His name might save her…

But his touch will undo her!

Katie Collins can’t believe she’s standing in front of notorious playboy Alessandro Zetticci asking him to marry her—immediately! She’s frantic to escape the unwanted wedding her ruthless foster father is planning for her. Her solution? Finding her own husband!

Alessandro can’t ignore Katie’s desperation—he’ll agree to marry her if it’s strictly temporary. Yet when their self-imposed boundaries are tested, one delicious caress at a time, Alessandro must ask himself: Will walking away from his virgin bride really be possible?

USA TODAY bestselling author NATALIE ANDERSON writes emotional contemporary romance full of sparkling banter, sizzling heat and uplifting endings—perfect for readers who love to escape with empowered heroines and arrogant alphas who are too sexy for their own good. When not writing you’ll find her wrangling her four children, three cats, two goldfish and one dog…and snuggled in a heap on the sofa with her husband at the end of the day. Follow her at www.natalie-anderson.com.

Also by Natalie Anderson

The Forgotten Gallo Bride

Claiming His Convenient Fiancée

Princess’s Pregnancy Secret

The King’s Captive Virgin

Awakening His Innocent Cinderella

Pregnant by the Commanding Greek

The Throne of San Felipe miniseries

The Secret That Shocked De Santis

The Mistress That Tamed De Santis

Discover more at millsandboon.co.uk.

The Innocent’s Emergency Wedding

Natalie Anderson

www.millsandboon.co.uk

ISBN: 978-1-474-08829-9

THE INNOCENT’S EMERGENCY WEDDING

© 2019 Natalie Anderson

Published in Great Britain 2019

by Mills & Boon, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers 1 London Bridge Street, London, SE1 9GF

All rights reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, locations and incidents are purely fictional and bear no relationship to any real life individuals, living or dead, or to any actual places, business establishments, locations, events or incidents. Any resemblance is entirely coincidental.

By payment of the required fees, you are granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right and licence to download and install this e-book on your personal computer, tablet computer, smart phone or other electronic reading device only (each a “Licensed Device”) and to access, display and read the text of this e-book on-screen on your Licensed Device. Except to the extent any of these acts shall be permitted pursuant to any mandatory provision of applicable law but no further, no part of this e-book or its text or images may be reproduced, transmitted, distributed, translated, converted or adapted for use on another file format, communicated to the public, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher.

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www.millsandboon.co.uk

Note to Readers

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For the gorgeous Alfie.

You’re such a loyal four-legged friend—

the exclamation point completing our family

and the best foot-warmer a writer could have.

Contents

Cover

Back Cover Text

About the Author

Booklist

Title Page

Copyright

Note to Readers

Dedication

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

Extract

About the Publisher

CHAPTER ONE

‘YOU CAN’T MAKE me marry him. You can’t make me marry anyone…’

Katie Collins perched nervously on the plush chair in the vast reception room of Zed Enterprises, gripping her bag and reminding herself to breathe often enough to remain conscious. If she’d had more pride—or any other option—she’d have walked out over an hour ago, but the threats relentlessly circling in her head had forced her to remain. He was the one person who had the power to help.

‘If you won’t marry him you can leave right now, and you know that would kill her—’

Katie blinked the horror away and focused on her surroundings. Alessandro Zetticci’s offices showcased a sleek, minimalist style—steel and chrome screamed masculine sophistication and the wealth he’d accumulated in an astoundingly short time. It didn’t surprise her. He’d always had the knack of knowing what people wanted.

It had been a decade since she’d seen him and, while certain aspects of that particular visit were branded in her brain, she was acutely aware that he mightn’t even remember who she was. She’d have to remind him before begging for his benevolence.

‘You’ll be homeless. So will the woman who’s spent years caring for you, you ungrateful little b—’

Katie again blocked the echo of the viciousness her foster father had spat at her. Seeking distraction, she glanced at the receptionist. Dressed in a sleek navy skirt and smooth white blouse, the tall blonde looked like a chic French movie star, ageing with impossible grace. Katie was also wearing a navy skirt with a white blouse, but where the receptionist’s was silk, Katie’s was synthetic, and right now it was sticking to her. Outclassed, out of place…she was never quite good enough—

Katie stiffened, snapping out of the self-pity. She didn’t need fancy clothes, given she worked in the orchards and the kitchen most of the time.

‘You can’t refuse after all I’ve done for you—’

A trickle of sweat slithered down her back, even though the building was beautifully climate-controlled. Her body was literally leaking her nerves. She uncurled her grip on her bag for the twentieth time. Only to immediately clutch the strap again as if it were her lifeline.

She’d not made an appointment, and it was sheer luck that Alessandro was in the office at all today. Too late she realised she had no idea what she’d have done if he hadn’t been. She still had no idea what she was going to do if he said no.

‘Don’t you want to be a real member of the family?’

That attempt at manipulation had stabbed deep. So after all this time Katie was still an outsider? She’d always felt Brian hadn’t wanted her, but for him to state it so explicitly, for him to try to force her into doing something insane… She was still an outsider. Still just someone who owed…

‘Do you want to watch her devastation?’

And that was the problem. She did owe Susan, her foster mother. She more than owed her—she loved her, and she had to protect her.

‘Ms Collins?’ The elegant receptionist finally interrupted her anxious reverie. ‘Alessandro is ready to see you now.’

Katie’s heart skidded. She was seized with the urge to bolt in the other direction. Instead she followed the older woman, drawing in a deep breath as she went.

It was a good thing she did, because the second she walked into his office her lungs, like the rest of her, were rendered immobile. She’d looked at recent pictures on the train ride here, so she’d thought she’d be immune. She’d been wrong. Alessandro Zetticci in the flesh was overwhelming.

Katie couldn’t smile as the receptionist left—couldn’t even see what the room was like, because she couldn’t peel her gaze from where he stood behind his desk. Flashes of rogue memory burned. Alessandro in the orchard. His smile. His low laugh. His broad shoulders…

She blinked, desperately focusing on him here and now and clothed.

His jet-black hair was straight and long enough to flop in his eyes. His sculpted cheekbones were emphasised by the razor-sharp edge of a perfectly symmetrical, masculine jaw. Lightly stubbled rather than clean-shaven, he looked as if it wasn’t long since he’d left his bed. Long black lashes and dark eyebrows framed his arresting eyes. Powder blue, they were brightly backlit by fierce burning intensity.

If she hadn’t known better she’d have thought he wore coloured contact lenses, but Katie had seen him sullen and silent over the breakfast table and at Christmas dinners long gone by, and even then, when he’d been moody and resentful, his eyes had glowed with that brilliance.

His mouth had a natural sinful curve, a permanent wicked half-smile—as if he were thinking something slightly inappropriate. It was a mouth made to kiss. Katie remembered that.

The top button of his white shirt was undone, exposing a deeply tanned neck. That tan was an all-over one. Katie remembered that too.

The man was appallingly handsome. The kind of gorgeous rarely seen in the streets, that made ordinary people turn for a second, third, fourth look.

But it wasn’t only his smouldering looks that drew people’s attention. It was the energy that crackled from him. He had vitality—a kind of fire that drew everyone around him in. It was what had made his empire so massive, so quickly. Because of that smile and that aura of amusement, everyone wanted to lean closer, seduced by the self-assurance that glowed in his eyes.

More than self-assurance he had arrogance—a pure don’t-give-a-damn attitude that made him impossibly popular and his investments an unparalleled triumph. He looked ready for something far more enjoyable and intimate than business. He looked like a man with a wicked ability to have a good time. And he followed through on that appearance. He was irresistible—catnip to pretty much every woman in the world. And he was happy to be played with. But never caught.

Katie definitely remembered that.

Yet Alessandro Zetticci had faced hardship too. Katie was counting on that fact to make him human. Make him understand. Make him want to help.

Now she blinked again, breaking the mortifying immobility his appearance had engendered and stepped deeper into his domain. He didn’t greet her—didn’t say anything. His swift glance seemed to take her in and dismiss her all in one second.

‘I’m Katie Collins,’ she began, her embarrassment blooming in the face of his uncharacteristic frigidity. ‘I live at White Oaks Hall with Brian Fielding—’

He still didn’t smile. ‘I don’t need you to remind me who you are, Katie.’

‘I wasn’t sure you’d remember—’

‘How could I possibly forget?’ Displeasure and disapproval flashed in his eyes.

Faltering at his unfriendly demeanour, Katie licked her dry lips. She’d done nothing to him. Certainly she’d meant nothing to him.

Alessandro Zetticci had stalked into Katie’s life when he was a sullen fifteen and she a very shy ten. His father, famed Italian chef Aldo Zetticci, had just married Brian’s sister Naomi. Brian and Naomi were close, so Aldo and Alessandro had joined the extended Fielding family for holidays at White Oaks—much to Alessandro’s obvious resentment.

Only a couple of years later Aldo had died. Alessandro and Naomi had then clashed on the future of his father’s food empire. Brian had backed Naomi. Petulant and fiery, Alessandro had fought hard, flaring up at Brian’s interference.

‘If you go now, you’ll never be welcome back here.’

Brian’s banishment of Alessandro had terrified her at the time.

‘Don’t mention him again.’

Brian had whirled on her when she’d fearfully asked where Alessandro had gone. She’d been too young to understand everything, but had known that in no way had it all been Alessandro’s fault. In any case, Alessandro’s ideas for his father’s company couldn’t have been that bad, given he’d gone on to build his own business with such success.

He’d always been determined and strong. But from the look in his eyes now he was also unforgiving.

Katie cleared her throat and forced herself to speak anyway. ‘I have a proposition for you.’

One jet-black eyebrow arched. ‘How intriguing.’

His tone couldn’t have sounded less intrigued or any more dismissive.

Irritation stiffened her. She was too desperate to cope with casual dismissal. ‘I work at White Oaks,’ she carried on. ‘I’ve developed some sauces made from our produce. They sell very well.’

She paused, because so far he was bored-looking. Her desperation swiftly blew up to all-out pain.

‘Cut to the chase, Katie,’ he drawled. ‘What do you want from me?’

She was so thrown by the reality of Alessandro in the flesh, so intimidated by that look in his eyes, that she forgot the little speech she’d carefully prepared to try to convince him. It just tumbled out with no further preamble.

‘I want you to marry me.’

His eyes widened, the black heart of his pupils all but swallowed the fiery brilliant blue. The rest of him didn’t move. He didn’t even seem to be breathing.

‘Not for real of course,’ she hastened to add awkwardly. ‘In name only. And not for long.’

‘You want me to marry you?’ he repeated slowly. ‘That was not what I expected you to say.’

Katie tensed, unable to read his expression, but then he threw back his unfairly handsome head and laughed. It seemed he’d not heard anything as entertaining in eons. And it was utterly insulting.

Scalding emotion curdled the raw acid in Katie’s stomach. All her life she’d strived to meet everyone else’s requests and demands as she’d desperately tried to fit in and stay safe. But in this instance she was sick of staying silent and being good. Because almost no one ever asked what she wanted.

Fury filled her, fuelled by total humiliation. ‘I’m so glad I could give you a joke for the day,’ she spat sarcastically. ‘Forget I ever said anything.’

‘I’m unlikely to ever forget that.’

He strolled around his desk with deceptively casual strides, swiftly moving to where she stood, only three feet into his office.

‘What are you doing?’ Her voice veered up in an embarrassing squawk as he stepped deep into her personal space.

He didn’t reply. Instead he surveyed her dispassionately, rather as if she was a curiosity in a natural history museum. Then he leaned closer still.

‘Are you sniffing me?’ Outraged, she flinched away from him.

‘Yes. Have you been drinking?’ He reached out and grasped her chin.

Katie stilled, attempting to fix him with a furious gaze.

Unconcerned, he turned her face to one side then the other, intently studying her features. ‘On drugs?’

‘What? No.’ She jerked free of his hold. ‘Look, I’m perfectly sane.’ The truth slipped out, and so did all the hurt and hopelessness. ‘I’m just in trouble, and you’re the only person I could think of who might be able to help me. Obviously you can’t, so I’ll leave now.’

She turned sharply as emotions whacked her with a one-two punch. She’d never been as embarrassed or as violently angry. She suddenly spun back, slamming her fury into his face.

‘I don’t know why I thought you’d understand the desire to protect the person you love most—to prevent her losing the thing she loves more than anything,’ she yelled at him. ‘I don’t know why I thought you’d ever understand that!’

He stared at her for a long second, his mouth compressed. Sudden emotion flared in his eyes and he stepped forward. ‘Katie—’

She shoved past him, rage giving her strength, but just as she reached the door he slammed his hand high above hers to hold it shut, stopping her from storming out. She tugged, but couldn’t beat his weight or strength and the door remained sealed. She tugged harder.

‘Katie, stop,’ he said eventually.

Belatedly she stilled, realising too late what an exhibition she was making of herself. She breathed hard, trying to block the sensations caused by his invasion of her personal space. He was right behind her, leaning so close she could feel his heat. Something insidious shifted inside her. Something deep…something tempting. Something she intuitively knew she needed to ignore.

She closed her eyes in embarrassment.

‘You can’t just storm in, demand something so outrageous and then flounce off without an explanation. You need to speak,’ he added firmly. ‘Sit down and start from the beginning.’

She remained locked in place for another mortified moment. He was right. And she’d been so wrong. She should never have come—what had she been thinking?

But he wasn’t going to let her leave without a proper explanation. And didn’t she owe him that at least? Hell, she was every bit the useless idiot Brian had called her…

Slowly she released the door handle and pivoted awkwardly on the spot. Because Alessandro didn’t stand back to give her room to move. He still had his palm pressed on the door, as if he didn’t trust her not to try to escape again. He was still so close she almost felt giddy.

Breathe, Katie, breathe.

But she was looking into his eyes and all kinds of confusion clouded her mind. She’d been such a fool to think she could handle him.

He gazed at her, his clear blue eyes compelling and uncharacteristically serious. ‘Take a seat and talk to me.’

He suddenly swung aside so she could walk back into the room.

She quickly bypassed him and sank into the nearest chair, her knees strangely wobbly. ‘White Oaks is in debt,’ she said in a low voice. ‘Apparently we’re about to lose it. Susan doesn’t know.’

‘But isn’t it Susan’s estate?’ Alessandro folded his arms and leaned back against the door, still blocking the exit.

‘Yes.’

Her foster mother had lived there all her life—had inherited it upon her parents’ death. And now, as she faced the disease that was slowly killing her, it was her sanctuary. Katie couldn’t sit back and watch Susan lose it.

‘But she left the business side of it to Brian when her health began to deteriorate. She focused on the gardens—you know she loves them. All these years…’

She shook her head. She’d had no idea that the estate finances were so dire—that Brian had mismanaged everything so badly and hidden it, to boot. His betrayal hurt.

‘He only told me the depth of the trouble we’re in yesterday.’

Katie couldn’t let Susan lose all that was her love and her life. She’d thought the garden tours she’d organised and the sauce business she’d started would be enough to keep the books she’d seen balanced, but she’d been wrong.

‘Brian says he’s made a deal. If I marry Carl Westin, Carl will absorb our debt and Susan and Brian can stay at White Oaks.’

‘If you marry Carl Westin?’ Alessandro pushed away from the door and walked towards her, his gaze narrowing. ‘Of Westin Processing?’

‘You know him?’

Alessandro looked shocked. ‘He’s only a little younger than Brian—’

‘And a lot older than me, yes.’

‘Not to mention unreliable and—’

‘Creepy,’ she interrupted fiercely. ‘I can’t marry him.’

Alessandro rubbed his hand across his mouth, hiding the smile that felled a thousand women. ‘This is twenty-first-century London, Katie. I don’t think Brian can bully you into a marriage you don’t want.’

Discomfort clawed at her innards. Alessandro didn’t know the subtle ways in which her foster father had undermined her over the years. How did she explain something so complex? Explain that something so important had been shredded by stealth over time? By subtle comments and control?

‘There’s physical force, but then there’s the more emotional kind…’ Her throat tightened, shame silencing her. She hated her powerlessness, her lack of real strength.

The remnants of his smile faded as he watched her struggle to finish her sentence. ‘Your supposed debt to Susan?’

It wasn’t ‘supposed’. Susan had cared for Katie. She was the first—the only—person to have done that.

Katie had gone to them when she was almost two, when Susan had finally got Brian to agree to fostering after they’d spent years trying for children of their own. But Brian had never agreed to adoption, and there’d always been the threat that Katie could be sent back into the care system.

In truth, Brian was as controlling of Susan as he was of Katie. It was only that Susan seemed mostly blind to it.

‘She’s vulnerable.’ She glanced at Alessandro. ‘She’s in a wheelchair now. She can’t be left alone for long.’

As Susan’s neurological disease progressed, she lived in her own world, safe in the grounds of the estate. A world Katie cared for with her.

‘It would kill her to have to leave White Oaks.’ Katie had to keep it secure for Susan until the end. ‘It’s her life.’

She loved her gentle foster mother dearly. Susan had welcomed her, and they’d spent so much time together sheltered on the estate… Though over the last decade their roles had slowly reversed. Katie now read to Susan, kept her company and comfortable. She’d do almost anything for her.

But Katie couldn’t talk to Susan about how bad things had become financially, or about Brian’s insane plan—she was too fragile to be burdened with that. For a while now Katie had been shielding Susan from several problems Brian had wrought.

‘So, if Carl gets you, White Oaks stays safe for Susan.’ Alessandro summed it up bluntly. ‘But why does Carl want you?’

She flinched, hit by a hot flash of embarrassment. Yeah, she was hardly catch of the day. ‘You don’t think he finds me attractive?’ she mumbled, knowing her face was blushing beetroot.

He had the grace to shoot her a rueful look. ‘If he actually wanted you he wouldn’t woo you with an ultimatum like this.’

‘Maybe he can’t get anyone else to say yes to him? Maybe he thinks he’ll get an obedient wife?’ she said bitterly. ‘This way he’ll be able to control me. He’s used to getting what he wants, however he has to do it.’

Alessandro stepped towards her, the whisker of a smile in his eyes. ‘And you think I’m different?’

A hot fury built within her. ‘I’m sure you’re used to getting what you want. Fortunately you don’t want me.’

He blinked and that smile fully resurfaced. ‘How do you know I don’t want you?’

She laughed bitterly. ‘You never so much as looked at me.’

‘If I recall, the last time we met you were little more than a child. It would have been unacceptable in every way if I’d looked at you then.’ He angled his head. ‘But I’m looking at you now.’

As if that was going to make any difference!

‘Don’t bother,’ she snapped. ‘You have hundreds of gorgeous women you really want. All of them. At once—’ She broke off, realising she’d got herself into a quagmire of excruciating embarrassment.

‘Hundreds at once?’ he echoed with mild incredulity.

‘Oh, whatever.’ She shook off his amusement. ‘You know you don’t need to threaten a woman to get your way with her. You don’t need to use blackmail—emotional or otherwise.’

‘But that’s what Brian does to you.’ All amusement had dropped from his expression.

She drew in a deep breath and sighed. ‘He’s used to me doing what he says.’

Because she’d always worked to keep the peace, for Susan. But in asking this of her Brian had gone too far. It wasn’t a business deal he’d arranged, it was marriage—intimate and personal. And Brian’s brutal response to her refusal had horrified her. So she’d decided to figure out a deal of her own with the one man Brian despised. The only man she’d been able to think of.

‘But you’re not his daughter,’ Alessandro said.

‘Thank you for that reminder,’ she said stiffly, swallowing back the burn of pain.

It was stupid how much it hurt. There’d always been those little comments from Brian—constantly reminding her that she wasn’t family, that she had to be grateful and good, keep her on her best behaviour… The few times she’d tried to fight back, he’d squashed her.

‘I’m no blood relative to any of them.’

And that was what gave Brian even more power over her.

‘You don’t think of me as family?’ Alessandro asked.

She glanced up at him. ‘You weren’t there. How could you be?’

Alessandro had only appeared from boarding school during holidays and formal occasions. Her aloof ‘step-cousin’ couldn’t have been less interested in forming a relationship with his new family.

‘And thank you for that reminder,’ he echoed with a soft jeer. An arrogant smile curved his lips for a fleeting second. ‘I chose to leave—why can’t you?’

‘I’m not like you,’ she said. ‘I can’t just walk out. I can’t talk to Susan about it—she doesn’t know about any of this.’ Katie was protecting her on several levels. ‘I’d buy out the debt myself, if I could, but I have hardly any money.’

His gaze narrowed. ‘You said your sauces sell well?’

She bristled at his belittling tone. ‘They do okay. They’re even stocked in Sybarite, here in London.’

She’d been so delighted when the gourmet deli had put in a repeat order only a week ago, taking almost all her stock.

‘Sybarite? Wonderful.’ He said with light mockery. ‘Then why aren’t you paid accordingly?’

‘I put all the profit back into the business… I don’t need a lot personally.’

His eyebrows shot up.

‘I live in,’ she explained irritably. ‘I have accommodation and food. I don’t need fancy things.’

He skimmed a glance over her outfit and she shrank at the hint of disdain in his eyes.

But then she fought back. ‘I knew things weren’t good—that’s why I started the garden tours as well. I owe it to them to work hard…to help Susan.’

She’d heard that phrase so many times and Brian was right, she did owe them. They’d plucked her from a life of poverty and neglect… Who knew what her life would have been like if it hadn’t been for their generosity?

‘You don’t owe them the rest of your life,’ Alessandro said bluntly.

‘No, but I love Susan,’ she said fiercely. ‘And she needs me now.’

‘There’s no one else? Not her husband?’ he said dryly.

Katie froze at the disparagement in his tone. ‘All the times I’ve tried to stand up to Brian… In the end I’ve given in…’

‘Because of Susan?’

‘Yes.’

But Alessandro was right, wasn’t he? She didn’t have to sacrifice her whole life.

‘I guess because of her…he has a hold over me,’ she said lamely.

‘And I don’t?’

‘Of course not.’

But she couldn’t meet Alessandro’s eyes. He had a hold over her in a way that she could never admit to herself, let alone to him.

‘So you think that if you marry someone else then you won’t have to marry Carl?’

‘Yes.’

But when he put it as baldly as that it sounded crazy.

‘Why me?’ he asked.

‘Because you’re outrageous enough to actually do it,’ she said bluntly.

No one would expect the infamous playboy to settle, and somehow she thought he might enjoy that unpredictability.

‘And, according to the rich list, you have more money than you know what to do with.’

‘Now, that’s what I originally expected.’ His twisting smile held little mirth. ‘You want me to rescue White Oaks financially? Why not just ask me for the money? Why do we have to marry?’

‘Because it’s a language Brian understands. If I’m not married—without the protection of a man,’ she spat sarcastically, ‘I’ll still be controllable. If I’m married, he’ll back off. I don’t want just to be out of reach. I want to be repulsive.’

‘Repulsive?’ Alessandro echoed awfully. ‘And there’s no better way to do that than by marrying me? Wow.’ He leaned forward. ‘You make it sound so eighteenth-century… Will you be sullied for ever if you’re with me?’

‘Married to you, yes.’

She’d never forgotten the look of anger on Brian’s face when he’d seen an article featuring Alessandro in the newspapers.

‘Brian will hate that I’ve come to you.’

He drew in a sharp breath.

Katie suddenly realised what she’s said and sent him a contrite look. ‘I’m sorry—’

‘Don’t apologise for being honest.’ He watched her for a moment. ‘You’ll do anything to look after Susan?’

‘Almost anything.’ A welter of guilt swamped Katie.

His sympathetic glance was laced with sarcasm. ‘You’d rather sell yourself to a wealthy tyrant of your own choosing?’

‘That’s right.’

‘So, between Carl and me, I’m the lesser of two evils? The more attractive?’

A frisson of danger lent steel to his light query. She suddenly felt afraid of something, felt fear slicing through her too sensitive, too thin skin.

‘You’re temporary,’ she said bravely. ‘You like temporary. You never hold on to anything for long. Not women or companies. You take what you want and move on.’

‘You really think you’ve done your research on me, don’t you?’ He looked down at her, grimly thoughtful. ‘How can you go back there if you defy Brian so overtly?’

‘I think he’ll accept it when he realises his financial problems are resolved. And he’ll see he can’t reach me any more.’ She’d finally be free of his hold over her.

‘But what will Susan say about you marrying me for my money? Me, the spurned step-nephew, cast out all those years ago? Won’t she be disappointed in you?’

A flush of heat singed her skin. ‘I wouldn’t tell her… I’d have to…’

‘Fake it?’ he jeered softly. ‘Pretend you’re in love with me?’

‘It wouldn’t be for long. Then White Oaks will be safe and Susan can stay there for as long as she has left. Brian can’t bully us into anything. He can’t send either of us away if I own it. I’ll have the power.’

Alessandro regarded her steadily. ‘Sounds like a fine plan when you put it like that.’ He hunched down in front of her and whispered. ‘But what’s in it for me?’

She stared into his gleaming eyes, wondering how to convince him—playing to his sympathetic side seemed unlikely to succeed. ‘I thought you might enjoy it…’ she muttered.

‘What—being married to you?’ That tantalising smile curved his lips, all arrogance.

She blushed furiously. ‘Having revenge on them.’

He pressed his hand to his heart in mock distress. ‘You really don’t think much of me, do you?’ he said slowly, but that edge was still in his eyes.

‘You don’t want to take something from them when they took something from you?’

That glint sharpened. ‘What do you think they took?’

‘Your father’s company.’ She swallowed, remembering that fight and the fury with which Alessandro had stormed out of White Oaks.

There was a moment of pure stillness. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking behind those fiercely burning eyes. She only knew that he was thinking rapidly—but what he was thinking was clear only to him.

‘Hasn’t all your research told you I’m more successful than they are now?’ he asked sharply, standing up and stepping back from her. ‘I don’t waste my time thinking about the past. I don’t need their business. I don’t need your sauces. And I certainly don’t need your insane proposal.’

His rejection hit her in a low, dulling blow. Of course he didn’t. Of course she couldn’t convince him. She was a fool for having thought this could work, but it had been her only plan. She’d been desperate. She still was desperate.

But in the face of his displeasure she fell back into her automatic safety mode. ‘Sorry,’ she muttered tonelessly. She’d been conditioned for years to apologise when confronted with conflict. ‘I’m so sorry.’

Angrily, he muttered something in Italian. Something that sounded viciously impolite. ‘What did you think was going to happen here today?’

She had no clue. She’d not really thought at all. The mad idea had come to her in the middle of the night. He was the only man she knew with the resources, maybe the motivation, and truthfully he had been her only hope. So she’d sneaked out early in the morning and caught the first train to London.

‘What does Carl say about it?’ Alessandro almost snarled. ‘Does he know the bride he’s buying is so unwilling? Can’t you bargain a better deal with him?’

‘He came to see me last night.’ Her skin crawled at the thought of Carl and what he’d said to her. ‘I’d hoped he meant for us to be married in name only, but…’

‘He wants you to have his babies?’ Alessandro’s whole demeanour seemed to sharpen.

It wasn’t funny, it was foul, and it made her escape all the more imperative. ‘He said he’ll take what he wants.’

And apparently he did want her…like that.

Alessandro swiftly strode further away from her. ‘But you don’t want him?’

‘Of course I don’t!’ The thought repulsed her.

Alessandro stood on the other side of his desk, leaning on it. There was a moment as he studied her. She saw him take a careful breath.

‘What if you were to marry me?’ His expression turned speculative. ‘You wouldn’t want to—?’

‘No!’ she interrupted vehemently.

‘No?’ He smiled at the interruption, and that crooked curve to his mouth was sinful. ‘What if I wanted to?’

It was horrendous how attractive his smile was—and that lightness to his eyes…

‘Really? Does your ego need to get any bigger?’ She glared at him.

He’d already said no to her. She already knew he wasn’t interested. He was just teasing her now—his amusement was audible.

‘We both know you have millions of other options,’ she said, completely flustered. ‘I wouldn’t get in your way.’

His eyebrows shot up. ‘Wouldn’t you?’ he asked dryly, before a soft laugh escaped him. ‘You as my wife would be willing to just stand by and watch me with other women?’

She flushed, her brain sending her that one image she’d successfully blocked for years—until today. Because she had watched him with another woman once.

She’d come across them accidentally. She’d been walking through the orchards, alone as always, when she’d spotted them lying in a grassy patch beneath a heavily flowering apricot tree. He had been shirtless and his jeans had been undone, slipping down his thighs. The muscles of his broad, bronzed back had moved powerfully as he’d bent over the pretty student who’d been arched beneath him.

Her sighing whispers had been too soft for Katie to decipher from that distance. But she’d heard the wickedness in the tone of his low, murmured reply and the breathless, rapid response of the woman he was bestowing carnal pleasure upon. He’d literally been devouring her.

Katie had frozen—not even hiding—fascinated and appalled at the sight of such complete intimacy—at his raw masculinity. She’d been an extremely sheltered young teen, still figuring things out and not really understanding what she was seeing.

To be honest, she still didn’t understand it. She’d never met a man who’d made her want to act so wantonly despite the threat of exposure. To be that hedonistic, that caught up in a moment that she wouldn’t care who was around to watch…

After only seconds she’d fled, with the sounds of that woman’s delight echoing in her ears.

She’d told herself it wasn’t her fault. If he was going to pleasure his girlfriend in the orchard—where anyone could have seen them—well, that was his problem. But she’d flushed almost purple that night, when he’d finally graced them with his presence at dinner that evening, almost half an hour late.

‘Got held up,’ he’d offered—not an apology, just a careless fact.

She’d seen him again in the village a few days later—with a different girl hungrily kissing him in an alleyway. His apparent infidelity to that first girl had shocked her. There’d been another girl only a couple of days later.

It had taken the young and naive Katie a while to realise he wasn’t actually in a relationship with any of them. No commitment, no mess—only fun. Alessandro had been incredibly popular and he hadn’t been afraid to make the most of it.

And it seemed every woman who’d crossed his path since was as eager to slide her legs apart and let him do whatever he liked between them… He hadn’t slowed down any in the decade since that last summer he’d come to the estate.

Katie’s quick Internet search on the train this morning had thrown up a billion pictures of him with a billion different women. All beautiful. All as enthusiastic as anything, judging by the look in their eyes. Alessandro Zetticci was an insatiable, arrogant playboy. Which actually made him perfect.

But he wasn’t having her. She wasn’t interested in any of that.

Only now he’d rounded his desk again. He gripped the armrests of her chair, bending so that his nose was only inches from her own. Dawning brilliance lit his eyes.

‘Would you watch, Katie?’ he asked.

Did he somehow know about that awful, embarrassing secret of her past?

‘You’re trying to intimidate me,’ she squeaked. ‘It’s not going to work. I’m not afraid of you.’

He laughed. ‘Perhaps you should be. But perhaps I’m not trying to intimidate you. Perhaps I’m testing you.’

‘For what?’

He lifted a hand, lightly exploring her jawline with the lightest touch. ‘To see if I can seduce you.’

His touch ought to have been easily escapable, but she couldn’t seem to move.

Desperately she quelled the flare of heat deep and low in her belly and deliberately rolled her eyes. ‘Sorry. I’m immune. That’s why we’d be perfect together.’

‘I agree,’ he answered urbanely, but his eyes danced with devilish laughter. ‘Perfect together. In bed.’

‘I’m not going to sleep with you.’

‘So determined…’ His lips curled. ‘Afraid you might catch something?’

It was a low, teasing drawl, but there was a sharp warning underlying his tone that made her wary. She’d been offensively rude in her outright rejection of any kind of intimacy with him. But as if it was even a consideration! He was the one being rude now.

You did just ask him to marry you.

And she had implied that he was a complete man whore.

‘No.’ She flushed uncomfortably, because he kept switching from serious to teasing. ‘I’m just—’

‘Scared you might like it?’ he interpolated with a low chuckle.

Yes, this was the Alessandro Zetticci she’d read about—the irrepressible tease who worked hard but played harder.

‘You really can’t help yourself, can you?’ She glared at him in exasperation. ‘You think you can seduce every woman you meet!’

‘Most don’t need to be seduced.’ He shrugged, then muttered with outrageous insouciance, ‘Most are willing to let me do whatever I want before I even know their name.’

He was so close his words whispered over her lips…so close he seemed to see all her secrets. She closed her eyes—only to regret it instantly. Because now she was even more attuned to his nearness. His heat. His strength. His will. But she knew his words were designed to shock her, to repulse her. Because beneath the seductive slide of his whisper she still heard that steely anger.

She opened her eyes and glared at him. ‘I’m not most women. And I’m not challenging you. This isn’t about that and never will be.’ She drew in a deep breath. ‘If we marry I’ll have no expectations, put no restrictions on you. And I’d expect the same for you.’

He straightened, and from his towering height shot her a censorious look as if he’d suddenly become the epitome of virtue.

‘I may be many things, but a breaker of promises I am not. Even in a civil ceremony I’d promise fidelity, and I’d never break that promise. If you want me to marry you, you’d better agree to the same.’ He was very curt and very clear.

She slammed her hands on the arms of the chair to stop herself slithering down to the floor. Was he going to say yes?

‘You’d—?’

‘Honour our vows for the duration of our marriage. Of course.’

‘But—’

‘Does it really come as that much of a shock?’ He pinched the bridge of his nose.

‘It’s just that you—’

‘I’ve never got married before? No. Never had the desire nor reason to.’

Her jaw hung open. ‘Are you saying you’re going to—?’

‘I’m just ascertaining the rules in play before I decide,’ he pre-empted her coolly. ‘How many lovers do you take in a month?’ he asked. He immediately followed up with another question purely designed to shock. ‘I enjoy sex and generally have it regularly. I assume you’re the same?’

Katie shut her mouth and swallowed. How could he possibly think that she’d have anywhere near the interest he had?

‘The past doesn’t matter,’ she said briskly, fighting down the all-consuming heat this conversation was creating within her. ‘There’s only the future. Best not to dwell on what’s gone before. I’ll not be unfaithful, if that’s what you’d prefer. I have no problem with celibacy.’

‘Well, see…here’s the thing,’ he drawled with an impossibly wicked glint in his eyes. ‘I don’t like celibacy.’

‘We don’t need to be married long,’ she said crossly. ‘I’m sure six months will be long enough to…to…’

‘Ensure you’re left utterly undesirable?’ he finished for her tartly.

‘Get our business affairs straightened out.’ She threw him another exasperated look.

‘Six months of celibacy?’ He clutched his chest and gasped theatrically, apparently appalled at the suggestion.

‘Please yourself,’ she retorted through gritted teeth, goaded to the extreme.

He cocked his head and that devilish smile spread over his too-perfect face. ‘Is that what you do?’

CHAPTER TWO

ALESSANDRO KNEW HE was being outrageous, but he figured she’d asked for it by waltzing into his office and demanding not just money but his damned hand in marriage, whilst casting him as an insatiable libertine at the same time. She seemed to think he was some satyr, unable to control his voracious sexual needs.

Her ‘research’ had flicked his pride, and he’d been unable to resist retaliating by playing it up and making Her Total Primness here blush again. And then again.

Frankly, he’d only agreed to see her out of mild boredom. While he’d remembered her name, he hadn’t remembered much else—he’d always refused to spend any time dwelling on that painful period of his past. But his commonplace curiosity had grown acute when she’d determinedly waited almost two hours to see him, and he’d turned his mind to what few memories he had of her.

She’d been a shy little thing, always hiding in the orchard and the gardens of that massive estate. Pale and too quiet. But she wasn’t that quiet now Brian was trying to make her marry Carl Westin. And not now he’d provoked her.

She was much more interesting when provoked. In fact she’d invigorated what had been lining up to be a tedious day facing a trillion clamouring employees, all of whom wanted a piece of him because he’d spent the last couple of weeks crisscrossing the globe as he shed a stake in one company while acquiring two others. Frankly, he’d wanted a bit of a break.

He’d figured Katie was after money and he’d been right. But her marriage proposal alongside that request had come as a complete shock.

Alessandro had crossed paths with Carl Westin a couple of years ago and the guy was a total jerk. Alessandro might party hard, but he was upfront and honest about it. He didn’t cheat. Carl Westin did—in both his business and his personal life. No way was Katie Collins going to marry him.

But, as snappy as she might be with Alessandro, she was vulnerable to Brian’s bullying.

Brian Fielding, together with his sister Naomi, had forced Alessandro out of his home. They’d taken the company that should have been his. But, most appallingly, they’d all but killed his father.

He picked up his phone, but didn’t take his gaze off Katie.

‘Cancel my next appointment, please, Dominique,’ he instructed his assistant. ‘I’m not to be disturbed.’

His interest was rooted in her absurd request, right? Nothing else. Certainly not physical attraction. From what he could see, given the boring ponytail, she had nondescript brown hair. Her eyes were a mix of green and brown and gold—he supposed they were hazel. And hidden beneath those ill-fitting ugly clothes he suspected there were some tidy curves, but not exactly generous ones.

Alessandro had been with too many women to have a particular ‘type’ but, even so, if he’d passed her on the street he wouldn’t have given Katie Collins a second glance…

Yet there was something about her that was drawing the attention of his more basic instincts. The spark that sometimes lit her eyes, the slight pout of her soft mouth, the luminosity of her pale skin when she fired up… Yeah, it was those unexpected little flashes of spirit. He wanted to see more of them. Actually, to his total bemusement, he wanted to see her sparkle.

What he’d told her was true. He’d achieved far greater success than both Naomi and Brian had in their handling of his father’s company. But Katie was more insightful than he’d acknowledged. The chance for a little revenge was tempting. He could buy White Oaks outright and evict them all—claim Katie’s little sauce company and disband it.

If he wanted to, Alessandro could destroy everything that family owned.

That plan ought to be far more appealing than some mad idea of a mock marriage. But Katie had been desperate enough to come to him rather than run away… She really didn’t feel she could. She was desperate. He’d seen it in her eyes, in the way she’d pushed past her natural reticence and snapped at him when he’d tested her. In the way she wanted to do everything she could to protect the woman she regarded as a mother…

That was a desire he did understand. That was the only thing that might actually sway him. Because once upon a time he’d wanted to do that—but he’d failed.

Grimly he shut down that line of thinking. The wound was too deep to heal and too sore to dwell on. He focused on Katie, sitting rigidly in that chair, clutching her bag, too terrified for his conscience to handle.

‘Do they know you’ve walked out?’ he asked abruptly.

‘I left a note for Susan, so she doesn’t worry.’

Alessandro had always thought of Susan as the wraith of White Oaks. She was thin, and had been sort of otherworldly as she’d wandered about the vast gardens, directing operations. Brian had seduced the aging heiress, and he’d married her promising Susan everything. And yet it had come with a price. Because Brian, like his sister Naomi, had the gold-digging gene.

Alessandro’s father had lost everything because of Naomi. And now it seemed Susan might lose it all because of Brian, just as her health was deteriorating to the point of complete dependence. And with Katie as her designated carer…

He wasn’t seriously considering agreeing to her outlandish suggestion, was he?

But Katie’s proposition had fired a reckless burn in his blood that he hadn’t felt in a long time. It wasn’t all about the amusement of blocking Brian…it was the prospect of sparring with Katie a little more.

‘Is there no one else who can be the lucky guy?’ he asked.

His question about her sexual appetite had resulted in blushing speechlessness, which in turn had tightened his skin. How innocent was she? Surely not completely? No woman got to her early twenties without having at least one boyfriend.

‘Or am I the only one you thought of?’ he prompted when she didn’t immediately reply.

‘I don’t know anyone else to ask,’ she said in a small voice. ‘And not many men have your kind of money.’

He stared at her for a second and then laughed, enjoying her guileless ability to cut him down to size. ‘Well, at least you’re honest about why you’re here.’

No sex, please—she just wanted his hard cash. And in return he’d get cold, ruthless revenge.

‘We have to keep White Oaks for Susan,’ she said earnestly. ‘She’s vulnerable.’

Once again her loyalty struck that infinitely raw spot he thought he’d buried deep.

‘If you do what Brian wants and marry Carl you can keep it all,’ he pointed out with ruthless precision, even though every cell rebelled at the thought of her going anywhere near that jerk.

‘I shouldn’t have to sacrifice the rest of my life,’ she said fiercely. ‘They’d expect the marriage to last. But it’s my life. It would ruin my chances of having my own family in the future.’

Alessandro grimaced inwardly. Of course she wanted a family of her own. He couldn’t think of anything worse. He had no intention of marrying and having a family. Because, much as he’d disliked her judging tone, she was right—he had plenty of options and he liked variety in his life. One woman for the rest of his days just wasn’t going to happen.

‘I’ll work for them. I’ll care for her,’ she added vehemently. ‘But who I marry? That’s my choice.’

More memories stirred, adding to the discomfort brewing within him. He remembered those little digs at dinner. Brian always reminding her to appreciate their generosity in fostering her… Asking her wasn’t she so lucky to have been chosen by them? Telling her she’d better remember that and always be grateful, because otherwise…

He realised now that Brian’s underlying threat that it could all be taken away from her at any moment had been constant. He had no idea what had happened to her birth parents, but he recalled the mutinous looks she’d sometimes cast at Brian. He also remembered the pleading looks her foster mother had sent her—stopping Katie’s rebellion. Keeping the peace, keeping Brian happy, had been essential to her survival.

At the time Alessandro had been too consumed by his own bitter agony of loss to think about intervening. Now he remembered it, and a lick of shame at the emotional abuse he’d witnessed burned.

He’d done nothing about it. But he’d only been a teen himself, struggling to cope with what was on his plate already. And she’d seen something of what they’d done to him, hadn’t she? She knew that he’d argued with them, knew that he’d left and never looked back.

He released a tight breath, uncomfortable that she knew anything of that time. It wasn’t something he ever thought about, let alone discussed. Even so, she intuitively understood that part of him still wanted to make them pay. She understood because she had that need in common—even if she’d never admit it.

Fact was, she’d been lonely and insecure most of her life. Shy, romantic, idealistic. Of course she wanted a family of her own when she was ready and met the right man. Carl Westin wasn’t that man. But nor was Alessandro.

‘You know what it’s like to lose something—someone—you love,’ she said softly. ‘Won’t you help to stop that from happening to me?’

Yeah, she knew a little too much about him.

‘Are you trying to appeal to my generous nature now, Katie?’ he asked, as idly as he could.

‘I’m sure you can be a kind person…’

Meaning he wasn’t most of the time? Her challenge sparked the desire to retaliate, and he was almost undone by the urge to haul her to her feet and into his arms. He’d show her kind…

The surge of desire was shocking. And wrong. She already had the unwanted attentions of one man—she didn’t need them from another. He’d teased her before, but he had no intention of bullying her into anything intimate with him. No more of those jokes.

He curled his fists and shoved the inappropriate response back down deep inside. ‘So, either I do this because I’m kind, and I don’t want to see you suffer the same loss I did. Or I do it out of petty revenge…’ He sent her a perplexed look. ‘You can’t have it both ways, Katie.’

‘I only said that about revenge to persuade you.’ She looked adorably shamefaced. ‘I played it that way because you’re the only person I could think of who might possibly have a reason to say yes to me.’

He sucked in a sharp breath. Yeah, she was alone and isolated. Didn’t he know how that felt? And he’d had far more than her. For the first fifteen years of his life he’d had happy, loving parents…she’d never had that.

His concern for her grew when he thought of Carl Westin’s reputation, of Susan’s frailty, of Brian’s greed…

His father hadn’t been frail, but he’d been vulnerable in his own way. He’d badly wanted love. And he’d been taken advantage of just as Susan had.

Alessandro wasn’t going to let Katie be forced into marrying anyone. She needed some time out to see her way free of this puzzle. And she needed to feel in control. She obviously didn’t feel that she could stand up to Brian for long Maybe Alessandro could be her temporary fix-it guy. Just not exactly in the manner she envisaged.

He straightened up decisively. ‘What exactly did you have in mind? Do we announce our engagement immediately?’

Her jaw dropped. ‘You’re going to do it?’

‘For my sins. Yeah, why not? I’ll marry you.’ He nodded.

She looked like a terrified deer. She sat utterly still, with her head slightly angled, as if she sensed an unseen predator, was keenly aware of the lethal danger she was in. But then she moved. She almost dived into her bag and rapidly pulled out a piece of paper covered in handwritten notes.

‘I’ve thought it all through…’

She was suddenly a bundle of nervous energy, as if she was afraid he’d change his mind at any minute.

Of course he was going to change his mind—but she didn’t need to know that yet.

‘I imagine you’ve thought of everything…’ he muttered.

‘I didn’t sleep well last night, and I had all the train journey to finish researching.’ She was so engrossed in her explanation she didn’t even seem to notice his sarcasm.

‘What’s the plan?’

‘Las Vegas.’

He stared at her. ‘In America?’

‘Yes.’ She smiled brightly, as if he were a bit dim. ‘That’s the one. If we have our paperwork with us then it can be very quick. There’s an all-in-one hotel and chapel venue. It’s open all hours.’

Wow. She made it sound unmissable. And so urgent.

‘I imagine you do have your paperwork with you?’

‘I do.’ She nodded. ‘There’s a flight later this afternoon. Nonstop. We could catch it…’ She petered out as she saw the distaste on his face.

‘Are you talking about a commercial flight?’ he asked.

‘Um…yes.’ She stared at him.

‘You want me to drop everything and leave now?’

Was she really that desperate to escape Brian?

‘Would that be okay?’ She fiddled with the strap on her horrible fake leather bag. ‘We can be there and back in just a few days. I’ll be gone less than a week. The sooner it’s done…’

She paled as she looked at the screen of the tablet on his desk, and then colour rushed into her cheeks so quickly he wondered if she were unwell.

His entire body tensed. ‘Are you that afraid of him, Katie?’

She hesitated. ‘I’m afraid I won’t be able to say no to him for ever.’

‘But you can say no to me?’ He really shouldn’t feel as if that were a challenge.

She nodded a little too vigorously. ‘You have no reason to ask anything of me. I’m the last person a guy like you would want in his life. I’m no risk to you and you’re no risk to me.’

Instinct argued against that instantly. In fact, he wasn’t sure he’d heard a less true statement. That feeling was crazy…she was no threat to his business, his career, anything. Yet his sixth sense still warned him.

Did he really want to revisit the miseries of his past when he’d come so far? Would the Fielding siblings come after him?

Bring it on.

‘Once it’s all arranged with you—once we’re married—then I’ll get straight back and look after Susan.’

He checked at that comment and shot her a measuring glance. For Katie to spend her early twenties nursing her foster mother round the clock wasn’t healthy. She needed her own life, her own career. But he wasn’t about to go there—not yet. One issue at a time.

‘It’ll only be for a few months…to ensure Brian doesn’t try anything else,’ Katie continued in that rushed fashion. ‘You’ll get a stake in my sauce company, and you’ll get the property in the end—we just give Susan lifelong residency rights. You won’t lose any money…’

He waved away her breathy, too-earnest promises.

Katie Collins was in trouble. She just couldn’t see another way out of it. If he were to get her out of the country and away from Brian the bully for a while she’d have time to clear her head and see sense. He’d think up a better plan when he was more refreshed too.

‘I’m not going on a commercial flight.’

He checked his watch and made a few calculations. He could catch up on some work away from the constant interruptions in the office. She’d get the rest she clearly needed. They’d resolve it easily from there.

‘But we can still go today, seeing as you’re that impatient.’

‘We can?’

Her eyes shone, their amber centres flickering like fire. Her lips parted, reddened and soft, and her skin simply glowed. She was luminescent. Sparkling wasn’t the word—she was suddenly stunning.

Alessandro’s skin tightened. Suddenly he wanted to get closer and taste.

‘Thank you so much. I really appreciate your help.’

She sent him a huge smile of gratitude. As if he was some kindly uncle. Alessandro leaned closer, feeling that frisson of danger—of something forbidden—sharpen.

‘Don’t start thinking I’m kind, Katie,’ he muttered without thinking. ‘Because I’m not. I’m ambitious and I’m always out for myself. Everything I do stems from selfish motivations, so rest assured I’ll claim complete payment for this.’

Her smile froze. ‘Of course,’ she breathed nervously. ‘Whatever you want…all you have to do is ask.’

CHAPTER THREE

ALESSANDRO STARED, FLOORED by the husky innocence of her reply. He just needed to ask? He ground back the inappropriate, obvious response. Why was he degenerating into some lame jerk who took every chance to turn the conversation towards the sexual? Why was he thinking of sex at all around her? He refused to be no better than the bastard prospective fiancé she was escaping—full of unwanted amorous attention…

But at the same time Alessandro had never met a woman he couldn’t seduce. That wasn’t to say he’d slept with every woman he’d met, and he was hardly about to seduce Katie. That would be like a lion playing with a lamb. Disastrous for her and unsatisfying for him.

But as he studied her closer he discovered more—her delicate chin, her high cheekbones—and then he returned to her complex coloured eyes that changed with the light, or perhaps with her mood. Elfin-featured, fine-boned…she was stunning when he teased that worry from her eyes and replaced it with excitement.

And she was as aware of him as he was of her. He needed very little of his vast experience to know that.

Temptation tugged.

No.

He whirled away from her fascinating features, dismissing those wayward thoughts, and picked up his phone again instead.

‘Dominique, I need a report on Brian and Susan Fielding, owners of White Oaks Hall—business dealings as well as personal. I also need a complete update on Zetticci Foods. Latest financials, forecasts, reviews, analysis, new product offerings from the last couple of years, plus their performance and internal management structure. The same with any company Carl Westin is involved with. I want everything. Email it ASAP.’

He needed information and ammunition.

‘I also need the jet ready to leave for the States in an hour. Cancel all my meetings for the next…’ He mulled for a moment and factored in the travel time. ‘Five days.’

As always Dominique simply said yes, and Alessandro hung up.

‘I need your passport.’ He gestured to Katie, who was sitting with her mouth ajar. ‘For the flight manifest, border control conditions and so on.’ He waggled his fingers impatiently.

Katie snapped her mouth shut, wordlessly rummaged in her bag and handed the document to him. As he strode out to give it to Dominique he quickly flicked through it. None of the pages was stamped—which didn’t mean she’d hadn’t travelled, at least within Europe—but it looked almost brand-new. His curiosity sharpened.

Back in his office, she was still clutching the bag like it was some kind of protective shield.

‘Did you leave your suitcase out in Reception?’ he asked.

‘I…uh…no.’ She shook her head.

‘You don’t have any clothes with you?’

Her eyes widened.

He bit back another laugh, refusing to verbalise the next obvious innuendo.

‘Not even a toothbrush?’ A hit of pleasure warmed his blood at the prospect of getting her out of that plain skirt and into something that fitted her better. ‘It doesn’t matter. We’ll get you something over there.’

He had five days—an eternity in his usual high-speed schedule. This was a chance to lay old ghosts to rest and to enjoy a mild distraction. Hell, in five days he could easily seduce her into surrender—not complete, of course, just enough to soothe the irritation she’d inflicted on him. She might think he was a shameless playboy, but for all her protests she was not immune.

He smiled to himself. The satisfaction of her acknowledging that was going to be good.

All of which proved he’d been working too hard lately. It was past time for some play.

It was all happening so much faster than Katie had imagined—though frankly she hadn’t imagined any further than getting into his office, let alone actually convincing him to go to Vegas with her.

But not for five days. That was far too long to leave Susan. They needed to fly over today and back tomorrow. She’d suggest that to him a little later, though. She didn’t want to say anything that might make him change his mind before they were married.

Nervously she accompanied him to the basement, where a car and driver waited. A few moments later they were on the road to City Airport.

Alessandro took calls for the entire journey. In the majority of them he spoke in Italian, meaning that Katie didn’t understand a word, but his urbane, confident tones slipped beneath her skin, stirring a secret response she couldn’t bear to acknowledge.

She stared fixedly out of the window, trying to minimise his impact on her senses. He was too handsome, too powerful, too full of wicked humour that made her want to smile all the time.

And he’d agreed to go with her to Vegas.

Get a grip.

But the knots tightened in her stomach as they arrived at the airport.

Another assistant was waiting at the entrance to the private jet terminal and he handed Alessandro a folder of paperwork and a large paper bag. As they walked through the building Alessandro showed her the Sybarite deli logo stamped on the side.

‘I’m looking forward to tasting your work.’ His lips twitched and he leaned closer. ‘Lots of things you can do with sauce…sharpen up even the blandest of dishes, correct?’

She sent him a death look.

He laughed. ‘You’re easy to bait, Katie.’

Breathless, she failed to think of a reply. Why did she keep reading innuendo into everything he said?

Because he means you to.

He was an outrageous tease. While he’d been intimidating when she’d first arrived in his office, it hadn’t taken long till he’d flipped the switch to a playful side that was his natural, wicked self. It wasn’t actually anything to do with her. Except she kept overreacting.

She had to keep her response in check and not take him seriously—that would be no problem at all, right? All her life she’d played it safe—almost always backing down from causing a scene even when she’d wanted to, rarely disobeying Brian, never fighting back because Susan had been so anxious the few times she had. She’d invariably stayed within the rules her authoritarian foster father had set.

But Alessandro barely seemed to bother with rules at all.

‘You own this?’ she muttered as they swiftly walked through the terminal and onto the tarmac. To her ignorant eyes the immaculate plane looked brand-new.

‘I own a stake in a jet leasing company. Better for the environmental footprint if we share the private planes around a bit.’

He laughed at her withering look of disbelief.

Yes, Alessandro Zetticci had interests in as many companies as he had in women. Fiendishly energetic and astute, he had a knack for knowing what people wanted, what they liked, before they were even aware of it.

She knew he’d used that innate sophistication as a youth and set up his first venue. It had rapidly become the ultimate nightspot for high society, celebrities, models, wannabes… Then at the height of its popularity he’d sold it, taken the stellar profits and reinvested them into a new company—again using that innate foresight.

He created and then flicked on companies with the careless ease with which he traded women. From one company to the next, amassing a property portfolio and personal fortune at the same time.

‘What?’ Alessandro prompted as she paused to look up at the plane again.

‘It’s bigger than I expected.’

It seemed massive for just the two of them.

That smile hovered on his lips. ‘Oh?’

She shot him another death look. ‘Do you put sexual innuendo into all of your conversations?’

‘As much as I can, of course,’ he drawled, the wickedness in his smile deepening. ‘Being the lascivious playboy that I am.’

‘You’re only doing it to antagonise me now,’ she said.

‘Am I?’

‘Or you’re just practising your flirty banter. Which you don’t need to.’

‘Don’t I?’ A flicker of astonishment lit his eyes. ‘Why not?’

No man had ever spoken to her this way, and she’d certainly never answered back. But with a man like Alessandro offence was the best defence, wasn’t it? Surely she should fight fire with fire?

She glared at him. ‘Any woman with eyes would say yes to you. You don’t even have to open your mouth.’

He burst out laughing—all warmth and wicked energy. ‘But a closed mouth isn’t as good, Katie.’ He chuckled again and teased her. ‘Don’t you want to know what my tongue is really good at?’

Refusing to reply, she stomped up the stairs. She was still unable to believe he’d agreed to marry her. But that was him, right? Mercurial, maverick, mischievous. This must appeal to that renegade element within him that enjoyed wild, spontaneous adventures. Indeed, she heard him chuckle again close behind her.

‘You react so prudishly, how am I supposed to resist?’ he murmured.

She turned her head, taking the chance to look down on him for once. ‘You could just try being polite instead of trying to embarrass me.’

He sent her a fake wounded look. ‘But, Katie, I’m unfailingly polite.’

She knew he didn’t mean it. He was still laughing at her. She had the horrible feeling he knew she was too aware of him. Somehow she needed to keep him at a distance.

At the top of the stairs she shyly followed a uniformed crewman through to the main passenger section of the plane. She drew in a deep breath because it was stunning—luxury leather, gleaming chrome, plush carpet and an outrageous sense of space.

The crewman demonstrated how the extra-wide seats reclined and pointed out the stack of reading material stowed in a gorgeous side table with a glossy finish. Then he showed her a partition further down the back of the plane, beyond which was a beautiful linen-clad bed and a polished bathroom facility. It was pure decadent elegance.

‘Thank you,’ she murmured as the crewman disappeared back the way he’d come.

‘We have three pilots and one assistant for a flight of this duration,’ Alessandro explained as he put his folders, bag and tablet down. ‘If there’s anything you need just ask and it will be done.’

Three pilots? Some oxygen might be good right now.

‘Where are they?’ she asked.

‘Crew quarters.’ He sat in the seat opposite the one she’d taken and smiled as she fumbled with the seatbelt. ‘Are you okay?’

‘I haven’t travelled that much,’ she confessed with an embarrassed smile.

His eyes narrowed. ‘You’ve flown before, though, right?’

‘I went to Paris on a school trip, but we went on the train.’

‘You’ve never flown at all?’ he queried keenly, but then he smiled, and it was that wicked one. ‘Well, it’s always good to begin with the best. Start as you mean to go on, si?’

This was definitely the best. And Katie couldn’t quite contain her smile as she leaned back and looked out of the window as the plane taxied to the end of the runway.

‘You’re not scared?’ Alessandro asked, watching her curiously.

She shook her head, determinedly keeping her attention on the window as they took off. The view of the city was incredible. ‘It’s amazing…’ she breathed.

After a few minutes she glanced back at Alessandro, absurdly disappointed to see him engrossed in reading something on his tablet. She watched quietly as he swiped through page after page. His frown deepened as he took notes with the pen and notepad he’d balanced skilfully on his knee.

He might be a playboy, but he also knew how to work. That was what those ‘most eligible bachelor’ articles gushed about—not just his legendary woman-slaying status, but his second-to-none work ethic. He had to be driven to have achieved the success he had in only ten years. How had he managed it? Intelligent, determined, decisive…known for his deals…he was always ahead of everyone else.

She just didn’t want him to change his mind. So she sat silently, trying to blend into the background the way she did when Brian was in one of his moods. But she felt hot and uncomfortable, ridiculously aware of that bed behind her.

No doubt Alessandro would bring women on flights with him all the time—hit that mile-high club time after time in complete comfort. The crew certainly hadn’t batted any eyelids when they’d seen her with him. Who knew how many women he’d had in there? It was a den of debauchery.

‘You don’t want to lie down and rest for a while?’ He suddenly glanced up and seemed to pick up on the direction of her thoughts. ‘You’ve had a long day of travelling already.’

‘No, thanks,’ she answered immediately, her skin burning at the thought. ‘I’m fine.’

As he held her gaze his expression turned wickedly quizzical. ‘What are you thinking about Katie?’

‘Nothing,’ she lied.

‘So “nothing” makes you blush like that?’

Katie pointedly turned away and buried her nose in the nearest magazine.

Alessandro huffed out a tight breath. He was trying to keep his temper in check, but the reports Dominique had emailed over just before their departure were making it impossible. Brian Fielding might be hyper-controlling over his wife and Katie, but he was very much out of control in his own life. He was one of those jerks who thought he could have it all without doing any work—gambling not only with cards and chance machines, but with get-rich-quick schemes and insecure investments. One of which, ironically, was Zetticci Foods.

His father’s former company was in worse shape than Alessandro had realised. While Aldo had been a creative genius—an instinctive, outstanding chef, with innate knowledge and a passion for his work—since his death the company’s direction had faltered.

As CEO, Naomi had clearly gone for a splatter gun approach, throwing out a ton of new products and hoping one would hit the market. None had. She’d sacked every one of the chefs she’d brought on board over the years and then turned to her brother Brian for a cash injection.

And what Brian had told Katie was correct. They were on the brink of losing White Oaks, Susan’s home and inheritance. According to the brief report, the older woman was now wheelchair-bound and being cared for by family at home. Being cared for by Katie—because Brian was regularly travelling to conferences, active on local government board meetings…

Alessandro grimaced. Brian was all about the show.

He glanced up from the report, his gaze unerringly landing on Katie again. When she’d mentioned her sauces earlier she’d lit up enough to nudge his curiosity. He’d got an assistant to track down a sample from that deli and bring it to the airport.

‘Are you hungry?’ he asked.

She sent him a startled look, then swiftly averted her gaze. He watched with mild incredulity as yet another blush washed over her skin.

‘Katie,’ he mocked in a low voice, ‘you’re the one reading innuendo into everything I say.’

He had to admit he found it both amusing and arousing. The fact that she was so aware of him was a kind of balm—because her effect on him wasn’t just arousing, it was irritating.

‘It’s the way you look when you say it,’ she grumbled, glancing back to shoot him daggers yet again.

Hugely entertained, he cocked his head and muttered coyly, ‘Oh, I forgot…it’s my looks…’

‘You have no idea what it’s like for us mere mortals,’ she ground out.

She didn’t think herself attractive? He arched his eyebrows at her and waited.

‘We’re invisible,’ she explained when she finally got sick of his silence.

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