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‘We’re leaving,’ he said as the scent of her spun into his head and obliterated all rational thought.
‘We can’t.’
‘We can and we are.’
She glanced up at him, a tiny frown creasing her brow. ‘Is something wrong?’
‘Very.’
‘What is it?’
Out of the corner of his eye Matt caught the flash of movement, a glimpse of someone heading over to talk to him. Oh, no. No way. ‘Have you seen the Sala dell’Anticollegio yet?’ he said loudly, wheeling her off in the opposite direction and not giving her time to answer. ‘Incredible vaulted ceiling. Badly in need of some TLC.’ As was he.
So much for lofty hauteur, thought Laura, tottering alongside Matt in her three inch stilettos.
It had all been going so well. She’d been cool and collected and she’d been enjoying the party hugely. Well, as much as anyone burning up with longing could.
She’d felt Matt’s eyes on her the entire evening, making her heart thump with a weird kind of anticipation and her body tingle. How she’d managed to hold any kind of sensible conversation was a miracle. At one point she’d even let out a low groan and had had to quickly turn it into a cough, which had been mortifying.
But by and large she’d kept herself under control.
Until Matt had started to make his way over and her self-possession had begun to slip away like silk over skin.
The closer he’d got, the harder she’d found it to move. Her feet seemed to have taken root. She’d lost track of the conversation going on around her. All she’d been aware of was Matt heading towards her, his expression turning grimmer by the second as yet another person engaged him in conversation, until he’d finally stopped in front of her, vibrating with an electric kind of tension that had her entire body buzzing.
And all she’d been able to think was who exactly was meant to be shaking up whom?
He ushered her through the doors and across the hall. He opened the door opposite, practically pushed her in, followed her and then closed it behind him. At the sudden silence after the vibrant noise of the party the edginess winding through her tripled. Her heart hammered and a flutter of nerves clutched at her stomach.
‘Did you really bring me here to look at the ceiling?’ she said, her voice sounding thick and husky and totally unlike hers.
‘What do you think?’ Matt’s eyes glittered as he moved past her and switched on the table lamp. Soft golden light bathed the room and Laura glanced up.
‘I think it isn’t vaulted and doesn’t need any restoration.’
The glimmer of a smile played at his lips. ‘So I lied.’
‘Tut tut.’
Matt turned, shoved his hands in his pockets and stared at her until her bones began to melt. ‘You wanted to know what was wrong.’
Had she? When? Oh, yes. Just before the madness had taken over. ‘I did,’ she said, fervently hoping he wasn’t going to launch into an attack on her work or something.
‘You’re what’s wrong.’
Her heart lurched. ‘Me?’ That was almost as bad.
‘You.’
‘Why?’
‘You drive me to distraction.’
Oh. Laura went dizzy for a second with the lust that shot through her. And then the knowledge that she’d been completely and utterly hoist by her own petard slammed into her. For a second the room spun. Shock ricocheted right through her. Swiftly followed by a deluge of relief and then everything suddenly fell into place.
She’d tried and tried to deny her attraction to Matt and she was sick of it. Sick of feeling constantly on edge and jumpy. She wanted Matt. So badly. And it seemed he wanted her, too.
The realisation was too much to resist and beneath the heat of his gaze the fragile barriers she’d tried to erect to protect herself came crashing down. What harm could just once more do? ‘Well, that goes both ways.’
‘Does it?’ he murmured, his gaze dropping to her mouth.
‘Oh, yes.’
Matt tilted his head. ‘So what do you think we should do about it?’
She knew exactly what she wanted to do about it, but the whole bump-on-the-head/kiss misunderstanding that afternoon in his house suddenly flew into her head and made her pause. ‘What do you think?’
‘I think we should get it out of our systems.’ He took a step towards her, his eyes gleaming, and her pulse thudded.
What an excellent idea. ‘How?’
‘You know perfectly well how.’
Her heart began to gallop. ‘I thought you didn’t mix business with pleasure.’
‘I don’t.’
‘So what’s this?’
‘I don’t employ you. The state does.’
Thank heavens for that. ‘Good point. So when do you think we should set about getting it out of our systems?’
‘What’s wrong with now?’
Thrills scurried through her. ‘There are hundreds of people on the other side of the corridor,’ she said a little breathlessly.
‘I locked the door,’ he said, taking another step towards her.
‘Won’t you be missed?’
‘I doubt it.’ His eyes glittered as he stared down at her. ‘I, on the other hand, have really missed this.’
Matt closed the short distance between them took her in his arms, bent his head and dropped a kiss on the skin where her neck met her shoulder. Her whole body jerked as if she’d been branded.
‘Oh, God, so have I,’ she said, feeling her knees begin to buckle as the last tiny remnant of her resistance crumbled.
As Matt slid his mouth up her neck Laura felt herself melt against him and clutched at his shoulders.
‘You look amazing. You feel amazing,’ he breathed against her jaw.
So did he. A tremble ran through her. ‘This is insane,’ she murmured.
‘I know.’
Matt’s mouth found hers and captured it in a slow scorching kiss that frazzled her brain. Laura moaned. Wound her fingers through his hair and pressed herself closer. She felt him slip his hands down her body and she began to burn.
And then went cold when Matt suddenly stopped and swore softly. ‘What?’ she said as disappointment thundered through her. Surely he couldn’t be having second thoughts? Not now.
‘You’re not wearing any underwear.’
The disappointment vanished beneath a flood of relief. ‘Clingy dress.’
And then she couldn’t say anything more even if she’d wanted to because Matt had slammed his mouth down on hers and was backing her up against the nearest wall and pinning her against it with his hips, one hand in her hair, the other on her breast.
Feeling desperation begin to take hold, Laura delved beneath his jacket, tugged at his shirt and pulled it from the waistband of his trousers. She ran her fingers over the skin of his back and felt a shudder rip through him. Unable to help herself, she pressed harder against the steely length of his erection and rubbed against it.
And then he was pushing her dress up, sliding a hand round to where she was hot and wet and aching, and pressing the heel of his palm against her.
Laura shook with need as she fumbled with the button of his trousers. She yanked the zip down, ran her hand over him and urged him towards her. Matt let out a rough groan, then put a hand over hers and pulled back.
She blinked. What now?
‘Don’t,’ he said, his voice tight with barely restrained need.
‘Why not?’
‘Because if this is going to go any further we need to go upstairs to my room and I won’t be able to walk.’
‘Why do we need to go upstairs?’ said Laura, not caring that she sounded desperate. ‘I don’t need a bed. I’m perfectly happy with a wall.’
‘And an unplanned pregnancy?’ Matt said, his eyes blazing down at her as he stepped back.
‘Oh.’ Laura bit her lip and tugged her dress down. An unplanned pregnancy was the last thing she needed. But still. ‘God, I wish I was irresponsible.’
‘So do I,’ he said, adjusting his clothing. ‘But luckily we don’t have to be, because upstairs I have condoms.’ Taking her hand, Matt marched her across the room, unlocked the door and flung it open.
And came face to face with Signore Capelli, who was standing there, his hand raised as if about to knock.
Laura’s heart banged in shock. And then lurched with something else when Matt dropped her hand as if it were a hot coal and sprang away from her. She glanced at him. Saw his face had turned to stone. Then she glanced at Signore Capelli who was decidedly not looking at her, and she felt herself grow beetroot at the thought of the damage Matt’s hands must have done to her hair. What must he be thinking?
‘Yes?’ Matt growled.
‘I apologise for disturbing you, sir,’ said Signore Capelli, looking cool and unperturbed, as if he encountered this sort of situation all the time, ‘but you’re needed in the ballroom.’
Matt shoved his hands through his hair and bit out a sigh. Then he turned to Laura, his eyes blazing. ‘Stay here,’ he said. ‘I’ll be right back.’
But by the time Matt got back, Laura had gone.
CHAPTER NINE (#u2a16919e-804a-5a33-9058-908aabcf2e8b)
LAURA was cursing Matt beneath her breath and punching the pillows on her bed when the hairs on the back of her neck sprang to attention and alerted her to the fact that she wasn’t alone. Her heart suddenly thundering, she whirled around and nearly swooned.
Matt stood in the doorway, his big body tight with tension and his eyes glittering. His bow tie hung loose around his neck and a couple of his shirt buttons were undone. He looked dishevelled, exhausted and utterly gorgeous.
‘I asked you to wait,’ he said roughly.
What did he have to sound annoyed about? Laura thought, her stomach churning with pique, frustration and disappointment. She was the one who’d been left hanging there. Waiting. Listening to the heavy tick-tock of the grandfather clock and going slowly insane. ‘Don’t you ever knock?’
‘No.’
‘You should. It’s rude.’
‘I asked you to wait. You left. I don’t think you should be lecturing me on rudeness.’ His eyes glittered. ‘What happened? Changed your mind?’
As if. She clutched a pillow to her stomach as if it might somehow provide some kind of defence against his potent magnetism. ‘I did wait,’ said Laura witheringly. ‘For over an hour.’
There was a brief silence. Then Matt frowned. ‘It wasn’t as long as that.’
‘Yes, it was.’ Obviously he’d been so caught up in whatever it was he’d been doing that he’d completely forgotten about her. Exactly as she’d suspected.
‘Oh,’ he muttered, rubbing his face. ‘I’m sorry, I got tied up.’
‘Evidently,’ she said waspishly, the hurt still stinging. ‘So what do you want?’
His gaze dropped to her chest, where she was pretty sure he’d be able to see the curve of her breasts beneath the fine silk of her negligee and she tossed the pillow onto the bed to cross her arms over her chest.
‘What do you think?’ he said, stepping into the room, his eyes darkening. ‘We have unfinished business.’
Her gaze dropped to below his belt and her mouth went dry at the impressive bulge behind the zip. Laura gave herself a quick shake, swallowed hard and lifted her chin. ‘No, we don’t.’ She arched an eyebrow. Gave him a smile. ‘At least I don’t.’ The minute she’d got to her suite, she’d stripped, marched into the bathroom and had had a hot, steamy, extremely satisfying shower. Steam and the scent of roses still billowed from room. Her cheeks were still pink. Her body still hummed.
For a second Matt just stared at her as the implication of her words sank in and his eyebrows crept up. ‘Oh,’ he said softly, giving her a slow smile that made her tingle all over again. ‘I’m sorry I missed that.’
‘So am I.’
‘We’ll just have to start again. Because look what I found.’
He strode across the marble floor, stopped a foot from her and tossed a box onto the bed. Out spilled condoms. Lots of them. Laura stared down at them, back up at him and her pulse began to race.
‘Oh.’
‘Quite.’ And then he frowned. ‘Did you change your mind?’
He sounded uncertain all of a sudden and pique evaporated. ‘Of course not,’ she said, giving him a smile that she hoped didn’t reveal her relief too much. ‘I just got bored of waiting.’
‘Good.’ Matt pulled her into his arms. ‘Now where were we?’ he said, staring down at her and a wicked smile curving his mouth. ‘Oh, yes, I remember.’
He slid his hands down her body, bunched the silk in his fingers and lifted it. Laura raised her arms and let her bare breasts brush against his chest as he drew it up and over her head. She heard him take a sharp breath, then felt him give her shoulders a little push and she fell back on the bed.
