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Then another thought occurred to him with a sickening jolt and suddenly he knew the reason why she’d had to go back to her early childhood memories.
Twelve years ago Primo Vasile, with Francesca Hazelton’s help, had viciously destroyed Marco’s family. They’d taken everything that was precious from Marco and his innocent younger sister, Bianca—including the family home. Just days after the De Luca family business crumbled, Claudia’s family had moved on to the De Luca estate. Her father, although he had not been directly involved with the takeover, was Vasile’s business partner—and her stepmother was Vasile’s partner in crime.
So Claudia had not been able to discuss her teenage years with Marco because, when she was thirteen years old, she had gone to live in the home that Vasile had cheated Marco’s family out of.
Marco had always known that they shared this link—but, at the time of their relationship, he had genuinely believed she was unaware of it. He had been eighteen when his family had been destroyed and he had made it his business to know who was to blame. Claudia had been a child at the time and there was no reason for her to be aware of the family who had lived in her home before.
But now, thinking about the way she had focused all her childhood tales on her earlier years, he realised it was yet another way she had duped him.
A creak from above caught his attention and he looked up to see Claudia making her way down the wooden staircase.
He forced the memories to the back of his mind and studied her. She had changed into fresh clothes—a bulky jumper that did nothing to show off her feminine shape and dull, loose-fitting trousers. It didn’t matter to him—in his mind’s eye he could still see her in soaking wet, skin-tight jeans that clung to every intimate curve and a transparent T-shirt that showed her nipples jutting towards him in red-hot invitation.
He lifted his gaze to her face as she walked down to him and, as their eyes met, a crackle of tension passed between them. Her step faltered and she took a breath, as if she was gathering herself to speak. One glance at her body language and Marco knew that things were about to get interesting.
A buzz of anticipation ran through him and he realised he was looking forward to the exchange.
‘I’d like you to leave now.’
Claudia’s voice sounded clear and determined to her own ears, but her words had no effect on Marco. He continued to stand there, simply looking up at her with an intensity that made a shiver run down her spine. He was wearing fresh jeans and a luxurious midnight-blue sweater which hugged his body snugly and made her achingly aware of his superb athletic physique.
‘I’m not ready to leave,’ he replied. A powerful wave of energy was emanating from him and for some reason Claudia sensed danger. But his arrogant tone grated across her nerves and suddenly she was galvanised into action.
She walked down the stairs and slipped past him into the living room. As she went by him she couldn’t help noticing that his black hair was nearly dry and was sexily dishevelled. It looked as if he’d simply rubbed it with a towel and pulled his fingers through it. Her own fingers suddenly tingled with the need to reach out and touch it, but she ignored the urge and made herself scan the room for his belongings.
‘Here’s your coat,’ she said, picking up the leather jacket that he’d left lying across the back of the sofa. The leather was soft and supple in her hands and a tantalizing waft of his masculine scent filled her senses, but she ignored the disconcerting distraction and thrust the jacket towards him. ‘Now, please just go.’
‘Very polite,’ Marco said, with an infuriating lift of his eyebrow as he caught hold of the jacket just in time to stop it falling to the floor. ‘But, as I said, I’m not ready to go yet.’
‘I don’t care if you’re ready.’ Claudia was rapidly losing her temper. ‘I didn’t invite you to join me here. I didn’t even tell you I was coming to Wales—you found that out by underhand means. Is it surprising you’re not welcome?’
‘I was welcome enough in the shower,’ Marco said, taking a step towards her.
‘I told you to get out,’ Claudia said, feeling her cheeks blaze as his eyes swept down across her body. Her clothes covered her well, but she knew he was remembering the many times he’d seen her naked.
‘But you didn’t mean it,’ he said. ‘In fact you soon made me feel very welcome indeed.’
‘Well, you’re not any more.’ She spun round and marched to the front door of the cottage, which was in the far corner of the living room, and flung it open with a defiant flourish. Then she turned back to face him.
She gasped, startled to find him right behind her. He had followed her across the room as silently as the black cat she had imagined in the shower.
But, for once, his attention wasn’t on her. He was staring out through the open door. Something in his expression made her turn round and follow his line of vision.
Her eyes opened wide with shock and it was her turn to stare.
A thick blanket of fog surrounded the cottage. And the rest of Wales, as far as she could see, which was only a few feet into the dense whiteness.
‘That’s incredible,’ Marco said, stepping past her and walking a few paces into the fog. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it.’
‘Neither have I,’ Claudia replied, momentarily forgetting her bad temper. The fog muffled their voices and the sound of his footsteps on the gravel as he walked further away into the thick white bank. ‘I’ve seen fog rolling in off the sea—but that is extraordinary.’
She’d never seen fog so dense. In fact, she realised with a spike of alarm, Marco was starting to disappear from view.
‘Come back!’ she exclaimed. ‘You’ll get lost.’
‘I can’t even see my car,’ he said, turning to walk back to her. The light from the doorway was bouncing back off the white wall of suspended moisture, making an eerie glow around him. ‘I know it’s only a few feet away.’
‘You can’t drive in this,’ she said. It was impossible to see anything. The fog was too dense, and the light shining from the house didn’t help at all. In fact the fog seemed to be acting like a mirror, reflecting the light straight back at them.
