Her Return to King's Bed(15)
She frowned at the little slap, but instead of arguing the point, she turned her mind to what he’d promised. If she could destroy any evidence on her family, the Corettis would be safe again. But as her father had said, no one before Rico had ever managed to catch them in the act. How could she be sure that Rico had what he said he did?
“How do I know you have anything for us to worry about?”
“As you told your father not long ago, I don’t bluff.” He pushed away from the railing. “I have enough on them to make any law enforcement agency do a dance of joy as they close a cell door on your father and brothers.”
A knot tightened in the pit of her stomach. Rico was a man who said what he meant and always meant what he said. If he promised retribution, then it would be delivered with a vengeance. If he said he could lock her family away, the cell door was as good as shut.
Her heart felt as if it were being squeezed by a cold fist. Looking into his eyes only made the chill she felt go deeper. Though he stood no more than three feet from her, the distance separating them could just as easily have been measured in light-years. “This is about revenge, then?”
“Absolutely.” He smiled, but it was an empty echo of the smile she remembered. The smile that still haunted her dreams. “Did you expect me to declare my love? To have spent the last five years pining away for the woman who stole from me and vanished?”
“Pining away?” she repeated with a short laugh. “Please. I’ve seen the pictures of you in the magazines. Actresses. Models. Socialites. You didn’t look like you were crying on their shoulders, either.”
One corner of his mouth quirked. “Jealous?”
Desperately. “Hardly.”
His gaze narrowed on her. “A thief from a family of thieves. Why should I believe you?”
“I didn’t steal from you,” she argued, beginning to feel a flutter of outrage building inside.
“Your family did, which makes you as guilty as they.”
Okay, she had to give him that. She was a Coretti, after all, despite the fact that she’d never taken part in one of their jobs. “So it’s revenge on my entire family that you’re after?”
“No, Teresa,” he said, moving closer, lifting one hand to cup her cheek. The tender touch was muted by the hard glint in his eyes. “From your family, I want only my property. From you…I want only the pleasure we’ll find together during the next month.”
Everything inside her rippled and pulsed. Just those few words were enough to build a fire in her blood. How was it fair that he had been with countless women over the last five years while she had lived like a nun? How was it fair that he could whisper the word pleasure and have her ready to fall into bed with him?
“And if I’m not interested in sex with you?” she asked, with a mental hah! “Would you force me?”
His blue eyes flashed a warning. “You think I would—could do that?”
“No,” she murmured, shaking her head for emphasis. “I don’t.”
He nodded. “Good.”
“But,” she said quickly, “apparently you’re not above blackmailing me into your bed.”
“You’re my wife. You belong in bed with me. And as I’ve told you, I don’t have to blackmail you into sex. Soon, you’ll be begging me to take you,” Rico told her with a smile. “And I will be happy to acquiesce. Think of it. You spend the month with me and I don’t see your family locked away.”