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She pressed her lips together as if to hold back an angry retort, but her simmering silence spoke volumes. While they danced, Daniele tried not to think of her soft breasts pressed against his chest, and the narrowness of her waist that he could almost span with his hands. He did not want to remember how unbelievably good her mouth had felt beneath his, and how her unguarded response to his kiss had evoked a voracious hunger in the pit of his stomach.
His intense awareness of this woman, and his inexplicable need to be near Paloma and provoke a response from her, was unlike anything he had ever experienced. Daniele sensed she was struggling as much as he was to resist the sexual chemistry that was almost tangible between them. The pulse at the base of Paloma’s throat was thudding erratically, and her pupils were deep black pools that mirrored her desire.
The moment the music stopped, she pulled out of his arms and hurried out of the ballroom. In the entrance hall, staff were handing out gift bags to the guests and directing them to their cars lined up outside on the driveway. Daniele eased his way through the crowd and ran up the staircase after Paloma. She glanced over her shoulder and walked faster along the corridor.
‘I’m done tonight, Daniele. I don’t want to talk to you.’
‘A few minutes ago, you were happy to sing the praises of my half-brother.’
She halted in front of her bedroom door. ‘Why won’t you give Stefano a chance? It’s not fair to blame him because your mother chose him over you.’
‘Why are you so determined to champion him?’ Daniele growled, goaded by the images in his head of Paloma dancing with Stefano. She had looked happy and relaxed. When she’d smiled at his half-brother, Daniele had felt a sinking sensation in his stomach, the same feeling he’d had when he’d watched his mother drive away all those years ago. ‘Perhaps you wish you were going to marry Stefano. After all, he would be a better class of husband,’ he said sardonically. ‘Unfortunately for you, my half-brother has never been required to work a day in his life, and he knows nothing about running a business like Morante Group.’
Since they had left the farmhouse a few days ago and returned to the palazzo, Daniele had occupied a guest suite along the corridor from Paloma’s room. When he strode away from her and opened the door to his suite, she was right behind him.
‘I don’t wantto marry anyone,’ she flung at him. Her hands were on her hips and her pretty face was flushed with temper. ‘It has nothing to do with class. I don’t think you are beneath me because I am from an aristocratic family. I can’t help it if you have a hang-up about your perceived social status. And it is not Stefano’s fault that your mother loves him but not you.’
Daniele lost it then. Paloma’s taunt came too close to a painful truth, and his tight control over his emotions cracked. ‘Enough,’ he bit out savagely. ‘You will marry me and honour the bargain we made.’
Paloma was standing just inside the room. Daniele pushed the door shut and backed her up against it, caging her in with his hands on either side of her head. Her eyes were wide with shock and something else. He recognised her excitement, and his blood thundered in his ears and surged down to his sex.
She had driven him to distraction all evening. Every glance they’d shared, the sensual fragrance of her perfume that had teased his senses when he’d sat beside her at dinner, the melodious sound of her voice that made him think of a cool mountain stream.
‘The truth is that we both want this,’ he told her thickly, lowering his face towards hers.
She did not deny it, and he felt a tremor run through her when he covered her mouth with his and kissed her with a desperation that, if he had been capable of rational thought, would have appalled him.
CHAPTER SEVEN
HEATANDFIRE. Just like the other times Daniele had kissed her. But this was not a practice kiss, nor was it a kiss designed to convince the guests in the ballroom that their relationship was the greatest romance sinceGone with the Wind. This kiss was wild and fierce, with an urgency that sent a shudder of need through Paloma. This kiss was real.
She made a low sound in her throat, a hungry plea for Daniele to deepen the kiss. And when he did, when he thrust his tongue between her lips, she opened her mouth to his demands and kissed him back. The groan he gave was raw, almost feral, and brought her skin out in goosebumps. She answered him with a greedy little moan as he plundered her lips and held her jaw with his fingers to angle her mouth so that it fitted perfectly to his.
Daniele lifted her up and supported her with his hands beneath her bottom. Her back was still pressed against the door. ‘Hold on,’ he told her hoarsely before he lowered his mouth to the base of her neck and sucked the pulse that throbbed there.
Paloma obeyed him mindlessly, sliding her hands up his chest to grip his shoulders while she wrapped her legs around his thighs. His body was as hard as steel, especiallytherewhere his arousal was a solid ridge straining beneath his trousers. Molten heat pooled between her legs when he shifted position, bringing her pelvis flush with his.
He must have unzipped her dress without her being aware, and when he tugged the bodice down, her breasts spilled over the top of their satin covering. She was braless, and Daniele’s amber eyes gleamed when he stared at her small, pale breasts. ‘You are driving me out of my mind,’ he rasped, before he bent his head and flicked his tongue over one dusky pink nipple.
She gasped as sensation spiralled through her and thrust her fingers into his hair when he moved across to her other breast. When he drew the taut peak into his mouth and sucked, she sobbed something incomprehensible and felt him smile against her breast.
‘Your breasts are as perfect as I imagined them,’ Daniele muttered, banishing in an instant Paloma’s wish that she were more voluptuous. The tantalising press of his hard arousal against her femininity was proof of his desire. He pushed her long skirt up so that it bunched at her waist and slipped his hand between her thighs, discovering the drenching evidence of her arousal when he stroked his fingers over the narrow panel of her knickers.
She wanted, wanted... Dimly, Paloma recognised that her lack of experience meant she did not know exactly what it was she wanted. But a powerful instinct took over, and her body knew. A tremor ran through her when he eased her panties aside and ran his finger lightly over her opening. ‘Please...’ She was unaware that she had spoken out loud until Daniele laughed softly.
‘I have every intention of pleasing you,carissima. You are so responsive,’ he said thickly as he parted her silken folds and pushed his finger into her. The effect was instant and shattering. She had no control over the hot rush of pleasure that spasmed deep in her feminine core and rippled in delicious aftershocks through her entire body. At the moment she climaxed, Paloma gave a sharp cry and then buried her face in his neck as the reality of what had just happened made her want to die of embarrassment. She had acted like a naive virgin, which was exactly what she was.
‘Youarehungry,mia bellezza,’ Daniele growled. The satisfaction in his voice elicited a faint unease in Paloma. ‘I’m hungry for you too.Dio, I need to be inside you right now.’ He fumbled with the zip on his trousers and swore softly. ‘Even though I am impatient, I’m not going to have sex with you up against the door. We will be more comfortable in bed.’
He carried her across the room and deposited her on the silk bedspread. His amber eyes scorched her like flames as he pushed her flat on her back and shoved the yards of satin ball gown up to meet the bodice of her dress that had slipped down to her waist.
Paloma suddenly felt exposed with her breasts bared to his glittering gaze. He moved his eyes down to her tiny black panties that were soaked with her arousal. ‘These need to come off.’ He curled his fingers around the waistband, and with his other hand, he opened his zip and started to free himself.
But the spell had been broken. The fire inside Paloma turned to ash. Unwanted memories forced their way into her mind, of her ex-husband rolling away from her to the other side of the bed. ‘I don’t know why it isn’t working,’ Calum had told her sulkily. ‘I’ve never had a problem with other women.’
Calum had not actually said that it was her fault he couldn’t make love to her, but the implication had been devastating for Paloma. She had been sure it was because of something she’d done wrong, or something she should have done. She’d felt ashamed by her inability to give her husband sexual pleasure.
What if the same thing happened now with Daniele? If he started to have sex with her, but stopped because she did not turn him on, it would be unbearably humiliating. But perhaps worse would be if he did make love to her. How on earth could she explain that she was still a virgin, despite having been married? He would demand to know why, and she would have to admit that she was frigid. Calum had said she was a pretty shell, but her lack of sensuality made her passionless.
