The Innocent's Emergency Wedding

She tilted her chin with prim defensiveness, daring him to question her. Her eyes glinted, filling with quiet confidence in the face of his surprise.

‘What else do you have aside from these?’ he asked, trying to steady his appetite.

‘Don’t you like them?’ she asked, looking as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.

‘You don’t need my feedback,’ he said roughly. ‘You know damn well how delicious they are.’

Her smile blossomed, igniting a glow that seemed fuelled by something deep within her. ‘I know, right?’ She laughed cheekily.

His gut tightened at her unexpected confidence. Coy little trickster... It turned out that she, like her sauce, was passionate, confident and full of sassy flavour. At least in regard to this. The turnaround from the wet lamb who’d wandered into his office on wobbly legs only a couple of hours ago was astounding. In this moment—in this one thing—she shone.

‘Like I said, I use the fruit we grow.’ She reached forward, turning the bottles so the labels faced her. ‘Those apricots are a heritage variety. Same with the plums.’

Alessandro nodded, slightly dazed. He’d never found discussing fruit trees fascinating before, but he couldn’t take his eyes from her. He thought again that she was like her sauces—intense, fiery and sweet.

‘Susan’s father planted those trees,’ she added softly. ‘I help her care for them, cook their fruit. I love it.’

And that love came out in the flavour of her creations.

Unsettling long-ignored memories stirred. His father had been like that—guided by instinct and emotion. Alessandro had always been more interested in the business side of things. His analytical brain worked better in bigger picture ways. Katie was self-taught and humble, and she had inimitable warmth.

Another searing shaft of hunger strained his resolve. The desire to touch her almost derailed his reason. As she blossomed before him he ached to conquer and claim...

A horrible thought occurred to him. Had hideous Carl Westin ever seen her like this?

‘Maybe this is what he wants,’ he muttered, before thinking better of it.

She sent him a mystified look. ‘Who?’

He blinked. ‘Carl. Your sauces.’

Her jaw dropped as she stared at him in astonishment. ‘You think he wants my recipes?’

No. He did not. But the fact that she honestly believed he might showed just how oblivious to her own beauty she was. Alessandro half laughed, even as he was almost overcome by the urge to haul her out of that seat.

He could have her soft, yielding sweetness beneath him in an instant. He’d discover her true taste. But he swallowed the desire back.

He forced his focus back to the sauces. ‘Which is your favourite?’

‘The cherry vinegar.’ She dipped her finger into the small pool he’d poured onto the plate and sucked the sauce off the tip of it.

Any other woman he’d have thought was making a deliberately seductive move, but there was too much of the innocent in Katie’s eyes.

To his total torment, she’d left a tiny smear just above her lip. At that sight all his good intentions melted. He couldn’t resist that contrary look in her eyes. Like the myriad of colours it was all reflected there—confidence, caution, humour, haughtiness...and desire. It was beyond temptation.

‘Alessandro?’ She sat very still as he swiftly rose from his seat. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Tasting the cherry.’

He braced his hands on the armrests of her seat and slowly bent closer. Hesitating, testing, allowing her the space, the time, to pull away, to say something. She didn’t. Pleasure washed over him and he hadn’t even touched her. He gently licked that little smear from her mouth. At the tiny hitch in her breathing he brushed his lips that bit lower, to cover hers.

He’d steal only the lightest, quickest of kisses. A tiny tease...just because. She expected it anyway, didn’t she? He couldn’t let her down, what with all her wild assumptions about him.

‘Katie?’ he asked, searching.

She stayed still and silent, but the expression in her eyes said it all.

* * *

There was a moment, the tiniest of pauses, when his lips were barely pressed against hers at all, and then he returned with a gorgeous, luscious pressure that simply melted Katie. His tongue traced over her lips in a teasing slide until she opened and let him in.

This was a kiss.

This was everything all in one soft touch. In mere moments her heart pounded, suddenly too big for her chest, as he stole—and gave—an experience like no other.

He sparked something within her. A trickle that ran faster, fuller, until it became an intense warmth, flooding her system. She strained closer to let herself taste him the way he was tasting her. He deepened the contact, swirling his tongue into her hungry mouth, and shyly, eagerly, instinctively she matched him.

The dizzying sensation intensified. Delight mixed with heat and an ache for more. She shivered, seeking his touch on her skin. She wanted to get closer and she didn’t want this to stop. It was too nice. She’d never experienced anything so nice.

Suddenly she was seized with the conviction that nothing was ever going to be the same. She was never going to be the same. He’d awakened a need so intense she thought it could never be met. And in that moment of realisation—of shocking recognition and burgeoning desire, of undeniable deep need—she moaned.

He suddenly lifted himself away and stepped back.

Katie pressed herself into her seat, desperately putting more distance between them as she tried to recover her breath. She gazed up, dying inside when she registered his casual expression. Why wasn’t he breathless?

‘You can’t... You shouldn’t...’ She trailed off, unable to scramble a sentence together. Why wasn’t he shattered?

It was just a kiss. You’re taking it too seriously.

That amused look in his eyes grew as she struggled to regain her sensibility.

‘That wasn’t fair,’ she breathed.

‘Not fair?’ He returned to his seat and folded his arms across his chest.

‘You were only supposed to sample my sauces.’

Instead they’d both discovered he could seduce her with a snap of his fingers. Her flush burned.

‘Oh, yes, the sauces,’ he echoed with soft irony. ‘You really created them all by yourself?’

‘Why is that so hard to believe?’ she snapped balefully. ‘You don’t think I can be good at anything?’

‘I think we’ve both just figured out what you’re good at.’

She gaped, flummoxed into speechlessness, and felt that wretched burn of embarrassment slide over her skin again. He was so skilled, so charming...no wonder all those women fell into his bed.

Now he smiled at her wickedly. ‘If you don’t want me to kiss you again, then stop fishing

for compliments.’

Her jaw fell open. Was she meant to be grateful for his kisses? ‘I don’t need you to kiss me to make me feel better about myself.’

He reached forward to the plates on the table, swirled his finger in the cherry vinegar sauce and licked it off with a lascivious flourish. ‘No, you just need me to marry you to help you escape your evil guardian.’

He made it sound ridiculous. As if she was being ridiculous. But she could see no other way to keep White Oaks safe for Susan.

‘Yes,’ she ground out through gritted teeth. ‘And that’s all I want from you.’

CHAPTER FOUR

BACK IN LONDON it would be almost midnight, but here in Las Vegas it was early evening. Not that there was any sense of time in this city. It was always open...always ready to entertain. And the last thing Alessandro wanted right now was to find himself anywhere near a bedroom with Katie Collins.

He never should have kissed her.

Gritting his teeth, Alessandro guided her through customs clearance and then straight into the limo his assistant had organised.

Their hotel was on the main strip, suitably ritzy and fantastically distracting, with ornate decor and vast, gleaming lounge areas. The receptionist handed him a key card while the porters took his luggage. Of course Katie didn’t have any.

He turned and looked at her, standing in the centre of the luxurious lobby. The wide-eyed amazement on her pretty face was priceless.

He never, ever should have kissed her.

He tensed as desire rippled through his body. Pushing it down, he glanced away and rubbed his hand over his face. He was tired, si? Hence the loss of self-control. But he’d pull himself together. They’d take in the view, have dinner, have a rational and realistic chat about Katie’s future...

Except he didn’t think he could actually be alone with her yet. Not after the sensual torture of the plane trip. His awareness of her was shocking, and he was unaccustomed to travelling with a woman like this—to being close, but not being able to touch her more than that kiss he’d already stolen.