Rush to the Altar

by Rebecca Winters

  “What about your husband?”

  Nicco shook his head. “Let’s just say she was territorial about letting me sleep with my bride. It took her a week before she’d deign for me to stroke the back of her neck. I think it was a month before she rolled over so I could rub her belly.”

  His black eyes flashed. “If your secrets translate to the track, Riley, I’m already feeling sorry for the other poor devils when you start to make your moves.”

  “So you race?” she cried out with excitement.

  She was good at dissembling. The best he’d ever seen.

  “Never as a pro like your husband.”

  “Why don’t we finish this conversation inside?” Nicco murmured against her cheek. “I don’t know about our guest, but I’m starving.”

  “While you show Mr. Garrow where to freshen up, I’ll check to make certain Anna’s asleep, then meet you in the dining room.” She slipped away from Nicco and hurried inside with the dogs at her heels.

  No doubt she was relieved to escape before she gave anything away. He couldn’t fault her for trying to make a go of her marriage.

  Why out of all the many beautiful, exciting, exotic women he’d known in his life did he have to be hung up on the one female forbidden to him from the beginning?

  Though he was no saint, he’d made it a rule never to become involved with a married woman. Little did Riley know another man had already claimed her when he’d met her on the set.

  He supposed he should be admiring rather than angry of her devotion to her husband when Riley knew in his gut she’d once been as attracted to Riley as he’d been to her.

  Riley was privy to a secret all right, one she didn’t want Nicco to know about.

  Back then the head of the Danelli empire hadn’t won his bride’s heart and soul yet, otherwise those green eyes wouldn’t have come alive with desire for Riley when they’d first looked at each other.

  He closed his eyes for a moment. He should have known this day was too good to be true.

  You are in a great hurry, rushing down a path even more dangerous than the one before.

  Riley liked Nicco. He sensed this was the kind of man he would want for a true friend. But under the circumstances, it wasn’t going to work. The wisest course would be to heed Mitra’s warning, excuse himself on some pretext and leave the country tonight.

  “Shall we go in?” Nicco prompted him after parking his bike near the bushes. “Earlier in the day my wife told me Ann was making our dinner tonight. Between you and me she’s not as good a cook as Callie, but she’s a lot better than she used to be and she’s trying hard to learn Italian. Be patient with her when she makes the effort.”

  Riley blinked. “Who’s Callie?”

  “My wife.”

  He was totally confused. “Then who’s Ann?”

  “My wife’s twin sister. She flew in from the States last night for a visit.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  ANN swept through the door connecting the kitchen to the small dining room of the palace carrying a hot platter.

  “I’m glad you’re home, Nicco. This chicken has been done for quite a while and—”

  She suddenly stopped talking because she discovered her brother-in-law wasn’t alone.

  As far as Ann was concerned, her sister had married an Italian Adonis. There’d only been one man Ann had ever met whom she’d thought was better looking. To her shock that man was standing there in the flesh next to Nicco dressed in a stunning tan suit with shirt and tie.

  The platter literally slipped from her hands to make a thud on the table. “You—” she blurted when she could finally say something.

  His sensuous mouth curved into a cruel half smile of acknowledgment. Her heart might as well have been a gong going off in the background.

  Gorgeous, hunky, devilishly dark and handsome with silver eyes… No matter how many adjectives came to mind, none of them adequately described Riley Garrow. Inside that powerful male body he possessed a virile essence. It could swallow you alive just by looking at him.

  No woman was immune from his intangible charisma.

  Lover today, gone tomorrow.

  That was his reputation. It preceded him wherever he went as Hollywood’s most sought after stuntman.

  Oh, yes. She’d heard all about him long before he’d stepped foot on the set of her last movie. He was star material. Loaded.

  No one could understand why he preferred to double for the hero in a dangerous scene rather than be the hero himself. No leading man had his matchless drawing power for women, his instincts for survival or his polish.

  It was like some incredible dream to see him here inside the Tescotti palace of all places.

  Worse, she felt irrational anger to discover he was even more attractive than she’d remembered. The line of his right eye tilted a trifle at the outer corner. When he stared at Ann through his heavily lashed lids, she felt seduced by his gaze and went hot all over.

  What was it about men like Nicco and Riley who deliberately put their lives in mortal danger? How come they were better looking and more exciting than the average male? They might as well be a delectable poison.

  Though she’d been tempted at the time, the rational part of her had been wise enough to turn him down for dinner after they were through shooting for the day. But her delight in thwarting him hadn’t lasted long because he never came near her again. He never called. So much for a true interest in her on his part.

  Once again she was thankful she’d spared herself the grief of spending an evening with him, only to find out he had plans with another woman the next night. And the night after that, ad infinitum.

  No thank you.

  She felt Nicco’s speculative gaze. “It seems introductions aren’t necessary.”

  “Not when it comes to the human cannon ball,” she mocked, feeling flushed and totally out of control.

  Riley shifted his weight as if welcoming her aggression. “You’re referring to my father. He was the one billed ‘The Human Rocket.’”

  Still so smooth and unflappable, as if nothing could disturb him. Damn him for that cloak of sophistication he wore like an invisible mantel, setting him apart from ordinary men.

  Nicco wasn’t the only person to radiate a daunting indifference on occasion without being aware of it. Riley Garrow moved through life and women as if he were a prince of royal blood. The divine right of kings was alive and doing well inside him, title or not.

  She wanted no part of him and sat down before either man could help her. “Shall we eat?” she suggested. “Anna was fussing, so it might be a while before Callie joins us.”

  Riley sat next to Nicco at one end of the table. She sat at the other end and began eating her salad while they helped themselves to the main course.

  The stove in the kitchen heated differently than the one at her condo. Everything cooked faster here. She feared her roast chicken dinner was overdone. When Nicco passed her the food, one taste of the dry potatoes and she knew her meal was a fiasco.

  To both men’s credit they pretended to enjoy everything, but their guest overplayed his hand when he complimented her several times on the tasty chicken. To be patronized by Riley Garrow was the last straw.

  At one point she happened to lift her head and met Nicco’s puzzled glance.

  “Perhaps you didn’t hear about Riley’s famous father. Around the same time Callie and I were married, he was killed doing a stunt at Iguasu Falls in Brazil.”

  Ann averted her eyes. She didn’t know that.

  “I’m sorry,” she murmured. “Callie and I lost our father years ago, but it’s still hard.” There were still times when she missed him horribly.

  Riley wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin. “It’s an inevitable fact of life we all learn to deal with one way or the other.”

  Growing more uncomfortable by the minute she said, “Are you planning to succeed him?”

  Before he could answer, Callie entered the dining room and sat
down at Nicco’s other side. The dogs circled the table hoping someone would feed them.

  “Forgive me for taking so long. Anna didn’t want to settle down. She must know there’s a guest in the house.” Callie filled her plate. “This looks delicious, Ann.”

  “Thank you,” she murmured, aware of Riley’s unsettling gaze every time she happened to look up.

  Nicco put a hand on his wife’s arm. “I was about to tell your sister Riley has left his stunt work behind and is going to race for Danelli.”

  With her natural enthusiasm for the sport she loved, Callie said something about it being wonderful, but Ann’s fork dropped on her plate. She stared pointedly at Riley.

  “Out of the frying pan into the fire. Isn’t that how the old saying goes? Except in your case I guess that doesn’t apply since it appears you survived that, too. If you’ve had a death wish, it hasn’t happened yet. Lucky you.”

  He didn’t move, but his gray eyes turned molten as they held hers over the top of his wineglass.

  “Ann—” her sister admonished in a loud enough whisper for everyone to hear.

  Her head reared back. “Don’t worry, Callie. Mr. Garrow knows what I mean. After he did the scenes for the film I was in, he was caught in an explosion on another set doubling as a firefighter and ended up in the hospital for smoke inhalation. All part of a day’s work.”

  “That’s horrible!” Callie cried. She shot Ann a withering glance before giving their guest her attention. “How long did they have to hold up the filming for you to recover?”

  “As it turns out I was in the hospital two months, so they found a replacement to finish the picture.”

  Ann reacted too late to smother the moan that came out of her.

  Nicco frowned. “Two months?”

  “I received some burns that required plastic surgery to be done around my eye.”

  No one had told Ann how serious his injuries were, or that he’d been hospitalized for so long. She wanted to crawl in a hole for being so flippant about his injury.

  Was that the reason he’d never phoned or sought her out?

  When she realized what she was thinking, she was swamped by alternate feelings of shame for her behavior toward him, and fury at herself for still caring that he hadn’t tried to pursue her.

  “When were you released?” Nicco’s concern was in full evidence.

  “Four days ago. But don’t worry. I worked out hard in the hospital gym and the doctors have declared me fit to get back to any kind of work I choose.”

  Callie shook her head. “After your experience on the set, I don’t blame you for choosing the race track. But I have to ask—didn’t you ever consider normal acting?”

  “I’m afraid I’d perish from such a life.”

  Ann winced. He sounded as if he meant it. She didn’t think she could sit here any longer.

  “How amazing to realize you were in the same film with Ann. There were dozens of action scenes. Which ones were you in?”

  Callie might be happily married, but she was fascinated by Riley all the same. As Ann had always known, no woman could resist him, not even her sister.

  “He doubled for Corey in all of the hang gliding, underwater, horseback riding and motorcycle segments,” Ann supplied grudgingly.

  She knew she’d made a mistake the second Riley’s eyes saluted her with a satisfied gleam.

  Had he been able to tell she’d held her breath every time he’d done one of his death-defying scenes that took years off the lives of every cast and crew member who’d dared to watch?

  “You were fabulous!” Callie cried. “Doesn’t it unnerve you to see your own films when they come out?”

  “I’ve never watched any footage,” he declared flatly. “The stunts I did were a means to an end, nothing more. My real interest has always been motorcycles.”

  He and Nicco might as well be twins!

  Stung by his frankness which proved he’d never given her a thought once she’d turned him down, Ann pushed herself away from the table. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll get the dessert.”

  “Those action scenes were incredibly impressive,” Nicco continued talking as if she hadn’t spoken. For him to be that complimentary revealed how excited he was for Riley to race for the Danelli team.

  It meant he’d be living in Turin… Her heart thudded so hard she was terrified he could hear it.

  “As Ms. Lassiter said, it’s all in a day’s work for me,” she heard Riley explain once she’d headed for the kitchen with her plate. “But to answer your wife’s question, the last time I went to a movie or watched a video was at least twelve years ago before I left Italy with my father.”

  “Where did you go after that?”

  “Russia, Australia, South America. Anywhere there were carnival acts that would allow him to join them for a few seasons.”

  And he’d probably left a trail of broken hearts behind twenty thousand miles long.

  Ann dashed over to the kitchen counter. With trembling hands she reached for the bowl of peppermint icing and began dropping blobs of it onto the chocolate cake she’d left out to cool. To her chagrin her motions were a little too violent. The icing broke through so the top of the cake resembled a bunch of potholes.

  She smoothed it with the knife as best she could, but too much damage had been done. Crumbs had mixed in with the icing. It was a total mess.

  Callie joined her a few minutes later with the rest of the dishes she’d cleared from the table. One look and she said, “I’ll think we’ll serve our guest gelato instead. Nicco can munch on his favorite cake later before we go to bed.”

  “W-will you take care of it, please?” Ann’s voice shook. “I want to check on the baby squirrel again. Maybe it will drink for me this time.”

  “It’s dying, Ann. You should have let me put it to sleep.”

  “No!” she cried emotionally. “That boy brought it here hoping you could make it better.”

  Ann rested the knife on the counter and hurried out the other door of the kitchen to the hallway which led to the palace rooms converted to a kennel. Once inside, she reached for a pair of rubber gloves and put them on before approaching the squirrel.

  It lay in the kind of crib hospitals used for human newborns. There was a heating unit to keep the animal warm. Callie had hooked up an IV.

  Everything possible was being done for it. Ann knew that, but it probably wasn’t enough. Her sister had said the boy had brought it too late.

  Still…

  She was about to fill the eyedropper with some formula, but the second she saw the squirrel’s position, she knew life had gone out of its body.

  “Oh, no—”

  A sob escaped her throat.

  “I was afraid of this,” Callie whispered behind her.

  At the sound of her sister’s voice, tears gushed down her face to wet her blouse.

  Callie put an arm around her waist. “What’s going on, Ann? I’m not just talking about the squirrel.”

  “Nothing.” She pulled away from her to wipe her eyes.

  “We were born ten minutes apart and spent eight months together before that. When you hurt, so do I. Riley Garrow’s the reason things haven’t worked out with Colin. Isn’t that true?”

  “Why are you asking me all these questions?” she cried in a strangled tone.

  “I’ll tell you why. After you’d finished making your movie, Nicco and I were expecting you to tell us you and Colin were going to be married. But it never happened. I knew something was wrong then. Now I know why. The poor guy doesn’t know about Riley, does he.”

  “No—” Ann whispered, “because there’s nothing to tell.”

  “Really.”

  “Yes, really. We both worked on the same set, that’s all.”

  “No, that’s not all.”

  Callie would dig and dig until she’d pried everything out of her.

  “He asked me out for dinner. I turned him down. That’s it.”

  “And you’ve bee
n mad at yourself ever since because he didn’t come back for more like all the others,” she divined correctly like she always did. “Now that I’ve met the one man in life who has managed to get past your defenses, I can see why Colin never stood a chance.

  “Attractive as he is, he’s no match for Riley Garrow. The only male on the planet who makes my heart race faster is—”

  “Nicco—” Ann blurted before her sister could. “But there’s one huge difference between the two of them.”

  “You mean besides the fact that Riley wasn’t born a prince?”

  “No. In Hollywood the man has a reputation of being the original Don Juan.”

  “Well he would, wouldn’t he, with his looks and the kind of excitement he engenders. As far as I know, it’s not a crime.”

  “It should be,” Ann grumbled.

  “You have somewhat the same reputation you know.”

  Ann rounded on her sister. “What do you mean?”

  “Your friend Alicia, the one who was at your condo the day I happened to phone, told me you’ve broken the hearts of quite a few guys including several hot new stars. One date and you’re ready to move on to the next man. Of course I already knew that having watched you discard every date at home one by one.”

  Heat scorched her cheeks. “Don’t compare me with Riley. I’ve never slept with any of them.”

  “I know that.” Callie’s mouth curved into a subtle smile. “I also know Mr. Garrow couldn’t possibly have slept with all his legions of admirers, either. Otherwise he’d have been dead long ago.”

  “Even s—”

  “Even so nothing!” Callie gainsaid her. “What else has you so upset?”

  She sucked in her breath. “He’s a human daredevil! Look what happened to him on that last film. And his father—he got killed doing one of his outrageous stunts over Iguasu Falls of all places!”

  “But Riley’s still very much alive,” Callie persisted. “You heard him at the table. He’s stopped performing stunt work.”

  Ann shook her head. “How can you say that when he’s going to start racing for Nicco’s company? As far as I’m concerned, the racetrack is the original death trap.”