Enjoy eight new titles from Harlequin Presents in August!

Lucy Monroe brings you her next story in the fabulous ROYAL BRIDES series, and look out for Carole Mortimer’s second seductive Sicilian in her trilogy THE SICILIANS. Don’t miss Miranda Lee’s ruthless millionaire, Sarah Morgan’s gorgeous Greek tycoon, Trish Morey’s Italian boss and Jennie Lucas’s forced bride! Plus, be sure to read Kate Hardy’s story of passion leading to pregnancy in One Night, One Baby, and the fantastic Taken by the Maverick Millionaire by Anna Cleary!

We’d love to hear what you think about Presents. E-mail us at Presents@hmb.co.uk or join in the discussions at www.iheartpresents.com and www.sensationalromance.blogspot.com, where you’ll also find more information about books and authors!

They seek passion—at any price!

A new series by Carole Mortimer

Sicilian heroes—with revenge in mind and

romance in their destinies!

The Sicilian’s Ruthless Marriage Revenge

July 2008

At the Sicilian Count’s Command

August 2008

The Sicilian’s Innocent Mistress

September 2008

Carole Mortimer
AT THE SICILIAN COUNT’S COMMAND

TORONTO • NEW YORK • LONDON

AMSTERDAM • PARIS • SYDNEY • HAMBURG

STOCKHOLM • ATHENS • TOKYO • MILAN • MADRID

PRAGUE • WARSAW • BUDAPEST • AUCKLAND

All about the author…
Carole Mortimer

CAROLE MORTIMER is one of Harlequin’s most popular and prolific authors. Since her first novel was published in 1979, this British writer has shown no signs of slowing her pace. In fact, she has published more than 125 books to date!

Carole was born in a village in England that she claims was so small “if you blinked as you drove through it you could miss seeing it completely!” She adds that her parents still live in the house where she was born, and her two brothers live very close by.

Carole’s early ambition to become a nurse came to an abrupt end after only one year of training, due to a weakness in her back, suffered after a fall. Instead, she went on to work in the computer department of a well-known stationery company.

During her time there, Carole made her first attempt at writing a novel for Harlequin. “The manuscript was far too short and the plotline not up to standard, so I naturally received a rejection slip,” she says. “Not taking rejection well, I went off in a sulk for two years before deciding to have another go.” Her second manuscript was accepted, beginning a long and fruitful career. She says she has “enjoyed every moment of it!”

Carole lives “in a most beautiful part of Britain” with her husband and children.

“I really do enjoy my writing, and have every intention of continuing to do so for another twenty years!”

CONTENTS

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 ONE

‘I’M AFRAID I had an ulterior motive for inviting you here this weekend, Wolf—Ah, I believe I hear Angel now,’ Stephen Foxwood, Wolf’s friend and overnight host, murmured happily, as the sound of a door closing could be heard inside the manor house behind them. The two men were seated outside on the terrace on this warm summer’s evening, enjoying a glass of wine before dinner. ‘Later,’ Stephen promised as he got to his feet. ‘Come and meet my—come and meet Angelica Harper,’ he corrected as he stood up to enter the sitting room via French windows.

Wolf followed, intrigued. The two men had been friends for several years, and he had believed this Saturday night stay at Stephen’s country estate was to discuss the successful conclusion of a joint business deal they had agreed earlier in the week. Stephen certainly hadn’t given any indication before now that there was something else he needed to talk about. Or that his current mistress—Angel?—would also be present!

Stephen, as Wolf well knew, had been married to Grace for over thirty years until her death a year ago—not a particularly happy marriage, but not an unhappy one, either. Having a wife certainly hadn’t curtailed Stephen’s other liaisons; it had just meant that he’d kept those relationships discreetly in the background.

Now that Grace was dead, obviously Stephen didn’t feel he had to keep his mistresses a secret any more!

Although Wolf wasn’t quite prepared for the appearance of Stephen’s latest love. Lowering guarded lids over piercingly dark eyes, he watched the older man cross the room to warmly kiss the cheek of the woman who had entered the sitting room. Years of practice at shielding his thoughts in the boardroom, as well as in the bedroom, allowed Wolf to maintain a bland expression even as he felt shockwaves rock through him while he looked at the woman with whom the usually cynical Stephen was obviously deeply infatuated.

Aged, at most, in her mid-twenties, Angelica Harper had to be at least thirty years younger than Stephen—and she was also the most beautiful woman Wolf had ever set eyes on!

Having been one of the most eligible bachelors in Europe for at least half of his thirty-six years, Wolf had seen—and known intimately—many beautiful women.

But Angelica Harper—five feet eight inches tall, with waist-length black hair, misty grey eyes surrounded by long thick lashes set in a delicately beautiful heart-shaped face, and with the slenderness of her body shown to advantage in her clinging black off-the-shoulder gown—exuded a sensuality that Wolf was totally aware of.

‘Come and say hello to Angel, Wolf,’ Stephen encouraged, his arm resting possessively on her slender shoulders as he brought her further into the room.

‘Angelica,’ she corrected dryly as she held out a graceful hand. ‘Only Stephen calls me Angel,’ she added huskily.

Wolf took that hand automatically, feeling a tingling in his fingers just from touching her. ‘Angelica,’ he acknowledged guardedly, more than a little disturbed by his immediate awareness of this stunning woman.

Stephen’s country estate was thirty miles from London, set in glorious English countryside, and Wolf had come here with the intention of relaxing after the intensity of concluding the business deal he and Stephen had made. The two of them had purchased some land together in the Florida Keys, with the intention of turning it into a development of exclusive villas along with a golf course. Hopefully the resort was destined to become one more of the many successful enterprises that had made Wolf and Stephen two of the richest men in Europe.

But Wolf certainly hadn’t expected to meet Stephen’s newest young and beautiful mistress while he was here.

And then he recalled that Stephen had casually mentioned there was an ulterior motive to his weekend invitation…

Which had to be meeting this woman, who allowed only her lover to call her Angel.

A woman who made Wolf’s body harden in anticipation just looking at her!

‘This is Wolf—Count Gambrelli—Angel,’ Stephen told her lightly, his blue gaze warm as he introduced the two of them. He was still a handsome man, despite his fifty-eight years. His dark hair having silvered only at the temples, and his body was still lithe and slim in his black evening suit.

‘Count Gambrelli.’ Angelica nodded a greeting, her eyes widening slightly when the Count didn’t let go of her hand after their introduction but continued to hold it in his firm grip long after politeness dictated he should have released her.

She’d heard of Count Carlo—Wolf Gambrelli—of course. An Italian playboy whom the press enjoyed writing about, both on a personal and professional level, his success in business was only circumvented by his prowess with women, which had long ago earned him the nickname of ‘Wolf’—a name he seemed to have made entirely his own!

Looking at him, his reputation as a consummate womaniser wasn’t too difficult to believe: Wolf Gambrelli was one of the most lethally attractive men Angelica had ever seen.

His shoulder-length hair was a rich burnished gold, rather than the darker colouring she would have expected in a Sicilian. But his skin was a rich mahogany, his eyes a deep, unfathomable brown, and his high cheekbones jutted either side of a patrician nose under which his mouth sat, full and sensuous, above a squarely determined chin. Tall and elegant in a black tie and tuxedo and a snowy-white dress shirt, his outer sophisticated trappings did little to hide the leanly powerful body beneath: wide shoulders, tapered waist, and long, long legs.

Yes, Wolf Gambrelli was a lethally attractive man. But even on a few minutes’ acquaintance Angelica detected that he was also a man all too aware of his own power, and that he emanated a ruthlessness which indicated he wouldn’t hesitate to use his looks or his wealth to get what—or who—he wanted.

‘Please call me Wolf,’ he invited softly.

Angelica made a point of releasing her hand even as she gave him a coolly dismissive smile.

It was a coolness that aroused a desire in Wolf to peel her black dress from her temptingly curvaceous body and lay her down on the carpet, to caress and kiss her until she was wanton in his arms!

But at the same time Wolf knew that Stephen’s possessive male arm about her slender shoulders was a warning to him that Angelica Harper was Stephen’s exclusive property…

Wolf studied Angelica Harper from between narrowed lids. Why was such a young and beautiful woman involved with a man so much her senior? For his money? Now that Stephen was widowed, was she hoping to become one of those trophy wives? A woman who traded on her youth and beauty in order to trap herself a rich husband? Stephen certainly looked besotted enough to offer her that!

‘Drink, Angel?’ Stephen asked.

‘That would be lovely, thank you,’ Angelica Harper accepted huskily. ‘Is this a long or short visit to England, Wolf?’ she turned to enquire politely, once Stephen had crossed the room to pour her a glass of chilled white wine from the bottle the butler had brought in earlier.

‘I haven’t decided yet,’ Wolf found himself replying, his attention caught and held by the peachy-pearl fullness of Angelica Harper’s lips.

Lips that were surely made for kissing and being kissed…!

‘Here we are.’ Stephen’s smile included both Wolf and Angelica as he returned with the glass of wine, handing it to her before once again draping his arm lightly about her shoulders. ‘You’re looking exceptionally lovely this evening, Angel,’ he complimented, his blue eyes warmly appreciative. ‘Don’t you think so, Wolf?’ he prompted proudly.

Wolf’s mouth tightened as he noted the delicate blush that had entered Angelica’s creamy cheeks. This woman was undoubtedly beautiful—mesmerisingly so. But the fact that she obviously belonged exclusively to another man made null and void the primitive urge Wolf had to claim Angelica for his own!

‘Angelica is very beautiful,’ he acknowledged noncommitally, none of his inner turmoil visible.

What was wrong with him?

He had seen and physically known dozens of beautiful women. Blonde, brunettes, redheads. Other women with hair as ebony as Angelica Harper’s. So what was it about this particular woman that made him want to fling Stephen’s arm from her shoulders and throw her over his own shoulder, to carry her off like some marauding Viking?

Just imagining the things he would like to do to her once he had carried her off made his body pulse hotly!

Angelica gave Stephen a questioning look from beneath lowered lashes, knowing him too well by now to be fooled by the lightness of his tone, and aware that there was some sort of purpose behind Wolf Gambrelli being here with them this weekend. After months of sharing a home with Stephen at weekends, whenever their mutual commitments allowed, she knew that he rarely did or said anything that didn’t have a purpose or ulterior motive.

Quite what purpose there was behind Wolf Gambrelli’s visit here, she as yet had no idea!

Although she did find the intensity of Wolf Gambrelli’s dark gaze more than a little unnerving. His first searing appraisal of her had felt as if he had stripped her dress from her body and gazed his fill of her nakedness—something that made her feel hot all over.

Which was ridiculous!

Wolf Gambrelli was a Sicilian playboy of such repute that there wasn’t a month that went by without one glossy magazine or another featuring a couple of pages of photo spreads of his latest relationship. The man seemed to change his women as often as he changed the silk sheets reputed to be on his bed!

All of which proved he was exactly the type of man Angelica had absolutely no intention of being attracted to!

‘I believe it’s time for us to go in to dinner,’ she said with some relief as she saw Holmes, Stephen’s butler, hovering in the doorway.

Coming from an ordinary home, which she’d shared with her parents and two younger sisters, and then having shared a flat with three other girls while at university, she still found the opulence of Stephen’s lifestyle a little overwhelming at times—felt she would have just liked to cook the two of them a meal occasionally, which they would eat at the kitchen table. But that was something that Stephen had assured her was a definite no-no; the kitchen and servants’ quarters in both his London and his country home were completely off-limits to her.

‘Perhaps you would like to escort Angel into dinner, Wolf…?’ Stephen suggested as he removed his arm from her shoulders. ‘Much as I would like to, I appreciate I can’t keep her all to myself,’ he added huskily.

‘Certainly,’ the Sicilian Count moved obligingly to her side, holding out his arm invitingly.

Angelica shot Stephen another questioning look before placing her hand lightly on Wolf Gambrelli’s arm, aware of the hardness beneath her fingers, like tempered steel beneath silk, as he moved with the grace of a natural athlete.

Although quite when this man found the time, between the bedroom and the boardroom, to hone his body to such muscled perfection, she couldn’t imagine!

She removed her hand from his arm as quickly as possible when they reached the dining room—although her relief was short-lived as he moved to pull her chair back for her to sit down. His silky blond hair brushed lightly against her bare shoulder as he bent down to push the chair in behind her, the slightly elusive smell of his cologne invading her senses as she felt the warmth of his breath dangerously close to her earlobe.

Angelica moved sharply away from his slightly overwhelming proximity, at the same time frowning her irritation; there had surely been no reason for him to get quite that close!

‘It’s high time that we began to entertain, Angel,’ Stephen said once Angelica was seated between the two men at the round table.

Angelica frowned slightly. In the six months since she had begun to spend some of her weekends with Stephen they had never entertained, having spent the majority of that time getting to know each other. Wolf Gambrelli was their first dinner guest, let alone weekend guest…

‘I really must start to show you off rather than greedily keeping you to myself,’ Stephen added lightly. ‘Don’t you think so, Wolf?’

Angelica looked at Wolf Gambrelli from beneath lowered lashes as he took his time answering the older man, his expression as unreadable as Angelica’s own.

‘I’m not sure I would want to share her with anyone else, either, if she were mine,’ Wolf finally answered tautly, knowing that if Angelica Harper really were his, he would definitely want to greedily keep her to himself!

Perhaps that was the reason for this inexplicable attraction? Perhaps it was the fact that Angelica Harper wasn’t his, that she was so obviously Stephen’s, and the fact that she wasn’t available, that made her more desirable in his eyes?

No, that couldn’t be it, he instantly dismissed; he had always made a point of never poaching on another man’s marriage or a prior claim to a woman. The newspapers might like to depict him as an international playboy, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have a moral code that he lived by.

Unfortunately, just looking at Angelica Harper, gazing into the deep mystery of those misty grey eyes, lowering his gaze to the bare skin of her shoulders and the firm thrust of her breasts against the soft material of her dress, was enough to make him want to throw his moral code out of the window along with his senses!

Stephen gave a husky laugh. ‘That’s honest, anyway!’

Honesty had nothing to do with it; Wolf knew himself well, and he was truly intrigued by the beautiful Angelica Harper!

Though he knew nothing about her apart from the fact that she was the most breathtakingly beautiful and sensually arousing woman he had ever met.

And that she belonged to Stephen…

‘Stop teasing Count Gambrelli, Stephen,’ Angelica told him shortly, her grey eyes flashing a warning as he raised innocent brows. The look she gave him in return promised there would be a reckoning later. ‘I hope that you like smoked salmon, Count…?’ She turned to Wolf politely.

Although his heated gaze—as dark and warm as melted chocolate—showed no such politeness as it rested hungrily on her slightly parted lips, completely taking her breath away. Even as her tongue instinctively moved to moisten the lips he stared at so intently, that dark gaze followed the movement of her tongue before rising again to meet hers in a look that seared.

‘More wine, Wolf?’ Stephen lightly broke into the tension, and Angelica looked up to find Holmes standing patiently beside their guest, waiting to replenish his glass with the white wine that was to accompany their first course.

Angelica sucked air into her starved lungs as Wolf Gambrelli slowly broke their locked gaze to turn and nod his head abruptly to the butler, his jaw so tightly clenched it was possible to see a nerve pulsing there. His high cheekbones were clearly visible, and those dark eyes were guarded as he raised his wine glass and swallowed deeply.

He was reacting to Angelica Harper’s sensual beauty like a man deprived of water in a desert, Wolf recognised self-disgustedly!

But it was more obvious than ever, after Stephen’s flattering remarks to her just now, that Wolf’s assumption that the other man was totally besotted with Angelica Harper had been correct. And no amount of desire, of wanting her on Wolf’s part, looked likely to change that.

He began to eat his smoked salmon, not tasting the succulent delicacy as he realised he had lost his appetite. His appetite for food, at least! He hadn’t been aroused just looking at a woman since he was an inexperienced teenager!

‘Angelica is an—unusual name,’ he remarked lightly.

She nodded. ‘My mother has always been very keen on plants, herbs and flowers—I have twin sisters at home called Saffron and Rosemary,’ she added ruefully. ‘Goodness knows what my mother would have named us if we had been boys—Basil, Bennet and Comfrey, perhaps!’ She gave a huskily dismissive laugh.

The throaty sound of her laughter slid so sensually over Wolf’s flesh it felt almost like a caress, making the hair rise on the back of his neck and heat course through his veins.

‘Your mother is obviously a wise and far-seeing woman,’ Stephen put in huskily. ‘Angel is a perfect name for you, my love,’ he told her warmly, one of his hands moving briefly to cover hers.

‘I think you may be biased,’ she told the older man affectionately.

Wolf really wasn’t sure he was going to be able to take a whole evening—let alone an overnight stay—of this! If Stephen was any more besotted with his exotically beautiful ‘Angel’, he would be drooling at the mouth!

It wasn’t comforting to know that Wolf wanted to drool right along with him!

Angelica Harper, as if sensing Wolf’s hooded gaze on her, turned to include him in the conversation. ‘Which part of Italy do you come from, Count Gambrelli?’ she prompted politely.

He didn’t want politeness from this woman, Wolf recognised, as he inwardly brooded. In fact, his instincts where Angel was concerned were all completely primitive!

But at least the conversation became more general after that, as the three of them discussed the merits, or otherwise, of the different places they had visited in the world.

And Wolf did learn more, bit by bit, about the mysterious Angelica Harper as the evening progressed.

Before she had met Stephen, a year ago, her life seemed to have been one of being brought up in a close-knit family in Kent, followed by three years at university obtaining a degree in politics, and then moving on to a job in London as assistant to an aide to an elected politician—something she obviously enjoyed if the enthusiasm in her voice as she talked of it was anything to go by.

Which all sounded so at odds with the trophy girlfriend thing, or the potential trophy wife Wolf had assumed her to be…

‘You must miss all that now…?’ he enquired interestedly, lounging back in his chair as the three of them lingered at the dining table, drinking coffee at the end of the meal.

Angelica gave Wolf Gambrelli a frowning look. ‘Why would I miss it…?’

She had sensed Wolf Gambrelli’s critical gaze on her more than once as they ate dinner, and had chosen to ignore it and him—although, in truth, it was virtually impossible to ignore a man as sensually attractive as Wolf Gambrelli!

He shrugged those broad shoulders. ‘Leaving London and your job—’

‘But I haven’t left London. Or given up my job. Why would I…?’ Angelica looked at him questioningly, completely mystified as to why he should have assumed that she had.

‘Much as I would like to keep Angel with me all the time, Wolf, she prefers to remain an independent woman,’ Stephen told the younger man as he smiled proudly at Angelica. ‘Despite all my urgings for her to let me look after her and cosset her, she absolutely refuses to give up her own apartment or her job.’

‘Well, of course I do!’ Angelica exclaimed. ‘I love having my own apartment. And my job. Besides, I would be bored out of my mind if I stayed at home all day doing nothing!’

‘You see, Wolf—’ Stephen laughed softly ‘—Angel is a rare find—a truly independent as well as a beautiful woman!’

A rare find indeed, Wolf acknowledged frowningly. His assumption that Angelica Harper had moved in with Stephen and now lived off him in return for sharing his bed had proved to be totally incorrect.

Which only succeeded in deepening the air of mystery that surrounded her…

For her part, Angelica found Wolf Gambrelli’s assumption that she had given up her independence when she’d met Stephen extremely offensive.

For one thing, after living with two sisters and then sharing a house with three other girls while at university, it was lovely to at last have some space of her own. And she enjoyed her job far too much to even think about giving it up.

Just because she stayed with Stephen some weekends, it didn’t mean she had to be kept by him, too.

‘You’ve been a charming and attentive hostess this evening, darling. Thank you.’ The warmth of Stephen’s smile took away some of the sting of Wolf Gambrelli’s recent conversation.

‘You’re welcome.’ Angelica returned his smile, relieved that the evening was obviously coming to an end. ‘I think I’ll go up to bed now—if no one minds…?’

‘Not at all, darling,’ Stephen assured her. ‘I could do with an early night myself.’

She instantly frowned her concern. ‘Are you—?’

‘I’m fine, Angel. Just a little tired, that’s all,’ Stephen dismissed easily. ‘I hope you don’t mind the two of us making an early night of it, Wolf?’ he added ruefully to the other man.

Wolf’s elbows were resting on the table-top, his laced fingers having clenched tightly together as he listened to their conversation. At the same time he knew it was utterly ridiculous for him to take exception to the fact that Stephen and Angelica obviously couldn’t wait to be alone together.

Even if the vivid images that thought brought to his own mind were guaranteed to ensure that Wolf’s own night would be a sleepless one!

‘I’m not as young as I thought I was,’ Stephen added wryly.

‘None of us are,’ Wolf bit out tautly, sure that sharing a bed with the beautiful and sensuous Angelica couldn’t be in the least restful.

‘Goodnight, Wolf,’ Angelica murmured as she stood up. ‘I hope you sleep well.’

His eyes narrowed with suspicion as he searched the beauty of her face for some sign of mockery—some indication that she knew there was no way he was going to sleep at all tonight, when his mind would be full of images of her long silky legs wrapped around another man’s body as he took her to the heights of ecstasy.

Those misty grey eyes returned his gaze with steady regard, giving away none of Angelica Harper’s inner thoughts, and he could find no sign of mockery in the polite smile that curved the sensuality of her lips.

Which wasn’t to say there wasn’t any—Angelica Harper might just be a consummate actress!

‘I’m sure that I shall,’ he returned dryly. ‘It has been a—pleasure meeting you, Angelica,’ he added throatily, before he could stop himself.

She continued to look at him keenly for several seconds, before giving a slight inclination of her head. ‘Thank you. Coming, Stephen…?’ She turned to invite softly.

‘I’ll be right behind you,’ he promised warmly.

Wolf’s gaze remained intently on Angelica as he watched her leave, her long dark hair moving silkily down the length of her spine, emphasising the soft curve of her bottom as her hips moved gracefully, her legs smooth and shapely…

‘How much of a pleasure was it meeting Angel, Wolf…?’ Stephen murmured.

Wolf’s gaze returned sharply to the older man as Angelica closed the dining room door softly behind her, taking most of the warmth in the room with her. Wolf immediately masked his expression as he saw the searching curiosity in Stephen’s eyes.

‘As you said earlier, Stephen, Angelica is very beautiful,’ he replied tersely. ‘Where on earth did you find her?’ he prompted conversationally.

The older man shrugged. ‘I didn’t find her. She found me,’ he explained ruefully. ‘My lucky day, hmm?’ he added.

‘Indeed,’ Wolf acknowledged noncommittally.

‘I had better go up now, otherwise Angel will only worry,’ Stephen told him with an affectionate grimace. ‘But we’ll talk tomorrow, Wolf?’

Wolf’s brows quirked. ‘About your ulterior motive for inviting me here, perhaps…?’ he said speculatively, knowing he was no more in the mood for a business discussion now than Stephen obviously was.

Having always put his business life first and his personal life second, Wolf was very aware that his mind had been full of thoughts of Angelica Harper this evening—that images of her in Stephen’s bed later this evening had kept intruding. As they still were!

Did she sleep naked? Or did she perhaps wear something satiny and alluring with which to tempt her ageing lover?

Just thinking of that long swathe of silky dark hair being the only covering to those uptilted breasts, leaving her slender waist and curvaceous thighs bare, was enough to drive every other thought from Wolf’s mind.

‘Yes,’ Stephen confirmed with a sigh, now looking as weary as he had claimed he felt. ‘I’m sorry to keep putting it off like this, but I—’ He shook his head. ‘We’ll talk tomorrow,’ he promised.

Wolf was too restless to even bother undressing when he reached his own room a few minutes later, let alone attempting to go to bed, and decided to go back downstairs to the library and pour himself a glass of the brandy he would find in a decanter there. He might even get a little drunk. Anything to stop him from thinking of Angelica Harper in Stephen’s bed.

Not very likely, he acknowledged grimly as, quietly leaving his bedroom, he saw Angelica leaving a bedroom further down the hallway. Stephen’s bedroom? Wolf wondered as he stood transfixed. If so, she hadn’t stayed long with her lover, both men having come upstairs only ten minutes or so ago.

He had an almost immediate answer to his curiosity as Angelica, wearing a pale grey silk wrap that clung to the curves of her stunning body, paused outside a bedroom door across the hallway from the one she had just left, knocking softly.

Stephen opened the door almost instantly at the sound of that knock, had Angelica slipped past him into the bedroom before Stephen closed the door behind her.

Wolf’s breath left his lungs in a shaky sigh as he leant back against the wall, instantly tormented by thoughts of what was happening in Stephen’s bedroom, of Angelica in the other man’s arms.

And he knew that, brandy or not, there wasn’t a hope in hell that he would be able to sleep tonight!

CHAPTER TWO

‘AND to think I had stopped believing in mermaids long ago!’

Angelica gave a surprised start at the sound of that taunting voice—that familiar taunting voice. She instantly moved to tread water so she could turn and look at Wolf Gambrelli, who was standing by the edge of the swimming pool, looking down at her with broodingly dark eyes.

The luxury of having Stephen’s indoor pool to come down to at six-thirty in the morning had been one she hadn’t been able to resist when she’s begun staying here with him. An early-morning swim was part of her weekend daily routine now.

A swim that had always remained solitary until today. Stephen was usually already busy in his study at this time of the day, dealing with any e-mails or faxes that might have come in overnight.

The fact that she was only wearing a red bikini and her hair was slicked back wetly from her make-upless face after swimming her usual fifty lengths of the pool only increased her feelings of disadvantage. Wolf Gambrelli was dressed in a short-sleeved black shirt and tailored black trousers that did nothing to hide the powerful width of his shoulders, his tapered waist and long legs.

‘Count Gambrelli,’ she greeted politely.

‘Angel,’ he returned, the expression in those dark brown eyes unreadable.

Angelica’s cheeks flushed slightly at his easy use of Stephen’s name for her. ‘If you’re looking for Stephen—’

‘I’m not,’ he rasped dismissively.

Then what was he doing here? The fact that he was fully dressed didn’t seemed to indicate he had come down for a swim…

‘Breakfast is being served in the dining room if you’re—’

‘I’m not hungry, either, Angel,’ Wolf Gambrelli interrupted, coming down on his haunches at the poolside to hold out a hand to her. ‘At least, not for food…’ he added enigmatically.

Angelica frowned as she looked at that hand: his fingers were long and tapered. She wasn’t sure she wanted to get out of the water and reveal herself in her skimpy bikini—and she was very sure she didn’t want to put her hand in Wolf Gambrelli’s!

Which was pretty ridiculous; all she had to do was remember that Wolf Gambrelli was exactly the sort of man she had no intention of ever being attracted to, and that should be enough to completely nullify these feelings of physical awareness.

She reached out and took his hand, and noticed the muscles moving in his shoulders as he pulled her effortlessly out of the water to stand beside him.

Too close beside him, she instantly realised, her breath catching in her throat as his deep brown eyes darkened appreciatively and his gaze moved slowly down the length of her body, lingering on the creaminess of her breasts before going down to the hollow curve of her stomach and the gentle swell of her hips.

Angelica swallowed hard, knowing that telling herself this man was everything she didn’t want in her life—a playboy and a womaniser—hadn’t worked. She was so very aware of the heat of his body, of the leashed power in his wide shoulders—of the fact that her own body had become warm from the appreciative caress in his eyes as he unabashedly looked his fill of her.

‘If you’ll excuse me, I usually have a soak in the hot Jacuzzi after my swim.’ She turned abruptly away to pick up her towel from the lounger, wiping the pool water from her face before wrapping the towel toga-style about her body.

‘Go ahead,’ Wolf drawled, having been unable to resist joining her when he’d returned from strolling in the garden before breakfast and seen Angelica Harper alone in the pool.

Wolf had noted the statuary when he’d entered the warmth of the poolhouse—goddesses, mostly—but none of them compared in beauty to Angelica Harper. He’d stood and watched her swim the length of the pool, her skin alabaster, the beauty of her face unadorned by make-up and dominated by those misty grey eyes surrounded by thick dark lashes.

If anything, completely stripped of any sophisticated adornment, she looked more beautiful this morning than she had last night!

He walked several feet behind her now as, after one more frowning glance up at him, she walked down the poolside to where steam rose invitingly from the ten-foot circular Jacuzzi Wolf had passed on his way in, a cascade of greenery shielding the tub from any prying eyes outside the poolhouse.

Wolf’s mouth tightened as he easily imagined Angelica and Stephen lazing naked in the steaming water before getting out and making love together.

In fact, his imagination had been working overtime since he’d first set eyes on Angelica Harper!

As his sleepless night testified, he acknowledged self-derisively.

Not that one sleepless night was a problem. No, it was the fact that he found Angelica Harper just as sensually disturbing this morning as he had last night that was the problem.

Because, after witnessing Angelica going to Stephen’s bedroom last night, there was no doubting the intimacy of their relationship!

‘Mmm,’ Angelica murmured appreciatively as she sank beneath the waves of bubbling water, sitting down on one of the underwater tiled benches and resting her head back against the side to look up at the broodingly silent Wolf Gambrelli. ‘You really should go for a swim and then come for a dip in here, Wolf,’ she told him brightly as she luxuriated in the Jacuzzi. ‘It’s absolutely wonderful!’

‘I prefer to watch you,’ he assured her, and again he got down on his haunches to pick up a strand of the long dark hair she had lifted out of the water and draped over the side.

Bringing him close, Angelica noted nervously.

Too dangerously close, she acknowledged, as her breathing suddenly felt constricted, and her gaze was caught and held by the caress of those long fingers on the thick strand of her hair.

‘Do you love him?’

She raised startled eyes to Wolf Gambrelli’s face. The harshness of his tone was matched by the hard glitter in his dark eyes and the tight clenching of his jaw. ‘I beg your pardon?’ she replied uncertainly.

His hand tightened on the thick strand of her hair and he twisted it around his long fingers. Repeatedly. So that Angelica was forced to lift her head, which brought her face so close to his she could now see the flecks of gold amongst the brown in his shrewd eyes.

‘I asked if you love Stephen,’ Wolf Gambrelli repeated. ‘Surely that’s a simple enough question to answer?’ he prompted at her silence. ‘Either a yes or no will do,’ he added, when she still didn’t answer.

Well, no…no, it wouldn’t. Her relationship with Stephen was much more complex than that. They were still getting to know each other. And while she might care for Stephen, she wasn’t sure she understood the life he had led these last thirty years.

Wolf’s jaw clenched as she continued not to reply to his question, his eyes becoming glacial, his hand tightening on the silkiness of her hair. His scrutiny moved down as he caused her throat to arch and her breasts to thrust forward, her hardened nipples clearly outlined against the soft material of the red bikini top.

He knew a sudden hunger to see those breasts bared, to know whether her nipples were a dark, tempting brown or a dusky, inviting pink, to touch and taste them until he heard her throaty groans of pleasure.

‘Count Gambrelli, you’re hurting me!’ Her surprised protest broke into his erotic imaginings.

Wolf frowned darkly as he looked down at her, his frown deepening as he realized he had tightened his hand in her hair and twisted her head back.

He gave a self-disgusted snort as he unravelled that silky tress from his fingers before straightening, thrusting his hands into his trouser pockets as he looked down at her, dark storminess in his eyes now. ‘Stephen is obviously besotted with you—’

‘I don’t believe that is any of your business, Count Gambrelli.’

‘I find it…surprising that a young and beautiful woman like you would give herself to a man for his money,’ he opined.

Angelica stopped rubbing the sore area of her scalp. ‘“Give” myself?’ she repeated slowly.

His mouth twisted derisively. ‘I saw you go to Stephen’s bedroom last night, so I think it is a little late for you to attempt to play the outraged virgin!’

He had seen her?

‘And just how did you see me, Count Gambrelli?’ she demanded, having not seen him in the hallway the previous night. ‘Did you stand in the shadows and spy on us?’ she scoffed, and she surged up on a wave of bubbles in the Jacuzzi, then stood up to wade across and climb out of the tub. She grabbed up her towel to wrap it around herself before turning to face him, her cheeks flushed with anger and her eyes glittering with the same emotion. ‘Well?’ she challenged furiously.

What on earth was he doing? Wolf wondered with inward self disgust.

Had his heated response to this woman’s sensual beauty made him forget all discretion?

‘No, of course I was not spying on you,’ he denied coldly. ‘I decided to go back downstairs for a brandy—’

‘And by pure coincidence it happened to be at the time I went to Stephen’s bedroom?’ she concluded. She gave a disgusted shake of her head. ‘I don’t believe my relationship with Stephen is any of your business, Count Gambrelli.’

‘Stephen is my friend—’

‘I don’t believe friends spy on each other!’ Angelica challenged him again.

‘I have told you I was not spying—’

‘I don’t believe you,’ she said flatly.

Wolf stiffened at this denial, nostrils flaring. ‘Do you really think that I would willingly make myself a witness to Stephen’s infatuation with you?’ he refuted.

The angry flush deepened in her cheeks. ‘Stephen’s feelings for me, and mine for him, are absolutely none of your concern—’

‘Not even if I believe he is making a fool of himself over a woman young enough to be his daughter?’ Wolf came back swiftly.

Angelica became very still, lowering her lashes as a shield to the shock she knew would be in her eyes.

Because, without realising it, Wolf Gambrelli had inadvertently hit on exactly what her relationship was to Stephen. She was his daughter. His illegitimate daughter. Born to Kathleen Singer eight months after her affair with the married Stephen Foxwood had ended.

Angelica had always known that her mother’s husband, Neil Harper, wasn’t her real father—she had been a precocious five years old when Neil and her mother were married. But it had never mattered. Neil had always treated Angelica exactly the same as his own daughters by Kathleen—Saffron and Rosemary.

Although Kathleen had told Angelica the name of her real father when, aged twelve, she had asked about him, Angelica’s curiosity hadn’t been strong enough at the time for her to want to trace him. Especially when, at eighteen and a little more curious, she had discovered that Stephen was still married to Grace.

But a year ago she had seen Grace’s obituary in the newspaper—had learnt that Stephen and Grace’s thirty-year marriage had been childless, which had reawakened Angelica’s own curiosity about the father she had never known.

A curiosity she had discussed with her mother and Neil before she had even attempted to see Stephen Foxwood. As she had known they would be, both Neil and Kathleen had been completely supportive of her decision to at least make contact with her real father and let him know that he did have a child after all—a daughter.

That first meeting between father and daughter had been extremely emotional…

It had been followed by further meetings, and by Angelica agreeing six months later to start occasionally staying with Stephen at weekends, so that they could get to know each other better.

They were still getting to know each other…

And now this man—this Wolf Gambrelli, this arrogant Sicilian count—had come along and passed judgement on a relationship he knew absolutely nothing about!

She and Stephen had agreed from the onset that for the foreseeable future their relationship would remain private between the two of them. A secret that Stephen had obviously kept even from his close friend Wolf Gambrelli. Resulting in this supercilious man making assumptions about their relationship—insulting assumptions.

Angelica didn’t believe for a moment that Wolf Gambrelli’s comments about their assumed relationship were out of concern for Stephen. She had seen the searing way Wolf Gambrelli had watched her every movement last night. And again, this morning, she’d seen the desire in his eyes when he looked at her, and had known that he was pursuing self-interest rather than concern for his friend.

A self-interest that was going nowhere as far as she was concerned. Wolf Gambrelli was just a younger version of Stephen. And while she might forgive Stephen all his past indiscretions—simply because he was her father and she was growing to love him for that alone—she certainly wasn’t stupid enough to become involved with a man who was just as emotionally unreliable!

‘Do you have nothing to say in your defence?’ Wolf Gambrelli broke into the lengthy silence.

Angelica drew in a controlling breath before raising her lids to look at him scornfully. ‘I’m not on trial, Count Gambrelli.’

‘You are playing with the emotions of a man I consider to be a good friend as well as my business partner—’

‘Stephen is a big boy, Count Gambrelli,’ she told him firmly.

‘I’m sure he doesn’t need you to intercede on his behalf!’

‘Stephen doesn’t seem to see you in the way that I do,’ Wolf grated harshly.

She raised one dark, mocking brow. ‘And just how is that, Count Gambrelli?’

Wolf’s jaw clenched, his frustration with this situation growing. Having spent most of the night thinking of this woman, imagining her naked and wanton in another man’s arms, he should never have come in here when he saw her alone in the pool—certainly should never have begun this present conversation.

He was making his own attraction to Angelica far too obvious.

And that wasn’t a situation that sat comfortably on his usually self-assured, emotionally self-contained shoulders!

‘Admittedly you seem cleverer than most, by keeping your apartment and your job, and maintaining your independence,’ Wolf admitted. ‘But as that only seems to have made Stephen even more besotted with you, I have no doubt that he will very soon insist that you change that arrangement!’

‘Really?’ Angelica Harper came back derisively. ‘Thank you for sharing that information with me, Count Gambrelli.’ She gave a sharp inclination of her head. ‘Now, if you will excuse me…? I find the air in here rather—oppressive!’

Wolf wanted to reach out and stop her from leaving. Wanted to grasp both her arms and shake her. Wanted to take her in his arms and kiss her until she agreed to leave Stephen and come to him…!

This realisation was shocking, totally at odds with his usual casual and unpossessive attitude towards women, and all he could do was stand and watch as Angelica walked away from him.

No doubt with the intention of telling her ‘besotted’ lover exactly how he had just insulted her!

Which meant not only had he made his own interest in Angelica obvious, but he had also probably just completely ruined a friendship and business partnership that had existed for years.

But there was no evidence that Angelica had mentioned the incident to Stephen when the three of them sat down to breakfast together an hour later, the older man seeming just as friendly and relaxed as he always was.

Angelica’s behaviour towards Wolf was a little frosty—understandably so!—but other than that she gave no indication that their conversation in the poolhouse had ever taken place.

Wolf studied her covertly: her long, silky hair had been washed and dried and pulled back in a ponytail, emphasising her high cheekbones and the delicate line of her jaw. Her only make-up appeared to be a lipgloss that matched the colour of the red tee shirt she wore with faded fitted denims, the swell of her breasts temptingly visible above its low neckline…

‘Would you go riding with Angel this morning, Wolf?’

His attention had been so intently focused on Angelica, on those tantalising glimpses of her creamy breasts, that for a moment Wolf found himself completely disorientated, frowning darkly as he turned to Stephen. ‘Sorry?’ he responded distantly.

Stephen raised silver-grey brows at Wolf’s obvious distraction. ‘I was suggesting you might like to go for a ride with Angel…?’

That was what he had thought the other man had said! Except he now realised Stephen had been talking about horses…!

The line Wolf’s thoughts had been following had taken him in another direction entirely!

‘Stephen, I really don’t think—’

‘Oh, come on, Angel.’ The older man cut chidingly through her protest. ‘Unfortunately I have a conference call to deal with this morning, and you know I don’t like you going out alone just yet. Angel has only just learnt to ride,’ he explained to Wolf.

But Wolf Gambrelli was the last person Angelica wanted to accompany her anywhere!

A fact Stephen should have been all too aware of after the conversation they’d had before breakfast, when she’d told him that she believed he ought to explain their real relationship to Wolf—that the Sicilan seemed somewhat confused as to her role in Stephen’s life.

She could have put it more bluntly than that, but was aware that Wolf Gambrelli had been a close friend of Stephen’s for years—that it wasn’t up to her to cast a shadow over that friendship. Stephen had assured her that he had every intention of talking to Wolf about their relationship this weekend. Just not yet, it seemed…

‘I’m sure Count Gambrelli has better things to do this morning than go riding with me.’ She spoke determinedly even as she shot Stephen an appealing glance, not sure she could take any more of Wolf Gambrelli’s insulting remarks without retaliating.

Because if she really had been Stephen’s latest mistress, then she would have lost no time in telling Wolf Gambrelli exactly what he could do with his very personal remarks!

The one thing she had absolutely insisted on when she’d agreed to spend time with Stephen, so that the two of them could get to know each other better, was that she didn’t want anything from him. Not the help with her career that he’d offered, or the money he had wanted to settle on her.

But she would have felt exactly the same way if she had been Stephen’s mistress rather than his daughter!

‘You don’t have anything else to do this morning, do you, Wolf?’ Stephen asked.

Something didn’t add up here, Wolf decided. For one thing, Stephen didn’t seem in the least concerned at the thought of Wolf going off for the morning with Angelica. Obviously Stephen knew him well enough to know of his code concerning attached women, but even so the other man was putting a lot of trust in him…

And Wolf still couldn’t work out why Angelica hadn’t told her lover about his earlier rudeness to her. It had been the obvious thing for her to do, after all.

‘Why not?’ he accepted languidly. ‘I’m sure I would greatly enjoy riding with Angel,’ he added softly, and he saw the delicate colour creep into Angelica’s alabaster cheeks at his deliberately provocative reply.

‘Great!’ Stephen nodded his satisfaction with the arrangement, seeming totally unaware of the undercurrents in the conversation. ‘I’ll feel much happier knowing Angel is in safe hands.’

Wolf wouldn’t have felt so quite so pleased about the arrangement if he were Stephen—not when Wolf’s own feelings towards Angelica Harper were far from innocent.

And, more disturbing, far from under his normally rigid control…!

CHAPTER THREE

WOLF felt even less confident about maintaining that control when he joined Angelica down at the stables half an hour later. The figure-hugging jodhpurs she wore left little to the imagination. Even her billowing white shirt, which was tucked into the narrow waistband of those jodhpurs, tantalized—hinting at, rather than hiding, the firm uptilt of her unconfined breasts beneath.

‘I hope you aren’t expecting too much of me, Count Gambrelli,’ she told him ruefully.

Wolf lifted his gaze sharply from the allure of her unfettered breasts, knowing by the way her brows had risen in query that she was aware of his heated appraisal.

‘I really am just a novice at this,’ she confided, even as the stable-lad cupped his hands so that she could swing herself up onto the back of the placid black mare that had been saddled for her.

He’d been caught staring like an untried youth, Wolf acknowledged self-disgustedly. What a gauche, unsophisticated fool she made of him!

‘All evidence to the contrary—Angel!’ he flung back at her as he took the reins of a dapple-grey mount from another stable-lad to swing himself easily up into the saddle.

Angelica realised quickly that what he implied was too explicit to be mistaken for anything other than what it was.

He really was an arrogant bastard, she decided. So damned sure of himself. To the point that she knew she would have no sympathy with him at all once Stephen told him of their true relationship and he was made to look a complete idiot.

In fact, she was so annoyed, so incensed by Wolf Gambrelli’s continued rudeness towards her, that she no longer felt any inclination to prevent him from digging himself even further into that particular hole!

The fact that he looked absolutely magnificent, sitting confidently astride the grey, his hair a burnished gold in the sunlight, his white shirt and a pair of Stephen’s jodhpurs and black riding boots giving him a raffishly compelling appearance that was breathtaking, did nothing to lessen her feelings of resentment.

Wolf Gambrelli was too damned good-looking for his own good, and too cavalier when it came to women. Surely he deserved to be taken down a peg or two!

‘Thanks, Tom.’ She bestowed a grateful smile on the stable-boy as he helped her to put her booted feet into the stirrups. ‘Ready, Count?’ she prompted dryly as he watched the exchange with narrowed eyes.

As if he suspected her of trying to seduce the stable-lad!

This man really did deserve the humiliation she hoped he suffered once Stephen told him she was his daughter, rather than his lover, Angelica decided with tight-lipped annoyance.

‘After you.’ Wolf gave an abrupt inclination of his superior head, his sculptured mouth unsmiling.

Angelica had to nudge the mare twice in the ribs to get her to walk across the cobbles towards the bridle path she usually took when she went riding with Stephen, taking a few minutes to get her bearings in the saddle, not having been down to Stephen’s country estate for several weeks now.

There really hadn’t been the opportunity for Angelica to take riding lessons when she was younger, and Stephen had decided to rectify that once she’d started staying with him. To her relief, she could now sit in the saddle without fear of falling, although she was a more nervous rider than she would have wished.

She certainly wasn’t a match for Wolf Gambrelli’s easy, natural seat; rider and horse seemed to move as one, she acknowledged admiringly as he preceded her down the bridle path and out onto the fields beyond. He controlled the grey effortlessly, the muscles rippling in his shoulders and back as he did so, his hair moving silkily in the gentle summer breeze.

It was a pity he was the type of man that he was, Angelica thought as she watched the play of muscles across the broad width of Wolf Gambrelli’s back; she hadn’t been this physically aware of a man in a long time.

If ever!

She wasn’t dating anyone at the moment, but at twenty-six she had obviously had several boyfriends in the past. But that was exactly what they had been—boyfriends.

She had never met anyone quite like Wolf Gambrelli before—a man who exuded a sensuality that made it impossible not to be completely aware of him at all times.

‘Just how experienced are you?’

Her wandering thoughts came to a sudden halt as she looked across at him and saw the barely concealed contempt in his hooded gaze. ‘Not very,’ she replied.

Let him carry on digging that hole, she told herself determinedly. And she hoped, once he knew the truth, that Wolf Gambrelli would cringe in shame for each of the insults he had deliberately dealt her!

Wolf’s mouth twisted derisively. He found Angelica’s claim very hard to believe, when she obviously had a man of Stephen’s experience so completely captivated.

When, much as he hated to admit it, her every move had him captivated too!

He gave a terse inclination of his head. ‘Perhaps you would like to show me what you can do?’ he invited hardly.

Her mouth tightened. ‘Perhaps I would,’ she returned tartly.

Wolf watched as she urged her horse into a trot beside his, the warm breeze flattening her shirt against her breasts, their hardened tips showing a deep rose through the silky material—at least answering one of the questions he had about her!

But he had many others…

Why she was wasting her youth and considerable beauty on a man so much older, for one? Had she chosen to take Stephen as her lover because she felt an older man would appreciate her youth and beauty in a way that a younger man didn’t? Did she think that a man of some years was more likely to remain enthralled by her loveliness? To remain faithful?

If that was what she believed about Stephen, then she had chosen the wrong man—Stephen hadn’t been faithful to the wife he had loved, let alone to any of the numerous mistresses he’d had over the years!

‘How did you and Stephen meet?’ Wolf asked as their horses trotted side by side, with Angelica showing a natural aptitude that he couldn’t help but admire, moving easily with the horse, her hands light on the reins.

She gave him a sideways glance before answering guardedly. ‘How did Stephen tell you we’d met?’

Wolf gave an appreciative grin at the way she had sensed his question was a trap. ‘He didn’t,’ he responded. ‘Only that he hadn’t found you, but that you had been the one to find him.’

She smiled, revealing small pearly-white teeth against her red lipgloss. ‘It’s true—I did.’

And? Wolf wondered frustratedly.

‘You are aware that Stephen does not have a history of—fidelity?’ he said aloud.

Her smile faded slightly at the same time as her chin rose in challenge. ‘Any more than you do, Count Gambrelli,’ she bit out scathingly.

His mouth tightened at the reference to his own reputation. ‘We are not discussing me—’

‘Aren’t we?’ Angelica interrupted. ‘Then perhaps we should.’ Her eyes flashed deeply grey. ‘Because it seems to me that you have absolutely no right to comment on Stephen’s lack of fidelity when you are obviously such a womaniser yourself!’ Her cheeks were flushed with indignant anger on Stephen’s behalf.

How dared Wolf Gambrelli presume to comment on Stephen’s behaviour when his own numerous relationships were such public knowledge?

He looked down the haughty length of his nose at her. ‘You should not believe everything you read in the gutter press!’

Angelica gave a derisive snort. ‘If only half the stories of your affairs are true, then that makes you something of a sexual athlete in my book—Let go of my reins, Count Gambrelli!’ she warned him nervously as he reached out and grabbed them, drawing her horse closer to his—something the black mare took exception to, if the way it moved skittishly was any indication. ‘You’ll pull us both out of the saddle in a minute!’ she said impatiently as she struggled to maintain control of her horse.

Despite her inexperience she had never become unseated yet—but there was always a first time!

She was finding Wolf Gambrelli’s obsession with her relationship with Stephen deeply irritating. Couldn’t he see that it really wasn’t any of his business? That it wasn’t anyone else’s business but her own and Stephen’s?

It was because of the delicacy, the newness of their father-daughter relationship, that she and Stephen had decided from the onset that it wasn’t yet a subject for public consumption. Stephen was all too aware, after years of having his every move reported in the newspapers, of just how the advent of an illegitimate daughter into his life could be sensationalised in the press.

But Wolf Gambrelli was like a dog—a wolf?—gnawing at a bone, refusing to be dissuaded from discussing a subject that was absolutely none of his business.

‘I—said—let—go!’ she repeated desperately as her horse continued to shift nervously. At the same time she slapped the end of her reins hard across Wolf Gambrelli’s restraining hand, digging her heels into her horse’s flanks as she felt Wolf briefly relax his grip at the sting of her strike. Bending low over the mare’s mane, Angelica urged her mount into a gallop.

But she could hear Wolf Gambrelli’s immediate pursuit of her, the thunder of the grey’s hooves close behind her, could almost feel its hot breath against her thighs as it began to gain on her.

She dug her heels even harder into her mare’s flanks, not caring at that moment that she had never galloped a horse as fast as this before, that she no longer felt completely in control. She was intent on getting away from Wolf Gambrelli—on getting away from his increasingly insulting remarks.

‘Stop, you little fool!’ he shouted to her impatiently.

Angelica ignored him, too busy concentrating on maintaining her seat in the saddle to even attempt to answer him. Her eyes widened in panic as she saw the mare wasn’t going in the direction of the open gate, but was instead rapidly approaching the four-foot wall that bordered the field. Her own frantic pulling on the reins seemed to have no effect on its nervous flight.

She wasn’t sure what happened next—whether the mare had suddenly decided she didn’t want to jump the wall after all, or if her own desperate pulling on the reins to get the horse to stop had finally had some effect. All Angelica was aware of was the horse coming to a sudden slithering halt, and her own momentum taking her up and over the mare’s head. Briefly she had a feeling as if she were flying, before landing so hard on her back on the ground that all the breath seemed to have been knocked from her body, forcing her to close her eyes as the world began to spin wildly around her.

Wolf had ground his teeth frustratedly as he’d watched Angelica gallop away from him, his eyes widening as he realised she had lost control of her horse. Instantly he had urged the grey in pursuit, and had almost been within touching distance of her reins when the mare had decided to come to an abrupt halt. Wolf’s face had paled, and he’d been able to do nothing but watch in horror as Angelica sailed over the mare’s head, to land on her back with a sickening thump several feet away on the hard ground.

Now, he pulled on the grey’s reins, barely waiting for the horse to come to a stop before sliding quickly out of his saddle and running over to where Angelica still lay stunned—dead?—on the ground.

‘You little fool!’ he ground out harshly, even as he went down on his knees beside her.

He didn’t feel in the least reassured by her closed, unmoving lids and the pallor of her cheeks, and pulled her roughly against him. Her hair, loosened from its band, cascaded silkily over his arm.

‘Why did you not listen to me?’ he rasped fiercely. ‘Angel…? Angel!’ he urged more forcefully as he saw a pulse beating reassuringly at the delicacy of her temple. ‘For God’s sake, open your eyes and look at me!’ he muttered harshly, relieved beyond belief to find she was still alive, but now needing to know whether or not she had broken any bones in the fall.

Her eyes remained firmly closed, but her throat moved convulsively and she spoke. ‘If you don’t mind, I’d really rather not,’ she murmured.

Wolf sighed his frustration with her comment. ‘Rather not what?’ he demanded impatiently.

Was she delirious? Had the fall somehow muddled her brain? What—?

‘Look at you,’ she answered him wryly. ‘This is embarrassing enough as it is, without that!’

‘Embarrassing…?’ he repeated uncertainly as his arms tightened their hold about her. ‘Angel, if you don’t open your eyes now and assure me that you haven’t broken anything, then I am going to be forced into giving you a sound shaking!’ he warned.

Angelica raised her lids with effort, relieved that the world seemed to have stopped spinning at least, a rueful smile curving her lips as she looked up into Wolf Gambrelli’s angry face. ‘And that’s really going to help!’ she commented wryly, not sure that she hadn’t broken anything, most of her still feeling numb from her sudden impact with the ground.

No, it didn’t feel as if anything were broken, she decided as she slowly flexed the muscles in her arms and legs. Her back was feeling bruised, but not particularly painful. Her teeth had been soundly rattled, but as she ran her tongue over them she could feel that they were all still in place too.

She looked up to find Wolf looking anxiously down at her. Their gazes locked, and Angelica watched in fascination as the pupils in those dark brown eyes became so enlarged that there seemed to be no brown left, only black. His dark gaze shifted down suddenly, to the parted softness of her mouth.

Wolf Gambrelli was going to kiss her…!

Angelica became absolutely sure of that fact only a second before his head lowered and his mouth claimed hers in fierce demand, his arms like steel bands about her as he held her close against the hardness of his chest.

She was too disorientated, too shaken up to do anything other than respond to the hard demand of Wolf’s lips on hers. The angry assault on her mouth came too quickly after her fall. Her arms moved up to cling to his shoulders and she once again felt as if she were flying through the air without the benefit of a safety net.

His hair felt just as soft and silky as she had imagined it would as she moved her hand and her fingers became entangled in its thickness. Her other hand was still clinging to the broadness of his shoulder, feeling the tension of the muscles as Wolf strained her ever closer to him, his lips moving against hers with a thoroughness that completely robbed her of resistance.

Her lips parted as she felt the demanding rasp of his tongue against their softness, and he explored their sensitivity before seeking further, that tongue becoming a hard thrust as he laid her down on the ground and came down beside her, his hands moving restlessly over her body from breast to thigh and then back again, impatiently pushing the soft material of her shirt aside to cup her nakedness.

It was too much after the mare’s recent flight and her absolute panic as she saw the wall approaching; Angelica had absolutely no will to fight this almost angry onslaught.

Instead she groaned at the sweet pleasure that suddenly coursed through her body, at the increasing warmth between her thighs, her breasts tingling achingly as Wolf moved his mouth from hers to trail heated kisses down her jaw and throat. The heat of his lips and mouth captured one turgid nipple, and his tongue began to lave moistly across that sensitive peak before suckling her fully into the hot cavern beyond.

Angelica’s back arched in pleasure as Wolf’s hand captured and caressed her other breast. The heat between her thighs was increasing to a dangerous level, becoming a deep, aching need as Wolf sucked harder on her breast, at the same time moving his tongue moistly against her. But that mouth was suddenly wrenched away, and Wolf looked down at her disbelievingly. ‘No!’ he groaned protestingly, even as he put her roughly away from him to stand up, his hands clenched tightly at his sides as he stared down at her. ‘You belong to another man!’

Angelica tried to focus, totally disorientated from her fall, let alone Wolf’s assault on her senses.

Wolf closed his eyes, then opened them as he said, ‘It is against my honour—against every rule that I—For God’s sake cover yourself!’ he instructed harshly, his face deathly pale beneath his natural tan, a nerve pulsing in his tightly clenched jaw.

Wolf’s self-loathing, the contempt in his voice for her, lashed at Angelica as she pulled her shirt back together and scrambled to her feet. Turning her back on him, she moved stiffly to check on her horse as it cropped the grass a few feet away, her knees trembling, her hands shaking slightly as she touched the warmth of the mare’s still quivering neck.

What a stupid, stupid thing for her to have done!

Not that she’d had any choice in the matter—she’d been too stunned after her fall to resist when Wolf began to kiss her with such urgent demand. But to have allowed herself to respond to Wolf’s kisses and caresses—to groan that response out loud!—had been the height of stupidity on her part.

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