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‘He must have paid him off,’ I said, the leap of joy in my heart joined by that disturbing feeling of connection I’d tried so hard to ignore the afternoon before—when Allegri had punched Brutus for me. ‘It’s the only thing that makes any sense.’
‘Blimey, do you really think so?’ Jude said, her eyes popping wide. ‘But we owed Carsoni over five million euros by the last estimate.’
‘I know,’ I said, my stomach churning with shock.
Nobody had ever done anything like that for me before. But why would he?
The urgency and hunger in his kiss blasted into my memory—and made the churning in my stomach become hot and languid. Was it possible...?
‘He must like you an awful lot...’ Jude said, her thoughts straying into the same uncharted territory as mine. ‘But then, he did beat up Brutus for you.’
I forced myself to contain the leap of excitement at the memory of that punch.
Get a clue, Edie. Dante Allegri can have any woman he wants. For goodness’ sake, the man dates supermodels. Why would he want you?
I pressed trembling fingers to my lips, the memory of his tongue commanding the inside of my mouth in greedy strokes sending my senses reeling.
Okay, he had wanted me as much as I had wanted him, during that searing kiss. But even I knew the promise of that kiss wasn’t worth five million euros. I was still a virgin. I had zero experience. Then again, he didn’t know that.
‘Do you think...?’ Jude stared at me, her mind still heading in the same insane direction as mine. ‘Do you think he’ll expect you to become his mistress?’
‘I don’t know,’ I said, not nearly as horrified at the prospect as I probably ought to be.
Inappropriate and unbidden heat flushed through my system. The thought of sleeping with Carsoni for money had disgusted me, but the thought of taking that kiss to its logical conclusion with Allegri didn’t disgust me at all. In fact, at the moment the only thing that was really worrying me was the thought that once he found out I was a virgin, and I didn’t know the first thing about pleasuring a man, he might ask for his five million euros back.
Which was probably very bad of me. After all, agreeing to become Allegri’s mistress because he’d paid off a five-million-euro debt for me would compromise me, the way my mother had always been compromised. Really, I ought to feel trapped and humiliated. But I couldn’t seem to muster the required shame or indignation. At all.
Because the prospect of being free of debt was almost as intoxicating as the memory of that turbo-charged kiss... And where it might lead.
‘Well, I guess we’re going to find out,’ Jude said, looking sheepish. ‘Because he’s coming over later today to check up on you.’
My heartbeat bumped my throat, threatening to gag me, while the heat sunk deep into my abdomen.
I’d entered the game at Allegri’s casino and lost—precisely because I had been determined to prove I was not as needy as my mother. But as the heat spread through me, softening my thigh muscles and dampening my panties at the thought of what Dante might want from me, I wasn’t even sure of that any more.
CHAPTER TEN
‘I CAN’T THANK you enough for helping us, Mr Allegri. My sister and I are completely beholden to you. I’m more than willing to show you my gratitude in any way you think is appropriate. Even though I’m aware that five million euros is a lot more than my gratitude is worth.’
‘What five million euros are you talking about, bella?’ I asked, trying to keep a grip on my temper as my gaze roamed over the livid bruise on Edie Trouvé’s cheek, which had spread into a dark circle under her eye overnight.
What insanity was this now? And was there no end of ways this woman could stir both my desire and my exasperation?
She stood before me in the furniture-less room where she had been attacked the day before, sporting the marks that Brutus Severin had inflicted, looking as if a strong wind would blow her down. But, despite her obvious fragility, she seemed not to realise how vulnerable she was, her face open and eager and full of hope, as if I were some kind of saviour. Nothing could be further from the truth.
‘Didn’t you pay Carsoni the money we owe him?’ she asked. ‘To get him to cancel the debt?’
‘No, I did not.’
She frowned, clearly confused. ‘But then, how did you get him to cancel it?’
My exasperation increased at the realisation that my hunger for her had not abated in the least, despite her obvious naiveté.
‘I didn’t get him to cancel the loan; my legal team did,’ I said. ‘The credit agreement your brother-in-law signed was invalid.’ Or, rather, Carsoni had been persuaded that trying to enforce it would cost him more than the debt was worth, not just in money but also in a lethal blow to what was left of his reputation on the Côte D’Azur. ‘Carsoni was only too happy to forego the debt once he realised he would be meeting the might of the Allegri Corporation in court—instead of two penniless women—if he chose to collect any more money from you.’
I had also had my lawyer inform him that he and his organisation would be the subject of a criminal investigation if I chose to inform the police who had employed Severin.
‘I... Oh.’ She sounded more disconcerted than pleased by this revelation. ‘So you didn’t pay him five million euros on our behalf?’ she asked again.
