The Italian's Price

by Diana Hamilton

  He strode forward to meet her necessarily slinky approach taking both her hands holding her a little away from him and his gleaming dark eyes swept slowly over her from head to toe with hot appreciation making her cheeks glow and her heart beat like a steam hammer.

  Lean hands slid to her slender waist, tugging her closer to the hard perfection of his body. ‘I just lost my appetite for food ' he confided in a husky undertone. His lips found her earlobe. 'However we will both make an effort.' His mouth moved to the sensitive hollow beneath her jaw and Milly's knees immediately turned to water. 'Anticipation adds spice, don't you think'?' His accent had never been so pronounced Milly decided completely intoxicated by him as he led her to the alcove where a low table fronted a voguish deeply upholstered sofa.

  White linen napkins heavy silver flatware elegant crystal glasses champagne on ice and a mouthwatering array of seafood salad and pasta dishes. Milly couldn't imagine eating any of it she thought as she slid on to the sofa. Sexual tension was closing her throat up. Impossible to swallow the smallest morsel.

  But when Cesare handed her a glass of the foaming liquid and angled his lean muscular body on to the sofa beside her she relaxed just a little until his knee touched hers and sheet lightning shot from that heated spot right into the private pulsating heart of her.

  Her need for him was driving her crazy! Shakily, she put the glass down on the table just as Cesare angled his hips to extract a small velvet-covered box from a side pocket.

  He put it into her nerveless fingers. ’For you, amore mia. Open it.'

  For a long moment her eyes meshed with his. He had never said he loved her but his eyes said it for him. Her heart full to bursting point, she lifted the lid. And gasped.

  The square cut emerald in its simple gold setting was spectacular. Tanned lean fingers extracted the ring from its velvet nest and slipped it on her finger.

  ‘For me' Eyes as deeply green as the magnificent stone lifted to him watched his mouth curve.

  ‘I don't recall asking anyone else to marry me. And this. . . ' He took a fine gold chain she'd been too dazzled by the emerald to notice from the velvet box and dangled it from his fingers. 'With this you can wear my ring around your neck until we are together to tell Nonna of our wedding plans when she is stronger. But wear it now wear it for me.'

  Still too dazzled by the brilliance of the exquisite gem to grasp his meaning, she tipped her head on one side. ‘I don't understand. We'II both be returning to the villa after-after tomorrow, won't we'?'

  'Alas no. As I said I broke into my itinerary to bring you here. Tomorrow afternoon you will fly to Pisa, where Stefano will meet you. And I go to London for a series of crucial meetings with the CEO of the fine gems offshoot and the top two designers.'

  Disappointment hit Milly hard. She had so hoped-believed-that they would return together to break the wonderful news to Filomena begin to organize their wedding.

  Thankfully, common sense came to her rescue and stopped her whining like a child deprived of a favourite toy. Cesare had a huge world-spanning business empire to run and he was the sort of guy who firmly believed in the hands-on approach. And of course Filomena needed to get her strength back before she threw herself into wedding plans as Cesare had warned she would.

  She lifted her glass and raised it to him, her eyes glinting with teasing laughter now she'd got her priorities straightened out. ‘To the longest secret engagement on record' 'Not that long, I promise.' His response was sombre and she didn't quite know what to read into that change of mood then thought nothing more of it when he selected a fork and began to feed her delicious morsels. Reciprocating, she fed him and the mood was good again. Close. Warm. Until reaching forward to spear a yummy-looking piece of lobster for him she noted that the edges of her robe had parted, displaying full breasts lovingly moulded by wispy black silk, and noticed with a shock of pleasure that his eyes were riveted.

  Laying down the fork he'd been using, he muttered in his own language, something that she took to be an imprecation rose to his feet and scooped her into his arms with a husky, 'There's only so much anticipation a guy can take' and carried her into the bedroom.

  Even through the tinted glass windows Milly could see that the narrow streets they were driving through at a snail's pace looked pretty sleazy. For the first time this morning she was beginning to feel edgy about the coming encounter with her sister.

  She'd woken feeling fabulous, sated and limp limbed from what had truly turned out to be a night to remember. Cesare had brought her breakfast on a tray. Juice coffee toast and thin slices of ham.

  He'd joined her, easing his lean boxer-clad body beside her, and in no time at all he'd reached out and smoothed a hand over the curve of her naked shoulder drawing her to him murmuring unsteadily, 'You're so sexy. I can't keep my hands off you.'

  ‘I don't want you to ' she'd confessed huskily, drowning in pleasure as his fingers caressed her distended nipples. Pushing the tray aside, she'd turned then, her body stretching out to connect with his. With uninhibited passion she had hooked her fingers around the waistband of his boxer shorts and pulled them down.

  And the rest, as they said, was history! Later they'd showered together with predictable results. Her body glowed at the memory.

  She'd still been on cloud nine while she'd dressed in the cream-coloured linen trousers and a tailored dark green cool cotton shirt while Cesare had gone to the lounge area. She'd heard him talking on his mobile first in English and then in his own language with no room in her head for a single thought that centred on her delinquent twin.

  Now as the driver negotiated the tangled warren of streets, the thought of the coming difficult interview made her heart thump and her stomach turn over.

  As if attuned to her every thought wave Cesare's fingers tightened around hers as he stated 'There's nothing to worry about cara. Don't let her browbeat you or spin a tissue of lies. Simply break the news about your mother tell her I have incontrovertible proof that she stole from my grandmother and leave the rest to me. I promise I won't involve the police.'

  On an impulse she rested her head against his broad shoulder. 6 I'm grateful. I know she deserves to have the book thrown at her, but-' 'she is your twin sister and there is a bond,' he finished for her. ‘I can understand. Though I strongly doubt she would feel the same.'

  And before she could argue with that, remind him that Jilly had always looked out for her when they'd been kids Cesare announced ‘We seem to have arrived.'

  They were parked in front of firmly closed doors with peeling paintwork flanked by grimy glass fronted panels containing coloured photographs of scantily clad females in suggestive poses. Inexpertly painted names were angled over and beneath them. Jacinta Le Bouchard prominent among them .

  Feeling decidedly anxious over her twin's disastrous career choice not to mention her even dodgier future prospects as Cesare helped her out of the sleek black car she watched as he leaned in the front and spoke to the driver who nodded picked a newspaper from the front seat and settled down to read.

  'Come.' He cupped a hand beneath her elbow as they entered a narrow malodorous alley beside the nightclub. 6 I will leave you alone with her for twenty minutes, half an hour max, before I join you.

  When that is over the driver will take us to the airport and I will see you on a flight to Pisa before heading for London,' he told her flatly, releasing her elbow, some kind of tension hardening the sculpted angled of his stunning profile.

  He was making her too uneasy to say anything more than a mumbled 'Thanks.'

  She felt suddenly that a great yawning gulf had opened up between them, that he was deliberately distancing himself from her. Had coming face to face with the way her twin was earning a living given him second thoughts about having anything to do with her let alone marrying her and introducing tainted blood into his high status family? The thought was unworthy, too horrible to contemplate. Milly ousted it with a decisive shake of her head and followed him up a short
flight of crumbling stone steps, through an open doorway and into a narrow passage.

  The first door he came to-more flaking paintwork-bore a card with the cringe-making placenta Le Bouchard' printed on it in violet ink. Pressing his finger on the bell, keeping it there, his jaw set, he didn't look at her. His mouth was flat with contemptuous distaste when, after a minute or two, the door was roughly dragged open and Jilly stood there wearing a kimono splashed all over with brightly coloured dragons, her long hair all over the place her mouth dropping open with shock.

  Turning, he levelled an unreadable look at her and Milly paled even more colour leaving her face as he turned on his heel and strode back down the narrow passage as if he couldn't wait to get away.

  Her troubled eyes followed him every step of the way until he disappeared out of sight.

  Was he recalling her initial deception, lumping her morals with her twin's? Two of a kind? 'What the hell are you doing here with that bastard'?' Milly turned to face her twin. Her unwelcoming face still bore traces of last night's make-up and it wasn't like Jilly to be less than ultra-fastidious about her skin care routine, she thought with a pang, making herself remember that she was here for a purpose.

  ‘Can I come in'?' As a reply Jilly turned and walked across the tiny hallway and through a beaded curtain. Milly followed leaving the front door open, because who knew when she'd leave her twin to her own devices and leg it after Cesare to make him explain why he'd looked at her as if she was the last person on earth he wanted to be with?

  Gathering herself with the reminder that there were things that had to be said, she brushed through the hanging strands of beads and stepped into a room which one look told her served as sitting room, bedroom and kitchen. Clothes were strewn everywhere and Milly had the unfold memory of how for as far as her memory stretched back she'd had to clear up after her twin.

  ‘I'm afraid I've got bad news,' she said softly as her twin parked herself on the scarlet satin covered bed.

  ‘Spit it out then.' With an uninterested shrug, Jilly reached for a pack of cigarettes and lit up, blowing a plume of smoke towards the ceiling.

  Milly moved closer ready to offer comfort. There was no way to break this gently. ‘I'm sorry, but Ma passed away a few months ago. It was sudden.' She reached for her twin's cigarette free hand noted the sudden frown between the mirror-image of her own eyes, and could have wept for her vividly remembering her own shock and grief.

  ‘I would have contacted you,' she impressed on her quietly, abut I didn't know how. You hadn't been in touch since you left Florence.'

  Jilly's face went pale and still her jaw clenched as if she were desperately holding back strong emotion. Shock and grief, Milly thought on a pang of painful sympathy, her fingers tightening around her twin's.

  Jilly dragged her hand away. 'Then how did you find me? How did you meet up with that bastard'?' Her mouth twisted as she stubbed the cigarette out in an overflowing ashtray.

  Milly, stunned, threw at her, ‘Is that all you can say? Don't you feel anything? Don't you care'?' She took a pace back. The sister she'd admired and loved all her life now seemed like a stranger.

  Jilly shrugged. ‘It's a lot to take in. 'Course I care, damn you! So don't come the Holy Joe with me! Anyway, she didn't have much to live for, did she'?' 'And whose fault was that'?' Milly wanted to strangle her! 6At least she died firmly believing you'd one day make good the money you lost. She kept faith.'

  ‘WeII, I did try,' Jilly defended herself, for the first time looking uncomfortable, and Milly tipped a pile of underwear off a chair and sat down because her legs had started to shake beneath her. She had never said a harsh word to her twin in her life and now she couldn't seem to stop.

  ‘How?' she demanded, tight lipped. ‘By stealing it'?' 'What did you say'?' Jilly looked as though sibling strangling was a two way street.

  Taking a deep breath, Milly told herself that they were getting nowhere by yelling at each other.

  As calmly as she could she ran through the whole story, starting at the point where Cesare had mistaken her for Jilly and she had gone along with it, getting so caught up in the plot that she ended with 'He's been really good about it. Those cheques you forged I mean. He's got the proof but he promised not to take it any further.' Her eyes sparkled with tears. ‘Oh, Jilly-how could you do that? I'm really worried for you'

  'The bastard's got you well and truly hooked' 'What are you talking about'?' Milly looked into her twin's eyes and shivered. Cold. Hard. Two flags of bright colour flamed angrily on her cheekbones.

  ‘I think you know. Or if you don't you're even dafter than I thought you were' Jilly took another cigarette the wreathing plume of smoke making her eyes look mean and narrow. ‘Is that his ring you're wearing? Has he got you into bed yet'?' Taking the violent flush that suffused her twin's face as an affirmative seeing the way she instinctively placed a protective hand over the huge emerald she snapped.

  ‘I thought so. So cut the lecturing. Okay, so I helped myself to some of the old girl's money.It's not as if she'd miss it; the old bat's loaded.' Shooting off the bed, she paced the cluttered room then swung round faced Milly and announced bitterly, 'And after Cesare dumped me when I told him I was expecting his baby, I needed it'

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  MILLY FELT THE blood drain from her face as wave after wave of dizziness made her sway where she sat. She clutched at the sides of the chair for support. This wasn't happening. It could not be happening! She must have misheard.

  'You're expecting Cesare's child'?' Her voice sounded weak threadlike her eyes pleading, begging to hear a denial .

  ‘Was,' Jilly corrected with a sigh. ‘I miscarried. I had a tough time with the early stages of the pregnancy-it was the reason I didn't come home to England. Ma would have been devastated with the shame of having a daughter who had a baby without the benefit of a wedding ring on her finger-you know what she was like.'

  Milly put her fingertips to her temples. The squalid room was tilting around her and her ears were buzzing. She had known this interview would be difficult. But not as bad as this, please, not as bad as this ! She flinched as Jilly put a hand on her shoulder, shaking her head violently as her twin asked, 'Want a brandy or something, kid'?'

  Rebellion stirred. She wasn't a kid! And Cesare wasn't the type of man to turn his back on his own child. He was her future husband! She trusted him, didn't she? It was on the tip of her tongue to tell Jilly that she knew she had to be lying because Cesare had confessed that he found Jilly a total turn-off but, to spare her sister's feelings, she kept her mouth shut.

  It would be bad enough for her to know she'd been branded a thief without the further humiliation of hearing that the gorgeous Cesare Saracino preferred the quieter twin over the sex-on-legs version.

  'We're going to be married, I won't believe anything bad of him' The words were out before she could stop them.

  She cringed when her twin countered drily, 'Yeah? 'Course you are. That's what he led me to believe too.'

  Jilly dragged a chair from under the table and settled at Milly's side. ‘Listen kid, you're in denial and I can't blame you. But haven't I always looked out for you'?'

  ‘Like you did when you left me to pick up the pieces after you lost every penny Ma had and more? Not that I minded looking after her the best I could, but you could at least have phoned or written told us where you were and what you were doing.'

  Attack was the best form of defence wasn't it? Anything to change the subject, because she couldn't bear to hear any more of Jilly's lies. They were lies, weren't they? They had to be! She tried to stand, to leave this hateful place, but her legs had turned to jelly and wouldn't hold her upright. Miserably she sank back on the chair and let her twin's words wash over her.

  ‘I had my reasons, okay? Listen there I was working in an unmarked club in Florence when this fabulous guy walks in with another man. Every woman around was riveted. Well he's pretty hard to overlook. I think I fell for him there and
then. I asked around and found he was the head of the Sacracino empire. Next thing I knew he was advertising for a companion for his ancient grandmother.

  I was in there like a shot, and he hired me on the spot. I could tell he was interested. Well a girl can, can't she? Well things progressed. From what I gathered from the old woman he was rarely home-flying here there and everywhere on business-but he hung around because of me. And give him his due, he's a fantastic lover. Talk about insatiable! He vowed he loved me, all the usual guff, asked me to marry him.' She snorted her contempt. ‘Even gave me a ring.'

  Picking up Milly's hand she examined the emerald her eyes narrowing with spite. 'Yeah. Same one. I left it behind. I would have kept it and sold it and not had to dip my fingers into the old bat's bank account out of desperation. But I had it valued. It's a cheap fake. Like him! 'Course, I wasn't supposed to wear it openly,' she scorned. ‘He wanted to bring the old woman round slowly to the idea of his marrying a foreigner.'