by Penny Jordan
‘Calm down, Luc,’ she chided him knowingly. ‘Or you’ll give your brother and his wife totally the wrong impression about us,’ she baited, knowing by the way his head snapped up and he turned to look at the other couple with slightly dazed eyes that, for the few minutes of their conversation, he had forgotten they weren’t alone. ‘And we wouldn’t want that, now, would we?’ she finished wryly.
Luc’s mouth tightened ominously. ‘Enjoy yourself while you can, Darci,’ he warned darkly. ‘But while you’re doing so, just remember that when we return here later this evening you will be completely alone with me!’
His threat sent a thrill of anticipation down Darci’s spine, rather than the trepidation she was sure Luc had meant her to feel!
CHAPTER TWELVE
‘DO I HEAR the sound of wedding bells…?’
Luc turned to glare at his brother as Wolf came to stand beside him on the edge of the dance floor where, following their mother’s sumptuous birthday party, a dozen or so couples amongst the fifty-odd guests were gyrating.
Darci and Cesare were one of those couples….
‘Not unless you have tinnitus,’ Luc came back with terse dismissal.
Wolf laughed softly. ‘The family all like your little Darci,’ he observed lightly.
‘She isn’t little.’ At least not in certain places, Luc thought with an inward groan, as he felt the unwanted aching throb of his body. He could picture those places. That minuscule black dress was leaving very little to the imagination! ‘Neither is she mine,’ he added with vigour.
‘No?’ Wolf took a sip of his wine as he glanced across to where Darci was dancing in Cesare’s assured arms. ‘Then why did you bring her here?’ He was looking curious when his gaze returned to Luc.
Luc grimaced. ‘Because if I hadn’t, either you, or Cesare—or worse, Mamma—would only have spent this evening introducing me to one eligible—marriageable—female after another!’ Luc could see half a dozen or so of them in the room even now. All beautiful and no doubt accomplished women who left him completely cold.
‘You have it all wrong there, little brother,’ Wolf corrected. ‘The matchmaking is completely the girls’ idea; Cesare and I know better.’
Luc scowled darkly. ‘Meaning?’
His brother sighed. ‘Meaning that I spent years trying to avoid the Gambrelli Curse of falling so deeply in love with a woman that to contemplate life without her was unthinkable. In fact, I was probably the biggest playboy in Europe—okay, I was the biggest playboy in Europe,’ he conceded dryly, at Luc’s scathing glance, giving one of those vulpine smiles that had helped in his being known to the world as Wolf Gambrelli. ‘But when it actually happened, there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. It was the same for Cesare. Neither of us was actively looking for the women we were fated to love—in fact, the opposite!—but along they came anyway. And you know what, Luc…?’ He smiled again, with no hint of wolfishness at all. ‘Once I had stopped fighting the whole idea of loving, once I had accepted that my life had absolutely no meaning without Angel in it, I was only too happy to capitulate to fate.’
‘I’m not,’ Luc declared adamantly. ‘And no amount of matchmaking on the girls’ part is going to change that! Because what none of them seem to have grasped is that I am perfectly happy with my unmarried state!’
‘Really?’ Wolf drawled, with another speculative glance in Darci’s direction.
Luc felt a tightening of his stomach muscles as he turned in the same direction, just in time to see Darci laughing at something Cesare had said, her beautiful face glowing as she looked up at him, her eyes a warm, beguiling green.
This evening hadn’t gone quite as planned, Luc acknowledged resignedly. He had imagined it would just be a question of having Darci at his side to act as a buffer against his family’s matchmaking, leaving him free to enjoy his mother’s birthday party. Tomorrow, after he had returned Darci to London, he would be on his way back to his carefree—commitment-free!—life in Los Angeles.
In none of his calculations had he taken into account the fact that he had to get through this evening in the disturbing company of a sexily alluring Darci before that could happen. Or that, as Wolf had just pointed out, the whole of his family would actually like and approve of Darci….
Although why the latter hadn’t occurred to him, Luc had no idea; everything about Darci was attractive—from her unmistakable beauty to her sharp intelligence and the warmth of her personality.
‘Really,’ he assured Wolf vehemently, before turning away to once again look at Darci from beneath hooded lids. ‘So just tell the girls to back off, will you?’ he requested, with firm determination.
Darci, moving lightly and easily to the music in Cesare Gambrelli’s arms, was nevertheless totally aware of Luc’s brooding presence as he stood talking to his brother on the edge of the dance floor. It would be a little difficult not to be aware of Luc when he was staring at her so intently!
The evening had become less traumatic for Darci once they’d got downstairs to the reception room, where the party was being held, and she’d seen several other women wearing dresses even more revealing than her own—giving her a breathing space in which to get over her initial nervousness.
Totally prepared by Angel’s warning, she had been introduced to Cesare—and to the impact of having three devastatingly handsome Gambrelli men in the same room.
Cesare’s wife, Robin, had been as warm and friendly as Darci had found Angel earlier—these two marriages were obviously a success, if the warm intimacy between the respective husbands and wives was any indication. And Darci was pretty sure that it was.
Luc’s mother, Chantelle Gambrelli—French, and the obvious matriarch of the Gambrelli family—had been much more of a surprise.
Very petite, and still incredibly beautiful—even though aged in her early sixties—she had all the chic her French nationality implied. Her knee-length dress was the same shade of blue as her eyes, and her blonde hair was worn smooth and straight to her slender shoulders—Darci had wondered where the hair colour of the two Sicilian brothers had come from! Chantelle nevertheless ruled her family with a charming but indomitable will.
A formidable will, Darci would have said—which explained why Luc had been so determined to thwart his mother’s efforts, at least this weekend, to find her younger son a wife!
‘Have you and Luc known each other very long?’ Cesare Gambrelli’s husky, slightly accented voice prompted politely as they danced.
It seemed like for ever to Darci—her life was going to seem very empty without Luc in it after this weekend together!—but in reality it really had been only a matter of days.
‘Not really, no,’ she answered, lightly but unhelpfully.
‘Hmm,’ Cesare murmured dryly.
Darci looked up at him as she sensed there was more behind his response. ‘Sorry…?’
Cesare—tall, dark and incredibly handsome—elaborated. ‘Luc does not seem his usual relaxed and charming self this evening.’
Darci knew that Luc hadn’t been the ‘relaxed and charming’ man she had initially met at the premiere of Grant’s film well before coming to this party this evening—knew this change in Luc had occurred earlier in the week, when he had realised how she had deliberately manipulated him into asking her out just so that she could exact her revenge on him for the way he had hurt Mellie. For the way she had believed he’d hurt Mellie!
A mistake for which Luc had exacted his own revenge, in turn, by making her feel guilty enough that she had agreed to come to Paris with him this weekend….
‘He seems perfectly fine to me,’ she dismissed.
‘Really?’ Cesare prompted as the music came to an end. His hand rested lightly beneath Darci’s elbow as they turned to walk back to the table where Chantelle, Angel and Robin were seated.
‘Yes, really,’ Darci assured him, a slight blush in her cheeks as she looked up and found herself the focus of Cesare Gambrelli’s dark, penetrating gaze.
They did have the most intense, compelling brown eyes, these Gambrelli men, Darci allowed as she felt her blush deepening at the deliberate lie; Luc didn’t seem fine to her at all!
He was moody, bad-tempered, and had virtually growled at her earlier, when she’d initially appeared in the sitting-room in her revealing black dress, making her more self-conscious of her appearance then ever.
Of course, his mood could be due to the argument that had ensued when she had discovered there was only one bedroom in their hotel suite….
‘My dance, I believe?’ Luc demanded as he joined them, his gaze narrowing on the delicate colour in Darci’s cheeks before he turned questioningly to his cousin.
Cesare smiled confidently back at him. ‘Darci is a wonderful dancer,’ he confirmed.
Luc’s eyes narrowed to dark slits. ‘Darci is wonderful at a lot of things,’ he snapped, and then immediately regretted his testiness as he heard Darci’s sharply indrawn breath. Feeling even worse when he looked down and saw the hurt and reproach in her moss-green gaze, he amended, ‘I meant, of course, that she’s a very gifted and dedicated doctor.’
Cesare gave an inclination of his head, his mouth tight with disapproval. ‘Of course you did,’ he drawled. ‘I hope we may dance together again later this evening, Darci.’ His tone softened warmly as he relinquished his hold on her elbow before nodding abruptly to Luc and moving away to rejoin his wife.
Darci’s face was slightly pale now, Luc noted with guilty impatience. ‘I’m sorry,’ he muttered as he drew her out onto the dance floor and took her in his arms. ‘I’m afraid that at the moment being with my family has this effect on me,’ he explained as they circled the floor.
‘Really?’ she came back tartly. ‘I thought it was only me who had such a mood-changing effect on you!’
Luc’s gaze was guarded as he looked down at her. ‘Why do you say that?’
Darci’s expression was challenging as she flicked back the long length of her fiery-red hair to look up at him, baring the tops of her creamy breasts.
Darci’s dress had been doing strange things to him all evening, Luc remembered, its low neckline and thin shoulder straps leaving far too much of her visible for his comfort even as the black material clung to the curve of her hips and narrow waist and exposed an expanse of her breasts. It didn’t help that Luc could recall that her nipples were a tempting rosy pink….
‘Let’s just say you’ve been less than your charming self the last few hours,’ she pointed out to him.
‘You weren’t exactly your charming self earlier this evening, either,’ he reminded her, referring to the argument the two of them had had before Wolf and Angel had arrived.
‘You know exactly why that was,’ Darci retorted.
Yes, Luc knew exactly why that was….
Darci had disappeared to take her shower, only to come blazing back out of the bedroom seconds later, the light of battle in her sparkling green eyes.
Luc hadn’t been sure whether to feel insulted or flattered when she had seemed less than reassured by his assertion that the arrangement was only for the benefit of his over-interested family—that he had every intention of sleeping on the couch in the sitting-room.
He had begun to doubt that assertion himself when she’d appeared in the sitting-room, minutes before Wolf and Angel were due to arrive, wearing this scandalously revealing dress that had the effect of totally demolishing his usual cool control!
She really did look incredibly beautiful this evening, and the swaying movements of her body as they danced, those wonderful breasts and lean hips occasionally brushing against him, was doing very little to still the clamouring of his senses.
He drew her a little closer to him, moulding her hips against his. Darci gave him a startled look as she obviously became aware of his arousal. ‘Why don’t we forget our argument of earlier, Darci?’ he encouraged throatily. ‘And just relax for the rest of this evening while we enjoy the romance that is Paris?’
Darci didn’t dare allow herself to relax around this man—let alone allow the romance of the Parisian evening to invade and seduce her senses!
Although she knew that might prove a little difficult when Luc took advantage of an open door to dance her outside onto a deserted terrace. Her breath caught in her throat as Luc took her hand in his to draw her over to a more private corner and look across the rippling reflections on the Seine to the magnificence of the Eiffel Tower, illuminated by the hundreds and hundreds of lights that shrouded the steel structure in wonder and beauty.
‘It’s beautiful, isn’t it?’ she breathed softly.
‘Very beautiful,’ Luc murmured huskily.
Darci turned to look at him, her cheeks becoming warm, her mouth dry, as she found that Luc was looking at her rather than the lit-up landmark.
She shook her head. ‘I don’t think—’
‘No—don’t think!’ he advised gruffly, his eyes darkly compelling as he took the step that brought his body close to hers.
His heat, his overwhelming sensuality, at once invaded her already raw and battered senses as his arms drew her even closer.
Darci couldn’t breathe, couldn’t speak as she lost herself in the mesmerising dark depths of his eyes seconds before he bent his head slightly and his mouth claimed hers in a kiss that was both searing and seductive.
It was too much for her to resist after days of only knowing Luc’s scathing anger and cold displeasure, and her lips parted beneath Luc’s even as her body instinctively curved into his much harder contours, his hard arousal pressing against the welcoming softness of her abdomen.
It was heaven to be kissed by Luc again, to allow herself to relax in his arms, to feel his lips and tongue exploring her, tasting her, as if he couldn’t get enough of her.
Luc drew his lips from Darci’s to trail a path of fire, of desire, down the column of her throat. ‘I’ve been wanting to do this ever since you appeared earlier in that scandalous dress—’
‘It isn’t scandalous,’ she groaned protestingly.
‘No?’ he prompted teasingly as he looked down at the fullness of her creamy breasts. ‘What, exactly, are you wearing beneath it?’ he pressed huskily.
‘Exactly?’ she echoed ruefully.
‘Exactly.’ He nodded, his eyes very dark.
Darci moistened her lips before answering, and Luc’s heated gaze followed the sensual invitation. ‘The dress is so clingy that I—Just a pair of panties,’ she confided.
‘Just a—!’ Luc broke off, his breathing slightly ragged now. ‘No wonder I’m far from the only man here tonight who can’t take his eyes off you,’ he said, knowing he hadn’t been comfortable with other males even looking at her.
She blinked up at him. ‘You can’t take your eyes off me, Luc…?’ she echoed.
‘I can’t look at anything else!’ he confirmed, and his tongue tasted her perfumed skin, his teeth gently nibbling, moving, so that his body was shielding hers completely as one of his hands moved to cup one of those tempting breasts and he felt her body quiver in response to the intimacy.
Her breast fitted perfectly in his hand, her skin so smooth and creamy. His fingers dipped beneath the clinging material and he ran them over the sensitive tip of her breast, his mouth moving up to once again capture hers as she groaned her pleasure at his caresses.
She felt so good, so full and heavy—her nipple thrusting tight and rigid against the palm of his hand, her mouth hot and moist as he thrust his tongue deep inside.
He wanted to touch her bare skin, needed to feel her heat against him. He pressed her back against the balustrade to move between her slightly parted legs, slipping the straps of her gown down to let the soft material of the dress fall to her waist. He bared her breasts to him, before stroking the soft pad of his thumb across the tautness of her nipple, feeling Darci’s arousal as she moved her thighs against him in silent entreaty. Her lips parted wider for his kiss, and his tongue thrust even deeper inside her mouth, possessi
ng her, claiming her, as he moved the hardness of his erection restlessly against her increasing heat.
‘I want you, Darci!’ he exclaimed hotly, as his lips left hers to trail a path of fire down the creamy column of her throat to the curve of those creamy breasts, before dipping lower and laying claim to her other thrusting nipple, drawing its stiffness into his mouth and suckling hungrily.
Could she take this one evening—one night? Darci wondered longingly. She knew herself totally lost to Luc’s kisses and caresses. Could she just allow the romance of the evening, the deep love she felt for Luc, to take over? To lose herself in the desire she now knew without a doubt that he still felt for her? Could she take all that Luc had to give and give back to him in return?
How could she not give in to that need when she was on fire for him? The ache created in her body by his lips, hands and mouth was deepening to breaking point as she felt the relentlessness of his lips against her breast, the silky rasp of his tongue against her nipple, and her groans were now of impending release.
Her hands moved to cradle the back of his head as she pressed herself against him, increasing the pressure of those marauding lips and tongue, knowing Luc was aware of her imminent release. He growled low in his throat and his thighs began to move in stroking, sensuous rhythm against hers, making her wet and open as she felt the fierce fire of growing sexual arousal between her legs.
‘Touch me, Darci!’ He let her go to groan achingly. ‘For God’s sake, touch me!’
She needed no second invitation—had been longing to touch, to feel him for days, it seemed. Her hand moved down to gently grasp the hard length of him, stroking him first softly and then more firmly as she felt the leap of his erection straining against her caressing hand.
But it wasn’t enough—not nearly enough. Darci wanted to touch skin-to-skin, groaning her satisfaction as she released the button on his trousers to slowly move the zip downwards before her hand dipped inside to curl around his silky hardness, moving against him, around him, in the same rhythm as Luc had suckled her breast, feeling the beads of moisture at the very tip of his sensitive length as he gasped his own threatening release.
