Harlequin Presents July 2017 Box Set : Sicilian's Baby of Shame / Salazar's One-night Heir / the Secret Kept from the Greek / Claiming His Convenient Fiance (9781460351802)

by Marinelli, Carol; Hayward, Jennifer; Stephens, Susan; Anderson, Natalie

  “Why do you play hard to get?” he murmured. “Come on Cecily, give me a break. What do I have to do?”

  She tipped her head back to look up at him. “I am hard to get. I’ve told you more than once, I can’t see us together, Knox. It just isn’t there.”

  “Why not?”

  “It isn’t the kind of thing I can explain. It just is or isn’t.”

  “You won’t even try.” His hand dropped lower on her hip, dangerously close to her bottom. “You wear a dress like this, what am I supposed to do? Name your price, sugar. You want a stable full of the best horses in the world? They’re yours. A place in the south of France? I’ll give it to you. Some extra money for upkeep? It’ll be in your bank account.”

  She eyed him. “Upkeep?”

  “Well you know, most women I know like to do a nip or a tuck here or there. Keep up appearances.” He shrugged. “I’m good with that. It’s like tuning up a car every once in a while. I’d consider it part of the maintenance budget.”

  Her jaw dropped. “I’m twenty-five, Knox. What kind of maintenance do you think I need?”

  “I didn’t say you needed it. I said the option was there if you wanted it.”

  Lord have mercy. This was going to get ugly if she didn’t keep her mouth shut. Chin lifting at a defiant angle, she eyed his handsome, superior face. “The fact is… I’m interested in someone else.”

  A glimmer entered his blue gaze. “Who?”

  “It doesn’t matter.”

  “Sure it does. I am more than a bit curious to see who’s penetrated that frigid exterior of yours. I was starting to think it an impossible feat.”

  Her insides contracted at the direct hit. It was her Achilles’ heel that no one would ever want her for who she truly was. Her biggest fear that she would only ever be valuable for the legacy she carried. Davis had made sure of that.

  She gave him an unflinching look. “Quit acting ugly, Knox. Bow out gracefully.”

  His mouth twisted. “You could have bowed out gracefully. I flew hundreds of miles to see you, Cecily. I blew off a client to be here. You could have at least given me a heads-up.”

  Damn Kay and her meddling. A tense silence fell between them as the song dragged on. The near bullet she’d dodged became vividly clear. As Knox’s wife she would have been a high-priced possession, bought for her looks and poise. Another ornament to add to his mantelpiece. He would never have understood her like Colt did.

  She searched for him in the crowd. Found him in a group of stable hands who were fraternizing with some of the locals. Sharp knives of jealousy lanced through her as a beautiful brunette who lived in town pulled him onto the dance floor.

  Slim with stunning green eyes, her mother would have called her a tall drink of water. The brunette said something to Colt that made him laugh as he drew her into his arms, a lazy, sexy laugh she’d never heard him utter before.

  Her skin stung. The old Cecily would have pretended she didn’t care. Would have continued to deny how she felt—closed herself off behind her walls. The new Cecily found she couldn’t.

  * * *

  Alejandro threw back a long, cool beer after a few sets on the dance floor, the brunette glued to his side. She was stunning, absolutely his type, but he abhorred meaningless chatter, the only kind, it seemed, she knew.

  A scan of the space determined Cecily was still missing. Had been for the better part of a half-hour. Her smile, the not quite right one he’d been trying to ignore, flashed through his head.

  “Will you excuse me?” he drawled to the brunette, setting his bottle down on a table. “I need some fresh air.”

  Winding his way through the crowd before she could invite herself along, which he was sure she would, he exited the barn. It was deserted outside, the faint sound of music and chatter spilling out into a sultry, warm Kentucky night.

  He almost missed Cecily. He caught her on his second scan, arms folded over the top of the fence, face lifted to a star-blanketed sky. His steps soundless, he joined her, slinging his elbows over the fence.

  She turned a storm-tossed gaze on him. “Leave your fan club inside?”

  He ignored the jibe. “You going to tell me what’s wrong?”

  She sighed. Pushed a hand through her hair. “I had a fight with Daddy. A good one. Then Knox and I tangled just now.”

  “About?”

  “I told him it’s never happening between us.” Her mouth tightened. “He’s not good with taking no for an answer.”

  “In what way?”

  “He was angry. He wasn’t very nice about it.”

  “Let him be angry. You made your decision.”

  “I know. It’s just our families are good friends. And—” she bit her lip.

  “What?”

  “He called me frigid.”

  His fingers curled tight around the rail. Now he wanted to kick the guy’s teeth in. Damn good thing it was a surefire way to get his cover blown or he would.

  “He’s frustrated,” he rasped. “Forget about him. What were you arguing with your father about?”

  “You.” She turned to face him. “Daddy doesn’t want me working with you and Bacchus. I told him too bad, I’m taking charge of my life and career now.”

  Cristo. Shining a light on himself was not what he’d had in mind when he’d agreed to help her with her horse.

  “You might consider taking baby steps,” he counseled. “Give yourself time to think. Blowing your whole life up right now isn’t a good idea with everything you have on your plate.”

  Her lashes lowered. “I just feel like I’ve wasted enough time.”

  He shook his head. “You are so young, Cecily. You have your whole life ahead of you.”

  The band began to play a new song, the notes wafting along the breeze that rustled the leaves of the aristocratic magnolia tree above. It was their most notable tune—the lead singer’s raspy, deep voice crooning out the plaintive notes of the angsty ballad.

  “I love this song,” Cecily said quietly. “It’s about a girl who only ever gets what she doesn’t want. How it’s her curse to walk through this world alone.” She pressed a fist to her chest. “It gets me right here.”

  His heart stuttered. She didn’t have to explain why the song affected her so much. It was her.

  He held out his hand. “Dance with me then.”

  Her beautiful blue eyes fixed on his. Stepping away from the fence, she laced her fingers through his, slid her other hand around his waist and moved into his arms. It was a mistake, he knew it, as he pulled her close. But her damn vulnerability got to him every time.

  They danced in the moonlight, in perfect sync, silent as they enjoyed the song. Even the cynic in Alejandro knew it for the rarity it was—to be so in tune with someone, talking was unnecessary.

  She drifted closer, eliminating the respectable distance he’d forged between them. Her perfectly proportioned curves brushed the length of his body, her silky hair caressed his jaw, her breath teased the bare skin at the open neck of his shirt—heating his blood in all the most dangerous ways.

  “Cecily…” he murmured.

  “This isn’t working.”

  “What isn’t?”

  “Trying to ignore this thing between us.”

  His jaw set. “It’s the right thing to do.”

  “Why?” Challenging. Provocative.

  “I’ve already explained that.”

  “You want me,” she said pointedly. “I saw it on your face tonight when you walked in. That kiss we shared was amazing, you know it was.”

  “And that’s as far as it goes.”

  She stepped even closer, lifting up on tip toe to bring her mouth to his ear. “I can’t concentrate. All I can think about is that kiss. You. The entire time I was dan
cing with Knox I was thinking about you.”

  Blood pounded his temples. He was about to shut it down, to tell her no more kisses were happening when a smooth drawl drifted across the air.

  “So this is where you’re getting it from.” Knox Henderson stepped out of the shadows, a puff of round smoke from his cigar rising up in the air. He set his gaze on Cecily. “If I’d known you like to get down and dirty with a stable hand I would have lost the suits along with the kid gloves.”

  A cold fire flared in Alejandro’s gut. He set Cecily away from him, stepped forward and faced the man casually puffing away on the cigar. The glazed look in Henderson’s eyes said he’d had more than a few drinks.

  “I think you need to take that back,” Alejandro said quietly, “and go back inside.”

  “Oh, but I’m curious,” the other man demurred. “She leads me on, lets me fly down here, only for me to find she’s screwing someone else. Can’t blame me for wanting to check out the competition.”

  Alejandro took a step closer, fingers curling into fists at his sides. “Now you have. Accept that she isn’t interested and step inside.”

  Henderson lifted a brow. “Accept she wants to bang a stable hand? Sorry if I can’t stomach that. It’s just too much.”

  Alejandro moved so quickly, Henderson was still drawing a puff of his cigar when he wrapped a fist around his shirt collar. “I’m giving you one more chance,” he snarled. “Apologize.”

  The other man’s mouth curved in a mean smile. “I don’t think so.”

  A fist connected with Alejandro’s jaw in a lightning fast punch Alejandro never saw coming. A white-hot sting radiating through his head, he swung his fist in an upper right hook. A fractured cry escaping her throat, Cecily jumped between them, Alejandro barely managing to pull his fist back before it connected with her instead of Henderson.

  “Stop it. Both of you. Stop.”

  Fury consuming him, Alejandro was almost past the point of listening. Only the panicked look on Cecily’s face pulled him back from the edge.

  Cecily glared at Knox. “Inside,” she ordered, pointing toward the barn. “Right now.”

  Knox looked down at her, a derisive smile curling his lips. “You know what? You’re right. You aren’t worth it.”

  * * *

  Cecily escorted Knox back to the party, not trusting him not to instigate something else if she didn’t. Seeing him safely to a group of friends, she took some ice from one of the coolers in the serving area and left via the back entrance.

  Taking a circuitous route to the staff accommodations so no one would see her, she knocked on the door to Colt’s cabin. He opened the door a moment later. Her gaze flew to the red mark on his jaw, some swelling already visible in the moonlight.

  “Oh, God, Colt, I am so sorry.”

  He put a hand to his jaw. “It’s fine. No big deal.”

  “It’s swelling already.” She held up the bag of ice. “We can put this on it.”

  “I can,” he corrected, reaching for the bag.

  She held it behind her back. “Let me come in and do it. I feel so guilty. I can’t believe Knox was such a buffoon.”

  He fixed a dark, unyielding stare on her. “Give me the ice, Cecily. You know you coming in is a bad idea.”

  She firmed her mouth. “Let me come in and make sure you’re okay, then I’ll leave.”

  They stared each other down. “Fine,” he said, stepping back.

  She slipped through the door and kicked off her shoes. Extremely basic, the cabin consisted of a queen-sized bed, a chest of drawers, an armchair by the window and a tiny cooking area. Colt hadn’t personalized the space, in keeping with his drifter persona.

  When that struck a raw place in her throat, she shoved it from her head and moved to the kitchen area to wrap the ice in a towel.

  “Sit,” she said, pointing to the chair.

  He did. She perched on the arm and pressed the cloth full of ice to his jaw, making him wince.

  “He hurt you.”

  He gave her a grim look. “You might have let me retaliate.”

  “It would have cost you your job.” Knox would have made sure of it.

  A silence fell between them in the intimate stillness of the cabin. “I asked Daddy about Mama today,” she finally said to break it. “About what they were arguing about the day she died.”

  “What did he say?”

  “He wouldn’t tell me. He said it was between him and my mother. That I should let it go.”

  “Maybe you should.” He eyed her. “Marriages get rocky. Trust me. It’s a fact of life.”

  “Was your parents’ marriage difficult?”

  “My parents don’t actually have a marriage.” Cynicism stained his voice. “They have an open-ended partnership they draw upon when needed—utterly dysfunctional and scarily efficient all at the same time.”

  “Oh.” Maybe that explained some of the closed-offness of him. Why he never settled down. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be. I’m sure it works better than a great percentage of American marriages.”

  She had no doubt it did. Except she knew the magic did exist, because, despite the fiery nature of their union, her parents had loved each other. Adored each other. She just hadn’t found that magic yet.

  A dark hollow dug its way through her insides, Knox’s words ringing in her ears. Maybe it was true. Maybe she wasn’t capable of love—of giving herself to someone else. Maybe she would never have it.

  She adjusted the ice higher on his jaw. “I know I should let it go—what happened that day—it’s just Mama’s behavior was so off. Something never felt right about it. I think maybe if I understood what happened I could let go.”

  “And maybe it would only confuse you more.”

  “Maybe.”

  His sexy scent wrapped itself around her. No point in wearing that in the barn, she conceded, but she couldn’t help but absorb how perfectly the spicy, masculine scent highlighted this more urbane version of Colt. How utterly incapable she was of ignoring either version of him—the sweaty, earthy male she encountered in the barn every day or this drop dead gorgeous version of him. Both were irresistible.

  And suddenly she didn’t want to ignore it. Suddenly, she didn’t care about what was wise or smart anymore, about maintaining concentration on the end goal. Perhaps it was Knox’s cruel words or Davis’s humiliation of her that drove her—but she needed to know that kiss with Colt hadn’t just been a flash in the pan. That she was worth something. That Knox was wrong.

  “Colt?”

  “Mm?” She could see the dark glitter of attraction staining his amazing eyes. That he couldn’t hide.

  “Let me stay.”

  “No.” Hard. Implacable.

  She bit her lip. Swallowed her pride, because sometimes it got in the way of expressing what her heart truly wanted—this inability of hers to be vulnerable.

  She set her gaze on his. “I’m not good at this—you know I’m not. I’m an expert at pushing people away, at avoiding intimate relationships. Maybe it’s because I’ve been hurt too much. Maybe I’m simply not capable of it. But with you,” she said solemnly, “with the chemistry we share, it’s innate, it’s just there. And I need that tonight. I need to be with you.”

  An emotion she couldn’t read flickered in his eyes. “Cecily—”

  She held up a hand. “What I’m saying is I want this one night. I know you’re going to walk away—it’s good that you are, because my career is the most important thing in the world to me right now. But this, us, I want to know it.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ALEJANDRO’S HEART JOLTED in his chest. He could have taken just about anything she’d thrown at him and put the breaks on this insanity—but that—that was like a kick to the teeth. />
  He ran a hand over his jaw, unfamiliar wiry stubble scraping his palm. How could he say yes? How could he say no? What must it have cost her to expose herself like that? And yet she had.

  Reason battled with madness. So he gave her that one night she was asking for? Showed to her, proved to her for one night of her life that she was special, that she was worth more than that jerk Knox Henderson. That she should hold out for everything she wanted and deserved. Was that really so crazy?

  And really, how much worse could this get? He’d already gotten so involved, made such a mess of it, that nothing short of him walking away from here in a day’s time was going to fix it.

  He raked a hand through his hair. “I’m not sure your head is on straight right now. That you’re not going to wake up tomorrow with a massive ‘seize the moment’ hangover and regret this.”

  She shook her head. “I know what I’m doing.”

  Alejandro considered himself an honorable man. A good man. But as Cecily slipped off the chair and moved her fingers to the side zipper of her dress, he knew he wasn’t a saint.

  Eyes on his, she slipped the sexy red dress off her shoulders and let it slip to the floor. His throat went dry. The lacy underwear she wore beneath it was a rich garnet that contrasted deliciously with her honey gold skin, the body the lace encased so perfectly formed it surpassed every one of his earlier fantasies.

  “You should lock the door,” he rasped.

  Her eyes glittered. She kicked the dress aside, walked to the door and locked it. As she turned and moved back to him, her stride smooth and unashamed in her nakedness, a switch flicked inside of him and he was completely and irrevocably lost.

  He pulled her onto his lap, her legs straddling his thighs. Cupping her nape, he exerted a light pressure to bring her mouth down to his. Open mouthed and hot, their kisses inflamed his senses. His hands at her hips, he held her in place for his delectation, each kiss unlike any he’d experienced before—so pure and real they stripped him bare. As if they were uncovering layers of each other that had yet to be explored.

  Wanting, needing to touch her beautiful body, he ran his palms up the hot, smooth skin of her back, luxuriating in her silken perfection. A sigh slipped from her lips, a decadent, hedonistic release of air that made him smile.