To Sin with the Tycoon(64)

‘Look,’ she said, hating the way her voice had got husky with repressed emotion and shock at facing this blast from her past, ‘I know you must hate me.’

Luca Fonseca smiled. But his expression was hard. ‘Hate? Don’t flatter yourself, DePiero, hate is a very inadequate description of my feelings where you are concerned.’

Another poisonous memory assailed her: a battered Luca, handcuffed by Italian police, being dragged bodily to an already loaded-up van, snarling, ‘You set me up, you bitch!’ at Serena, who had been moments away from being handed into a police car herself, albeit minus the handcuffs.

They’d insisted on everyone being hauled in to the police station. He’d tried to jerk free of the burly police officers and that had earned him a thump to his belly, making him double over. Serena had been stupefied. Transfixed with shock.

He’d rasped out painfully, just before disappearing into the police van, ‘She planted the drugs on me to save herself.’

Serena tried to force the memories out of her head. ‘Mr Fonseca, I didn’t plant those drugs in your pockets... I don’t know who did, but it wasn’t me. I tried to contact you afterwards...but you’d left Italy.’

He made a sound of disgust. ‘Afterwards? You mean after you’d returned from your shopping spree in Paris? I saw the pictures. Avoiding being prosecuted for possession of drugs and continuing your hedonistic existence was all in a week’s work for you, wasn’t it?’

Serena couldn’t avoid the truth; no matter how innocent she was, this man had suffered because of their brief association. The lurid headlines were still clear in her mind: DePiero’s newest love interest? Brazilian billionaire Fonseca caught with drugs after raid on Florence’s most exclusive nightclub, Den of Eden.

But before Serena could defend herself Luca was standing up and walking closer, making her acutely aware of his height and powerful frame. Her mouth dried.

When he was close enough that she could make out the dark chest hair curling near the open V of his shirt, he sent an icy look from her face to her feet, and then said derisively, ‘A far cry from that lame excuse for a dress.’

Serena could feel heat rising at the reminder of how she’d been dressed that night. How she’d dressed most nights. She tried again, even though it was apparent that her attempt to defend herself had fallen on deaf ears. ‘I really didn’t have anything to do with those drugs. I promise. It was all a huge misunderstanding.’

He looked at her for a long moment, clearly incredulous, before tipping his head back and laughing so abruptly that Serena flinched.

When his eyes met hers again they still sparkled with cold mirth, and that sensual mouth was curved in an equally cold smile.

‘I have to hand it to you—you’ve got some balls to come in here and protest your innocence after all this time.’

Serena’s nails scored her palms, but she didn’t notice. ‘It’s true. I know what you must think...’

She stopped, and had to push down the insidious reminder that it was what everyone had thought. Erroneously.

‘I didn’t do those kinds of drugs.’

Any hint of mirth, cold or otherwise, vanished from Luca Fonseca’s visage. ‘Enough with protesting your innocence. You had Class A drugs in that pretty purse and you conveniently slipped them into my pocket as soon as it became apparent that the club was being raided.’

Feeling sick now, Serena said, ‘It must have been someone else in the crush and panic.’

Fonseca moved even closer to Serena then, and she gulped and looked up. She felt hot, clammy.

His voice was low, seductive. ‘Do I need to remind you of how close we were that night, Serena? How easy it must have been for you to divest yourself of incriminating evidence?’

Serena could recall all too clearly that his arms had been like steel bands around her, with hers twined around his neck. Her mouth had been sensitive and swollen, her breathing rapid. Someone had rushed over to them on the dance floor—some acquaintance of Serena’s who had hissed, ‘There’s a raid.’

And Luca Fonseca thought... He thought that during those few seconds before chaos had struck she’d had the presence of mind to somehow slip drugs onto his person?

He said now, ‘I’m sure it was a move you’d perfected over the years, which was why I felt nothing.’

He stepped back and Serena could take a breath again. But then he walked around her, and her skin prickled. She was acutely aware of his regard and wanted to adjust her suit, which felt constrictive.

She closed her eyes and then opened them again, turning around to face him. ‘Mr Fonseca, I’m just looking for a chance—’