Kate Walker - The Italian's Baby Bargain

She opened her eyes, and he looked so damned gorgeous standing there, so dark and lean and excitingly dangerous, that her will-power almost crumbled. My God, but being virtuous and sensible was not all it was cracked up to be, she thought dully.

‘I’m not…interested.’ She failed miserably with chirpy, but by some freaky accident she hit bored and couldn’t-give-a-damn dead centre!

Other than a slight clenching of his muscles no visible reaction to her reply registered on his strong-boned, autocratic features. When he responded a moment later his tone was coloured only with an easy come, easy go quality.

At least I know I definitely made the right call, she thought.

Just because she’d decided that it was time she moved on with her life and stopped being faithful to a relationship that had never existed outside her imagination, it didn’t mean her personality and values had changed beyond recognition.

She was realistic. She hadn’t been walking around with her eyes and ears closed. She knew that for a lot of men—and, for that matter, women—sex had the same emotional content as a trip to the gym or a game of squash! A lover, yes. She recognised that she did have needs that weren’t being fulfilled. But casual sex—no.

Am I expecting too much? It’s not as if I’m asking for a life-long commitment!

It wasn’t too much to ask to expect the man you went to bed with to at least remember your name the next day. She didn’t want him to sleep with her because it was a rainy afternoon and he had a couple of hours in his diary to kill. Or, even worse, because he wanted to make sure she wasn’t climbing into his brother-in-law’s bed!

Alessandro scanned her heart-shaped face for a moment, his expression inscrutable, then after a slight hesitation inclined his dark head. ‘As you wish.’

Sam nodded back and thought, Wish…! If this was about wishes I’d be underneath you now…or maybe on top…

‘You’ve been very kind,’ she heard herself say stupidly.

That she could say anything at all with the sort of erotic images that were jostling for position in her head was nothing short of a miracle.

He flashed her a hawkish glare that was not at all kind. As he proceeded to consult the metal-banded watch on his wrist Sam’s attention was drawn to the contrast of the cold dull metal to his warm, bronzed, satiny skin. Her stomach did a painful flip as she looked at the light dusting of dark body hair on his sinewed forearm and, appalled by the strength and primitive quality of the urge that made her want to touch him, she turned her head.

You just have to step back , she told herself. Be objective…! Great advice—pity there’s not a chance in hell of me taking it, she thought, swallowing the bubble of hysterical laughter in her throat.

Inhaling a deep, sustaining breath, she made herself focus on his face. The line between his strong dark brows deepened, as though his thoughts had already moved on to more pressing issues. Of course it was good that he’d accepted her decision and not tried to dissuade her, but she would have felt a little better if he had looked as though it cost him some effort!

Obviously not sleeping with me ranks alongside other minor inconveniences—such as missing the last post!

It was just beginning to dawn on her that he’d been standing there looking at his watch for a strangely long space of time when he lifted his head and looked at her.

‘If you do want to go back to London tonight speak to Smithie. She will arrange transport.’

‘You’re not going back…?’ His eyes narrowed fractionally and she added quickly, anxious to dispel any impression that she was trying to invite herself along for the ride, ‘Not that I expect a lift or anything.’

His hand on the door, Alessandro turned slowly back. Sam gave a sharp intake of breath and shrank back from the molten ferocity of the expression that drew the flesh taut across the sharp angles of his lean face. ‘A lift? Madre di Dio!’

‘No, it’s fine. I’ll probably give my mum a ring and stay at home until my car is sorted.’

His narrowed obsidian gaze moved across her face. ‘You stand there looking like that and talk about getting your car fixed!’ He closed his eyes, pressed his fingers to the bridge of his patrician nose and released a wrathful flood of fluid Italian.

Italian, Sam decided, listening in awestruck silence to the outpouring, was a very expressive language to get mad in. Though for the life of her she couldn’t figure out what she had said or done to trigger this from a man who was legendary for his reserve and control. When he opened his eyes again she realised that she wasn’t seeing the polite regret she had felt was being expressed moments earlier. In his searing stare she was seeing overt raw hunger and rampant frustration…Not an I missed my game of squash expression at all.

As Sam’s stomach muscles clenched she suddenly wasn’t so sure about her assessment of the situation. Alessandro wasn’t acting like a man who was going to forget her name by tomorrow. He was acting like a man who was pretty near to losing it!

As she studied him through the spiky sweep of her dark lashes she saw him rake a hand viciously through his hair. As he padded across the room, as sleek and dangerous as any jungle cat, she could hear him muttering under his breath in his native tongue. Having put several feet between them, he turned his head and looked at her.

My God, but he really is magnificent! The tightness in her chest became a physical pain as she watched him.

‘You think I could trust myself to be alone in a car with you?’ The frustration emanating from him was an almost palpable entity in the room.

Sam, not knowing what else she could do or say, shook her head.

His sensual upper lip curled in a grimace of self-derision. ‘Dio,’ he rasped thickly. ‘I can’t trust myself to be in the same room as you!’

It wasn’t until after the door had slammed, hard enough to rattle the hinges and several pieces of artwork on the walls, that Sam, her emotion-whacked body limp, literally crumbled. Tears streaming down her face, she slowly slid down the wall until she sat in a hunched heap of misery on the floor. A sob of titanic proportions rocked her body as her head fell forward into her hands.

Why on earth did you tell him to go?

Sam had no idea how long she sat there. The next thing she registered was strong hands tilting her face upwards and dark eyes filled with concern examining her tear-drenched features.

Alessandro had dropped down onto his knees beside her.

‘Tell me,’ he demanded, his velvet voice roughly imperative. ‘What is wrong?’

‘Nothing…’ she claimed, with tears still streaming down her face. ‘What are you doing here?’ Other than driving me totally out of my mind.

‘Clearly nothing is a lie. I left my jacket.’ His eyes didn’t leave her face as he nodded towards the bed. ‘Now, tell me,’ he coaxed. ‘No, I know,’ he added harshly. ‘And the man is not worth it. I know it seems hard now, but if you can forget…’

‘Forget?’ she shrilled, pulling her face angrily from the protective circle of his fingers with a loud sniff. ‘How the hell am I meant to forget when you’re here.’

He pressed a hand to his chest and looked confused. ‘Me…?’

‘Who else?’ she demanded, rubbing her teary eyes with her balled fists.

‘You were crying before I returned.’

‘Of course I was. You left!’ Her lips started to quiver as a fat tear slid slowly down her cheek. I never cry.

Alessandro dragged a not quite steady hand through his hair and looked mystified. ‘Because that is what you wanted.’