Bought: Destitute Yet Defiant Read Free Page B

and settled in the core of her like a cold, hard stone.
    Had she no shame?
    How was it possible to respond like that to someone you’d spent three years hating? Her brain was like a slide show—one minute she was remembering the breath-stealing moment when his dark head had lowered to hers, the next she was seeing her brother’s face.
    Shocked, confused and ripped apart with self-loathing, Jessie realised that the one thing she wasn’t thinking of was the six men who had just tried to kill her.
    And that didn’t make sense, did it?
    Her gaze slid to Silvio.
    He was just one man.
    Why did she feel safe?
    She swallowed a hysterical laugh, wondering why she needed to ask herself that question.
    The visible markers of success hadn’t changed who he was. The expensive watch on his wrist, the car he was driving—none of those things had shaped the man. Underneath the exterior of smooth sophistication that enabled him to blend with the upper echelons of society, Silvio was solid steel. Hard, tough and the very essence of what it meant to be a man.
    She felt safe because she was safe. Physically. Any woman would be safe with him, although perhaps only she really understood who he really was.
    Just looking at him made her feel guilty and Jessie tore hereyes away from him and looked behind her. Not that she thought for one moment anyone would be following the Ferrari. It would be like sending a donkey in pursuit of a racehorse.
    ‘They called you “the Sicilian”.’ Unable to help herself, she cast another look at his profile. Looking at him was an irresistible compulsion. ‘It’s so long since you had anything to do with that life but your reputation still frightens them. They knew you.’ She stared in fascination, wondering why she wasn’t more afraid of him herself.
    Was it because she couldn’t see the scar?
    From this angle the damaged skin was invisible, his features almost impossibly perfect.
    Perfect, but cold.
    Up until tonight she would have said he didn’t feel—but it was evident that he was feeling something.
    Jessie wondered why he was so angry. ‘Why did you come here tonight?’
    ‘I heard a rumour about a pack of trouble and a girl with a golden voice.’ He shifted gears viciously, coaxed the car round a tight corner and accelerated away so fast that Jessie’s head thumped gently against the head rest.
    ‘I wasn’t looking for trouble.’
    His eyes were fixed straight ahead of him. ‘How much did he owe them?’
    Jessie gave a twisted smile, not at all surprised that he knew the truth.
    She didn’t waste time pretending he’d misunderstood. Neither did she ask him how he knew. He knew everything. This man had contacts at every strata of society—a network that would have made both social climbers and the police force weep with envy.
    ‘Forty thousand,’ she said flatly, wishing the sum didn’t sound so terrifying. ‘It was twice that, but I’ve paid backhalf. I’m late with a payment. That’s why they came after me tonight.’ She gave him no details. Didn’t elaborate. But he knew. He was a man who’d known hunger, violence and deprivation and, in the fleeting second before he controlled his reaction, she saw the murderous flash of anger in his eyes.
    ‘You paid them?’ The question hissed through his lips and Jessie was reminded that this man was twice as dangerous as the men he’d rescued her from.
    ‘I didn’t exactly have a choice.’
    He changed gears with a savage movement of his hand. ‘But you could have gone to the police.’
    The dark streets flashed past and Jessie wondered if he even realised he’d just driven straight through a red light. ‘That would have made things worse.’
    ‘For whom? Law-abiding citizens shouldn’t be afraid of the police, Jessie. Or were you afraid you’d be arrested?’ The contempt in his tone baffled her until she saw his gaze flick briefly to her exposed thighs—saw the raw fury—and suddenly understood his meaning.
    He thought