The Sicilian's Innocent Mistress

The two couldn’t have been more unalike; Grant was a six foot blond, and the woman at his side a tall red-haired siren. The only features they appeared to have in common were their height and those moss-green eyes.

‘Darci,’ Luc acknowledged, his dark gaze holding hers as, instead of shaking the hand she held out to him, he raised it to brush his lips across her creamy knuckles.

Her hand felt soft and warm in his, her fingers long and slender, and her perfume—something elusively musky—at once assailed his senses.

Darci guardedly returned Luc Gambrelli’s gaze from beneath lowered lashes, even as she congratulated herself on the fact that she hadn’t had to ask to be introduced to him after all—that he had come to her.

Not that she was too surprised at that. She had noted his dark gaze on her when she’d arrived with Grant earlier this evening, and several more times when she’d happened to surreptitiously glance his way. No doubt in a theatre full of celebrities the fact that he had no idea who she was had something to do with that interest.

Although she was a little less pleased with her success now, as he bent his head over her hand, those dark eyes openly flirting with hers as his lips brushed against her skin.

Kerry’s warning came back to haunt her…

Aged in his midthirties, Luc Gambrelli was just as lethally attractive as he looked in media photos. But more so. The flesh-and-blood man exuded a leashed power, the force of which couldn’t possibly be captured in a photograph. His body was lithe and muscled, in a black dinner suit, snowy-white shirt and black tie, and that overlong burnished gold hair was completely at odds with his olive complexion, his deep chocolate-brown eyes and very white teeth. He raised his head to give Darci a slow, wolfishly appreciative smile while still maintaining his hold on her hand.

But his reputation, and the cold-hearted way he had used and then discarded Mellie, breaking her heart in the process, made Darci determined not to be in the least impressed by his heart-stopping good looks, that pulse-racing Sicilian charm, or the nerve-tingling huskiness of his voice as it moved as silkily across her flesh as his lips had seconds earlier.

‘Mr Gambrelli,’ she returned coolly, as she extricated her hand from his, and she returned his gaze defiantly but uninterestedly.

‘Please call me Luc,’ he invited, heavy lids narrowed now over speculative brown eyes.

‘Of course.’ She gave a terse nod, deliberately not returning the politeness.

‘And are you involved in movie-making, too, Darci?’ he enquired. ‘An actress, perhaps—?’

‘I’m afraid not.’ Darci’s reply was dismissive as she levelly returned his flirtatious gaze.

A look that more than piqued Luc’s interest. ‘I believe Jackie is in need of your assistance in handling the media, Grant,’ he told the younger man lazily, while keeping his gaze firmly fixed on the beautiful Darci.

‘Hell,’ Grant muttered, as he turned and saw that Jackie, a complete newcomer to the stardom that had hit her overnight after starring in his movie, was stuck in a corner with a few of the more voracious members of the press. ‘I had better go and rescue her,’ he said. ‘Darci—’

‘I will ensure that Darci does not become too bored in your absence,’ Luc assured the other man, and he reached out to once again take hold of Darci’s hand and draw it into the crook of his arm.

This man didn’t miss a trick, did he? Darci acknowledged with an inward scowl, as she felt the hard, disturbing warmth of Luc Gambrelli’s body against her arm as he anchored her to his side.

Grant grinned at the older man. ‘Take it easy on my little sister, hmm, Luc…?’ he warned dryly.

Luc gave the other man a mocking inclination of his head, totally aware of the tension in Darci Wilde’s body as she stood beside him.

Totally aware of everything about her. From the glorious scented red hair that he longed to bury his face in, to the beauty of her red-lacquered toes that he wanted to kiss through the black strappy evening sandals she wore. Before slowly working his way up the sultry curves of the rest of her body to those voluptuous breasts….

Most men, he knew, had a particular part of a woman’s body that they preferred to any other—legs, bottom or breasts. But Luc couldn’t say he had ever before thought of a woman’s breasts as being his own particular preference. He would definitely make Darci Wilde the exception!

Grant’s grin widened. ‘I should warn you, Luc—it takes a lot to impress my little sister,’ he advised, before strolling off determinedly to rescue his leading lady.

Darci gave a rueful smile as her brother left her alone with this wolf—in wolf’s clothing!—without so much as a backward glance.

Not that Grant had any idea of her ambivalent feelings towards the Sicilian film producer. There were some things you didn’t confide even in a twin, and Mellie’s humiliation at Luc Gambrelli’s hands was definitely one of them!

But, even so, her brother had to be well aware of Luc Gambrelli’s reputation with women—

On second thoughts, Grant probably saw leaving her to the legendary lethal charms of Luc Gambrelli as a huge joke!

Although whether Grant intended that joke to be on her or on Luc Gambrelli, she wasn’t quite sure. Grant was as aware of her own elusiveness when it came to relationships as he had to be of the other man’s will-o’-the-wisp attitude towards them.

She turned to the man standing so arrogantly beside her. ‘I believe you did that on purpose,’ she murmured mockingly.

‘True,’ Luc Gambrelli drawled unrepentantly. ‘Is what Grant said also true, Darci?’ he prompted as he moved slightly, effectively cutting her off from the rest of the room.

‘That I’m not easily impressed?’ she rejoined. ‘What do you think?’ she prompted provocatively.

He raised dark blond brows over those melting chocolate-brown eyes. ‘I don’t believe you are ready yet to hear what I’m thinking,’ he came back throatily.

Darci blinked as he returned her provocation tenfold, the intimacy of his tone telling her exactly along what line his thoughts were wandering.

As if the dark caress of his stare as he slowly moved it across her face to trail down the length of her body wasn’t already making her completely aware of that!

Well, she wasn’t some shrinking violet, or a relatively unknown actress who was hoping he would give her a break in her career; she was twenty-eight years old and a doctor, and she was going to take great delight in letting this man know that she really wasn’t impressed by anything about him.

She stepped back, deliberately removing her hand from Luc Gambrelli’s arm as she did so, amazed at how much easier she found it to breathe now that she was no longer so aware of the hard warmth of his body. ‘Try me,’ she invited challengingly.

Appreciation lit those dark eyes as he grinned at her. ‘Would you like a detailed account or just an overview?’ he came back easily, so obviously a consummate flirt.

Darci calmly took a sip of her champagne as she seemed to give the question some thought, inwardly fighting a battle not to wipe the confident smile off Luc Gambrelli’s arrogant face. Not yet, anyway.

She’d had every intention of having the pleasure of giving Luc Gambrelli a royal set-down this evening, if he should show interest in her, to let him know that he really couldn’t have every woman he wanted. But just these few minutes in his company had shown her that his interest in her was certain. Those dark brown eyes easily conveyed the depth of his physical attraction to her.

So much so that Darci couldn’t help wondering if she shouldn’t take this a step further than just this evening….

There were a couple of ifs involved in that plan, of course….

If Luc Gambrelli should actually ask to see her again.

If she had the nerve to actually agree to seeing him again, knowing she had no intention of keeping that date!

She looked up at Luc and allowed her green eyes to meet his unblinkingly. ‘The detailed account, I think,’ she invited coquettishly.

Grant Wilde’s sister was becoming more and more of a surprise to him the longer he spent in her company, Luc acknowledged appreciatively; he was no longer just attracted to her luscious body, but also to the sharp edge of her tongue and the intelligence he could read in the depths of those moss-green eyes.

She was Grant’s twin, so Luc knew she had to be aged in her late twenties, and, beautiful as she was, she must have received more than her fair share of male attention. And it was attention she obviously had no difficulty in dealing with.

The fact that there wasn’t even the slightest blush on her cheeks as she encouraged him to voice the intimacies he would like to share with her confirmed that.

He gave a slight inclination of his head. ‘Perhaps we should go somewhere a little more—private, for this conversation?’ he suggested softly.

Darci continued to survey him coolly. ‘I was only suggesting that you tell me your thoughts, Mr Gambrelli—not that we put any of them into action!’ she told him tartly.

‘Ah.’ He smiled. ‘My mistake.’