At Her Latin Lover's Command: The Italian Count's Command / The French Count's Mistress / At the Spanish Duke's Command

Lazily the dark eyes lingered on her with such boldness that it felt as if he were ripping off her clothes. Stupid, she told herself. He was young, good-looking and virile, and probably gave all women the glad eye.

‘A few days or so,’ Guido drawled, his lips wet and seemingly bloody from the red wine he was drinking. ‘If that’s acceptable.’

‘Of course.’

She tried to sound enthusiastic for Dante’s sake but her instincts were to recoil from him as if he were a venomous snake.

Maybe she had become super-sensitive—a downside of pregnancy, perhaps? Guido hadn’t affected her like this in all the time she’d known him at the London office. She knew his reputation with women from office gossip and that he had a rather cavalier attitude of ‘love ’em and leave ’em’. Although she’d never liked him, these feelings of extreme revulsion were entirely new.

‘The weather’s vile in England,’ he confided. ‘I look forward to swimming and sunbathing by the pool with you both.’

The thought of exposing her body to Guido’s lecherous stare almost made her throw up. Hastily she took a sip of her drink and put it down again guiltily as Dante threw his brother an indulgent look.

‘We’ll catch up on business, Guido, then we can all have a lazy day chilling out.’ He turned to Miranda. ‘You haven’t christened that new bikini yet, have you?’

Vowing to plead a headache—or at least to wear the boring one-piece—she stretched her lips in the shape of a smile.

‘That’s for your eyes only,’ she said shakily.

Guido’s eyebrow shot up. ‘Sounds interesting! Bit revealing, is it?’

She gagged and covered that up with a series of coughs while Dante playfully punched his brother’s shoulder.

They began to discuss their plans for the next day. Either it was her imagination, or Guido was watching her like a hawk. She shivered as his gaze wandered to her cleavage and it seemed that something vile was crawling over her skin. She couldn’t stand any more of this.

‘Look,’ she said, standing up suddenly and prompting the men to leap from their seats again. ‘I hope you don’t think this is rude, and I know you’ve only just arrived, Guido, but I’m very tired. I think I’ll go to bed or I won’t be able to cope with Carlo in the morning.’ She flashed a smile at both of them, though only with Dante did her eyes warm as well. ‘Goodnight, darling.’

Deliberately she walked over, put her arms around Dante’s neck and kissed him tenderly on the mouth. His arms closed around her, his mouth hardened its pressure for a brief moment as if he wanted to deepen the kiss and then he released her.

‘Goodnight, Miranda,’ he said softly.

She smiled. Inviting him with her eyes. ‘Don’t stay up late,’ she whispered, her hand lingering on his chest.

‘No,’ he promised. ‘I won’t.’

She sensed that Guido was tense and disapproving and forced herself to walk quickly past him in case he expected a goodnight kiss too.

‘’Night,’ she said to him with a casual wave, and headed a little unsteadily for the door.

‘I’ll just nip out and tell you what I’ve brought, in case you want some of it upstairs now,’ Guido said, shooting after her.

Her stomach somersaulted and she hurried into the hall.

‘Don’t bother. I can manage with what I have,’ she said sharply.

But he was right behind her and she had to increase her pace even more to avoid his cloying aftershave and the little prickles of fear that attacked her whenever he was close. She was part way up the stairs when he spoke, calling up from the hallway.

‘Dante tells me,’ he murmured, ‘that you and he have patched up your differences. Does that mean he’s forgiven you for being unfaithful?’

‘I wasn’t unfaithful!’ she cried indignantly. ‘I told you that,’ she reminded him, ‘when you came around to see me after he disappeared and I rang your office to see if he was there—’

‘Well,’ Guido said with a shrug, ‘you have to admit that even by your version of events, it looks bad. I think he’s a saint to put family honour second and I told him so, just now.’

Annoyed, she turned around to face him, crushing her panic with an effort.

‘We’re sorting our own lives out, Guido,’ she said coldly, afraid that his interference might ruin everything. ‘I think you can leave it to us to work out a solution.’

Guido looked her up and down in a rather insulting way and she couldn’t prevent herself from shuddering.

‘I can see why he wants to forgive, even if he can’t ever forget. He’d be a fool not to want you back in his bed. That body of yours would tempt a monk. Though I imagine he’ll loathe himself for giving in to his urges. Dante’s got high morals.’ He heaved a melodramatic sigh. ‘I don’t suppose he’ll ever be able to put your infidelity out of his mind. Every time he makes love to you, he’ll be wondering about your lover and how his performance matches up—’

‘I think you’ve said enough!’ she whispered, white with anger.

‘I am concerned for my brother’s welfare.’ He paused. Then asked, ‘Are you one hundred per cent sure there was no man with you that night?’

She stared, unable to answer. She had a flashback of hot breath on her face, those rough hands…

Miranda’s eyes grew huge with horror. No. She wasn’t sure. A shudder went through her at his look of triumph.

‘There you are!’ he murmured. ‘And one other thing worries me.’ He looked up at her slyly. ‘Are you hoping to milk him for all he’s worth?’

She gasped. ‘How dare you?’ she whispered, hoarse with fury.

Guido shrugged. ‘I can’t see any other reason for you to hang around. No normal woman would be able to stand being touched by a man who doesn’t give a damn about her.’

‘I only have your word for that,’ she said thickly.

‘On the contrary. You have his.’

Guido came closer, holding her captive with his intense gaze. Frozen to the spot on the stairs, she knew he was going to tell her something she didn’t want to hear but she felt compelled to listen, to know the whole truth.

‘Why do you say that, Guido?’ she croaked.

‘He’s just told me. He was laughing, saying that now he had the inheritance, the title and his son. And the services of a sexy woman whenever he chose to snap his fingers.’

‘I—I don’t believe you!’ she rasped, wishing she could sound more convinced.

‘I’m the only one who tells you the truth,’ Guido assured her. ‘You knew nothing of our uncle’s will or its conditions until I explained them. Dante kept that a secret from you. I am the only person you can trust to tell it how it is. Remember that, Miranda, when—’

‘Do you need a hand to carry any luggage up?’ Dante called and soon appeared in the doorway of the salon.

‘I don’t want anything that’s down there in the hall,’ she said, making a point of including Guido in the sweep of her gaze. Her head reeled. She didn’t know what to believe now.

‘I think I’ll come up, anyway.’ Dante came forward and slapped his brother on the back. ‘Your room’s second on the left. See you in the morning for that chat about business. Help yourself to whatever you want.’

Guido’s eyes gleamed and rested briefly on Miranda. ‘Generous of you,’ he said with a low laugh. ‘Thanks for the offer. I will do just that.’

And she felt her spine ice over. The brothers hugged and said their goodnights. Sick to the stomach and unreasonably scared, she turned and began to make her way slowly up the stairs.