The Commanding Italian's Challenge

‘I made a vow years ago, Faye. Sworn over my parents’ graves.’ He placed a finger over her lips when she opened her mouth to ask what it was. ‘It’s private. Do you understand?’

She nodded jerkily, her heart racing. Sadly, she understood more than most.

‘Your arrival has thrown that vow into chaos. I’ve decided my only option is to break it. For a while. For my sanity. The consequences be damned.’

Those last words were arrows to her chest. ‘No. Maceo, you can’t—’

‘I can. I will.’

Implacable words forged in steely decision. She knew she couldn’t sway him from it.

A curious little sound left her throat as his fingers danced over her left clavicle.

‘Yesterday I wanted to taste the sweat that collected right here. For hours afterwards I could think of nothing else.’

The raw, hotly rasped words sucked the breath from her lungs. In an instant treacherous little fires ignited inside her. They stung her nipples into hard, needy points, poured heat between her thighs until she could barely sit still.

Maceo’s hand dropped to her waist, dragged her closer, and he caught one earlobe between his teeth. ‘From the moment you walked into my office I’ve been dying to know how long this river of hair runs. Now I know,’ he continued in that electrifying monotone, ‘and I will wrap it around any limb that takes my whim while I drown in the sweet scent of cherry blossom. And you will let me,’ he growled into her ear.

‘Will I?’ she returned, even as desire pooled in her belly.

‘Basta, arcobaleno. Basta,’ he chided. ‘Let’s not fight any more. We’ve exhausted every subject beneath the sun except this one.’

They hadn’t tackled one vital subject. Her.

Now she knew more of his past, the surer she was that any connection between them, physical or otherwise, would be an unforgivable mistake.

There was one other subject guaranteed to stop him, and although the feel of his warm lips trailing over her skin nearly stopped her from naming it, she closed her eyes and said, ‘Carlotta.’

He stiffened. Against her neck, she heard his harsh breathing.

‘I really must commend you for your exceptional ingenuity in summoning these roadblocks, arcobaleno,’ he breathed as he pulled back.

The pained derision in his voice suggested he was referring to an entirely different sort of blocking.

She shrugged. ‘I can’t dismiss her.’

He nodded, smoothing a finger almost thoughtfully over her lower lip. ‘Bene. Let’s get this over with too.’

He withdrew his touch and she had to clench her belly to stop herself from diving after it.

‘I went into that coma as a child. I emerged a man. The company was in serious trouble. Board members were furiously power-grabbing and Carlotta’s brothers were intent on seizing my birthright. I couldn’t let that happen.’ Tawny eyes darkened, inner demons swirling within. ‘I faced several months of physical rehabilitation, while she tried to gain firmer ground from where to fight the board. With our shares split under different names we were in a precarious position. It made sense to join forces. We married simply to stop the company from falling into the wrong hands when it became clear that was the only choice.’

‘So it was a marriage of convenience?’ God, was that hope in her voice? Had a part of her not yet accepted the folly of feeling anything for Maceo?

He nodded, trailing his knuckles down her cheek. Barely leashed hunger briefly flared to life. ‘Exactly so. A platonic marriage that benefited both of us once I was out of rehab.’

She gasped. ‘Platonic? You mean you...you didn’t...’

‘Share her bed? No, I did not.’

She stared at him, her breath caught in her throat. ‘But you were married for almost a decade.’

Piercing eyes hooked into hers. ‘If that’s your way of asking whether I sought pleasure or release elsewhere, the answer is no,’ he said, with the gravity she recognised now.

Faye believed him. From the start he’d seen her as an inconvenience thrust upon him. She wasn’t someone he needed to impress or concoct stories for in order to win her over. She was nowhere near the strata he inhabited.

He could have any woman he wanted...