Scandals Of The Powerful: Uncovering the Correttis / A Legacy of Secrets
There was a flutter in her stomach that wasn’t just from nervousness as he continued speaking. ‘Wear something nice.’
‘Nice?’
‘Formal.’
Emily frowned. She didn’t want formal; she wanted a small cafe where they could properly talk. She didn’t have time to shop for something nice for some fancy restaurant. But already he was gone.
Emily heard the bells of the church and realised she had less than an hour to get ready. She headed back to the hotel and dashed up to her room. The only formal item of clothing she had was the dress she had brought in the vague hope of squeezing into the wedding, but surely it was far too much for dinner?
She really didn’t have much choice.
Emily was used to getting ready at a moment’s notice, but as she did her hair and make-up, there was a slight tremor to her hand at the prospect of dinner with Anton.
Why hadn’t she pushed for his surname before agreeing to dinner with him? She could have looked him up and found out whom she was dealing with.
Emily pulled on the silver dress and strappy sandals she had brought with her and piled up her hair, pinning it in place. A couple of long blond curls kept falling out, but glancing at the clock, she knew there wasn’t time to fix it. She looked in the mirror for one final check before heading down to the foyer, worried that she was ridiculously overdressed.
She need not have worried.
Anton had changed into a suit, and though still unshaven, with his hair brushed back he looked elegant and expensive. Yet there was an edge to him, a touch of the untamed as he watched her approach, and his eyes told her he approved as to her outfit choice.
Navy eyes, Emily noted, and smiled as she added another detail to tonight’s dream.
‘I didn’t get your surname?’ Emily said as he took her elbow and they walked out into the street and to his waiting car.
‘I did not give it,’ Anton responded. ‘Do you really think I want you quoting me?’
‘No....’ She was more than a little nervous now. His low black sports car was as expensive looking as he was, and as the door closed on her and he climbed in, she knew he could be taking her anywhere. ‘I do like to know who I’m dealing with, though. You could be anyone.’
‘So could you,’ Anton pointed out, starting the engine. ‘Do you usually go out for dinner with men you have only just met?’
‘In my line of work, yes,’ Emily said in a rather hopeless attempt to remind him that she was here only for business, except she knew she was fooling herself.
Despite what Adam might think, Emily was, in her own way, tough. She kept her wits about her at all times. She had to in her line of work. Yet around Anton she was struggling to keep her head. From the second he had stepped into the elevator, he had been heavily on her mind.
Emily sneaked a look at his strong profile. He was easily the sexiest-looking man she had ever been out with, but it wasn’t just his looks that attracted her to him; it was the mystery and the intrigue that she found intoxicating. She could not read him. He handled the car with ease. He was far from tense in the heavy traffic. If anything he seemed a little bored by the roadblocks set up for the coming wedding. The crowds gathering and spilling out onto the streets did not faze him either. Yet there was an edge to him she could not place, a guardedness in his responses that told Emily he did not readily welcome intrusion.
‘You have a question?’ As if he could feel her scrutiny, he turned to her.
‘I have many,’ Emily said as he turned his attention back to the traffic.
‘Go ahead.
‘Who are you?’
‘I thought you wanted to find out about the Correttis.’
‘I do, but—’
‘Keep your questions to them.’
They pulled up outside a very smart restaurant. People were lined up outside and Emily was glad that he had booked ahead—Anton wasn’t exactly liberal with small talk. The car door was opened for them, and it was clear the doorman knew him because there was a brief greeting. As she walked into the restaurant, Emily blinked. The place really was sumptuous, the guests elegant. The smell of herbs and garlic had Emily’s mouth watering.
Instead of being led through to the main restaurant, though, they were taken upstairs. Emily assumed it was because they were a last-minute booking. Only as she rounded the bend on the stairs did she realise that this section was the most exclusive, and she was terribly grateful for the prompt from Anton to dress formally. The jewels on the elegant guests glittered more than the candles on the beautifully dressed tables. One wall was glassed, French windows leading out to a balcony where the guests ate to the stunning backdrop of the Mediterranean at sunset.
Anton had better have some good information. Otherwise she was going to have hell to pay when she put in her expenses.
He spoke with their host as they walked through the restaurant, and when they reached their table, Emily frowned as instead of sitting opposite her, Anton took a seat to her side, their waiter hastily rearranging the place settings.
‘I like to face the view,’ he said. He was sitting so close that their knees briefly brushed and Emily pulled hers away.
‘You are nervous,’ he commented.
‘Do you blame me?’ Emily asked, and then it happened. The man who had given her nothing suddenly gave her the first thing her mind had begged for on meeting him—she was treated to his smile. His full mouth moved slowly and she saw his white, perfectly straight teeth. But more than that, his face lightened as his smile reached right to his eyes and claimed Emily’s ability to breathe in the process.
‘You have nothing to be nervous about,’ Anton said. ‘You are with me.’
‘Which tells me nothing,’ Emily responded with a wry smile, but yes, despite her nervousness around him, she did not feel unsafe.
‘Wine?’ he asked, but Emily shook her head.
‘Not while I’m working.’ This was, perhaps, a poor excuse. Normally Emily would be the one ordering it in the hope that whoever she was interviewing might open up a touch further, but she felt terribly aware that she needed to somehow stay in control here. ‘Speaking of work...’ She went to her bag to pull out her recorder but as she did, his hand closed over hers.
‘Not here.’ There was a slightly ominous note to his voice, and she looked at the hand closed over hers. ‘Why would you draw attention to yourself?’
‘I’m not,’ Emily breathed. ‘It’s more that I’ve got a terrible memory.’
‘Perhaps that is why your career is shot.’ His hand was still around hers. He watched her suppress a smile as she guessed that he knew she was lying—there was nothing wrong with Emily’s memory, and certainly not around him. Every feature of his was emblazoned on her mind for later recall. Even the scent of him, she would surely recognise twenty years from now. Not the bergamot and cardamom of his cologne but the unique male scent that was Anton. Her gaze moved from his navy eyes to his mouth and for a bizarre moment she thought she was about to be kissed. More than that, she was aching for him to do so. His next sentence was, for a brief second, logical under the caress of his gaze.
‘I’m going to move in as if to kiss you.’
As his hand moved to capture her chin, a more sensible Emily emerged. She was in a restaurant with an unknown male, a possible contact with the most dangerous family in Sicily, and she was about to let him kiss her. She had no idea what was happening, was almost tempted to grab her bag and run, yet she was overwhelmed, spellbound too, and struggled to find an assertive tone. ‘Could you remove your hand, please?’
‘Emily.’ In his voice there was none of the panic she felt. ‘Look at me and keep looking at me while I tell you what you can now know.’
Her face was on fire as she did as told, her breath burning in her chest as she met the blaze of his eyes.
‘Seated behind me are the Correttis.’
CHAPTER THREE
SHE UNDERSTOOD now Anton’s hand on her chin and why his face was so close, for immediate was the temptation to glance over his shoulder.
She looked down to his mouth. He was talking in low, sensual murmurs, as if they were lovers, and though the words were not of romance, they still sounded like a caress. ‘Do not for a second let them think you are interested in them. It is why I sit with my back to them. They must think you have only eyes for me, or we will be asked to leave.’
‘Okay.’ Her heart was hammering. She was in a restaurant with the Correttis. She was up close with the untouchables and there was excitement and terror in her veins, and not just for that reason. Emily looked at the beautiful man whose breath she could feel on her lips. She had so many questions that she must ask him, but the only thing she could see now was his mouth.
‘I got a booking because I told them I was proposing to my girlfriend, so for tonight, we are lovers.’
She smiled to his mouth. ‘Err, no.’
‘Oh, we are,’ Anton said. ‘At least according to our fellow guests.’
‘Couldn’t you have told me all this in the car?’
He smiled at her, his fingers moving from her chin and coiling around a lock of her hair. ‘You walked straight past them without so much as a glance.’ He watched her blink in silent admission, for of course it would have been near impossible not to look. ‘This was the only way to pull it off.’
His mouth moved to her ear, and she closed her eyes, not for the sake of curious onlookers, just for the feel of him close. His jaw was rough and unshaven on her cheek. His cologne was subtle, yet it made her dizzy. ‘The old woman in black...’ His words were business, his voice pure pleasure, as he lightly kissed her ear. ‘That is Teresa, the matriarch. She is the reason some of the two sets of cousins are here. You would not see Luca at the same table as Santo and Alessandro otherwise.’
She knew his caress was for the benefit of others and yet her body responded as if it were solely for her. Emily felt a shiver run through her as his breath blew gently on her ears, felt her stomach fold over a little as his mouth dusted the sensitive skin, and when he pulled his head away and looked into her eyes, for Emily, in that moment, the Correttis were forgotten.
‘So now,’ Anton said, ‘you see why I had to not tell you.’
‘I do.’
He dropped contact then, for a waiter stood over them, and Anton ordered for them both.
It was incredibly exhilarating to be sitting with this beautiful man with Sicily’s most notorious just a breath away. They started with antipasto and it was more heavenly than anything she had tasted—asparagus spears wrapped in prosciutto and balsamic-glazed cipollines, which he explained were like shallots. Yes, it tasted like heaven, or was it more the unexpected company she kept? Emily could hear the low murmur of conversation from the Corretti table, the occasional burst of laughter or the slight raise of voices.
Just knowing who they were gave Emily the thrill of imminent danger—and then there was Anton.
She had given up moving her knees. They had been lightly pressed against each other and now, as their plates were cleared, not quite so lightly, as if in warning.
‘If you look over again,’ Anton said when he caught her eyes wandering, ‘we change places or,’ he said, ‘I kiss you properly this time.’
‘That won’t be necessary.’
Shame. He thought it but did not say it. Anton looked to where she sat beside him and though he was rarely intrigued, he found he was. ‘Tell me about you,’ Anton said, but as she opened her mouth to protest he got in first. ‘We are being watched not just by them but by bodyguards. It is time to speak just about you.’
Emily nodded, felt the heat rise on her cheeks as he took her hand, and reminded herself for the hundredth time they were acting. Except her body was on fire. Not even his question doused it.
‘Why has your career been shot?’
‘I really don’t want to think about it,’ Emily said. Adam and Dianne seemed light-years away and were a place she did not want to visit, but Anton was insistent, as was his thumb in the palm of her hand.
‘Why would I want to share information with someone who doesn’t have the capability to properly report it?’ He watched her struggle to come up with a suitable answer and suppressed the smile from his lips. ‘Don’t worry, like you, my memory is not good.’
‘Liar.’ She smiled.
‘Said the liar.’
She was looking down at his hand, beautiful, long fingers that curled around hers, and whatever he was doing with his thumb was making it rather hard to think. Their foreheads were almost touching to enable them to keep their voices low, and so intimate was the contact that when she spoke, the words just came out in a jumble. ‘Three months ago everything was fine. I was going out with Adam. My editor.’
He made a tutting noise.
‘I know it was stupid to get involved with someone from work, but...’
‘But you did,’ Anton said.
‘Foolish me. Anyway, we were fine but then Dianne joined.’ Emily pursed her lips for a moment, clearly trying to think how best to describe the woman, and Anton watched a mouth he wanted to kiss tighten. He loved reading faces and hers was fascinating. He watched the little flickers of spite light her china-blue eyes, watched her mouth open and hesitate, and still, even as she went to speak, she chose her words. ‘She’s very savvy, very beautiful and completely determined to make her mark on the world.’
‘She wants your job.’
He watched her cheeks flood with colour as she gave a brief nod.
‘And she’s doing whatever it takes to get it.’
‘Including Adam,’ Anton checked, hearing her sharp exhale.
‘I really don’t want to discuss it.’
‘Well, I insist that you do. Finally we look as if we’re having a real conversation....’ His voice faded. It was a long time since Anton had sat holding hands in a restaurant and engaged in anything other than seduction. It was a long time since the goal for the night had not simply been bed.
He would have removed his hand, the contact—his thought process was suddenly unbearable—but Emily started talking then. ‘I’ve been working on a huge case. It’s messy, espionage, possibly murder. I’d heard the police are going to be dredging a lake.’ She looked at him and he didn’t even blink. ‘I was supposed to be heading up to Wales this weekend to be there when the news breaks but instead I was sent here.’
‘Poor Emily,’ he said. His thumb resumed stroking her palm and making her toes curl in her sandals. ‘Stuck in Sicily, being wined and dined and about to cover one of the most interesting weddings in Sicilian history.’
‘I know.’ She gave a small smile. ‘I don’t think Adam realised just how huge this wedding was when he gave it to me.’
‘Too busy with his hand up Dianne’s skirt,’ Anton said, and he made the horrible better, actually made her laugh.
Emily could scarcely believe she was here, seated just a table away from the most scandalous family, and on the night before the wedding, too. ‘I’m good at what I do,’ Emily said determinedly. ‘Though according to Adam I’m not tough enough.’
‘He is wrong,’ Anton said, moving his face closer. ‘Nervous is good. A little naive, a little sweet,’ he said, his mouth terribly near hers. ‘If you had a secret, if you had something it might be better not to disclose, who would you feel inclined to be indiscreet with? The tough bitch or...?’
How could a thumb stroking her palm feel indecent?
How did he make her so wanton, so weak?
‘That’s a terribly difficult question to answer,’ Emily attempted.
‘Why?’
‘Well...’ She could hardly breathe. ‘From the female perspective—’ she could feel his breath on her lips now ‘—I’d far rather prefer to be indiscreet—’ it was coming out all wrong, but his smile made it right ‘—with the tough bastard.’
‘Really?’
‘I don’t know!’ Emily said. He was making her dizzy. ‘Could you stop with your thumb?’
‘You could always remove your hand.’
It was he who removed his. ‘Go out onto the balcony and take in the view for a moment and then return. See what you can find out.’
His eyes were everywhere, Emily realised, because one of the Correttis was standing, and for it to not look as if she were following them, she needed to go now. For the second time today he caught her wrist as she went to walk off and she turned and looked down at him, tried to imagine that, yes, they were lovers, that this was her usual world.
‘Don’t be long.’
And were they lovers, were this real, of course she would lower her head and kiss him.
It was just a light kiss on his lips; it was nothing, she told herself, yet her cheeks were scorching as she pulled back from him. Emily pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth in an effort not to retaste him as she walked towards the French windows.
Anton turned his head as any man might and watched her walk off, surprised just how much he was enjoying her company, how much more about her he wanted to know. Then he saw Luca Corretti’s eyes follow Emily out of the room, and Anton felt an uncharacteristic surge of protectiveness for her. The thought of a Corretti near her stirred unwelcome feelings.
Unwelcome because feelings had been left behind years ago for Anton. Emotion had no place in his world. Yet he glanced out to the balcony, saw her clutching the stone wall and looking out to the Mediterranean, and as she breathed in the night air, he wanted to join her, wanted to walk out there now and turn her around to kiss her. Wanted to take her not back to a hotel room to satisfy his needs but back to his home to satisfy theirs. Theirs because even with thick glass between them, he could sense her arousal and there was no denying his.
For the first time in the longest time, Anton was enjoying company, when usually company was something Anton did not keep.
CHAPTER FOUR
EMILY WAS almost glad to be away from Anton, just grateful for the moment to gather her thoughts. It was as if the soft contact of their mouths had bruised her, for she could still feel him on her lips, and now she gave in and ran her tongue over them. She looked out to the sultry Palermo night. The moon was glittering on the ocean and the boats were bobbing in the gentle breeze. It all looked so tranquil and calm, unlike the busy restaurant behind her.
Unlike herself.
No man had ever affected Emily so.
She tried to think of one that had even come close but no-one ever had. As she stood there, every thought, every safe assumption, was fast coming undone. Emily didn’t believe in lightning bolts or attractions so intense that she might consider going to bed with a man whose surname she didn’t even know.
Yet here she was considering it.
More than that, she was picturing it.
Right here, right now her mind was trying to delete images, because just the memory of his mouth on her ear had her neck arching to one side with sinful imaginings.
It was then she heard the door open and close behind her as a couple stepped onto the balcony, and she remembered the reason Anton had sent her out here. She smiled briefly to the woman but the man’s eyes did not wander to her, so she turned back to the view. But so devastating was the impact of Anton that Emily had to remind herself she was here to eavesdrop on the couple, and she was surprised to hear that they were speaking in English.
When the conversation became heated and to stay would appear intrusive, Emily headed inside to find their mains had been served.
They chatted about the stunning view as the waiters did the cheese-and-pepper thing, and after a suitable pause Anton asked what she had heard.
‘She was telling him to slow down his drinking. That he needed to be sober.’
‘You speak Italian?’
‘No, they were speaking in English.’
‘Okay.’ He gave a slight impatient shake to his head. ‘I do not know her, but that is nothing new. No-one can keep up with the women he dates. That is Santo. Tomorrow he is best man.’
It was the strangest night. She was acting, yet she was surrounded by glamour, by beauty, and there was just this thrum between them, and the laughter and conversation came from a more natural place than the woman she was portraying.
He watched as she struggled to finish her pasta.
‘It is the best in Sicily,’ he said as she put her cutlery down and pushed her half-finished plate aside.
‘It’s divine.’ It was, except her hand did not want to be swirling strings of pasta around a fork when it could be held by his, and her mouth did not want to be eating when she could be speaking with him. The restaurant was suddenly too noisy, too busy, all distractions unwelcome. Emily shook her head when the waiter came over with champagne but he ignored her protest and poured two glasses.
‘Tonight, we celebrate,’ Anton said, still holding her hand, and even though he’d prewarned her, Emily’s surprise was genuine when, with his free hand, he went into his pocket and he pulled out a ring. For a while there she had forgotten they were acting, just completely caught up in the moment, enjoying being with this stunning man, and she took a breath to steady herself as he took her hand and slipped on the ring.
It was exquisite, Italian gold with yellow diamonds and tiny seed pearls in an antique setting, and there was no question it was real.
‘Where...?’ She did not understand. They’d only been apart an hour.
‘It was my mother’s.’
Of course they were acting, Emily thought, out-of-place tears suddenly filling her eyes, for lucky was the woman this night belonged to.
‘Is that a yes?’ Anton asked.
She heard the murmur from a few tables. It was just so overwhelming. Her face was burning as she nodded, and as she did, the patrons in the restaurant started tapping their glasses, urging the couple to seal things with a kiss.
‘Anton...’ As his hands held her cheeks, she was petrified to kiss him, not because he was a stranger but because there could then be no denying her pleasure and want.
‘The things you have to suffer for your craft.’ Anton smiled as his mouth moved in.
Yes, she could be in Wales now, was her last thought as his mouth met hers and the tension from brief kiss that had teased was both relieved and inflamed with much-needed pressure. A five-star kiss in a five-star restaurant, his mouth soft yet suggestive on her lips, his scent, the feel of his warm hands on her burning cheeks. There was a moment where he increased the pressure, where he shifted just a little and she felt as if they were both lost, not in the moment or in the couple they were pretending to be but in each other.
Anton was.
He tasted her lips and he wanted more; he felt them part and he wanted inside. He wanted her head on his pillow and her legs wrapped around him, but more than that he wanted the morning.
He pulled his mouth back, jolted by private admissions, fighting the urge to reclaim her mouth and lose himself again.
‘You make tonight possible.’ His forehead was resting on hers and both were breathless. ‘They do not even glance over,’ Anton said. ‘They know we are turned on.’
‘We’re good actors,’ Emily attempted.
‘Some things you cannot fake,’ Anton said, and it would be pointless to deny. They both fought to remember then the real reason that they were here. ‘What is happening?’
Emily glanced over. ‘The old lady looks as if she is about to go.’
Anton called for the bill.
‘I’m getting this.’ Emily reached for her bag but he simply ignored her and she let him. It had long ago stopped being simply work. His hand was completely steady as he put his card in the heavy velvet folder.
‘They will stay about two minutes after she has gone. They are here only for her sake.’ Anton’s face was close. ‘Soon I’ll kiss you again,’ he warned. ‘Soon we give the bodyguards our reason to leave.’
‘She’s standing.’ His thumb was playing with Emily’s bottom lip.