A Clash With Cannavaro Read Free

dark assessing eyes of his seemed to be stripping her naked with their unsettling intensity.
    ‘No,’ he said, in a way that was lethal in its very softness, startling her into wondering if he had the power to read her thoughts
    ‘No what?’ she challenged, trying not to think about that day that had been the most humiliating of her life.
    He didn’t answer.
    He didn’t need to, Lauren thought, with colour tingeing her cheeks.
    ‘I did not come here to resurrect anything that might have transpired between us,’ he remarked coldly. ‘Though, heaven knows, if there had been a prize for driving a man crazy you would have won it hands down, would you not, mia cara ?’ His tone made a mockery of the endearment. ‘You did not exactly hold back in your efforts to please me that night I took you to my bed.’
    How she could feel a throbbing deep inside just from thinking about that night, Lauren didn’t know, and shaming colour stained her cheeks almost puce.
    Somehow, though, she managed to say cuttingly, ‘Save it, Emiliano.’
    He laughed, savouring her discomfiture and embarrassment like he’d savoured the nectar of her willing body.
    ‘Of course. There are far more pressing matters in hand.’
    Like taking Daniele away from her?
    ‘If you think I’ll be handing my sister’s baby over to you just like that, you’ve got another thing coming!’
    He smiled, the type of smile that had had the power to draw her to him that fateful weekend two years ago in a way she had never been drawn to any man before or since.
    ‘Of course, I would not be expecting you to hand him over—as you say—“just like that”. Naturally there would be a period of adjustment while the child became acquainted with me as his new guardian. And naturally you will be suitably rewarded for the time he has been in your care.’
    Dumbfounded, Lauren couldn’t believe what he was saying.
    ‘Suitably rewarded?’ She flung the words back at him as if they were poison darts. ‘And what is the price you’d consider suitable for trading a child?’
    A dark eyebrow shot up as he regarded her with something approaching disdain.
    ‘I am not buying him from you, Lauren, if that is what you’re imagining. I will simply be reimbursing you for the inconvenience and loss of earnings you will most certainly have suffered during the time you have been caring for him. But if it means that much to you, I will allow you to name your price. Within reason. I am sure that between us we can arrive at a figure that will suit us both.’
    ‘Oh, are you?’ Disbelievingly, Lauren stared up into the strikingly masculine face, trying not to baulk at the determination she could see stamped on every purposeful feature. ‘You think you and your kind can buy anything you want, don’t you? Well, sorry to disappoint you, Emiliano, but I’ve no intention of giving up my nephew any time soon. So you can take your fancy car and your over-stuffed wallet and go back to whatever cold, damp stone you happened to crawl out from under, because Daniele isn’t going back with you under any circumstances! Not now. Not ever!’
    His mouth twitched at one corner as he contemplated what she was saying. ‘And there I was thinking that we could be civil about this,’ he remarked. ‘Do I understand you to be saying you would prefer a legal battle?’
    And one he would surely win?
    Tremulously, yet refusing to be fazed, she answered, ‘If that’s what it comes to.’
    He clicked his tongue. ‘You are very foolish, Signorina Westwood.’ The formality only seemed to widen the glaring distance between them. ‘It seems I underestimated you in imagining we could come to a reasonable settlement without resorting to the needless involvement of expensive lawyers. Or does the idea of a court case whet your appetite for a taste of even greater pickings?’
    ‘You’re despicable!’ Lauren breathed.
    ‘Not nearly as despicable as you would find me if you drag me through a court of