The Salvatore Marriage Deal. Natalie Rivers

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      Lily’s heart lurched and she reeled in shock as he kissed her, but he had her firmly in his powerful grip. He had never been rough with her before, but her body was responding immediately, hot desire for him building inside her.

      Despite the feeble protests her mind was trying to exert, the tension in her muscles yielded until she was pliant in his arms. He pulled her tight against him, so that she could feel the wonderfully familiar heat of his body burning through her linen suit.

      Her lips softened and opened beneath his, allowing his tongue to sweep inside.

      Oh! How she had missed him—how she had longed to be close to him again. It wasn’t just the physical intimacy that she craved, although she was kissing him back with a fervency that was making her head spin. She’d missed the amazing relationship that she’d thought they had together. She’d missed him so badly.

      His hands were holding her head now, tilting it backwards as he plundered her mouth in a kiss that delved into the very depths of her spiralling desire for him. He had released his grip on her body, but she continued to press herself against him, revelling in the pure masculine power she could feel radiating from his hard form.

      Her arms snaked around his back, slipping inside his jacket. Then, almost of their own volition, her hands started to tug at his shirt. She longed to feel his skin under her fingertips, feel his muscles flex and ripple under her palms.

      Suddenly she realised what she was doing.

      ‘Stop!’ With a monumental effort of will, she broke away from his kiss and forced herself to take a step back from him. ‘This isn’t what I want,’ she gasped, walking shakily across to the huge plate-glass window that overlooked the City of London.

      ‘What do you want?’ he asked abruptly.

      ‘I want things back the way they were.’ She was suddenly too emotional to guard what she was saying.

      ‘Then you should have thought twice before cheating on me,’ Vito grated.

      ‘I never cheated on you!’ Lily cried. ‘But it doesn’t make any difference now.’

      ‘Of course it does—it changed everything!’ Vito said.

      ‘But our relationship…Nothing was how it seemed anyway.’ She felt tears prick her eyes revealingly, and she looked down so that he wouldn’t see. ‘You weren’t the man I thought you were, or you would never have believed lies about me. You would never have accused me so horribly of something I didn’t do.’

      She turned away and stared out of the window, but instead she saw her reflection staring back—wide eyed and lost, wearing a crumpled linen suit. Her hair was escaping in wild curls from the tightly pulled-back style she’d tried to impose on it that morning, when she hadn’t had time to do it properly—but there was nothing she could do to fix that now. She smoothed her hands automatically over her creased jacket, then took a deep, steadying breath before turning back to face him.

      ‘I’m leaving now.’ She was proud at how level her voice sounded, despite the turmoil she was feeling inside.

      ‘No. You’re not leaving.’ Vito’s voice was cold as stone. ‘You haven’t thought this through yet.’

      ‘There’s nothing to think about,’ Lily said. ‘You’ve made it very clear what your opinion of me is. Why would I marry you?’

      ‘For your child’s sake,’ he said. ‘Do you want your child to grow up illegitimate? Without a father?’ He walked forward and put his hands on her upper arms, holding her in place to emphasise the importance of his words. ‘Do you want your baby to be somebody’s dirty little secret?’

      Lily stood stock-still and stared up at Vito. A horrible feeling of nausea was rising up through her, and his hands felt like cold inhuman restraints.

      ‘Why would you say such a horrible thing?’ Her voice trembled with emotion as she spoke. Vito’s words were too close to the bone. Too close to her own insecurities about her childhood.

      ‘Because you know what that would be like for your child,’ he said. ‘All your life, you’ve known what it’s like to be Reggie Morton’s dirty little secret.’

      She stared at Vito in horror.

      For a moment she forgot to breathe. Her heart forgot to beat.

      Then all at once she had to escape—get out of there as fast as she could. She whirled away from Vito automatically, her hands flying up in alarm as she swayed against the window.

      Her mind was spinning as her gaze plummeted dizzyingly down into the street far below. They were so high up that nothing looked real—tiny stick-figures, toy cars and model trees were hazy images that were almost out of sight. It was like she was in some kind of awful nightmare.

      Then suddenly her vision blurred and she felt herself start to fall into blackness.

      ‘Lily!’

      Vito’s voice cut through the haze, dragging her back to the harsh reality of her situation. Hands like steel gripped her arms to prevent her from falling, then virtually lifted her away to the huge leather chair by the desk.

      ‘Lily.’ Vito dropped down onto one knee in front of her. For a moment she almost made the mistake of thinking he was concerned about her—then as her eyes came into focus she saw that his expression was just as cold as before. He had simply adopted the best position to get a good look at her. And probably to make sure she was looking at him, paying proper attention to what he had to say.

      ‘You’re extremely pale,’ he said. ‘Have you eaten today?’

      ‘Of course I’m pale.’ Lily spoke through gritted teeth. Her stomach was churning horribly, and she really thought there was a danger that she might be sick. ‘I’ve had a lot of nasty shocks this morning.’

      ‘Have you eaten?’ he insisted. ‘What would make you feel better?’

      ‘Getting away from you.’ She stood up so quickly that Vito rocked back on his heels, but the rapid movement was a mistake. A wave of nausea rolled through her again, and she clung to the desk for support, feeling her head start to spin.

      ‘Sit down,’ Vito barked. ‘I’m not letting you leave so that you can faint in the street—if you even get that far.’

      One hand was on her shoulder, pressing her back into the chair, and the other snatched up the phone on his desk. Lily only half listened as he reeled off a list of instructions—but she understood that he was ordering food and drink.

      She closed her eyes, breathing deeply. As much as she thought she hated Vito right then, she couldn’t bear to disgrace herself by being sick in front of him. She already felt vulnerable enough, and that would just be the final humiliation on what was already turning out to be the worst day of her life so far.

      Only a few minutes seemed to pass before she heard the elevator doors open, followed by Vito’s quiet footfall on the thick grey carpet as he returned across the room. She opened her eyes to see him setting a tray down on the desk.

      ‘Drink this,’ he instructed, holding out a large glass of iced water.

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