Ruthlessly Bedded, Forcibly Wedded

She stopped against her will and turned again, feeling awkward. ‘Look, really—’

‘Cara, sit down. I won’t bite.’

He sounded weary, and Cara could see as she came closer that he had a sheaf of papers on the table beside him. She sat down cautiously and after a long moment asked tentatively, ‘You were working?’

He gave a short, curt laugh. ‘You could say that.’ His eyes flashed at her for a moment. ‘Sorting out your brother’s handiwork—tracing his takeover bid so that it doesn’t happen again.’

Cara’s insides lurched. ‘You’re still working on it? But I thought…I thought you said it was crude…?’

He grimaced, ‘It was…but it was his very lack of sophistication that allowed him to do so much damage…’

Almost before she realised what she was doing, Cara found herself asking, ‘Is there anything I can do to help? I knew Cormac. I might be able to see things you can’t.’ She added almost defensively, ‘I really do have qualifications.’

Vicenzo looked at her steadily, with something burning deep in eyes which looked tawny in the candlelight flickering on the table in the still night air.

After a long moment, he said consideringly, ‘Why not…I? could do with someone to help with the number-crunching. As it is, I have to go to Rome in a few days, but I’d like to get ahead of things here first.’

Cara didn’t doubt he was testing her on some level, and found herself being shown into Vicenzo’s state-of-the-art study for the first time. It was huge, with computers and fax machines and copiers. Everything anyone could need in a modern office. He took her over to a table on which lay a printout of columns and figures. Immediately Cara felt at home. She knew numbers. She’d escaped into her study of numbers for the past few years in a bid to escape from Cormac.

He gestured to the table and Cara sat down. ‘What you see in front of you is the mess I’m still clearing up. Part of his attack was unleashing numerous viruses into our accountancy program. I’ve been trying to untangle it here first, just to make sure nothing gets missed.’

Cara looked at him and tried to hide her shock. To face the reality of what her devious brother had done was disconcerting, to say the least.

‘While the company is being more securely monitored than ever before, the breach has made me nervous—which is why I’m making sure I know exactly what your brother did before anyone else does.’

Shame rushed through Cara.

He stood back, arms crossed, legs planted wide. Every inch of him the dominant, powerful male. ‘I have to admit that the thought of you, his sister, offering to sort it out has a certain delectable irony.’

Cara hitched her chin up, determined not to let him get to her. ‘Why don’t you just show me what you want me to do?’

CHAPTER TEN

VICENZO looked over to where Cara was sitting cross-legged on the floor, with papers all around her. To his surprise they’d worked companionably until far later the previous evening than he’d expected, and when he’d come to his study this morning it had been to find Cara already there, working on what she’d started last night. It had made something uncomfortable prickle in his belly.

In the past few weeks he’d witnessed how much the miscarriage had taken out of her. Guilt, along with another much more disturbing emotion, had been warring within him. He’d done his best to give her space. But the questions remained… too many questions. Along with the disturbing revelation that the last thing on his mind was sending her away and saying good riddance.

She was dressed in the ubiquitous black, her hair piled messily on her head, with a pencil stuck through the heavy mass to keep it in place. All Vicenzo could see was the exquisite line of her neck as her head bent down. And an enticing side view of firm breasts. Her legs, long and pale. Every now and then she absently put out a hand and patted Doppo, who lay nearby, gazing at Cara adoringly.

And as Vicenzo watched Cara stroke Doppo’s head he knew he wanted to feel her hand on him, stroking him. All over, and where he throbbed unmercifully. He shifted uncomfortably and saw the way Cara’s back tensed momentarily. Was she as aware of him as he was of her?

Cara heard Vicenzo’s chair move behind her. It was hard enough trying to concentrate on the figures in front of her without hearing him move around. He came into her line of vision and she had to look up. She felt dizzy because he was at such a great height, so she stood too. He leant back against the table and crossed his arms. Cara steeled herself for whatever was coming.

‘So, if you didn’t go to college how did you get a degree?’

The innocuous question threw her. She didn’t know what she’d been expecting. Absently she pushed some hair behind her ear, her belly tightening when she saw his eyes follow the movement.

‘I did it through the Open University… Cormac didn’t approve of my going to college.’

‘And you always did what your brother told you?’ he asked mockingly. ‘Somehow I can’t quite believe that—although I can see the logic. No doubt you were of much more use to him without a college schedule messing up your hectic social lives.’

Cara’s hands clenched into fists by her sides. She’d done what her brother had told her because she’d had no choice—unless she’d have preferred being homeless on the streets of London from the age of sixteen. The fact that she’d pathetically hoped that some day Cormac would change and become the loving and protective big brother she’d always yearned for was a mocking embarrassment now.

‘I’ve already told you before that my life with my brother was not what you think.’

‘And how was it, then, Cara? How many poor deluded heiresses did you and your brother seduce into thinking that he loved them just so you could clean them out?’

Cara felt winded with hurt. How could she have forgotten for a second that once she was strong enough again Vicenzo would come after her. She whirled around to leave.