AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘I am simply trying to find out if you have left a trail of broken hearts behind you and the chances that I will come face to face with an angry ex-girlfriend.’
He shrugged. ‘My past relationships tended to finish by mutual agreement, and I remained on good terms with my ex-lovers. It’s my turn to ask you a question. Do you have any secrets that—as the man you are going to marry—I should know about?’
She blushed again and became very busy folding up the questionnaire and putting it back into her bag. ‘I don’t have secrets. Look at the time! We should go to the ballroom to be ready to greet the guests.’
Daniele wondered why Paloma had lied. Her stiletto heels tip-tapped on the marble floor as she hurried out of the room. He went after her and took his phone out of his pocket when he heard it ping. The message was brief and satisfactory.
All arranged for next week. D
So far, the gala ball had been a great success. At the beginning of the evening, champagne cocktails had been served, before the guests filed into the palazzo’s formal dining room for a five-course dinner. The fundraising auction had raised a record amount of money for the many charities supported by the Morante Foundation. Now everyone had gathered in the ballroom, where a jazz band was tuning up. Before the dancing got under way, Paloma was preparing to make a speech.
Her nerves jangled as she walked towards the podium. Her grandfather had been a witty and entertaining public speaker, and in so many ways he was a hard act to follow. She felt a pang of grief as memories of Nonno filled her mind. He had entrusted Morante Group to her, and she was determined to run it to the best of her ability when she took control of the company.
The sight of Daniele standing next to the podium made Paloma’s pulse leap. He looked devastating in a tuxedo. Even from a distance, she felt the intensity of his glittering amber gaze. He had been at her side all evening and had acted the role of devoted fiancé so convincingly that the other guests were both charmed and fooled by him.
Paloma had found herself responding to his charismatic smile until she’d belatedly remembered that their engagement was fake. She had made an excuse to visit the cloakroom so that she could bring herself under control. Her reflection in the mirror had shown her flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes. She looked like a woman in love, she’d thought disgustedly as she’d run cold water over her wrists. She had spent a few minutes fiddling with her hair, but she could not avoid Daniele for ever. Reapplying scarlet gloss to her lips had given her the illusion of confidence, even though she did not feel it.
‘There you are,carissima,’ he greeted her. He slipped his arm around her waist. ‘I was about to send out a search party for you.’ To onlookers he was a smiling, relaxed lover, but when he dipped his dark head closer to Paloma, he said tersely, ‘Where have you been? I was starting to worry that you had been kidnapped again.’
‘No one could break into the palazzo with all the security measures you have put in place. I’m more protected than the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London.’
‘It is my duty to keep you safe.’
For some reason, his words rankled. It was silly to wish that Daniele actually cared about her rather than thinking of her as his responsibility. Paloma pinned a smile on her face and stepped onto the podium to address the guests.
‘Signore e signorini...’she began.
She kept her speech short, first paying a tribute to her grandfather, followed by a résumé of the company’s successful year, and a promise that she and her future husband intended to take Morante Group forwards together. ‘Do you have anything you would like to add?’ she asked Daniele, who was standing on the podium beside her.
She was startled when he caught hold of her hand and lifted it up to his lips. He turned to speak to the captivated audience. ‘Most of you know by now that Paloma and I are engaged to be married. I am delighted to announce that our wedding will take place in one week’s time in the spectacularly beautiful location of Isola Cappracio.’
Loud applause rang out around the room. ‘You can’t be serious,’ Paloma hissed to Daniele. His smug smile told her that he was. ‘How dare you arrange our wedding without consulting me? I can’t marry you in a week.’
‘You can and you will,’ he said implacably. He dipped his head, so his face was centimetres away from hers, and her heart gave a jolt when she realised that he was going to kiss her. ‘Remember what we practised,’ he murmured.
‘You want me to use a Krav Maga technique and punch you?’ she asked in a mock-sweet tone.
His sexy smile stole her breath, and she was as helpless as a rag doll when he pulled her closer and angled his mouth over hers. He kissed her with a mastery that made her tremble. In an instant, she forgot where they were, and that his kiss was as fake as his marriage proposal.
Daniele tilted her backwards over his arm, and Paloma slid her hands around his neck and clung to him while he deepened the kiss. Her senses responded to the spicy scent of his aftershave, the scrape of his rough jaw against her delicate skin and the heat of his hands burning through her dress. Time and place ceased to exist. There was only Daniele and the fire inside her that became an inferno as desire swept through her and centred hot and needy between her thighs.
When he finally broke the kiss, Paloma blinked and was shocked to find that they were standing on the podium in front of hundreds of people. She felt mortified by their very public display. Worse still, she was conscious of the betraying signs of their passion. The hard points of her nipples were visible beneath her satin dress, and there was a smear of scarlet lipstick on Daniele’s cheek.
‘I’ve marked you,’ she muttered, taking a tissue from her bag and giving it to him. His eyes narrowed so that his expression was hidden behind his thick lashes. He rubbed his face ineffectively. Paloma shook her head. ‘Let me do it.’ She took the tissue from his fingers and wiped his cheek clean. ‘There.’ It was strange how the small act seemed as intimate as the kiss itself.
She was thankful when the band started playing and she and Daniele were no longer the focus of attention as the guests moved away from the podium onto the dance floor. ‘There must be legal reasons why we can’t marry next week.’ There was an edge of desperation in her voice. ‘I’m sure there must be procedures and paperwork to be sorted out first.’ Italian bureaucracy was notoriously long-winded.
‘Doubtless you are aware that Isola Cappracio is an independent principality, and different rules regarding marriage apply on the island. I have been a friend of Prince Dragan for many years, since I was his bodyguard when he went on a diplomatic tour to the Middle East. The wedding will take place in the royal castle. The Prince has a highly trained security team, and you will be safe there.’
‘You should have asked me first, instead of riding roughshod over what I might want,’ she said mutinously. ‘It’s all happening too fast.’ A fake engagement was one thing, but the realisation that in a week from now she would be Daniele’s wife sent a surge of panic through Paloma. ‘We will divorce when I am twenty-five and I can take control of the company,’ she reminded him.
‘I have no wish to be married for longer than necessary,’ he drawled. ‘But be careful what you say in public. You never know who might overhear our conversation.’ Daniele indicated with a slight nod of his head to where Franco Zambrotta was standing nearby. ‘Our relationship must appear to be real.’
‘I suppose that was the reason you kissed me just now,’ she muttered, feeling embarrassed when she remembered how eagerly she had responded to him. She tensed as Daniele slipped his hand beneath her chin and tilted her face up to his.
‘If I ever meet your ex-husband, take it from me, he will not enjoy the experience,’ he said in a dangerously soft voice. ‘I kissed you because you are incredibly beautiful, and the truth is that I find you irresistible.’
He strode away while Paloma was too stunned to think of anything to say. Suddenly she was sickened by the charade they were playing, and she was tempted to follow Daniele and tell him that she could not go through with it. But before she could move, one of the trustees and an old friend of her grandfather, Gianluca Orsi, stopped in front of her.
