An Innocent, a Seduction, a Secret

Heat scorched Edie’s face.

Did he know how inexperienced she was? Was it that obvious?

She was way out of her depth here. And she was a hypocrite. She had to acknowledge that it would have been easier for her to hate Sebastio for humiliating her than deal with the fact that he really did want her.

He was right. She wasn’t ready for this.

She stepped back. ‘I’m going back to bed. This won’t happen again.’

She turned around to leave before she could expose herself any more.

But just before she escaped the room she thought she heard Sebastio’s silky voice saying, ‘I wouldn’t be so sure about that...’

Edie took the stairs to her room two at a time and told herself that by tomorrow morning Sebastio would have put what had happened down to a moment of madness brought on by heightened emotions. And there was no way she was going to expose herself by revealing how cataclysmic his kiss had been.

* * *

Sebastio stared into the empty space left behind when Edie had walked out. He could still see the flare of colour on her cheeks and the shocked expression in her eyes.

It had taken all his control to pull back. There’d been something in her response, though. Untutored. Naive. It had cut through the heat haze in his brain.

She wasn’t like the women he normally went for... He grimaced. Or had gone for. Most women, if they sensed his interest, would hurl themselves at him, but she’d held back. And he didn’t think it was game-playing—even though he knew he’d be a fool to underestimate any woman.

Sebastio had never underestimated a woman in his life. He’d learnt not to at the hands of his mother, who had used him as a pawn in the bitter feud with his father for years, until she’d realised that his father had long-ago washed his hands of an only son who refused to bend to his will.

And the first woman he’d slept with had taught him his first indelible lesson in choosing lovers when she’d said, ‘Women will want you because of your wealth and celebrity. The fact that you’re obscenely gorgeous only makes it a sweeter deal for them. Don’t ever forget that. As for romance and love? It doesn’t exist in our world, darling. Only success and survival.’

And nothing Sebastio had since experienced had done much to change his view.

Except for Victor and Maya...

An image of them laughing and dancing at their wedding was vivid, and sharp enough to slice right through Sebastio. He’d destroyed their rare happiness...their lives.

Edie reminded him of Maya. She had the same kind of open and happy demeanour. Not cynical.

A memory flashed back: Maya laughing at him from the back of the car and saying, ‘Victor might think you’re a lost cause, but I don’t. I think there’s hope for everyone—even you, Sebastio. Some day you’ll meet a woman and she won’t fall at your feet in adoration. She’ll melt that cynical ice box you call a heart...’

He’d looked at her in the rearview mirror, catching her sparkling brown eyes, and he’d said, ‘Never going to happen, Maya.’

And that was when the world had exploded into a million pieces. Just as he’d been in the middle of affirming his own cynicism to a woman who had exuded nothing but joy and love and openess. He’d killed her. And her baby.

Sebastio broke out of his reverie and his eyes fell on the computer screen, frozen on the image of his haggard face after the accident. He reached over and turned it off, brutally pushing down more memories threatening to resurface.

He was astounded to feel a slight tremor in his hand. He picked up his glass again and downed the remains of his whisky in one go, relishing the burn down his throat. As if it might eclipse the tangled mix of recrimination and desire in his body. It didn’t.

All the more reason why he shouldn’t pursue Edie.

Sebastio went back into his own study and poured himself another shot of whisky. As he downed it he willed away the potent taste

of Edie in his mouth, and the provocative memory of her slender curves pressed against his body. The way her hands had clutched at him so fiercely. And the way she’d opened for him so sweetly.

He cursed. Because all he could think about now was how she might open other parts of herself to him, and how it might feel to sink into that silky embrace and lose himself for ever.

CHAPTER FOUR

TWO DAYS LATER Edie was feeling edgy. She’d sent Jimmy home and done a quick last-minute check of the grand reception room, where an informal drinks party was taking place that evening.

Sebastio had been in the city for the past two days and nights, but she’d just caught a glimpse of him through the window, emerging from the back of a Jeep. He was dressed in a suit and looking dark and gorgeous against the falling dusk.