Novels by Maryanne

If she had though seeing Luca was over for the day, she had been sorely mistaken, because just as she had prepared to lay down and rest her sor muscles, a servant had knocked on her door, informing her that Luca had asked to see her in his study.Talk of bad timing.Elena stood in the huge stufy, ignoring how huge it was and focused on the man in front of her. Arms crossed, she watched Luca move with calculated ease. He removed his jacket, unbuttoning his cuffs as he turned to her with a cold smirk.“There are rules in my house, Elena,” he said, his voice calm but firm. “You will follow them.”She arched a brow, refusing to show fear. Rule? Of course a man like Luca had rules in his house. “I’m not your slave.”His smirk deepened. “You’re my wife. That means you belong to me in every way that matters.”Her jaw tightened, but she remained silent. She had to pick her battles.“First rule,” Luca continued, stepping closer. Yeah, he had to come into her space again. “You will respect my a

Luca tried his best to ognore the woman next to him, but his tatics worked for only two minutes and he couldn't for the life of him, concentrate, without something about her, filtering into his thoughts.She was easily the sexiest woman he had ever met.She wasn't model beauty standard. Far from it.Elena Ricci... well Elena De Santis was every inch a woman.Her hair was thick and wavy, their deep rich chesnut brown higlighted perfectly against her skin. All he had wanted to do since the first day he had set his eyes on her was wrap his fingers around that hair and pull. Fuck...The thought of her on all fours, amnd his hand in her hair, pulling back while he did unimaginable things to her, made him shudder lightly.Her skin... oh how he wanted to taste every inch...Elena didn't know what she had signed up for.Sure he wanted her to hate him. He didn't believe in love. Not ever.Besides, if she found out the truth.....nahh he wasn't going to go there.But she was going to do his bidd

The walk down the aisle was more of a walk of shame than anything else as Elena held on tightly to her father's arm like her life depended on it.If it caused him any kind of pain, Don Alberto said nothing, gazing straight ahead of him as he led her to slaughter.The smiles from those around almost made her loose it. They weren't ware that this was all just a sham.She gazed around, searching through the crowd, and almost stumbled when her gaze caught that of Donavan.What was he doing here?He was supposed to be far away from here? Right?Donavan was the first to look away, his face void of any expression. If he was here to add salt to her wound, then he was going to be disapointed.She almost didn't realize when they reached her husband to be, and her father left her side."You are not bad to look at." Luca said, once she was standing next to him, causing irritation, so intense, to flood her whole being. How...how....annoying!At least now she could focus her mind on something. Ang

Elena Ricci sat stiffly in the back of the sleek black limousine, her fingers curled into her lap as she stared out the tinted window. The grand cathedral loomed ahead, its towering stone facade casting an ominous shadow over the crowded street. The bells tolled, marking the hour of her doom.Her wedding.Her prison sentence.Her hair had been curled to perfection by the best stylists int he country. Her makeup, flawless.The soft lace clung to her skin from her neck, down to her waist, befor flaring out int the most beautiful wedding dress she had ever set her eyes on. Too bad it was for a day like this.Between her father and her groom, they had spared no expenses.She couldn't feel a thing.Numbness had become her new favorit emotion.It was the only way to forget what she had seen in that room that day?Had she not been enough for him? She had given him almost everything he could have ever wanted?Had she been that horrible of a girlfriend that he had opted for a threesome?The th

"You will not disobey me, Elena. You will marry him."Those were the words of her father, Don Allberto Ricci, and the echoed loudly in her mind like she had just been slapped in the face.When her father had calles her that morning, she should have known that something was off. Don Alberto had done everything possible to gnore his only child in the last few years, that she had given up on thinking she actually had a father."I will do no such thing, Father." She hissed, gritting her teeth as anger pulsed through her veins. "It is funny, how you think I will just sit here, and let you sell me off to the highest bidder!""Well that highest bidder is my only chance at being on the stringer side of this war, Elene, and you will marry him." He moved closer, his eyes blazing. There were few times her father had shown her this side of him, and this, compared to all those times, was the worst."No_" the words had just left her mouth, when a slap landed on her face, cutting off the air in her

Two days later….Oliver groaned as he made his way down the stairs making sure to avoid any kind of confrontation with either his siblings, or anyone at all.He past couple of days had been hell for all of them. After the whole saga with Laura, Damon had called her father, and a new agreement had been signed, just to keep her away. Turns out she didn’t want him. Apparently, Frank Richardson was deep in debt, and Laura as usual, had come to stir trouble.“Oliver.” A soft voice called from behind. Making him turn around to see who it was. Hell, he didn’t even need to turn to know who it was.“Don’t tell me not to go, Jas. I simply can’t stay away anymore.” He said, swallowing hard as he placed his shaking hand into his pocket and tries not to look at the friend of the woman he loved.Jasmine laughed lightly. “Actually, I was coming to tell you to go to her. My friend can be quite stubborn at times, but I think she has gotten enough space to last her a lifetime.” Jasmine said, then whist

It took Kayla being dragged to the back of an alleyway to come to a screeching halt, pulling her hand away from Dean. “What the fuck do you think you are doing, Dean?” Kayla gasped, hair flying as she rubbed her sore arm. “Where did you even come from?” She already had a bigger problem to deal with, and he thought he could just materialize from nowhere? “I just wanted to talk to you.” Dean said softly, stepping back and running his fingers through his hair why Kayla watched. And for the first time since he had pulled her away from the front of that office building, she allowed herself look at him.Really look at him.And what she saw was far from the Dean she had known and grown up with. He loooked a mess. A hot mess. “And what do you want to talk to me about? I thought I made things clear to you on the phone?” Kayla not out, looking around discreetly to see if there was an exit from the alleyway apart from the one which he had put himself in front of.There was.Thank goodness.Dea

Kayla followed Jasmine outside and into the elevator as they continued to chatter about what Jasmine envisioned her dream wedding to be like. “You know I like my things sparkly and girly. I’m not gonna miss any of that on my wedding day!” Jasmine proclaimed, raising her voice a little in the empty elevator as it closed.Oliver had texted her that he was about thirty minutes away, and had asked her to come down to meet him in the parking lot, since there was no time to meet each other in the office because heading to their destination.So Jasmine had asked her to accompany her to her office where Kayla was to help her organize while she waited for Oliver. “Well, you know what suits you, ma’am.” Kayla laughed, waiting as the elevator started it’s journey down to Jasmines floor.The doors opened with Jasmine mocking Kayla. “As my chief bridesmaid, you would wear a silver sparkiling dress with orange shoes. My wedding needs to he aesthetically pleasing. And you won’t be left out!” She was

Kayla was smiling when she roused from the satisfying sleep she had had the previous night. She blinked as she stared at the ceiling which faced her directly, trying hard to quench the inflow of memories that came at her the moment she opened her eyes. She had been so close to confessing her love for Oliver the previous night. So close!With a sigh, she pushed the blanket off of her, and got off the bed, stopping briefly when her sore muscles hummed deliciously from how much she had used them the previous night. But admist everything, she couldn't help but remember something that had plagued her mind at different moments of the night.They hadn't used protection. And they hadn't made love only one. Or even just on the rooftop.Oliver had taken her back to the bedroom, and proceeded to show her what she had been missing in the bedroom all this time she had tried to put didtance between the both of them. As she got into the bathroom, Kayla couldn't help but rub at her belly, while she s

Kayla pulled herself up on the slab, feeing nicely sated, but not to the extent she wanted, as there was still a throbbing inside of her that she had not yet satisfied.She said nothing as she reached out for Oliver’s neck, wrapping her fingers around it and pulling him down for a kiss. It was short, but lasted long enough to give her the energy and tingling she craved. And the taste of herself on his lips, drove her crazy.Never in her life would she have thought that she would taste her own juices. Well, until Oliver.Once she let go, pulling away, and pushed him slightly away from her, seeing him frown in confusion as she got down from the slab and was on her knees before he could even do anything to stop her. That is , if he would.“What are you_” Oliver asked, when his brows rose in realization as to what she was doing.With her abilities, she had him turned, so he was now leaning on the slab, while she was fumbling with the zipper of his trousers.It was fairly easy to pop open

When Kayla kissed him, Oliver had been a bit taken aback, but quickly recovered by pulling her closer to him, and inclining his head to the side so he could deepen the kiss. 'Please lock te doors that lead to the rooftop, and make sure nobody interrupts, Benedict.' Oliver said to his sentinel, who happened to be Kayla's driver and bodyguard some days, using the packlink. He could hear the exact time the doors locked, and heard Benedict take a stance just inside the door. 'You don't need to stay that close! And dim the lights.' 'Yes, Alpha.' there was amusement in his tone when he replied, before walking away from his position, to somewhere a bit farther down. Good. Oliver thought. H e didn't want the pack hearing of his shinanigans on the roof. Kayla moaned against his mouth, just as the partially bright lights, deemed. "Oh.." She aid, pulling away from the kiss, just to look around for a few seconds. "Did you do that?" Kayla asked, running her hands up and down his chest. Even thro

ELENAI smiled as I looked at my self in the mirror.It had been exactly two weeks since the incident with Colton, and we had resolved a lot of issues.Jason had come to confess to me about what he had hired Colton to do, and the truth was, even if I had been hurt hearing it from him, I had actually known about it. The night before that day, I had been having a very serious headache and had been on my way to the bedroom when I had heard him and Tyler argue about it.But I had also heard him say that he hadn’t gone through with it and had only kept Colton there.I had forgiven him then, because I couldn’t blame him. It wasn’t easy losing your father and then hearing that he had given everything he had to his assistant.Jason had even confessed that he hat thought that I was his father’s mistress and had cast it out of his kind the night we had made love for the first time.It had been a long discussion, but had actually settled a lot of things.And there was something Colton had said t

JASONI didn’t want to believe what Lucinda was saying, but with everything that had been happening for the past few days, I couldn’t not believe her. I would be a fool to give Colton the benefit of a doubt.I had taken care of that man right from the time I had seen him looking all tattered and unkempt. And all that had been a ploy to extract money from me?Well now that he had taken the millions I gave him and the one that he had stolen from Elena. Why couldn’t he just let my family be?“And did he tell you why he was doing all of this to me and my family? Did he tell you why he tried to kill us?” I asked in a raised voice that sent Lucinda cowering away, and hiding her face behind the curtain of her straight blond hair.I had always known there was something off about her. The way she behaved. The way she spoke. The way she kept mostly to herself as if the whole world was against her or something. You had always known.I just hadn’t expected this.“No. I swear he didn’t. Most of th

ELENAI didn’t have to stare at the picture for very long before I realized who it was. Even if I had seen his face only once, I could recognize him from anywhere.The eyes were a dead giveaway.Such dead eyes. Menacing eyes that looked like they had no soul.I could remember the first and only time I had seen his picture and had literally been scared of it the moment I set my eyes on him.It had to be him.“What do you mean by knowing who this man is?” It was Tyler who was asking and I turned to look at him.“Tyler, where is Lucinda?” I asked, lifting myself off Jason’s lap.The both of them looked at me in confusion as I went in search for Lucinda.“She just left. What does that have to do with anything?” Jason, who had gone completely silent, finally spoke, in a cool voice.I looked from Jason to Tyler and sighed, leaning on the kitchen counter as I recalled what had happened the day I had seen that face.“I am telling you, that that man in that picture, is Lucinda’s boyfriend. So

COLTONMy stomach hurt.I couldn’t breathe.I had been running for hours and hours as the police chased after me, showing up at every spot I tried to hide.How had this happened?I had planned everything. It had taken me weeks to do so, but I had put everything in place for the big day. Including all those distractions at Elena’s parents home, and the prank with the him.I had done everything to make sure things went according to plan. But Craig had spooked everything when he had gone inside and probably alerted the police and Jason about what was going on.This was not the first time I had gone to that bank to make a huge transaction. And it was a the fifth time either. But that idiot had chosen to make a big deal out of it. And I wasn’t going to forgive him for what he had done.By the time I was done with Jason and Elena, then i would go to Craig.Deep down though, I knew it was all because of that idiot. He had already made Craig’s transfer that huge sum to his Swiss account. And

JASON“Are you trying to tell me that Colton is involved in this sham too? Because I find that very hard to believe.” Tyler, who was usually reasonable in situation like these, looked like he was about to lose it. And I didn’t blame him. I found it hard to believe too.It was crazy as fuck just thinking about it. In fact, I just wanted to go home and rest already.We had closed all activities today as the police went in search of Colton.He had escaped as soon as Craig had gone into that room to make that call.Probably had panicked when Craig spent a little over a few minutes in his bid to reach me.“I’m as confused as you are, Tyler.” I said, as the guilt that always ate me up began to resurface again.We were currently on our way home as we had closed really early and had decided to head home and wait for any news on the police chase that was going on right as we spoke.“Do you know if he had any kind of animosity towards you are something?” Jane asked from the seat opposite us. S

ELENAI couldn’t even believe what was going on as I looked from one brother to the next. What were the odds?I knew it definitely wasn’t a coincidence that the same to y Richardson was the one who had rendered my family broke beyond repair, and had run off with my fathers vast wealth, to go do whatever he liked with it. That was as far as I knew at the moment. My father had claimed that he had known nothing about his were abouts, until his death in that plane crash. “Something doesn’t just feel right about all of this.” Tyler said, looking from me, to Jason, who had gone really quiet ever since he had told me that Tony was his uncle.I cleared my throat and looked at them. “I mean, I’m not trying to say anything to worsen the situation or make anyone suspicious of anyone. But do you think the three of them knew each other?” I asked, staring pointedly at Jason. His frown had been increasing by the minute.“I don’t know, because the only person alive out of the three men, is Thomas.