glow of raw desire leaping out from his dark, dark eyes. His whole hard body pulsed with it. It was that instant, that hot, so stifling it held her breathless and horrified because the same dismaying heat was pooling low down inside herself, toying with intimate tissue that tugged and pulled.
Her throat hurt. She tried to swallow. The sense of being drenched in fine sexual static made her lips part to whisper something she couldnt even understand herself.
He understood it, though, because he muttered roughly, No wonder Im struggling.
About to demand what he meant, Cassie wasnt given the chance. Next second his dark head was lowering and she was receiving the full, burning impact of his passionate mouth on hers.
CHAPTER FOUR
HEAT poured into her bloodstream. He kissed her as if hed been waiting to do it for years. He savoured it, explored the moist hollows of her mouth, guided her like some helpless puppet through the fiery pit of reacquaintance with the forgotten side of her own sensuality only this man had ever tapped.
His hand was restless on the small of her back, long fingers burning her through the fine layer of silk, stroking and kneading as they drew her further into the hardening bowl of his hips. The heat coming from him was heavy with the scent of his subtle aroma, the mobile seduction of his lips and the skilled intrusion of his tongue sinking her so deeply into a heady place of pleasurable memories Cassie found herself responding as a rolling mist of desire closed her in.
She felt small and weak and delicate as she leant against him, could feel his heart pounding against the clenched fist shed pressed to his chest when this had first begun. And she could feel her own heart racing against the tightening crush of her breast. Her legs had gone hollow again, that tingling sensation a wash of desire this time, attacking every nerve-end from her toes to her hips. When he breathed something against her mouth and moved against her the flash of sexual agitation she experienced flung herself back from him on a shocked, shaken gasp.
Eyes as black as ink bored into her for a second then flowed down over her heaving, slender, panting, trembling frame. His frown was back, the greying pallor, joined by a fierce, dark, pulsating frustration that scared Cassie even as her own shattered senses clamoured in direct response.
As he reached out towards her, No! she cried out because she thought he was going to drag her back to him.
What he did was tighten the grim line of his mouth and gently hitch her dress up from its structured front. Her helpless whimper was of mortified agony when she realised why hed done it. After that the silence between them sizzled. Shed never felt so helpless or so exposed or so cheap in her entire life. One kiss and shed fallen to pieces. One kiss from a man she supposedly hated and shed turned into
Oh, she choked and shot into movement, spinning round and reaching out to grab hold of the heavy bar which held the exit door shut.
She was panickingCassie knew she was panicking and he was saying nothing. She could feel him standing there behind her like somesomegrim, silent reaper, probably disgusted with himself for kissing her at all!
Then his arms were coming round her; she felt the smooth, warm slide of his silk sleeves against her arms as with a gentle firmness he prised her fingers from the bar. Trapped like that, trembling and shivering at the same time, and acutely aware of every lean, hard inch of him, she watched through bright, burning eyes as he dealt with the heavy lock on the door.
Almost falling outside into the cool night air in an effort to put space between them, Cassie found herself in an alleyway that must run alongside the restaurant. It was quiet and dark, the shadowy bulks she could see across from her looking too much like lurking bodies to her fevered mind, though she knew they had to be rubbish bins. Still, she spun away from them to face what she thoughthopedwas the main street. She had to get awayshe knew she had to get away before she did something really humiliating and fell into a fit of wildly sobbing tears.
Sandro. Shed just let Sandro kiss her stupid. How dared hehow could she have let him get away with it? She hated him, every single thing about him.
The door closed with a thud behind her and she jumped like a startled rabbit then went onto the balls of her feet. A strong hand clamped around her wrist to stop her running. The grimly silent way that he kept her still while he stepped close enough to strap his other arm across her back broke her control with a shrill, Let me go!
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