The Price of Scandal Read online

  There were bands of dark colour etched along the angles of his razor-edged cheekbones as he picked her up and kicked the half-open door with his foot as he strode into the moonlit room beyond.

  He pushed aside a pile of cushions, pointless furnishing at any time and right now a damned obstacle, and laid her down on a sofa.

  Shining hair spread out around her face, the invitation shining in her luminous eyes, she took his breath away. He wanted her so much that the ache went bone deep, yet still he didn’t respond to that invitation. He sat there on the edge of the sofa anticipating but wanting to stretch this moment, glutting his senses on the visual feast.

  She looked like every impossible fantasy he had ever had made flesh—warm, soft, inviting flesh.

  She shifted, a sinuous feline wriggle of her hips that made the blanket ride higher, revealing another inch of thigh as she held out a hand to him.

  He took it and she drew him to her until he lay curved over her, one foot braced on the floor, the other beside her. One hand on the arm rest above her head, the other beside her face, he lowered himself slowly, experiencing a fresh kick of lust as she gasped, her eyes flying wide.

  ‘That is how much I want you.’

  The intimate pressure in the soft flesh of her belly, the smouldering intensity in his face sent a rush of scalding heat through her body. ‘I want you too.’ She did, with a desperation that bordered physical pain.

  This was THE MOMENT, the one she had imagined half her life. The one she had begun to think might never arrive, or, worse, might arrive and she might not notice.

  Her fears now seemed foolish; this was not something a person could miss.

  She was unable to hide her need; her hunger shone in her eyes as she kept her steady gaze trained on his face. Holding his eyes with her own, she reached for the hem of the blanket, arching her body into his as she peeled the blanket from the sofa before lying back down.

  Whenever she had imagined this moment Neve had thought she would feel self-conscious, but now it had arrived she felt anything but. The expression of driven need stamped on his dark features as his glance glided slowly down her body did not make her feel insecure, it made her feel gloriously self-assured and womanly.

  ‘Bellezza mia, you are…’ Severo shook his head; words failing, he stared down at the slim body beneath him. ‘You are ravishing,’ he said, peeling her light top over her head before thickly reaching for the peak of one breast that strained against her bra.

  ‘I think you’re beautiful, the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen.’

  His laugh momentarily eased the tension that drew his strong patrician features taut.

  ‘But you probably already knew that—you seem to know what I’m thinking before I do.’

  ‘I know what you want before you do too, cara.’ His lean dark face was intent as he peeled back the lacy covering to reveal the smooth curve crowned by a sensitive straining rosy peak.

  With a groan he lowered his head and pulled it into his mouth, unclipping the front catch as he did so.

  The sensation of his mouth and hands on her, teasing her, stroking her, was indescribable. Grabbing his head, sinking her fingers into his silky black hair, she held him there against her breast.

  She writhed beneath him, totally giving herself to the exquisite pleasure of his caresses.

  Her hands slid under his robe. She felt him gasp and her hands moved slowly down the strong, powerful, muscled curve of his back. She stroked his skin, marvelling at the satiny texture, revelling at the extraordinary power and strength of his incredible body until he flinched.

  Gasping a breathless apology, she belatedly recalled his injury. The thought of his pain made her stomach muscles clench.

  ‘I’m sorry. I hurt you.’

  His smoky gaze swept her face. ‘If you stop it will hurt more.’

  Inside her she felt a deep pulse awake, throbbing with a rhythm that vibrated through her body as she arched her back as he began to tease her sensitised nipples, his hands kneading each breast in turn until finally she begged him to stop.

  Severo lifted his head. ‘Too much?’ His eyes slid over the sleek supple curves of her delicious body. He did not think he could ever have too much of her.

  Her nipples, still damp from his ministrations, tingled as the air hit them. He slid her pants down over her thighs and she lifted her legs and kicked them away, wanting no barriers between them. Without warning he lowered his body onto hers until they lay flesh on flesh.

  When she replayed it in her head later Neve identified this as the moment her brain switched off and her instincts kicked in, the moment when everything that was not Severo ceased to exist. For a heartbeat everything stopped, time was suspended, and when it started again she was on fire.

  She surrendered totally to the hunger in her veins, hunger that roared like dry tinder caught in the path of a forest fire—Neve was on fire. She gave herself up completely to the heat, responding instinctively to every touch, every caress, kissing him back, touching him.

  When he pushed into her with his body she pushed back, nipping at his neck while she reached with shaking hands for the belt of his robe.

  Breathing hard, dark bands of colour highlighting the high patrician contours of his cheekbones, Severo rolled onto his back to give her access. Neve, panting as if she had been running, fumbled, her trembling eagerness making her clumsy. Dark features taut with driving need, Severo removed her hand from the folds of his robe and then, holding her gaze took her small hand, separating her fingers and curling them over his erection.

  He sucked in a breath hard and gave a hissing sigh as her grip tightened. Then, crushing her to him, trapping her hand between them, he bent his head and kissed her on the lips with hard, bruising pressure, kissing her as if he’d drain her.

  She could feel the tremors that shook his powerful body as he continued to kiss her while his own hand moved over her slender curves, caressing her everywhere, making her ache.

  It was terrifying and it was marvelous. She was shaking with need as his hand skated across her stomach, then his lips were there, his tongue tracing a wet line over her aching flesh. She twisted sinuously under him, her hands sliding down his sides and along the quivering flanks of his powerful thighs.

  He kissed his way back up her body; the leashed power in his body acted like a narcotic on her senses. She couldn’t get enough of him. She pushed her face into his neck, tangled her fingers in his hair and pressed her curves into the hard angles of his body as she greedily breathed in the warm male scent of his skin.

  As he settled over her she slid her hands over the stubble on the sides of his face and gazed into his eyes, seeing reflected in the dark depths the same hunger that was driving her.

  ‘This feels perfect.’

  ‘It will be,’ he promised thickly.

  Severo was struggling to retain control; it was a struggle he was losing. He slid his hand between her legs, his fingers touching her hot slickness making her cry out and move restlessly against his hand.

  ‘Please, I can’t…this…it’s too much…’

  His glance travelled from her heaving breasts to her flushed face and without a word he reached for the robe on the floor and pulled a foil packet from the pocket. Then he parted her thighs and, still without a single word, he slid between them.

  ‘Look at me, Neve.’

  She did.

  He smiled down at her, a fierce smile that made her heart thump. ‘Just relax. Remember, just think of me, of this.’ Misinterpreting her sudden tension he promised, ‘I can make it good for you.’

  And he did. He slid into her before she could tense, wrenching a shocked gasp from her parted lips. The pain was fleeting and she was far more focused on the incredible sensation of having him hard and hot inside her, of being filled and stretched by him.

  ‘Per amor di Dio, he breathed, his eyes glittering black as he gazed down into her face. ‘You’re so hot and incredibly tight.’

  Wh
en he began to move her dormant instincts that had been waiting for this moment kicked in and she rose to meet him, her back arching, her hands grabbing his sweat-slick shoulders for support as they moved together in perfect harmony, all the time their eyes sealed electric blue on black.

  There were no words. Their bodies were communicating on a primal level that eliminated the need for speech. There were sighs and gasps, keening moans of need, but no words, not until the last moment when the explosion inside was peaking and Neve closed her eyes.

  ‘Look at me, cara. I want to see. I want to see it in your eyes when you come.’

  She responded to the raw urgency in his voice and opened her eyes at the climactic moment of release. Swept away on a tidal wave of throbbing sensation, she was aware of Severo crying her name out as he drove into her hard one last time and then, shuddering, he lay on top of her breathing heavily.

  When he rolled off her Neve stared at the ceiling with shining eyes.

  She turned her head. ‘That was utterly incredible.’ She framed his face between her hands and Severo opened his eyes. ‘I suppose you know that you’re incredibly good at that.’ Without waiting for him to reply, she shook her head. ‘Of course you do.’ She let go of his face and put her head on his chest.

  ‘A man always likes to hear these things.’

  ‘So does a girl. Not that I expect you to tell me I’m the best sex you’ve ever had, but a well done might be nice.’

  This made him laugh until he realised that she was the best sex he had ever had. ‘I had no idea I was meant to grade you…next time I will remember.’

  She angled a shy look at his face. ‘There’s going to be a next time?’

  ‘Oh, I think so, don’t you?’

  Chapter Nine

  NEVE lay with one arm curved above her head, a contented cat-who-has-had-the-cream smile curving her lips as she emerged from a slow, sensuous kiss.

  Even now after they had made love he kissed her like a starving man.

  ‘You know what I’d like now?’

  ‘Give me five minutes…’ His glance drifted to her pink-tipped perfect little breasts and he added thoughtfully, ‘Or possibly two?’

  Her eyes flew open. ‘Not that!’

  That she could blush after the things they had just shared amused him; her husky laugh made the hairs on his nape stand on end.

  ‘Rejection!’ he said, adopting a crestfallen expression. ‘And after you told me I was the best—I suppose you say that to all the boys.’

  Neve’s lashes lowered in a protective sweep and she wondered what his reaction would be if she admitted there were no others. ‘Idiot!’

  ‘So what do you want?’

  ‘Food. I’m hungry.’

  ‘You are very demanding.’

  Severo raised himself on one elbow, watching as she gave a feline stretch and announced, ‘Actually, I’m starving.’

  He shook his head and pushed a damp coppery curl from her brow. ‘I’ve never met a woman like you before.’

  He would actually have been amazed to learn there was another woman like her. Neve was, he decided, a one-off—unique.

  Never met a woman like her before? Slept with, more like.

  Wariness drifted across her face, dulling the sparkle of pleasure shining in her eyes.

  She had been surprised when he had not appeared to realise that it was her first time. There had seemed to be no reason to explain her embarrassing lack of experience afterwards, but maybe she should? Especially if he was, as his comment suggested, comparing her unfavourably with his previous, obviously more experienced lovers.

  Would it make a difference if she told him she was a fast learner?

  ‘What sort of woman is that?’ she pressed cautiously.

  ‘One who demands I feed her after sex, but then,’ he mused, pulling himself upright, ‘I’m not usually around.’

  There was a pause before Neve, distracted by the sight of him padding stark naked and totally unselfconscious across the room, responded to the strange comment.

  ‘Not usually around?’ With the candlelight making his skin gleam like burnished gold he made her think of a classical Greek statue come to life. She felt her libido stir lazily—he really was utterly magnificent.

  ‘I never spend the night.’

  Neve’s eyes widened. ‘Never!’

  Severo pulled a cold cooked chicken from the fridge. ‘Never,’ he confirmed, adding, ‘Chicken sandwich?’

  ‘Fine.’ Neve rolled onto her stomach and, chin resting in her hands, followed him with her eyes. The strange thing was he didn’t appear to think he had revealed anything very extraordinary. ‘Never?’

  She was no expert, but that seemed more than unusual. Was he a man who had perfected sex but not even reached the learner class where relationships were concerned?

  He flashed her a look, puzzled by her prolonged interest in the subject. ‘I like my space and I bore easily.’

  The casual admission caused the breath to leave her lungs in one gasp. She pulled herself into a sitting position and asked, ‘Would you like me to sleep upstairs?’

  Planting the plate of sandwiches on a table beside the sofa they occupied, Severo levelled his frowning scrutiny at her face.

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  She tossed him a haughty look. ‘Well, I wouldn’t want to bore you.’

  He sat down beside her. ‘You’re beginning to now,’ he lied, unable to imagine this woman ever boring him. Aggravating, provoking and generally driving him crazy, but not boring!

  Severo watched as she snatched a sandwich and bit into it, glaring daggers at him as she did.

  ‘Are you going to tell me what I’ve done or should I guess?’

  ‘Those poor women—how do they put up with you?’ The probable answer to that question still shook her body with intermittent after shocks—he not only looked like a god, he made love like one too. ‘Wham, bam, thank you, ma—’

  The rest of her words were lost in the heat of his mouth.

  When his head lifted they were both breathing hard. ‘You feel sorry for my lovers?’

  She felt jealous of his lovers, past and future. Neve stared at him mutely, shocked by the flash of insight she could have done without.

  ‘Or is this about you?’

  ‘How could it be about me? This is a one-night stand.’ This little piece of magic would vanish like a dream once the real world intruded. But she didn’t want to think about that now. This was her time, a time to indulge her fantasies free from the normal constraints.

  And Severo was definitely her fantasy made flesh—perfect flesh.

  ‘Possibly…’

  Neve stared; the intimate ache between her thighs was making her thought processes slow. ‘What do you mean “possibly”? How often are we likely to be snowed in together?’

  ‘I don’t generally need snow to keep a woman happy in bed.’

  The arrogant assertion drew a scornful laugh from Neve. ‘My, you really do think a lot of yourself,’ she sneered, thinking, I only have a night—why am I spoiling it arguing?

  Anger tautened his jaw. ‘I have never told lies to get a woman into bed.’ And he had never made so much effort to convince one to stay there.

  The question was why?

  The answer was not complicated: she was the best sex he had ever had.

  ‘I want to spend the night with you.’ He did not realise until he spoke how true this was.

  Neve stopped chewing.

  ‘Because there’s no place else to go?’

  He leaned across and brushed a crumb off her chin. ‘Because I want to.’

  It was enough for him; he did not feel the need to dig deeper—why should she? His glance drifted across her face.

  ‘And I do have six months to make up for.’

  And I have a lifetime to make up for, she thought. Cramming a lifetime into one night would take some doing, but she was willing to try. It was strange—hours earlier she had never even thou
ght of herself as a sexual being, now she glowed with the discovery of this essential womanly part of herself.

  ‘That’s a lot of making up,’ she said, lifting a hand to stroke his cheek.

  ‘One night might not be enough.’

  Neve’s hand stilled. ‘What are you saying?’

  What was he saying? ‘We could meet afterwards.’

  Neve looked away, but not before he had seen the doubt in her eyes.

  Having to persuade a woman—he could not even bring himself to think beg—was a totally alien experience for him.

  Severo did not like it.

  ‘We don’t know anything about one another. We might not even live in the same country!’

  ‘So tell me about yourself.’

  The instruction made her blink. ‘It’s really not that sim—’

  ‘I know you have a stepdaughter, so do you have any other family?’ Hovering on the outskirts of Severo’s thoughts was the knowledge he was actively seeking information he normally avoided.

  ‘Just a brother. Our parents died when I was fourteen.’

  ‘Where do you live?’

  ‘What is this—online dating?’ Neve protested.

  ‘It does not matter how much information you feed into a machine, it cannot predict the spark of sexual attraction that draws two people together. Compatibility is not about a postcode, science or a shared love of literature, it is about chemistry.’

  Without thinking, she found herself nodding her total agreement.

  ‘I live in London.’

  For someone who had just been pretty dismissive about postcodes, he seemed pretty smug about this news. ‘I have several homes. One is in London—we are neighbours.’ His glance shifted from her face to the depleted plate of sandwiches and back. ‘You have eaten enough now?’

  She nodded.

  Without warning he took hold of her hips and dragged her down the sofa before lowering himself on top of her. ‘Finally, I cannot kiss you when your mouth is full.’

  It wasn’t and he did, then he began to kiss other parts of her and Neve thought she might die from the sheer bliss of it.

  When Severo awoke during that half-light time just before dawn he had lost the feeling in one arm. He eased it out carefully from under Neve’s body, trying not to disturb her.