The Fiancée Caper

by Maureen Child

  The master bedroom also had a wall of glass affording a view of a tenth-floor terrace and the spectacular sweep of nighttime London. Everything in the room was white again, of course.

  The oversized bed was against one wall, facing a huge flat-screen TV that hung over a wide fireplace. There were built-in dressers and a walk-in closet and an attached bath that boasted miles of white tile, a bathtub that looked like a gigantic white canoe and a waterfall setup in lieu of a shower.

  She might not love all of the white, but Marie could appreciate the luxury of the place even though the style was nothing she would have picked. “You’re not here to be a decorator, Marie,” she told herself firmly.

  Turning to the closet, she looked through everything quickly, neatly. She didn’t want Coretti to know anyone had been here. She checked pockets of coats, jackets and slacks. At least the man had taste when it came to clothes. She rifled through drawers and tried not to notice that the thief in question preferred black silk boxers. So not the issue.

  When she found nothing, she went down on her knees to look under the bed. Everyone hid things under their beds, didn’t they? She spotted a flat, long box and grinned.

  “Secrets, Coretti?” she whispered, stretching out on the floor to reach one arm out for it. Her fingernails scraped along the side of the wooden box and she frowned, scooting closer, wedging herself farther under the bed.

  Suddenly she went still. Was that a noise? Marie held her breath and waited one second. Two. Then she told herself it was just the nerves battering at her mind and heart. Everything was fine. She was alone in this cold palace. And she was just moments away from discovering whatever it was Gianni Coretti thought was worth hiding. A little farther and...got it! She drew the box closer and whispered, “So what am I going to find in there?”

  “The question is,” a deep voice announced from somewhere behind her, “what is it I’ve found?”

  Marie only had a second to shriek in surprise before two strong hands grabbed hold of her ankles and yanked her away from the bed.

  * * *

  Gianni had known the moment he entered his flat that he wasn’t alone. Call it a sixth sense. Call it an ingrained survival instinct, whichever. He’d felt the difference in the place immediately and had slipped effortlessly into the kind of moves he’d left behind him more than a year ago.

  Well, thought he’d left behind him. Seemed lifelong skills never really left you. He moved through the apartment without a sound, his body nearly liquid in the way he slipped past furniture and along the walls, blending into shadows. Moonlight slid through the rooms, painting walls and floors in shades of ivory and cream. Gianni listened, tuning his ears to the slightest sound. A whisper of clothing. An unguarded sigh. A scuff of shoes on the floor.

  He didn’t so much as glance at the wall of windows as he passed, not noticing his own reflection stalking along with him. He moved through familiar rooms and felt that tingle of awareness bubble inside like fine champagne. He focused and followed the instincts clamoring inside him.

  The hallway seemed longer than usual, since he was forced to pause and check out the guest rooms and the baths. But he knew even as he made that quick inspection that the intruder wasn’t there. He couldn’t have explained how he knew, but again, he felt it in his bones. Instinct, intuition, whatever it was, pulled at him and he went with it, continuing on down the hall to the master bedroom.

  He heard her before he saw her. Talking to herself in hushed whispers. Her voice sounded low, throaty, and had him intrigued before he even saw her. Gianni stopped on the threshold and looked down at the woman lying on his floor, with one arm stretched out under the bed.

  Not a cop.

  No cop he’d ever known was built like that.

  He did a quick, appreciative scan. Red silk blouse tucked into a very short, figure-hugging black skirt, long, shapely legs and on her small feet a pair of black, four-inch heels.

  Definitely not a cop.

  His body stirred with pure appreciation. He wanted a look at her. Not just to discover who she was, but to see if her face was as good as the rest of her.

  He bent down, grabbed her ankles and pulled. Her shriek of surprise sounded like music. Not only had he caught his intruder, but there was also the added benefit of sliding her skirt up even higher on her thighs.

  Even as that thought registered, though, she twisted in his grasp, yanked free of his grip, pulled her skirt down with one hand and kicked out at him with one of those lethal heels.

  “Hey!” Gianni leaped back in time to avoid being impaled.

  She scrambled back from him, green eyes wide, her tumble of short, dark red curls falling across her forehead until she shook them back out of her way. Climbing to her feet she braced herself as if readying for a fight and he almost laughed at the idea.

  “I’m not going to fight you,” he said, voice tight.

  The woman laughed and shook her head. “Your mistake.”

  She made a quick move, sliding toward him, striking out with one hand. If he’d been less prepared, she might have caught him off guard. As it was, Gianni grabbed her hand, spun her around, then gave her a push that sent her sprawling across his bed.

  Before she could even think about moving, Gianni straddled her hips, pinning her to the wide mattress.

  “Get off of me!” Her voice was loud and commanding and clearly American.

  Her eyes fired green ice at him and maybe that tone of hers would have worked on someone less motivated. But he wasn’t giving an inch. Not until he had some answers.

  “You’re not going anywhere. Not just yet anyway,” he told her, dropping his hands onto her shoulders when she started to buck and writhe in an effort to roll him off of her. At the same time, she lifted one knee and slammed it into his back.

  “That’s enough of that,” he ordered.

  “Stop me,” she challenged, fighting his grip on her shoulders even as she continued to twist beneath him.

  “Don’t think I will,” he said, his voice dropping to a low rumble. “In fact, I’m actually enjoying all of the writhing you’re doing.”

  Well, that did it. As if he’d tossed a bucket of ice water on her, she went completely still. And a good job it was, he told himself, since his body was hard and getting harder. It wasn’t every day he had a gorgeous stranger beneath him and apparently, his groin was proud to show appreciation for the moment.

  Her eyes were still flashing fury. Her breathing was fast and had her high, full breasts rising and falling in a temptation of movement that captured his complete attention. The red silk blouse she wore boasted tiny ivory buttons that were even now slipping free. Tempting, he mused, then forced his mind to focus more on the woman—intruder—than the delectable body beneath him.

  “Good,” he said. “Now that you’ve calmed down, you can tell me what you’re doing in my home.”

  “Get off of me, then we’ll talk,” she said through clenched teeth.

  Gianni laughed. “Do I actually look that stupid?” Shaking his head he asked again, “What are you doing here?”

  She huffed out a breath, thought for a moment, then tried for sultry as she said, “I was waiting for you. I thought we could...party.”

  Amused and intrigued, Gianni watched her face and could see the calculation in her eyes. “Did you?”

  It was a second or two before she grumbled something unintelligible and admitted, “Fine. No, I didn’t.”

  A shame, he thought wryly. Finding a woman under his bed was nearly as tempting as finding one in his bed. Especially when she looked like this woman. But lust aside, he needed to know how she had gotten into his flat and, more importantly, what the hell she was doing there.

  “If you’re not here for my company, then why are you here? What is it you’re after?”

  She didn’t sp
eak, merely glared at him, which Gianni told himself, she wouldn’t be doing if she knew how that flash of passion in those green eyes of hers was affecting him. It had been some time since merely looking at a woman had his blood burning and his groin aching. But this one had something special. Perhaps it was the fierce expression on such a short and curvy body. Or perhaps it was just that he’d been too long without a woman.

  “Nothing to say then?” he asked. “Then let me explain for you. The only possible explanation for your presence here tonight is that you’re a thief. A lovely one to be sure,” he added, gaze sweeping across those full breasts before he continued. “But a thief all the same. If you think you will find me more forgiving than most victims of a break-in, I assure you I won’t be.”

  “I didn’t break—”

  He cut her off mainly because he sensed she wasn’t going to tell him the truth anyway. “I’m curious as to how you got into my flat and what you thought you were going to find. And, believe me when I say I will find these answers before you go anywhere, little thief.”

  Her mouth dropped open. Shaking her head, she choked out a short laugh and stared up at him in complete wonderment. “You’re the only thief in this room, Coretti.”

  “Ah,” he said, even more interested now. “You know me. So this is not a random burglary.”

  “It’s not a—”

  “You are definitely the most well-dressed burglar I have ever seen,” he acknowledged with another slow look over her body.

  Gritting her teeth, she said, “I’m not a burglar.”

  “Then you are a small-time thief come to me for lessons? If you know of me and my family, you should also know that we don’t take on apprentices and even if we did, let me assure you this is not the way to earn my admiration.” Amusement gone from his voice, he snapped out, “Who are you and why exactly are you here?”

  “I’m the woman with enough evidence to see your father sent to prison.”

  All right, Gianni thought coldly. Now she had his attention.

  Two

  The amused glint in his dark brown eyes disappeared in a flash. Marie took a breath and tried to get her heartbeat to stop racing. Not an easy thing to do now that her “plan” was shot. She hadn’t counted on him coming home early and catching her while she snooped. Hadn’t planned on him dragging her out from under his bed, then tossing her onto the mattress and taking a seat across her midsection, either. And, she was forced to admit that having his hard, oh-so muscular body pressing down on top of hers felt much better than it should have.

  He was taller than she’d thought he would be and boy he smelled good—a subtle blend of spice and man that made her want to take a long deep breath and hold on to it, just to keep that scent inside her. But she wasn’t here to be seduced or to allow her own hormones to take over and fan the fires that were flickering within.

  Because, she reminded herself, she’d already made that mistake once. She’d allowed a thief to distract her—and she wouldn’t do that again.

  Damn it. How had this all gone so wrong?

  The plan had been to confront him in her own time, in a place of her choosing so that she had the upper hand. Now, she was pretty much at his mercy. And judging by the hard light in his eyes, mercy was going to be in short supply.

  So, Marie did what she always did when she was the underdog. She jumped in and went on the offensive. “Get off of me and we’ll talk.”

  “You start talking and I’ll get off of you,” he countered.

  So much for that attempt. Moonlight poured through the wall of windows and slashed across his hard features like a silvery warning light. What should have been soft and romantic instead looked somehow ominous, throwing his eyes and the grim slash of his mouth into shadow.

  Marie took a breath—shallow though it was—and braced herself for the confrontation she’d been working toward for months. All of her careful plans had crumbled underneath her simply because he’d come home early for probably the first time in his entire life. If you thought about it, this was really all his fault.

  Her attitude slapped back into place at that thought and she shifted beneath him, shooting him an angry glare. “It’s hard to breathe with you sitting on me.”

  He didn’t budge. “Then you should speak quickly. What evidence do you have against my father?”

  Clearly, she’d lost this round.

  “A photo.”

  He snorted. “A photograph? Please, Ms. Whoever-you-are. You’ll have to do better than that. Everyone knows photos are too easily digitally retouched these days to mean anything.”

  “This one hasn’t been,” she assured him. She hadn’t had to retouch anything. “It’s a little dark maybe, but you can see your father clearly enough.”

  She wouldn’t have thought it possible, but his features went even colder and more remote than they had been. And if possible, he became even more good-looking. “I’m supposed to take your word for this? I don’t even know your name.”

  “It’s Marie. Marie O’Hara.”

  He eased up on her diaphragm just enough to allow her a deep breath and Marie appreciated it.

  “That’s a start,” he said tightly. “Keep talking. How do you know me? My family?”

  “You’re not serious, right?” she asked, stunned that he could even ask that question.

  The Coretti family had been the focus of speculation for decades. Catching one of them in the act of relieving someone of their jewels was a recurring dream of police officers around the globe. That he could even ask that question was ridiculous.

  “You’re the Corettis. The most infamous family of jewel thieves in the world.”

  His jaw flexed as though he were grinding his teeth. Good thing? Bad? Didn’t matter.

  “Alleged jewel thieves,” he corrected, gaze fixed with hers. “We’ve never been charged with a crime.”

  “Because there was never any evidence,” she said. “Until now.”

  That muscle in his jaw ticked continuously now. “You’re bluffing.”

  She met his gaze. “I don’t bluff.”

  He studied her for so long, Marie was sure he could have given a pore-by-pore description of her. But finally, he shook his head and asked, “Why should I believe anything a woman I caught breaking and entering has to say?”

  “I didn’t break,” she reminded him. “I just entered.”

  Fascinating really, to watch his eyes narrow until they were slits even as the muscle in his jaw twitched furiously.

  His next question addressed the anger obviously churning inside him. “What do you mean you just entered? How did you get in here?”

  She snorted at the seriousness of his expression. “Seriously? All it took was a short skirt and very high heels and your doorman practically bowed me into the elevator.” Marie remembered the lascivious glint in the man’s eyes and she knew that she wasn’t the first of Gianni Coretti’s women to be given that special treatment. “He didn’t even ask for ID. He assured me no key was required to let myself in since he keyed me in to the one elevator that goes only to your penthouse apartment. He wasn’t even surprised to find I was there when you weren’t home. Apparently there’s a constant stream of women running in and out of this apartment.”

  He frowned a little at that and she had the satisfaction of knowing that she’d scored a point—however small—against him. She needed that. For what she had to do, it was necessary to have Gianni Coretti on board. Marie hated knowing that she required a thief’s assistance, but without him, she would never be able to do what she’d come to Europe to do.

  “Clearly,” he said, “I’m going to have to speak to the doorman.”

  Seeing the irritation on his face, she smiled. “Oh, I don’t know. Seemed to me like you already have him very well trained—escorting your ‘companions�
�� to the elevator and allowing them into your apartment—whether you’re home or not.”

  His mouth worked as if he were chewing on words that tasted too bitter to swallow. “Fine. You’ve made your point. Now explain why you’re here. I rarely find a guest in my home searching under my bed. So what is it you were looking for?”

  “More evidence.”

  A short, sharp laugh shot from his throat. “More evidence?”

  She scowled at him. “I have one picture. I wanted more.”

  His frown deepened. “Why?”

  “I need your help.”

  He laughed.

  Still sitting astride her, he threw his head back and roared with laughter. Marie was so stunned, she could only stare up at him and think wildly, he’s even more gorgeous with that wide smile on his face. She wasn’t here to notice the man’s obvious attractions, though, so she tried not to notice that his eyes were the rich brown of melted dark chocolate. Or that his mouth was enticing, his jaw was square and freshly shaven. She did not want to touch his thick black hair, which was just long enough to curl seductively over his shirt collar.

  The heat from his body was sliding down into hers and as he laughed, her body shook in time with his. Her brain fuzzed out a little, but she fought for clarity. No doubt any woman would have felt a little...unsteady with Gianni Coretti planted firmly on top of her.

  Finally the rolling thunder of his laughter died away and, still shaking his head, he looked down at her. “You need my help. That’s brilliant. You invade my home, threaten my family and expect me to help you?”

  “If you think I’m happy about this, you’re wrong,” she assured him. Marie hated needing him. But, she told herself, to catch a thief, it was going to take a thief.

  “And to ensure that I grant you this favor—you, what? Plan a bit of blackmail?”

  “You wouldn’t have invited me in if I’d simply come to speak to you.”