One Christmas Night In...: A Night in the Palace / A Christmas Night to Remember / Texas Tycoon's Christmas Fiancée

‘I have already invited you to call me Dmitri,’ he said. ‘It would please me if you did so.’

‘Strange as it might seem, I’m not particularly interested in pleasing you,’ she said sarcastically. ‘I’m sure there must be some woman in your life who might take exception to you being alone here with me.’

‘Some woman?’

Lily’s mouth tightened at the mockery in his tone. ‘You’re perfectly well aware of what I mean!’

‘Yes, I am.’ He gave a slow smile. ‘And there are no women in my life at present, Lily.’ He lifted a silky strand of her hair before slowly allowing it to glide across his fingers. ‘But perhaps there is a man in England who would not approve of you being alone here with me?’

Lily thought briefly of Danny, and just as instantly dismissed him; despite his belated good wishes for the holidays she knew that relationship was well and truly over. ‘I’m the one who doesn’t approve of being alone with you!’ she said.

‘Is this colour natural?’ Dmitri’s gaze followed the path of his fingers as they combed lightly through the hair at her temple.

It was the very lightest of caresses, and yet it was enough to cause her breath to catch in her throat. ‘What do you mean?’

He gave a slight shake of his head. ‘I have never seen hair quite this colour before. Like sunlight caught in moonbeams.’

‘Very poetic,’ Lily muttered dryly, unnerved in spite of herself. ‘And, yes, of course it’s natural.’

‘It is beautiful,’ he breathed softly.

Lily’s blood pounded hotly through her veins just at the touch of his gentle fingers. She was fully aware of both the heat and power of his body as he stood so close to her, and the aching of her nipples as they hardened against the soft material of her bra.

‘Stop this right now.’ Lily backed away from his disturbing touch, the air rushing back into her lungs evidence that she had actually stopped breathing for those few brief minutes of physical closeness to him. ‘I have no intention of becoming some sort of—of plaything to help you while away the hours until your sister and Felix return,’ she said shakily, her fingers now gripping the strap of her bag so tightly that her knuckles showed white under her skin.

To make matters worse, Dmitri appeared completely unaffected by their recent closeness as he allowed the hand that had caressed her temple only seconds ago to drop casually back to his side. ‘Pity,’ he murmured.

Lily felt colour warm her cheeks. ‘Could you show me to my room now?’

Dmitri looked down at her admiringly. Possibly only five feet two inches tall, and likely weighing only half as much as he did, she nevertheless had absolutely no qualms whatsoever in challenging him at every opportunity. Telling him more clearly than anything else could have done that, no matter what she might say to the contrary, Lily did not feel in the least physically threatened in his presence. Not in a violent way, at least …

Dmitri had been involved with far too many women not to recognise her physical response to him; her breath had hitched in her throat, her skin had become flushed and her nipples had become a hard temptation beneath the soft material of her sweater. Oh, yes, on a physical level Lily was certainly aware of him.

Just as Dmitri was completely aware of her—much to his own surprise.

His taste had always tended towards tall and dark-haired women, with curvaceous bodies. Lily was none of those things, being petite with silver-blond hair, and possessed of a slenderness that would have tended towards boyishness if not for the firm swell of her breasts.

And yet her skin had felt like warm velvet beneath his fingertips, and her hair smelled of lemons and cinnamon—no doubt from the shampoo that she used. Her eyes were so deep a blue they were like huge lakes that a man might drown in. As for her mouth … Dmitri had never before seen a mouth quite as sensually full and perfect for kissing, the top lip slightly fuller than the bottom, and both so perfectly curved he’d briefly become lost in thoughts of having the fullness of those lips wrapped hotly about his—

Basta!

Even having such thoughts proved he was behaving just like a man in need of a ‘plaything’—as she had accused him of being only minutes ago!

Except Dmitri knew that under different circumstances he would have enjoyed kissing Lily as intimately as he could easily imagine her kissing him, seeking her heated centre and drinking his fill as he tasted her with his lips and tongue and brought her to the pinnacle of pleasure.

Definitely enough!

Lily appeared to be completely ignorant of her brother’s plans with regard to Claudia. In fact, her only crime seemed to be that she was Felix’s sister. As such, it would be totally wrong of Dmitri to even think about taking advantage of the fact that they were completely alone together now.

He ran a hand through his short hair and sucked in a frustrated breath. ‘If you will come with me …’

Lily followed slowly along behind the Count as he walked from the room, pulling her now-obedient suitcase—the traitor!—behind him. Whatever he had been thinking these past few minutes, the hard glitter of his eyes and grimly set jaw showed her that it hadn’t been pleasant.

But then neither had her own recent thoughts been, concerning her recent reaction to the merest touch of his fingers.

What had all that been about, anyway? Oh, admittedly the man was sinfully, wickedly handsome—temptation on legs, in fact—but the reasons for her being here with him were hardly conducive to her becoming aroused by him!

All other thoughts flew out of her head, however, as he stopped in the hallway to hold a door open so that Lily could enter ahead of him. She came to an abrupt halt in the centre of the room as she found herself in a sitting room almost as big and certainly as elegant as the one she had just left. Was this room to be her own private sitting room?

Apparently so, as Dmitri was taking her suitcase into the adjoining bedroom and placing it on the stand at the bottom of a four-poster bed that looked big enough for six people to sleep in comfortably. A slightly dazed Lily was given no time to admire the very feminine room as he opened another connecting door, turned on the light and revealed the most decadently appointed bathroom she had ever set eyes on.

The floor and walls were tiled in cream and terracotta coloured marble, with a shower unit in smoky glass in one corner of the room that also looked as if it would accommodate half a dozen people. But most exquisite of all was the huge sunken bath surrounded by potted plants, the jets along its sides making it look as if it was also a hot tub.

A gilded cage, indeed …

But still a cage, Lily reminded herself heavily, and she turned away from that decadent luxury, brushed past Dmitri and walked back into the bedroom. She sat down on the side of the bed, uncaring that everything spilled out of her handbag beside her as she dropped it on the bed.

She had been so looking forward to seeing Felix again—to spending Christmas with him, exploring the beauties of Rome with him and Dee. And instead there was no Felix, no Dee—only this man and the opulent splendour of the Palazzo Scarletti.

Oh, Lily didn’t blame Felix in the least for this mess. No, in her eyes Dmitri was the one responsible for everything that had happened today. Lily hadn’t known him for very long—only a hour or so—but if his overbearing behaviour towards her was an indication of the way he treated his sister, then she didn’t believe Claudia had dared tell him she didn’t want to become engaged to Francesco Giordano tomorrow, let alone that she was in love with someone else. He had left Claudia and Felix with no choice but to run away together today.

The whole concept of an arranged marriage in order to unite two powerful families was barbaric, as far as Lily was concerned, and now she had met Dmitri Scarletti, in all his arrogant implacability, the fleeing couple had her complete sympathy.

Yet Lily could have broken down and cried with disappointment. She’d so wanted to explore the Rome she had only glimpsed on the drive here …

‘Lily?’

Her eyes glittered brightly with unshed tears as she looked across the room at Dmitri. ‘Would you just go away and leave me alone now?’ she asked huskily. ‘I’d like to take a bath and then maybe a nap.’ Possibly for the whole week of her intended stay in Rome! Or at least for however long it was going to be until this present nightmare was over!

‘You—’

‘Will you please just go?’ Lily stood up and glared at him.

Dmitri chose to ignore the aggression in her tone as he returned her gaze. Lily was very pale now, her eyes appearing over-bright in contrast to her pallor. With anger? Or something else? Unshed tears, perhaps?

No doubt it had been something of a shock to find that her brother was not in Rome to meet her, let alone to find herself an unwilling guest of her brother’s employer. Well, ex-employer. Felix’s employment with Dmitri had come to an end the moment he had learnt the other man had secretly been seeing Claudia these past two months!

Yes, Dmitri mused, the past few hours had definitely been a nasty shock for her …

‘Of course.’ He nodded, preparing to leave. ‘We will eat dinner at eight o’clock, if that suits you?’

She roused herself enough to eye him scathingly. ‘I hope, in view of the fact that all your household staff have now departed for the Christmas holiday, that you aren’t expecting me to cook it?’

Whatever her emotions might or might not have been a few minutes ago, she was obviously now back in true fighting form! ‘No, I am not expecting you to cook dinner,’ Dmitri assured her dryly.

‘Nor breakfast and lunch, either.’

He gave a rueful smile. ‘Do not worry, Lily, I assure you I am perfectly capable of preparing food for both of us for the length of your stay here.’