Modern Romance Collection: February 2018 Books 5 - 8. Kelly Hunter

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СКАЧАТЬ to speak to Raphael alone.”

      She’d never been dismissed like that ever in her life before. “Not if you’re going to discuss me,” she said, frustration bleeding through her words. “Nonno, I know you worry for me and I didn’t make it easy by trusting Frank but I can take care of myself and this is really not anyone’s business but—”

      “That cheating man is not my concern, Pia. Knowing what is at stake, knowing my worries and my plans for you, what my godson does with you is. Raphael, this has gone on long enough. Will you do the right thing or shall I—”

      “Calm down, Giovanni,” Raphael said softly, a hint of steel in his tone. “The status of our relationship was hardly crucial when you were lying in the hospital bed.”

      “And now?” Gio taunted.

      Raphael replied in that same cutting voice that sent chills up Pia’s spine. “Leave it to me.”

      Pia stared from one man to the other, feeling as if she were standing on ground filled with land mines. A sudden grin transformed Gio again to that loving, but cantankerous old man. Dread pooled in Pia’s belly. “So, you two will be married soon?”

      Words came to her lips but Raphael’s grip around her waist tightened.

      “As soon as I can manage it, si,” Raphael replied, and Pia went utterly still.

      It was as if someone had pulled the rug from under her. As if someone had punched her in the stomach in the dark.

      Contrary to what would be expected of an eighty-four-year-old man who had just had two heart attacks in one year, Gio laughed heartily. “This year, Raphael.” His bushy eyebrows scanned Pia’s face. “You’ll be happy with him, piccola.”

      Whatever protest Pia was about to make died at the transformation in his face. How could she do anything to ruin the happiness in his face? “Nonno, I’d like to wait until you’re better before we even talk about the plans.”

      Gio nodded magnanimously. “I remember how glorious it feels to be young and in love, but remember what happened with Lucia and me.” He pulled Pia into his arms, gave her a kiss on her cheek, his eyes glimmering with tears. “Lucia would approve of who I found to look after you.

      “Too much excitemente for an old man, si? I will go rest now.”

      * * *

      Who I found to look after you...

      The words left a chill on Pia’s skin. There was something so very wrong with it but she couldn’t put her finger on it.

      The moment Giovanni’s silver head disappeared behind the doors of the house, she jerked away from Raphael.

      Just when she was beginning to accept that she wanted a relationship with Raphael, the idea of marrying him, the idea of being his equal, his lover, his wife sent her into a swirl of panic.

      “Pia, wait.”

      “No, Raphael. I need to—”

      She tried to slip away, but he captured her wrist and tugged her closer. Her legs tangled with his, her chest rasping against his. The man had the most beautiful black eyes. And when they focused on her like that, she was afraid she would melt from within. That she wouldn’t be able to refuse whatever he commanded of her in that arrogant tone.

      “Let me explain, cara mia. You will—”

      Chest rising and falling, Pia faced him. “Don’t call me that.”

      His fingers crawled to her bare arm, the length of them wrapping around it. “I will call you whatever the hell I please.”

      There was a possessive intensity to his words that shivered over her skin. He wasn’t mocking her now and something clearly had upset him too. Not that he would ever admit to it. “But I’m not yours to call whatever the hell you please,” she countered softly, staring into his eyes.

      They flared infinitesimally, and Pia felt a surge of satisfaction amidst the panic. Did he really think she had no spine? “I didn’t protest in front of Gio because I didn’t want to upset him. Because I tried to understand that he called your honor into question. Clearly there’s something going on between you two.”

      Inscrutability again. What were Gio and Raphael planning that she wasn’t supposed to know? She hoped it wasn’t another protective measure. “I’ve never seen you so upset before.”

      She fisted and unfisted her hands. “I hate lies. I hate deception of any kind and it is my grandfather we’re deceiving.”

      “It’s only deception if it’s not true.”

      She flinched and stopped her frantic pacing. But he wasn’t joking. Dear God, he looked absolutely serious! “I’ve not agreed to marry you. And I don’t remember you asking me. So of course it isn’t true, and ergo it is deception.”

      “If the lack of a proper proposal upsets you...?”

      A hysterical laugh fell from her mouth while he stared at her with an inscrutable expression. “Stop saying I’m upset. I’m not upset. I’m just stating for the record that we don’t even have a relationship.”

      “No?” His fingers clasped her bare arm and her breath fell out of rhythm instantly. “So you go around sleeping with men for the fun of it?”

      “There’s nothing wrong with sleeping with a man for the fun of it. Sex should be fun and positive and tender and breath-stealing, shouldn’t it?”

      A wicked gleam danced in his eyes. “I am pleased to have left you with such good impressions, bella. I agree that sex should be fun and positive and should be had whenever one wants to.” Heat arced between them, his fingers crawling into her nape. A sultry invitation glimmered in his eyes.

      On a soft whimper, Pia closed her eyes. Images of their long, sweaty limbs tangled in gray sheets, the sinuous whispers of their skin sliding over each other, Raphael moving inside her like music—the sensations inundated her.

      “But we’re not discussing the sexual mores of twenty-first-century women, are we? We’re discussing you, Pia. I know that what happened the other night is not a small thing for you.”

      “No. But one night’s incredible sex is not the basis for marriage either. You could have told Nonno that we’re just...we’re just...”

      “Whether now or in a few months’ time, we have to face this question, Pia.”

      “Maybe so. But you said you didn’t want a relationship with a woman, much less to marry one.”

      “You think I took you to bed, took your virginity, without being prepared for the consequences? Do you honestly think we could have a red-hot affair under Gio’s nose, and then go our separate ways? Turn the clock back to become polite acquaintances who have already shared lovers’ intimacies? Will you be perfectly all right when you see me with a new woman?”

      “Yes.” She called his bluff while her heart thudded. “I’ll be fine. We should stop now. Before all those scenarios could become true. Before one of us gets hurt.”

      Jaw СКАЧАТЬ