"Damn it, woman. Don't lie to me. Who was on the phone?"
"Let go of me. You're hurting me."
To her surprise, he let her go immediately with another string of Italian expletives.
"Who was on the phone, Elise? Damn you, woman, I can't protect you, if you don't tell me who it was?"
"Protect me? Protect me from what, Marco?"
Another string of muttered Italian and Elise found herself grabbed and made to sit down.
"Sit down, pasticcino. You're not going like what I have to say."
Dread grabbed hold of Elise, and her breathing grew shallow. Jemima's anguished voice on the phone earlier only increased the iciness travelling up her spine.
"Was it Jemima on the phone? Elise, was it Jemima?"
At her barely visible nod, Marco crouched down in front of her. He took her suddenly freezing hands in his.
"You can't meet up with her if that's what she's asking of you. I won't let you, at least not on your own. It's not safe."
"What do you mean it's not safe, Marco? You're only saying that because you don't want me to see her. She's my sister, damn you, and I'm going to see her whether you like me to or not."
Elise hated the catch in her voice, but he was too close for comfort. His hand under her chin forced her to look directly at him, and she was struck by the grave expression on his face.
His low, urgent tones increased the icy dread suffusing her even as his gentle touch on her skin sent a different awareness coursing through her veins.
"I've been having her watched, Elise. Do you know she is using your name, hiding in your flat, not as herself but as Elise Donovan? Do you know why? Do you have any idea what trouble she is in?"
Oh God, this wasn't going to be good, was it? He was deadly serious and completely focused on her.
"Why the hell do you not just get it over with and tell me already, Marco. You're clearly dying to. I'm sure whatever it is,it's nothing she hasn't done before. She used to pretend to be me all the time; it's just a stupid prank.That's all."
"Like pretending to be you and getting this job, putting Mimi in danger and then making you take over to cover her tracks to go off with her boyfriend, that sort of a prank is it? Wake up, pasticcino. She's not a child anymore. Her actions have consequences, and this time she got involved with the wrong people. You cannot bail her out of this, even if I was to let you, which I'm not."
The urgency in his gravelly voice increased Elise's rising panic.
"What do you mean the wrong people, Marco?"
"I hate to be the one to have to tell you, but her boyfriend was stabbed in his prison cell last night."
Elise gasped. Spots danced in front of her eyes. She was dimly aware of Marco grabbing her by the shoulders.
"Easy, cara mia, but it gets worse. They left a note pinned to the body. Jemima, you're next!"
****
Marco shot another worried glance towards Elise before he turned his attention back to the rush hour traffic. Merda, she was so pale. He was surprised she was still upright. She'd had one hell of a shock, and he should have known that she would insist on seeing her sister there and then. She all but screamed at him that she didn't care; she had to see Jem, and he couldn't stop her. So he did the only thing he could do and bundled her into his car.
The only time she talked to him was to urge him to drive faster. When they finally made it to her old flat, she jumped out of the car, almost before it stopped moving. He double parked and dashed after her. He almost broke the door down in his desperation to get in, and he didn't dare examine his relief at seeing her opening the door to him too closely. Only it wasn't her, it was Jemima. He realized that, the minute he stepped close enough to her. She didn't call to him like Elise did. Once he took a closer look, he noticed the haunted, frightened look in the younger twin's eyes as well as the different clothes that hung off her frame. She had lost at least two stone since he'd seen her last.
"Mr. Giovanni, before you say anything I'm really sorry I got Elise involved in all of this. I just wanted to have some fun. I had no idea it would turn out like this. Elise, really I'm sorry, but you have to help me. They're gonna kill me if they don't get their money back, and I haven't got it. He, he spent it all. It wasn't even that much. It's the principle they said. And he told them that I had the money, but I haven't. I swear it was all him."
"Do I look stupid to you, Jemima Donovan?"
He shoved his hands into his trouser pockets, lest he was tempted to strangle the woman in front of him. She swallowed nervously and took a step away from him. Elise moved in front of her, putting herself between him and her sister. Her expressive eyes full of steel had him taking a step back. She reminded him of a lioness defending her young, and he had to admire her loyalty, however misguided it was. What wouldn't he give to have her fighting his corner like this?
"Leave her alone, Marco. She's suffered enough. She didn't mean for any of this to happen, and we've got to help her."
"Really, we do, do we? Is that the royal we, or are you expecting me to help, wife?"
Her voice dropped to a low whisper, the barely concealed hurt making him want to draw her into him and, God help him, make it all better for her. If only it was that easy.
"Please, Marco, I'll do anything, anything. Just please help her. She's the only family I've got. I know she doesn't deserve it."
He barely recognized the rough imitation of his own voice.
"How much do you owe them? And what makes you think, that paying them off will make them stop? There's is only one solution. You need to go to the authorities and tell them all you know."
Jemima's high pitched screech went straight through him. "I can't! I don't bloody know anything. Please, Elise, you've got to believe me. It was all him. I never touched the drugs, I never... "
"I should bloody well hope not, Jemima, but that's really neither here nor there, is it? How could you, Jem? Really, any of this? Why take the job with Marco in the first place?"
"I had to disappear. I did some things… it was the easiest way. I'm sorry, Elise, it was meant to be a fresh start."
"At my daughter's and my expense." Marco said.
Once again Elise moved herself between him and her sister. Tears shimmered in her eyes. Her hands burned against his skin when she rested them on his chest. She shook her head at him and whispered, "Please, Marco."
He couldn't refuse her.
"If I give you that money you need to disappear. I don't want you near my wife or my daughter ever again, do you hear me? If I ever hear of you using Elise's name again, so help me, I'll have you hauled up for fraud before you can blink." He threw Robert's card at her. "That's my solicitor. Tell him how much, and he'll arrange for what you need. I want you out of here by the end of tomorrow. Do we understand each other?"
Jemima nodded and rung her hands. Her eyes so like Elise's now showed a glimmer of hope.
"Say your goodbyes, wife. We're going."
****
Again Marco glanced across at Elise. She looked even paler then she had five minutes ago. She looked up, her gaze seeking his.
"Stop the car, Marco, please."
He did so just in time for her to be violently sick by the side of the road. Damn it all to hell, he shouldn't be surprised. She'd had one hell of a shock to her system. The heaving stopped, and the way she collapsed into his arms, told him more than anything how emotionally overwrought she was. It was the closest she had allowed him to be for over a week.
They made it home in record time, and after one look at her face, he simply bundled her up and carried her up to her room. He smiled to soothe Mimi's worry and bellowed for Agnes to take Mimi to the kitchen.
He tucked her up in bed, and then sent Agnes up with instructions to run her a bath and look after her, whilst he did his best to entertain Mimi and allay her worries over 'Lisss'.
Elise was asleep when Mimi and he tip-toed into her room to kiss her goodnight. Once Mimi had joined the land of nod, hi
s legs carried him back to Elise without any conscious effort on his part. He just knew he needed to see her. She was sleeping fitfully, her beautiful face drawn together in a frown. But it was the silent tears rolling down her cheeks that completely undid him.
Shrugging out of his clothes he climbed into her bed and pulled her flush against him. He kissed the tears off her face, and her eyes flew open with a startled gasp of, "Marco?" He tucked her into the crook of his arm.
"Shhh, cara mia, you're safe. Go back to sleep. Just sleep. I'm not going anywhere."
And he realized with a start that he meant every word. Si, he was definitively screwed.
Chapter Twenty
Every muscle hurt as though she had been hit by a ten ton truck. Elise struggled to open her eyes and make sense of her surroundings, and the turbulent emotions that grabbed her the minute the fog cleared from her brain.
Oh hell, Jemima! A fresh wave of tears forced itself out of her swollen eyelids, and somehow she made it to her en-suite bathroom before the nausea hit with full force. The retching brought with it another set of memories. Strong arms holding her by the side of the road, Marco's warm soothing voice in her ear, to be replaced by Agnes, fussing over her until exhaustion claimed her.
The nightmares had been vivid and terrifying, but every time she jerked awake, Marco had been there. He'd held her, murmured in her ear, and made her feel safe, until she'd drifted off again. Marco? Unsteady legs carried her back to her bed where his side still showed the indent his head had left on the pillow. Cripes, it hadn't been a figment of her imagination, but why would he do that?
He'd been so angry at the flat, his tense body coiled tight, she'd put herself between him and Jem, her only thought to protect her sister. When he'd agreed to help her twin, her relief had been so immense, she wasn't sure how she managed to refrain from throwing herself at him. It had been the look in his eyes, full of confusion, anger and hurt that stopped her, she remembered now. A look so raw of wistful longing, it had taken her breath away before he threw that card at Jemima, and waited outside for them to say their goodbyes.
Elise sat down heavily when it dawned on her that she might never see her twin again. Marco had been deadly serious in his threat towards Jemima, and in all truth, could she blame him?
Jem had been so painfully thin when they'd hugged. They'd clung to each other, their tears mingling.
"Elise, I'm so sorry, truly I am. I never meant for any of this to happen. You've got to believe me. At least you've got Marco now. He'll look after you!"
Elise had taken a step back and shook her head." I haven't got Marco, Jem, and I never will, thanks to you and your stupidity. For heaven's sake you need to grow up. You're on your own now, truly on your own, do you get that? He'll never allow any contact from now on, not for as long as we're married anyway. Thanks to all this, I'll be paying him back until I'm old and grey."
"I don't understand, Elise. What do you mean?"
"Never mind, Jem, that's my problem. Just for heaven's sake stay out of trouble, will you? Please, Jem, you're the only family I've got."
Marco had interrupted them, his expression unreadable.
"Time to go, wife." With one last menacing look at a trembling Jemima he'd dragged Elise away.
Damn, damn, damn what am I going to do? And more importantly what was Marco going to do? Had she really promised to do anything if he helped her sister? Elise hugged herself in dread. But then again, if he was going to be nasty about it, would he have stayed with her last night looking after her? Oh hell, if only she knew what was going on his mind and if only her foolish heart would stop doing a two-step, remembering the tender way he held her the previous night. Only one way to find out. She was going to shower, make herself presentable and confront him.
****
Marco had the mother of all headaches. He rubbed his temples, waiting for Giorgio to ring him back. A quick glance at the clock showed it to be almost midday. He checked on Elise earlier, but she'd still been fast asleep, deep shadows under her eyes, curled up into a ball on her side. Thank heavens Mimi went out with Agnes. His housekeeper had suggested taking Mimi out for the day as Elise was indisposed. They were going to Mamma G's, all previously arranged by Elise.
"Urprise, Papa," was the only explanation he got from a giggling Mimi before she disappeared with Agnes, who was carrying several cake containers.
Interesting to say the least, and if he wasn't so preoccupied with his wife's evil twin, he would investigate that further.
The phone rang. Finally, what had taken his cousin so long?
The intense conversation that followed only increased the pounding in his temples. Dannazioni, why was life never simple?
"Si, Giorgio, grazie," he hung up with a small sigh, having sensed her presence some time ago. Elise looked very young and vulnerable, stood at the entrance to his study. Her teeth once again worried her bottom lip, and her wary expression roused his protective instincts. He hated himself for being the cause of all that worry.
"Come in, and sit down before you fall down, Elise. You don't look too good."
She took a tentative step towards him before he took matters in his own hands and pulled her into a tight embrace. She stiffened for just an instance before she relaxed into him. The dampness of his shirt told him that she was crying again. Fuck! That was all he needed. He sat down, pulled her onto his lap, and waited for the storm to pass.
When she finally stopped crying and raised tear-stained eyes to his face, he had to grab the side of the chair to stop himself from acting on the need to plunder her trembling lips. One kiss would never be enough, and she didn't need sex right now, no matter how much his dick may think otherwise. He shifted slightly, mindful to not lodge her off his lap. This may be torture, but he'd rather have her ass teasing his hardening cock, than have her glare at him from afar.
"Marco, why were you talking to Giorgio about Jemima?" She asked.
"He has connections, cara mia. I was asking him to look out for her, that's all."
"What sort of connections?"
"You're an intelligent woman. Figure it out; everyone enjoys a good wine after all."
Her soft gasp as the truth dawned on her made him smile grimly.
"You mean, he's..?"
"Let it be, Elise. The less you know the better. Suffice to say he is buying some insurance for your sister, not that she deserves it."
Elise's confused eyes searched his face. He could almost see the wheels turning in her head. Her mouth opened slightly, and her eyes lost their focus. Delicate eyebrows drew together in a frown, and when she bit into her lip, he groaned. Consequences be damned, he needed to taste her. She gasped softly when his mouth claimed hers. He smiled and wasted no time deepening the kiss. His tongue slipped into the warm haven of her mouth, and he groaned his need for her. Her hands fisted in his shirt, drawing him closer. Their tongues met, and he squeezed her butt cheeks. His heart galloped in his chest,and his cock hardened to the point of pain, as his need to have her slammed into him. Merda, he'd missed her. Why ever had he deprived them of this? Whatever else was wrong between them, this connection they shared, it just had to be enough, for now.
Stop thinking, Marco, and just enjoy her.
He sensed her withdrawal even before her trembling hands pushed against his chest, and he let her go.
She searched his face, her dilated pupils giving her arousal away, even as she shifted away from him. He almost didn't hear her whispered question.
"Why, Marco, why are you doing this? Why is Giorgio helping her, and what do you want from me in return?"
****
He wasn't going to answer her. Marco sat stock still. He watched her out of half-closed eyes, the heat in his gaze scorching her. She was all too aware of his powerful erection straining underneath her, and she bit her lip to stop herself from giving in to her body's needs. He grabbed her hips and brought her core in direct contact with his cock. Elise's breath hitched, and she clamped her thighs together
, to relieve the ache in her pussy. Liquid heat soaked her thong, and Marco's smile turned wicked.
"You know what I want, pasticcino." His breath warmed the sensitive skin on the side of her neck, as he whispered the words into her ear. God, he wasn't playing fair. She had to stall him somehow.
"Whateverhappened to you wouldn't touch me if I was the last woman on earth? I won't be used, Marco."
"Whatever happened to I will do anything if you help my sister, Marco? Surely you haven't forgotten that already?"
The words wereharsh, but he gentled his hold on her hips and then ran his hands slowly up her sides to cup her face. She couldn't read the expression in his glittering midnight blue eyes when he pulled her down for another mind-blowing kiss, which left Elise quivering with unfulfilled need. Damn her treacherous hormones. How was she supposed to think straight when all her senses were leading her astray?
She somehow drew a shuddering breath into her lungs, even as his tongue invaded her ear. He nipped her earlobe playfully. The sweet pain from his teeth sent sparks of sensual awareness down to her core. His hot breath whispered across the sensitized area, and she closed her eyes as liquid heat replaced the blood in her veins.
"If you don't want this, then tell me to stop." The gravelly words wrenched a soft moan from her lips, and she could feel him smile through the butterfly kisses down her neck to her collarbone.
"I, I, Marco, please... I want..."
One of his hands wandered under her dress, caressing her breast through the confines of her bra, and Elise bit back another moan. Her nipple hardened and thrust shamelessly into his waiting hand. He pinched the stiff nub and rolled it between his thumb and forefingers. She squirmed on his lap.
"Yes, cara mia, what do you want? Tell me."
He went very still at her tortured, "Stop, Marco, please!" Their harsh breathing filled the space between them. He rested his head on her shoulder, and his soft curse resonated through her.
She expected him to be furious when he looked up, but instead she glimpsed unexpected tenderness in his eyes that almost undid her resolve. He shifted his gaze to a faraway spot over her right shoulder.
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