Bound by the Italian's Contract(23)

                So why was her heart still pounding? Why were her fingers numb from clenching her hands together tightly?

                “That was not pleasant,” he said at last.

                “Is there a problem with la Duchi?” she asked, the most logical thing that popped into her mind.

                He barked a laugh that lacked humor. “My father wouldn’t know one way or the other. He held a small figurehead role at la Duchi for years because of his impressive records and because my grandfather insisted on it. But Father’s only gift was his supreme athletic ability regarding equipment design and an overload of savoir faire. As far as business acumen, he was doubly cursed.”

                “While you were blessed with all three,” she said, genuinely meaning the compliment to the champion who’d come up with innovative designs and who could also run an empire.

                “That blessing sometimes is a curse,” he said.

                “Everything has a price.”

                “Sometimes a price that pains us to pay.”

                “Do you want to talk about it?” she asked.

                “No. There is nothing to discuss. I like my life the way it is,” he said, his crisp tone and intent gaze on the road dissuading further comment.

                “As do I,” she said.

                She had a home, business and profession all crammed into one. Her employees were trustworthy. Her few friends were loyal.

                And so what if her love life was nonexistent? It was her choice. She’d never received any pleasure from a man.

                Alone she was independent. In charge of her own fate and pleasure.

                If she ever got the crazy idea to indulge in an intimacy, she would choose the time and place. She’d never let herself be victimized again.

                And she wouldn’t dream of entertaining close company with a man like Luciano Duchelini! When she’d known him years ago he had been an athlete at the top of his game. The champion. Arrogant beyond belief.

                Everyone had wanted a piece of him, from the vast endorsements clambering for his approval to the women who hoped to win his heart. Even her, and look where that had got her.

                Caprice pushed those dark memories again to the back of her head, preferring to let her gaze wander the land so very different from Colorado. Though they were on the southern perimeter of the Alps, well into Italy, place names were an intriguing mix of Italian and Germanic. Soft romantic sounds interspersed with hard guttural ones.

                The mountains here were just as unyielding as the Rockies with bold limestone cliffs that screamed danger. Just like the man beside her.

                He was the predator, a champion in winter sports and high-stakes business. She’d watched him dominate the slopes, and she was certain he attacked business with the same fierceness.

                But she refused to let his bravado or his business prowess scare her into meek compliance. Though she never earned a medal, she did earn a degree. She was an expert in her field and was insulted by the fact he expected her to play by his rules.

                He would soon learn that she refused to be the puppet dancing on his strings, she vowed as they reached the village close to an hour later. It looked more like an Alpine village than a ski area. The panoramic vista that seemed to stretch forever into the horizon literally took her breath away.