Had he aroused her on purpose, touched her, and caressed her with the sole intention of humiliating her?"Oh, I think you understand me perfectly well, Chloe," he said, his gaze once again sweeping over her disdainfully. "I’ve never even met your friend Alana, let alone showered her with flowers, compliments, and empty promises in order to seduce her into my silk-sheeted bed," he stated plainly, so that there should be no lingering misunderstanding.Chloe blinked up at him, trying to make sense of what he was saying. But she said—she"I don’t give a damn what your friend Alana said, Chloe," Gregorio informed her disgustedly. "I have never met the lady—if, indeed, that’s what she really is," he added, with a scathingly dismissive curl of his top lip.Chloe couldn’t mistake the utter conviction in his voice for anything other than the truth, and she looked up at him dazedly, able to clearly see freezing emotion in the harshness of his expression. She realized fully now what had been beh
Gregorio stared down at the message on top of the pile he had picked up from reception on his way through the hotel to his suite.Would you please meet me at Garstang at eight o’clock this evening?There was no signature on the message. But there didn’t need to be.Only Chloe could have sent such a request, asking him to meet her at the same restaurant, at the same time, as he had previously arranged.Gregorio read the message a second time as he stepped into the lift, torn between crushing the piece of paper to a pulp in his hand and a grudging feeling of admiration for the position Chloe had deliberately put herself in.Because she now knew he'd been lying to her about her friend Alana...That might be so, but nevertheless, Chloe had to know that by asking him to meet her at Garstang, of all places, she was leaving herself open to the same humiliation she had deliberately inflicted on him previously—that he might now be the one not to turn up for the date and leave her sitting at th
But there was a remoteness about Gregorio this evening that hadn’t been there before. a bleakness that was more than surface-deep and that totally eradicated the wicked glint of humor in his eyes, which had so surprised her when she’d first met him. It sent shivers of apprehension down her spine!The fact that she knew she deserved to feel those shivers didn’t make them any less effective.Gregorio took his time sampling the wine, giving himself a necessary few moments’ respite to adjust to seeing Chloe again. to recognize that she was even more beautiful than he remembered...In fact, he had felt a moment’s pure violence when he’d entered the restaurant a few minutes earlier and seen her out-staring the avid gaze of a man seated at a table across the room. His own hands had clenched at his sides as he’d resisted the impulse to go to the other man’s table and tell him precisely what he could do with his admiring glances.Not that he could exactly blame the guy for his interest when Ch
"So," Gregorio drawled once the waiter had left with their order. "What did your friend Alana have to say about me?"The moment of truth had arrived, which Chloe acknowledged heavily to herself as she replaced her wineglass carefully on the table after taking a sip. "Well, as I’m sure you’ve obviously deduced, she admitted that the two of you have never even met each other."Gregorio gave a small inclination of his head. "I had already told you that." "Of course you didn’t believe me," he reminded her after giving her a searching look."Try to see this from my point of view, Gregorio." Chloe looked across at him appealingly. "I’ve known Alana over half my life. Of course I believed she was the one telling the truth!"Of course," he agreed tersely.He really was every inch the son of an Italian nobleman at this moment, which Chloe recognized uneasily. His usual easy-going flirtatiousness and the wicked glint in his eye were no longer in evidence at all. "Obviously, I now know that she
He didn't even try to refute her claim, instead inclining his head and drawing a thin, uncompromising line with his mouth."Do you think there will be a happy ending for your brother and Alana?""Maybe," Chloe answered slowly. Declan was a little cagey last week when I asked him if he had seen Alana while he was in Los Angeles. "I hope so," she added. Despite what you might think after what’s happened, Alana really is a lovely person. And now that I’ve gotten over being annoyed with her, I believe she and Declan would be perfect for each other. "She really is sorry for involving you in this," Chloe finished, giving up on trying to eat her smoked salmon. The conversation—and the company!—had completely robbed her of her appetite.‘And you?’ Gregorio pushed. "Are you also sorry?""More than you can imagine," she confirmed. more than she ever wanted Gregorio to guess or know!He might not have been involved with Alana—he might never have even met her!—but that didn’t change the fact that
Gregorio admired her bravery, this little firebrand, even as he considered her remark about taking a partner who felt positively towards him.He was sure that most women in Chloe’s position, having initially so wrong-footed themselves, would have been only too happy to make restitution for the mistake they had made. but not Chloe.He leaned further back in his chair as their used plates were removed. "I have my own reasons for wanting it to be you who accompanies me," he told her calmly once they were alone again.‘And those reasons are…?’"Entirely my own," he told her firmly. "But I can assure you they have absolutely nothing to do with a bedroom—either yours or mine!" He paused, as he could see he had failed to convince her. "Didn’t our last encounter prove to you that I don’t lose all control at the sight and touch of your delectable body?" he whipped out harshly, angry all over again as her cheeks paled. with himself this time. for deliberately hurting her.But what else was he t
Although, with Chloe standing there, her flaming red hair cascading loosely over her shoulders and down the long length of her spine, dressed in tight-fitting denims and a white T-shirt that showed off the lean length of her thighs and legs and emphasized the firm thrust of her breasts, it wasn't quite as impersonal as usual!"I think I would like to take a shower and freshen up," she announced. "What time are we leaving for the party?""We aren’t leaving the hotel, Chloe," Gregorio answered. "The party is in one of the reception rooms downstairs," he explained, perplexed by her expression.He had deliberately remained aloof from Chloe after collecting her from her apartment and during the drive to the airport and their flight. But that didn’t mean that he hadn’t been completely aware of her the whole time they had been together in the back of the car and then on the plane.He admitted that she was too aware of him to be comfortable."My brother, Lamberto, and his wife will be joining
"A little overwhelming, isn’t it?" The tall and beautiful Jenny Di Costa laughed sympathetically as Chloe stared at the two men who stood together across the room, preparing drinks for them all.Gregorio and his brother, Lamberto.They were both tall, both blond-haired—although Gregorio’s overlong hair was a deeper gold than his brother’s—and their aristocratically handsome faces were very similar, as were the powerfully muscled bodies beneath their black evening suits and white shirts.Having been introduced to Gregorio’s brother and his wife when they’d arrived at the suite a couple of minutes ago, Chloe still couldn’t get over the sensory shock of having two such forcefully attractive men as the Di Costa brothers together in the same room!"Believe me, it doesn’t get any easier, either," Jenny continued conversationally as she looked at her husband with adoring eyes, her long, dark hair hanging loosely down her spine, the red dress she wore not disguising the slight swell of her pr