“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to claim a dance.”
****
Sebastiano Volpi circled the room like a vulture. He must have been invited by Signora Bettina; neither Melo or Rosa would have added his name to the guest list. His eyes lit on Melo with a predatory gleam, and her heart fell as he started across the room toward her. Once, she’d found his dark, Italian perfection attractive. But she wasn’t eighteen any more. And the way Sebastiano treated her during their brief fling had opened her eyes. He might have a gorgeous face, but he had an ugly mind. A very ugly mind.
“Ciao, Bella. You look very beautiful tonight.”
Melo angled her body away from Sebastiano, keen to avoid his embrace.
He smirked, grasped her hand and smothered its back with damp lips.
Melo squeezed her free hand into a fist. Made her face blank. One, two… Finally he released her. Melo gritted her teeth resisting the urge to slap him. This was Rosa’s party. Not the place to have a scene.
“Sebastiano,” she acknowledged, pulling her hand away rapidly and clasping it with its twin in front of her dress. “I haven’t seen you for a long time. How are you?”
Maybe she could distract the man by getting him to talk about his favorite subject, himself.
Sebastiano launched into a detailed monologue. He talked about the extensive renovations he was doing to his house in the hills. His successful business. The new jet he’d bought to travel from Florence to Rome.
Melo stifled a yawn. When they’d been in school and he’d singled her out senior year and brought all his considerable charms into play to woo her, she’d been flattered. He was the first boy to pay her any sort of attention; all the other boys were drawn to Rosa’s blonde perfection like moths to the flame.
But Sebastiano had seemed different. It was only when he suggested double dates with Rosa and her boyfriend that she suspected he was using her to get closer to her sister. And when Rosa’s relationship broke up soon thereafter, and Sebastiano chucked her so he could move in for the kill…
Well that just confirmed it.
Rosa hadn’t given him the time of day. She still wouldn’t.
It was unbelievable he’d decided to attend the party; he couldn’t possibly be unaware of how the Bellucci girls felt about him, could he?
She glanced over to where he was gesticulating and still talking about himself. Then glanced around the room, seeking a savior. If she had to listen to any more she’d explode.
Cade was walking her direction.
It was a funny thing about tuxedos. They really separated the men from the boys. Sebastiano looked like a waiter in his custom-made Armani. Cade, on the other hand, was every woman’s dream. Tall, devastatingly good looking, and grumpy as hell.
Sebastiano reached out to grasp Melo’s arm.
And Cade’s expression darkened from grumpy to furious.
In a moment of madness, Melo turned to Sebastiano, and gifted him with her widest smile. She raised her eyebrows questioningly. She hadn’t heard a word he said, but he wasn’t holding any grudges. His chest puffed up like a dog being patted.
“I was asking you to dance.” He leaned closer. “I would like to have you in my arms again.”
Her stomach turned over at the very thought, but before she had a chance to react Cade was there.
He stood so close, the heat of his body warmed through her soft silk dress. She breathed him in, and her heart thudded hard. She forced air out through crushed lungs; swaying toward him like a compass unerringly finding true north.
“Melo, can I talk to you for a moment?”
Her dazed brain dimly registered his words and her head automatically tilted back and forth.
A sharp tongue-click snapped her back to reality, and her glance flicked to Sebastiano. If looks could kill, Cade would have gone up in flames instantly. It was so ridiculously macho Melo almost giggled.
“Melo and I were just about to dance.” Sebastiano curled his fingers around her upper arm.
His touch was abhorrent, and she picked his hand off like removing a caterpillar from a rose.
“If you remember, Sebastiano, I hadn’t given you my answer.” She lowered her voice not wanting to publicly humiliate him, even though he sure deserved it. “And my answer is no. I would not like to dance with you.”
“Va bene. La vostra perdita.”
He spoke Italian in blatant rudeness, then spun on a heel and strode away.
“What did he say?” Cade’s fists were clenched at his sides and his body tensed as he watched the other man leave.
“He said your loss.” Melo grinned.
The guy had such a huge ego, he probably believed it too. “Nothing to punch him out for.” She schooled her face into a polite mask. “Now, what did you want to talk to me about?”
Cade folded his arms. His body relaxed, as if the threat had been neutralized. He reached out and casually smoothed a lock of hair back from her face, and her heart fluttered wildly. “I didn’t have anything to talk to you about. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“Of course I was okay. Didn’t I look okay?” Melo frowned.
She was in the process of being bored to death, that was all. Something easily remedied by walking away.
“You looked interested.” Cade’s top lip curled as if he’d eaten something unpleasant. “And that guy…” He crossed his arms over his chest and scowled.
“What are you, my brother? I’m more than capable of choosing who I want to be interested in, Cade. I don’t need your help.” She stuck out her chin and stared him down.
This was ridiculous. He didn’t want her, but was trying to make sure she didn’t make any foolish choices. Anger heated her blood.
Cade reached out and captured her hand. “Stop being angry.”
That sure didn’t help. She started to pull her hand away, but he gripped tighter.
His face softened and a “play with me” smile teased his lips. “Come on, Melo. Stop being angry.”
He’d teased her when they were kids. Had always been able to get around her. To her frustration, he still could.
“Huh.” Her mouth pouted, but her hand stayed in his.
“I didn’t like you looking at him like that. Didn’t want you to be interested,” Cade confessed. “I want you to be interested in me. Only me.” He pulled her close, and whispered in her ear. “Now, will you dance with me?”
The band was playing a slow ballad as they walked out onto the dance floor. Couples swirled past under the chandelier’s soft light. Cade’s hand slid around her waist, and she moved close against him like an obedient sleepwalker.
“I remember being here, before.” His warm breath feathered over her ear as their bodies fused in perfect time. “When we were kids.”
It had been a day she’d never forgotten. Rosa and Adam were off somewhere, and when Cade arrived at the villa, she suggested they go and look at the roman ruins unearthed in the field on the outskirts of Signora Bettina’s land. The climb to the site was strenuous, and she’d almost fallen a couple of times on the rough pebbles of the track. Cade had held her hand. And her heart had almost burst with happiness.
“I remember.” She trembled at the feel of his fingers splayed against her spine. Her nipples tightened as they brushed against his chest. They were in public, but she couldn’t resist pushing her body closer against him.
She pulled in a deep breath, and thought back to that time, long ago. Standing in the ruins watching the archaeologists excavate the past was thrilling. And when they’d unearthed an intact bowl, Cade’s excitement had matched her own. They sat on a rock, gazing out to sea, and talked for hours.
“You talked about how the echoes of people long ago fuse into the earth.”
She glanced up at his shadowed jaw line. Even after all these years he remembered her fanciful girlish notions. The realization stunned and thrilled in equal measure.
“I didn’t think you’d remember,” she whispered.
“How could I forget? I’d felt it too.” His mouth dusted the top of her head, and she gave in to the temptation to rest her head against his broad shoulder.
“After my father’s death we had to sell the ranch. We’d lived on the land for three generations. It was our land, and the ghosts of my ancestors were always there. I felt them. Imagined them looking out for me.” The hand around her waist tightened. “I thought I was the only person in the world who felt like that. Hearing you say it was amazing.”
“What happened to the ranch?” When he’d been a boy, she’d never dared ask. The bleak look that flooded his eyes each time he mentioned his past had warned her away.
“It was demolished. To make way for progress.”
She glanced up. His mouth was set in a tight line.
“They put a highway through it and built over the land. Thousands of houses.”
Melo’s heart clenched. Even when he’d made his fortune he wouldn’t have been able to turn the clock back and save his home; there was no home to save. All trace of his family had been obliterated. Her fingers feathered over his jaw.
He glanced down, a wicked light gleaming in his eyes.
“How about we get some air?”
****
It was cooler in the garden, and more private. A few couples had ventured out into the moonlit darkness, but away from the crowd they could finally be alone.
In silent accord they walked toward a solitary bench overlooking the darkened garden. It was a relief to sit quietly for a few moments to get his head together. Somehow, they’d started talking about the ranch. He hadn’t even thought about the ranch in years. There was no use in hankering after something long lost. He’d learnt that the hard way.
“How did you lose the ranch?” Melo asked quietly.
Cade turned the question around in his mind. It wasn’t something he normally talked about, but somehow, here in the perfumed darkness it seemed right to tell her.
“My father wasn’t a bad man, but he had a gambling problem.” It was something he’d managed to hide from Cade’s mother, for a while anyway. Until it was too late.
Melo just sat silently and waited for him to continue.
Cade pulled in a deep breath, and pushed the hair back from his face. “He won a few times on a poker game, and that fed his addiction.” His mouth twisted at the memory of his father’s good mood the day he’d come home with tickets for a holiday for them all. His father’s pride. Misplaced, as it turned out. “Then he gambled heavier, and before he knew it, he was in debt.” A bitter taste filled Cade’s mouth, tainting the words that followed. “He could have sold off some of the land, paid his debts. But he was in too deep. And in addiction’s grip. He bet the ranch, and lost.”
Melo gasped, and her soft hand gripped his.
“And then?”
“He shot himself in the barn.” The memory of the last conversation he’d had with his father rose to the surface of Cade’s mind, and he allowed himself to remember for a moment.
The look of utter desperation on his father’s face had been terrible to behold. Cade had tried to offer solace, asking what he could do, what his father needed. He heard his father’s long ago answer echo in his mind.
“Money.”
The one thing Cade didn’t have. It wasn’t his fault; a boy couldn’t solve the financial worries of a man living on the edge. But when his father died Cade had known the only way to help those he loved was to provide for them financially, so they would never suffer the agonies his father had.
The year that followed had been the worst year of his family’s life. Dealing with his father’s death was one thing, but dealing with the loss of their home—their eviction, was a nightmare it had taken long years to fade.
Cade made it through school, and had won a scholarship to college, funding it by working two jobs, weekends and evenings. His determination paid off, and through hard work he made enough to secure his family’s future.
The moonlight glinted off Melo’s hair, adding silvery lights to its rich darkness, and when she turned to him her eyes were almost navy. “I’m sorry it was so difficult for you.”
He’d never kissed anyone who knew so much about his past before. For the first time in years he felt vulnerable, exposed.
Her lips parted, and she leaned closer.
Soft. Tempting. Inviting. He had to kiss her. He stroked along her jaw line, and then grasped her nape, pulling her closer to kiss.
She tasted of honey. Of champagne. Of Melo. The scent of her perfume filled the air as his hands slid lower. Heat flared in his abdomen. His palms skirted over her shoulders, and when she moaned into his mouth, his desire flared out of control. His heart pounded and his breathing quickened. The elegant line of her neck arched in an invitation he instantly accepted, and she gripped his shoulders as if she was in fear of falling. Maybe she was—he sure was.
Falling out of control, and fast.
“Sit on my knee.”
She couldn’t straddle him, not in that dress, but at least if she sat on him he’d have better access.
She stood, towering over him in her high heels.
The seductive curve of her mouth sent a wave of molten lust through him.
Her gaze flickered to the open French windows. Muted music drifted in the air, and she swayed slightly to its beat.
They could be seen from the doorway. It wasn’t nearly private enough. The dress had to go. He wanted to run his hands and his mouth all over her. Have her naked beneath him, as they’d been earlier.
She pulled in her bottom lip, and bit gently.
He reached for her hand, pressing a kiss into her palm.
She shivered, but didn’t move. Cade got to his feet, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close.
“Let’s go.”
Chapter Six
Thank God neither of them had to drive. The road from the Palazzo wound down the hill to the hotel, and there was no way he’d be able to pay attention to those curves, he was too fascinated with Melo’s.
The driver concentrated on the winding road.
Melo rested against Cade in the darkness. Her hand was on his thigh. He wanted it higher. With an intensity that had him sliding a hand down to caress the soft skin revealed by the deep dip in the back of her dress. It was too tight to investigate further; so he grazed the slide of her neck instead, loving the shiver trembling through her.
“Here we are,” the driver said.
They’d covered the miles in mere moments. Cade grasped her hand and was out of the car faster than a sprinter with the finishing line in sight.
The large courtesy car turned on the sweep, spraying gravel as it accelerated up to the Palazzo again.
Cade’s heart was thundering in his chest, but he had to ask. “Are you sure?” The velvety blackness surrounded them like a cloak. Perfumed with the lavender and rosemary, silent and seductive. Like the woman before him.
“Yes,” Melo said huskily.
Her sapphire eyes gleamed in the moonlight. No hesitation. No second thoughts.
Her hand in his infused him with power, flooded him with a frantic longing. They walked silently into the hotel, not speaking until they reached the safe, private haven of his room.
Melo turned at the click of the door. A tall, graceful mermaid, caught. It was difficult to breathe. Cade’s erection swelled as she gazed at him earnestly.
“Where were we?” Cade whispered.
Her mouth tilted at the corners. She raised her shoulders in a graceful little lift that pushed her breasts out toward him a little.
He ran his tongue over dry lips. “Ah, I remember.”
When she reached out a hand and undid his top button, Cade’s iron control melted. He groaned, her fingers fumbled. He reached around to slide the long zip down to the curve of her bottom. The straps fell from her shoulders, slid down her silken skin.
She shimmied, and the dress pooled at her ankles. The green lace bra matched the dress perfe
ctly, and a green garter belt spanned her tiny waist.
His gaze scanned the triangle of green at the apex of her thighs as his hands gripped her hipbones, pulling her closer. She smiled such an open and giving smile that his heart leaped in his chest. He breathed in her scent. And felt his heart melt.
A finger poked his chest, flicked over the buttons. “Unfair.” Full lips pouted. “You have too many clothes on. Help me.”
She was right. He had too many clothes on. Their fingers tangled in frantic need to get them off.
“Bugger this.” Cade grabbed the open flap of shirt and tore the two halves asunder, scattering buttons across the room.
Melo’s eyes widened, and she gasped.
He unbuttoned the cuffs, loving the way her black irises expanded, banishing the blue. Her hungry hands were at his belt, unfastening the buckle as he undid the cuff buttons.
He pulled the shirt off at exactly the same moment as her fingers slid his fly down, brushing against his erection. He tensed, pulled in a breath, and shuddered. Stripped off the rest, picked her up in his arms, and carried her to the bed.
Her fingers reached around her, scrabbling for the bra clasp.
“Stop.” He leaned away, caressing her stomach as his eyes lingered. “I just want to look at you.”
She’d been lean and boyish, but the woman lying on the bed, her hair fanned out over the pillow, bore little comparison to the tomboy he’d known. Color flooded her cheekbones, and she pulled in her lip, worrying it with her teeth.
“Now, roll over, I’ll never get all these catches undone without looking.”
He pushed on her hipbone gently, angling her away from him. His hand stroked her shoulders slowly. Fingers traced the bumps of her spine. He undid the bra clasp, then traced the vertebrae to her waist, unhooking there too. He slid his fingers under the lace band of her panties, stroked her bottom.
Melo gasped, flipped, and reached for his face. “Enough playing.” Her voice was husky, aroused. “Kiss me.”
He didn’t have to be told twice.
****
The sensation of Cade’s finger tracing her spine sent shudders of reaction to Melo’s core. Who knew the spine was an erogenous zone? As Cade’s lips teased hers, and his hands pushed off the remnants of her clothing she realized her mistake. With Cade touching her, everywhere was an erogenous zone.
Marrying Cade Page 6
