Vieri's Convenient Vows

‘Is that so? Clearly I am no good at this.’ Vieri took another sip of whisky and set the glass down beside him. ‘So, shifty-eyed, stilted posture, evasive and interfering. Is there anything else you would like to add?’

‘No.’ Harper pursed her lips to suppress a rogue smile. ‘I think that’s enough to be going on with.’

‘Bene, then we had better do something about it.’

Harper’s smile knotted inside her. Something about the glint in his eye told her she wasn’t going to like what was coming next. Ditto, his use of the word we.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I suggest we try some role play.’ Somehow he managed to make the idea burn with seductive intent.

Harper’s anxiety spiked. ‘Role play?’

‘Yes.’ His eyes travelled lazily over her increasingly tense frame. ‘A little role play will help us be more comfortable in one another’s presence.’

Being in Vieri’s presence made Harper feel many things but comfortable wasn’t one of them. And she strongly suspected that the sort of role play he was talking about would do nothing to help with that.

‘I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.’ She turned her head away, flustered, desperately trying to escape from the trap that was of her own making.

‘No?’ Rising to his feet, Vieri moved to stand in front of her. ‘Well, it has to be worth a try. Come on, up you get.’

Holding out his hands towards her, he gave them an impatient shake.

Harper swallowed, her mind struggling to come up with something to veto this crazy idea, the excitement tingling through her disobedient body already making this impossible.

Slowly she reached out towards him, preparing herself for the inevitable jolt of awareness that shot through her whenever their hands touched. And yep, there it was again, like a fizz of electricity running through her.

Pulled to her feet, she found herself standing mere inches from Vieri’s towering form, trapped by his height and power and sheer magnetic pull. And when Vieri lightly took hold of her shoulders, drawing her towards him, her heart, which was already beating double time, threatened to leap out of her chest altogether, to make a bid for freedom to prevent any further assaults on its ability to function.

But worse was to come. With a shudder of pleasure, Harper felt his hands skim over her shoulders and down her back, where they settled possessively on either side of her waist, spanning the waistband of her jeans. She tried to move beneath his possessive grip but that only brought her into closer contact with him and as their bodies joined she became acutely aware of his honed shape; the muscles that rippled beneath his broad shoulders, the granite-hard chest pressed against her breasts, the long limbs, one leg slowly edging between her own, sending a thrill of awareness through her as she sensed his growing arousal. Harper let out a gasp.

‘Hmm.’ Vieri moved his hands to her back and, lowering his head, whispered in her ear. ‘Interesting.’ Sweeping aside her hair, he very gently pressed his lips below her earlobe, before lightly travelling down the sweep of her neck. Oh, dear Lord. Eyes tightly closed, Harper involuntarily angled her head to allow him more access.

‘It seems we have found a connection.’ He raised his head and Harper opened her eyes to meet his. ‘Perhaps this won’t be as hard as we thought.’

Or a whole lot harder. Fighting to catch her breath, she moved inside his hold, intent on finding some control. But Vieri hadn’t finished with her yet.

‘Maybe we should try a kiss.’ He looked at her as if she were some sort of experiment. ‘In the interest of authenticity, I mean.’

‘I really don’t think that will be necess—’

But before she could even gasp out the words his mouth was on hers, with the lightest of touches, just resting there as if to see what might happen next. Harper’s breath stalled. No way could this be construed as a passionate kiss, not yet, but that didn’t stop it from feeling intimate, sexual, heavy with promise. With a thrilling certainty she knew just where this kiss could go, what it could lead to. And as Vieri increased the pressure she found herself responding, feeling the thrum of excitement explode inside her head as her lips parted and his tongue found hers, sliding against it, around it, softly persuasive, hot, wet and druggingly sensual, tasting and teasing in a way that made her whole body shake with longing. Pulling away, she just caught the briefest hint of surprise in his eyes before he lowered his head again to continue his relentless assault. She had no sense of how long it was before, light-headed from lack of air and the sheer, potent sexuality of the kiss, she finally managed to push herself away from him and drag in a gulp of air.

She tried to hide the tremble of her body. Never had she imagined a kiss could be anything like that, so intensely hot and wild and powerful, leaving her knees shaking and her ears ringing. It wasn’t as if she had never been kissed before. She had dated a couple of the local lads back home in Glenruie and it had been pleasant enough. Though not sufficiently pleasant for her to want to take the relationships much further. But she most certainly had never been kissed like that before. Thoroughly, utterly and completely possessed by a man who knew exactly what he was doing.

But it was just role play. Harper smoothed down her blouse, touching her lips with shaking fingers to check they were still there, that they hadn’t somehow melted or fused with the heat. What they had just done wasn’t real—whatever else, she had to remember that. Except now, of course, he had totally ruined her for any other man’s touch. Thanks for that, Mr Romano.

Bracing herself, she raised her eyes to meet his. And there it was, that assurance, the deeply held complacency of a man who knew exactly the effect he had had on her. It was almost as if he had branded her as his own. Well, they would see about that.

‘That’s quite enough of that.’ She deliberately moved away from him.

‘Really?’ A wicked smile played around his lips. ‘I was just starting to enjoy myself. I believe you were too.’

‘Whether or not either of us enjoyed it is entirely of no consequence.’ Harper pulled at the neck of her blouse. Why was it so damned hot in here?

‘Oh, I don’t know. I found it of considerable consequence.’ Mocking dark brows raised fractionally. ‘You may have noticed.’

Harper flushed violently. Why was it that Vieri was crowing over his physical attraction to her, whereas she felt she had to frantically try and cover it up? Because Vieri had been in control, that was why. Because he was used to seducing women, no doubt bedding a different woman every night, revelling in the power he had over them, using them to satisfy his casual sexual urges and then discarding them without a second thought. It was written all over his smugly arrogant face.

Well, there was no way she was going to fall for his smooth, well-practised seduction routine, no matter how good it might have felt.

‘We were supposed to be learning how to be easy around one another in front of Alfonso to try and make our engagement believable. Not getting involved with...’ she hesitated, hating the breathless catch in her voice, the way her cheeks still burned ‘...that sort of thing.’

‘That sort of thing?’ He was deliberately mocking her, loving every moment of her discomfort.

‘Yes.’ Her voice went up a notch. ‘You know perfectly well what I’m talking about.’

He certainly did. Vieri let his eyes travel slowly over her flushed face, lingering on the swollen pout of her mouth. His very physical reaction to her had taken him by surprise, as clearly it had her, the passionate nature of the kiss catching him unawares. He had thought himself firmly in control, never doubted it for a second but somehow, lost in the heat of Harper’s mouth, that control had slipped dangerously. In fact, if Harper hadn’t called time on their little role-playing exercise he wasn’t sure he would have had the willpower to do so himself. And then where would they be? In bed, that was where, at least if he’d had any say in the matter.

The image of Harper splayed across his bed had lodged in his mind and refused to be shifted. Her copper-coloured hair spread across the pillows, that shapely figure of hers waiting to be divested of its clothes, the no doubt sensible underwear he’d find and the pleasure he would take in slowly removing it. There was something incredibly sexy about Harper McDonald, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on, though his traitorous body would have him putting his finger pretty much everywhere. And that would be just the start.

He gazed at her now, at the way those remarkable tawny eyes glittered with a mixture of arousal and defiance. She really had no idea how attractive she was and that made a welcome change from the sort of women he usually found himself surrounded with who, frankly, suffered from the opposite problem. But it was more than that. There was an earthiness to her, a sensuality that was entirely unwitting, just a part of who she was. Perhaps it was her Scottish heritage. Somehow she conjured up purple heather and damp bracken and soft green moss and how it would feel to lay her down on such a bed and make love to her.

Enough! Moving a couple of steps away, he adjusted the fit of his trousers. Taking Harper to bed was not part of the plan. He just needed to remember that.

‘Well—’ he adopted a businesslike approach ‘—if you are sure we are done here, I will go and get on with some work.’

Turning to leave, he had reached the doorway when he remembered something. ‘Oh, by the way.’ He looked back to where Harper was still rooted to the spot. ‘I meant to say, there is a charity gala here in Palermo on Saturday. Alfonso is a patron. He would like us to go.’

‘Oh, right.’ She didn’t even try to hide the despondency in her voice and for some reason that riled him. He wasn’t used to his dates being anything less than wildly enthusiastic when they were chosen to accompany him to glittering social events.

‘You will need an appropriate outfit.’ He raked his eyes dismissively over her casual jeans-and-top ensemble. ‘In fact, you should choose several outfits. There may be a number of social engagements we need to attend while we are here.’

‘I see.’

‘My driver will be at your disposal. And obviously you will charge everything to my account.’ Still she refused to look remotely grateful. Weren’t women supposed to like shopping? ‘I trust that won’t be a problem?’

‘No problem at all.’ She tipped her chin haughtily. ‘It’s your money.’

‘Indeed it is. And you are, to all intents and purposes, my fiancée.’ Mounting irritation scored his voice. ‘So please make sure you choose appropriately.’

‘Yes, sir.’ She tossed her hair dramatically over her shoulder. ‘Heaven forbid that I should embarrass you in any way.’

Vieri ground down on his jaw. Embarrassment was not one of the emotions this infuriating young woman stirred up in him. But right now he had no intention of examining the ones that she did.

‘Bene, that’s settled, then.’ He turned and strode from the room. Suddenly the need to put some space between them seemed vitally important.

CHAPTER FOUR (#ulink_6961b32b-afdc-5b85-a2ba-49e3fe83c5e3)