Seduced by Innocence Read Free Page A

greeted her. No hired hand ever wore that air of natural authority. The memory of how she’d forced a tip on him made her feel as if she were blushing all over.
    At that very moment, the phone rang. Something told her that when she answered, she would hear the beautiful bass voice that sent shivers down her spine, but anticipation couldn’t subdue the reaction and she felt herself tingling. His voice was even more marvelous because it hovered on the edge of a laugh. “Please try to forgive me,” Maurizio said. “I never meant to deceive you.”
    “I should apologize to you for insulting you with that tip,” Terri ventured.
    He broke into a full laugh and the sound seemed to go through her. “Believe me, I’ve never been so agreeably insulted in my life. Signorina, two people who’ve met as strangely as we have should get to know each other properly. Tonight you will be my guest for dinner.”
    The abruptness of the command took her breath away and roused her indignation. “I’m not sure that will be possible,” she began to say.
    “You have other plans for tonight?”
    “Well no, but—”
    “Then there’s nothing to stop you dining with me. I’ll call for you at precisely eight o’clock.” He hung up, leaving her slightly cross. He took a lot for granted. It would have pleased her to call him back and tell him she wasn’t at his disposal, but she resisted the temptation. She needed to talk to him about Leo. And besides—unwillingly she recalled the timbre of Maurizio’s voice, the power of his presence and the intent look in his dark eyes, and an unaccustomed excitement quickened inside her. He could be a valuable source of information about Leo, she repeated firmly.
    * * *
    “I’m warning you, you’re treading on very dangerous ground,” Bruno said. He was a man in late middle age with a much-lived-in face and gentle eyes. He was Maurizio’s uncle, also his bookkeeper, confidant and the only person who dared speak frankly to him. Right now, he was sitting in Maurizio’s room, watching as his nephew attired himself in elegant evening clothes. The stark white of the shirt accentuated his swarthy coloring, and the gleam of his cuff links was pure gold. “Very dangerous.”
    “I’m having dinner with a lady,” Maurizio said lightly. “What can be dangerous about that?”
    “This particular lady is dangerous to you,” Bruno said, “because you have designs on her.”
    “Not those sorts of designs.”
    “I’d be less worried if I thought you were trying to persuade her into your bed. Wanting to sleep with a woman is natural and sincere. What you’re doing is twisted and frightening.”
    “Twisted?” Maurizio paused in tying his tie and stared at his uncle. “You think that I am twisted?” The level of his voice didn’t change but there was a sudden chill in his eyes that in another era would have presaged a stiletto to the heart. But Bruno merely poured himself another glass of his nephew’s best brandy, unperturbed.
    “I think a man who sets out for revenge is always a little twisted,” he said, “whether he knows it or not. If his soul isn’t twisted at the beginning of his endeavor, it certainly will be by the end. God help you, my boy, if you ever achieve your revenge.”
    “I’ll achieve it,” Maurizio said quietly. “I have the right to it. How can you speak so? Have you forgotten Rufio?”
    At once, both men’s eyes turned to a large photograph on a nearby table. It showed a young man with a marked resemblance to Maurizio except that the boy was still clearly visible in his face, and his smile was carefree. He looked like someone who could brighten the day simply by being there. “Nobody could possibly forget your delightful brother,” Bruno said sadly. “But he’s dead and gone for nearly nine months.”
    “Dead but not gone,” Maurizio said bitterly. “Not while I have breath in my body. I won’t let his murderer go unpunished.”
    “He wasn’t murdered,”