Love Islands: Swept Away. Natalie Anderson

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СКАЧАТЬ gave herself a silent shake. This wasn’t the time to be falling into a pool of lust. She’d been there, done that, with this man. And look where it had got her.

      Look where she was now, about to be given news she instinctively knew would be life-changing.

      She glanced up at him. His hazel eyes probed, then raked her face, and his nostrils flared slightly, as if he, too, was finding it difficult to be seated so close to her without remembering what they’d done to each other on a hot September night in Palermo five years ago. His gaze dropped to her throat, her breasts, and she heard his short intake of breath.

      ‘Romeo...’

      He balled his fists on top of his thighs and his chest expanded in a long inhalation. ‘You’re right about the bodyguards. I normally only travel with two members of my security team.’

      Her stomach hollowed out. ‘Why...why the increase?’

      ‘It’s just a precaution at this stage.’

      ‘What does that mean?’ she demanded. ‘Precaution against what?’

      ‘It means neither you nor Gianlucca are in danger at the moment.’

      ‘But you’re expecting us to be at some point?’ Her voice had risen with her escalating fear and the shaking had taken on a firmer hold.

      He shook his head. ‘You don’t need to panic—’

      ‘Oh, really? You tell me my son could be in danger and then tell me not to panic?’ she blurted, all the different scenarios she’d talked herself out of tumbling back again. She brushed her hands over her arms as cold dread drowned her.

      ‘I meant, there was no need to panic because I’ll ensure your safety,’ he said.

      ‘Safety from what?’ When he remained silent, she jumped to her feet and paced the small living room. ‘I think you should start from the beginning, Romeo. Who are these people and what do they want with you? With our son?’ She froze. ‘Are you involved in...in criminal activity?’ she whispered in horror.

      His mouth compressed and his face set into harsh, determined lines. ‘No, I am not.’

      The scathing force of the words prompted her to believe him. But the fear didn’t dissipate. ‘Please tell me what’s going on.’

      He rose, too, and paced opposite her. When his fists clenched and unclenched a few times, she approached. At the touch of her hand on his arm, he jerked, as if he’d been elsewhere.

      As he stared down at her, his mouth compressed. ‘My past isn’t what you’d call a white-picket-fence fairy tale,’ he said obliquely.

      Maisie attempted a smile. ‘Only the books I read to Lucca contain those. Real life is rarely that way.’

      A grim smile crossed his lips. ‘Unfortunately, mine was a little more dire than that.’

      She kept quiet, mostly because she didn’t know how to respond.

      ‘The man whose blood runs through my veins was the head of a Sicilian organised crime family.’

      She gasped, then stepped back as the import of the words sank in. ‘You’re a member of a Mafia gang?’

      ‘No, I’m not.’ Again that scathing denial.

      ‘But your...your father is?’

      ‘He wasn’t my father. We just share the same DNA,’ he bit out in a harsh tone that spoke of anger, bitterness and harrowing pain.

      Maisie’s eyes widened. As if aware of how he’d sounded, Romeo breathed deeply and slid his fingers through his hair. ‘The abbreviated story is that I met him twice. Both times ended...badly. What I didn’t know until yesterday was that he’d kept tabs on me all my life.’

      ‘Why?’ she demanded.

      Romeo shrugged. ‘Since I didn’t know the man, I can only guess it was some sort of power-trip thing to watch whether I failed or succeeded. Or it may have been for other reasons. I care very little about what his motives were.’

      Maisie frowned. ‘You talked about him in the past tense...because...’

      ‘He and his family died in a yacht explosion a year ago.’

      The rush of blood from her head made her light-headed. ‘Was it an accident?’ she asked, her lips numb.

      His mouth pursed for a few seconds before he answered, ‘Officially. But probably not.’

      Her gasp brought his head up. Cursing under his breath, he strode to her and grasped her arms. ‘I’m only going by what my gut tells me, Maisie. I don’t have hard evidence to the contrary.’

      ‘And your gut tells you he was assassinated?’

      He nodded.

      A million more questions crowded her brain, but she forced a nod. ‘Go on.’

      His hands moved to her shoulders, a firm glide that left a trail of awareness over her skin. ‘I received a letter from his lawyers a month ago, summoning me to Palermo, which I ignored. I received a few more after that. The last one told me he’d left me something I needed to collect in person.’ His mouth twisted. ‘My curiosity got the better of me.’

      ‘What was it?’

      ‘His monstrosity of a mansion. Along with his plans for my future.’

      Ice slithered down her spine. ‘What plans?’

      One hand moved to her neck and cupped her nape. The familiarity of that gesture thawed the ice a little, replacing her terror with a wave of warm awareness.

      ‘He never had a son...not a legitimate one anyway. I think somewhere along the line he intended to contact me, bring me into the family business. He just never got the chance to. But he told his second in command about it. He was the one who asked the lawyers to contact me.’

      ‘What does he want from you?’

      ‘The famiglia is falling apart. They need a new injection of young blood, and an even greater need for an injection of financial support.’

      ‘You have both.’

      ‘But I intend to give them neither.’

      Maisie stared at his granite-hard face, the deep grooves bracketing his mouth and the dark gold of his eyes, and the pennies finally tumbled into place. ‘But if you don’t intend to... Oh, my God. You think they mean to use Lucca to make you do what they want?’ she rasped in a terror-stricken voice.

      His grip tightened and one finger caught her chin and raised her face to his spear-sharp gaze. Her stomach knotted at the savage determination on his face. ‘They will never get their hands on you or our son. You have my word on this, Maisie.’

      She shook her head, her insides growing colder by the second. ‘But you can’t guarantee that, can you? Or you wouldn’t be here with six СКАЧАТЬ