The Valtieri Marriage Deal Read Free Page A

disarmingly frank, and his body, tall and powerfully built, with those midnight-dark eyes, made her go weak at the knees. His hairwas slightly rumpled from the wind; she wanted to touch it, to thread her fingers through it and test the texture, and then draw her hand slowly over his jaw, letting the rasp of stubble graze her palm.
    His lips, so firm, so full, made her ache to feel them. On her lips, but also on her cheeks, her eyelids, her throat, her breasts. Everywhere.
    Relax, bella. I won’t eat you.
    Oh, lord! She looked away, dragging her eyes off him and bending to pick up her bag from the floor while she gathered her composure.
    ‘I need the Ladies’,’ she said.
    ‘Good idea, I’ll meet you back here,’ he said, and she made her way into the sanctuary of the quiet room with relief.
    What was happening to her? She never reacted like this to men! Never in a million years. Or twenty-eight, more to the point. Over a quarter of a century, and no man had ever made her heart beat fast or her skin heat or her body ache with a longing so intense it almost frightened her.
    But Luca did. Luca made her body sing with joy at the slightest touch, and when she rejoined him and he rested his hand lightly against her spine to usher her out into the street, she could have been naked the effect on her was so powerful. It was as if he’d touched her intimately, found her secret places and stroked them with the slow, sure hand of a lover.
    And now she was being ridiculous! He was just killing time after his interview, indulging in a little mild flirtation, and she’d do well to remember it. It was nothing personal, he was just exercising his natural charm, and there was certainly nothing intimate, for heaven’s sake! And even if there was, nothing was going to come of it. She was only here for onemore night, flying out in less than eight hours! She’d never had a one-night stand in her life, and she wasn’t starting now. But she wished there was more time…
    ‘Where’s your hotel?’ he asked, and she told him.
    ‘That’s good, it’s just near here.’
    He tucked her hand into his arm again, his smile gleaming white against his olive skin in the darkness, and she caught the faint tang of his aftershave and that warm, male scent that was becoming so familiar—the scent that was also drifting up to her from the scarf, snuggled so softly and intimately against her skin, almost as if he was holding her.
    She shivered, and he shot her a quick glance. ‘OK?’
    ‘I’m fine,’ she lied, but she wasn’t, because it was the end of their time together and she wasn’t sure she’d survive if he simply took her back to her hotel and dropped her off, whatever her scruples, because for some reason this night—no, this man—was different, and if he asked her…
    Luca paused outside the entrance, staring down thoughtfully into her eyes, and she reached up and kissed his cheek, her warm breath whispering over his skin and setting it alight. ‘Thank you for the most lovely day. You’ve been so kind, Luca.’
    He didn’t feel kind. He felt on fire, more alive than he had in years, and extraordinary reluctant to let her go, but there was no way…
    ‘What time’s your flight tomorrow morning?’
    ‘I have to be at the airport at five.’
    He hesitated, not sure what was happening to him, just knowing he couldn’t walk away. Not from this, because this—this was different, and he’d deal with the consequences later.
    ‘It doesn’t have to end here,’ he said softly, and waited, his breath lodged in his throat, for her reply.
    Isabelle’s heart was pounding now, because this was something she didn’t do. Never. She felt she was on the brink of a precipice—or at the gateway to a whole new era.
    ‘I don’t do this,’ she said in a whisper, but he heard and he laughed under his breath.
    ‘Nor do I.’
    ‘I—I can’t get involved.’
    ‘That’s OK.’
    ‘So—just tonight?’
    He nodded slowly. ‘Si. Just