The Italian Seduction

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Deliberately trying to score a few points off the foul man was one thing. But Giles and Susie were obviously a very nice couple. So she really didn’t like the idea of trying to deliberately deceive or fool them into believing that she was romantically involved with Lorenzo.

‘To tell you the truth, Susie, as far as Lorenzo and I are concerned…’ She paused, carefully choosing her words as she continued, ‘Well, the fact is…’

‘The fact is…we’re simply mad with each other!’ Lorenzo’s deep voice completed the sentence, from just behind her left shoulder.

Startled by his sudden appearance, Antonia found herself taken utterly by surprise as he quickly slipped an arm about her waist, before firmly clasping her to the side of his strong body.

‘No—you idiot!’ Susie laughingly told him. ‘The correct expression is not mad with but mad about each other.’

‘Ah, yes—I must improve my use of the English language,’ he agreed smoothly. ‘However, darling Antonia knows exactly how I feel about her. Isn’t that right, sweetie?’

Damn right I do! she told herself grimly, wondering how he’d managed to creep up on her so quickly and silently? She must be slipping, because it wasn’t like her to be taken by surprise like this.

Unfortunately, unless she was prepared to cause a scene, there was nothing she could do to free herself from the hard, muscular strength of the arm which was keeping her so tightly pinned against his tall figure.

‘I’m so lucky to have Antonia looking after me. We have such a close relationship,’ Lorenzo was telling his hostess. ‘Mmm…strawberries! How delicious. They’re my favourite fruit,’ he added, reaching forward to pick a very large, succulent berry from the bowl as Antonia turned her head to glare up at him.

‘You’re fond of them too, aren’t you, darling?’ he murmured, smiling so warmly and tenderly down at the girl clasped to his side that Susie found herself giving a small sigh of pure envy.

‘Yes, they’re very nice,’ Antonia muttered, still feeling slightly confused and thrown off balance by the way Lorenzo was suddenly playing the part of her red-hot lover. Especially as she was only too well aware of the chilly, icy cold gleam in the eyes staring down into her own.

‘However, I was just telling Susie that…Whaa-aa…!’ she gasped as Lorenzo adroitly popped the large strawberry into her mouth, rendering her temporarily speechless.

‘Mmm…yes, they clearly are delicious!’ he murmured, his lips twitching with sardonic laughter as he viewed Antonia’s cheeks bulging while she struggled to cope with a huge mouthful of juicy red fruit.

‘Would you like some more, darling?’ he added, maintaining the firm grip of his arm about her body as he reached forward to choose another large fruit from the bowl. ‘Nuh!’ Antonia mumbled helplessly, giving a quick shake of her head, and glaring up at him with utter loathing.

‘Isn’t she amusing?’ Lorenzo exclaimed as Antonia gulped, finally managing to swallow the huge strawberry. And then, with Susie looking on and beaming at what she clearly regarded as a happy couple, he lowered his dark head as if about to kiss his new girlfriend’s cheek.

But, even as she instinctively flinched, quickly turning her head away from him, she realised that he’d never had any intention of kissing her. Far from it.

Pressing his lips to her ear, he whispered savagely, ‘Let that be a lesson, sweetie! Never make the mistake of trying to mess around with me, again—or you’ll be very sorry! OK?’

He waited until she gave a slight nod before loosening his grip on her waist and strolling off to have a word with Giles Harding.

‘You’re so lucky!’ Susie sighed deeply, before turning away to hand small plates of sandwiches to the banker and his wife.

Oh, yeah? Antonia’s eyes narrowed with baffled rage and fury as she stared at Lorenzo, who’d clearly regained his good humour as she saw him laughing at something his host was saying. If she ever got the chance for revenge, she promised herself grimly, that arrogant swine was definitely going to regret, what he’d just done!

Following the performance, the short journey back to the hotel was conducted in silence. Which was mainly due to the fact that Antonia, after battling to control her anger during the last act of the opera, was still trying to simmer down and pull herself together.

She knew that she’d been originally in the wrong, and so might have been prepared to call it quits, and do her best to forget the incident, if Lorenzo Foscari hadn’t been so cheerful. Although, what he had to be so happy about was absolutely beyond her. However, it looked as if putting her down had done his own temper a power of good, she told herself sourly.

Glancing through her eyelashes at the hawk-like profile of the man sitting beside her, she noted that he was still quietly humming a tune from the opera, while taking an interest in the brilliantly lit shop windows of Knightsbridge.

After directing the car to the rear of the hotel, and arranging which guards could be released and which should stay on duty, Antonia accompanied Lorenzo up the back stairs towards his suite.

She had to calm down, she told herself firmly. If Lorenzo Foscari wanted to play stupid games—that was entirely up to him. She, for her part, must remain totally calm and professional at all times.

‘Well…that was a very interesting evening,’ he drawled as they entered the suite. ‘Can I fix you a drink?’ he added, walking across the carpet to a bar, in a far corner of the large sitting room.

‘No, thank you. I never drink when on duty.’

‘Ah, yes…I’ve been thinking about your duties as my personal bodyguard,’ he murmured, pouring himself a stiff whisky, before turning around to give her a broad smile. ‘And I came to one or two interesting conclusions.’

‘Oh, yes?’ Antonia eyed him warily. She was beginning to realise that when Lorenzo Foscari turned on the charm he generally had some devious objective in mind.

He shrugged. ‘We both know that I was less than pleased to find myself landed with a bodyguard. Nor was I too happy to discover that she was female. Not that I have anything against women, of course…’

‘You could have fooled me!’

‘It’s just that I foresaw certain…er…difficulties in such an appointment,’ he continued, clearly choosing to ignore her interjection. ‘However, after giving the situation much thought, I suddenly realised that those “difficulties” were, in fact, a positive bonus!’

She frowned. ‘Sorry—I don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.’

‘I’m talking about the fact that, as my bodyguard, you are concerned with the close and personal protection of my body,’ he drawled smoothly, walking slowly over to where she was standing by the doorway.

‘So?’

‘You have, I understand, been hired to guard my body for twenty-four hours a day?’

‘Yes, technically speaking, I suppose I have. But…’

‘Well, there you are!’ He grinned wolfishly down at her. ‘I suddenly realised that it would be churlish, to say the least, to turn down the opportunity of having you, my dear Antonia, closely guarding my body through the night.’

She stared at him in amazement for a moment, before being struck by the utterly ridiculous aspect of the situation.

‘You must be joking!’ she laughed.

‘Oh, no—not at all,’ he murmured, his eyes gleaming beneath their heavy lids. ‘In fact, I’m beginning to find the idea of us spending the night together quite an enchanting prospect. Tell me…on which side of the bed do you prefer to sleep?’

‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ she snapped.

Antonia was almost certain that he was just winding her up. But she was determined to put this guy straight about the relationship between a bodyguard and their client. Who did he think she was? Some kind of Mata Hari?

‘Your insurance company has hired me to act as your personal bodyguard,’ she told him firmly. ‘And yes, I do have the overall responsibility of making sure that you have close, adequate protection around the clock. But…’

‘Wonderful!’ he exclaimed with another wolf-like grin. ‘I don’t wear pyjamas, of course. But, I’m sure a real professional, such as yourself, has a great line in sexy night-dresses, hmm?’

‘Oh—come on! Are you completely incapable of listening to a word I’ve been saying?’ she demanded irritably, refusing to be intimidated by the tall, dark figure now looming over her. ‘Believe me, I have absolutely no intention of spending the night here, in your suite.’

‘What? Are you intending to welsh on the deal?’ he queried with mock indignation. ‘That is disgraceful! I shall certainly report this dereliction of duty to your superiors.’

‘Ha-ha—very funny!’ she ground out sarcastically. ‘However, if you want to check, you’ll find that there is already a guard stationed outside in the corridor,’ she added curtly. ‘He, working together with a colleague, will make absolutely certain that you are not disturbed during the night.’

‘And you?

‘I will be in the suite adjacent to this one—with the door firmly locked!’ she retorted swiftly. ‘Although why you seem to think that I’d want to share your bed is completely beyond me!’ she added with a shrill, high-pitched laugh. ‘You may think that you’re totally irresistible, but, quite frankly, sweetie, I’m not that desperate!’

He took a step forward, his expression suddenly hard and threatening.

‘Be careful, Antonia!’ he growled. ‘As you undoubtedly realised, I was merely enjoying a joke with you. However, I really don’t care to be talked to in such a disrespectful manner.’

‘Tough!’ she retorted, suddenly deciding that she’d had quite enough of this unbelievably tiresome Italian for one day.

‘Although, believe me, if I was in frantic need of a man,’ she added with another, high-pitched laugh, ‘I sure as hell wouldn’t waste any time chasing after an uptight male chauvinist such as yourself!’

In the dead silence which followed, she was aware of Lorenzo Foscari’s quick, sharp inhalation of breath, a dark flush sweeping over his cheeks.

‘Oh, really?’ he muttered savagely. His blue eyes, like chips of tungsten steel, bore down into hers as his hands came down on her shoulders.

‘OK—let’s cool it, huh?’ she muttered, quickly pulling herself together. What on earth was she doing, quarrelling with a client like this? Even if the gentleman concerned was enough to try the patience of a saint, her behaviour was well out of order.

But, as Antonia discovered for the second time that evening, she was guilty of seriously underestimating an opponent.

Despite always priding herself on her quick reactions, she realised that she’d been completely outclassed and out-gunned, as Lorenzo suddenly moved at what seemed to be the speed of light. A nanosecond later, she found herself firmly clasped by one steely, unyielding arm to his hard, tall body, while he placed his other hand firmly beneath her chin.

Tilting her face up towards him, she barely had time to become aware of his blue eyes glittering down at her before his dark head was descending swiftly towards her—his mouth possessing her lips in a kiss of devastating intensity.

CHAPTER THREE

SHOCKED and stunned by the totally unexpected swiftness of Lorenzo’s action, Antonia took a second or two to begin trying to struggle free from his strong arms.

Bitterly ashamed of being such an idiot, and having stupidly underestimated both this man’s strength and his likely speed of movement, she gradually realised that the hand firmly placed on her back was now beginning to slide slowly and seductively down over her body.

The hardening muscles of his strong thighs, clasped so tightly to her own, suddenly prompted a fierce clench of sexual awareness deep in the pit of her stomach, which left her feeling weak and trembling.

She had no idea of what was happening to her. But it was clear that they were now both in a high state of arousal. As he ruthlessly forced her lips apart, the moistly erotic heat of his tongue, savagely exploring the sweet, inner softness of her mouth, was driving her almost wild with excitement.

As if he sensed her bewilderment and confusion, her inability to cope with the sudden flash-flood of hot desire scorching through her veins, his mouth relaxed its hard pressure as his hands travelled slowly and erotically over the soft curves of her body. She was dimly conscious of the rapid, deep thudding of his heartbeat, of her nostrils filled with the musky scent of his cologne, and the warmth of his mouth, now moving softly and seductively over her quivering lips.

It was as if time was standing still and she, hopelessly trapped by her own emotions, was utterly powerless. She seemed to have no choice, but to respond to the increasingly fiery tide of sensual excitement and sheer naked lust pounding and rampaging through her trembling body.

Only when she became aware that he was unzipping her dress, her bare flesh quivering with delight beneath the soft, warm touch of the fingers trailing down her spine to undo her bra strap, did harsh reality begin to break through the thick mist of overwhelming desire clouding her mind.

Oh, my God…what on earth was she doing? This…this man was a client, for heaven’s sake!

It seemed to take the most enormous effort. But at last she managed to force herself to make a serious, determined attempt to break out of his embrace. Struggling free, she raised her hands to push him away as, at the same time, she threw herself sharply backwards. Only to have the breath almost knocked out of her trembling, shaking body as her spine jarred painfully up against the wall by the door.