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“You said no.”
“Right. Up to this point, everything had been pretty low-key between us media wise. The apartment we shared was in the suburbs, we didn’t do high profile dating. I thought I was safe from the paparazzi and their blood sniffing.”
“Something had to happen to change that.”
“It did. I had a couple of friends, or at least they were women I thought were my friends, from the modeling community. They sold the story of my affair with Baron, along with some embellishments, to the press after his marriage was announced. When it became obvious he’d been sleeping with me while courting her, he had to do damage control.”
It was Angelo’s turn to go stiff, his palpable fury enveloping her. “Painting you as his sexpot mistress who wouldn’t listen to the word no, was it?”
“Yes.” She sighed, the pain of her friend’s betrayal and Baron’s willingness to destroy her good name to protect himself only a dull ache, but still there as a reminder to what a naïve fool she’d been. “It hurt so much.”
“Because you loved him?”
“Because both he and my so-called friend betrayed me, devastating my life and for what?”
“Money?”
“Right, but it didn’t do any of them all that much good. The two models are working fifth string trunk shows and hardly living the high life. Baron’s divorcing his wife. Their betrayal didn’t take them as far as they expected it to, I bet.”
“What?” His hold on her tightened and he went on before she could answer his question. “How do you know about Randall’s divorce?”
“He called me.”
“He called you?” Angelo’s fury was incandescent now. He sat up, pulling her up so he could see into her face. “Why the hell didn’t you say something?”
She frowned at his over the top reaction. “I didn’t think it mattered.”
“Of course it mattered.”
“No. It didn’t. Listen, Angelo, Baron might have some idiotic notion about renewing ties, but I wasn’t interested.”
“You told him no.”
“Do you think I would be married to you if I hadn’t?”
“What else did he say?”
“He warned me off you as a matter of fact.”
Angelo looked a little gray around the edges and she thought that was sweet.
“Don’t worry about it. His opinion is the last one I would take on relationships.”
“What did you say to him?”
“To leave me alone and then I hung up.”
“If he calls again, I want to know about it.”
She narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t go all macho controlling on me, Angelo. I’m a grown woman and no one, not even you, is going to boss me around.”
“That’s not what you said last night.”
They’d played a variation on their favorite game the night before with him doing the directing. She hadn’t minded one bit, particularly when she’d gone to sleep so sated and exhausted she’d had a hard time waking up when their alarm went off that morning.
“It’s not the same thing and you know it.”
“No, it is not. For that was a game and this is very serious. I don’t want you to have anything to do with Baron Randall.”
“Do you really think I’m such a masochist I’d want to?”
“So, you believe he could still hurt you?”
This conversation was taking some very bizarre turns.
“No. I don’t care about him, therefore he cannot hurt me.”
“You said—”
“It was a figure of speech and don’t think you’re going to sidetrack me from the original topic getting all fixated on it. I’m not your pet dog to order around.”
Suddenly she was under him and his lips were hovering just above hers. “Trust me, I see you as anything but a pet dog.”
She was relaxing beside their private pool the next day when it occurred to her that Angelo had never once mentioned the name of the man he wanted to take down. She didn’t dwell on that for very long because something else came to mind that had the power to blast all other thoughts from her brain.
“Angelo…we need to talk.”
The urgency in Tara’s voice sent dread skating down Angelo’s spine. What could be wrong?
He cut his call short and turned to face her. She was wearing a yellow bikini that set off the sexy lines of her body as well as the tan she’d acquired since arriving in Sicily. However, her expressive eyes showed none of the latent desire that usually shimmered there.
“What is it, stellina?”
