A straight flush. A winning hand more powerful than his father’s.
The evidence that he’d been toyed with registered in Giacomo’s shocked eyes. ‘Il diavolo!’ He lunged across the table, his whole body vibrating with fury.
Narciso stood, his eyes devoid of expression. ‘Sì, I am the devil you spawned. You’ll do well to remember that next time we meet.’
CHAPTER THREE
I AM THE devil you spawned.
Had he meant that literally?
Ruby glanced at the man who had her imprisoned against his side as he steered her towards...
‘Where are you taking me?’ she demanded in a rush as electrifying fingers pressed more firmly into her skin. Who knew silk was an excellent conductor of heat?
She burned from head to toe and he wasn’t even touching her bare skin.
‘First to the dance floor. And then...who knows?’
‘But my duties...behind the bar—’
‘Are over,’ he stated imperiously.
Despite the alien emotions swirling through her, she frowned. ‘Can you do that?’
‘You’ll find that I can pretty much do anything I want.’
‘You deliberately lost thirty million dollars two minutes ago. I think doing what you want is pretty obvious. What I’m asking is, am I risking my job by deserting my post?’
He ushered her into the lift, took hold of her wrist and held the smartwatch against the panel. When it lit up, he pressed the key for the floor below. ‘You’re here to serve the members of this club. I require your services on the dance floor. There, does that ease your anxiety?’ He asked the question with a thread of cynicism that made her glance closely at him.
The tic throbbing at his temple and tense shoulders indicated that he hadn’t shrugged off his encounter at the poker table.
‘Who was that man you were playing with?’ she asked.
Silver eyes hardened a touch before they cleared and he smiled. Ruby forced herself not to gulp at the pulse-destroying transformation his smile achieved.
‘No one important. But you—’ he faced her fully as the lift stopped and the doors glided open ‘—are much more fascinating.’
One hand brushed her wrist and slid up her arm. The shiver when he’d first touched her returned a hundredfold, sending soul-deep tremors through her.
What on earth was going on? She’d believed herself in love with Simon, enough to come within a whisper of making a fool of herself, and yet he’d not triggered an iota of what she was feeling now.
Chemistry.
The word fired alarm bells so loud in her head she jerked backwards. Her back hit the lift wall and panic flared high as he stepped closer. Heat waves bounced off his hard-packed, unapologetically male body straight into hers.
‘I’m not fascinating. Not in the least,’ she said hurriedly.