The Italian's Price

Now he believed he had a hold over his grandmother's companion. That with his threat to go to the law hanging over her she'd do exactly as he wished. So did he think he could take up where he'd left off:? Did the idea of that brand of dominating sexual revenge give him a buzz?

According to his warped mind Jilly had stolen an as yet unspecified amount of money. Was he now intent on exacting repayment? As Jilly's stand-in the thought was enough to give her nightmares! Her tummy muscles tight with nerves, Milly straightened her spine until it was ramrod stiff and made her way downstairs to set about making lunch. Not that she was hungry, but he conscienceless would be. And it would give her something to do maybe even take her mind off the mess she was in for all of two seconds.

To be met by the sight of Cesare confidently dividing the contents of a pan between two plates

with the panache of a professional.

‘I was just about to call you.' A warm smile, lacking guile, then a slight inclination of his far-too-handsome head. 6 I thought we'd eat outside. The wine's uncorked' perhaps you'd like to pour i t ' He'd found a small table and two chairs from somewhere she noted as she stepped out on to the sun-soaked paved area in front of the cottage. The edges of the white tabIecIoth moved lazily in the gentle breeze.

Cutlery, glasses a basket of bread rolls and a slab of creamy butter on a blue earthenware plate.

Her hands shook as she poured a little red wine into b0th glasses and she sank on to one of the chairs because her knees gave way as he appeared.

‘TeII me what you think.' Cesare slid a plate in front of her and retreated to the chair on the other side of the table. 'When I cook I like to experiment.' An eyebrow quirked in rare self-disparagement.

‘sometimes it goes horribly wrong' Against all her expectations the delicate aroma enticed the appetite she thought she'd lost for ever and struggling with confusion Milly forked up lemony rice and one of the perfectly cooked succulent prawns. The dish was garnished with mushrooms and roasted peppers and was absolutely

delicious .

Suddenly ravenous, she reached for a roll and lavished it with butter and Cesare demanded softly, ‘WeII, what's the verdict'?' ‘Fabulous-you can cook for me any time you Iikel' Her first real smile for days lit up her features and he returned it with a devastating grin of his own before starting on his meal.

He could actually seem human Milly marvelled trying to see through the mists of confusion that were now fogging her brain. And how easily, naturally, she could respond to him was an eye-opener! A tiny frown furrowed her brow. She'd honestly believed that Cesare Saracino wouldn't know how to boil a kettle and was too arrogant to even want to know how to perform that most mundane of tasks. Yet he'd set to and produced one of the most delicious meals she'd ever eaten.

She'd been proved wrong about that' was she also wrong about believing him to be all bad? And another thought struck her a savage blow. Had she been acting like a brain dead gnat when she'd entered this utterly distasteful deception? She was trapped here. Once back on the mainland she would be trapped at the villa. With blithe stupidity she'd seen herself tracking Jilly down before Cesare reached her combing the streets of Florence calling the contact number her twin had given when she'd worked there questioning her friends and her former employer in the hope of gaining a clue to her present whereabouts.

Fat chance! She might just as well decide to explore the dark side of the moon. Jumping on a bus or taking a taxi into Florence wasn't an option when she had no money and as Cesare had stringently pointed out she wouldn't be earning any either! Reflectively she sipped her wine and Cesare leaning back against his chair one arm hooked casually over the back said softly, ‘A penny for them.'

'You'd be wasting your money' Milly came back abstractedly, fighting uncertainty over what to do .

Carry on in her role as her sister or come clean and confess all throw herself on his mercy.

After all, he thought she was, in his entrenched opinion, the devious Jilly and he'd been nothing but kind and friendly since they'd reached the island. A prelude to getting her to share that huge bed with him? Should she rid herself of this hare-brained deception once and for all?

It was what her conscience told her

she wanted but she'd jumped in without thinking back in England, she wouldn't do it again. She'd have to think it out properly.

‘I wonder. I'm fairly canny when it comes to handing out such vast sums of moneyl' Milly's breath caught in her throat. He looked so relaxed so spectacularly good to look at' the hand that toyed with the stem of his wineglass was strong yet achingly elegant. Beautiful hands to match the rest of his perfect male physique. And that slight smile, tilted at one corner-the glamorously wicked gleam in those dark darkly seductive eyes as they locked with hers was more than she could take. Her breath was quickening and to her deep shame she could feel her nipples pressing against the silky top, tight, over-sensitive buds.

He was lethal! Jilly would have been a pushover. And in all honesty Milly couldn't blame her! Unable to prolong what suddenly and shatteringly seemed like a not so subtle form of torture-frantic heartbeat, trembling lower limbs, her skin scorchingly hot Jilly shot to her feet and got out through a throat that had gone suffocatingly tight, ‘1'11 do the dishes.'

‘Leave them.' His voice was lazy but there was nothing lazy about the inescapable grip of those long beautiful fingers as they closed around her wrist. He rose to his feet, still holding her wrist, and her face flooded with hot pink as his darkly veiled eyes drifted over her body with a blatant lack of inhibition .

He couldn't make his expectations more explicit she thought wildly, out and out panic warring with the most unnerving sensation of being on a perpetual roller coaster ride.

The strong, imperative physical awareness was something she wasn't equipped to handle. She most definitely didn't need it. What type of creature was she to be turned on by a monster just because he was the most handsome sexy and wickedly charismatic male she was ever likely to set her eyes on?

And when he stepped round the table released her wrist gave her a tap on her curvy backside that lingered that little bit too long and said in a voice like melted chocolate, ‘Put on a pair of walking shoes' 1'11 introduce you to my island ' Milly fled her haste making her heartbeat race even faster.

As Cesare cleared the decks and made short work of washing the dishes and returning the kitchen to pristine order a small satisfied smile hovered at the corners of his long mouth.

The imposter was running scared! A job well done. His off-the-wall decision to bring her here was completely justified. And he couldn't believe that she could be so naive. She still believed she was successfully deceiving him.

Santo cielol How could she be so naive? A deliberately steamy look and she coloured like the sunrise, trembled. Didn't she know how her twin would have reacted? The Jilly Lee he knew would have returned that look with interest, parted her glossy lips and lowered her artificially enhanced lashes over sultry green come-bed-me eyes. She would have smouldered, not trembled like a sacrificial virgin! The imposter Milly, gave herself away at practically every turn and he was debating how much longer he would wait before he dropped his bombshell when she appeared at the head of the stairs.

She was still wearing the blue top that skimmed her pert and perfect breasts and the cropped white jeans that clung to her slender, beautifully formed thighs. And on her feet she wore what he supposed she classed as walking shoes. Flat soles and thin straps, gladiator-style.

But the thing that riveted his attention, squeezed his heart, was the way that stress had darkened her clear green eyes, widening them with a mute appeal that pierced him like an arrow the way her soft unpainted lips hovered between a tremble and a wary smile.