An Invitation to Sin(8)

‘Ah, yes, Portia. I underestimated her.' He wondered how Taylor was  coping with the publicity and then shrugged it off. If anyone was  capable of dealing with a media feeding frenzy, it was Taylor  Carmichael. Her past was almost as messy as his. ‘The lawyers are  dealing with it. I'm not worried.'

‘I'm worried enough for both of us. Between you and your brother, you keep the media going-'

‘Talking of my brother, I don't suppose anyone has heard from him since  he ran off with the bride?' Shaking with laughter, Luca checked his  phone for messages while Jeannie gave a despairing shake of her head.

‘It isn't funny! What about poor Alessandro?'

‘"Poor" Alessandro had a narrow escape. He's been saved from a miserable  marriage followed by an expensive divorce. He should be celebrating his  good fortune.'

‘You don't really think that.'

‘I try to think about marriage as little as possible.'

‘Your parents were married for years.'

Luca stilled. If there was one thing worse than thinking of marriage in  general then it was thinking of his parents' marriage. ‘Did I miss the  memo about introducing boring topics into office conversation?'

‘Sorry.' Jeannie flushed. ‘But where do you think Matteo is?'

Luca shrugged. ‘Holed up somewhere enjoying wild honeymoon sex with his  cousin's almost-bride, I suppose, which makes it all the more galling  that the board are proving so intransigent. They need a Corretti to run  the company in his absence to stop that snake Angelo getting his claws  on the company. They should be embracing me.'

‘Judging from the pictures of you and Taylor Carmichael, they probably think there's been more than enough embracing.'

Taylor Carmichael.

He could still feel the silk of her hair against his fingers and the  soft slide of her tongue against his mouth. In those few moments before  she'd pushed him away, they'd created enough heat and energy to power a  small country. The blaze of sexual chemistry had shocked him as much as  her, the only difference was that he hadn't wanted to fight it.

Before he could respond to Jeannie, the phone on his desk rang and she leaned across to answer it.

‘Signor Corretti's office-no, he is currently out of the office … .Which  rumour?' She paused, her calm professionalism visibly disintegrating as  she listened to the person on the other end of the phone. She lifted  shocked eyes to Luca. ‘No, I don't have any comment to make … .Yes, I'll  tell him you rang.' Her hand shook as she replaced the phone and it  immediately rang again. Luca clamped his hand over hers as she reached  for it.

‘Leave it-it's just the press wanting more details on that kiss. Don't feed the frenzy.'

‘They didn't want details of the kiss.' Jeannie looked at him nervously.  ‘You're not the sort of guy who would shoot the messenger, are you?'

His radar for trouble on full alert, Luca released her hand and leaned  back in his chair. ‘That,' he drawled slowly, ‘depends on the message.'

She swallowed hard. ‘They want to know when you'll release a statement on your engagement.'

‘I'm sure when he said that no one was to disturb him, he didn't mean  me.' Taylor shot a dazzling smile at the security guard who was left  blinded.

‘Well, er, he hasn't mentioned you as such, Miss Carmichael-'

‘Of course he hasn't. We agreed not to speak about each other.' She  stepped closer and lowered her eyelashes just enough to ensure he  wouldn't be able to think about anything but her all day. ‘If he talked  about me, our relationship wouldn't be a secret, would it?'                       
       
           



       

‘I suppose not.' Sweating, he slid a finger around his collar. ‘Knowing  Mr Corretti, I'm sure he'll be only too pleased to see a beautiful woman  walking into his office.'

‘Good.' Striding into the express elevator before he could change his  mind, Taylor hit a button and closed the doors. Safely inside, she  switched off her megawatt smile and checked her reflection in the  mirror.

She was going to kill the bastard.

First she was going to rip his elegant suit from his perfect body and  then she was going to injure him in places that would ensure he'd  remember her for ever.

It had proved difficult to persuade Santo to give her a few hours off  from filming, but in the end he'd decided that they'd be more productive  if they dealt with the media first.

Taylor hadn't revealed that the only person she was going to be ‘dealing with' was Luca.

The doors opened and Taylor stepped out into a contemporary office space  like no other she'd seen. The walls were lined with photographs. Famous  models in various poses pouted at her, their razor-sharp cheekbones  accentuated by the powerful beam of sunlight pouring from an atrium  above. It was a shrine to beauty and elegance.

The wide glass reception desk was unoccupied and she looked through the  open door beyond and saw Luca Corretti at the same moment he saw her.

Their eyes locked.

Just for a moment she was back in the maze with his hand pressed to her  bare thigh but then she remembered that was the reason she was here and  her temper spurted.

‘Well, well-' his sarcastic drawl carried across the open space between  them ‘-it's my fiancée. What an unexpected pleasure, angelo mia.'

‘In the circumstances, how could I stay away?' Head held high, in full  battle mode, Taylor stalked across the marble floor and into his office  wondering how on earth they were going to unpick this mess.

She was going to kill him and how was she going to explain that to the press?

‘Leave us, Jeannie,' Luca ordered in a silky tone. ‘It's not every day a  man gets engaged. I need to savour the moment. I might even indulge in  desk sex so better not come in without knocking.'

The woman sent him a troubled look and then retreated from the office and closed the door behind her.

Taylor went straight into attack mode. ‘How dare you? How dare you play  with my life just because you don't care about yours! You should have  paid that woman.'

‘If I paid every woman who threatened to take stories of me to the press I'd be broke.'

‘Maybe you should stop seducing women and then the problem would go  away!' She paced the length of his office, her attention caught by yet  more black-and-white photographs on the walls. ‘You have photographs of  women everywhere. You just can't help yourself, can you?'

‘I run a fashion house. What do you expect?' He looked effortlessly  sophisticated in a suit designed to accentuate his physique and dark  good looks. ‘Is that jealousy I hear in your voice?'

‘Don't be ridiculous. I couldn't care less whose picture you have on your wall or who you kiss.'

‘Really? Isn't that rather a liberal attitude for someone who only recently decided I was the only man in the world for her?'

Livid by his flippant response, she glared at him. ‘Right now the only  thing standing between you and death is the fact that I don't want more  negative headlines.'

Dark brows rose above eyes that glinted with mockery. ‘So much passion  so early in our relationship. Not that I'm complaining. I love a woman  who isn't afraid to show emotion.'

‘Damn you, Luca, are you ever serious? Do you know how hard I've worked  over the past few years to get people to take me seriously? This was a  fresh start and then you-you … ' Her hands curled into fists and she  turned away from him, hating the loss of control. Hating the attraction  she felt towards him. Hating him.

‘And then I-what?'

‘You know what! You-you kissed me. You had your hand on my-' Just  thinking of the photograph made her close her eyes in horror. ‘It looked  as if we'd-'

‘Do you ever finish your sentences? You're like a walking crossword and I'm too lazy to fill in the blanks.'

‘I'm-I'm just so mad with you.'

‘Don't worry about it. I'm sure it will be good for you to express honest emotion once in a while.'

‘Don't mess with me, Luca.' Furious, she stabbed her finger into his  chest and then wished she hadn't because all she felt was muscle. ‘Be  careful. I haven't eaten carbs for three months and I'm always dangerous  when I'm hungry.'                       
       
           



       

‘For what it's worth, I'm mad with you too, and my diet is fine. My  taste has never run to women who suppress their real selves. And now  let's get to the point.' The snap of his voice raised the tension in the  room several more notches. ‘Why the hell did you announce that we're  engaged?'

‘Because, thanks to you, I was about to be fired from the job I haven't even started yet!'