Dante's Temporary Fiancée (12 page)

“Can you get it back?”

“I don't know yet. Maybe.”

“Is there anything I can do to help? Perhaps if we were to approach her, offer to purchase it?”

For some reason the kindness in his voice provoked a flood of tears and it took her a minute to control them. “Thanks.”

“Aw, hell.”

He swept her into his arms and she buried her face against his shoulder, her body curving into his. He couldn't understand how a parent could abandon her child. But then, he couldn't imagine making any of the choices Larkin's mother had. No wonder Larkin took such delight in his family and the way they encouraged and supported and—yes—interfered in each other's lives.

Larkin had never had any of that. Worse, she'd been abandoned by her mother, never known the love of her
father and been betrayed in the worst possible way by her half sister. Well, that ended. Right now.

“We'll take care of this, sweetheart. We'll get your bracelet back and use it to track down your father. If anyone can do it, it's Juice.” He pulled back slightly. “Let's start with finding the bracelet. What's your sister's name? Where does she live?”

Larkin caught him by surprise, ripping free of his embrace. Without a word she dived from the raft and struck out toward shore, cutting through the water as though all the demons of hell were close on her heels. He didn't hesitate. He gave chase, reaching the shore only steps behind her. Catching her by the shoulder, he spun her around.

“What the hell is going on?” he demanded, the air heaving in and out of his lungs. “Why did you take off like that?”

She struggled to catch her breath. Water ran in thin rivulets down her face, making it impossible to tell whether it was from her swim or from tears. “I warned you. I warned you not to go there.”

A hideous suspicion took hold. “Who is she, Larkin? Who has your bracelet? What's her name?”

“Her name is…
was
…Leigh.”

“Leigh,” he repeated. He shook his head. “Not my late wife. Not that Leigh.”

She closed her eyes and all the fight drained from her. “Yes, your late wife, Leigh. She was also my half sister.” She looked at him then, her eyes—those stunning aquamarine eyes—empty of all emotion. “And I wondered, assuming it's not too much trouble, if you could give me back the bracelet she took from me.”

For a split second Rafe couldn't move, couldn't even
think. Then comprehension stormed through him. “All this time you've been with me, you've kept your relationship to Leigh a secret? All so you could find her bracelet?”

“
My
bracelet. And no! Well, yes.” She thrust her hands into her wet hair in open frustration, standing the curls on end. “I didn't move in with you in order to search for it, if that's what you're suggesting. But yes. I asked to be assigned to the Dantes reception in order to get an initial impression of you. To decide the best way to approach you.”

She'd been sizing him up. Right from the start she'd been figuring out the perfect bait for her trap. And he'd fallen for it. Fallen for almost the exact same routine Leigh had used on him. The poor innocent waif. In Larkin's case, abandoned by her mother, searching for her father. Raised by her grandmother. Was any of it true? None of Leigh's stories had been. Or was this Larkin's clever way to get her hands on whatever valuables his late wife had left behind?

“What a fool I've been.”

“I'm sorry, Rafe. To be honest—”

“Oh, by all means,” he cut in sarcastically. “Do be honest. It would make such a refreshing change.”

“I was going to tell you the truth the night you offered me a job.”

He paced in front of her, more angry than he could ever remember being. Somehow Larkin had gotten under his skin in a way that Leigh never had, making the betrayal that much worse. “If you had told me that night, I'd have thrown you out then and there.”

“I know.”

“So you didn't mention it.”

Her mouth tilted to one side in a wry smile. “I think it had more to do with your asking me to be your fiancée and then kissing me. That pretty much blew every other thought out of my head.”

The fact that his reaction had been identical to hers only served to increase his anger and frustration. “You still should have told me.”

“Then your grandparents arrived on the scene and I got kicked out of my apartment.” She continued the recital with relentless tenacity. “Maybe I should have confessed then, but to be hon—” She winced. “The reason I didn't was because I didn't feel like spending a night on the streets.”

“I wouldn't have thrown you out in the middle of the night.” He smiled grimly. “At least, I don't think so.”

“Then in the morning I got swept off by Elia and Nonna. I really didn't want to make the announcement in front of them.” She captured her lower lip between her teeth and a line of anxiety appeared between her brows. “But I shouldn't have let them spend any money on me. That was totally wrong, and if it's the last thing I do I'll repay every dime.”

“Would you forget about the damn money?” Rafe broke off and scrubbed his hands across his face. What the hell was he saying? Money was the reason she was here. She just had a different routine than Leigh, a far more effective one, as it turned out. “You had ample opportunity to tell me in the time we've been together. Why didn't you?”

She squared her shoulders. In her halter-top bathing suit they looked breathtakingly delicate and feminine—a fact he couldn't help but notice despite all that stood between them. “You're right. I should have told
you. My only excuse is that I knew it would change everything between us.” Her chin quivered before she brought it under ruthless control. “And I didn't want our relationship to change.”

He did his best to ignore the chin. She might look like a helpless stray, but he didn't doubt she was every bit as conniving as her sister.
Blood will tell,
as Primo always said. Of course, he'd been referring to The Inferno. But maybe greed and deceit and a lack of honor ran in some families the way The Inferno ran in his. Like mother, like daughter.

“You want Leigh's bracelet? Fine. You'll have it first thing tomorrow. After that, I expect you to clear out.”

His final comment kept her from replying for a moment. Her distress shouldn't affect him. Not anymore. But for some reason it did. “Then you have it?” she asked in a low voice. “I wasn't sure whether it had been lost when Leigh's plane went down.”

“It was at Dantes at the time, having the catch repaired. Right now it's in my office safe.” He whistled for Kiko, then inclined his head toward the lake house. “Come on. We're leaving. I'll tell everyone there's been an unexpected emergency.”

She didn't argue. “Of course.” Her tone turned formal. “I'll find somewhere else to stay as soon as we get back to the city.”

The comment only served to spin his anger to an all-time high. “As much as I'd love to have you gone, it'll be far too late to find a place for both you and Kiko tonight. Tomorrow I'll get your damn bracelet and find you a hotel or apartment willing to house you both.” He cut her off before she could argue. “Enough, Larkin. This discussion is over. From now on, we do things my
way. And my way means you're out of my life as soon as I can arrange it.”

Rafe didn't waste any time putting his plan into action. Nor did he give his family the chance to do more than express confused concern before he had the two of them and Kiko packed and loaded and flying down the road toward San Francisco.

The instant they arrived home, Larkin made a beeline for her bedroom. Rafe followed. It wasn't the smartest move, but he had some final questions he wanted answered. He paused in the doorway, struggling to see through the pretense to the woman she'd revealed herself to be—a woman ruled by greed and avarice and dishonesty.

It was as though she read his mind. “I'm nothing like Leigh.” She threw the comment over her shoulder.

“No? Time will tell.” He stared at her, broodingly. “Once I slipped a ring on your sister's finger she went from sweet and innocent—like you—to cold and calculating. I have to hand it to her, she put on a great act leading up to our wedding. I guess I'm an easy mark when it comes to the helpless waif type of woman. Leigh was a more sophisticated version, granted, but that changed soon enough. It didn't take long to realize she wanted what every other woman wants from a Dante, the good life and everything my money could provide. I suppose I could have lived with that. For a while.”

“Then what went wrong?”

“It was the adultery that I refused to tolerate.”

The fluid lines of Larkin's body stiffened and she slowly turned to face him. “She cheated on you?
You?
”

He supposed he should be flattered by the way she said that. “Hard to imagine?”

“Yes, it is.”

His eyes narrowed and he approached, swallowing up the narrow bones of her shoulders in his two hands. “How do you do it?”

She stared up at him, eyes huge and startling blue, her expression one of stark innocence. Bambi in human form. “Do what?”

“Look the way you do, so trustworthy and ingenuous, when everything you say is a total lie. How do you do that?”

“I'm not Leigh.” She spoke calmly enough, but a hint of steel and temper washed across her face. “You're trying to tuck us into the same little box and I refuse to allow it.
I am not Leigh!
”

“And I might have believed you if you'd been candid about your connection to Leigh from the start. Just out of curiosity, was any of your story true? Were you really abandoned by your mother and raised by your grandmother?”

Exhaustion lined her face, along with a heart-wrenching despair. “I've never lied to you, Rafe. I simply didn't tell you about Leigh and the bracelet. I even told you I had secrets. Omissions. Remember?” She searched his face, probably looking for some weakness she could use to her advantage. “You said lying by omission was part of dating. Everything else I told you was the truth.”

“And I'm supposed to just believe it.”

“You know what, Rafe? I don't care what you believe. I know it's the truth and that's all that matters.” She lifted her chin an inch. “You should be grateful to me,
you know that? I've given you the perfect excuse for staying emotionally disconnected. I betrayed you. Now you can go back to being independent. The original lone wolf. You should be celebrating.”

“Somehow I don't feel like celebrating.” She attempted to pull back and he tightened his hold. “I can still feel it. Why is that?”

She didn't pretend to misunderstand. A hint of panic crept into her gaze, combining with a wealth of longing. “Maybe it really is The Inferno.”

“You'd love that, wouldn't you?”

She hesitated. “I'd love it if it were real,” she admitted with brutal frankness. “But I'm not that thrilled about it given the current circumstances.”

He uttered a humorless laugh. “There's one good thing that's come from all this.”

Her breath escaped her lungs in a soft rush. “I'm afraid to ask….”

“Once I explain the facts to my family they'll finally leave me alone. No more Inferno possibilities paraded beneath my nose. Not only that, but they'll understand completely why I can't marry my Inferno soul mate. How could I, when she's Leigh's sister?”

Bone-deep temper ignited in Larkin's eyes, turning the color to an incandescent shade of cobalt-blue. “
Half
sister. And I'm getting really tired of being hanged for her crimes. You want something to be angry about? I'll give you something.”

She swept her hands up across his chest and into his hair. Grabbing two thick handfuls, she yanked his face down to hers and took his mouth in a ruthless kiss. Desire roared through him at her aggressiveness. Her mouth slanted across his, hot and damp with passion.
Gently she parted his lips with hers. Teasing. Offering. Beckoning him inward. He didn't hesitate.

He tugged her closer, melding them together. Her thighs, strong and slender, slipped between his while her pelvis curved snugly against him. He could feel the shape and softness of her breasts against his chest, feel the pebbled tips that spoke of her need. And her mouth. Her mouth was as sweet and lush and tasty as a ripe peach.

He staggered forward a step, falling with her onto the bed. The instant they hit the mattress, he shoved his hands up under her shirt and cupped the pert apple roundness of her breasts. He traced his thumbs across her rigid nipples, catching her hungry moan in his mouth. The sound was the final straw.

He lost himself. Lost himself in the fire that erupted every time they touched. She wrapped her legs around him, pulling him tighter against her. Her breath came in frantic little gasps and she snatched quick bites of his mouth.

“Tell me this is a lie,” she demanded. “Tell me I'm lying about what happens whenever you kiss me. Tell me this isn't real.”

It took endless seconds for her words to penetrate. The instant they did, he swore viciously. “Not again.”

“Yes, again.” She wiggled out from underneath him and shot to her feet. “Do you think I want it to happen? You're Leigh's husband. I've never before wanted anything that belonged to her. But you—” Her voice broke and she turned away.

“I never belonged to her.”

“You were married to her.” She lifted a shoulder in
a disconsolate shrug. “There's not much difference as far as I can tell.”

He stood, aware that nothing he could do or say would restore order to his world. He wanted a woman he didn't trust, probably would have made love to her again if she hadn't put a stop to it before it went any further. He'd already had his life turned upside down once, courtesy of his former wife. He wasn't about to let it happen again.