Kitabı oku: «The Innocent's Emergency Wedding», sayfa 3

CHAPTER THREE

ALESSANDRO STARED, FLOORED by the husky innocence of her reply. He just needed to ask? He ground back the inappropriate, obvious response. Why was he degenerating into some lame jerk who took every chance to turn the conversation towards the sexual? Why was he thinking of sex at all around her? He refused to be no better than the bastard prospective fiancé she was escaping—full of unwanted amorous attention…

But at the same time Alessandro had never met a woman he couldn’t seduce. That wasn’t to say he’d slept with every woman he’d met, and he was hardly about to seduce Katie. That would be like a lion playing with a lamb. Disastrous for her and unsatisfying for him.

But as he studied her closer he discovered more—her delicate chin, her high cheekbones—and then he returned to her complex coloured eyes that changed with the light, or perhaps with her mood. Elfin-featured, fine-boned…she was stunning when he teased that worry from her eyes and replaced it with excitement.

And she was as aware of him as he was of her. He needed very little of his vast experience to know that.

Temptation tugged.

No.

He whirled away from her fascinating features, dismissing those wayward thoughts, and picked up his phone again instead.

‘Dominique, I need a report on Brian and Susan Fielding, owners of White Oaks Hall—business dealings as well as personal. I also need a complete update on Zetticci Foods. Latest financials, forecasts, reviews, analysis, new product offerings from the last couple of years, plus their performance and internal management structure. The same with any company Carl Westin is involved with. I want everything. Email it ASAP.’

He needed information and ammunition.

‘I also need the jet ready to leave for the States in an hour. Cancel all my meetings for the next…’ He mulled for a moment and factored in the travel time. ‘Five days.’

As always Dominique simply said yes, and Alessandro hung up.

‘I need your passport.’ He gestured to Katie, who was sitting with her mouth ajar. ‘For the flight manifest, border control conditions and so on.’ He waggled his fingers impatiently.

Katie snapped her mouth shut, wordlessly rummaged in her bag and handed the document to him. As he strode out to give it to Dominique he quickly flicked through it. None of the pages was stamped—which didn’t mean she’d hadn’t travelled, at least within Europe—but it looked almost brand-new. His curiosity sharpened.

Back in his office, she was still clutching the bag like it was some kind of protective shield.

‘Did you leave your suitcase out in Reception?’ he asked.

‘I…uh…no.’ She shook her head.

‘You don’t have any clothes with you?’

Her eyes widened.

He bit back another laugh, refusing to verbalise the next obvious innuendo.

‘Not even a toothbrush?’ A hit of pleasure warmed his blood at the prospect of getting her out of that plain skirt and into something that fitted her better. ‘It doesn’t matter. We’ll get you something over there.’

He had five days—an eternity in his usual high-speed schedule. This was a chance to lay old ghosts to rest and to enjoy a mild distraction. Hell, in five days he could easily seduce her into surrender—not complete, of course, just enough to soothe the irritation she’d inflicted on him. She might think he was a shameless playboy, but for all her protests she was not immune.

He smiled to himself. The satisfaction of her acknowledging that was going to be good.

All of which proved he’d been working too hard lately. It was past time for some play.

It was all happening so much faster than Katie had imagined—though frankly she hadn’t imagined any further than getting into his office, let alone actually convincing him to go to Vegas with her.

But not for five days. That was far too long to leave Susan. They needed to fly over today and back tomorrow. She’d suggest that to him a little later, though. She didn’t want to say anything that might make him change his mind before they were married.

Nervously she accompanied him to the basement, where a car and driver waited. A few moments later they were on the road to City Airport.

Alessandro took calls for the entire journey. In the majority of them he spoke in Italian, meaning that Katie didn’t understand a word, but his urbane, confident tones slipped beneath her skin, stirring a secret response she couldn’t bear to acknowledge.

She stared fixedly out of the window, trying to minimise his impact on her senses. He was too handsome, too powerful, too full of wicked humour that made her want to smile all the time.

And he’d agreed to go with her to Vegas.

Get a grip.

But the knots tightened in her stomach as they arrived at the airport.

Another assistant was waiting at the entrance to the private jet terminal and he handed Alessandro a folder of paperwork and a large paper bag. As they walked through the building Alessandro showed her the Sybarite deli logo stamped on the side.

‘I’m looking forward to tasting your work.’ His lips twitched and he leaned closer. ‘Lots of things you can do with sauce…sharpen up even the blandest of dishes, correct?’

She sent him a death look.

He laughed. ‘You’re easy to bait, Katie.’

Breathless, she failed to think of a reply. Why did she keep reading innuendo into everything he said?

Because he means you to.

He was an outrageous tease. While he’d been intimidating when she’d first arrived in his office, it hadn’t taken long till he’d flipped the switch to a playful side that was his natural, wicked self. It wasn’t actually anything to do with her. Except she kept overreacting.

She had to keep her response in check and not take him seriously—that would be no problem at all, right? All her life she’d played it safe—almost always backing down from causing a scene even when she’d wanted to, rarely disobeying Brian, never fighting back because Susan had been so anxious the few times she had. She’d invariably stayed within the rules her authoritarian foster father had set.

But Alessandro barely seemed to bother with rules at all.

‘You own this?’ she muttered as they swiftly walked through the terminal and onto the tarmac. To her ignorant eyes the immaculate plane looked brand-new.

‘I own a stake in a jet leasing company. Better for the environmental footprint if we share the private planes around a bit.’

He laughed at her withering look of disbelief.

Yes, Alessandro Zetticci had interests in as many companies as he had in women. Fiendishly energetic and astute, he had a knack for knowing what people wanted, what they liked, before they were even aware of it.

She knew he’d used that innate sophistication as a youth and set up his first venue. It had rapidly become the ultimate nightspot for high society, celebrities, models, wannabes… Then at the height of its popularity he’d sold it, taken the stellar profits and reinvested them into a new company—again using that innate foresight.

He created and then flicked on companies with the careless ease with which he traded women. From one company to the next, amassing a property portfolio and personal fortune at the same time.

‘What?’ Alessandro prompted as she paused to look up at the plane again.

‘It’s bigger than I expected.’

It seemed massive for just the two of them.

That smile hovered on his lips. ‘Oh?’

She shot him another death look. ‘Do you put sexual innuendo into all of your conversations?’

‘As much as I can, of course,’ he drawled, the wickedness in his smile deepening. ‘Being the lascivious playboy that I am.’

‘You’re only doing it to antagonise me now,’ she said.

‘Am I?’

‘Or you’re just practising your flirty banter. Which you don’t need to.’

‘Don’t I?’ A flicker of astonishment lit his eyes. ‘Why not?’

No man had ever spoken to her this way, and she’d certainly never answered back. But with a man like Alessandro offence was the best defence, wasn’t it? Surely she should fight fire with fire?

She glared at him. ‘Any woman with eyes would say yes to you. You don’t even have to open your mouth.’

He burst out laughing—all warmth and wicked energy. ‘But a closed mouth isn’t as good, Katie.’ He chuckled again and teased her. ‘Don’t you want to know what my tongue is really good at?’

Refusing to reply, she stomped up the stairs. She was still unable to believe he’d agreed to marry her. But that was him, right? Mercurial, maverick, mischievous. This must appeal to that renegade element within him that enjoyed wild, spontaneous adventures. Indeed, she heard him chuckle again close behind her.

‘You react so prudishly, how am I supposed to resist?’ he murmured.

She turned her head, taking the chance to look down on him for once. ‘You could just try being polite instead of trying to embarrass me.’

He sent her a fake wounded look. ‘But, Katie, I’m unfailingly polite.’

She knew he didn’t mean it. He was still laughing at her. She had the horrible feeling he knew she was too aware of him. Somehow she needed to keep him at a distance.

At the top of the stairs she shyly followed a uniformed crewman through to the main passenger section of the plane. She drew in a deep breath because it was stunning—luxury leather, gleaming chrome, plush carpet and an outrageous sense of space.

The crewman demonstrated how the extra-wide seats reclined and pointed out the stack of reading material stowed in a gorgeous side table with a glossy finish. Then he showed her a partition further down the back of the plane, beyond which was a beautiful linen-clad bed and a polished bathroom facility. It was pure decadent elegance.

‘Thank you,’ she murmured as the crewman disappeared back the way he’d come.

‘We have three pilots and one assistant for a flight of this duration,’ Alessandro explained as he put his folders, bag and tablet down. ‘If there’s anything you need just ask and it will be done.’

Three pilots? Some oxygen might be good right now.

‘Where are they?’ she asked.

‘Crew quarters.’ He sat in the seat opposite the one she’d taken and smiled as she fumbled with the seatbelt. ‘Are you okay?’

‘I haven’t travelled that much,’ she confessed with an embarrassed smile.

His eyes narrowed. ‘You’ve flown before, though, right?’

‘I went to Paris on a school trip, but we went on the train.’

‘You’ve never flown at all?’ he queried keenly, but then he smiled, and it was that wicked one. ‘Well, it’s always good to begin with the best. Start as you mean to go on, si?’

This was definitely the best. And Katie couldn’t quite contain her smile as she leaned back and looked out of the window as the plane taxied to the end of the runway.

‘You’re not scared?’ Alessandro asked, watching her curiously.

She shook her head, determinedly keeping her attention on the window as they took off. The view of the city was incredible. ‘It’s amazing…’ she breathed.

After a few minutes she glanced back at Alessandro, absurdly disappointed to see him engrossed in reading something on his tablet. She watched quietly as he swiped through page after page. His frown deepened as he took notes with the pen and notepad he’d balanced skilfully on his knee.

He might be a playboy, but he also knew how to work. That was what those ‘most eligible bachelor’ articles gushed about—not just his legendary woman-slaying status, but his second-to-none work ethic. He had to be driven to have achieved the success he had in only ten years. How had he managed it? Intelligent, determined, decisive…known for his deals…he was always ahead of everyone else.

She just didn’t want him to change his mind. So she sat silently, trying to blend into the background the way she did when Brian was in one of his moods. But she felt hot and uncomfortable, ridiculously aware of that bed behind her.

No doubt Alessandro would bring women on flights with him all the time—hit that mile-high club time after time in complete comfort. The crew certainly hadn’t batted any eyelids when they’d seen her with him. Who knew how many women he’d had in there? It was a den of debauchery.

‘You don’t want to lie down and rest for a while?’ He suddenly glanced up and seemed to pick up on the direction of her thoughts. ‘You’ve had a long day of travelling already.’

‘No, thanks,’ she answered immediately, her skin burning at the thought. ‘I’m fine.’

As he held her gaze his expression turned wickedly quizzical. ‘What are you thinking about Katie?’

‘Nothing,’ she lied.

‘So “nothing” makes you blush like that?’

Katie pointedly turned away and buried her nose in the nearest magazine.

Alessandro huffed out a tight breath. He was trying to keep his temper in check, but the reports Dominique had emailed over just before their departure were making it impossible. Brian Fielding might be hyper-controlling over his wife and Katie, but he was very much out of control in his own life. He was one of those jerks who thought he could have it all without doing any work—gambling not only with cards and chance machines, but with get-rich-quick schemes and insecure investments. One of which, ironically, was Zetticci Foods.

His father’s former company was in worse shape than Alessandro had realised. While Aldo had been a creative genius—an instinctive, outstanding chef, with innate knowledge and a passion for his work—since his death the company’s direction had faltered.

As CEO, Naomi had clearly gone for a splatter gun approach, throwing out a ton of new products and hoping one would hit the market. None had. She’d sacked every one of the chefs she’d brought on board over the years and then turned to her brother Brian for a cash injection.

And what Brian had told Katie was correct. They were on the brink of losing White Oaks, Susan’s home and inheritance. According to the brief report, the older woman was now wheelchair-bound and being cared for by family at home. Being cared for by Katie—because Brian was regularly travelling to conferences, active on local government board meetings…

Alessandro grimaced. Brian was all about the show.

He glanced up from the report, his gaze unerringly landing on Katie again. When she’d mentioned her sauces earlier she’d lit up enough to nudge his curiosity. He’d got an assistant to track down a sample from that deli and bring it to the airport.

‘Are you hungry?’ he asked.

She sent him a startled look, then swiftly averted her gaze. He watched with mild incredulity as yet another blush washed over her skin.

‘Katie,’ he mocked in a low voice, ‘you’re the one reading innuendo into everything I say.’

He had to admit he found it both amusing and arousing. The fact that she was so aware of him was a kind of balm—because her effect on him wasn’t just arousing, it was irritating.

‘It’s the way you look when you say it,’ she grumbled, glancing back to shoot him daggers yet again.

Hugely entertained, he cocked his head and muttered coyly, ‘Oh, I forgot…it’s my looks…’

‘You have no idea what it’s like for us mere mortals,’ she ground out.

She didn’t think herself attractive? He arched his eyebrows at her and waited.

‘We’re invisible,’ she explained when she finally got sick of his silence.

The last thing she’d been to him all day was invisible. The more she opened her mouth, the more he was fascinated by what she had to say and by the sweetness of the lips doing the speaking. They looked so lush, and here he was wondering if other parts of her were as perfect…

He was so tempted, so curious to taste and explore, that somehow he’d become every inch the satyr she’d pegged him as. Every thought was related to her being naked and sprawled on a bed before him. Which, contrary to popular opinion, was not the way he usually worked. He enjoyed women—always—but he could take it or leave it. He’d never felt desire as if it were an addiction before.

‘You know you have power over people,’ she added.

‘Are you treating me like a piece of meat, Katie?’ he muttered, acutely aware of the irony in his accusation. ‘Are you sure it’s only my looks? What about my money? My charm? My extraordinary intelligence?’

‘Let’s not forget your outsize ego.’

‘Yet you’re defining me only by my appearance,’ he mocked.

She pressed her lips together. He wished she wouldn’t bite back her snap.

‘Are you treating me like a toy, Alessandro?’ She glared at him. ‘Am I here for your amusement? To liven up an otherwise boring day?’

She was so on the mark that he nearly winced. Instead he leaned back in his seat, irritated by his uncontrollable inappropriate thinking and her superficial judgement. Why should he care what she thought of him?

‘Is that what women are for you?’ she added softly.

‘Do you want me to marry you or not?’ he growled.

She seemed to freeze. Then she pulled on a tight smile. ‘Are you hungry?’ she enquired, very politely.

He suddenly felt sorry, because he’d scared her into compliance—he’d not meant to, but he’d threatened to take away what she wanted. In that moment he was no better than Brian.

‘Always,’ he grumbled—and he meant no innuendo in that.

Frankly, he often forgot to eat when he was working flat-out, and he’d been working around the clock these last couple of weeks to pull together some deals. So, come to think of it, he did have a mighty hollow deep in his belly.

She looked down at the table between them and then glanced back up at him. ‘Do you want to try my sauces?’ she asked.

Her voice sounded huskier than usual, and it was his turn to shoot her a look.

‘Really?’ He began to laugh, because that had been such a cute little tease. ‘Not bad!’

To his delight, she suddenly laughed too. And she was gorgeous doing it.

‘Sorry…’ she murmured once she’d recovered her equilibrium.

No. He didn’t want her ever to be sorry for giving as good as she got. She was prickly, quick to repel any possible suggestion of something between them. But there was something, and now she’d put the image in his head of licking some luscious sauce off her naked flesh. The blast of heat in his body was beyond uncomfortable.

Purely for something to do to distract himself, he lifted four small bottles out of the brown paper bag he’d stashed beside him.

‘Nice packaging,’ he noted. They looked more professional than he’d expected, with their simple green and white labels. ‘Which should I try first?’

She shrugged her shoulders.

He fetched a few small plates from the galley and poured a little from each bottle onto them.

‘You don’t want a cracker or something to put it on?’ she asked.

Or something.

He inwardly growled at his one-track lustathon thinking—had he regressed a few millennia to become some hormone-overloaded caveman? He’d last been with a beautiful woman only a few weeks ago, before work had ramped up so much. It wasn’t as if he’d had a dry spell…ever.

It’s because she said she didn’t want you.

His pride was pricked. He hated being told he couldn’t do something. Authority issues from the bad days of his late teens, he mocked himself. Being denied something made him all the more determined to do—to take or have—whatever it was he’d been banned from. So, yes, naturally he now wanted to do Ms Katie Collins. He wanted it more with every passing minute. But he couldn’t be that jerk—she had enough of those in her life already.

Focus on the food.

He tried the apricot sauce first. It punched his tastebuds so hard he closed his eyes, inhaling sharply at the intensity. This was better than good.

He blinked and stared at her accusingly. ‘You made this?’

‘Well, I have help to pick the fruit—’ She broke off warily and coloured.

Diverted, he wondered who helped her with the fruit picking.

But then she continued, ‘And I use the kitchen in the house.’

She literally made them all herself? ‘Whose recipes?’

‘My own.’ She sat a little straighter. ‘I’m quite good at it… Though really it’s the herbs. We grow those too.’

‘You have your very own special blend of herbs and spices?’ he drawled.

‘Is that so hard to believe?’ she asked with a little reproach.

He cleared his throat. ‘You’ve done some culinary courses?’

That flush in her cheeks resurged. ‘I tried to do a couple of courses at the local institute, but I couldn’t leave Susan. So I learned from every cooking channel I could find.’

She tilted her chin with prim defensiveness, daring him to question her. Her eyes glinted, filling with quiet confidence in the face of his surprise.

‘What else do you have aside from these?’ he asked, trying to steady his appetite.

‘Don’t you like them?’ she asked, looking as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.

‘You don’t need my feedback,’ he said roughly. ‘You know damn well how delicious they are.’

Her smile blossomed, igniting a glow that seemed fuelled by something deep within her. ‘I know, right?’ She laughed cheekily.

His gut tightened at her unexpected confidence. Coy little trickster… It turned out that she, like her sauce, was passionate, confident and full of sassy flavour. At least in regard to this. The turnaround from the wet lamb who’d wandered into his office on wobbly legs only a couple of hours ago was astounding. In this moment—in this one thing—she shone.

‘Like I said, I use the fruit we grow.’ She reached forward, turning the bottles so the labels faced her. ‘Those apricots are a heritage variety. Same with the plums.’

Alessandro nodded, slightly dazed. He’d never found discussing fruit trees fascinating before, but he couldn’t take his eyes from her. He thought again that she was like her sauces—intense, fiery and sweet.

‘Susan’s father planted those trees,’ she added softly. ‘I help her care for them, cook their fruit. I love it.’

And that love came out in the flavour of her creations.

Unsettling long-ignored memories stirred. His father had been like that—guided by instinct and emotion. Alessandro had always been more interested in the business side of things. His analytical brain worked better in bigger picture ways. Katie was self-taught and humble, and she had inimitable warmth.

Another searing shaft of hunger strained his resolve. The desire to touch her almost derailed his reason. As she blossomed before him he ached to conquer and claim…

A horrible thought occurred to him. Had hideous Carl Westin ever seen her like this?

‘Maybe this is what he wants,’ he muttered, before thinking better of it.

She sent him a mystified look. ‘Who?’

He blinked. ‘Carl. Your sauces.’

Her jaw dropped as she stared at him in astonishment. ‘You think he wants my recipes?’

No. He did not. But the fact that she honestly believed he might showed just how oblivious to her own beauty she was. Alessandro half laughed, even as he was almost overcome by the urge to haul her out of that seat.

He could have her soft, yielding sweetness beneath him in an instant. He’d discover her true taste. But he swallowed the desire back.

He forced his focus back to the sauces. ‘Which is your favourite?’

‘The cherry vinegar.’ She dipped her finger into the small pool he’d poured onto the plate and sucked the sauce off the tip of it.

Any other woman he’d have thought was making a deliberately seductive move, but there was too much of the innocent in Katie’s eyes.

To his total torment, she’d left a tiny smear just above her lip. At that sight all his good intentions melted. He couldn’t resist that contrary look in her eyes. Like the myriad of colours it was all reflected there—confidence, caution, humour, haughtiness…and desire. It was beyond temptation.

‘Alessandro?’ She sat very still as he swiftly rose from his seat. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Tasting the cherry.’

He braced his hands on the armrests of her seat and slowly bent closer. Hesitating, testing, allowing her the space, the time, to pull away, to say something. She didn’t. Pleasure washed over him and he hadn’t even touched her. He gently licked that little smear from her mouth. At the tiny hitch in her breathing he brushed his lips that bit lower, to cover hers.

He’d steal only the lightest, quickest of kisses. A tiny tease…just because. She expected it anyway, didn’t she? He couldn’t let her down, what with all her wild assumptions about him.

‘Katie?’ he asked, searching.

She stayed still and silent, but the expression in her eyes said it all.

There was a moment, the tiniest of pauses, when his lips were barely pressed against hers at all, and then he returned with a gorgeous, luscious pressure that simply melted Katie. His tongue traced over her lips in a teasing slide until she opened and let him in.

This was a kiss.

This was everything all in one soft touch. In mere moments her heart pounded, suddenly too big for her chest, as he stole—and gave—an experience like no other.

He sparked something within her. A trickle that ran faster, fuller, until it became an intense warmth, flooding her system. She strained closer to let herself taste him the way he was tasting her. He deepened the contact, swirling his tongue into her hungry mouth, and shyly, eagerly, instinctively she matched him.

The dizzying sensation intensified. Delight mixed with heat and an ache for more. She shivered, seeking his touch on her skin. She wanted to get closer and she didn’t want this to stop. It was too nice. She’d never experienced anything so nice.

Suddenly she was seized with the conviction that nothing was ever going to be the same. She was never going to be the same. He’d awakened a need so intense she thought it could never be met. And in that moment of realisation—of shocking recognition and burgeoning desire, of undeniable deep need—she moaned.

He suddenly lifted himself away and stepped back.

Katie pressed herself into her seat, desperately putting more distance between them as she tried to recover her breath. She gazed up, dying inside when she registered his casual expression. Why wasn’t he breathless?

‘You can’t… You shouldn’t…’ She trailed off, unable to scramble a sentence together. Why wasn’t he shattered?

It was just a kiss. You’re taking it too seriously.

That amused look in his eyes grew as she struggled to regain her sensibility.

‘That wasn’t fair,’ she breathed.

‘Not fair?’ He returned to his seat and folded his arms across his chest.

‘You were only supposed to sample my sauces.’

Instead they’d both discovered he could seduce her with a snap of his fingers. Her flush burned.

‘Oh, yes, the sauces,’ he echoed with soft irony. ‘You really created them all by yourself?’

‘Why is that so hard to believe?’ she snapped balefully. ‘You don’t think I can be good at anything?’

‘I think we’ve both just figured out what you’re good at.’

She gaped, flummoxed into speechlessness, and felt that wretched burn of embarrassment slide over her skin again. He was so skilled, so charming…no wonder all those women fell into his bed.

Now he smiled at her wickedly. ‘If you don’t want me to kiss you again, then stop fishing for compliments.’

Her jaw fell open. Was she meant to be grateful for his kisses? ‘I don’t need you to kiss me to make me feel better about myself.’

He reached forward to the plates on the table, swirled his finger in the cherry vinegar sauce and licked it off with a lascivious flourish. ‘No, you just need me to marry you to help you escape your evil guardian.’

He made it sound ridiculous. As if she was being ridiculous. But she could see no other way to keep White Oaks safe for Susan.

‘Yes,’ she ground out through gritted teeth. ‘And that’s all I want from you.’