Unnoticed and Untouched. Lynn Harris Raye

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ No, no, no. She would not think of her Italian playboy boss in that way. It wasn’t safe. It was irresponsible. Reckless.

      Faith did not do reckless. The one time she had, it had cost her far more than she could have ever dreamed. She was finished with reckless.

      “But you disapprove,” Renzo said.

      “Not this time.” And she almost meant it, except for the fact it would mean Renzo would actually sleep with that obnoxious woman. Though, on the other hand, the woman would pay for it in the end when Renzo dumped her. Faith might enjoy shopping for that parting gift. “Go for it.”

      He laughed. “And what makes you think I have not already? That she just doesn’t understand I no longer want her?”

      It was a valid point, but she knew better because she’d witnessed the fallout too many times. The tears, the desperate phone calls, the attempts to sneak past her and into his office in order to plead for another chance. Women could be, she’d decided, awfully pitiful sometimes. She wanted to tell them to get some dignity, to stop begging and go on with their lives. Men like Renzo were immune to histrionics.

      “Because a woman who has been subjected to the D’Angeli treatment is usually angry with you. She wasn’t. She wants you, and pretty badly I’d say.”

      The look in his eyes was sharp. He moved a step closer and she shuddered involuntarily. “What are you doing?” she asked.

      “Nothing,” he said, much too innocently. “I like the way you talk, Faith. It sounds like sweet syrup, all long and drawn out as if you had all day to speak. Not like the women in New York.”

      “That’s because I’m from Georgia. It’s hot there. We talk slow and walk slow and, well, do a lot of things slow.” My God, she was babbling. To her urbane, gorgeous boss. Where was her dignity?

      One of Renzo’s dark eyebrows arched. “Really? I can imagine that some things are done best when done slowly. How wise you people from Georgia are.”

      Her heart was slamming into her ribs and a fine sheen of moisture was rising in the valley between her breasts. “I sound no different now than I have for the past six months. I can’t imagine how you haven’t noticed it before.”

      He took another step and she backed up, found herself against the wall of the terrace where it curved inward. He put a hand on the wall beside her, trapping her as his other hand came up and caressed her jaw.

      It was electrifying.

      “I have been wondering this myself,” he said. “You have hidden yourself well, Faith.”

      Her body hummed with electricity that she feared would scorch her if it continued for much longer. “I’ve hidden nothing. I’ve come to work every day and sat at a desk not ten feet from your office door. I’ve brought you coffee, papers. I’ve fielded phone calls and given you reports. And I’ve gone shopping for those goodbye presents for your women—”

      “Ah,” he said softly, “you are offended.”

      “No,” she replied. But then, because she couldn’t help it, she added, “Though I think you should shop for your own presents.”

      Renzo laughed. “Perhaps you are correct, and yet you always choose the nicest things. How can I compete?”

      “By employing a full-time personal shopper?”

      His gaze dropped to her mouth for a moment and she sucked in a breath, trying to calm her racing heart. He hadn’t backed away, hadn’t taken his hand from her cheek in all this time they’d been talking. The sharp ache throbbing inside her was nearly unbearable.

      And unfathomable.

      “You have lovely eyes,” he said. “Why do you hide them behind those hideous glasses all day long?”

      She stiffened. “They’re reading glasses. I need them to do my job.” A different kind of heat scorched her now.

      Someone laughed nearby, and then Lissa’s voice drifted over the others. “So plain and unattractive. Honestly, I can’t see what he sees in her. Must be an Italian thing.”

      Time seemed to stand still for a moment, hovering in the air above Faith’s head, threatening her with old humiliations and hurts. And then it drifted down over her, covering her in feelings she would rather forget.

      She told herself not to care, but she did anyway. It hurt, being the center of negative attention. Though nothing Lissa said could come close to what Faith had gone through in the past when Jason had betrayed her trust, she was surprised to realize that it still had the power to hurt her.

      For a moment, she was back in high school. Hearing the taunts, the snickers, the innuendos. Feeling the anger, the urge to lash out, the urge to escape.

      Renzo’s jaw tightened. “I’m sorry, Faith.”

      “It’s nothing,” she said lightly, drawing on hard-won reserves of strength. “She’s just jealous.” But moisture swam in her eyes and her throat ached with the effort not to let any tears fall. She thought that she’d learned how to deal with this eight years ago, but she’d been wrong. You never got over people pointing their fingers and laughing at you.

      “We will go now,” Renzo said, his hands on her shoulders once more, this time imparting comfort rather than setting her on edge.

      “No!” Faith swallowed the lump in her throat. She would not run. Not this time. “No, that’s exactly what she wants. Besides, have you got what you came here for tonight?”

      He’d spent a few minutes with Robert Stein, but it had been in the company of others. And she was fairly certain he’d not talked business upon first arriving. No doubt he’d been hoping to broach that subject a bit later.

      He frowned. “That is unimportant.”

      Impulsively, she put a hand on his chest. The fabric of his tuxedo was smooth, cool, but beneath it his body was hard and hot. She knew he was in excellent shape considering that he was a top Grand Prix rider—not to mention she’d saved the heat-inducing magazine ad where he’d posed in his leathers with the zipper opened to his navel. She’d been unable to deny how sexy he was in that ad, even if she did think him heartless when it came to women. The magazine had gone into her keeper pile, much to her dismay.

      Still, after all that, she was unprepared for how his body felt beneath her hand.

      Power and leashed strength waiting for the right instant to explode into action. At the moment, however, he seemed very still beneath her touch, nothing but the beat of his heart vibrating against her palm. It was almost as if he was purposely holding himself still.

      Faith forced herself to focus. “Please, Renzo, the Viper is important to you. Talk with Mr. Stein. Don’t worry about me. I can handle myself.”

      She’d learned how after a trial by fire she would never forget.

      His fingers wrapped around hers where they rested on his tuxedo. He lifted her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss there that sent a shudder rocketing down her spine.

      “You are quite remarkable, Faith,” he said softly.

СКАЧАТЬ