He scooped up his jacket from the sofa. ‘I’m going to be tied up for the next few days,’ he said. ‘I hope you can stay out of mischief until Friday.’
‘It’ll be a piece of cake,’ she said.
He gave her a droll look before he left. ‘Just stick to one slice, OK?’
CHAPTER FOUR
WHEN Sienna came down after a shower the next morning there was no sign of Andreas. Elena hadn’t yet arrived so it gave her some time to wander about and get her bearings. She made a cup of tea and took it out onto a wisteria-covered terrace. She felt the heat of the sun-warmed flagstones through the bare soles of her feet as she walked towards one of the wrought iron chairs. She sat and looked out at the expansive view. There were a hundred shades of green and a thousand fragrant smells and sounds to dazzle her senses.
She put her cup down and went back inside to get her camera from her handbag. It was compact but hightech enough to allow her to capture images that took her fancy. She went back down to the terrace and beyond, snapping away in bliss, losing track of time as she explored the gardens.
She was aiming for a shot of a bird on a shrub when she caught sight of a dog skulking in the distance. She lowered the camera and, shading her eyes with one of her hands, peered to see if anyone was with it. It seemed to be alone and, by the look of its sunken-in sides, half starving.
Sienna looped her camera strap around her wrist and walked towards the dog. ‘Here, boy,’ she called when she got a little closer. ‘Come here and say hello.’
The dog looked at her warily, the back of its neck going up in stiff bristles.
Sienna was undaunted. She crouched down and crooned to the dog softly, holding out her hand for it to smell. The dog crept closer, its body low to the ground, the hackles going down and its tail giving the tiniest of wags. ‘Good boy,’ she said. ‘That’s right; I won’t hurt you. Good dog.’
Just as she was about to see if the dog’s worn collar had an identifying tag on it, there was a sound behind her and the dog tore off, disappearing into the nearby woods with its tail tucked between its legs.
‘You little fool,’ Andreas said. ‘You’ll get yourself bitten. That dog is a stray. Franco was supposed to shoot it days ago.’
Sienna rose from her crouching position but, even so, he seemed to tower over her. ‘But it’s wearing a collar!’ she said. ‘It must belong to someone. Maybe it’s just lost and can’t find its way home.’
‘It’s a flea-bitten mongrel,’ he said. ‘Any fool can see that.’
Sienna scowled at him. ‘I suppose you only allow pure-bred dogs with pedigree papers the thickness of three phone books on your precious property.’ She brushed past him to go back to the villa. ‘What a stuck-up jerk.’
He caught her arm on the way past, swinging her round to face him. ‘You shouldn’t be wandering around down here without shoes,’ he said. ‘Are you completely without sense?’
Sienna tugged at his hold but it tightened like a vice. She felt the sexy rasp of his callused fingers on her wrist and her stomach gave a little fluttery flip-flop. She met his hard hazel eyes and something shifted in the atmosphere. Her gaze slipped to his mouth. He hadn’t yet shaved and the sexy pepper of his stubble sent another shockwave of awareness through her. He smelt of man and heat and hard work, a potent smell that stirred her feminine senses into a mad frenzy. Could he tell how much he got under her skin? Could he sense it? Was that why he kept looking at her with those smouldering eyes? ‘What would you care?’ she said. ‘I’d be better off to you dead, wouldn’t I?’
His brooding frown cut deeper into his tanned forehead. ‘That’s a crazy thing to say,’ he said. ‘Why would I want you dead?’
‘Because you’d automatically inherit the chateau,’ she said. ‘You wouldn’t have to go through a marriage you didn’t want to a woman you hate more than anyone else in the world.’
‘You hate me just as much as I hate you, so we’re pretty square on that,’ he said. ‘Or are you hiding a secret affection for me, hmm?’
She gave him a withering look. ‘You have got to be joking.’
He tugged her closer, flush against his rock-hard body. The heat of his arousal was like a brand against her belly. ‘You like to tease and tantalise, don’t you, cara?’ he said. ‘You like the power. It’s like a drug to you, to have men falling over themselves to possess you. I see it in your eyes. They dance with sensual intent. You can’t wait to have me fall at your feet. But I won’t do it. I won’t let you play your seductress games with me. I will have you on my terms, not yours.’
Sienna pushed against his chest with the flat of her hands but, while it put some distance between their upper bodies, it made their lower connection all the more intense. She felt the thundering roar of his blood against her, the rigid length of him taking her breath clean away.
The air sizzled with sexual electricity.
She felt the force of it like waves of searing heat rippling over her skin. She felt her heart rate pick up and her inner core clenched and released, clenched and released, in a primitive rhythm of need.
She wondered if he was going to kiss her. His eyes had dropped to her mouth in an infinitesimal moment of sensual suspense that made her heart beat all the faster. She sent her tongue out over her lips, wondering what he would taste like. Would he be rough or smooth? Forceful or gentle?
‘Damn you,’ Andreas ground out as he put her from him roughly. ‘Damn you to hell.’
Sienna let out a ragged breath as she watched him stride back the way he had come. She put a hand to her chest where her heart was beating like a maniacal metronome. She felt light-headed and shaky on her feet, her body still tingling from the hard male contact of his. That primitive pulse of longing was still thrumming deep inside her and she couldn’t seem to turn it off.
She looked down at her wrist where her camera was swinging from its strap. The imprint of his fingers was almost visible on her skin. She touched the tender area with the fingertips of her other hand, her stomach slipping like a skater who had mistimed a manoeuvre.
She was in trouble with a capital T.
Sienna didn’t see Andreas until the evening before the wedding. Elena told her he had been called away to some important business in Milan but Sienna wondered if he was keeping his distance for as long as possible before they were thrust together as man and wife.
The days flashed past as she fielded phone calls from Gisele and her flatmate Kate in London. Somehow she managed to convince her twin she was madly and blissfully in love with Andreas and couldn’t wait to get married. As Gisele’s wedding was in a few weeks’ time and the guest list had blown out considerably, Gisele was nothing but supportive of Sienna’s plan for a simple witnesses-only ceremony so she and Andreas could be left alone by the press.
Kate didn’t buy into the ‘we suddenly fell in love’ story but, as a hopeless romantic herself, she was convinced Andreas would finally come to his senses and want Sienna to stay with him for ever.
Sienna didn’t like to disabuse her friend of the impossibility of such an outcome. His refusal to forgive her was not the only stumbling block to their relationship. She had long ago given up her foolish dream of him falling in love with her. And, as for her falling in love with him, well, that was not going to happen.
Sienna went shopping a couple of times under the escort of a very willing Franco, who faithfully carried her bags and waited patiently in the car while she had her hair and beauty treatments done.
There was also a visit to a lawyer’s office where Andreas had set up the signing of a prenuptial agreement. Sienna understood it was part and parcel of many modern marriages, and she totally understood Andreas’s motivations given the wealth he had at his disposal, but even so it rankled that he didn’t trust her to walk away without a legal tussle when the time was up on their marriage.
The rest of the time Sienna spent working on befriending the dog, whom she called Scraps. He had built up enough confidence to take titbits of
food from her hand, but he wouldn’t allow her to touch him as yet. She was prepared to be patient, however. And she had made Franco promise he wouldn’t shoot him, no matter what orders Andreas gave to the contrary.
Sienna had not long fed the dog and settled him in one of the buildings close to the villa when she heard the roar of Andreas’s car come up the driveway that curved through the property, fields of vines on one side, olive groves on the other. A church bell calling the faithful to Mass sounded in the distance, a peaceful sound that was totally at odds with the tension she could feel building in her body as soon as Andreas came into view.
She watched as he unfolded his long, lean length from the low-slung vehicle. He had loosened his tie and his shirtsleeves were rolled up past his strongly muscled wrists. His suit jacket was hooked through one of his fingers and was slung over his shoulder, his briefcase in his other hand.
His eyes ran over her shorts and T-shirt, resting a heart-stopping moment on the upthrust of her breasts, before meshing with her gaze. ‘Isn’t it supposed to be bad luck to see the bride before the wedding?’ he asked.
‘That’s the morning of the wedding,’ she said. ‘I don’t think the night before counts.’
He gave a slight movement of his lips that could only be very loosely described as a smile, and a half one at that. ‘Glad to hear it,’ he said. His footsteps crunched over the gravel as he came to where she was standing. ‘Elena tells me you have a new conquest.’
‘That would be Scraps,’ Sienna said, rocking on her feet. ‘I’ve just tucked him in for the night.’
One brow curved in an arch over his eye. ‘Scraps?’ he said.
‘It’s what he likes to eat,’ she said. ‘Plus it’s sort of a tribute to his mixed heritage.’
His mouth quirked upwards in that almost smile again. ‘Original.’
‘I thought so.’
He indicated for her to go ahead of him into the villa. ‘How has your week been?’ he asked.
‘I’ve shopped myself silly,’ Sienna said. ‘Thanks for the use of the car, by the way. Franco quite fancies himself as a chauffeur. I think you should get him fitted for a uniform.’
Andreas closed the door and placed his car keys on a marble table in the foyer. ‘I’ve ordered a car for you,’ he said. ‘It should be here some time next week.’
‘I hope it’s an Italian sports car,’ Sienna said, just to needle him. ‘I’ll be the envy of all my friends. It’s the ultimate status symbol.’
He gave her a derisive look. ‘It will get you from A to B without mishap, that is if you drive with any sense of responsibility. But, judging by what you do in your personal life, I’m not holding my breath.’
‘I’ll have you know I’m a very safe driver,’ Sienna said, following him into the salone. ‘I’ve never had an accident or even copped a speeding fine. Parking tickets, well, now, that’s another thing.’
‘So you have a history of outstaying your welcome, do you?’ he asked as he poured himself a drink. ‘I’ll have to make a note of that.’
Sienna threw him a haughty look. ‘If you think I’ll stay even a minute over the six months, then you are seriously deluded,’ she said.
He looked at her with his unwavering hazel gaze. It seemed more brown than green in the subdued lighting of the salone. But then she had noticed lately that his eyes seemed to change with his mood. ‘Just as long as we’re both clear on the terms of this arrangement,’ he said. ‘I don’t want any complications. And you, cara, are nothing if not a magnet for complications.’
Only Andreas could make a term of endearment sound like an insult, Sienna thought. But she had to concede that he was right about the complications. Other people had such simple, uncomplicated lives. She seemed to go from one stuff-up to another. It was as if she had been cursed since birth. But then, maybe she had. Born out of wedlock to a man who had used her mother and then tossed her aside when he was done with her, taking one of her babies for a sum of money to pay for her silence.
It didn’t get more complicated or cursed than that.
Sienna suddenly realised Andreas was still watching her with that slightly narrowed focused gaze of his. ‘Are you going to offer me a drink or should I just help myself?’ she asked.
‘Pardon my oversight,’ he said. ‘What would you like?’
‘White wine,’ she said. ‘The one from your vineyard. It’s my favourite.’
He handed her a chilled glass of wine but, just as she reached for it, his brows moved together as he saw the fading marks on her arm. ‘What happened to your wrist?’ he asked.
Sienna put her hand back down by her side. ‘Nothing.’
He put the wine aside and reached for her hand, gently turning over her wrist to look at the full set of his fingerprints there. She saw his face flinch with shock. ‘Did I do this to you?’ he asked.
‘It’s nothing,’ she said. ‘I bruise easily, that’s all.’
Her stomach folded over as the pad of his thumb gently moved across the purple stain of his touch. ‘Forgive me,’ he said in a voice so deep it felt as if it had come from beneath the floor at their feet.
She swallowed as his eyes meshed with hers. ‘Really, Andreas, it’s nothing …’
‘Does it hurt?’ he asked, still gently cradling her wrist in the warmth of his hand.
Sienna wasn’t used to this tender, more considerate side of him. It made something inside her melt like molasses under the blaze of a hot summer sun. A dangerous melting that she should not allow, but somehow she couldn’t prevent it. It flowed through her like a slow-moving tide, all the way through the circuitry of her veins, loosening her spine and all of her ligaments until she felt as if she would end up in a pool of longing at his feet. Her swiftly indrawn breath hitched against something in her throat. ‘No …’
He brought her wrist up to his mouth, his lips barely touching the sensitive skin, but it set off a shower of sensations that travelled all the way up her arm and shoulder, making every hair on her head lift away from her scalp.
His eyes were the darkest she had ever seen them. ‘It won’t happen again,’ he said. ‘I can assure you of that. You have no reason to fear for your safety while living under my protection.’
‘Thanks for the reassurance,’ Sienna said, pulling her hand out of his with a sassy little smile to hide her vulnerability, ‘but I’ve never been scared of you.’
‘No, you haven’t, have you?’ he said, still studying her intently.
Sienna picked up the wine he had poured for her earlier. ‘So, I take it we’re not going on a honeymoon?’ she said before taking a sip.
‘On the contrary,’ he said, ‘I thought we should go to Provence. It’s a perfect opportunity to pretend we are taking some time together. I want to see how the Chateau de Chalvy estate is being run. My father appointed a husband and wife team to manage it quite a few years back. I’d like to reacquaint myself with them.’
‘Why don’t you go on your own?’ Sienna said. ‘It’s not as if you really need me to tag along. I’ll only get in the way or say something I shouldn’t or dress inappropriately.’
‘Sienna, we are getting married tomorrow,’ he said with an expressive roll of his eyes. ‘People will think it highly unusual if within hours of the ceremony we go our separate ways. That’s not how newly married couples behave.’
‘But what about Scraps?’ she asked. ‘I can’t just leave him. I’ve only just got him to trust me. He probably won’t take food off Franco or Elena. He might starve or run away again.’ She narrowed her gaze at him pointedly and added, ‘Or get shot.’
Andreas let out a breath. ‘Is that mangy-looking mongrel really that important to you?’
‘Yes,’ Sienna said. ‘I’ve never had a pet before. I was never allowed to have one because we always lived in a flat or other people’s houses. I’ve always wanted my own dog. Dogs don’t judge you. They love you no matter how little or much money you have and they don’t give a toss about whether or not you
come from a posh suburb or a trailer park. I’ve always wanted to be …’ She suddenly checked herself. God, how embarrassing. What was she thinking, blurting out all those heartfelt longings as if she was a soppy fool?
Andreas was looking at her quizzically. It was the sort of look that suggested he was seeing much more than she wanted him to see.
Sienna lifted a shoulder in an indifferent shrug as she took another sip of her wine. ‘Now that I think of it, maybe Elena could toss him a bone or two,’ she said. ‘I won’t be able to take him with me when I leave in six months, anyway. Best not to get too attached.’
‘Why won’t you be able to take him with you?’ Andreas asked, frowning slightly.
‘I want to travel,’ Sienna said. ‘I don’t want to be tied down. I’ll have enough money by then to go where I want when I want. It’s what I’ve always dreamed of doing. Having no responsibilities other than to please myself. That’s what I’d call the perfect life.’
‘It sounds rather pointless and shallow to me,’ he said. ‘Don’t you want more for your life than a never ending holiday?’
‘Nope,’ Sienna said. ‘Give me nine to five partying any day, as long as someone else is paying for it.’
A muscle worked like a hammer at the side of his mouth, while his eyes had gone all hard and glittery. ‘You really are a piece of work, aren’t you?’
‘That’s me,’ Sienna said, draining her wine glass before holding it out to him. ‘Can you pour me another one?’
Andreas threw her a disgusted look. ‘Get it yourself,’ he said and strode out of the salone, snapping the door shut behind him.
The following morning Elena arrived earlier than usual to help Sienna prepare for the ceremony. She bustled about like a mother hen, gushing about how beautiful Sienna looked as she dressed in a slim-fitting cream dress, the purchase of which had hit Andreas’s credit card a little more heavily than Sienna cared to think about.
Enemies at the Altar Page 5
