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The Sicilian's Defiant Virgin
Susan Stephens
‘Do what you have to, Luca. Seduce her, if you must.’Luca Tebaldi spent his life distancing himself from the family empire. So he’s furious at being drawn back in by a gold-digger who’s gotten hold of his late brother’s entire estate!He’ll make Jen Sanderson take her claws out of her ill-gotten riches by luring her to his Sicilian island and seducing the truth out of her!But Luca discovers that Jen is innocent in more ways than one… The sensual virgin challenges him and sets his senses on fire, but is he ready to confront the truth she is enticing out of him?
“Do what you have to, Luca. Seduce her, if you must.”
Luca Tebaldi spent his life distancing himself from the family empire. So he’s furious at being drawn back in by a gold digger who’s gotten hold of his late brother’s entire estate!
He’ll make Jen Sanderson take her claws out of her ill-gotten riches by luring her to his Sicilian island and seducing the truth out of her!
But Luca discovers that Jen is innocent in more ways than one... The sensual virgin challenges him and sets his senses on fire, but is he ready to confront the truth she is enticing out of him?
‘Dance if you dare,’ Luca challenged softly in her ear.
‘Oh, I dare,’ Jen said.
Curving his mouth in one of his faint, heart-stopping smiles, Luca ordered softly, ‘Prove it.’
‘All right. I will,’ she agreed, breaking free from his embrace.
His senses roared as Jen began to dance. The music gave her every excuse to use her body to the full, and she didn’t hold back. She was hotter than hell, and every man knew it. And she was with him—which they also knew.
At the back of his mind the same doubt remained. This woman could act many parts, and one of those parts was that of the girl who had caused his brother to leave her everything.
For now it was enough to watch her dancing. The other women had joined in. He was aware of their dark, flashing eyes, seeking his approval, but he could only see Jen, like a priestess of cool, surrounded by her acolytes. Kissing her was emblazoned on his mind. He could remember exactly how her lips had felt beneath his, and how warm and soft and smooth her skin had felt beneath his hands.
Her eyes glittered invitingly with wicked promise, but was she even aware of the stir she was causing? Jen’s sinuous dance moves suggested she was available for pleasure, but her fierce, flashing eyes said not. It was a challenge he found irresistible.
SUSAN STEPHENS was a professional singer before meeting her husband on the Mediterranean island of Malta. In true Mills & Boon style, they met on Monday, became engaged on Friday and married three months later. Susan enjoys entertaining, travel and going to the theatre. To relax she reads, cooks and plays the piano, and when she’s had enough of relaxing she throws herself off mountains on skis or gallops through the countryside, singing loudly.
Books by Susan Stephens
Mills & Boon Modern Romance
In the Sheikh’s Service
Bound to the Tuscan Billionaire
Master of the Desert
Wedlocked!
A Diamond for Del Rio’s Housekeeper
Hot Brazilian Nights!
In the Brazilian’s Debt
At the Brazilian’s Command
Brazilian’s Nine Months’ Notice
Back in the Brazilian’s Bed
The Skavanga Diamonds
Diamond in the Desert
The Flaw in His Diamond
The Purest of Diamonds?
His Forbidden Diamond
The Acostas!
The Untamed Argentinian
The Shameless Life of Ruiz Acosta
The Argentinian’s Solace
A Taste of the Untamed
The Man from Her Wayward Past
Taming the Last Acosta
Visit the Author Profile page
at millsandboon.co.uk (http://millsandboon.co.uk) for more titles.
The Sicilian’s Defiant Virgin
Susan Stephens
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
For Carly.
Contents
Cover (#ue9badad2-29fe-5a47-be35-f5bd1fe43d15)
Back Cover Text (#u68e61ef6-84fd-5118-ae0b-ae18cffb2c4e)
Introduction (#u36135256-7c35-51fc-9125-0c7914f08ebb)
About the Author (#u1005ca9f-ce02-500a-aa3a-25d0a4300f23)
Title Page (#uc459f0d4-c740-5794-ac8e-0a47fc33e18e)
Dedication (#ucf02fcdc-02a3-5793-901a-fb697b96b330)
CHAPTER ONE (#u493d38ab-478f-5ca6-89fd-27b0794c879b)
CHAPTER TWO (#u9b88cc2b-0751-5593-b1cf-5739554d9dc5)
CHAPTER THREE (#u646d77ea-3bcd-5bf8-9180-28d927d95714)
CHAPTER FOUR (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIX (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER EIGHT (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER NINE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ELEVEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER TWELVE (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER THIRTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FOURTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER FIFTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER SIXTEEN (#litres_trial_promo)
EPILOGUE (#litres_trial_promo)
Etract (#litres_trial_promo)
CHAPTER ONE (#u3635ef9b-8cb1-5a1c-a2b9-08dd3f0aca30)
‘CHE? BUON DIO!’
Nothing could be worse than his younger brother’s funeral. Until Luca Tebaldi’s father hit him with a fresh disaster.
Swearing savagely under his breath, Luca closed his father’s study door on the stream of mourners who had gathered in Sicily to show their fealty to the Tebaldi clan, rather than to demonstrate their grief at the loss of Luca’s reckless younger brother Raoul in a senseless accident. The Tebaldis were the uncrowned kings of Sicily, but on days like this Luca’s guilt at leaving his homeland as a youth ran thick and deep and ugly.
The funeral was being held on the Tebaldis’ private island off the toe of Sicily, where the Tebaldi family had ruled unchallenged for a thousand years. Luca had rebelled as a youth against the lifestyle of his father and brother, believing their actions belonged to another age. His success was founded on shrewd moves in business, and legitimate takeovers. He had begged his father and brother on countless occasions to change their ways before it was too late. There was no satisfaction in being proved right.
‘If all I had to worry about was Raoul’s gambling debts...’ The man the world still called Don Tebaldi slumped back in his leather chair, looking spent and exhausted.
‘Whatever has happened, I’ll put it right,’ Luca soothed his father. ‘You have nothing to worry about.’ They might not see eye to eye, but blood was thicker than water.
‘You can’t put this right, Luca,’ his father assured him.
‘I’ll fix it,’ Luca stated firmly. He had never seen his father looking quite so defeated.
‘As if I didn’t have enough with your brother’s gambling, Raoul thought it would be amusing to leave his estate to some girl he met at that casino in London.’
There was no change in Luca’s expression, but his mind was whirring. His brother had been a compulsive gambler, who had increasingly distanced himself from Luca. On their last meeting Raoul had said Luca would never understand him.
‘I retire to Florida soon,’ Luca’s father reminded him. ‘You’ll have to go to London to clear up Raoul’s mess. Who better for the task than you, with your morally judgemental view on life?’
His father’s angry gesture and the sneer on his face revealed Don Tebaldi’s contempt for his sons—one too weak, and the other too strong, he would say.
Luca found it incomprehensible that a parent could feel such a level of loathing for their children. He watched as a man turned suddenly old manoeuvred his arthritic limbs behind the desk. A lifetime of excess had finally caught up with his father. He felt compassion, though they had never been close. Considering the practical side of the problem, his business interests were so successful he could easily take a break. He must. His father needed him.
‘This wouldn’t have happened if you had followed me into the family business,’ his father moaned as he buried his face in his hands.
‘Joining the family business was never an option for me, and it never will be,’ Luca said.
His father lifted his face from his hands, his expression hardening into the unforgiving mask Luca remembered so well from his childhood.
‘You don’t deserve my love,’ he spat out viciously. ‘You’re not worthy to be my son. Raoul was weak, and you are worse, because you could have taken over from me, making the name Tebaldi great again.’
‘I would do anything to help you, but not that,’ Luca replied evenly, his mind already working on his trip to London.
His father’s scornful look remained trained on his face. Neither of his sons had been blessed with his killer instinct, Don Tebaldi would tell them when Luca and Raoul were youths, as if this were a quality they should aspire to.
‘You are a stubborn fool, Luca. You always were.’
‘Because I won’t do as you say?’
‘Correct. And as for Raoul?’ His father made a sound of disgust.
‘Raoul always tried to please you, Father—’
‘Then, he failed!’ his father raged, slamming his fist on the desk to make the point.
Luca said nothing. He’d been out of the loop for a long time working on his various charitable projects. He wished he’d been around for his brother. He wished his father could show some emotion, other than hate. Even Don Tebaldi’s shadowed study reeked of bitterness and disappointment in his sons, yet Luca felt compelled to offer reassurance to the older man—and he would have done, if his father’s cold stare hadn’t forbidden any form of human contact between them. It was an expression that lacked every shred of parental warmth.
‘Leave me,’ his father commanded. ‘If you’ve nothing positive to offer, get out!’
‘Never,’ Luca said quietly. ‘Family comes first, whether I work for the family business, or not.’
‘What family business?’ his father hissed bitterly. ‘There’s nothing left thanks to your brother.’
‘There are islanders to protect,’ Luca argued quietly.
