Uncovering the Silveri Secret

‘Go on,’ Bella said, glaring at him in irritation. ‘Mock me. Make fun of me. That’s what you’ve made a career out of, isn’t it?’

He came up close and grabbed her chin between his finger and thumb. ‘Let’s see how good your psychologist’s skills are, shall we?’ he said. ‘Why do you think you’re rushing off to marry a man you barely know?’

Bella stared him down. ‘I love him, that’s why.’

‘You’re panicking, that’s why,’ he said. ‘You’ve only got a year until a truckload of money lands in your lap. You’re not sure how you’re going to handle it, are you? You’re worried that it will be too much to deal with on your own so you’ve latched on to the first reliable, steady person you think will be able to help you.’

‘That’s not true,’ she said. ‘I want to settle down and have a family. I don’t want to be on my own any more. I want to belong to someone.’

He pulled her up against him. ‘You’re frightened of the passion that’s burning inside you,’ he said. ‘You’re worried you’re going to end up like your mother, flitting from shallow affair to shallow affair.’

Bella strained against his iron-strong hold. ‘I’m nothing like my mother,’ she protested. ‘I’m not going to marry for lust. Lust doesn’t come into it at all.’

‘No, well, it can’t, can it?’ he said. ‘Not when your lust is directed elsewhere.’

Bella felt the hot probe of his erection. She felt the need rising up in her like a giant, swamping wave. It overpowered her defences. How could she resist him when her body was programmed to respond to him and only him? ‘I don’t want to want you,’ she said.

He fisted a hand in her hair, his mouth so close she could feel his breath on her lips. ‘Do you think I want to want you?’ he asked. ‘I’ve fought it for as long as I can remember.’

It thrilled Bella to hear his gruff confession. For so long she had thought he felt nothing for her. His indifference had annoyed her so intensely, but all that time he had been fighting his attraction.

But what was the point in telling her now?

Why was he telling her now?

‘Don’t you think you’ve left it a bit late to tell me?’ she said. ‘I’m about to announce my engagement.’

He brushed his mouth against hers, once, twice. ‘Is it too late?’ he asked.

Bella wasn’t sure what he was asking. She licked her dry lips and looked at his mouth, that sensual, wicked mouth that could make her feel things she had no right to be feeling. She wanted to feel that mouth on hers again. She wanted to feel that mouth on her body, on her breasts, on her inner thighs, on the very heart of her desire. ‘You don’t love me,’ she said, running a fingertip over his bottom lip, her soft skin catching on his evening stubble.

‘You don’t love me either,’ he said. ‘If you did, you wouldn’t be promising to marry someone else, now, would you?’

She sent her fingertip over the contour of his upper lip this time. ‘Would you want me to love you?’ she asked.

‘No,’ he said. ‘That’s not what I want at all.’

She stilled the movement of her finger and looked up into his eyes, her heart beating double time at the smouldering look in his blue-green gaze. ‘Then what do you want?’ she asked.

He cupped her bottom with his hands, bringing her in close to the heated trajectory of his erection. ‘Do you really need to ask that?’ he said.

Bella felt her breath hitch in her chest as his head came down in slow motion towards hers. She had the chance to step away. She had the chance to say no. She had more than enough time to tell him she had no intention of making love with him.

But she didn’t.

CHAPTER NINE

BELLA closed her eyes just as his mouth touched down on hers. It was one of those brush-and-release kisses that made her senses sing with delight. His tongue flickered against hers, cajoling hers into erotic play. She responded with a shiver of reaction that felt like champagne bubbles flowing beneath her skin.

He increased the pressure of his lips on hers, the taste-and-tease action of his tongue changing to a more determined thrust and retreat. The primal intent was unmistakable. It made her body hum with longing to feel him inside her, stroking, thrusting. She could already feel the dew of need between her thighs and that little clenching pulse pulling on her inner muscles.