Stolen Bride

‘In the car?’ she said blankly. ‘With you? All the way to England?’

He smiled mockingly at her. ‘I think you have the gist of the idea.’

‘On my own, with you?’ she added again, just to be quite certain.

‘Of course,’ he said casually. ‘It would be a business arrangement.’

Her head jerked up and she stared him straight in the face, her pulse suddenly thundering in her ears.

He gazed blandly at her. ‘But it would be to our mutual benefit... and even enjoyment, I hope.’

She licked dry lips. So that was it. She might have known there was a price attached. ‘You want me to...’ But she couldn’t say it. Couldn’t bring herself to put into words what Finn might be suggesting.

His fingers brushed her cheek. Her voice when it came seemed very old and far away. ‘Go to hell,’ she told him.

His fingers paused, then he tipped her face to his, his eyes darkening as he took in her exasperation. ‘I do believe,’ he drawled, ‘that you think I’m expecting you to go to bed with me.’

Her heart was jumping so much she felt like it was bouncing into her throat. ‘What other kind of a proposition would a man like you make?’ she asked.

His hand slid around the back of her neck and drew her closer. ‘Would you accept?’ he asked.

She sat upright, her nerves twanging at his tone and his touch. ‘What do you think I am?’ she asked miserably.

‘The question is,’ he corrected softly, ‘what do you think you are? Since the idea of you paying your way by going to bed with me wasn’t actually what I had in mind.’

A slow flush crept up her skin at his words, flooding her throat and then her face until she was crimson. ‘It never occurred to me that a man like you could have any other sort of proposition in mind,’ she said as bitingly as she could.

‘Well, if you’re willing to consider it, I am,’ he drawled. ‘What exactly did you have in mind? Instalment payments?’

Her hand made a sharp cracking sound on his cheek before she had consciously thought of retaliating.

But before she could withdraw her hand his fingers enclosed her wrist and he was staring at her, his eyes inky pools. ‘You count yourself so little,’ he said harshly. ‘And other people even less. Do you really think I am the kind of man who would blackmail a woman into bed?’

The look in his eyes was too searing, too probing. She twisted away from him and looked in silence at the woods. ‘I don’t know what kind of a man you are,’ she admitted at last. ‘Except that you must be crazy to be helping me like this.’

‘Did your family make you this suspicious?’ he asked softly. ‘This jumpy?’

‘It’s none of your business,’ she replied. ‘I don’t want to talk about it.’

She knew without looking that he was leaning towards her, moving close. Too close for comfort. She pressed herself against the door and turned to face him. ‘Don’t touch me!’ she yelled in sudden panic. ‘Don’t you dare!’

‘What would you do if I did?’ he demanded. ‘Have a fit of the vapours?’

She gasped as if he had slapped her, but he continued, ‘Don’t you want to know what I was going to suggest? Or are you planning on running up that road all on your own? Because I guarantee you won’t get very far.’

She tore her eyes away from him and stared at her hands. ‘What was your proposition?’ she asked in a small voice.

‘I want some inside information about your family,’ he said. ‘I’m writing a new book, and you’re perfectly placed to tell me all sorts of things I would never be able to find out otherwise.’

Her heart sank. ‘You’re barking up the wrong tree,’ she said dully. ‘I keep telling you. You’ve got it all wrong about my family.’

He shrugged. ‘I’m willing to take the risk,’ he said. ‘Provided you tell me what you know.’

‘But I don’t know anything,’ she burst out. ‘Truly.’

He shrugged. ‘Then I’m the loser. But I’m willing to take that chance. I’ll take you to England, and when we get there you can tell me what you know. Is it a deal?’

She lifted her hands helplessly. ‘You’re just...’

‘Is it a deal?’ he repeated.

Cara dropped her hands and sighed. ‘How long do you think the journey will take?’ she asked.

He shrugged. ‘Three, maybe four days. Maybe less.’

Four days on her own with a man she had never met before. She looked into his blue, blue eyes and felt herself beginning to flush a deep red. ‘It’s... impossible,’ she said. ‘I don’t even know if I can trust you.’

For one split second he looked absolutely exasperated, then he calmly leant over her once more and pushed the door open. ‘Give my love to Luca, won’t you?’

CHAPTER TWO

CARA looked at the woods, sunk in shadowy silence, the sun glinting through the trees, then at Finn. ‘I don’t have much choice, do I?’ she asked softly.

‘You made your choice back there in the church,’ he said quietly. ‘Now you have to decide whether to go on or back down.’

She gazed steadily into his face, the nodded. ‘Okay,’ she said as decisively as she could. ‘I’ll come.’

‘Attagirl.’ He smiled encouragingly, and to her astonishment she felt herself beginning to smile back.

‘Right, come on,’ he said briskly. ‘Out of the car.’

‘Out?’ she echoed. ‘But we’re in- the middle of nowhere!’ Suddenly she looked at him with new eyes, their previous conversation doing nothing to stop the panic spattering through her veins. ‘What are you going to do?’ she whispered. ‘You’re not—’

‘A part-time rapist?’ he supplied softly, a look in his eyes she couldn’t quite interpret. ‘Or maybe a mad axe murderer?’ He shook his head. ‘No, these days I seem to get my kicks out of ruining Mafia weddings.’

‘My family hasn’t got anything to do with the Mafia,’ she said hotly. ‘I keep telling you.’

Finn looked disinterestedly out the window. ‘If you say so,’ he said calmly. ‘Maybe I’ve got this all wrong, after all. Maybe I should just drop you off here. And then you can go home, explain everything in that wonderfully persuasive way you have, and everything’ll be hunky-dory.

‘Your uncle will be terribly understanding, of course, and Luca...’ He paused. ‘Well, Luca will probably just have a couple of aspirin and a lie-down in a darkened room and then forget all about it.’

‘Leave my family out of this,’ she snapped.

He leant towards her. ‘Honey, I would love to leave your family out of this. But I don’t think that’s quite what they have in mind. The sooner we get to England and I get some protection for you, the better.’

Their eyes locked, and Carenza bit her lip. ‘Why do you want me to get out of the car?’ she asked steadily.

‘Because we need to do something about that dress,’ he replied. ‘It’s just the tiniest bit of a giveaway, don’t you think?’