IT STARTED WITH
COLLECTION

MIRANDA LEE is Australian, and lives near Sydney. Born and raised in the bush, she was boarding-school educated, and briefly pursued a career in classical music before moving to Sydney and embracing the world of computers. Happily married, with three daughters, she began writing when family commitments kept her at home. She likes to create stories that are believable, modern, fast-paced and sexy. Her interests include meaty sagas, doing word puzzles, gambling and going to the movies.

It Started with a Proposition

Blackmailed into the Italian’s Bed

Contract with Consequences

The Passion Price

Miranda Lee

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Table of Contents

Cover

About the Author

Title Page

Blackmailed into the Italian’s Bed

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

Contract with Consequences

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER TWENTY

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

The Passion Price

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Endpage

Copyright

Blackmailed into the Italian’s Bed

CHAPTER ONE

GINO stood at the hotel room window, his hands shoved deep in his trouser pockets, his dark gaze fixed on the city streets below.

The snarled traffic moved along at snail’s pace, and the pavements were filled with office workers spilling from their buildings, all eager to get home for the weekend. Wherever home might be.

He wondered where her home was. And if she was married.

His heart missed a beat at this last thought. As perverse as it was, he didn’t want her to be married.

But of course she would be. A girl like that. So beautiful and so intelligent. Some smart man would have snapped her up by now. It had been ten years, for pity’s sake. She probably had a couple of kids as well.

His cellphone ringing sent him spinning away from the window. He glanced at his watch as he hurried over to where he’d left his phone, by the bed. Five-thirty. Hopefully it would be the detective agency and not Claudia. He didn’t want to talk to Claudia right now.

‘Gino Bortelli,’ he answered, with only the faintest of Italian accents.

‘Mr Bortelli?’

Gino almost sighed with relief at hearing a crisp male voice on the other end.

‘Cliff Hanson here, from Confidential Investigations.’

‘Glad to hear from you,’ Gino returned, just as crisply. ‘What do you have for me?’

‘We believe we’ve located the Ms Jordan Gray you’re looking for, Mr Bortelli, although it’s not as uncommon a name as we’d hoped. But there’s only one Ms Jordan Gray currently living in Sydney who matches the age and physical description you gave us.’

‘She’s not married, then?’ Gino asked, trying to keep the excitement out of his voice.

‘Nope. Still single. With no children. And you were right. She’s a lawyer. Works for Stedley & Parkinson. It’s an American-owned legal practice which has a branch here in the Sydney City Business District.’

‘I know it,’ Gino said, stunned by this news. He’d been in their offices this very afternoon, signing a contract. Hell, he might have walked right past her!

‘Word is she’s the up-and-coming star of their civil litigation section. Took on a big insurance company recently. And won.’

A wry smile spread over Gino’s face. ‘That’d be her.’

Jordan had absolutely hated insurance companies. Her parents had had an insurance claim rejected after their home had been virtually destroyed in a storm, with the insurance company hiding behind some loophole in the small print of their contract. Her father had tried to fight them through the legal system, and it had cost him every cent he had and some he didn’t. After he’d lost his final appeal he’d died of a coronary, brought on by stress, leaving behind a destitute wife and a daughter.

‘Do you have an address and home phone number for me?’ he asked.

‘An address. But no home phone number as yet. Lawyers like Ms Gray usually have unlisted numbers.’

‘Give me the address,’ Gino said, striding over to sit at the writing desk which contained everything a businessman away from home might require, including internet access.

He picked up the complimentary pen and jotted Jordan’s address down on the notepad. It was an apartment in Kirribilli, one of the swish harbourside suburbs on the north side of Sydney, not far from the bridge. He ripped off the page and slipped it into his wallet.

‘Does she live alone?’ came his next question, his throat tightening.

‘We don’t know that yet, Mr Bortelli. We’ve only been on the job a few hours. We need a little more time to fill in the details of the lady’s love-life. There’s only so much we can find out via the internet and phone calls.’

‘How much more time?’

‘Possibly only a few hours. I’m having one of my best field operatives tail Ms Gray when she leaves work this evening. We’ve been able to secure a recent photo, courtesy of her driver’s licence. He’s currently staking out the exit to her building.’

Gino winced at this invasion of Jordan’s privacy. ‘Is that really necessary?’

‘It is, if you want to know the lady’s personal status tonight. Which you said you did.’

Yes, he did. He was booked on an early morning flight to Melbourne.

When he’d flown in to Sydney yesterday Gino had had no intention of hiring a private eye to find Jordan. But during his taxi ride from the airport to the city the memories he’d been trying to bury for the last decade had resurfaced with a vengeance.

The need to know what had become of her had overridden common sense. He hadn’t been able to sleep last night with thinking about her.

By morning, his curiosity had become a compulsion. A call to a police friend in Melbourne had soon provided him with the number of a reputable Sydney investigative agency. By ten this morning he’d set in motion the search for the first-year law student he’d lived with for a few idyllic months, all those years ago.

And supposing you find out there’s no man in her life? What do you intend doing with that information?

Gino grimaced.

You were going to ask Claudia to marry you this weekend. You’ve even bought the ring. What in heaven’s name are you doing, chasing after an old flame who probably hasn’t given you a second thought in years?

He reassured himself. I just want to see her one more time. To make sure that she’s happy. Nothing more.

What could be the harm in that?

‘Keep me updated every hour,’ he said brusquely.

‘Will do, Mr Bortelli.’

CHAPTER TWO

JORDAN glanced up at the clock on the wall and willed the hands to get to ten to six, at which time she could reasonably excuse herself and go home.

She was attending the happy hour which the practice provided in the boardroom every Friday afternoon from five till six. It was a tradition at every branch of Stedley & Parkinson, introduced by the American partners when they’d begun their first practice in the United States forty years ago.

Employees who either didn’t come—or left early—were frowned upon by the powers-that-be.

Normally Jordan didn’t mind this end-of-week get-together.

But it had been a long and difficult week, both professionally and personally. Making small talk seemed beyond her today, which was why she’d taken her glass of white wine off into a corner by herself.

‘Hiding, are we?’

Jordan looked up as Kerry angled her way into the same corner, carrying a tray of finger-food.

Kerry was the big boss’s PA—the nicest girl in the place, and the closest Jordan had ever had to a best friend. A natural redhead, she had a pretty face, soft blue eyes, and fair skin which freckled in the Australian sun.

‘I didn’t feel like talking,’ Jordan said, and picked up a tiny quiche-style tart from the tray. ‘What’s in these?’

‘Spinach and mushroom. They’re very nice, and not too fattening.’

Jordan popped the tart into her mouth, devouring it within seconds. ‘Mmm, these are seriously yummy. I might have another.’

‘Feel free. So what’s the problem? Other than Loverboy having flown off home today, leaving you alone for two whole weeks?’

Jordan winced at Kerry calling Chad ‘Loverboy’. Yet it had been his office nickname from the first day he’d waltzed in, with his wide, all-American smile, film star looks and buckets of charm. There wasn’t a single girl in the place who wouldn’t have willingly gone out with Jack Stedley’s only son and heir—Kerry included. But it had been Jordan he’d zeroed in on, Jordan whom he’d been dating for the past few months.

‘Come on, you can tell me,’ Kerry added in a conspiratorial whisper. ‘I’m not a gossip like some of the other girls around here.’

Jordan knew this was true. One of Kerry’s many good qualities was her discretion.

She’d also been round the block a few times, with one marriage and several boyfriends behind her—the last having broken up with her only recently. Yet she maintained a sense of optimism about life which Jordan admired and often envied.

Jordan looked into her friend’s kind blue eyes and decided to do what she very rarely did. Confide.

‘Chad asked me to marry him last night.’

‘Wow!’ Kerry exclaimed, before shooting Jordan a speculative look. ‘So what’s the problem? You should be over the moon.’

‘I turned him down.’

‘You what? Wait here,’ Kerry said, and hurried off to give the food tray to one of the other girls to distribute, sweeping up a glass of champagne before rejoining Jordan, a stern look on her pretty face. ‘I don’t believe this. The Golden Boy asked you to marry him and you said no?’

‘I didn’t exactly say no,’ Jordan hedged. ‘But I didn’t say yes, either. I said I wanted some time to think. I said I’d give him my answer when he gets back from the States.’

‘But why? I thought you were mad about the man. Or as mad as a girl like you is ever going to get.’

‘And what does that mean?’

‘Oh…you know. You’re super-intelligent, Jordan, and very self-contained. You’re never going to lose your head over a man, like I do.’

Jordan sighed. Kerry was right. She wasn’t the sort to lose her head over a man.

But she had once. And she’d never forgotten him.

‘What is it that’s bothering you?’ Kerry persisted. ‘It can’t be the sex. You told me Chad was good in bed.’

‘He is. Yes, he is,’ she repeated, as though trying to convince herself that there wasn’t anything missing in that department.

In truth, she wouldn’t have thought anything was missing if it hadn’t been for her relationship with Gino. Chad knew all the right moves in bed. But he simply could not make her feel what Gino had once made her feel.

No man could, Jordan suspected.

‘What is it that you’re not telling me?’ Kerry asked gently.

Jordan sighed a resigned sigh. That was the trouble with confiding. It was like throwing a stone in a pond, causing ever-widening circles. Kerry was not going to rest now till Jordan had told her the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Or at least a believable version.

‘There was this guy once,’ she began tentatively. ‘An Italian. Oh, it was years ago, during my first year at uni. We lived together for a few months.’

‘And?’

‘Well, he…he was a hard act to follow.’

‘I see. Obviously, you were madly in love with him?’

‘Yes.’

‘And what you feel for Chad doesn’t compare?’

‘No.’ Not Chad, or any other boyfriend she’d had since.

‘Was this Italian guy your first lover?’

‘Yes. He was.’ The first and by far the best.

‘That explains it, then,’ Kerry said, with satisfaction in her voice.

‘Explains what?’

‘It’s impossible for a girl to completely forget her first lover. Not if he was good in bed. Which I’m presuming he was.’

‘He was simply fantastic.’

‘You know, Jordan, he probably wasn’t as fantastic as you think he was. The memory can play tricks on us. For ages after my divorce I thought I was a fool for leaving my husband. But then I ran into him one night at a party and I realised he was nothing but a sleazebag and I was much better off without him. I’ll bet your Italian boyfriend dumped you, didn’t he?’

‘Not exactly. I came home from uni one day to find a note saying that his father was seriously ill. He said he was sorry, but he had to go home to his family, and he wished me well in the future.’

‘He didn’t promise to write or anything?’

‘No. And he didn’t leave me a forwarding address. I didn’t realise till he’d gone how little I knew about him. He never talked about his family. Or called them. At least not whilst I was around. I guessed later that he was probably out here from Italy on a temporary working visa and never meant to stay.’

‘That’s another reason why you find it hard to forget him,’ Kerry told her. ‘He’s unfinished business. Pity he had to return to Italy, otherwise you might have been able to look him up and see for yourself that he’s not nearly as fantastic as you thought. If truth be told, he’s probably fat and bald by now.’

‘It’s only been ten years, Kerry, not thirty. Besides, Italian men rarely go bald,’ Jordan pointed out, recalling Gino’s luxuriantly thick, wavy black hair. ‘And Gino would never let himself get fat. He was right into physical fitness. He worked on a construction site during the day, and went to the gym several nights a week. He’s the one who started me on the exercise kick.’ Jordan jogged a couple of kilometres most mornings, and did weights three times a week.

‘Worked as what on a construction site?’ Kerry asked.

‘A labourer.’

‘A labourer?’ Kerry repeated disbelievingly. ‘You prefer a labourer to Chad Stedley?’

‘Gino was very smart,’ Jordan defended, ‘and a darned good cook.’

‘Well, bully for him,’ Kerry said dismissively. ‘Marry Chad and you can go out to dinner every night. Or hire your own personal cordon bleu chef. Look, I don’t care if this Gino was Einstein and Casanova rolled into one! You have to move on, girl. You can’t let some old flame spoil your future. And your future is becoming Mrs Chad Stedley. If you want my advice, as soon as Chad rings you tell him you’ve thought about it and your answer is yes, yes and triple yes!’

Jordan scooped in a deep breath, then let it out very slowly. ‘I wish it were that easy.’

‘It is that easy.’

Was it?

Jordan could see the sense of Kerry’s arguments. Regardless of what she’d felt for Gino, he was past history. If you looked at things logically, to let her memory of him spoil what she could have with Chad was stupid.

Jordan was a lot of things. But stupid was not one of them.

‘Yes, you’re right,’ she said firmly. ‘I’m being silly. I’ll do exactly as you said,’ she decided, and felt instantly better.

Hadn’t she read somewhere that any decision was better than no decision at all?

That was right. It was.

Kerry rolled her eyes. ‘Thank goodness for small mercies. The girl has finally seen some sense. Look, everyone’s starting to leave now. It’s not my turn to help clean up, so how about we go have a celebratory drink together somewhere swanky? I don’t fancy going home to an empty place just yet.’

‘I’m not really dressed for swanky,’ Jordan said. Unlike Kerry, whose red woollen wrap-around dress would look just as good in a nightclub as it did in the office.

‘You can say that again,’ Kerry said drily, as she gave Jordan’s navy pin-striped trouser suit the once-over. ‘Next time we go clothes shopping together I’m not going to listen to any more of your “I’m a lawyer, I have to dress conservatively” excuses. Still, if you take down your hair and undo a couple of buttons of that schoolmarm blouse, you just might not stick out like a sore thumb. We’ll pop into the Ladies’ and fix you up when we get there.’

‘Get where?’

‘How about the Rendezvous Bar? That’s less swanky since they refurbished it.’

Jordan’s top lip curled. ‘It’s also gaining a reputation as a pick-up joint.’

Kerry grinned. ‘Yeah, I know.’

Jordan’s eyebrows lifted skywards. ‘You’re incorrigible, do you know that?’

‘Nah. More like desperate.’

‘Oh, go on with you,’ Jordan said. ‘A girl as pretty as you will never be desperate.’

Kerry beamed. ‘I do so love spending time with you, Jordan. You always make me feel good about myself. Want to go clothes shopping tomorrow?’

‘Sorry. No can do. I have to work.’

‘On a Saturday?’

‘More like all weekend.’ She still hadn’t finished her closing address for the Johnson case. Not to her satisfaction, anyway.

Kerry wagged a finger at her. ‘All work and no play makes Jordan a dull girl.’

‘Which is why I agreed to go for a drink with you,’ Jordan replied as she took her friend’s free arm. ‘So stop picking on me, woman, and let’s get the hell out of here.’

CHAPTER THREE

GINO clicked off the phone, amazed by what Cliff Hanson had just told him.

Apparently Jordan had left her office building at ten past six and walked with a female friend towards Wynyard Station. The man tailing her had presumed she was going to catch a train home. Instead, she and her companion had turned into the Regency Hotel and they were, at this very second, sitting in the bigger of the two hotel bars, having a drink.

The amazing part was that the Regency was where Gino himself was staying.

For the second time that day fate had placed Jordan on a path which could have crossed with his.

This time, however, he wasn’t in ignorance of the fact. Which was why he’d ordered Hanson to tell his operative to sit close to the door and keep an eye on Jordan till he could get down there.

Adrenaline coursed through Gino’s veins as he swept up his wallet from the bedside table and slipped it into the breast pocket of his leather jacket. For a split second he hesitated, worried over what would happen when he confronted her after all these years.

Would she be pleased to see him? Or not?

Impossible to gauge how she might react. She’d loved him and he’d hurt her, no doubt about that.

Jordan was not a girl to easily forgive and forget. That he did know.

At the same time, their love affair had been ten years ago—a long time to nurse a broken heart or bitterness.

Gino scowled as he whirled and headed for the hotel room door. He’d cross those bridges when he came to them, because nothing short of death was going to stop him from going down there right now and talking to her.

Still, he was glad he’d had time to shower and change from the sleek Italian business suit he’d been wearing earlier today. Casual clothes were more in keeping with the Gino Jordan had once known, not the Gino he had become.

Which is what, exactly? he asked himself during the lift ride down to the ground floor.

A man who’s forgotten what it’s like to have fun, that’s what.

A man weighed down by responsibility towards his family.

A man about to ask a girl he doesn’t love to marry him.

An Italian girl.

If only he hadn’t made that rash promise to his father on his deathbed.

But he had, and there was no going back.

Those last words echoed in Gino’s head as he stepped from the lift and headed for the bar in question.

No going back

What he’d once shared with Jordan was gone. If he was strictly honest, it had never been real. He’d been living a fantasy. A sexy Shangri-la which had disappeared the moment he’d received that call about his father’s illness.

All that was left was a guilty memory, plus the ghost of pleasures past.

Tonight he would face that guilty memory and hopefully lay its ghost to rest.

A bouncer stood at the door to the bar, giving Gino a sharp look as he approached, but not barring his way inside.

The room was huge, with a dark blue carpet underfoot, disco-style lighting overhead, and a glitzy central bar. There were several different sitting areas, but most of the bar’s patrons were clustered near the far left corner, where a three-piece combo was playing soul music.

Only a smattering of people were sitting at the tables in the area nearest the entrance, which was currently designated a no-smoking section.

Gino located the operative without any trouble—an innocuous-looking guy of around thirty, who’d blend into most crowds.

‘She’s over there,’ he said, as soon as Gino sat down, nodding towards a table located on the edge of the dance floor.

As Gino stared through the faint smoke haze at the girl who’d once captured his heart he realised he probably wouldn’t have recognised her if he’d walked right past her! Not with her glorious blonde hair scraped back up in that severe style, and certainly not dressed in that mannish trouser suit.

What had happened to the feminine girl he’d known?

She was thinner too, her face all angles.

Yet she was still beautiful. Beautiful and sad.

Both moved him: her beauty and her sadness.

‘I’ll take it from here,’ he said gruffly to the operative. ‘You can go home.’

‘Are you absolutely sure?’

‘Absolutely.’

The man shrugged, swallowed the rest of his beer, and left.

Gino sat there for some time, watching Jordan. She glanced repeatedly at a redhead in a red dress, who was dancing cheek to cheek with a tall, good-looking guy. Clearly this was the female colleague she had come here with. Also clearly, Jordan wasn’t happy with being left to sit alone.

As soon as the band stopped playing the redhead returned to the table, accompanied by her dancing partner. After a brief conversation with Jordan, the redhead and the man headed for the exit, arm in arm.

When Jordan started downing her almost full glass of wine with considerable speed, obviously intending to leave also, Gino decided it was time to make his presence known.

The distance from his table to hers seemed endless, his chest growing tighter with each step. Just before he reached the table Jordan put down her empty wine glass then bent to her left, to retrieve her bag from the adjoining chair.

She actually had her back to him when he said, ‘Hello, Jordan,’ the words feeling thick on his tongue.

She twisted back to face him, her chin jerking upwards, her lovely blue eyes widening with surprise.

No…not surprise. Shock.

‘Oh, my God!’ she exclaimed. ‘Gino!’

Shock, but not bitterness, he noted. Nor hatred.

Relief flooded through him.

‘Yes,’ he said with a warm smile. ‘It’s me. Gino. May I join you? Or are you here with someone?’

‘Yes. No. No, not any more. I—’ Jordan broke off, a puzzled frown forming on her small forehead. ‘You’ve almost lost your Italian accent!’

Trust her to notice something like that, Gino thought ruefully, as he sat down at her table. She’d always been an observant girl, with a mind like a steel trap.

When he’d first met her he’d not long been back from a four-year stint at the university in Rome, his Italian accent having thickened during his extended stay.

This reunion was going to be more awkward than he’d ever imagined. For how could he explain her observation without revealing just how much he’d deceived her all those years ago?

He had no option but to lie.

‘I’ve been back in Australia for quite a while.’

‘And you didn’t think to look me up?’ she threw at him.

‘I couldn’t imagine you’d want that,’ he said carefully. ‘I thought you’d have moved on.’

‘I have,’ she said, and tossed her head at him.

A very Jordan-like gesture, but it didn’t have the same effect as it had when her hair was down.

‘You became a lawyer, then?’ he asked, pretending he didn’t already know.

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘Your mum must be very proud of you.’

‘Mum passed away a few years back. Cancer.’

Another reason for her to look sad and lonely. ‘I’m so sorry, Jordan. She was a nice woman.’

‘She liked you, too.’ She sighed, looking away for a moment, before looking back at him. ‘So what are you doing nowadays?’

‘I’m still working in the construction business,’ he replied, hating himself for keeping up with the deception. But what else could he do? This wasn’t going to go anywhere. It couldn’t. This was just…closure.

Yet as he looked deep into her eyes—such lovely, expressive blue eyes—it didn’t feel like closure. It felt as it had felt the first day he’d met her.

The temptation to try to resurrect something here was intense. So was his escalating curiosity about her love-life. Okay, so she wasn’t married. That didn’t mean she didn’t have a lover, or a live-in boyfriend.

‘You’re not married, I notice,’ he remarked, nodding towards her left hand, which was empty of rings.

‘No,’ she returned, after a slight hesitation.

Gino wondered what that meant. Had she been married and was now divorced?

‘And you?’ she countered, her eyes guarded.

‘I might get around to it one day,’he said with a shrug.

‘You always vowed you wouldn’t marry till you were at least forty.’

‘Did I?’

‘You very definitely did.’

Gino decided to stop the small talk about himself and cut to the chase.

‘What are you doing here alone, Jordan?’

‘I wasn’t alone,’ she returned sharply. ‘I was with a work colleague, but she ran into an old boyfriend of hers and he asked her out to dinner. They’ve just left.’

‘You didn’t mind?’

‘Why should I mind? We only came in for a drink. It’s high time I went home, anyway.’

‘Why? It’s only early. Is there someone special waiting for you at home? Boyfriend? Partner?’

Anger flared into her eyes. ‘That’s a very personal question, Gino. One which I don’t feel inclined to answer.’

‘Why not?’

Her eyes carried exasperation as she shook her head at him. ‘You run into me by accident after ten years and think you have the right to question me over my personal life? If you were so interested in me, then why didn’t you look me up when you came back to Australia?’

‘I’ve been living in Melbourne,’ he said, by way of an excuse.

‘So? That’s only a short plane trip away.’

‘Would you have really wanted me to look you up, Jordan? Be honest now.’

Her face betrayed her. She had wanted him to. But no more than he’d wanted to himself.

‘You could have written,’ she said angrily. ‘You knew my address. Whereas I had no idea where you were, other than in Italy.’

‘I thought it better to make a clean break—leave you free to find someone more…suitable.’

She laughed. ‘You were being cruel to be kind, then?’

‘Something like that.’

She stared at him, her eyes still furious.

Gino had forgotten how worked up she could get when she thought someone wasn’t being straight with her. Jordan had no tolerance of lies—or liars.

Gino conceded he’d dug a real hole for himself all those years ago. Not that it mattered what she thought of him. What mattered was whether she was happy or not.

The evidence of his eyes was troubling. She looked tired, and stressed, and frustrated. If she did have a live-in lover—or a boyfriend—he wasn’t making her very happy.

‘So there’s no special man in your life right now?’ he asked.

She glanced away for a second, then looked back at him. ‘Not right now. Look, I—’

‘Would you dance with me?’ he asked, before she could bolt for the door.

The band had started up again, a bluesy number with a slow, sensual rhythm.

Jordan stared at him. But not so much with anger now. With a type of fear, as if he’d just asked someone scared of heights to step with him to the edge of a cliff.

Maybe she thought he was coming on to her.

He wasn’t. He just wanted to find some way to get past her defences, to have her open up to him about her life.

She was a good dancer, he knew, but so was he. They’d loved going dancing together.

‘For old times’ sake,’ he added, standing up and holding his hand out to her.

She stared at it for a long moment, as if it was a viper about to strike.

Finally she rose, taking off her jacket and draping it over her bag on the chair before placing her hand in his.

How soft it was, he thought as he drew her onto the polished wooden dance floor. Soft and pale, with long, elegant fingers and exquisitely kept nails.

She’d always had a thing for painted nails, he recalled. Both fingers and toes. Her favourite colour had been scarlet, but she’d had bottles and bottles of nail polish, of every imaginable shade.

Tonight her fingernails were painted a deep cream, matching her blouse.

Now that her jacket was off, he could see she still had a lovely figure, despite being thinner: her breasts were still pert, her waist was tinier than ever, and her stomach athletically flat.

His mother would have said she didn’t have good childbearing hips—the way Italian girls did—but Gino had always found Jordan’s slender shape extremely attractive. He loved her tight little butt and her long slim legs, loved her blonde hair and her pale soft skin.

Naked, she looked like an angel.

‘Put your arms up around my neck,’ he suggested, after he swung her round to face him.

‘You always were a bossy man,’ she replied, but did as he wanted, her fingertips like velvet as they slid under the collar of his leather jacket and settled on the sensitive skin at the nape of his neck.

Gino swallowed when he started to respond. This was not what he’d intended when he’d asked her to dance. But he seemed powerless to stop himself from becoming excited.

Planting his hands on her hips, he kept his lower half a decent distance from hers—not an easy thing to do once she started swaying to the slow, thudding beat of the music.

His good intentions, Gino suspected, were doomed to failure.

‘You are real, aren’t you?’ she said suddenly. ‘Not some figment of my imagination.’

‘I’m very real,’ he said drily. Just as his arousal was.

Her head tipped charmingly to one side as she looked up at him.

‘Amazing,’ she murmured. ‘And you’re not fat at all.’

He tried not to laugh. If only she knew…

‘Why would I be fat?’ he asked.

‘Lots of men gain weight after they turn thirty. What are you now? Thirty-five?’

‘Thirty-six. You’ve lost weight.’

‘A little.’

‘You’re still very beautiful.’

Her eyes stabbed his with reproach. ‘Don’t, Gino.’

‘Don’t what?’

‘Don’t sweet-talk me.’

‘You used to like me sweet-talking you.’

‘I used to like you doing a lot of things.’

He wished she hadn’t said that. Her words were sparking memories which would have been better kept buried.

And they in turn sparked something he’d been trying to deny all day, struggled to control ever since he’d asked her to dance. Which was that he still wanted her—despite the years which had passed, despite everything. He wanted to take her upstairs to his hotel room right now and strip her of those sexless clothes, wanted to take down her hair and just take her, as he had ten years ago.

She’d been a virgin back then, a fact he hadn’t realised till it was too late. Her innocence had shocked him at the time, but her passion had quickly banished any qualms.

That passion was still there: he could see it in her blazing blue eyes and flushed cheeks.

And it was still overriding his conscience.

‘Some things don’t change,’ he growled.

‘Everything changes, Gino. Nothing stays the same.’

‘Is that so?’

His hands shifted, one sliding up her spine, the other downward to her tailbone, giving him the leverage to press her close.

As their bodies made more intimate contact a wave of dark desire ripped through Gino, obliterating what little was left of his conscience.

‘This hasn’t changed, beautiful,’ he whispered huskily.

CHAPTER FOUR

JORDAN stiffened, then tried to stop dancing altogether. But he would have none of it, keeping her body jammed tight against his as he moved his hips from side to side.

Impossible to ignore his arousal.

Gino was impressively built. Her mind flashed back to the first time he’d made love to her. Or tried to. She’d never forgotten the shocked look on his face when he’d realised she was a virgin. She’d begged him not to stop, and he hadn’t, his initial penetration punching a pained cry from her lips.

She’d gloried in the experience, impatient to do it again as soon as possible. Afterwards he’d run them both a bath and lain her on top of him in the warm water, caressing her body. Then he’d dried her and carried her back to her bed, where he’d made love to her again, not stopping till she’d fallen into a deep sleep.

He’d given her tender body time to recover from his initial onslaught. Next morning, when he’d entered her, she’d welcomed him with a wild, wanton need. She’d climaxed swiftly and noisily.

After that, she’d always come whenever he was inside her.

Feeling his rock-hard flesh pressing into her stomach reminded her of how that felt: Gino being inside her.

Jordan suppressed a groan, burying her head under his chin to hide her flushed face from his eyes.

‘I’m up here for the weekend,’ he murmured, his lips in her hair. ‘I’m staying here at this hotel.’

Jordan’s head jerked back, her eyes disbelieving as she stared up into his darkly handsome face. ‘You’re staying here? At the Regency?’

‘It is fate, is it not?’

Jordan shook her head. ‘I don’t believe in fate. Things are not predestined, Gino. People have free will. And choices.’

‘And what would you choose, Jordan, if I asked you to come up to my room with me?’

Jordan’s lips fell open. The arrogance of him! And the presumption!

But, oh…the passion. It blazed down at her from his beautiful black eyes, reminding her of his extraordinary virility and amazing sexual stamina. When they’d lived together it had been nothing for Gino to make love to her for hours on end, with only the shortest of breaks in between. He’d claimed he couldn’t get enough of her, and his actions had backed up his words.

Gino had never been the first one to go to sleep. She’d been the one who usually pegged out, exhausted but happy.

‘What for, exactly?’ she snapped, even as she quivered inside at the thought of going up to his room with him. ‘An old-times’-sake shag? Sorry, but I don’t do one-night stands, Gino. I never did. You must remember that.’

‘I remember everything about you,’ he said, his voice vibrating with the most seductive emotion. ‘And I’m not after a one-night stand. I want you to stay the whole weekend with me. I also want the opportunity to talk to you. To explain why I didn’t come back for you all those years ago.’

Jordan’s wildly galloping heart skittered to an unsteady halt. ‘You…you wanted to come back for me?’

‘Of course. I loved you, Jordan. Never doubt that.’

The last of Jordan’s resistance began to crumble right then and there.

‘Don’t get me wrong,’ he added. ‘I don’t want to talk tonight. Tonight is for us, Jordan. You and me together again, as we once were. Don’t say no. Say si. Si, Gino. As I taught you all those years ago.’

Jordan’s head whirled. That was another way she’d been different with Gino than with any other man since. The way he’d been able to make her submit to his will. Not like some whipped slave, but willingly and wantonly. She had wallowed in the role of being his woman. Wallowed in his possessiveness and his protectiveness. With him she’d always felt safe and secure, and totally, totally loved.

She’d been devastated when he left, devastated and despairing. That year she’d failed her exams and had to resit.

She hadn’t had another boyfriend during her remaining years at university. Then, when she had eventually started dating again, she’d gone out with sweet, gentle men who were, perhaps, just a little weak. Men she could dominate and dump, once things got too serious.

Because she wasn’t going to marry any of them. How could she, when she didn’t love them?

Then Chad had come into her life. Smiling, charming, successful Chad, who’d impressed her with his intelligence and sophistication.

Sex with him was quite good.

She’d thought she loved him—till he’d proposed and she had suddenly been faced with a lifetime of sleeping with him.

If she were brutally honest, there was something irritatingly clinical about Chad’s lovemaking—as if he was following a textbook on sex. Sometimes she faked her orgasm, so that he wouldn’t ask her if she’d had one.

Gino had never asked her. He’d known she had.

Jordan trembled at the thought of how many times she would climax if she went up to his hotel room with him.

‘Come on,’ he decided for her. ‘Let’s go.’

Taking her arms from around his neck, he grabbed her left hand and began pulling her towards the exit.

‘My things!’ she protested, and indicated the table where, hopefully, her bag and jacket would still be on that chair.

They were.

He scowled as he watched her draw her jacket on. ‘Why do you wear such unflattering clothes?’

Her eyes flicked over his outfit. Tight black jeans, a white T-shirt and a black leather jacket. He’d always been a jeans and T-shirt kind of guy. They suited Gino’s tall, macho body.

‘Female lawyers wear clothes like this to work,’ she said. She didn’t add, Especially ones who looked like her. The law was still a man’s world, no matter what feminists liked to think. Even women clients preferred a male lawyer.

‘You look better in a dress,’ he returned, taking her elbow and steering her towards the exit. ‘Or at least a skirt. You should never wear trousers, Jordan.’

Heat flooded her body as she recalled how, after Gino had been living with her for a while, he’d forbidden her to wear underwear. She’d fought him over that. At first. But he’d managed to convince her, and she’d started going round with nothing on under her clothes. Which was why she’d worn dresses and skirts back then, and not jeans or trousers.

Oh, heavens, she felt hot, so hot.

Thankfully, the air outside the bar was much cooler. Jordan scooped in some calming breaths as Gino urged her along the marble-floored arcade which led to the hotel foyer proper. If she was going to do this she would rather do it with a clear head, not because she was mindlessly turned on.

But it was no use. She was mindlessly turned on.

She tried warning herself that he might have become a heartless womaniser, was just spinning her a line to get her into bed for the night.

But she wasn’t convinced. He’d seemed so sincere just now. Sincere and very passionate.

At the same time Jordan was desperate to find the answers to all those questions about Gino which had plagued her for the last ten years.

He’d promised to explain everything in the morning.

Meanwhile…

It was the meanwhile which was sending her into a spin.

Was she really going to do this? Go to bed with Gino within ten minutes of running into him again?

Her heart fluttered wildly as her eyes raked over him. He was everything she remembered. And more…more handsome, more mature…and even more masterful.

She would not have believed herself capable of being seduced so quickly these days, even by Gino.

But seduce her he had, in no time flat.

Jordan knew that if she spent the night with her wickedly sexy former lover then it would be Chad who’d be history. She’d had a slim chance of forgetting Gino when he’d been safely consigned to the past. No way could she forget him now.

Still, maybe she wouldn’t have to forget him this time. Maybe they really could take up where they left off.

Oh, she hoped so.

‘What are you doing up here in Sydney?’ she asked, almost running to keep up with him. ‘And why are you staying here? This is a very expensive hotel.’

‘Don’t ask questions, Jordan,’ he returned, his tone impatient. ‘Not right now. Leave it till the morning.’

She opened her mouth, then closed it again. In truth, she didn’t want to talk. But she didn’t want to think, either. And silence encouraged thinking.

Thinking brought doubts and worries. She could imagine what Kerry would think if she saw her now. She’s say she was insane!

When they reached the bank of lifts, one of them was empty and waiting. Gino took no time steering her inside, inserting his key card and pressing the tenth floor. The moment the doors closed he pulled her forcefully into his arms.

‘I can’t wait another second,’ he growled, his mouth already descending.

What was it that made one man’s kiss different from another?

Jordan had once tried to analyse this when other men’s kisses never did for her what Gino’s had done.

Now she knew: it was not just a matter of technique, or the sensual shape of his mouth. It was the passion behind those kisses, that all-encompassing hunger which came not just from his lips and tongue, but from his whole body.

Jordan was panting by the time he wrenched his mouth away.

His black eyes blazed down at her. ‘I should never have left you,’ he said. ‘Never!’

The lift had stopped by then, and the doors slid open. Two couples were waiting there to get in, all glammed up for a Friday night on the town. The women glanced at Gino as they exited, the men at Jordan.

She cringed a little when she saw her reflection in the mirror on the wall opposite. She looked dishevelled—some strands of hair falling down, her mouth devoid of lipstick, her eyes dilated and glittering with desires as yet unsatisfied.

Gino enfolded her hand in his and drew her along a carpeted hallway, stopping in front of room number 107.

As he bent his head to insert his key card again, Jordan noticed that his hair was shorter than he’d once worn it. She wondered if he was still a construction labourer. Maybe he was a foreman by now.

Another thought popped into her mind as he opened the door and waved her inside. Surely he must have a girlfriend back in Melbourne. Men like Gino didn’t live celibate lives.

As jealous as this idea made her, Jordan held her tongue, not wanting to spoil the moment with any upsetting truths. All she needed to know for now was that he wasn’t married and that he still desired her. As she still desired him.

But do you still love him? came the intriguing question as Gino followed her into the hotel room, kicking the door shut behind them.

Jordan was no longer a romantic teenager. She’d learned in the decade post-Gino that falling in love did not come as easily when you’d seen more of life. And of men.

When Gino curled his hands over her shoulders and leant her back against him Jordan realised she didn’t care if she still loved him or not. Her desires had moved past the point of no return. She was Gino’s woman again. At least for tonight. No, for the whole weekend.

An erotic shiver rippled down her spine as he eased her jacket off her shoulders.

‘Do you wish to go to the bathroom first?’ he whispered.

‘No,’ she choked out.

Her jacket gone, he turned her round and began unbuttoning her blouse. When her nipples tightened within her bra, she closed her eyes.

‘Open your eyes,’ he commanded.

She obeyed him, if a little reluctantly.

‘Now keep them open. I want you to see that it is Gino making love to you.’

‘You think I wouldn’t know it was you, even with my eyes closed?’

His smile was almost smug. ‘You have not forgotten me?’

‘I remember everything about you, Gino,’ she said, echoing his words down in the bar.

His eyes smouldered as he stripped the blouse from her body, then her bra.

‘Then you will remember I am not always a patient lover.’

Jordan’s mouth went dry.

Sometimes, when he’d come home from work, he’d lifted her skirt and taken her swiftly, standing up. No foreplay. Just his flesh filling hers whilst he told her how he’d thought about doing this to her all day.

His impassioned words had excited her as much as his actions, sending her over the edge within a shockingly short space of time.

She shuddered at the thought that this was what he was going to do to her now. Though he couldn’t, could he? Not with what she was still wearing.

‘You should not cover your beautiful body with clothes such as these,’ he told her, as he unzipped her pin-striped trousers and pushed them down over her hips. When they pooled onto the floor she stepped out of them, leaving her standing there in nothing but cream cotton panties, beige knee-high stockings and sensible black pumps.

‘Ridiculous,’ he growled, his top lip curling at the sight of her. ‘Get them off. Get everything off!’

She might have done as he ordered if he hadn’t started undressing himself, tossing aside his black leather jacket and reefing the white T-shirt over his head in a flash.

The sudden baring of his chest kept her rooted to the spot, her heart thudding as her eyes washed over him. He was leaner than he had been ten years ago—leaner, yet still utterly gorgeous.

‘Do you want me to do it? Is that it?’ he asked as he unzipped his jeans and shoved them down, taking his underpants with them.

Jordan swallowed. ‘What?’

Gino shot her a frustrated glance before sitting down on the edge of the bed and yanking off his shoes and socks.

Once totally naked, he remained sitting there, his dark eyes narrowing as they travelled up and down her tautly held body.

‘You are thinner,’ he said.

‘So are you,’ she countered, desperate to find some strength to fight the wave of weakness which was washing through her. ‘And your hair’s shorter.’

‘Is yours?’

‘No.’

‘Then take it down.’

She just stood there, willing herself not to blindly obey him, as she once had.

His dark eyes glittered. ‘If you don’t, then I will.’

Jordan’s hands lifted to pull out the pins which anchored her French pleat, her hair spilling down over her shoulders.

‘Now come here,’ he said, and moved his knees apart, drawing her gaze to those parts of his body which she’d been trying not to stare at.

Jordan stiffened. What did he want her to do?

‘Put your right foot up here,’ he said, patting a small area of the bed in front of him.

Relief loosened her frozen muscles, and she moved forward to do as he suggested.

He slipped off her shoe and tossed it aside, then peeled the short stocking down her leg, his fingers caressing her calf as he did so. Then her ankle, and then the sensitive sole of her foot.

‘Mmm,’ he said, once her leg was bare. ‘Cream nail polish on your fingers, scarlet red on your toes. I wonder if your work colleagues know the real you, Jordan? The other foot, please.’

‘And who is the real me?’ she said, struggling to keep her voice steady whilst he gave the other foot the same erotic treatment.

‘You’re a closet exhibitionist. And a sensualist.’

Jordan grimaced when he pulled her foot towards him, pressing her toes into him.

‘Rub your foot up and down on me,’ he said.

When she did, a raw groan broke from his lips.

‘You see?’ he said, grabbing her ankle and depositing her by then unsteady foot back on the floor.

She saw nothing, her mind having tipped from reality into that wildly erotic, heart-pounding world where desire ruled and pleasure beckoned.

‘Come closer,’ he commanded.

When she did, he dragged her panties down to her ankles, then bent forward to kiss her stomach.

Jordan’s belly tightened under his lips, her hands lifting to rake through his hair. She groaned when he swirled his tongue in her navel, gasped when his hands slid between her legs, whimpered when his fingers slipped inside her…

His head suddenly lifted from her stomach. ‘Don’t let go yet,’ he warned her, even whilst he continued the most intimate exploration of her body.

‘Oh, God, Gino. I can’t. I…Please…Please…’

‘Now you are the impatient one. I like that. Would you like me inside you now? Tell me how much. Tell me,’ he urged, his eyes like shining black coals as they gazed up at her.

‘Stop tormenting me,’ she cried.

‘But I find I am enjoying it. It makes me feel good to see you this desperate for me.’

‘Just do it, for pity’s sake!’

She was on the bed and under him before she could utter another word. He hooked her ankles over his shoulders, then drove into her. Deep.

‘Is this what you wanted?’ he muttered as he pounded into her.

‘Yes,’ she panted. ‘Yes.’

‘You can come now,’ he growled, just as she splintered apart in an orgasm which blew her mind even further than it was already.

Dimly, she heard him cry out, her senses no longer her own. She was lost, drowning in the heady sensation of his hot seed flooding her womb, exulting in the feel of his flesh pulsating in a rapturous tandem with her own.

It wasn’t till some time afterwards, when their bodies had finally become as quiet as the room, that Jordan’s brain kicked back into gear, her stomach somersaulting at the realisation that Gino hadn’t used any protection.

Not that this was a total disaster. She was on the pill. But her own lack of thought in that regard—and, more to the point, his—was a real worry.

‘Gino,’ she said, her hands pushing at his shoulders.

‘Yes, yes, I know. I’m heavy.’

‘It’s not that. I was just thinking…you…you didn’t use a condom.’

He levered himself up onto his elbows and stared down at her.

‘Are you saying I could have made you pregnant just now?’

‘No. Pregnancy’s not my concern. I’m on the pill.’

‘I promise you I’m no risk to your health,’ Gino reassured her. ‘Look, are you hungry? I am.’

‘I’m starving,’ she confessed.

‘The Room Service menu’s over there, on that desk. In a leather folder. Check it out while I go run us both a bath.’

‘Wait,’ she said. ‘I need to go to the loo first.’

‘I’m not stopping you.’

‘But I don’t—’ She broke off, thinking how she would have died rather than go to the bathroom in front of Chad. Yet when she’d lived with Gino they’d hidden nothing from each other.

But she wasn’t living with Gino any more, came the timely reminder. She was living by herself. An independent, grown-up woman who liked her privacy.

‘I’m sorry, Gino, but I’d prefer to use the bathroom alone.’

He stared at her in surprise, then shrugged. ‘Whatever.’

Jordan hurried, feeling slightly silly at her stance. She’d just let him touch her in very private places, let him strip her and have sex with her. Let him see her come.

Now she had suddenly gone all shy and precious with him. It seemed they couldn’t exactly take up where they’d left off after all. Ten years had gone by. She’d changed, even if he hadn’t.

Gino was waiting outside the bathroom door, totally naked, whilst she’d drawn on one of the hotel’s bathrobes.

‘All yours,’ she said, and bolted past him, not wanting to start staring again.

The Room Service menu was where he’d said it was.

And so was a plane ticket, lying next to it on the desk.

Jordan stared at it for a long moment.

Then she picked it up.

CHAPTER FIVE

GINO found himself humming as he watched the tub fill, the bath gel having turned the water a pale green as well as providing some fragrant bubbles.

For the first time in years he felt light-hearted. And happy.

All because he’d found Jordan again.

It was as if the last ten years had been wiped away. He felt young again, and invincible. Jordan was still his woman—had been since the first day he’d set eyes on her.

She’d been working as a waitress back then, at an Italian restaurant not far from Sydney University, just across the road from the building site where Gino had been employed.

Although he’d been trying to opt out of everything Italian at that particular time in his life, the mouthwatering smell of his favourite pasta dishes had kept beckoning, and he’d finally given in to temptation and gone there for an evening meal.

Fate had sat him down at one of Jordan’s tables.

The sexual chemistry between them had been instant and electric. He’d stayed on, eating more than he needed, just so he could keep talking to the beautiful blonde waitress who hadn’t been able to take her eyes off him any more than he could her. He’d openly flirted with her, and she’d served him with a degree of attention which Gino had found both telling and seductive.

When she’d confided over his third cup of coffee that her flatmate had decided to drop out of university and go back home to live, leaving her to find the rent alone, Gino had grabbed the opportunity, saying he’d been looking for a place to live and asking would she consider having him as her flatmate?

His eyes must have told her that he wanted to be more than just her flatmate. So when she’d agreed to his moving in the next day, Gino had been a serious state of arousal even before he’d set foot in the place. He hadn’t lasted more than half an hour before he had kissed her. One thing had quickly led to another, with Gino thanking his lucky stars that he’d come into that restaurant.

His discovering that Jordan was only nineteen—and a virgin—had been a huge shock. But subsequently a huge delight.

She’d become his perfect fantasy lover—her youth and inexperience allowing him to live out his own fantasy role as the masterful older male. He’d been thrilled by her falling for him despite thinking he was just a labourer, wallowing in her acceptance of him as a man in his own right. He’d revelled in the sexual power he’d held over her. What man wouldn’t have? She was an incredibly beautiful girl, with a brilliant mind and a strength of character which was formidable.

Yet, in his arms, she was all sensual submission.

Not passive, though; Jordan was too passionate for passive.

He hadn’t been able to keep his hands off her back then, quickly becoming addicted to the primal feelings she’d evoked in him. It seemed that hadn’t changed. He could not wait to carry her into this bath and for their lovemaking to begin again.

A loud rapping on the bathroom door had Gino whirling round, his heart lurching with instant worry.

He snapped off the taps, then wrenched open the door. There she stood, the object of his desire, her lovely face coldly furious, her hands jammed into the pockets of the white towelling robe.

‘I know I agreed that explanations could wait till the morning,’ she snapped. ‘But that was before I saw this.’

Gino’s stomach rolled over when she pulled her right hand from the robe pocket and held out his slightly crumpled plane ticket.

He’d forgotten that he’d left it on that damned desk, having emptied his suit pockets before changing clothes late this afternoon.

‘This ticket is for tomorrow morning,’ she swept on before he could say a word. ‘Very early tomorrow morning. Which rather puts paid to your claim that you’re up here for the weekend.’

‘I wasn’t going to take that flight, Jordan. Not after I ran into you. I was going to ring up and change it to Sunday.’

‘You still lied to me, Gino.’

‘I just twisted the truth a little.’

‘Twisted the truth?’ she repeated, with a caustic gleam in her eyes. ‘And how would you describe giving someone a false name? Because this ticket is made out to a Mr Gino Bortelli.’

‘Jordan, I—’

‘I take it that’s your real name?’ she interrupted savagely. ‘Bortelli? Not Salieri, like you told me ten years ago?’

Gino tried to keep calm, but a very true panic hovered in the wings of his mind. ‘Salieri is my mother’s maiden name. I took it temporarily when I came to Sydney for reasons of privacy.’

‘Reasons of privacy?’ she repeated scathingly. ‘Like, people might recognise you as what, exactly? A rock star in hiding?’

‘No, as Gino Bortelli.’

‘Sorry, Gino. But I’m none the wiser.’

‘My family are rather big in the construction business. I didn’t want any special favours when I first came to Sydney. I’d not long finished an engineering degree at university in Rome, and I—’

‘Excuse me?’ she snapped. ‘Are you telling me you’re a qualified engineer? I thought you were a labourer.’

‘That’s what I was working as when I first met you.’

Jordan looked totally bewildered. ‘But why? That would be like me still working as a waitress instead of a lawyer.’

Gino sighed, then reached for the other bathrobe hanging on the back of the door. There seemed little point in staying naked. The erotic night he’d been planning was well and truly over.

‘Could we go out into the other room?’ he suggested, after he drew the robe on and tied the sash around his waist. ‘I could do with a drink.’

He strode past her out into the hotel room proper, heading for the mini-bar.

‘Do you want a glass of wine?’ he asked, glancing over his shoulder at Jordan as she reluctantly followed him. ‘There’s a half-bottle of red here which isn’t too bad.’

‘No, thanks,’ she returned crisply. ‘What I want to know is why you lied to me about so many things.’

‘Perhaps you should sit down?’ he suggested, indicating the sofa opposite the television.

She didn’t sit down, moving past the sofa to stand in front of the window, with her arms crossed and her eyes still sceptical.

Gino poured himself a full glass of wine, taking a decent swallow before turning to face her across the room.

‘I was tired after studying for years. Tired of being pushed by my parents to be an over-achiever. It’s a common enough phenomenon in Italian families. I demanded a year off, to just be myself and not my father’s only son. I wanted to earn my own money. Be totally independent. Live a simpler, less stressful life. That was why I decided to work with my hands, and why I changed my name. Because I didn’t want my employer recognising the Bortelli name and treating me differently.’

Jordan frowned. ‘People would recognise the Bortelli name even out here in Australia?’

This was the moment Gino had been dreading. But the truth had to come out—especially if he wanted to continue seeing Jordan. And he did, very much.

‘I think you might have misunderstood something about me all those years ago,’ he began carefully. ‘I didn’t exactly come to Sydney straight from Rome. After I finished my degree I went home to my family first.’

‘So where in Italy does your family live?’

‘My family doesn’t live in Italy, Jordan. They migrated to Melbourne not long after I was born. That’s where they live. Melbourne.’

She stared at him with stunned blue eyes. ‘You’re saying you’re Australian?’

‘I hold dual citizenship. Both Italian and Australian.’

‘Why didn’t you tell me any of this ten years ago?’

‘I wish now that I had. But back then I was also tired of being Italian. I needed a change. I needed to find myself. Then, after I met you, Jordan, I just needed you.’

She stared at him, her eyes going cold again. ‘Only till your family needed you, Gino. Then you dropped me like a hot cake.’

Gino sighed. She didn’t understand. She could never understand what it was like to be the only son in an Italian household.

‘If anything happens to me, Gino,’ his father used to say all the time, ‘then it is your job to look after the family. Your mother and your sisters. And the business, of course.’

‘And what about this weekend, Gino?’ Jordan threw at him. ‘Was it to be more of the same? You needed a change so you came to Sydney? Because Sydney is full of silly girls only too willing to give you sex?’

‘I came to Sydney on business,’ Gino pointed out, his sense of honour totally offended by her accusations. ‘I was going to fly back to Melbourne tomorrow, remember?’

‘Sorry,’ she quipped sarcastically. ‘I momentarily forgot under the pressure of all these amazing revelations. So you ran into me, and you thought, Wow, there’s good old Jordan—the dumb bird who let me screw her every which way. I’ll bet she’s good for another go. I’ll just give her a line of bull. She’d believe anything I tell her. And presto—you were right. I fell for it, hook, line and sinker.’

‘Jordan, stop it!’ Gino said, appalled at the way things were going.

‘Stop what?’ she snapped, her blue eyes blazing at him. ‘Stop telling you how it really is? Don’t the ladies do that to you down in Melbourne? No, of course they don’t. You’re a bigshot down there. They probably crawl to you on their hands and knees. Do you have a girlfriend, Gino? Do you make her go without panties? Do you do it to her all the time, the way you used to do it to me?’

Gino felt his own temper begin to rise. He’d tried to be patient with her. Tried to explain. But she seemed determined to twist everything in her mind, to make everything they’d once shared sound ugly and sordid.

‘What in hell’s wrong with you?’ he snarled. ‘Why are you trying to spoil everything? Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you the truth back then. But I did have my reasons. And I’m sorry I left you the way I did. But I had my reasons for that as well. My father was dying, damn it. I had to go home.’

‘Then why didn’t you come back? After your father died? Tell me that. You obviously had the resources to. Yet you chose not to. What kind of love was that, Gino?’

‘You really want to know?’

‘Yes. I really want to know.’

Gino could see that all was lost. So what did it matter if he told her that last unpalatable truth?

‘I didn’t come back because you weren’t Italian.’

Her mouth fell open. But no words came out.

‘I promised my father on his deathbed that when I married I would marry an Italian girl.’

‘You have to be kidding,’ she blurted out.

‘Unfortunately, no.’ He knew only too well that he had been afraid that if he came back to Jordan he would forget his promise and marry her.

She shook her head at him, her eyes dropping limply to her sides. ‘And have you?’ she asked in a dull, flat voice. ‘Married an Italian girl?’

‘You think I would lie about something like that?’

‘I have no idea what you would lie about, Gino. I don’t know you. I never did. The man I lived with—and fell in love with—wasn’t real. He was a pretend man. A fantasy lover. The real Gino is a stranger to me. So I’m asking you again. Are you married?’

‘I told you. I’m not married.’

‘But you do have a girlfriend, don’t you?’

‘Yes,’ he bit out. ‘I do.’

‘So you’re a cheat as well as a liar!’

Gino sucked in sharply. No one had spoken to him like this in his whole life.

His shock deepened when she suddenly unsashed her robe and pushed it back off her shoulders, letting it drop to the floor. For a long moment she stood there, totally naked, her chin tipped up as she watched him devour every beautiful inch of her.

When his flesh automatically responded, Gino’s fingers tightened defensively around his wine glass. He didn’t know what she was up to, but he suspected that if he made any move to touch her she would scream the place down.

‘You like what you see, Gino?’ she said at last, in a challenging fashion.

Gino’s teeth clenched down hard in his jaw. The Jordan he’d known ten years ago had never been a bitch. The Jordan standing before him now was doing a very good imitation of one.

Perversely, it made him want her all the more.

‘Take a good long look, because you’re never going to see me like this again. Not that you’d overly care,’ she went on savagely, as she moved over to snatch up her clothes. ‘You’ll fly home to your girlfriend and you won’t give this little interlude a second thought. You won’t even feel guilty.’

She couldn’t have been more wrong. He’d never be able to put tonight—or her—out of his mind. And guilt was going to be his constant companion from now on.

As for Claudia…Gino could see that he would have to break off their relationship. She was a very nice girl, but she wanted to get married.

After this, marriage was permanently off Gino’s agenda. If he couldn’t marry Jordan, then he wouldn’t marry anyone.

In an amazingly short period of time Jordan was fully dressed, looking exactly as she had when he’d first seen her tonight. Except for her hair. As she hooked her bag over her shoulder she tossed her head at him, flicking her hair back from her face.

‘I never forgot you, you know,’ she threw at him. ‘Never. A girlfriend of mine said it was because you were unfinished business. She said it was a pity I couldn’t look you up, so that I could see you weren’t as fantastic as I thought you were. And she was right. You’re not. Oh, you’re still great at sex—I’ll give you that. You know exactly how to turn a girl on. But that’s a small talent in the wider scheme of things. I want a man who knows what he wants and goes after it. Who doesn’t let anything stand in his way. You’re obviously not that kind of man.’

‘How do you know?’

‘I know,’ she said, with a curl of her top lip. ‘Actions speak a lot louder than words, Gino.’

‘You’re making a big mistake,’ he said as she headed for the door.

She reached for the doorknob, then stopped to cast a cold glance over her shoulder. ‘No, I’m ending a big mistake. You’re finished business now,’ she said, then wrenched open the door. ‘Ciao.’

CHAPTER SIX

JORDAN managed to make it home without shedding a tear. Pride prevented her from breaking down in the hotel, or during the taxi ride home. But the moment she was alone, with her door safely locked behind her, everything came crashing in around her.

Her legs suddenly buckled and she sank to the floor where she stood. Her knees hit the tiled foyer first, and her cry was not one of physical pain but of emotional distress.

‘Oh, Gino,’ she sobbed as her head tipped forward into her hands.

And there she stayed, as if she was in prayer.

But she wasn’t praying, she was weeping. And despairing.

For there were no illusions left for her now.

All these years she’d thought that her memory of Gino had been spoiling her relationships with men. And maybe that was true. But it had been a bittersweet memory, because she’d always believed Gino had loved her.

But he hadn’t loved her. He’d merely wanted her, the way he’d wanted her tonight. Not for anything lasting, just for sex.

That discovery had been bad enough. Finding out that his whole persona had been an illusion was even worse. He wasn’t some struggling Italian immigrant, trying to make a good life for himself through hard work. He was a silver-tail, slumming it for a while up here in Sydney. Roughing it—with her.

Tonight had just been a shorter version of what he’d done ten years ago.

Okay, so he probably had been going to change his flight till Sunday. But his motive had still been totally selfish. After all, why look a gift-horse in the mouth?

And, brother, what a gift-horse she was where he was concerned. Fifteen miserable minutes and she’d been up there in his room, ready and willing to take her clothes off. Ready for just about anything.

If she hadn’t found that plane ticket he would have had his wicked way with her for the whole weekend, then flown off back to Melbourne, to his real life and his real girlfriend.

Thinking about that had Jordan sitting back on her heels and wiping the tears from the cheeks. What on earth was she doing, crying over such a man? He was a bastard through and through.

Scooping in a gathering breath, Jordan got to her feet and walked quickly to her bedroom. No more was she going to let Gino Betolli spoil things for her. No more. When Chad rang her in the morning she would accept his proposal of marriage, and she would do her level best not to think of Gino ever again.

But such resolves were easy to make, Jordan came to realise, once she’d stripped off and stepped into the shower. Living them was not so easy.

Her body—especially her naked body—kept reminding her of Gino, the after-effects of his torrid lovemaking conspiring to keep him in her mind. Just moving the soapy sponge lightly between her legs made her belly tighten and her breath catch.

This was what had happened to her when she’d lived with Gino. She’d been in a perpetual state of arousal. Her flesh had craved his constantly, craved release from the sexual tension he created in her.

It craved release now…

Jordan dropped the sponge, then slowly slid her back down the wet tiles till she was sitting on the shower floor. Her arms lifted to wrap around her drawn-up knees, her head dropping forward as she surrendered once more to tears.

‘Oh, Gino,’ she cried. ‘Gino…’

The phone woke her, its persistent ringing getting through the blissful oblivion which had finally descended on Jordan last night, courtesy of the painkillers she’d taken—strong ones she used when she had a migraine. Unfortunately, they had to tendency to leave her a little groggy the next day.

Rolling over with a groan, she picked up the extension near her bed and shoved it between her ear and the pillow.

‘Yes?’ Not exactly a breezy hello.

‘Jordan? Is that you?’

The sound of Chad’s voice had her sitting up and pushing her tangled hair out of her eyes. A glance at the bedside clock shocked her. It was nearly ten.

‘Yes, it’s me,’ she said more brightly. ‘Have you arrived yet?’

‘Just. Thought I’d ring you before I got out in the New York traffic. You sounded sleepy just now. Did I wake you?’

‘Sort of. I…um…I had a late night.’

‘A late night doing what?’

A rush of guilt had Jordan being grateful Chad couldn’t see her. Not that he was all that intuitive. Chad was the sort of man who only saw what he wanted to see. He honestly thought her turning down his proposal was just her playing hard to get. He clearly had no doubts that she would say yes, even leaving the engagement ring with her—a family heirloom which had belonged to his grandmother.

‘Working,’ she lied. ‘I have to wrap up the Johnson case on Monday, remember?’

‘You’ve become a bit obsessed by that case, don’t you think?’

‘No.’ Her client was a young woman whose husband had been killed in a train derailment. Shock and grief had sent her into early labour, with their premature baby boy not making it. When the government had finally offered her compensation, several years later, they hadn’t included anything for the pain and loss of her child. They’d called her son a foetus, not worthy of consideration as a human being. She’d come to Jordan wanting not a fortune, but justice.

Jordan aimed to get justice for her. Which she would—if she could get her head into gear and prepare a killer of a closing argument this weekend.

‘You work too hard, Jordan.’

‘I enjoy my work, Chad.’ More than enjoyed. She’d feel totally empty without it.

‘Have you thought about what I asked you the other night?’

Jordan’s chest tightened. She’d known he’d get round to this sooner or later.

‘Yes,’ she said.

‘And?’

This was it: the moment of truth. Did she have the courage of her convictions? Or was she going to weaken and let Gino keep spoiling things for her?

She had a choice. She could pine over a relationship which had been doomed from the start. Or she could choose a new relationship which had everything going for it.

Okay, not quite everything. But everything that mattered. Great sex was not the be all and end all, she reasoned. Besides, it wasn’t that Chad was a hopeless lover. He certainly wasn’t. The problem—if there was one—lay in her own responses. Gino had somehow programmed her not to respond totally to any other man. He, and he alone, could make her lose her head and lose control. Last night had proved that.

But this phenomenon only occurred when he was around. He wasn’t around now. He would never be around again.

The time had come to stop hiding behind her illogical passion for a man who, by his own admission, would never marry her. Next year she would be thirty. In ten years she’d be forty.

Time to make a decision.

‘Yes, Chad,’ she said firmly. ‘I will marry you.’

CHAPTER SEVEN

GINO was on the top floor of his latest skyscraper construction-in-progress, making his way carefully along a not-too-wide girder, when his cellphone rang. He waited till he reached the relative safety of a corner before fishing it out of his pocket.

‘Gino Bortelli,’ he said, one arm wrapped securely around a post. The breeze was quite strong up that high.

‘What is this I hear about you breaking up with Claudia?’ came his mother’s highly accented voice.

Gino smothered a sigh. The grapevine in the Italian community was very fast and usually accurate.

‘It’s no big deal, Mum. She wasn’t right for me, and I wasn’t right for her. We agreed to go our separate ways.’

‘That is not the way I hear it, Gino. Claudia is very upset with you.’

Very upset that she wasn’t marrying into the Bortelli money would be more like it.

Gino had been astounded at how vicious Claudia had become when he’d told her it was over between them. Suddenly she’d shown her true colours, using quite obscene language which everyone in the restaurant had heard. There’d been no hint of a broken heart, just ambition thwarted. After she’d flounced out all the other patrons in the place had stared at him, making Gino wish he’d chosen to break up with her in a more discreet and private place.

That had been last Sunday—two days ago. In hindsight, he was surprised it had taken his mother this long to find out. Maybe he should have told her himself. But since returning to Melbourne on Saturday he hadn’t wanted to have anything to do with his family.

It was because of them that he’d had to leave Jordan in the first place. And he’d not been able to go back for her. They’d sucked him emotionally dry till he no longer wanted get married and have children. The last ten years had been filled with nothing but unending responsibility and pressure, with him putting his mother’s and sisters’ needs first, never his own.

But enough was enough.

‘Claudia was more in love with my money than she was with me, Mum,’ he said firmly. ‘Trust me on that. Look, I can’t stay and chat. I’m working.’

His mother sighed. ‘You work too hard, Gino. You should take some time off.’

‘Maybe I will. But not today.’

‘Before you go, did you decide what you were going to do with that derelict site in Sydney? The one Papa bought all those years ago?’

‘Everything’s underway. It’s going to be a twenty-storey tower with apartments on the top ten floors, office space on the lower ten, shops on the ground floor, and parking underneath. I signed the contract with the architect last Friday.’

‘That is good, Gino. Papa would be pleased.’

‘How can he be pleased about anything, Mum, when he’s dead?’

‘Gino! How can you say such a wicked thing? Have you no faith? Your papa is watching over us from heaven. He would be very proud of you.’

Gino shook his head. There was no arguing with his mother’s faith. So he didn’t bother.

‘He would be even prouder,’ she added, ‘if you married and carried on the Bortelli name.’

‘I am still only thirty-six, Mum. I have plenty of time for that yet. Look, I have to go.’

‘Will you be coming to dinner next Sunday?’

His mother held a big family get-together on the last Sunday of every month. Gino usually attended. He liked playing with his nieces and nephews. But he hated the thought of being bombarded by questions over why Claudia wasn’t with him.

‘I can’t, Mum. Sorry. I have to go to Sydney to meet up with this architect. He wants to show me some preliminary plans.’

Not true. But his mother wasn’t to know that. Still, he would have to go somewhere. Maybe to the snow? He liked skiing, and there was still some good snow in the ski-fields. He’d tire himself out every day and make sure he fell asleep each night the moment his head hit the pillow.

He hadn’t slept well since returning from Sydney, his mind constantly tormented with what ifs.

What if he hadn’t made that foolish promise to his father?

What if he’d been able to go back for Jordan without feeling lousy?

What if he’d told her the truth about himself before they’d gone up to his hotel room last Friday night?

This last what if was easily answered: he’d been too aroused to delay, or to risk Jordan rejecting him after his explanations.

His need for her had transcended common-sense.

Was he still in love with her? he wondered. Or did he just want to escape with her again, as he had all those years ago?

She’d claimed she’d never forgotten him.

Gino believed her.

How could either of them forget the fantasy life they’d lived together, such an erotically charged existence, full of passion and pleasure? But underneath all the sex had been true affection. He hadn’t just used Jordan, he’d truly cared for her—and she for him.

But they were different people now. She was more cynical and less trusting. And he was…well, he was trapped by his previous deceptions.

And yet he would give anything, do anything, to be with her like that again.

‘You should spend more time with your family, Gino,’ his mother chided.

Gino’s teeth clenched down hard in his jaw, the cords in his neck standing out. ‘I have to go, Mum. Ciao.’

He grimaced as he hung up, the Italian word for goodbye reminding him of the last time he’d heard it. On Jordan’s lips, as she swept out of the hotel room. And out of his life.

His life…

Gino glanced down at the city spread out below him. He was on top of the world so to speak. On top of the world financially as well as professionally. He had more money than he would ever need, a fancy penthouse and a fancy car: a Ferrari, no less.

As for Bortelli Constructions…Although it had already been a well-known building company when he’d taken it over, under his guiding hand the company had gone from strength to strength, gaining an enviable reputation for reliability and quality. His hard work and astute business decisions had made every member of the Bortelli family millionaires several times over, and he himself was close to becoming a billionaire.

But such successes counted for nothing if you weren’t happy.

Jordan’s various accusations and taunts still haunted him.

Perhaps because they were true. Technically, he had lied and cheated. But he wasn’t the coward she thought he was.

He did know what he wanted.

Her.

But what was the point in pursuing her when she would not welcome his attentions?

Gino could see no way of her getting Jordan to spend time with him—short of kidnapping her and imprisoning her in some secluded place with him.

That idea had some appeal as a male fantasy.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t see the adult Jordan being one of those female hostages who would ever feel kindly towards her captor. When she’d stood naked in front of him and told him he’d never see her like that again he’d believed her.

Gino sighed, then headed for the steel cage which would carry him down to the ground again. It was knock-off time in the building trade. Not so for the boss, however, who had to go back to his office in the city and make sure the administrative wheels of Bortelli Constructions were kept turning.

Half an hour later his hard hat had been discarded and he was sitting behind his desk, a strong mug of coffee on his right and a load of correspondence in front of him. The clock on the wall was just ticking over to five when he picked up an envelope marked ‘Personal’, which his secretary hadn’t opened.

Gino winced at the thought that it might be hate-mail from Claudia.

No, he decided as he ripped open the envelope. She wouldn’t write. She’d e-mail or text message him. Girls like Claudia never put pen to paper these days.

Gino found himself staring down at a gold-embossed sheet of paper.

It was an invitation from Stedley & Parkinson.

Mr Frank Jones, the senior partner of the Sydney branch, was inviting Mr Gino Bortelli—and partner—to a new client dinner on the following Saturday evening in their boardroom. The arrival time was seven-thirty, the dress black tie. His RSVP was required by Friday; an e-mail address was provided for his reply.

Gino stared at the invitation for a good twenty seconds without drawing a breath. Then he gulped in some much needed air before letting it out with a long, slow sigh.

Fate, it seemed, had stepped in to give him one last chance with Jordan.

For surely the star of Stedley & Parkinson’s litigation section would have recently gained a new client or two? If so, she would probably be obliged to attend this dinner.

Gino’s heart raced with the thought of seeing Jordan again—especially in a situation where she could not think he was deliberately stalking her. Their running into each other again would appear to be sheer coincidence. Which, in a way, it would be.

He wouldn’t be taking a partner, of course. He no longer had a partner. Not that he would have taken Claudia anywhere near Jordan.

Gino wondered if Adrian had received an invitation.

No, probably not. Adrian had told him he’d used Stedley and Parkinson’s for legal work before. Which meant he wouldn’t be a new client.

Still, it was likely that he’d been to such a dinner before, giving him first-hand knowledge of what kind of a do this was, and especially who attended from Stedley & Parkinson.

Reaching for his cellphone, Gino looked up the menu of numbers he kept in there, located Adrian’s number and punched it in.

‘Adrian Palmer,’ Adrian answered straight away.

Although one of Australia’s most up-and-coming young architects, Adrian didn’t use a secretary, or a proper office. He worked out of his high-rise apartment, situated in the middle of Sydney’s CBD.

‘Hi, Adrian. Gino Bortelli here.’

‘Gino! I was just working on the plans for your building. I think you’re going to be seriously pleased.’

‘That’s great, Adrian. Look, I’ve received an invitation in the mail from Stedley & Parkinson.’

‘For one of their new client dinners, I presume?’

‘Yes. Have you ever been to one?’

‘Yep—last month, actually. They have these dinners once a month. You should go, Gino. The food’s always great, and so is the wine. Of course that means you’ll have to fly up. But it’s tax-deductible.’

‘It says black tie. That’s a bit formal for a dinner in a boardroom, isn’t it?’

‘That would have come down from Mr Stedley, the American owner. He’s Ivy League and one of the country-club brigade over there in the States. He’s a strong believer in social networking. Encourages his employees to socialise together, too.’

‘You sound like you’ve met this guy. Don’t tell me he flies over from the States to attend?’

‘Nope. Met his son, though. Chad Stedley. He’s doing a stint out here in the Sydney office. They sat me next to him at this dinner. Quite a talker. Got the story of his life between courses. Had a gorgeous-looking girlfriend. Another of their lawyers—Jordan something-or-other.’

Gino’s heart screeched to a halt even whilst his head whirled. Jordan had said there was no special man in her life. Yet a month ago she’d been this Chad Stedley’s girlfriend?

There seemed only two solutions to this conundrum. She’d either broken up with Stedley since then. A possibility, given the difficult nature of relationships these days. Or she’d lied last Friday night. Which didn’t seem possible. Jordan had a real thing about lying.

‘Jordan Gray?’ Gino said.

‘Yep. That was her name. You know her, do you?’

‘I used to.’

‘No kidding? An old girlfriend?’

‘Something like that.’

‘It’s a small world, isn’t it?’

‘It seems so.’

‘In that case you should think twice before bringing your current girlfriend along. You know what women are like. And that Jordan’s a real looker.’

‘Haven’t got a current girlfriend,’ Gino admitted. ‘I was thinking of going alone.’

‘I see. Well, I wouldn’t count on your getting together again with this Jordan, if I were you,’ Adrian advised drily. ‘I gathered from the Stedley son and heir that an engagement was just around the corner.’

‘An engagement!’ Gino exclaimed, before he could think better of it.

‘Yep. If that thought upsets you, then perhaps you shouldn’t go at all.’

Upset him?

Already a tidal wave of fury was building up on his horizon. If Jordan had lied to him…

A boyfriend was bad enough. But if she’d willingly had sex with him, then gone home to her fiancé, he wasn’t sure how he’d handle it.

‘No, no,’ Gino said with pretend nonchalance. ‘No sweat. It’s been years since Jordan and I were an item. But I wouldn’t mind seeing her again, having a chat about old times.’

Plus a chat about very recent times, Gino vowed darkly. Namely last Friday night.

‘In that case be discreet. Chad Stedley came across as the controlling type. He might not like his girl’s ex showing up in her life again.’

‘He sounds delightful.’

‘He’s super-rich.’

‘Meaning?’

‘Women will put up with a lot to marry a super-rich guy.’

‘Is that the voice of experience talking?’

‘Hell, no. I’m rich, but not super-rich. Yet. Still, you must have come across a few gold-digging types. The Bortellis were listed as one the richest one hundred Australian families last year.’

‘Ahh,’ Gino said. ‘You looked us up?’

‘I always like to know who I’m doing business with, Gino. I steer well clear of the entrepreneurial type who has to borrow squillions, or relies on selling off the plan for his cashflow.’

‘Very sensible.’

‘If you do come to Sydney you could drop by and have a look at my preliminary plans.’

‘I haven’t decided whether I’ll come yet. I might go to the snow instead.’

‘That might be a wiser course of action.’

‘Yes,’ Gino said slowly ‘It might.’

But Gino wasn’t feeling wise.

If Jordan had lied to him…

There was only one way to find out in advance of Saturday night. He would put Confidential Investigations back on the job. That gave them three and a half days to find out if Jordan had broken up with this Chad Stedley or not.

More than enough time, he would imagine. He would also see if they could find out if Jordan would be attending this dinner.

At the same time he would send an e-mail to the RSVP address, accepting Mr Frank Jones’s invitation to the dinner.

CHAPTER EIGHT

JORDAN reluctantly went through the motions of getting ready: same little black dress as last time, same shoes and jewellery.

Her hair she didn’t have to do, thank goodness. She’d been to the hairdressers that morning, and had it shampooed and gently blowdried, giving her slightly wayward waves some control, but not straightening them too much. Her make-up took her less than ten minutes: just foundation, a touch of blusher, lipgloss and two coats of mascara.

Jordan rarely wore much make-up. Never had.

By half-past six she was ready—or as ready as she was ever going to be. Her taxi had been booked for seven, which left thirty minutes to do what? Watch half of an hour-long television show? Or have a glass of white wine and try to relax?

The second option won, hands down.

There was an already opened bottle of reisling in the door of her fridge—a fruity, slightly sweet wine, which Chad would have despised, but which Jordan liked. She poured herself a small glass and carried it through her living room, heading for her front balcony.

Jordan slid back the glass door, giving a small shiver as she stepped into the cool evening air. Fortunately it wasn’t too windy, the sea breeze quite gentle. Darkness had fallen some time back, the lights giving a magical quality to Sydney’s two most famous icons, which were both visible from her seventh-floor apartment. The bridge on her right looked like a huge jewelled coat-hanger, whilst across the harbour the sailed roof of the Opera House resembled the set from a sci-fi movie.

Jordan sighed as she leant against the railing and sipped her wine, her mind swiftly distracted from the lovely view to the evening ahead.

She didn’t want to go to this month’s new client dinner.

But she simply couldn’t get out of it. Not unless she had a very good reason.

When she’d told Chad during his early-morning call that she didn’t want to go, not without him, he’d been flattered but insistent.

‘You’ve taken on a new client this month, haven’t you?’

‘Yes,’ she’d admitted. An angry young man who wanted to sue his employer for unfair dismissal after the boss had discovered he was a homosexual.

‘Then you have to go, darling. Rules are rules. Just make sure you wear your engagement ring. Let all the men there know you’re taken.’

Jordan had come away from that phone call just a tad unsure of her decision to marry Chad.

During his calls this week he’d become quite bossy with her. And demanding. He really seemed to think she was going to give up working once they were married and living in the States.

As if she would!

She’d also been quite put out when he’d been less than effusive in his congratulations over her winning all that compensation money for Sharni Johnson. He hadn’t sounded as if he cared about her success at all!

Yet she was expected to rave over how his ‘wonderful’ friends had thrown him all those welcome home parties. So far he’d gone out somewhere different every night.

Somehow Jordan doubted he’d told any of the females attending these dos that he was taken. Chad liked being the centre of attention.

Jordan wasn’t jealous, but she resented double standards.

Guilt consumed her with this last thought. After all, she hadn’t exactly been Little Miss Innocent since Chad had gone away, had she?

Over a week had gone by since she’d gone to Gino’s hotel room, but the memory of her behaviour still haunted her.

She’d been putty in Gino’s hands, quickly reverting to the naïve little fool she’d been ten years ago.

He’d said, ‘Come with me’—and she had. He’d said, ‘Don’t come’—and she hadn’t.

That was Gino’s modus operandi. He commanded and she obeyed—and how she’d loved it!

Fortunately, fate had come to her rescue in the form of that plane ticket before she’d behaved even more foolishly.

Some damage had already been done, however. The damage which came when a woman experienced that level of sexual excitement, and the ecstasy which inevitably followed. Difficult to go back to the mundane after that. Difficult to forget.

That had always been her problem where Gino was concerned.

Forgetting…

Let’s face it, Jordan, the voice of cold, hard reality piped up. You’re never going to forget that man. You can marry Chad and go live in the States, put thousand of miles between you. But Gino’s always going to be there, in your head.

Jordan groaned, tipped up her glass and swallowed the rest of her wine with one gulp. Then she whirled and headed back inside, to collect her evening bag and her keys.

At the last moment she remembered what Chad had asked her to do: wear the engagement ring which he’d left with her but which she hadn’t as yet put on—even though she’d now accepted his proposal.

Did that omission say something?

It was not a ring she would have chosen, Jordan thought, as she hurried into the bedroom and retrieved it from a drawer. It was too fussy: a huge ruby, surrounded by two rows of diamonds, and on top of that the setting was yellow gold.

Jordan liked white gold. Or silver.

And she liked simplicity.

Of course Chad hadn’t actually chosen this ring, she conceded. It was a family heirloom, having once belonged to his grandmother, who’d willed it to him when she died, to be given to his bride.

Jordan had been touched by the sentiment. But she suddenly wondered, as she slipped the ring on, if she’d be able to cope with Chad’s high-powered and tradition-filled family—not to mention all his ‘wonderful’ friends. They sounded just a little overpowering.

It was one thing to live with him here, in Australia. Things were very easy-going here. But what would life be like in America? She’d never travelled there, her one and only overseas trip being to Europe, with most of her time spent in Italy.

No omission there. She’d stupidly thought she might find Gino. But she hadn’t, of course. How could she have when she’d been looking for the wrong name?

Jordan gritted her teeth. Gino again.

Thinking of Gino reaffirmed her decision to marry Chad.

Okay, so Chad wasn’t perfect. He was a touch arrogant. And obviously quite spoiled by his very wealthy, very indulgent parents.

No way was he as hard-working as she was.

But he wasn’t a conniving, conning, cheating bastard.

And he wanted to marry her.

Whereas Gino…

‘Enough of Gino,’ she muttered under her breath as she swept out of her apartment. ‘I’m going to marry Chad and that’s that!’

CHAPTER NINE

KERRY usually looked forward to the new client dinners. But tonight she would much rather have been out with Ben.

Running into him last Friday night—and finding out he was still single—had been a very pleasant surprise. He was her one ex that she truly regretted having broken up with. They hadn’t argued or anything. Ben had simply had the urge to travel.

Now he was back in Australia, and obviously wanted to take up with her where they’d left off. They’d spent most of the weekend together, and a few evenings this week, with Ben eager to take her to a concert tonight.

But, as Frank’s PA, Kerry was obliged not only to attend this dinner, but to help hostess the event. Frank was a widower, with no new partner, and he had no idea how to organise anything. It was always left to her to do the place settings, hire a caterer, buy the wine, choose the menu, and then make sure everything went off without a hiccup.

This month she’d chosen a new caterer, who was expensive but who came highly recommended. They’d also provided everything, right down to fresh flowers for the table. The chef was top drawer, having worked in several five-star hotels. The waiters were also experienced professionals, not fly-by-night casuals like some catering firms used.

Kerry still thought it would have been less trouble to go to a restaurant. But Stedley & Parkinson preferred the intimacy and the privacy of their boardroom.

Admittedly the boardroom was well equipped for such a function, having an excellent kitchen attached, plus two powder rooms just outside in the hallway. The boardroom itself was a very spacious and impressive room, with a huge mahogany table which comfortably seated twenty-four. The floors were polished wood and the walls white, a perfect backdrop for the colourful Australian artwork which decorated them. All originals, they were landscapes from famous artists such as Pro Hart and Albert Namatjira.

Kerry could understand why Frank chose to host these dinners here. She just resented the added workload, which was why she’d found this new catering firm, leaving her little to do except work out who would sit where.

Of course that wasn’t always as easy as it looked. Certain tensions among the staff at Stedley & Parkinson had to be addressed, with rival lawyers kept well apart. And there was always a surfeit of men, too, even amongst the new clients. Kerry was relieved that Jordan was coming. She’d put her between Mr Bortelli—who wasn’t bringing a partner—and Mr McKee, Jordan’s client, who also wasn’t bringing a partner.

All up, eighteen people would be at the dinner: six lawyers, their six most important new clients—four of whom had brought partners—and Frank and herself.

Of course not every new client the practice took on was invited. Only the ones who had serious money, or whose cases might provide the most publicity. Jordan’s new clients were always invited, because she took on cases which the press—and the public—found interesting.

As Kerry walked around the boardroom, making sure all the place-names were right, she wondered if Jordan would wear something different this month. Last month she’d turned up in the same outfit she’d worn the month before—a classic, but boring little black dress, with a high scooped neckline, long sleeves and a straight, not-too-tight skirt which covered up far too much of her excellent legs. The double-strand pearl necklace she always wore with it was just as prim and proper, though her shoes were not too bad: black, strappy and high.

Nevertheless, now that Jordan was engaged to Prince Charming she would definitely have to upgrade her wardrobe from off-the-peg-working-girl clothes to designer gear.

Men like Chad Stedley expected their wives to outshine everyone else. Jordan might not realise it yet, but she was about to enter a totally new world, where fashion and appearances would be critical to her success as Mrs Chad Stedley.

No longer could she get away with dressing the way she did. Some serious shopping was called for before Chad came back from the States. And Kerry was just the girl to go with her and give her advice.

‘Oh, doesn’t everything look lovely!’

Kerry glanced up with a smile already forming on her face.

‘Speak of the devil,’ she said, on seeing Jordan. ‘I like your hair.’ Too bad about the dress, Kerry thought ruefully.

‘Everyone’s still up in Frank’s office, having predinner drinks,’ Jordan said.

‘Yes—so why aren’t you?’

‘I walked by the door and simply couldn’t bear to go in and make meaningless chit-chat. So I dropped my purse off in my office and came straight down here to talk to you.’

Kerry grinned. ‘Coward. You just don’t want to—Oh, my God! You’re wearing the engagement ring. Here, give me a good look at it. Oh, my, it’s fabulous! Chad must have picked it out. I know you, Jordan. You would have chosen a single diamond solitaire, half that size, set in a simple claw setting.’

Jordan shook her head wryly at her friend. ‘And you’d be right. This is actually a family heirloom.’

‘How did he get it to you? By international courier?’

‘No. He left it with me before he went overseas.’

‘Because he knew you’d eventually say yes.’

‘How could he have known?’

Kerry rolled her eyes at her friend. ‘Because multimillionaires like him don’t get turned down.’

‘I’m not marrying him for his money, Kerry.’

‘I know that. You’re marrying him because you love him, and because you’ve finally got over that Italian fellow. Speaking of Italians—I hope you don’t have anything against Italian men in general, because I’ve seated you next to one tonight.’

‘Oh?’

‘He’s Henry’s new client. Contracts and mergers. I didn’t expect him to accept the invitation, since he lives in Melbourne. But, lo and behold, he did.’

Jordan’s heart skipped a beat. It couldn’t possibly be Gino, could it? Would fate be that cruel?

‘I hear he’s quite a hunk,’ Kerry added. ‘And filthy rich. He’s a builder. Of seriously big buildings.’

Jordan’s chest tightened. Oh, no, she thought with a mixture of disbelief and despair. It had to be Gino.

Fortunately, Kerry was in the process of checking the name cards and wasn’t looking at her. Jordan didn’t want her friend putting two and two together. And she just might if she saw the near panic which was bubbling up inside Jordan.

‘Does he have a name, this Italian?’ she asked, using her extra-cool court voice—the one she could conjure up no matter how she felt inside.

‘What? Oh—Bortelli. Gino Bortelli. Look, I’ll have to love you and leave you, Jordan. I can hear voices coming down the hallway. I need to let the caterer know that everyone’s arriving.’

She bustled off without giving Jordan a second glance, which was just as well.

For the life of her Jordan didn’t know how she hadn’t fainted. All the blood had definitely drained from her face when she’d heard that dreaded name, her head swirling alarmingly. She stumbled over and gripped the back of the nearest chair, afraid to turn around and face the main doorway. The voices were much closer, indicating that people were moving into the room.

‘Ahh…so there you are, Jordan,’ a male voice boomed.

Jordan winced. It was Frank—Kerry’s boss. And her boss.

Impossible to do anything but turn round. Yet she knew as she did so that Frank wouldn’t be alone. He would have their most valuable new client with him: the very wealthy Mr Gino Bortelli.

Despite being mentally prepared for the encounter, Jordan was still stunned by the sight of Gino, dressed to kill in a magnificent black dinner suit, complete with a white dress-shirt and a black bow-tie. Stunned, too, by what she saw in his black eyes.

Not surprise, as she would have imagined if this was a cruel twist of fate. But coldness. And contempt.

The realisation that he’d known she would be here tonight was instantaneous. The only question remaining was how come? Jordan hadn’t told him where she worked.

Gino should have been as shocked as she was.

But he wasn’t. Not at all.

Which meant what?

Somehow she managed a polite smile, but all the while her head was spinning with unanswered questions.

‘Hello, Frank,’ she said, reefing her eyes away from the man by his side.

‘Mr McKee was looking for you,’ Frank said, a touch irritably.

‘Really? Where is he?’

‘He had to go home. He said he could feel a migraine coming on.’

‘What a shame,’ Jordan said, thinking to herself that she wished she’d thought of that. Then she could have fled this extremely difficult scenario.

Running away from difficult scenarios, however, had never been Jordan’s style. She liked to face things head-on.

Which was hardly what she was doing at this moment.

It took an effort of will, but she finally turned her eyes back to meet Gino’s.

‘And who’s this, Frank?’ she asked coolly, and watched with some satisfaction as Gino’s shoulders stiffened.

But no way was she going to give him the opportunity to say anything embarrassing in front of her boss. And he might, if she admitted to already knowing him.

‘An extremely valuable new client,’ Frank replied pompously. ‘Mr Gino Bortelli, CEO of Bortelli Constructions, one of Melbourne’s finest building companies. Henry helped him out last week with a contract.’

Ahh, so that was how he came to be here. Jordan wondered if someone had mentioned her name whilst he’d been here, signing that contract.

No, that couldn’t be right. Gino hadn’t even known she was a lawyer last Friday night, let alone where she worked.

‘Hopefully, Gino will do Stedley & Parkinson the honour of letting us represent him in all his future business dealings in Sydney,’ Frank added.

Jordan was used to Frank sucking up to wealthy clients, but he seemed to be outdoing himself this time.

‘Unfortunately Henry called in sick at the last moment,’ he swept on, before Jordan—or Gino—could say a single word. ‘So I’ve been introducing Mr Bortelli to everyone. Jordan’s one of our finest young litigators, Gino. She’s gained quite a reputation during the few short years she’s been with us.’

‘Don’t flatter me, Frank. How do you do, Mr Bortelli?’ Jordan said, but refrained from holding out her hand.

‘Very well, thank you,’ Gino replied with a cool nod.

‘I’ll leave you in Jordan’s good hands. I seem to recall Kerry has seated you next to each other. But don’t get any ideas, Gino. Our Jordan has recently become engaged. To Chad Stedley,’ he threw over his shoulder as he turned away. ‘Our senior partner’s son and heir.’

‘Congratulations,’ Gino said, his tone polite but his coldly contemptuous eyes spearing into her very soul.

Jordan could not help the guilty colour stealing into her cheeks. Luckily, Frank had turned away, and was already showing other guests to their seats around the table.

‘So, is this the way we’re going to play it tonight, Jordan?’ Gino went on caustically. ‘Like we’re total strangers?’

Jordan gave him a long, cold look of her own. ‘Everyone is sitting down for dinner, Mr Bortelli. I suggest we do the same. This way…’

He followed her round to the far side of the table, where she indicated his seat, right next to hers. Fortunately, nobody made any move to remove the place-settings on either side of them, meaning their conversation would not be easily overheard. Also fortunately, Kerry was seated to the left of Frank, on the same side of the table as Jordan, which meant she wouldn’t witness any telling interplay between Jordan and Gino.

Once they’d settled in their chairs and the entrées had been served—tempura prawns on a salad base—Jordan decided to stop playing word games and cut to the chase.

‘You’re being here tonight is not a coincidence, is it?’

‘My hiring Stedley & Parkinson as my legal representative was a coincidence.’

‘But you knew I’d be here tonight?’

‘Yes.’

Jordan’s frustration level rose. ‘Care to elaborate on that?’

‘No.’

Jordan tried to think. Gino had always had difficulty taking no for an answer. She’d rejected him last Friday night. Had he had her investigated, perhaps? Found out where she worked? Found out about Chad?

She wouldn’t put it past him.

‘It must be difficult for you,’ Gino said quietly, ‘with your fiancé overseas. You must miss him.’

Jordan’s heart lurched. ‘How do you know that Chad’s overseas?’

‘Maybe Frank told me.’

‘He didn’t, though, did he? You’ve had me investigated.’

‘My, my, what a suspicious mind you have. Must come from being a lawyer.’

‘What is it that you want of me, Gino?’

He put down his entrée fork and slanted a smile her way.

It was a wickedly provocative smile—one which set her heart racing. And not from anger.

‘What I’ve always wanted when I’m around you, Jordan,’ he murmured, his sexy black eyes suddenly going from arctic cold to tropical heat.

When her hand began to tremble, she too put down her fork. Jerking her eyes away from his, she picked up her wine glass, gripping the stem tightly as she lifted it to her lips and swallowed a deep gulp.

The action allowed her to recover her composure a little. But her heart was still thudding loudly behind her ribs.

Finally, she turned her head to face him, her expression firm.

‘I did not become engaged till after last Friday night,’ she told him.

‘And you think that exonerates you?’ he muttered under his breath. ‘You called me a liar and a cheat, Jordan. Yet all the while you were the liar and the cheat. I know exactly what happened last Friday night. You thought you could have your little bit of Italian rough whilst your wealthy lover was away. But when you found out I wasn’t who you thought I was, you panicked and did a flit. But not before you dumped a whole lot of guilt on me. You even called me a coward. No one calls me a coward, Jordan, and gets away with it.’

Jordan’s head spun with his vicious attack.

But Gino wasn’t finished yet.

‘What would happen, do you think, if I told your precious Chad what you were up to while he was away? I doubt you’d be wearing that ring for long. Or working here at good old Stedley & Parkinson’s. They’re a rather old-fashioned firm, aren’t they?’

Once again all the blood drained from Jordan’s face. It was as well she was sitting down. Shaken, she picked up her wine glass again and took another swallow, giving herself some more time to regroup. Finally, she put down the glass and picked up her fork.

‘So this is what tonight’s about, is it?’ she bit out, spearing another prawn. ‘Revenge. How typically Italian.’

‘Indeed,’ he agreed. ‘You would have done well to remember that when you wounded my pride and my sense of honour.’

‘You call it honourable to have me investigated?’

‘A man has to do what a man has to do.’

‘And what do you have to do, Gino?’

‘I have to be with you again, Jordan,’ he said, his voice vibrating with the most seductive passion. ‘Tonight.’

Jordan only just stopped herself from gasping with shock. Instead, she lanced Gino with a dagger-like glare.

‘Dream on, buster. Look, I told you last Friday night, and now I’m telling you again: it’s over between us—has been for ten years. Last Friday was a big mistake on my part.’

Gino smiled a coolly confident smile. ‘If you don’t do as I ask, I will inform your beloved fiancé of what happened last Friday night. Somehow I don’t think it will rate with him that, technically, you weren’t engaged at the time.’

‘Why, you ba—’

‘Hush,’ he broke in swiftly. ‘You wouldn’t want dear old Frank hearing you swear at such a valuable new client, would you?’

Jordan shot him another savage glare before grabbing her wine glass again, and emptying it down her throat with a speed which had several pairs of eyes glancing her way across the table in surprise.

She never drank much at these company dinners. Never did anything which anyone could call remotely reckless, let alone wicked.

Jordan knew Gino’s ultimatum was wicked. And without care for her future well-being. His wanting her was strictly sexual, his desire made stronger by his need to strip her not just of her clothes, but her pride.

But, despite all that, Jordan had the dreadful suspicion that in the end she would go along with what he wanted—not to keep him silent, but because, down deep, she wanted to spend the night with him.

That had to be wicked. She had to be wicked.

Either that, or she was still in love with Gino.

But how could she love a man who would do such an appalling thing as try to blackmail her into bed?

No, this wasn’t love which was making her blood roar like red-hot lava around her veins. This was lust. A lust so exciting and so powerful she had no chance of resisting it.

Sexually, she was putty in his hands. Always had been. Always would be.

At the same time, she could not allow Gino to suspect her weakness. That would be setting herself up as a perfect victim for his voracious carnal appetite. Safety lay in letting him think that she despised him for doing to her.

Though she wasn’t at all sure that she did. His daring excited her almost as much as his desire.

God, but she was hopeless where he was concerned.

Thank heavens she’d perfected the art of steely composure to cover any inner nerves.

‘Blackmailers are notorious for never being satisfied,’ she said curtly. ‘If I do as you want, what’s to stop you demanding more after tonight is over?’

‘I give you my word that if you spend tonight with me I will go home to Melbourne in the morning and never bother you again.’

‘Pardon me if I don’t put much store in your word.’

‘What alternative do you have?’

‘I could tell Chad what happened last Friday. He might understand.’

‘I wouldn’t,’ Gino growled.

And neither would Chad, Jordan conceded.

‘It’s not too much to ask, is it?’ Gino went on. ‘One night with me, in exchange for a lifetime as Mrs Chad Stedley.’

‘What’s to stop you causing trouble in my marriage at some future date?’ she asked curtly.

‘Nothing—other than my word. But I presume once you’re married you will move to New York. As much as I’m going to enjoy having you at my beck and call tonight, I doubt I’d travel that far for a repeat performance.’

‘Does your family know that you’re a heartless, conscienceless bastard?’

His face darkened. ‘Leave my family out of this.’

‘Gladly.’

‘So, what’s your answer, Jordan?’ he snapped. ‘Do we have a deal or not?’

Jordan grimaced, then gritted her teeth. Why was it just him who could make her heart race like this? Who could make her forget her pride? Could make her crave the things he did to her?

It infuriated her that she was so weak with him when normally she was a strong person, with a mind of her own. If it was any other man she would tell him to go to hell. There again, if it had been any other man she would not have willingly had sex with him last Friday night.

‘You do realise I will hate you for ever for doing this?’ she grated out under her breath.

‘It’ll be worth it,’ he returned coldly.

What would be worth it? she wondered, and worried.

An image popped into her mind, that of herself standing naked in front of him last Friday night and swearing that he would never see her like that again.

Bold, brave, foolish words. Words which Gino was obviously determined to make her regret.

The waiter taking away their empty entrée plates put paid to any conversation for a short while. The second of their crystal wine glasses was filled. Still white, but a Chardonnay this time, instead of the crisp Chablis which had accompanied the seafood cocktail. Clearly the main course was going to be something light.

‘I should tell you to go to hell,’ Jordan bit out, once the waiters had moved away from them.

‘You should, but you won’t. You’ll do what I want.’

‘Don’t be so sure.’

‘But I am. Because I’m not the only one here who’s heartless and conscienceless. Not to mention ambitious. Oh, yes, let’s not forget ambitious.’

‘You know nothing about the woman I am.’

‘Neither do I want to. I might have once. But I now prefer to keep my knowledge of you to the biblical kind. So is it a deal, Mrs Stedley-to-be? Will you trade total surrender of your body tonight in exchange for my silence?’

‘Total surrender?’ she repeated, aghast and aroused at the same time.

‘Didn’t I mention that?’

‘No,’ she said, shaken by the level of her sexual excitement.

‘I will not ask you to do anything you haven’t done with me before,’ he said.

Jordan suppressed a groan. That didn’t leave much, if anything at all. Her sex-life with Chad had never been as adventurous as it had been with Gino. Not even remotely.

‘You have ten seconds to seal this deal,’ he said, with chilling finality, ‘or I will do what I said I would. Immediately. I have your fiancé’s personal phone number in the menu of my cellphone. A simple visit to the gents will give me the opportunity to call him right now.’

Jordan would have called his bluff if he’d been any other man.

But she knew Gino meant it.

‘In that case,’ she said, her stomach contracting as she tried to imagine the consequences of Gino’s appalling ultimatum. ‘It’s a deal.’

CHAPTER TEN

WHEN she agreed, it confirmed to Gino what he’d suspected all week: the sweet, sensual, sincere girl he’d once known and loved had turned into a cold-blooded, gold-digging bitch.

She didn’t love Chad Stedley. How could she when she’d gone to bed with him last Friday night?

But she was wearing Stedley’s engagement ring.

Gino had been furious when he found out she was engaged.

No, furious didn’t do his emotions justice; he’d been absolutely livid.

He’d come here tonight without any definite plan in mind. He’d just wanted to look her in the eye and let her know that he knew what kind of woman she was. But the moment he’d set eyes on her, standing there with her back to him, looking sexy in that prim little black dress, desire had consumed every pore in his body. By the time she turned round, he’d hated her for the way she could make him crave her, despite everything.

Blackmailing her into bed had not been on his agenda, however, till she’d added insult to injury by arrogantly pretending she didn’t know him.

That had been the moment when he’d resolved to bring her down a peg or two. To use her own ruthless ambition against her, at the same time satisfying his own rapidly escalating desire.

Even so, he’d still been shocked when she’d agreed to his proposal. Shocked and stirred. Right now, he was so turned on it would have been embarrassing if he hadn’t been sitting at a table.

‘I hope you’re happy now,’ she muttered.

Happy? No, he wasn’t happy. How could be happy when the only reason she was going to go to bed with him was so that she could marry someone else?

Or was that really the case?

A sidewards glance showed him that her face was flushed. Was that anger, or the same kind of excitement currently heating his own blood?

The sexual chemistry between them had once been electric. That chemistry had still been there last Friday night. There was no reason to believe that had changed just because she’d found out he wasn’t who she thought he was.

Jordan might hate him, but underneath her hatred lay a desire as insidious and as irresistible as his own for her.

Gino could not wait to have her to himself—to have her stand naked for him the way she’d said she never would again—to have her do all the things he’d taught her ten years ago.

The main course arriving only slightly soothed the primitive passions which had begun boiling up within him.

The waiter announced that it was grilled Barramundi, served with a tomato and cucumber salsa, along with baked sweet potato and a fresh garden salad.

Gino fell to eating the meal with gusto. His appetite was always good when his testosterone was up and running.

Jordan, he noticed, just picked at her food. But she drank plenty of wine.

Good, he thought. She was even sexier when she was tipsy, and beautifully co-operative. Or she’d used to be.

‘When?’ she suddenly whispered.

He did not turn his head to speak.

‘When, what?’ he muttered, then forked some more of the mouthwatering fish between his lips.

‘When does all this begin? And where?’

He let her wait for his answer till he’d savoured the fish, then swallowed.

‘As soon as we can get away from here. I’ve booked a suite at the Regency. One of their themed honeymoon suites.’

He could feel her eyes burning into him.

‘How could you?’ she breathed.

‘How could I what?’

‘Book a honeymoon suite.’

In actual fact he hadn’t booked the honeymoon suite with any ulterior motive. He certainly hadn’t imagined Jordan would be sharing it with him when he had. But the Regency was having a huge convention there this weekend. The only rooms available had been a couple of the honeymoon suites. Gino hadn’t thought to book in advance, and couldn’t be bothered going to another hotel.

But he wasn’t going to tell her that. Clearly his booking a suite had struck a nerve with her.

Good.

‘It’s called the French Bordello suite,’ he told her with a devilish smile. ‘I thought it rather appropriate.’

Jordan shook her head at him.

‘You really are wicked.’

‘And what are you, Jordan?’ he countered coldly. ‘An innocent?’

‘No,’ she agreed. ‘If I was, I wouldn’t have anything to do with you.’

I should have told him to go to hell, Jordan groaned silently as she dropped her eyes back to her plate.

Gino’s blackmailing her into bed was bad enough. His booking a honeymoon suite was so insensitive that it bordered on sadism. Surely he must know she’d once have given anything to share a honeymoon suite with him? Becoming Mrs Gino Bortelli had been her ultimate dream.

Becoming Gino Bortelli’s mistress for one night was more like a nightmare.

Yet the prospect excited her unbearably.

Her hands shook when she picked up her knife and fork, her stomach churning so much that she simply could not eat.

Gino could, she noticed bitterly. And so could everyone else. But it was no use. Her appetite was gone. Putting her cutlery down, she picked up her wine glass and sipped it slowly.

‘No wonder you’re thin,’ Gino said. ‘You don’t eat.’

Jordan ignored him and continued sipping her wine. But it wasn’t long before she began to feel light-headed, so she put the glass down, picked up her fork and forced a few mouthfuls of the meal down past the lump in her throat.

‘That’s better,’ Gino said, and she threw him a sour glare.

‘It’s a wonder I can eat at all, with what’s ahead of me tonight.’

‘Really? When I’m excited I eat all the more.’

‘How can you possibly enjoy going to bed with a woman who hates you?’

‘That’s one thing you should learn about men, Jordan. They do not have to love or even like their sexual partner to enjoy themselves in bed.’

‘You do realise that what you’re going to do tonight is tantamount to coercion?’

‘Oh, come now, Jordan. Coercion?’ A dry laugh broke from his lips. ‘I’ll remind you that you said that when you beg me for more.’

Jordan sucked in sharply, both at his arrogance and at the hot wave of desire which suddenly flooded her body.

Still, after what he’d just said Jordan finally accepted that Gino had never loved her at all. She’d just been a sex object to him, a plaything.

What he’d loved about her was being able to take her virgin body and turn her into his ultimate fantasy female. Their affair had had nothing to do with love, it had just been sex.

Last Friday night had been more of the same. And so would tonight.

Jordan’s thoughts hardened her heart to him, but it didn’t dampen her desire. She still wanted to be with him, and the disgusting realisation was making her hate herself almost as much as him.

‘You have no soul,’ she muttered.

‘Then we’re well matched,’ he countered.

‘Why don’t you stop talking and just let me eat?’

‘Be my guest.’

Each mouthful felt like swill, but it was better to eat than to drink, or—heaven forbid—get into some destructive repartee with Gino.

By the time the waiter came round to remove her plate—everyone else had finished their meal by then—Jordan had managed to consume a reasonable amount, washed down with two full glasses of wine.

Frank standing up and toasting all their new clients was a welcome distraction. But she wasn’t so keen when he also toasted her success with the Johnson case this week. It reminded her that there wouldn’t be too many similar successes for her in the near future.

Not at Stedley & Parkinson.

Her allowing Gino to blackmail her into bed with him meant the death of her life here—because it meant the death of her engagement to Chad.

She could not in all conscience spend tonight at Gino’s sexual beck and call, then go on to marry Chad; he deserved better than that.

Which meant she would have to call him tomorrow and break off their engagement, as well as resign from Stedley & Parkinson on Monday.

For how could she go on working here under those circumstances? Better that she get out now, with her reputation still intact. She would tell Frank that the pressure of the job and the distress of her broken engagement was too much, and that she needed a break from working. That way she could leave with proper references.

Maybe she’d treat herself to a holiday somewhere far far away.

Not Italy, though. China, perhaps. Somewhere different.

As she sat there, making plans, her mind reluctantly returned to Chad. He was going to be very annoyed with her. But he would survive. Jordan comforted herself with the thought that they hadn’t shared a grand passion.

‘Have you set a date for your wedding?’ Gino suddenly asked, snapping her back to the reality of where she was and whom she was sitting next to.

She turned cold eyes his way. ‘I thought I said I didn’t want to talk.’

‘Better than sitting here twiddling our thumbs.’

‘I don’t agree.’

‘I hope it’s not a shotgun wedding?’

‘What? Don’t be ridiculous.’

‘Why is it ridiculous? Stedley’s a very good catch. You wouldn’t be the first girl to snare herself a wealthy husband with pregnancy.’

‘I earn a very good salary. I don’t need a wealthy husband.’

‘You know the famous saying: you can never be too rich or too thin.’

‘Can we terminate this conversation, please?’

‘Fine. But I must ask one thing before we have sex tonight.’

Jordan winced at Gino’s verbalising of what they would be doing later. Not for the first time tonight she thanked heaven no one could overhear their conversation. The empty seats on either side of them had been a godsend—as was the very convenient arrangement of flowers sitting between them and the people opposite.

‘What is it?’ she said with an irritable sigh.

‘Does Chad wear a condom when he has sex with you?’ Gino asked.

‘Do you use a condom when you sleep with your girlfriend?’ she shot back.

‘Always. Now answer the question.’

Jordan didn’t want to, but she could see no way out.

‘Yes,’ she admitted.

‘I thought he might.’

Jordan blinked. ‘Why do you say it like that?’

‘Like what?’

‘Like you think Chad’s sleeping around on me.’

‘Well, you’re sleeping around on him.’

‘Last Friday night was the one and only time.’

‘What about tonight?’

‘You can’t possibly count tonight. You’re forcing me.’

‘Ahh, yes. So I am,’ he said, but his tone was sarcastic, as though he knew full well she was more than willing.

Jordan closed her eyes against this most terrible truth. What kind of person was she to do this? Okay, so she was going to break her engagement. That, at least, was the right thing to do. But she was still going to spend the night with a man who didn’t care for her, and who had a girlfriend back in Melbourne.

Both of them were technically being unfaithful to their partners.

Gino was right. She was just as bad as he was.

When she opened her eyes again her dessert was sitting in front of her—some kind of chocolate concoction, with swirls of cream and berries decorating the plate. The waiter had also refilled her wine glass.

She reached for it first, hoping to drown her scruples with alcohol. Gino, she noted out of the corner of her eyes, was already eating his dessert. By the time she picked up her dessert fork he’d finished.

‘Do you intend working after you’ve become Mrs Chad Stedley?’

Jordan sighed again. She wished she could tell Gino to shut up, in no uncertain terms, but she doubted he would comply.

‘I will never give up working,’ she told him, her tone curt.

‘Not even when you have a baby?’

Jordan gritted her teeth. ‘Not even then.’

‘Do you want children?’

Jordan hated the way her heart lurched. ‘What business is that of yours?’ she snapped. He didn’t want to marry her, or have children by her. All he wanted was to have sex with her.

‘Just curious.’

‘Don’t be. We made a deal. And it only includes access to my body. Not my soul. Or my goals. Now, if you don’t mind, I would like to leave this topic of conversation alone for the rest of this dinner. I’ve agreed to what you wanted. Be happy with that.’

‘I won’t be happy till you’re in my arms again.’

Jordan smothered a groan. Why did he have to say things like that? And why did she have to respond so mindlessly?

She closed her eyes, thinking that happiness would never be hers again. Not if she did this. Being with Gino again would destroy her. She could feel it already—the disintegration of her will, the longing to surrender herself to him. It was insidious, this power he had over her. She could feel it, radiating out from him, drawing her into his spell.

Jordan put down her fork, knowing that this time she would not be able to force herself to eat a single bite.

‘Men like you should be castrated,’ she muttered.

Gino laughed softly. ‘Then what would women like you do?’

‘Have some peace in their lives.’

‘How boring that sounds. At least you won’t be bored tonight. You’re going to feel more alive than you have in years.’

‘And you, Gino? What will you feel?’

He smiled at her. ‘You do like cross-examining people, don’t you? My feelings will be my own. I don’t share them with women who hate me.’

‘Yet you expect me to share your bed? How perverse is that?’

‘Extremely perverse,’ he whispered as he leant towards her, his breath warmth against her ear. ‘I will think about your hatred when you stand naked before me. And when you beg me to do it to you—as you will, Jordan my sweet. Because I know that part of you through and through. I know your secret needs and desires. You might hate me, but down deep, in that place reserved for the darkest of truths, you want me as much as I want you. No. Perhaps not that much. Here—give me your hand and see what you’ve already done to me.’

Jordan stiffened in the chair when he took her hand and pulled it into his lap, pressing it against him.

‘Stop that,’ she hissed as she snatched her hand away. ‘I will not be humiliated by you, Gino. You will treat me with respect. If you cross the line of decency just once, the deal’s off. I’ll tell Chad myself I had a one-night stand with an old boyfriend and take my chances. Do I make myself clear?’

‘Perfectly.’

‘I have no intention of leaving this dinner with you, either. I will go to the Regency independently. Leave my name and a spare key card for me at Reception.’

‘But they’ll think you’re a paid whore if I do that!’ he protested.

‘They wouldn’t be far wrong, then, would they?’

Gino scowled. ‘I’ll tell them that my wife will be joining me after a late flight from Melbourne.’

‘No,’ Jordan snapped. ‘I will not pretend to be your wife.’

‘You’ve become very stubborn.’

‘I’m an adult woman now, Gino, not a silly young girl.’

‘I preferred the silly young girl,’ he said, his expression still disgruntled.

‘I’m sure you did. So the deal’s off, is it? You don’t want me any more now that you’ve discovered the stubborn new me?’

He stared into her eyes for a long moment. ‘Stop trying to pick a fight with me, Jordan. You and I both know that neither of us wants that. Now eat your dessert; it’s delicious.’

‘I can’t eat any more,’ she said, and pushed the plate away.

‘You need taking in hand, woman. Which I will take pleasure in doing as soon as this dinner is over.’

‘In your dreams,’ she snapped.

‘No. In the French Bordello suite at the Regency. In a four-poster bed. All night long.’

CHAPTER ELEVEN

JORDAN was standing at the window behind her desk, staring blankly down at the city, when her office door opened.

‘I thought I’d find you here,’ Kerry said.

Jordan turned and smiled a small smile at her friend. ‘Why’s that?’

‘Because you’re in some kind of antisocial mood. You couldn’t wait to get out of that dinner, could you?’

‘I didn’t have much of an appetite tonight,’ Jordan said.

‘The food was good, though, wasn’t it?’

‘Very good.’ Jordan glanced at her watch. She would have to be leaving soon. Gino had warned her not to be late, and he’d already been gone ten minutes.

‘How did you get on with Mr Bortelli?’

‘What?’ Jordan looked up. ‘Oh, not too bad. He liked the food.’

‘He didn’t make a pass at you, did he?’

Jordan stiffened. ‘Why on earth would you say that?’

‘Just a feeling. You seem…agitated.’

For a split second Jordan was tempted to tell Kerry everything. But she just couldn’t.

‘I’m still strung up after last week. The Johnson case was rather draining. I…I might take a break from work shortly.’

‘You know, I think that would be a good idea. Why don’t you surprise Chad by flying over to the States?’

Jordan shook her head. ‘No. I don’t want to do that.’

‘You’re not having second thoughts about marrying him, are you?’

Jordan swallowed. ‘Actually, I am.’

‘Oh, Jordan,’ Kerry said, her face falling.

‘Yes, I know. I’m a fool. Probably a bigger fool than you realise.’ Suddenly tears filled Jordan’s eyes. She had to get out of here, and fast. Blinking madly, she wrenched open her desk drawer and retrieved her purse from where she’d left it earlier.

When she lifted her eyes back to Kerry’s she had herself under control again. ‘I need to go home and get a good night’s sleep. See you on Monday.’

‘Look after yourself,’ Kerry called after her as she hurried from the office.

No one was in the lift on the ride down, giving Jordan the perfect opportunity to slip off her engagement ring and pop it into the zippered section of her purse.

No way could she wear Chad’s ring whilst she was with Gino. He wouldn’t allow it, anyway.

The security man in the foyer asked Jordan if she wanted him to call her a taxi. The Regency was a relatively short walk away—only a couple of blocks. But on a Saturday night any walk in the city could be dangerous—especially for a woman on her own.

Jordan would normally have taken a taxi, but not this time.

She welcomed the cool night air outside, welcomed the risk.

If someone mugged her or accosted her, then it was only what she deserved.

Of course no one did either, and she was pushing her way through the revolving glass doors of the hotel’s entrance in less than ten minutes. By then her heart was pounding behind her ribs and her face felt flushed. Another glance at her watch showed that it was only just after ten-thirty.

Her stiletto heels clacked on the marble floor of the arcade as she hurried along it—past the bouncer who stood at the doorway to the Rendezvous bar, past the bistro and the boutiques. The arcade led into the hotel foyer proper, and the reception desk was on her left.

Jordan hated that she’d have to deal with a male desk clerk. She’d been hoping for a woman.

‘Ahh, yes…Ms Gray,’ he said, with a knowing little smirk on his fleshy lips as he handed her the key card. ‘Mr Bortelli said you were to go right up. The French Bordello suite is on the twelfth floor.’

‘Thank you,’ she replied coolly, hoping her cheeks weren’t as red as they felt.

The ride up to the twelfth floor felt surreal, with her conflicting emotions threatening to overwhelm her. Her brain kept telling her not to do this. She could still turn round and go home. But her body refused to obey.

Before she knew it she was standing in front of the door which had French Bordello Suite marked on it in gold letters.

Should she knock, or let herself in?

Her right hand balled into a fist as she lifted it to knock.

A few short but agonising seconds passed before the door was wrenched open.

Gino stood there, his black eyes glowering impatience at her. He’d taken off his jacket, she noted, and the bow-tie. He’d also opened the top button of his white dress-shirt.

‘You took your time,’ he grumbled.

‘I walked.’

‘You what?’ he snapped, then grabbed her hand and pulled her inside, kicking the door shut with his foot. ‘What kind of risk-taker are you, woman?’

Jordan could have told him, in no uncertain terms, but decided not to say a word. Instead, she yanked her hand out of his, and was about to head further into the room when she ground to a halt.

‘Good heavens!’ she exclaimed.

Jordan just stood there, shaking her head at the over-the-top décor. Had the designer copied rooms in a real French Bordello? she wondered. Or simply come up with what a French Bordello might be like in his or her imagination?

The colours were too rich for Jordan’s taste, the furniture way too ornate. At the same time there was no denying that whoever had designed this place had created a decadent, sensual atmosphere: dark red-coloured carpet on the floor, wood-panelled walls, two gold brocade-covered sofas, with elaborately carved legs. Marble-topped tables, gold velvet drapes at the window, subdued lighting from heavily fringed lamps whose bases were brass figurines of naked women.

The bedroom was separated from the sitting area by double doors, currently open, giving Jordan a glimpse of the bottom half of the four-poster bed Gino had mentioned. In there the colours were reversed—the carpet gold and the walls covered in a deep red wallpaper, the velvet drapes around the bed the same dark red colour.

‘Does that mean you like it or not?’ Gino said drily by her side.

‘It’s not exactly my cup of tea,’ she replied.

‘Wait till you see the bathroom.’

A stab of nervous tension suddenly set her bladder on edge. ‘I think I need to go see it right now.’

‘Be my guest,’ Gino invited.

‘Alone,’ she added sharply.

No television, she noted as she hurried through the sitting room, nor a mini-bar. Though there was an antique cabinet in one corner which could have hidden anything. A bottle of French champagne—already opened—sat in a silver ice bucket on the marble-topped coffee table, along with some tasty little treats: strawberries…caviar…And—if she wasn’t mistaken—chocolate truffles.

Was that Gino’s doing? Or the hotel’s?

The bedroom was as sumptuous as it looked from a distance. The bedspread was made of red and gold quilted satin, the pillows of gold satin, as were the sheets. The brass bases of the bedside lamps were more naked ladies in various poses. An elegant glass bottle stood next to one lamp, filled with what looked like a body lotion of some kind.

The bathroom lived up to Gino’s warning: black marble dominated the room, covering the floors, walls and ceiling. The twin sink units were made of the same marble, the bowls as well. The toilet, bidet and corner spa bath were in a rich cream colour, the taps and other fittings gold-plated. The towels were scarlet, as were the floor mats. Several small alcoves had been carved high up in the marble walls. Tonight they held gold candles which were lit, looking like glow-worms in a dark cave—a dark, sexually charged cave.

Jordan could only imagine what Gino had in mind for that room later on. She shuddered anew as she washed her hands at the sink, grateful that the dim light wouldn’t let her see the excitement in her eyes reflected in the mirror.

She combed her slightly breeze-blown hair, but didn’t bother to refresh her lipstick. What was the point? It wouldn’t be there for long.

Gathering herself, she exited the bathroom and returned to the sitting area, where Gino was standing at the window with his back to her. He turned at the sound of her entry. He was holding a near full glass of champagne, and he was frowning.

‘I’ve been thinking,’ he began.

‘Yes?’

‘I was wrong to blackmail you into this. It’s not what I intended to do when I went to that dinner tonight. It’s not what I want.’

Jordan had never been so astounded in all her life.

‘What is it that you want, then?’

‘I still want you, Jordan. That hasn’t changed. But I want you to come to me willingly. I don’t want to force you, or even to seduce you. I want what we once had together. You—eager to surrender yourself to me. I don’t want you to hate me in the morning. And I don’t want to hate myself.’

Jordan just stared at Gino, his amazing and highly unexpected turnaround bringing a fierce frustration which found its voice in anger.

‘I don’t think you know what you want, Gino,’ she said sharply. ‘Look, if it makes you feel any better, then I have come here willingly. It’s not because you blackmailed me. You have some kind of hold over me. I admit it. You turn up out of the blue, crook your finger, and silly Jordan comes running. But don’t delude yourself into thinking we can recapture what we once had. For one thing, I don’t love you any more. How could I possibly love a man who has me investigated behind my back? But, yes, I still lust after you. You were right in what you said at that table tonight. You know what I like. You know all my dark little secrets.

‘So here I am,’ she added, reaching up behind her back and pulling the zipper down. ‘Doing what I vowed I’d never do. But not because of your threat to tell Chad. I’m hoping that once I’ve had my fill of you tonight I’ll be able to walk away in the morning and make a decent life for myself with a man who cares about me and wants to marry me.’

Gino watched, appalled but cripplingly aroused, as she peeled her dress off her shoulders and let it fall to the floor, leaving her standing there in her underwear.

Not prim and proper underwear, but sexy underwear. A black satin teddy, with suspenders attached to shiny flesh-coloured stockings.

Her glittering blue eyes held his boldly whilst she kicked off her shoes and then unflicked each suspender. With a haughty toss of her lovely blonde hair she moved over to the coffee table and put one foot up, rolling the stocking down to her toes before snapping it off.

Gino’s gut crunched down hard at the thought that she might have performed like this for Stedley. Though if she had, then what was she doing here?

No, it’s only with me that she’s like this. She’s virtually said as much.

The other stocking followed, then the pearls, which she tossed aside as carelessly as the nylons. When she hooked her fingers under the thin satin straps of the teddy Gino’s stopped breathing altogether. His blood, however, was still roaring round his veins, engorging his flesh to titanic proportions.

She actually smiled as she peeled the garment down her body. A slow siren’s smile.

‘Don’t look so gobsmacked,’ she said, when she finally stood there in the nude. ‘This is what you wanted, isn’t it?’

Gino’s hand gripped the stem of his glass with such force that it was a miracle it didn’t snap.

‘No,’ he ground out. ‘Not quite. Put the shoes back on.’

Now it was her turn to look gobsmacked.

‘That’s the way I pictured you when I was eating dinner tonight. That’s what I want. For starters,’ he added, all qualms gone over how he was going to treat her tonight. He’d tried to do the right thing, but she wanted none of it. This was what she wanted. To have her fill of him. And he was more than happy to oblige!

Jordan swallowed, her throat suddenly dry. She should never have started stripping in front of him, never have taken him on.

It had only been a matter of time before her recklessness backfired on her.

Gino no longer looked shocked. His expression was cold and implacable.

‘Do it!’ he ordered.

Jordan’s feet found her shoes. The height of the heels changed the way she stood. The sharp angle of her feet made her straighten her shoulders and suck in her stomach, those actions thrusting her breasts forward and upwards.

Gino’s black eyes narrowed as he looked her up and down, his heavily hooded gaze as hard as it was exciting.

Had he known she would feel different standing there in the nude with her high heels on? More exposed? More…aroused?

Yes, of course he knew. He knew she was standing there, trembling inside with anticipation of what would come next. Knew that she thrilled to his commands and his demands.

‘That’s better,’ he said, a dark triumph in his eyes. ‘Now come over here…’

CHAPTER TWELVE

JORDAN walked slowly towards him, each step bringing a heightened awareness of her female body.

By the time she stood before him her lips had fallen apart and her heartbeat had quickened, her chest rising and falling, her belly stretched tight with tension.

‘Here,’ he said, and held his glass to her lips. ‘You look like you could do with a drink.’

He tipped up the glass and watched her drink it all down.

The champagne fizzed into her stomach, her head spinning—but not because of the alcohol.

Jordan could not recall ever being this excited. Or this mesmerised. This was different from ten years ago. Different from last Friday night.

Tonight, she accepted dazedly, was going to be an experience which would change her life for ever.

When he tossed the empty glass onto one of the sofas, then ran the back of his right hand across the hard tips of her breasts, a violent tremor rippled down her spine.

‘Do you know how sexy you look?’ he murmured, as he trailed his fingers down over her tautly held stomach. ‘But you’d look even sexier if you moved your legs apart a little.’

When she just blinked, he smiled a rather cold smile. ‘I thought we’d agreed on total surrender for tonight? Total surrender means doing as you’re told when you’re told. Of course if you’ve changed your mind about wanting your fill of me, that’s your choice. Get dressed and leave. I won’t stop you. But if you decide to stay, then we do things my way.’

The ruthlessness in his voice shocked her. But it turned her on at the same time.

‘You seem to have lost your tongue,’ he went on. ‘But, since you’re still here, I take it you agree with my conditions for tonight?’

Jordan swallowed, then licked her parched lips.

‘That too,’ he said, his coal-black eyes fixed on her mouth. ‘But later—after we’ve had a relaxing bath. You stay right where you are till I run the water.’

‘Gino—no,’ she choked out, her excitement already at fever pitch.

‘No, what?’ he shot back.

‘Don’t leave me like this. I can’t bear it.’

He glared at her with something akin to hatred. But then his eyes dissolved in a blaze of molten desire. With a tortured groan he caught her to him, his arms enfolding her into a rough embrace, his mouth brutal in its possession of hers.

She melted against him with a naked moan, glorying in the savagery of his kiss. If he’d been tender with her she might have started crying. This way she could lose herself in his wild passion, as well as her own.

The buttons on his shirt were pressing painfully into her chest. But she didn’t care. She welcomed the pain…and the madness.

Soon his tongue in her mouth wasn’t enough. She needed him inside her. Needed to be filled as only he had ever filled her.

Somehow she freed her mouth from his, her breathing like a marathon runner nearing the end of a race.

‘Do it to me,’ she cried.

His eyes glowered down at her, then glittered in a way which sent a shiver running down her spine. ‘Here?’

‘Yes,’ she practically sobbed.

He grabbed her by the waist and lifted her off her feet, turning her round and carrying her over to the floor-length window. There, he stood her in the centre of it, her bottom and shoulders pressed up against the cool glass.

Jordan gasped when he lifted her arms upwards and outwards.

‘Take hold of the curtains,’ he ordered her. ‘And don’t let go.’

Her hands trembled as they clasped the edges of the velvet swags. What must she look like, standing there like some pagan sacrifice? Could she be seen from the windows of the building opposite? Were people watching them?

‘Move your legs further apart,’ Gino ordered, as he stripped off his shirt and tossed it aside.

Jordan closed her eyes, then did as she was told. Her hands clutched tighter at the velvet, so tight that it was a wonder she didn’t bring the curtains down around her.

The sudden feel of Gino’s breath on her face had her eyelids fluttering back open.

‘I want you to watch, my love,’ he murmured, leaning down to run his tongue-tip around her startled mouth. ‘And to witness. Everything.’

‘I…I am not your love,’ she cried, shuddering when one his hands slipped between her legs.

‘You are tonight.’

‘No,’ she denied, even as she trembled with desire.

‘This tells me differently,’ he murmured against her panting mouth. ‘This tells me that tonight you are mine.’

His eyes held hers as his hand continued with its most devastatingly intimate exploration. Jordan tried to fight the feelings his skilful touch evoked, tried not to melt at his watching her like that. But it was a futile effort. Her whole body stiffened as it rushed towards a climax.

Gino’s abandoning her barely a breath before her release brought a perverse cry of protest.

‘Patience,’ he growled, and went back to undressing in front of her.

Jordan’s shoulders sagged, her upper arms beginning to ache. But the sight of Gino naked had her spine straightening again.

‘You like what you see?’ he taunted as he came back to her.

Jordan could no longer speak. She just wanted him inside her. She didn’t care who might be watching them—didn’t care about anything but his flesh filling hers.

It did. Quite roughly. Surging up into her body with such force that she was momentarily lifted off the floor. His hands lifted to press against the glass on either side of her head, his mouth grazing her hair as he thrust into her, his chest rubbing against the tips of her breasts.

Jordan had never experienced a coupling so passionate or so primitive. Not even with Gino himself, all those years ago.

It spun her out of her head, out of her body. She was there, but not there. Gino had said he wanted her to watch and to witness everything. That was exactly what it felt as if she was doing: being both participant and observer.

Is that really me there, spread naked against the window, keeping myself a willing captive for this man?

I am doomed, she thought hysterically. Doomed!

‘Gino,’ she cried out as she came. ‘Oh, Gino…’

Gino heard her call out his name. Felt her flesh start spasming around his.

What little was left of his control shattered, his mind exploding along with his body, his thoughts spinning out into the stratosphere.

She had to still love him to let him do such things to her, he reasoned wildly in the heat of the moment. Had to. The girl he’d known all those years could not have changed that much.

And if she loved him, then she didn’t love Stedley. She was just marrying him because she was getting older and wanted children. Women always wanted children.

He could give her children, if that was what she so desperately wanted. They could work something out—some arrangement: they could be lovers, or live together. He hadn’t given any deathbed promise that he would not live with a girl who wasn’t Italian.

Some common sense had returned, however, by the time she let go of the curtains and began to sag downwards.

She didn’t necessarily have to love him to enjoy what he’d just done to her, he conceded, as he withdrew and scooped her up into his arms. She wasn’t the same girl she’d been ten years ago. She’d changed.

He’d changed, hadn’t he?

She’d told him how it was earlier: this was all about sex. A fatal-attraction kind of sex which had nothing to do with love, but with need: a dark, driving need which obsessed and possessed.

Gino gritted his teeth. He already felt obsessed and possessed.

Jordan had expressed the hope that one night with him would cure her of her need.

As Gino carried her into the bedroom he vowed to make sure that it did not.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

JORDAN shivered when Gino lowered her onto the cool satin quilt, goosebumps breaking out all over her body.

‘I’ll go run us that bath now,’ he said, as he slipped off her shoes and then wrapped the quilt tightly around her.

‘Don’t go to sleep,’ he added, giving her a soft peck on her forehead before heading for the bathroom.

Jordan stared after him, her slightly fuzzy mind at a loss to understand his sudden change of attitude. Where had the ruthless lover of a few moments ago gone? Was his tenderness for real? Or just a ploy to seduce her into further compliance?

‘Won’t be too long,’ he said jauntily as he walked back through the bedroom, returning with the ice bucket and two champagne glasses. A second trip out to the sitting room had him collecting the two plates of delicacies.

‘Can’t have you passing out from thirst and hunger, can I?’ he remarked with a wicked smile as he headed back to the bathroom.

Any fuzziness in Jordan’s head immediately cleared. Not true tenderness. A seductive ploy.

How silly of her to start hoping for anything different.

‘All done!’ he announced, on his third return to the bedroom. ‘Just one more thing needed, my love. You.’

Jordan did her best not to swoon when he threw back the quilt, then scooped her up from the bed. But having her naked flesh held tight against Gino’s was not conducive to calm.

The bathroom looked both romantic and decadent at the same time, what with the candles, the champagne and the spa filled to the brim with fragrant-smelling bubbles.

‘You’d better put your hair up,’ he suggested. ‘Or it’ll get wet.’

Jordan reached up to wrap her hair on top of her head in a knot, her eyes never leaving his.

‘You are so beautiful,’ he murmured, and kissed her lightly on the lips.

She blinked, then gasped when he went to step into the spa bath, still carrying her.

‘Oh, do be careful.’

‘I won’t drop you,’ he told her confidently. ‘Don’t worry.’

The water under the bubbles was deliciously warm, and Jordan sighed with relief when Gino finally sat down, angling her round so that she was sitting on his thighs, her back leaning against his.

‘Comfy like that?’ he asked.

Jordan swallowed. ‘Are you?’

He laughed. ‘I have a feeling I won’t be soon. But I’ll worry about that later. This is just like the old days, isn’t it? We had plenty of baths together then.’

‘I…I don’t want to talk about the old days, Gino.’

‘Fine. Here…have a sip of champagne,’ he said, picking up one of the full glasses and holding it to her lips.

Jordan was about to blindly open her lips when a wave of rebellion struck. ‘I’d rather have my own glass, thank you.’

‘Okay. Take this one.’

He gave it to her, but didn’t get the other glass for himself. Instead, he picked up the sea sponge which was lying on the bath’s edge and rubbed it across her stomach.

When he moved it up to her breasts she gasped, spilling some champagne as she jerked away from Gino’s chest.

‘Relax,’ he said, and used the sponge to press her back into her leaning position. ‘You’ll like it. I promise. Just lie back, sip your champagne, and keep your arms out of my way.’

It seemed silly to tell him to stop. Because of course she did like it—especially when the sponge grazed over her rock-hard nipples. Her pleasure was a double-edged sword, however, as her sexual tension increased with each passing moment. Soon every muscle she owned was twisted into a tight knot. She tried sipping more of the champagne, but nothing relaxed her for long.

‘Tell me about that case you won,’ Gino said.

Jordan turned her head and flicked startled eyes up at him.

‘You…you can’t be serious,’ she choked out.

‘Why not?’ he returned.

‘Because I can’t think, let alone talk when you’re doing that.’

‘Yes, you can. Try it,’ he said, moving the sponge down over her stomach again, then lower…

‘Oh!’ she cried as her hips bucked upwards.

‘God, woman,’ Gino growled.

When she felt his flesh suddenly slide up into her Jordan froze, gripping the champagne glass for dear life.

‘Just relax now,’ he advised again, as he eased her back down into a sitting position. ‘Lie back and don’t move. I want to hear about that case you won first.’

‘How can I? I…I can’t think.’

‘You can, and you will.’

Jordan could not believe she was doing this. She was desperate to move, but he kept her still with his hands splayed across her stomach.

‘What compensation did you get her in the end?’ he asked, after she’d related the whole story to him.

‘Three million.’

‘A tidy sum.’

‘Sharni still wasn’t a happy woman. Because it wasn’t about money, really. It was about justice. Money doesn’t make people happy.’

‘But it can help.’

‘I suppose so.’ She so wished he would stop talking.

‘You wouldn’t marry a poor man.’

Jordan sighed. ‘I would have married you ten years ago, when I thought you were poor.’

‘That was when you were young and naïve. When you were a romantic.’

‘You think I’m not a romantic any more?’

‘How can you be when you’re going to marry Stedley? You don’t love him, and I know it.’

Jordan didn’t like the way this conversation was going. She could cope if they just stuck to sex.

‘Could we have a change of subject, please?’ she asked tautly. ‘I didn’t come here to talk about Chad. Whether I love him or not is immaterial. Chad loves me, and he wants to marry me—which is more than I can say for you. All you want is to have sex with me. And kinky sex at that.’

‘You call this kinky?’

‘Yes. And so was that episode against the window. You’ve always been kinky, Gino. Making me go without panties and…and doing it to me anywhere and everywhere.’

‘You loved it all.’

Oh, why had she brought those things up? Just thinking about them turned her on even more.

Impossible to stay still. Impossible to be patient any longer.

‘You’re moving,’ he chided, taking a firm grip of her hips and forcing her to be still.

‘I want to move. I’m going to move. There! See? I’m moving. And you can’t stop me.’

Stop her? He didn’t want to stop her. Not any longer. He’d wanted to make her wait, to torment her. But he was the one in agony.

His blood pounded in his temples as his body rushed past that point of no return. But she still trembled violently, with undeniable pleasure, crying out in ecstasy.

Damn her, he thought wildly as his own flesh followed. Damn her to hell!

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

JORDAN came back to consciousness in the four-poster bed, her last recollection being Gino carrying her back there, wrapped in a huge bathtowel. Nothing more. She must have fallen asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

The room wasn’t dark, Gino having left the bedside lamps on, but he wasn’t in the bed. She was alone under the satin sheets. The lights were still on in the sitting room, and she thought she heard a noise coming from there.

‘Gino?’ she called out as she levered herself up onto one elbow. ‘Gino, where are you?’

He materialised in the connecting doorway, a red towel slung low round his hips, the five o’clock shadow on his face giving him a slightly menacing air.

Feeling suddenly vulnerable, Jordan clutched the sheet up over her bare breasts, her actions making his eyes narrow.

‘How…how long have I been asleep?’ she asked.

‘Not long.’

He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, then reached up to undo the knot on top of her head. Her hair tumbled down over her shoulders. Gino brushed it back with his hands.

‘I’ve been waiting patiently for you to wake up,’ he murmured, then bent forward to kiss her on her lips. Lightly at first, and then more hungrily.

As usual, his kisses sent her heartbeat racing and any qualms flying. When he pushed her back onto the pillows and threw the sheet right back off the bottom of the bed she made no attempt to stop him.

But when he reached for the bottle of lotion near the lamp her whole body stiffened.

‘What’s that for?’ she demanded to know.

‘Nothing to be alarmed about,’ he returned smoothly. ‘It says here on the label that this is a love lotion, designed to enhance every sexual activity. It claims aphrodisiacal qualities, an exotic scent and a delicious taste. And, no, before you ask. I didn’t buy it. It was here when I arrived, compliments of the management.’

Jordan swallowed when he started unscrewing the lid.

‘Don’t look so worried.’

‘I…I’m not sure I want you to use that stuff on me, Gino.’

He frowned at her. ‘Why not?’

‘I don’t know.’ But Jordan did know. She was afraid that she might enjoy it too much. That it would make her even more mindless than usual. That she might let him do things she would later regret.

The sudden fear and vulnerability in her eyes touched Gino’s conscience. At the same time he refused to back off entirely. This was what she’d come here for, wasn’t it?

‘Why don’t you use it on me, then?’

His suggestion sent her eyes rounding. But not with fear this time. With surprise.

He recalled that he’d always been the boss in the bedroom.

Clearly the idea intrigued her. In actuality, the idea intrigued him, too. He’d never been the passive partner in lovemaking before. Not ever. Who knew? Maybe he’d enjoy it.

‘Here—take it,’ he said, shoving the bottle into her hands before whisking the towel from his hips.

A downward glance had his eyebrows lifting. He hadn’t realised till that moment that he was well on the way to being aroused again.

‘I am yours to do with as you will,’ he said, and he lay down beside her, his arms bending upwards so that his hands rested behind his head.

Oh, yes, he thought as he felt his flesh swell even further. He was going to enjoy this. Very much so.

Jordan sat up and stared down at Gino’s aroused body, not quite sure where she was supposed to start.

In the past she’d reacted only at his command, and never for her own pleasure. The thought of having his entire body at her disposal, however, was sparking an alien feeling of power which was more exciting than she could ever have imagined.

‘You won’t stop me?’ she said, her voice sounding oddly husky.

‘I will keep my hands exactly where they are,’ he promised.

‘You don’t look like you need any aphrodisiac lotion,’ she told him. ‘But you did say that it tasted good, didn’t you?’

Jordan’s heart started thudding madly in her chest as she knelt up beside him, then tipped the bottle gently sidewards, letting the creamy lotion drip onto him.

He gasped.

‘Cold?’ she asked cheekily.

‘Something like that.’

‘I think that’s enough,’ she said.

‘I agree,’ he muttered under his breath.

‘Now, now—you’re not to complain, but to enjoy,’ she chided as she put the bottle down on the bedside table. ‘This was your idea, remember?’

‘Maybe I made a mistake.’

‘Not by the look of you.’

He groaned when she bent and licked him with her tongue-tip.

They were right, Jordan thought, somewhat dazedly. It did taste good—somewhere between olives and apples.

Definitely an aphrodisiac as well: it made her want to make love to him with her mouth. All the way.

A wave of heat flushed her skin as she bent her head to him again. First she swirled her tongue around, several times, then she began to slowly take him into her mouth, holding him firmly at the same time with her lotion-slicked hand.

He groaned, and twisted his hips from side to side. But he didn’t try to stop her.

Jordan set up a relentless rhythm with her mouth, shocking herself by how much she enjoyed hearing the tortured sounds he began making.

It wasn’t till he called out her name that she gave him some respite.

‘Is there something wrong, lover?’ she asked, as she sat up and pushed her hair back from her flushed face.

‘You’re treading a fine line there,’ he warned her, his breathing ragged. ‘I suggest you move on.’

Jordan’s eyebrows lifted, his last words bringing a sudden stab of resentment.

That’s what I’ve been trying to do ever since you left me, Gino. Move on. Yet here I am, in bed with you again. And it’s all such an appalling waste of time.

Jordan’s thoughts infuriated her—mostly because she knew she was incapable of walking away right now. She was way too excited.

But perhaps he was right: she wanted him inside her again.

At the same time, she liked the tension she saw in his face. It pleased her to know she could make him suffer, even if it was only physically. She vowed to take her time with him, to make him wait.

‘Have to go to the bathroom, lover,’ she said. ‘Won’t be too long. Just lie back and relax.’

Relax!

Gino grimaced when she climbed off the bed and padded her way across the gold carpet.

How could he possibly relax?

He tried some deep, even breathing, his eyes clinging to the bathroom door, willing it to open, desperate for her to come back. But when the door finally opened, and she re-entered the bedroom, she didn’t rejoin him on the bed. Instead, she slipped into her high heels and went back into the bathroom.

A minute later she was back, a glass of champagne in her hand, her walk slow and sexy as she undulated towards the bed. As his gaze raked over her Gino’s desire to touch was so acute that his hands instinctively began to move.

‘Hands behind your head,’ she snapped.

Her imperious attitude stunned him, as did the way it turned him on. But even as the blood roared around his veins he longed for that moment when he could take control again—when he could once again show her who was the master here.

‘I’m beginning to see that there is more pleasure in taking than receiving,’ she purred, a truly wicked smile pulling at her lips.

Any secret hope on Gino’s part that she might have come here tonight for reasons other than sex evaporated in the face of that smile.

He swore quietly when she climbed up onto the bed and straddled him, her high heels still on, the glass of champagne still in her hands. As he stared up at her his level of arousal shot past pleasure, entering the world of near pain.

‘Just you wait,’ he warned her darkly.

‘Now, now. Just be a good boy and keep those hands of yours right where they are.’

His pulse-rate went wild as she remained kneeling above him, holding his stricken gaze as she repeatedly put her finger into the champagne and then into his mouth.

Finally she put the glass down, took him into her hands and pushed him up inside her, not letting him go till he’d been totally enveloped by her body.

Gino moaned at the heat and the moistness of her.

He did not expect her to lean down and kiss him at that stage. That was not what she was here for. But was it the tenderness of her kiss which changed his mind on that score? Or the way she murmured his name against his lips? Whatever—his heart seemed to flower open in his chest, bursting with feelings he’d been trying to suppress.

When he moaned under her mouth, she abruptly terminated the kiss.

‘I suppose this is what you want?’ she said sharply, and she straightened, her eyes turning wild as she began to move.

He wanted to tell her that, no, it was not what he wanted. But his tortured body had a mind of its own. He struggled to stop himself from coming, not wanting her to see him lose control.

‘Total surrender, Gino,’ she grated out as she slowed to a more sensual pace. ‘That’s the name of this game. I know. Because I’ve been there…done that. You took me there. You don’t want to give in…you’re afraid that somehow you’ll never be the same. And you could be right. I’ve never been the same. You ruined me for any other man.’

He heard her words, and understood what she was saying. But if he’d ruined her for any other man then she’d ruined him. She’d always been there in the back of his mind. Always.

Maybe they didn’t love each other any more, but they could—if they gave themselves a chance.

What he had to do was tell her the total truth. How he’d never forgotten her either. How he hadn’t run into her by chance. He’d deliberately sought her out.

But no words came from his mouth at that moment. Only raw, naked sounds of desire.

He lasted till she climaxed. After that there was no contest, his back arching from the bed as their bodies shuddered as one.

At some stage he took his aching arms from behind his head. But by then exhaustion had set in. He wanted to hold her, talk to her, but it was a typical case of the spirit being willing but the flesh very weak. When she climbed off him a fog had already begun to descend over his mind. Soon Gino didn’t think or feel anything.

Jordan collapsed back on the bed, not moving or speaking till she heard the sound of deep, even breathing. Only then did she steal a glance over at Gino, relieved to see that he was fast asleep.

She still didn’t move for a long while, her eyes glistening as she worked out what she was going to do. At last she rose, quietly collecting her clothes from the sitting room and dressing out there. Afterwards she went to the elegant reproduction French writing desk in the corner, and used the gold pen and perfumed paper to write Gino a note.

That done, she carried the note into the bedroom, where she propped it up against a lamp.

After one last tearful glance at his sleeping face she picked up her shoes and returned to the other room, where she slipped them on, retrieved her purse, and left.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

GINO woke to an awareness of light, and of being alone in the bed.

His head and shoulders shot up from the pillow, his eyes darting around the room.

‘Jordan?’ he called out. ‘Where are you?’

No answer.

He jumped out of bed and dashed into the en suite bathroom.

Not there.

Not in the sitting room either.

The realisation that she’d gone made him feel sick. Then angry.

She could have waited till the morning—not slunk off like some thief in the night.

He was striding through the bedroom on his way to the toilet when he spotted the folded piece of paper leaning against the lamp base.

Hurrying over, he snatched it up and opened it.

Dear Gino,

I decided to leave this way as I didn’t want one of those morning-after scenes. Tonight was great, but there is no future for us. We’re just ships passing in the night, just as we were ten years ago. Please do not come after me. You will be wasting your time. I have plans for my future and they do not include you. Go home to Melbourne and marry that Italian girlfriend of yours. She is Italian, isn’t she? Of course she is.

Ciao. Jordan.

Gino slumped down on the side of the bed.

Shattered did not begin to describe his feelings. Though it was a good start.

He’d made a big mistake not telling Jordan the truth last night. Hell, he could have at least confessed that he’d broken up with Claudia.

But of course his emotions had been very mixed up last night. So had his intentions. From the moment he’d arrived at that dinner he’d lurched from one train of thought to another.

But his head was clear now. Jordan’s leaving him like this had cleared it in a hurry.

He scanned the note again, trying to read between the lines, trying to find some shred of hope that he still had a chance with her.

He couldn’t really find any.

Her saying they had no future together reminded him of his deathbed promise to his father. Clearly Jordan wanted marriage, and he simply could not offer her that.

Nothing in that note made him feel good. Nothing except for the bit about his Italian girlfriend. That part sounded somewhat jealous.

Why be jealous if she didn’t care?

Gino’s heat skipped a beat, but he did not dare to hope too much.

Still, it was all he needed to spark some action. He could not go to back to Melbourne until he’d explored every avenue. If there was the slightest chance Jordan still cared for him, he was going to grab it.

He didn’t know the time, but it had to be quite late in the morning, judging by his extremely bristly chin.

Time to get himself showered, shaved, dressed, and on Jordan’s front doorstep.

By mid-morning Jordan was totally sick of herself. She’d been crying on and off since arriving home at some ungodly hour in the morning.

She hadn’t slept. Hadn’t eaten.

Perhaps if she rang Chad and got that dreadful job over and done with she might feel better.

It was about lunchtime in New York—not the middle of the night or anything.

Feeling simply appalling, Jordan steeled herself for one of the worst phone calls of her life.

When Chad didn’t answer straight away, her first emotion was relief. When a woman answered, any relief was swiftly replaced by irritation.

‘Can I help you?’ the woman said, in a sing-song fashion.

‘Could I speak to Chad, please?’ Jordan said through gritted teeth.

‘Chad, darling. It’s for you.’

Chad darling finally came on the line.

‘Hi there,’ he said.

‘Chad. It’s Jordan.’

‘Jordan…’

‘Yes, your fiancée,’ she bit out. ‘Remember me?’

‘Ahh.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘I was going to call you,’ he said, in the most guilt-laden voice Jordan had ever heard. And she’d heard quite a few during her lawyering years.

‘Who was that woman?’ she snapped.

‘That was Caroline.’

‘Am I supposed to know who Caroline is?’

‘I was engaged to her once. Before I came to Australia. We…we had this fight, you see, and I thought…Well, I thought she didn’t love me any more…’

‘But she does?’

‘Yes.’

‘And you still love her?’

‘Yes, I do. I’m sorry, Jordan.’

Jordan didn’t know what to say.

‘Look,’ Chad went on, ‘even before Caroline and I got together again I’d begun to suspect that my proposing to you was a mistake. I mean, men like me…basically, we want a woman who makes being a wife and mother their career. You’re a great girl, Jordan. And I really enjoyed our time together. But the truth is you’re not what I want in a wife.’

Not what he wanted in a wife.

‘You want an American wife?’ she said, her voice as deflated as her spirit.

‘Yes. That’s the bottom line. I want an American wife.’

Like Gino wanted an Italian wife.

‘I’m sorry, Jordan,’ he added.

Jordan didn’t want his apologies. She wanted nothing further to do with him. Ever, ever again.

‘About the ring…’ he continued.

‘What about it?’

‘I…er…would you mind sending it to me via international courier as soon as possible? Caroline and I are having an engagement party next weekend.’

Jordan blinked, then shook her head. Why was it that the actions of men would never truly cease to amaze her? ‘Sure thing. No trouble. I’ll do it first thing tomorrow morning.’

‘You’re upset with me.’

Gee, how intuitive of you!

‘Actually, I’m not, Chad. I’m relieved.’

‘Relieved?’

‘Yeah. When and if I marry, it will be to a man who really loves me. Bye, Chad.’

She hung up before he could say another single word. Then she sank down onto a nearby chair and wept inconsolably. Not for Chad. But for the fact that no man had ever really loved her or wanted her to be his wife.

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