She stepped closer and he turned to her without warning.
‘Just stop with your details for once and get the hell out of this room.’ His voice was harsh and he watched her eyes widen with shock.
‘Leo... I’m sorry if I’ve said something to bother you.’
‘I’m fine,’ he gritted. ‘I need to go find the housekeeper. You can finish the rest of the tour by yourself.’
He turned on his heel and strode from the room. It took all his strength not to run as if he was being chased by the ghosts that plagued his memory.
He should never have come back to this place. It made him feel things he’d vowed never to feel again. But it wasn’t Dara’s fault that he was on edge, and he made a mental note to make it up to her once he’d got his temper under control.
* * *
After three hours spent cataloguing every room of the castello Dara needed a shower. Badly. Out of the entire estate only three bedrooms were kept open and maintained, along with the kitchen, one of the dining rooms and a downstairs salon. Every other room was closed up, its furniture sheathed in ghostly white dust covers.
Still, it was rather magical, being the only person wandering around a place filled with so much character. Leo had left the castle entirely, leaving a message with the housekeeper to tell her that they would be having dinner at six. His desertion didn’t faze her. She’d enjoyed her time alone with her work. The thought of all of the possibilities that this place held made her giddy as she chose a bedroom with an en-suite bathroom and set about having a hot shower to wash off all the dust.
Weddings could be held here in any season, she mused as she towel-dried her hair into soft waves at the gilt dressing table by the bed. Outdoor summer ceremonies overlooking the cliffs...candlelit winter feasts in the ballroom. She really did adore her job, and she knew could make this castello beautiful again—bring it back to life. Not only would she be known for planning the wedding of the year, but she would also have exclusive rights to one of the most sought-after venues in the country.
Once she had dressed, in a simple black wrap dress and her trusty heels, she made her way down to the dining room for dinner.
Leo stood at the fireplace, stepping forward as he entered the room.
‘Glad to see you’ve returned.’ She breezed past him, determined not to show how his continued coldness was affecting her.
Leo helped her into one of the chairs at the end of a ridiculously long banquet table. ‘I hope you’re hungry? Maria has outdone herself.’
Their place-settings were side by side—much more convenient than having to shout across the room to one another along the length of the table.
‘This is quite intimate for a simple meal.’ She poured herself a glass of wine, noticing that each of the antique candelabra had been lit around the room. The overall effect was beautiful, and strangely romantic. ‘All we’re missing is a violinist and I’d feel like a real aristocrat,’ she joked.
‘I’ll make a note of that.’ He smiled as Maria began serving an array of delicately prepared seafood.
The smell of lemon-drizzled prawns filled the air, to be followed by pesce spada and oven-roasted vegetables. Swordfish was her personal favourite since moving to Sicily.
They spoke of Dara’s thoughts on the renovations, and Leo listened intently to her excited plans. By the time the housekeeper cleared their plates Dara’s hunger had been well and truly satisfied.
Leo finished off his glass of wine, thanking Maria for her service and refusing dessert. They were both in favour of allowing the older woman to go home for the night after such a spectacular meal.
Leo sat forward in his seat once they were alone, his green eyes darker than usual in the muted lighting. ‘I wanted to apologise for my behaviour, Dara.’
‘You have no need to apologise for anything. We are both entitled to change our minds.’
‘Is that what you think happened?’ He shook his head. ‘Dara, look at me. I haven’t changed my mind about anything. Not one bit. I just felt I had coerced you into this. Had been heavy-handed.’
She felt something lift inside her, knowing he hadn’t rejected her. Not that it made his treatment of her any less harsh. ‘I’m a grown woman who can make her own choices, you know. I wouldn’t have been willing to—you know...if it wasn’t something I wanted.’
Leo laughed, ‘It seems I’ve made a complete mess of this.’
He held her gaze for a moment before standing up.
‘I want to show you the beach before it gets dark—would you walk with me?’
Dara hesitated, looking down at her shoes. ‘It’s October...’
‘We can take ten minutes to enjoy the sunset—you won’t freeze. Don’t deny yourself the little pleasures in life. It’s not always about the bigger picture.’
Dara followed Leo through the kitchens and down some stone steps at the back of the castle. The courtyard was growing darker by the minute as they traversed the gardens towards the cliff face.
Leo removed his shoes, leaving them at the top of the stone steps. He turned back to her, looking to where she stood poised on the top step.
‘Come on, do something spontaneous for once.’
‘I’m not as rigid as you seem to believe I am,’ she said, and slid off her delicate heels.
Dara took his arm as they descended the stone steps to the beach below the cliffs. She felt slight terror at the height, but Leo gripped her hand tight until they set foot on the sand.
‘My tutor brought me down here sometimes for science lessons.’ He picked up a small stone, throwing it across to land in the water with a splash. ‘He was the most uninteresting man I have ever known.’
Dara was intrigued at his sudden willingness to talk about his childhood. ‘You didn’t go to school?’
‘The schools around here were too common for my father. He believed himself and his family far too important. I had many tutors. All in the castle.’
‘That sounds rather lonely.’
‘I never knew any different.’ He shrugged. ‘It was just the way things were.’
Dara imagined the young boy she had seen in the photographs all alone, wandering the castle grounds. ‘Did your mother approve of your isolation?’
Leo walked further down the beach towards a small marina nestled into the cliff face. ‘My mother didn’t really have an opinion on very much.’
Dara followed closely behind him, ‘You seemed quite angry when I went into her bedroom today.’
‘Family history is not my favourite topic.’ He said, surveying the small dock.
‘I understand that.’ Dara understood all too well.
She watched as Leo stepped forward onto the rickety wooden pier. There was one boat tied up to a post. Wood rotten and black in some parts, it was amazing it hadn’t succumbed to the ocean already. She would imagine the weather could get pretty rough here during high tide.
Leo cleared a place on the dock so that they could sit and watch the sun sinking down into the sea.
‘What about you, Dara? Any skeletons in your perfectly organised little closet?’
She shrugged. ‘I suppose everyone has some event or relationship in their past that shapes their future.’
‘That was a very polite way of deflecting my question.’
‘I don’t have some sort of deep, dark secret, if that’s what you mean. My childhood was quite normal. No sob stories, no traumatic events.’
He turned to look at her briefly. ‘Well, then, what made you move away from such a perfect happy life?’
‘My career brought me here and I decided to stay.’
‘And yet you have never replaced Mr Ex-Fiancé? Did it end badly?’
‘Very few relationships end calmly and logically.’ She toyed with the hem of her dress, feeling
uncomfortable at the turn this conversation had taken.
‘So what was it that made you decide you weren’t going to marry him?’ Leo asked.
She sighed, shrugging one shoulder. Clearly he wasn’t going to give up on this line of questioning any time soon, so she might as well give him something. ‘Dan was a very successful doctor—a highly regarded surgeon. Top of his field. He made it clear that he wanted the professional family set-up. You know...loving wife with dinner on the table, two darling children to kiss goodnight. He had all the details planned—including the name of the Golden Retriever we would have.’
‘Sounds very detailed. A match made in heaven, I would think.’
‘On paper, I suppose it was. I thought it was what I wanted. Thought it would make us both happy. But in the end I just didn’t tick all of the boxes.’
‘You couldn’t give him the Golden Retriever?’ Leo asked playfully.
Dara felt her breath catch in her throat, the memory of that day in the hospital crashing down on her.
‘I couldn’t give him children.’
Leo’s smile faded. ‘And that was a problem for him?’
She nodded, ‘I found out when we had been engaged for a little over a year. Three months before our wedding was planned. I had been feeling ill and I went into hospital for some tests. The doctors were beginning to worry that there was something sinister going on.’
Dara remembered her fear when nobody had been able to give her any answers for her strange symptoms. She’d been twenty-three. The doctors had never even considered that premature menopause might be the cause for her chronic headaches, insomnia, hot flushes. The day her doctor had sat her down and told her she was becoming infertile and there was no cure...
‘When I told Dan he was very understanding at first. The medical mind in him made him want to know all the details and consult some colleagues. We tried to salvage what few eggs I might have left, but it was too late.’
Leo laid a hand over hers and she fought the urge to pull away. He would pity her now—just as her entire family did. Poor barren Dara and her useless body. The old self-loathing threatened to overpower her.
She stood up quickly, shaking the sand off her dress in quick sharp movements.
‘What happened with your fiancé?’ Leo stood too, looking at her warily, as though afraid she would run away at any moment.
‘Isn’t it obvious?’ Dara shook her head, a harsh laugh escaping her lips. ‘He wanted a wife who could procreate. It was a pretty straightforward situation.’
‘He left you because of your condition? What a heartless bastard.’ Leo looked furious.
Dara sighed, looking out at the red-tinged sky. Leo didn’t understand how difficult things had been in the months leading up to her diagnosis. She had been ill with headaches every day, and deathly tired. And sex had been so painful they had stopped having any at all. It had felt as if every single trace of her femininity had died in the hospital that day, along with her hopes of ever being a mother.
Lying in her hospital bed, she had overheard her father speaking with Dan in hushed tones in the hallway outside. The two men who were both supposed to have loved her, talking about how she was ‘barren as the desert’ and what a shame it was as she was so beautiful—as if it had stained her in some way.
Leo looked appalled. ‘Did this Dan treat every woman like a prize mare or was it just you?’
‘He had a very clear plan for his life. We both did. I decided to offer him a chance to reconsider our relationship. It knew it wasn’t easy for him to be with me all those months. I was irritable all the time, and I had virtually no interest in sex. If he’d stayed with me he would never have fathered a child the normal way.’
‘Like I said— he was heartless,’ Leo said plainly, looking her straight in the eyes. ‘It’s not your fault that nature did this to you. You should never have been made to feel inferior.’
‘I was never very family-orientated, but I suppose I always just presumed I would have children one day. Now that the choice has been taken from me I’m actually quite happy to focus on my career.’
She had her arms wrapped around herself. Leo felt the urge to embrace her, but decided against it. He now understood why she was so ambitious, so driven and serious. She had immersed herself in her career, moved to a new country—all in an effort to outrun her painful past. In a way they were quite similar.
This conversation had got far too deep for two people who had only met a few short days ago.
Dara looked at him, her expression one of quiet contemplation. ‘I’m sorry, I should never have allowed this to get so personal.’
‘Never apologise to me, Dara.’ He stepped closer, ‘Not for this. Don’t ever let anyone think that you are less of a woman because of your condition.’
‘With the way things were with Dan, I thought I was destined to live a life of celibacy. And then you came along and all of a sudden I feel...sexual again. I almost feel normal.’
‘In my experience, what we feel when we touch is far from “normal”.’ Leo felt arousal thrum in his veins as she nipped her teeth along her lower lip. ‘I want nothing more right now than to drag you up to the nearest bed and bury myself deep inside you until you can’t think.’
‘Oh...’ she breathed, her voice husky with desire. ‘I should be appalled at such a primitive statement...’
‘You’re not, though—are you?’ He stepped closer, moulding his body against her soft warmth. Holding her to him so that she could feel just how badly he wanted her.
‘No. I want you to take me right here on this beach,’ she said plainly, a smile playing on her sensual mouth.
Leo claimed her mouth in a hard kiss, any thought of gentle seduction gone from his mind. He kissed her until their breath was ragged, her lips swollen and pink.
Grabbing her by the hand, he began powering across the sand to the stone steps.
‘What happened to doing it right here?’ she asked breathlessly, colour high on her cheeks as they practically ran up the beach.
‘I think I can manage to get you to a bed at least once. I won’t have you thinking I’m a complete barbarian.’
He winked, gathering her up into his arms swiftly before she could protest.
‘Nope, not a barbarian at all.’ She laughed as he carried her up the steps two at a time.
CHAPTER SIX
LEO SET HER down in the middle of his bedroom, his breathing only slightly laboured from the exertion. ‘There will be no stopping tonight,’ he warned, as he pulled off his shirt.
She began unwrapping the tie of her dress, her hands trembling with excitement as she watched him unzip his jeans. Watching him undress, she let her hands still in their progress. Her mouth felt completely dry as she took in his smooth, muscular abs, the dusting of dark hair on his chest that trailed down his stomach in a perfect line.
‘Are you just going to watch me or take off some clothes yourself?’ he challenged.
‘Shut up and kiss me,’ she growled, throwing her hands around his neck and glorying in the feeling of having his mouth on hers again.
It wasn’t enough. She moaned, running her fingertips along his shoulders, feeling the muscles bunch under her touch.
Suddenly his hands were everywhere, caressing her neck, cupping her breasts. He pulled her tight and pressed her hard against the door behind her. She felt herself held between its hard surface and his hard body and moaned again.
He undid the tie of her dress, pulling the material down her shoulders and letting it pool on the floor. She stood there, in her plain white bra and lacy thong, and gloried in the look of appreciation on his face.
Removing her bra to free her breasts, he kissed each tip briefly before running his hands down her abdomen slowly. Without warning he sank to his knees in front of her.
/> Dara felt her body freeze momentarily as his lips touched against the material of her underwear. She had tried this once in the past, but hadn’t liked the sense of exposure it gave her. She debated pulling him up to kiss him again, only to feel his hands pulling the material swiftly to one side.
His mouth pressed against her sex—hard and hot. His tongue darted slowly between her folds, stroking against her in a rhythm so slow and firm she thought she might melt. The sensation of being kissed and licked so intimately by him was far removed from anything she had ever felt before. She didn’t feel exposed...she felt worshipped.
Her orgasm built slowly, every inch of her body tightening to an almost painful peak before exploding in a spectacular release. She let herself give in to this gift he was giving her, murmuring with satisfaction as the tremors subsided.
That little noise seemed to drive him wild. He stood and twined his fingers in her hair, held her while his tongue plundered her mouth. He was greedy, his tongue like fire against her own. She could taste herself on his lips, and the erotic thought turned her on even more as she scraped her fingertips down his back.
She needed him now—before she burst into flames. He seemed to understand her urgency. One sharp tug and her underwear was on the ground, in a pool around her feet.
His eyes closed and a deep growl sounded from his throat as she reached down to pull at his briefs. He was rock-solid, so large she was amazed he didn’t tear the fabric through. As her fingers closed around him she heard his deep intake of breath, a low moan. They were both breathing frantically, urgency taking them over. He removed his briefs and raised one of her thighs to wrap it around his waist.
She needed him inside her now. No more waiting. Her hips arched up to meet his, and she felt the long hard heat of his erection enter her in one deliberately slow thrust. His lips nuzzled into her neck as he retreated, then thrust again, the sensation making her shudder. He quickened the pace, grabbing her other thigh so that she was fully wrapped around him.
Resisting the Sicilian Playboy (Winner of 2014 So You Think You Can Write) Page 10