A Reputation to Uphold (13 page)

Now she lived only for work. Just as he did. She’d turned her life around and he admired her for that. Yet, there was more. Beneath. Secrets. A contradiction in her life he couldn’t grasp.

‘It always has. But this week, for the first time in my life, I haven’t felt controlled by them.’ One side of her lush mouth curved and the temptation to lick and taste made his mouth water. ‘No, instead I’ve been controlled by you.’ She placed her glass of amber fizz on the table. ‘Reminds me of that adage: from the frying pan into the fire.’

‘Too much heat,
cara
?’

‘Way too much,’ she said, edgy, breathless. Avoiding it. Fighting it. All they’d done all week.

And,
Cristo
, this weekend. Sweat-drenched nights of wanting, knowing she was in the bedroom opposite his. Those long satiny legs tangled in his sheets. That creamy almond skin smothered in his finest silk. Her breasts pushed into his soft mattress. His ring on her finger.

Of course the constant craving only served to heighten his frustration and fury. How could he still want her after she’d betrayed him?

Eva sat on the top wooden step leading down to the tropical interior. ‘Anyway,’ she began, slipping the black wedges from her feet and poking her toes into flimsy white tennis shoes, ‘you promised me a walk on the wild side and, before I leave in the morning, we need to decide when we’ll officially break up.’

The flute froze halfway to his lips. He watched the golden bubbles nudging, popping against the glass while his lungs remembered how to breathe. The reason, he assumed, was because they were nowhere near done.

Dante drained the glass in one smooth swallow. ‘Let us not think of that now. We have two weeks until I sign and Miss West to contend with.’

Eva’s foot froze mid-wiggle and she tilted her head until thick caramel hair tumbled, veiling her face.

A loud drum beat throbbed at his temple. ‘
Eeeva
? What are you not telling me?’ Secrets—he could feel them lingering, putrefying, thickening the air like poisonous gas.

Eyes wide, determined, obstinate, locked on to his. ‘My meeting on Friday morning was with Prudence West. She’s going elsewhere for her gown. I lost the job.’

‘
What
? I’ve a good mind to call the woman and tell her what a disastrous mistake she is making. Why did you not wait for me?’
Cristo
, why would the woman not let him take control?

‘I can fight my own battles,’ she said quietly, padding down the wooden steps to negotiate the beaten path snaking a trail through the wild tangle of palms, ferns and towering tree trunks.

He almost told her she hadn’t fought this one very well but in that instant something dawned on him. Something so profound the earth revolved three-sixty. Pretty much the same way he felt every day this woman had been back in his life!

‘And yet,’ he said hoarsely, launching down the steps, his loafers crunching the woody undergrowth, curling his fingers around her upper arm, he tugged her to a stop, to face him, ‘you came here regardless. When I could do nothing more for you. For two days you have entertained, been the perfect host, bewitched Yakatani at every turn to persuade him to sell to me.
Why
?’

‘Because I gave you my word. You wanted Hamptons so badly and I wanted you to have it. Why shouldn’t one of us win?’

Bang
—another shot from that stun-gun of hers—like a poacher’s bullet straight between the eyes, making his head jerk. Never in his life had anyone done anything so selfless. Only for him.

Rendered dumbstruck, he found himself in the unique position of not knowing what the hell to do about it. And yet...as his eyes dipped to where she licked her full lips, there was one thing he’d never been more certain of in his life.

He wanted—
needed
—to kiss her. More than his next breath.

Except wasn’t it more likely that Eva
needed
something more important than a taste of the man beneath?

* * *

In that moment Eva wouldn’t have changed the last week for anything and, considering her entire life, her career, her business was hanging in the balance, that was saying something. But it was glorious to see derision replaced by a bud of admiration and a whole load of shock.

There was something else, too. An incredible force of will tautened his hard frame as if he leashed raw power. And the air began to pulse and moan as blood rushed through her veins.

Before she did something very stupid, like jump back into his arms to be held deliciously tight, beg him to kiss her and never stop, she stepped back and resumed her walk down the rutted pathway, shaded by the lush green overhang.

Without the Duchess, she had no idea what would happen next. All she knew was that she needed to wrest back control, call a halt to this charade, fly back to London and try to rebuild her world pre–Dante Vitale. Again.

Goose pimples flurried up her arms and she shivered violently.

Dante snapped out of his odd stupor and fell into step beside her. Voice controlled, so dark she sensed a danger in him, ‘I’ll make up what you lost on the job. It is the least I—’

Heat flamed from within, licking her insides, firing her voice. ‘Don’t even say another word. I wouldn’t take a penny of your money. It was my choice to go it alone. Anyway, I had every intention of telling her the truth—’

He coughed an incredulous bark. ‘The
truth
.
Maledizione
!’

The reason for his outburst suddenly dawned on her and her feet screamed to a halt. Swivelling to face him, she reached out a placating hand, careful not to touch, knowing she was at the very edge of her control.
Don’t touch him, Eva. You’ll lose your mind.
She knew. Just looking at him set her body on fire.
Oh, boy—focus, Eva, focus.

‘Hey, don’t worry, okay? I realised at the last second how it may affect your deal and I didn’t tell her in the end.’ There she’d been, sitting in Prudence West’s morning room being congratulated on her and Dante’s engagement, and Eva had frozen, lies clogging her throat. Knowing there was a good possibility she would be risking his deal. So she’d sat there and told more lies for a man. One thing she’d
sworn
she’d never do after her father’s antics.

In the end it had been pointless because, ‘The decision had already been made.’ And Eva had no doubt the soon-to-be Duchess had been pressurised by the cliques. One of which was fake fiancée number one—Rebecca. Eva had known from the start the power of a woman scorned. But Dante had his eyes on the prize and what would a man know of such humiliation, such pain? Nothing. ‘My point is, I either make it on my own to swim or—’

Whoosh, he was off, dark, primitive and perilous, garbed entirely in stark, uncompromising black, pacing in front of her like a predator at home in his habitat. ‘Are you telling me you will sink without it? So why will you not take my money? What the hell kind of woman are you, Eva?
Cristo
, first it is the ring, then the flowers, now my money! Am I not good enough for you, is that it?’

Good enough
? Was he serious? Did he even know what he’d just said? No, surely not, he was too angry.

‘Calm down. It’s not personal. I won’t be bailed out by anyone. I have new consultations lined up.’ She just hoped they still came off when the novelty value of her and Dante wore off. And she didn’t even want to think of what would happen when their break-up was announced. ‘I won’t sink. I’ve made it this far without help.’

Punching his fists into his pockets, he sent bark flying into the air with the toe of his loafer. ‘Bank loans,’ he growled, as if he knew. But she guessed his financial brain just connected the dots.

‘One or two,’ she choked out, trying to make light of her situation around the block in her windpipe. If he knew the true astronomical amounts involved he’d be...well, much like he was now—exasperation oozing from his every sinuous pore as he held her with an intense slashing glare. But that was ludicrous. He couldn’t possibly know.

His pulse-thrumming physique towered over her. ‘Are you telling me, you actually frittered over eight million on the party scene, to be left with
nothing
?’

So much for avoiding this topic of conversation. ‘Don’t be silly, Dante. On a couple of club memberships and a few parties? Only you could think that way in the first place.’

‘So what happened to the money?’

The first prick of a migraine stabbed behind her eyes and Eva rubbed her temple. ‘My dad remortgaged the house over and over. We almost lost it. I couldn’t bear to see my mother’s pride and joy being sold. Funny thing is, I can’t even bear to go there now. To watch his latest wife tear another room down. Another strip of silk from the wall. By the time he’d settled on wife number four, my legacy...my car, Lexi...was gone.’

‘
Maledizione
! You sold Lexi, that pampered mare, the love of your life, to keep your father in that house? Finn
allowed
this?’

He was practically ranting. She couldn’t help but smile. ‘Finn was racing in the F1 World Championship at the time. When he came back he was furious, but it was too late. In all honesty, he doesn’t know half of it. He already worries. Feels guilty. So don’t you
dare
tell him. It was my choice to bail my dad out. And I’m sure you realise how much ex-wives cost.’

A thick, turbulent storm clouded his beautiful eyes. ‘
Sì
. I know this.’

Eva questioned how wise it was to pursue such a conversation. She couldn’t bear to imagine him with his ex-wife. It physically hurt. The svelte brunette must’ve been infinitely special to coax Mr-One-Night-Wonder down the aisle. ‘I’m guessing once was enough for you.’

‘More than enough,’ he said fiercely. ‘And no, I do not wish to talk of it.’

Meaning there was an underlying hurt. Strange to imagine a mere woman having the power to hurt him.

‘So you loved her?’ she asked, wincing inwardly at the crack in her voice.

Dante choked out a laugh. A horrid, mocking sound that sent the tree-dwellers into a flurry of squawks and scuttles. ‘I am incapable of such a thing. Love is for the weak and needy and I am neither.’

No, he was neither of those things. He was all indomitable strength and power. Always had been. Always would be.

Dante scrubbed his hands over his face, raked his hair with his fingers. ‘Eva, I refuse to stand back and watch you struggle.’

‘You have no choice,’ she said with a hard undertone he couldn’t easily miss.

‘
Cristo
, there must be something else you want. What if I buy your lease? Move you to Mayfair. Buy you a house.
Whatever
you want. As a thank-you for closing this deal for me.’

Growling, she flung her arms wide. ‘Is that your answer to everything?
Money
?’

He gave an insouciant shrug—an act that completely contradicted the sudden tension emanating from his powerful frame. And words,
his
words, began to prick her psyche.
What the hell kind of woman are you, Eva? Why will you not take my money?

That was exactly what he thought. Women only wanted him for his money. It was the most harebrained notion she’d ever heard and yet he
actually
believed it.

A sweet, sharp ache pierced her chest. How must that feel to him?

In truth, she knew. How many times had she wished people would see past her notorious pop star father, her uber-talented mother, even Finn, the dashing, death-defying racing driver and see
her
, Eva? Want to spend time with
her
, Eva. Not that she could get them backstage passes or get them smack bang on the front page, or even a longed-for introduction to Finn. And to think that all this time Dante—
the
Dante Vitale—felt something similar, just boggled the mind. Cracked her heart.

Forgetting about all the reasons she wasn’t to touch, Eva reached up, brushed the back of her fingers down the side of his savagely beautiful face, cupped his unyielding jaw. Felt the heat and need trickle through her veins. Ignored the desperate surge of self-preservation to pull away. Because he
needed
to hear this.

‘Oh, Dante, I don’t want your money. I knew you when you had nothing.’
I wanted you when you had nothing.
‘And still I don’t want or need anything from you.’

Brow scrunching, he gave a flummoxed shake of his head, eyes never leaving her gaze, those haunted, almost tortured umber eyes boring into hers as if searching for veracity.

Veracity he must’ve found because that look morphed into something hot and heavy and thick. Clouding his eyes with hot, devilish intent. Clawing the air with ferocious need. ‘Now
that
is a lie, Eva, and you know it. You wanted something from me then and you still do...’

Daunting and more than a little dangerous, his voice incited a weft of excitement and a warp of unease through her body.

‘...A taste of the dark side.’

Oh, boy.
Hand slipping from his face, she took a tentative step back, heart thundering so loud she’d swear a herd of elephants were stampeding towards them.
Run, Eva, run.

Except his deep gaze held her captive as he towered above her in an unmistakable pose of sexual dominance. Then his big strong hands shot to her waist and yanked her flush against his hardness.

‘Let me go,’ she panted, even as she gripped his upper arms, felt the dense muscle flex beneath her fingertips, sending a deep tremor through her core, exploding in a feverish flurry.

A ghost of a smile played about his sinful mouth. ‘Say it like you mean it,
cara
, and I will consider it,’ he said in a voice thick and syrupy with hot, sweet intent, sucking heat from her every pore to gather and pool low in her pelvis.

Oh, hell
, did he have to be so...so horridly, deliciously male?

Eva cleared her throat, tried again. ‘Let. Me—’

Pounce
—the fiend jumped straight in for the kill and nipped the words from her bottom lip with his front teeth. And when he soothed the tingling flesh with a sinful flick and lap of his tongue the jungle vanished behind her eyelids.
Think, Eva, think.