The Sicilian's Surprise Wife

by Tara Pammi

  “You’re already everything I could have ever hoped for, Stefan. You know me better than anyone else in the world. And you take care of me, you enable me, you...you love me more than anyone else ever has, even as you shred me to pieces. Loving you—” tears pooled in her eyes and overflowed “—somehow, it has only made me stronger.”

  His heart thudded fast in his chest, the back of his eyes prickling with warmth. “I love you so much, bella...I have missed you so much...it felt like a part of me was forever gone. Promise you will never walk away from me, Clio. Even if I make a mistake, promise me you will fight for me.”

  Shaking her head, she covered his mouth with her hand. Sank her hands into his hair and tugged him up. Pressed her mouth to his and kissed him so hard and for so long that he came undone.

  “All I want is my friend, my lover, my husband back, Stefan. All I want is the man who made me the best I could be. And if we make a mistake, we’ll rail and rage at other, but we will always find our way to each other again.”

  Reaching for her mouth, Stefan breathed in her scent, clutched her to him. With Clio by his side, there would be nothing but happiness and joy in the coming days.

  Combing his fingers through her hair, he kissed her forehead, a smile curving his mouth. “I want a little girl with hair the color of fire.”

  Turning around, Clio tucked her face under his chin, her arms tightly vined around his midriff. “Do you think we will be good parents?”

  The thread of anxiety in her tone, that she would show him her fears, made his chest fill up. “We will be the best parents in the world, bella. If we do make any mistakes, he or she will have grandparents and a host of aunts and uncles to complain to,” he said, thinking of Rocco and Christian and Zayed and the wonderful women they had married.

  His heart seemed as if it was bursting to the full. Their friends would be over the moon for him, would find so much happiness in his.

  “New York or Sicily?” he said, his hands roving restlessly over her lithe curves. With a moan that curled around his senses, she pushed herself into his touch.

  Found his mouth with hers and demanded everything. Nipped his lower lip with her teeth until he was rock-hard under her. Splaying her legs wide around him, she rubbed herself over his erection, and let out another long moan.

  “New York and Sicily, with regular stops at Milan, Athens and Gazbiyaa,” she breathed, her fingers busy over his belt buckle.

  The moment her fingers danced over his rigid shift, Stefan pushed her down to the carpet and covered her with his body.

  This time, they both groaned, and joy filled his heart. “That should work, bella,” he finished and kissed his wife’s luscious mouth.

  * * * * *

  Look out for the next installment of SOCIETY WEDDINGS: THE SHEIKH’S WEDDING CONTRACT by Andie Brock Coming next month!

  Read on for a SOCIETY WEDDINGS exclusive!

  DELETED SCENE

  “WHERE IS SHE, OLIVIA?”

  Olivia Mondelli stared with increasing shock at the man standing on the doorstep of her Manhattan apartment, his face wearing the most unexpected expression she had ever seen.

  Stefan Bianco...

  That expression was a combination of fear and something she thought she would never see on one of the hardest men she had ever met.

  Oh, she had seen the best of them during her career as one of the top models in New York. Playboys, charmers and models alike, but no one quite like Stefan.

  The hard shell that the man had beneath that sophisticated arrogance, it was bone deep.

  And yet, Liv had seen that shell rattle over the past few months as Clio had come back into his life.

  Had watched in fascination as the fiercely protective side of him emerged as, to even Rocco’s shock, Stefan had married Clio in a wedding that was nothing short of a fairy tale. Had seen Clio change from the pale shadow she had been at Christian’s wedding into one of the strongest women Liv had ever seen.

  Even more of a shocker was the genuinely contented laughter she had seen in Stefan’s eyes at Zayed’s wedding.

  She had even held her breath for them as she had seen the obvious truth of how deeply Clio had fallen for him. She had bet Rocco that they would make it, had believed that if anyone could shatter the hard shell that Stefan carried around, it had to be Clio.

  Clio, who had become as close to her as the sister she had never had.

  But, of course, Rocco had known his friend better, and had waited on tenterhooks almost for the crash that had eventually come at Zayed’s wedding.

  Only a few hours after the wedding, Clio had come to her, pale and trembling and yet somehow, stronger than she had ever seen before, begging to leave Gazbiyaa with Liv and Rocco, and return to New York.

  That was almost two months ago.

  Two months in which Clio had stayed in New York and Stefan, to Olivia’s shock, had disappeared. She had seen him a couple of times traveling with Rocco and both times, he had been hungry, almost desperate for information about Clio.

  Yet, he hadn’t inquired once after Clio.

  Today, Rocco, who was in Milan, had called her exactly two hours ago, warning her that Stefan was coming back to New York.

  And here he was, glaring at her, as if it was his God-given right.

  Olivia would have despised his arrogance and his irrational dislike of her when they had first met if she hadn’t seen firsthand how fiercely devoted he was to Rocco and Christian and Zayed.

  “Hello to you, too, Stefan,” she said cheerily, opening the door wider. “It’s a gorgeous New York morning, isn’t it?”

  He didn’t even blink at her saccharine tone. Prowled inside casually with his long-limbed stride and yet, Liv could sense something restless in his calm movements, something strange.

  For the first time in two months, Liv felt a flutter of hope for Clio.

  “I want to see Clio, Olivia. Where is she?”

  The smile disappeared from her face, an image of Clio with tears in her eyes flashing in front of her eyes.

  “Does Clio know you’re here, Stefan?”

  The facade of politeness crumbled from his face and Olivia caught her gasp from escaping.

  Vulnerability and Stefan Bianco weren’t words she would have thought of in the same sentence even.

  “How the hell does it matter if she knows or not, Liv?”

  “Because I remember her telling me that she didn’t want to see you, Stefan.”

  “Damn it, Liv, she’s my wife, and I would like to see her. When the hell did you become her gatekeeper?”

  “When I saw how broken she was after Zayed’s wedding. That’s when. I let down a friend once and I won’t let anything to happen to her. Even though you don’t realize it, Clio is—”

  “Dio, Olivia. Clio is precious, don’t you think I know that?” While Olivia stared stunned, he ran a hand over his eyes. And Liv saw past her own prejudice and noticed how tired he looked. He cleared his throat as though choosing his words carefully. “I’m so glad that you’re looking out for her. But I need to see her. I need to...”

  “You need to what, Stefan?”

  A glimmer of a smile curved his mouth, transforming his entire face. “This wouldn’t be revenge, would it, Liv? For my doubting you when you and Rocco were beginning? Because, really, you couldn’t have chosen a better way to torture me.”

  Such warmth radiated from his green gaze that Liv felt her heart contract. This was the best friend her husband cherished so much. Finally, she saw why Rocco worried so much for Stefan, especially after Rocco and she had found each other.

  This was what he and Stefan and Christian and Zayed did for each other.

  Swallowing the lump in her throat, Liv smiled at him. “No. As enticing as it sounds, this is not revenge, Stef
an. Clio is my friend now.”

  Liv met his gaze and waited. And his confession, when it came, was so hoarse and uneven.

  “I love her, Olivia. I...I have insulted her, and bullied her and I...hurt her. I can’t...I can’t live without seeing her smile...but I have nothing to offer her.”

  Olivia had goose bumps on her skin, tears in her eyes. “Remember what you told me that day, Stefan?” Grabbing his hand, Liv squeezed it, dying to call Rocco and tell him.

  “Those three words...that’s all it takes, Stefan.”

  STOP THE PRESS

  NEWS ARTICLE

  Stefan Bianco and Clio Norwood—A Fairy Tale Too Good to Believe or a True Love Story?

  In a shocking move that has left New York’s finance society dropping their jaws, luxury real estate mogul Stefan Bianco, one of New York’s very own illustrious Columbia Four, the man who has been dubbed One-Date Wonder by more than one scorned lover in the past, really tied the knot with Clio Norwood, the society hostess who turned her back on her illustrious family a decade ago.

  The old college friends from Columbia made it official at the prestigious Chatsfield, surrounded by their close friends and the glitterati from New York’s high society.

  The redheaded bride shone in a designer tulle and diamonds while the groom, who had stolen her from under the nose of financier Jackson Smith, looked splendid in a black-and-white tuxedo.

  “After knowing each other for more than a decade, it’s so obvious that they have always belonged with each other,” a friend close to the gorgeous couple shared.

  Well, here’s hoping that Mrs. Bianco can hold on to her title and the man this time.

  Keep reading for an excerpt from THE SHEIKH’S WEDDING CONTRACT by Andie Brock.

  We hope you enjoyed this Harlequin Presents title.

  You want alpha males, decadent glamour and jet-set lifestyles. Step into the sensational, sophisticated world of Harlequin Presents, where sinfully tempting heroes ignite a fierce and wickedly irresistible passion!

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  SPECIAL EXCERPT FROM

  What happens when the world’s sexiest billionaires finally say “I do”?

  Read on for a sneak preview of THE SHEIKH’S WEDDING CONTRACT,

  the fourth book in the dazzling new Presents quartet SOCIETY WEDDINGS.

  MOVING HIS HANDS to either side of her hips, Zayed watched as the dress fell through his fingers to the ground, still telling himself that he could stop at any time. That he was simply helping his bride out of her wedding dress. But as he watched Nadia stepping out of the dress, bending to pick it up and drape it over the end of the bed, he knew he was lost, totally and utterly lost in the ruthless grip of sexual longing. From the bottom of the corset suspenders stretched tight along her smooth thighs, holding up white silk stockings. If there had ever been a point of no return, the sight of her now meant he had well and truly passed it, any resolve he might have had to resist her tonight now lost in the cloud of dust from his heels in his eagerness to grab her.

  Almost in slow motion he raised his hands to her hair, loosening the clips that held it and watching as it fell in glorious disarray around her shoulders. He threaded his fingers through its silky richness, disentangling the jewelry that was nestling amongst the black curls, before moving with an unsteady hand to undo her necklace and earrings.

  There was the briefest of pauses as he stood to drink her in in all her erotic loveliness before he finally bent to kiss her lips, all rationality gone.

  Slowly at first, he tested the plump fullness of her lips, then more firmly, touching and tasting, running his tongue tantalizingly between them as they opened to allow him to plunder the warm darkness inside, to feel, taste and explore, to feed the heady, shaky euphoria that was coursing through his veins like a drug, urging him on.

  Like the tip of a crashing wave he was up there, and there was no going back, just the tremendous thrill of what was to come...

  Don’t miss THE SHEIKH’S WEDDING CONTRACT by Andie Brock,

  available July 2015 wherever Harlequin Presents® books and ebooks are sold.

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  Copyright ©2015 by Harlequin Books S.A.

  ISBN-13: 9781460381908

  The Sicilian’s Surprise Wife

  Copyright © 2015 by Harlequin Books S.A.

  Special thanks and acknowledgment are given to Tara Pammi for her contribution to the Society Weddings series.

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