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‘So you were brought to England.’ Her gaze was steady. ‘That must have been quite the upheaval.’
‘Sì.’He shrugged. ‘From two rooms to a Palladian mansion with servants was a pretty big leap for a four-year-old boy.’
He read the empathy in her eyes and now he was beginning to regret having started this. Because knowledge was power and she might be tempted to use it when their brief affair ended. But, despite her expression of distaste when he had handed her the pen, she had signed a confidentiality agreement before travelling out to Umbria, hadn’t she? Was it that which made the rest of the story come spilling out, as if he couldn’t wait to purge himself of the darkness which had lain within him all these years? How long since he’d allowed himself to think about this? He had been convinced that if you buried unsavoury things deep enough they would rot away, like garbage, but he had been wrong.
He stretched out his legs in front of him. ‘When they arrived in England Edward announced there could never be any question of divorce and my mother was delighted because it implied security. The reality was that it gave him carte blanche to behave exactly as he saw fit—and once my half-brother and half-sister were born, my presence in the house became superfluous.’ He paused. ‘Edward and his legitimate offspring never missed an opportunity to try to make my life a misery.’
‘And was that...awful?’
‘I’m pretty resilient, Nicola.’ He gave a short laugh. ‘Let’s just say that my admission at seven to one of the most brutal boarding schools in the country came as something of a relief. At least, for a while. I wasn’t a natural fit for the English public school system, even though I won the chemistry prize year after year. And despite the entreaties of my tutors, when I was thirteen I announced I was going back to Puglia to live with my grandmother.’
‘And your mother didn’t try to stop you?’
‘Of course she didn’t try to stop me,’ he said softly. ‘I was a constant thorn in my stepfather’s side. A powerful reminder of his wife’s other lover. There was never any love lost between me and Edward. That party in Tuscany was the first time I’ve seen them together in years.’
And suddenly it became important for her to understand there had been no handouts along the way. No deeds to expensive houses, or the promise of a large inheritance to cushion every decision he would ever make. ‘Everything I’ve achieved has been through my own endeavours, Nicola. I’ve done it all on my own. Just a couple of years after I returned to Italy, my grandmother died—’
‘Oh, Alessio.’
He didn’t want to remember that time. His sense of helplessness and anger as the only woman who had ever really loved him slipped away—ravaged by her disease—had forged his determination that nothing and nobody was ever going to hurt him like that again.
‘I knew what she would have wanted and so I worked hard at school and, against all the odds, won a scholarship to Stanford. America gave me the chance to reinvent myself and by the time I’d made my first million, I had paid off every cent my stepfather had ever spent on my education. And I’ve never looked back.’
He watched as she fiddled with the now-wilted blade of grass again, before lifting her head to look him full in the face. There were many ways she could have reacted to his story and Alessio was prepared for any of them. She could have bitched about his mother, which would have been unacceptable—because everyone knew it was okay to diss your own mother but nobody else had that right. She could have stated the obvious—that his stepfather was a bastard. What he hadn’t been expecting was the quiet compassion shining from those extraordinary eyes. But as their gazes held, her expression changed. The softness in her eyes became edged with the quicksilver gleam of desire. He could see her nipples hardening beneath her white shirt and hunger began to pulse through his veins as he recalled what had happened behind the bronze statue.
‘I think we’ve talked enough, don’t you?’ He rose to his feet, holding out his hand to assist her, before shaking off the dusty jacket on which she’d been sitting and slinging it over his shoulder. ‘My hotel is just across the park,’ he said.
And despite her inexperience, Nicola knew exactly what he meant by that careless remark. This was grown-up speak forlet’s spend the night togetherand she wasn’t sure how to respond. Obviously, she wanted to go to bed with him but that mightn’t be such a good idea. She was still in her crumpled work clothes for one thing, but that wasn’t her main concern. More worrying was the certainty that her feelings were changing. She was starting to care about him, and that had never been on the cards.
She hadn’t expected him to open up to her like that. To tell her about his brutal boarding school and the horrible sense of exclusion he had encountered at home, or the break in his voice when he’d talked about his grandmother’s death. It was the things hehadn’tsaid which had made his story so heartbreaking and it had shown her that nothing was ever as it seemed from the outside. Behind the glittering veneer of the successful billionaire was a man who had been badly damaged. And yet he had trusted her enough to tell her. Didn’t that mean something? Were his feelings towards her changing, too?
Excitement rippled over her as she attempted to match his careless tone, because she certainly didn’t want to put him off by being tooeager. But she was. She wanted him so badly it was making her tummy tighten and her breasts were flooding with exquisite heat. ‘Okay,’ she agreed, pushing her too-hot toes into one of her suede court shoes. ‘Though I’m not suitably dressed for a fancy hotel.’
‘Who cares about that?’ he questioned arrogantly.
They walked the short distance across Green Park to the famous Ritz hotel, where the white-gloved doorman greeted Alessio like an old friend. Inside was an abundance of gleaming marble and lavish flower arrangements and Nicola felt torn as they rode the gleaming elevator, her crumpled clothes making her feel out of place among the well-heeled guests, in their designer silks and diamonds.
But the moment they reached Alessio’s suite and he slid his arms around her, she forgot everything. All her worries and insecurities trickled away beneath the seeking power of his kiss. She wondered whether this was going to be like that encounter in the gallery—all hot and raw and urgent—but it couldn’t have been more different. His movements were tantalisingly slow as he began to undress her. Almost as if he was determined to demonstrate which of them was in control. But that was a good thing, surely, she figured as his fingertips brushed over her shivering skin.
She closed her eyes as he began to unbutton her shirt, slowly exposing her heated flesh, until she was practically going out of her mind with frustration. Her breasts were pushing hard against a bra which suddenly seemed insubstantial and she gave a gasp as he laved his tongue over her cleavage.
‘Mmm...’ came his throaty growl of approval as his teeth encountered the delicate lace and she worried that he might rip it. ‘Is this some of the lingerie I bought for you?’
It was a question which jarred and Nicola stiffened.
Was he doing his best to remind her that she had been bought and paid for and carried her own particular price tag? Easy come, easy go? Would he have been less aroused if she’d been sporting her usual knickers which were three for the price of two? Perhaps if he hadn’t chosen that precise moment to unclip the catch of her bra, she might have objected and pushed him away, but her aching breasts had now slipped free and he had captured them in his palms. And...
A shuddered sigh left her lungs. Sweet heaven. Whocaredabout who had bought her underwear? All she could think about was Alessio sucking on one nipple, while removing her panties. And then he was touching her just as he’d done before. Feathering his finger against her honeyed heat until she was coming apart, her knees buckling and her body bucking as he brought her to another swift climax.
The bed on which he placed her was enormous but all Nicola could think about was that, once again, Alessio’s control seemed to have vanished—for he was tearing off his shirt with little regard for its fate. He was slightly more considered when unzipping his trousers and Nicola shut her eyes as the hard length of his arousal was revealed, suddenly self-conscious.
Because this wasn’t like when they’d been in Italy and had come together like two strangers. Now she knew him better and somehow that made intimacy slightly more awkward. It was harder not tocareabout him, yet she didn’t want to scare him off by revealing that. She wanted to grasp the familiar mantle of neutrality, but somehow it was eluding her. Was this what happened when a man started to invade your heart and your body—that your sense of self seemed to slip away?
‘Look at me,cara,’ he urged.
Reluctantly, she opened her eyes.
‘Don’t ever be inhibited around your lovers, Nicola,’ he purred. ‘Men enjoy seeing a woman gaze at them. They like to watch their eyes darken with desire.’ His gaze was slitted with gleamed approval. ‘Just as yours are doing now.’
