Captivated by Her Innocence

by Kim Lawrence

  You should always finish something you started.

  There was only one place this was going to finish. The electricity in the air was humming, the sexual tension off the scale.

  ‘I don’t stalk women.’

  She struggled to escape his smoky stare. ‘You know what I mean.’

  ‘Though a few have been known to stalk me.’

  She wrinkled her nose in distaste; she’d just bet they had.

  ‘I’m happy for you,’ she lied. ‘You’ve already made sure I didn’t get the job. Isn’t that enough for you? Or do you have to continue this...this p-persecution?’

  ‘I told you how it would be, so don’t turn on the injured act.’ Did she know how sexy that damned stutter was?

  Of course she did.

  Anna responded to his cold delivery with an extra spurt of temper. ‘I remember! Your house, your rules. I get it, I really do, and I know you’re waiting for me to mess up, but what I don’t get is what do you think I’m going to do? Invite all the married men from a ten-mile radius to an orgy on the lawn with Jasmine watching?’

  He ground out a word in Italian that stopped her mid-flow. She went still, her eyes widening as she bit down hard on her full lower lip. She could have kicked herself for rising to the bait.

  His eyes, as he stared down at her, reminded Anna of smoked glass. She couldn’t even see herself, let alone what he was thinking, but lines of tension that radiated from the corners of his mouth and the audible sound of the deep breaths he was taking suggested that under the mask he was as mad as hell.

  ‘It’s not very pleasant feeling as if I’m on trial, being watched,’ she muttered, looking up at him through her lashes, not backing down but stopping short of a head-on collision.

  His response was immediate, his solution simple. ‘If you don’t like it, then there’s a solution—pack your bags and leave.’

  ‘My God, is this an example of that famous Highland hospitality, or is this Italian warmth?’

  She watched his beautiful mouth tighten but instead of responding he adopted an attitude of silent superiority that had a red-rag effect on Anna.

  In a calmer state of mind she would have known it was a dangerous road to go down, but she wasn’t calm. She was so angry she delivered the first, smartest, though not most sensible, thing that came into her head and challenged scornfully, ‘What’s your problem? Do I scare you or something?’

  It didn’t even cross her mind that she might hit a nerve, or more likely his planet-sized ego, until his head reared back as though she had struck him.

  He didn’t speak, he just reached out; he must have moved but she wasn’t conscious of it. Just of him touching the side of her face, his hand cupped over her cheek, just one finger actually in contact with her skin. The gentle whisper of movement a stark contrast to the violence of the emotions that shimmered in the electrically charged air.

  She heard a noise but didn’t actually connect it to her gasp. Her eyes were closed, her chest was so tight that she stopped breathing as she struggled and failed to stop herself turning her face into his palm like a flower seeking sun. The feelings that churned in her belly were not light, they were dark and hot.

  Then, just as her knees were giving, he pushed her away.

  Anna took a staggering step back. He had taken two and he was standing feet away, not up close where she could feel the heat of his skin through her clothes. She suddenly shivered.

  ‘What was that meant to prove?’

  He dragged a not quite steady hand down his jaw. Prove? Did she actually think he had put some thought into his actions? That he was following some logical process: press button A and...? The problem was she was pressing all his buttons and acting as if she didn’t know it.

  The knowledge that he was acting like all those poor dumb losers he’d watched while he was growing up didn’t sit well with him. Those too were intelligent men who made fools of themselves over his mother. For her part, she was never intentionally cruel; she just saw what she wanted and went for it.

  ‘What the heart wants, Cesare...’

  He could hear her now, see her little shrug in response to any hint of criticism. ‘What the heart wants, Cesare...’

  His mother’s heart had been disastrously drawn to married men and it had remained miraculously unaffected when she walked away from her affairs. The same could not have been said for the men who fell for her. Cesare had always wondered if had just one time the tables been reversed, and she had been the one given a glimpse of paradise then dumped in the cold, she might have cleaned up her act.

  It never happened.

  And this woman was the same. But he wasn’t a victim. Not like his friend, Paul, who had nearly abandoned his wife for her.

  Neither was he married. He was a free agent, and his heart was definitely not involved. He was, it might be argued, exactly the sort of man who might one day give this tempting little witch a taste of her own medicine. A man who stood in no danger of being sucked in by the sexy catch in her husky voice or the innocent hurt in those big blue eyes.

  It was not an argument he was about to make. He wanted to keep the hell away from her. He wanted her out of his life.

  The big blue eyes in question were at that moment angry, not hurt, as they connected with his. ‘I know you think I’m some sort of home wrecker...’ she stated, unwittingly tuning into his train of thought.

  ‘But actually I’m not.’ She stopped and thought, What am I doing? I don’t give a damn what he thinks of me...I don’t owe him any explanations. Better he think I’m a slut than Rosie, who isn’t here to defend herself. ‘That desperate.’

  ‘Desperate?’

  ‘Well, the only person around here that I could have my evil way with is you.’ She gave a laugh and waited but there was nothing, not even a flicker in his face.

  The spark of uncertainty that moved at the back of her eyes morphed into something close to panic. He couldn’t have interpreted the comment as a proposition?

  Mouth dry, she swallowed hard—could he?

  ‘And that isn’t, I promise you, going to happen.’

  Her hasty husky addendum drew a smile that belonged to a predator at the top of the food chain. The butterfly kicks in her stomach became wild somersaults as Anna lifted her chin and tried not to act like a trapped furry creature.

  ‘Because you find me so physically repulsive?’ he suggested, with the silky confidence of a man who had never been knocked back in his life. More was the pity—it might have made him more human.

  In that moment she really hated him. ‘It’s not all about looks.’

  And now she got her laugh—not a nice one. It made Anna, the most pacifist of people, want quite badly to kill him.

  ‘Of course not! A sensible woman like you would not latch onto a man who doesn’t have the money to lavish her with life’s little luxuries.’

  She wanted to respond to the nasty irony with a shrug, and had his insults been aimed at her Anna might have been able to, but, although he didn’t realise it, it was her cousin he was insulting. Anna knew it was Rosie that he was as good as calling some sort of call girl and it was this that made it impossible for Anna to bite her tongue. As if he were in any position to make moral judgements, she fumed. You only had to type his name into a laptop and the information that coughed up made it clear that his sister had not exaggerated when she had accused him of being a serial seducer!

  He arched a satiric brow, his smile morphing into a frown as he watched the flush travel up her neck until her face was burning. She blushed like some little outraged virgin! Part, presumably, of her charm?

  His expressive mouth twisted into a grimace of scornful distaste. If some men found inexperience, the thought of teaching a novice the ropes, a turn-on, he was not one of them! If virgins had been a traffic problem he
would have made a detour. He was attracted to women as open-minded and as sexually experienced as he was, women who did not come with emotional baggage or make any demands. There was not, in his experience, a shortage of such women.

  His pleated brow smoothed. The mistake with Anna Henderson would be to be taken in by appearances. This woman was as experienced sexually as any of his partners, just not as upfront about it. Cesare, who admired straight talking and honesty, found her artifice contemptible. Unfortunately his contempt stopped short of preventing him from wanting to rip off her clothes, and his own, while kissing those lying, delicious lips and finding out if they lived up to the tempting promise of the lush fullness. He knew they would, and he also knew that the moment he touched her there would be no going back.

  That was one genie he intended to leave safely locked in its bottle.

  ‘I’m sure you’ve been told this many times before, but your modesty is one of the most endearing things about you.’ Anna bit out the sarcastic jibe through clenched white teeth. ‘I hate to break it to you but I think I could do better than a has-been racing driver with megalomaniac tendencies. You’re not bad-looking but you’re not nearly as irresistible as you think you are.’

  By the time she had reached her breathless conclusion his eyebrows had hit his ebony hairline. Well, tough, she thought, clinging tenaciously to her defiance. If he could dish it out, he ought to be prepared to take it. Rosie wasn’t here to defend herself, but Anna was and she was going to.

  She had taken an almost indecent delight in shredding him. His eyes dropped to her mouth. He would take an equal amount of delight in making her eat her words. The contemplation of that pleasure elevated the ache in his groin to another painful level.

  Laughter was not a reaction she had anticipated but before she could even think about reacting to the low throaty growl, he stepped into her and, holding her eyes with his gaze, he grabbed her waist, looping one arm right around her middle and hauling her hard up against him. The action effortless, almost casual. Warmth flooded through her at his touch, then he brought his mouth down hard on her lips.

  Not casual, and the heat became fire.

  It was not a gentle kiss, no coaxing tenderness, just hungry demand, nothing equal in it. This was about exerting control. It did not start slow and build up, it just exploded. Before Anna closed her eyes the whimper in her throat was lost in his mouth. She saw the flames in his eyes so hot that her insides melted.

  She struggled to rise above it. So he knew his way around a kiss. So what? It was only to be expected. Just a kiss, but his warm, musky male scent was filling her nostrils, the heat of his lean body was seeping into her bones, the impression of the arousal he did not attempt to disguise was grinding into the vulnerable softness of her pelvis. After the first shocked gasp she moved against him, squirming to increase the erotic pressure. The dull pounding in her head felt like a drum beat as she freed her trapped hands from between their bodies and linked her hands around his neck, giving a throaty murmur as she opened her mouth to the pressure of his probing tongue’s silken hot invasion.

  Conflict would come later. Now she gave herself up, allowed herself to be consumed. She wanted it, she was flame and fire, not earthbound. Her head was spinning, her legs did not belong to her, her heart was pounding, the dark blood thrumming in every part of her.

  Not just a kiss, never just a kiss! This was a master class in seduction. Having lost control of her body, Anna struggled to retain control of her mind and in one small corner managed to distance herself from what was happening.

  His lips finally lifted just a fraction, leaving a whisper of air between them. The seal broken, his thumb remained under her jaw. She didn’t remember how it got there. He was still close enough for her to feel his warm breath on her mouth, but far enough away for her to claw her way out of the sensual fog that had enveloped her.

  Reality hit her with the force of icy water. Panting she pressed her hands flat against the iron-hard barrier of his chest and pushed. The force behind the push was pretty feeble; he, on the other hand, was not. He was all hard muscle and bone so when he reacted and released her, caught unawares, Anna staggered back several steps before she regained her centre of gravity.

  It was a toss-up who he was most furious with: her for goading him, or himself for reacting.

  If he had ever wondered why Paul had made a total fool of himself, he now knew. He had always believed there was some truth in the old adage about knowledge and power, but in this case peace of mind did not go hand in hand with that supposed power.

  ‘Get the hell out of here!’ he flung.

  Anna managed a glare of sorts but continued to shake. Regardless of the image she might present, she was glued to the spot, her stomach churning with a toxic mixture of shame, self-loathing and shock.

  She took refuge in a technicality and lifted her chin to an imperious angle. ‘You can’t sack me—you don’t pay my salary.’

  ‘I wasn’t sacking you, I was telling...’ he arched a sardonic brow ‘...sorry, requesting, you to get out of my sight unless you fancy a repeat.’

  The power returned to Anna’s legs and she fled. Not the dignified option but definitely the most sensible!

  CHAPTER SIX

  THE NEXT DAY Anna spent the morning studiously avoiding any place where she might bump into Cesare. She sensed his presence around every corner and had begun to jump at her own shadow to the point where Jas had asked if she was all right.

  This from a five-year-old!

  It was a wake-up call. What the hell was she doing creeping around as though she had something to feel guilty for? He was the one who had kissed her—admittedly, technically speaking, she had kissed him back. She had fallen into that kiss with an uninhibited enthusiasm that she hadn’t known she was capable of.

  Forget the kiss and move on. A good idea but there was no escaping the inescapable—moving on involved seeing this man again at some point. She had to be positive and take the initiative. She’d choose her battle site, do it on her terms.

  It was ironic that when she had decided to confront him she discovered that he wasn’t even there.

  Cesare had flown out to Rome early that morning.

  And good riddance!

  There was a strong element of anticlimax mixed in with her relief. Though she threw herself into doing what she was being paid for—caring for Jasmine. It wasn’t a chore, more a life line.

  Seeing the world through a child’s eyes was something that never palled. It was the reason that she had loved teaching, and Jas was a particularly delightful child.

  Anna was prevented from enjoying the next couple of days by the knowledge that he would be back, that this reprieve was only temporary.

  On the Friday Cesare returned to Killaran, but he wasn’t alone.

  Anna, out on a walk with Jasmine at the time, didn’t see the woman who got out of the helicopter with him, but the news was around the castle in a matter of seconds. Before they had walked through the baronial entrance hall, all the staff knew she was a blonde, beautiful, thirty something, a divorced, successful corporate lawyer. Her name was Louise Gove.

  Anna hadn’t even got her coat off before she received all the details from the group gathered around the kitchen table to discuss the momentous event. She didn’t question how they knew all this, nor did she question or even acknowledge her gut-churning reaction to this information.

  Keeping her voice low so her comment didn’t reach Jasmine, who, still in her boots and coat, had followed her nose and the doting cook to the walk-in larder where by tradition she got to take her pick of the newly baked cakes cooling on the big slate shelf, Anna posed the obvious question.

  ‘This can’t be the first time that he’s brought a girlfriend home?’ Especially considering the very high turnover, she thought bitterly.

  It tu
rned out she was wrong.

  It seemed that although he frequently entertained at the castle—the staff was proud of the lavish occasions they catered and the important guests from film stars to diplomats they looked after—Cesare never brought his lover of the moment to Killaran.

  ‘So it stands to reason this one must be special.’

  The only questions as far as anyone was concerned appeared to be when the wedding would be, would there be any changes and did she deserve him?

  ‘What do you think, Anna?’

  ‘I think she deserves our pity!’ Her heartfelt outburst earned her a few startled and openly speculative looks, because weirdly the staff here were rather protective of their boss.

  Anna lifted her shoulders in a shrug. ‘What? Do you really believe a sexual predator undergoes a personality change just because he gets married?’

  Before any of the staff had a chance to respond to her comment a small voice interrupted.

  ‘What’s a sex...usual predate?’

  A guilty flush rose to Anna’s cheeks as she turned and saw the little girl holding a cupcake in one hand.

  ‘Were you talking about Uncle Cesare?’ Her green eyes lit up. ‘Is he back home?’

  Home was traditionally where the heart was. Had Cesare brought his heart with him in the shape of a beautiful blonde? ‘I think he just arrived, sweetheart.’

  With an excited whoop his niece was out of the room before Anna could stop her impetuous dash. In her haste to follow, Anna knocked over a mug of coffee on the table. The delay meant the little girl had reached the library door before Anna caught up with her.

  ‘No, Jas, your uncle might be too busy.’ He might be too occupied, she thought, and felt queasy as an image of Cesare with the tall, beautiful, blonde possible future bride in his arms flashed into her head.

  ‘He won’t be too busy for me,’ the little girl declared confidently before she pushed open the door.