by Lucy Monroe
It was a fantastic sight.
“It’s going to be dark before you get the shot, Hope. Come on, honey, take your picture already.” David’s Texas drawl intruded on her concentration, making her lose the shot she’d been about to snap and it was all she could do not to ask him to take himself off.
He’d been so nice to her over the past three weeks, offering her friendship and a male escort when circumstances required it. She’d been surprised how at ease she’d felt with the group right off, but a lifetime of shyness did not dissipate overnight. Feeling comfortable had not instantly translated into her making overtures of friendship. David had approached her, his extroverted confidence and easy smile drawing her out of her shell.
Because of that, she forced back a pithy reply, despite her surge of unaccustomed impatience. “I’ll just be a second. Why don’t you wait for me back at the bus?”
“I can’t leave my best girl all by herself. Just hurry it up, honey.”
She adjusted the focus of her camera and snapped off a series of shots, then stood. Interruptions and all, she thought the pictures were going to turn out pretty well and she smiled with satisfaction.
Turning to David, she let that smile include him. “There. All done.” She closed the shutter before sliding her camera into its slim black case and then she tucked that into her oversize shoulder bag.
“Okay, we can return to the bus now.” She couldn’t keep the regret from sliding into her voice. She didn’t want to leave.
David shook his head. “We’re not scheduled to go back to the hotel for another twenty minutes.”
“Then why were you rushing me?” she demanded with some exasperation.
His even white teeth slashed in an engaging grin. “I wanted your attention.”
She eyed the blond Texan giant askance. In some ways he reminded her of a little boy, mostly kind but with the self-centeredness of youth. “Why?”
“I thought we could go for a walk.” He put his hand out for her to take, clearly assuming her acquiescence to his plan.
After only a slight hesitation, she took it and let him lead her away from the others. A walk was a good idea. It was their last day in Athens and she wanted this final opportunity to soak in the ambience of the Parthenon.
David’s grip on her hand was a little tight and she wiggled her fingers until he relaxed his. She was unused to physical affection in any sense and it had taken her a while to grow accustomed to David’s casual touching. In some ways, she still wasn’t. It helped knowing that he wasn’t being overly familiar, just a typical Texas male—right down to his calling her honey as often as he used her name.
She stopped and stared in awe at a particularly entrancing view of the ancient structure. “It’s so amazing.”
David smiled down at her. “Seeing it through your eyes is more fun than experiencing it myself. You’re a sweet little thing, Hope.”
She laughed. “What does that make you, a sweet big thing?”
“Men aren’t sweet. Didn’t your daddy teach you anything?”
She shrugged, not wanting to admit she couldn’t even remember her father. She only knew what he looked like because of the pictures of her parents’ wedding her grandfather had on display in the drawing room. The framed photos showed two smiling people whom she had had trouble identifying with as her own flesh and blood.
“I stand corrected,” she said. “I won’t call you sweet ever again, but am I allowed to think it?”
The easy banter continued and they were both laughing when they returned to the tour bus fifteen minutes later, their clasped hands swinging between them.
“Hope!”
She looked away from David at the sound of her name being called. The tour operator was standing near the open door of the bus. She waved at Hope to come over. A tall man in a business suit stood beside her, dwarfing her with his huge frame. The growing darkness made it difficult to discern his features and Hope could not at first identify him. However, when he moved, she had a moment of blindingly sure recognition.
No one moved like Luciano di Valerio except the man himself. He had always reminded her of a jaguar she’d once seen in a nature special when she was an adolescent, all sleek, dark predatory male.
David stopped when they were still several yards from the bus, pulling her to a halt beside him. “Is that someone you know?”
Surprised by the aggressive tone in her friend’s voice, she said, “Yes. He’s a business associate of my grandfather’s.”
“He looks more like a don in the Mafia to me.”
“Well, he is Sicilian,” she teased, “but he’s a tycoon, not a loan shark.”
“Is there a difference?” David asked.
She didn’t get a chance to reply because Luciano had started walking toward them the moment David stopped and he arrived at her side just as David finished speaking. Regardless of her wish to never see the man again, her eyes hungrily took in every detail of his face, the strong squarish jaw, the enigmatic expression in his dark brown eyes and the straight line of his sensual lips.
“I have come to take you to dinner,” he said without preamble or indeed even the semblance of having asked a question.
“But how in the world did you come to be here?” Bewilderment at seeing him in such a setting temporarily eclipsed her anger toward him.
“Your grandfather knew I would be in Athens. He asked me to check on you.”
“Oh.” Ridiculously deflated by the knowledge he was there under her grandfather’s aegis rather than his own, she didn’t immediately know what else to say.
David had no such reticence. “She’s fine.”
The comment reminding her of not only his presence, but her manners as well. “Luciano, this is David Holton. David, meet Luciano di Valerio.”
Neither man seemed inclined to acknowledge the introduction.
David eyed Luciano suspiciously while the tycoon’s gaze settled on their clasped hands with unconcealed displeasure. Then those dark eyes were fixed on her and the expression in them was not pleasant. “I see you have decided to go for option two after all.”
At first, she couldn’t think what he meant and then their conversation in the library came back to her. Option one had been a husband, she supposed. Which meant that option two was a lover. He was implying she and David were lovers.
Feeling both wary and guilty for no reason she could discern, she snatched her hand from David’s. “It’s not like that,” she said defensively before coming to the belated conclusion it wasn’t his concern regardless.
David glared down at her as if she’d mortally offended him when she let go of his hand. “I planned to take you out this evening.”
“I am sorry your plans will have to be postponed,” Luciano said, sounding anything but. He inclined his head to her. “I have apprised your tour guide that I will return you to your hotel this evening.”
“How nice, but a bit precipitous.” She didn’t bother to smile to soften the upcoming rejection. After the way he had treated her at the New Year’s Eve party, he didn’t deserve that kind of consideration. “It was kind of Grandfather to be concerned, but there is no need for you to give up your entire evening in what amounts to an unnecessary favor to him.”
“I agreed to check on you for your grandfather’s sake. I wish to spend the evening with you for my own.”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She refused to believe it. She glared helplessly at him. Six months ago, he had kissed her to within an inch of her life, then thrust her away as if she were contaminated. He’d left her to face hours of humiliating comments and loudly spoken asides. And…she hadn’t heard word one from him in all the intervening months.
David moved so that his body blocked her view of Luciano. “I thought I would take you to that restaurant you liked so much our first day here, honey.” The accusation in his voice implied he had exclusive rights to her time, not to mention the altogether unfamiliar inflection he gave the word honey.
>
Nothing could be further from the truth.
“You could have said something earlier,” she censored him.
“I wanted it to be a surprise,” he responded sullenly. “I didn’t expect some arrogant Italian guy to show up and try to spirit you away.”
The situation was getting more unreal by the minute. Men never noticed her and yet here were two battling for her company.
She was tempted to tell Luciano to take a flying leap, but part of her also wanted a chance to rake him over the coals for his callous treatment of her. An insidious curiosity about why he wanted to be with her after rejecting her so completely was also niggling at her.
It would probably be downright brainless to give in to that curiosity or her desire to get a little of her own back, however. She had the awful feeling that her stupidly impressionable heart would be only too ready to start pining for him again if she allowed herself the luxury of his company.
When did you stop pining for him? Was that before or after the ten times a day you forget what you’re doing remembering how it felt to be kissed by him? She ignored the mocking voice of her conscience, infinitely glad mind reading was not one of Luciano’s many accomplishments.
Going with Luciano would not be a bright move.
On the other hand, she was uncomfortable with the proprietary attitude David was exhibiting. It struck her suddenly that he’d been growing increasingly possessive of her time over the past days. She hadn’t minded because it meant she didn’t have to put herself forward in unfamiliar situations, but they were just friends. It bothered her that he thought he could plan her time without her input.
She chewed her bottom lip, unsure what to do.
She felt wedged between two unpleasant alternatives, neither of which was going to leave her unscathed at the end of the evening.
CHAPTER THREE
“OUR reservations are for eight-thirty. We have to be on our way, piccola mia,” Luciano said, completely ignoring David.
“Are all European men so arrogant?” David asked her in direct retaliation.
She shot a quick sideways glance to see how Luciano had taken her friend’s insolence. His expression was unreadable. “Shall we go?” he asked her.
David expelled an angry hiss.
She laid her hand on his forearm. This was getting ridiculous and if she didn’t act soon, her friend would be well on his way to making an enemy of a very powerful man. David was too young to realize the long term impact on his future business dealings such an action might have. Though she was irritated by David’s behavior, she liked him too much to let him do something so stupid.
Besides, if she went with Luciano, she hoped David would get the message she wanted his friendship, but wasn’t interested in anything more. She couldn’t be. She might want to hate Luciano, but he remained the only man she could think of in that way.
She had no experience with brushing off a man’s interest and this seemed the easiest way.
“I’m sorry. Can we make it another night?” she asked by way of atonement.
“We won’t be in Athens another night,” he reminded her.
“I know.”
He would probably have said more, but the bus driver called the final boarding call, shouting specifically for David to get a move on.
“You’d better go,” she said, relieved the confrontation could not be prolonged. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“All right, honey.” He bent down and kissed her briefly on the lips.
Shocked, she stared at him speechless. He’d never even kissed her cheek before.
He smiled, not with his usual friendly grin, but with an implied intimacy that did not exist between them. “If you don’t want to wait for morning, you can come by my room tonight after your grandfather’s crony drops you off.”
The implication that Luciano was old enough to be in her grandfather’s generation was enough to make her lips quirk despite the unwelcome kiss and male posturing.
“Perhaps your young friend’s dates are used to going home unsatisfied and in need of further male companionship,” Luciano drawled silkily, “but I can promise you, bella mia, you will have no such need tonight.”
She gasped, all humor fleeing, and glowered at both men. “That’s enough. Both of you. I have no intention of letting anyone satisfy me.” She blushed even as she said the words and was irritated with herself for doing so.
“I do not appreciate this petty male posturing either.” She didn’t have to choose the best of two poor options, she could make another one. “I don’t think I want to have dinner out at all. I’d rather eat room service alone in my hotel room than be in the company of any arrogant male.”
With a triumphant glare at Luciano that did not endear him to her, David loped off toward the bus where the driver stood at the open door with obvious impatience. She started to follow him, determined to do just as she’d threatened. David might think he’d won, but he would find out differently if he tried to coax her out of her room tonight.
She’d gotten no further than a step when Luciano’s hands settled on her shoulder, arresting her in mid-flight. “We need to discuss your regrettable tendency to leave before our conversations are finished. It is not polite, piccola.”
He pulled her into his side and waved the bus driver off in one fluid movement.
She watched in impotent anger as the big vehicle pulled away. It was that, or scream like a madwoman for the bus driver to stop. She wasn’t even sure he would hear her with the door closed and the rather noisy air-conditioning unit running full tilt. And she had absolutely no desire to make a spectacle of herself in front of the tourists milling about the parking area. His highhanded tactics had effectively left her with no choice but to stay behind with Luciano.
She didn’t have to like it however and she tore away from his side with unconcealed contempt. “That was extremely discourteous, signor. I don’t appreciate being manhandled, nor do I accept you have the right or the reason to dictate my activities.”
He frowned down at her. “I may not yet have the right, but I do have the reason. I wish to spend time with you, cara.”
“And my wishes count for nothing?” she demanded while reeling inside from such an admission from him as well as the tender endearment.
“Your wishes are of utmost importance to me, but do you really prefer ordering room service to an evening spent in my company?”
That was very much in question. It wasn’t her preference, but her preservation she was concerned about. “You were insufferably rude. You implied you were going to…That we…As if I would!”
She could not make herself say the words aloud and that made her mad. Angry with him for implying he was going to take her to bed in the first place and furious with herself for still being such a backward creature she couldn’t discuss sex without blushing like the virgin she was.
His laughter was the last straw as far as she was concerned. She didn’t have to stick around to be made fun of. She’d suffered enough at his hands in that regard already.
She turned on her heel with every intention of finding some sort of public transport to take her back to the hotel. Once again he stopped her. This time, he wrapped his arms around her middle and pulled her back into his body with a ruthless purpose.
His lips landed on her nape in a sensual caress that sent her thoughts scattering to the four winds. “I have ached to taste you again for six long months. You must forgive me if my enthusiasm for your company makes me act without proper courtesy.”
Enthusiasm did not take six months to act, but she was too busy trying not to melt into a puddle of feminine need at his feet to tell him so. “Luciano?” she finally got out.
He spun her around to face him. “Spend the evening with me, cara. You know you want to.”
“David was right. You are arrogant.”
“I am also right.”
She would have argued, but he kissed her. The moment his lips touched hers, she was lost. His mo
uth moved on hers with expert effect, drawing forth a response she could not hide or control. She allowed his tongue inside her mouth after the first gentle pressure applied to the seam of her lips.
He tasted like she remembered. Hot. Spicy. Masculine.
When he pulled away, she was too lost in her own sensual reaction to his kiss to even notice he was leading her anywhere. It wasn’t until he stopped at the waiting limo and rapped out instructions to the ever-present security team, that she once again became aware of her surroundings.
Mary, mother of Joseph, it was just like at the party.
He could have done anything to her and she would have let him. She was also aware that while she’d been completely lost to reality, he had been in absolute control.
She tried to tell herself she was letting him hand her into the car because she didn’t relish riding public transport alone at night in a foreign country. But she knew the truth. If she didn’t sit down soon, she’d fall down. Her legs were like jelly and no way did she want him realizing that betraying fact.
Inside the car, she fiddled nervously with the strap of her brightly colored shoulder bag. It had a pattern of bright yellow and orange sunflowers all over it. She’d bought it so that it would be easily spotted among the other ladies’ bags on the tour, but it looked gauche sitting on the cool leather seat of the ultra-luxurious limo.
She was also positive that her casual lemon yellow sundress and flat leather sandals were not de rigueur for the types of restaurants he frequented.
“I think it would be best if you took me back to my hotel,” she said at the same time as he asked, “Are you enjoying your holiday?”
Her eyes met Luciano’s in the well-lit interior of the car. Apparently neither one of them wanted to discuss the recent kiss.
His intense gaze mesmerized her. “I do not wish to take you back to your hotel.”
“I’m not dressed for dinner out.” She indicated her casual, day worn clothes with a wave of her hand.
“You look fine.”
She snorted in disbelief. “Where are we eating, a hot dog stand?”
“I do not think they have those in Athens, cara.”