The Orsini Brides. Sandra Marton
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head hurt, too. A baby a couple of rows back had decided to scream in protest at the unfairness of life. Anna couldn’t blame the kid; she’d have screamed, too, if it would have done any good.
But it wouldn’t.
She had done something awful, and being packed into the middle seat would never be sufficient to expiate her total, complete, hideous feelings of embarrassment.
Anna groaned.
Embarrassment didn’t even come close. Humiliation was an improvement, but horror was better. Much better. She was totally, completely, mind-numbingly horrified at what she’d done. What she’d almost done.
Okay, what she had done and what she had been on the way to doing …
His fault. The stranger’s. All of it, his fault.
First, driving her temper into the stratosphere, then confusing her, then charming her.
An overstatement.
He had not charmed her. He could never be the charming type. He’d simply lulled her into thinking he was human. And maybe just a little bit interesting.
Pleasant conversation. A couple of smiles. His looks had been part of it, too. She had to admit, he was nice-looking.
A hunk, was more like it.
And then to wake up and find him all over her …
Anna sprang to her feet. Unzipped her carry-on.
“The bastard,” she hissed as she tore through the contents in search of toothpaste, toothbrush, cosmetics.
Who gave a damn about his looks? He’d pawed her. Attacked her.
She groaned again and sank onto the edge of the bed.
“Liar,” she whispered.
She was blaming everything on him when the truth was, whatever he had done, she had encouraged.
“How could you?” she whispered. “My God, Anna, how could you?”
The question was pointless. She didn’t have an answer. And she was not a child.
You opened your mouth to a man’s kisses, you moaned under his touch, you draped your leg over him … What could you call all that, if not encouragement?
The stranger hadn’t done anything she hadn’t wanted him to do.
Anna closed her eyes.
And, oh my, he had done it magnificently.
That wonderful, knowing mouth. That hard, long body. Those big hands on her breasts …
“Enough,” she said briskly, and got to her feet.
She had things to do before the meeting. And, thankfully, miraculously, an hour in which to do them. Her father’s capo had called on her cell. The prince had delayed the meeting by an hour.
Excellent news.
Not that she’d let the prince know it, Anna thought as she dumped the contents of her carry-on on the bed. On the contrary. She’d tell him that his change of plans—his unilaterally made change of plans—was an inconvenience. She would tell him of her flight, of how she had spent the entire time in the air diligently bent over her computer, studying the documents that proved, irrefutably, her mother’s ownership of the land in—in whatever the name of that town in Sicily was. Torminia. Tarminia. Taormina, and she had less than an hour to at least get that much into her weary brain.
A shower. A change of clothes. A quick look at the file that had, thus far, proven useless.
Yes, but she’d gone into court with less information before and come out the winner.
She was one hell of a fine attorney.
The prince’s attorney would probably be top grade, but so what? She could handle that. And she could definitely handle a fawned-upon, effeminate blue blood of a prince.
She was an American, after all.
Quickly she laid out fresh clothes. Another suit. Charcoal- gray, this time. Another blouse. Ivory silk, of course. A change of shoes. Stilettos. Black and glossy, with—for kicks—peep toes. Underwear. Silk. Sexy.
People could see the stilettos. The undies were just for her. She liked knowing that under the uniform she was all female.
The stranger would probably have liked it, too.
He was the kind of man who’d know how to strip a woman of a sexy half bra, a sexy thong. There were times she’d thought, fleetingly, that what she’d worn under her clothes had been wasted on a lover.
It would not be wasted on him.
His hands would be sure and exciting as he took off her bra, his fingers just brushing across her nipples. They’d be steady as he hooked his thumbs into the edges of her thong and slid it down her hips, his eyes never leaving hers even as her breathing quickened, as she felt herself getting wet and hot and … and …
“Damnit!” she said. What was with her today?
She liked men. Liked sex. But this, wanting a man whose name she didn’t even know, a man she’d never see again, not only wanting him but going into his arms in a place where anyone could have seen them …
Anna yanked her cell phone from her purse, hit a speed-dial digit. Her sister answered on the first ring.
“Anna?”
Oh, the wonders of caller ID.
“Izzy. I have something to ask you.”
“Anna, where are you? I called your office and your secretary said—”
“Isabella,” Anna said briskly, “how many times must I remind you? There are no more secretaries. She’s a PA. A personal assistant. Got it?”
“Got it—but where are you? Your sec—your PA said you were in Italy, and I said that wasn’t possible because you never told me that—”
“I’m in Italy, Iz. I never told you because I never had the chance. The old man cornered me Sunday—which, by the way, he could not have done if you’d shown up for dinner the way you were supposed to.”
“I wasn’t. I mean, nobody asked me to show up. And what’s that got to do with you being in—”
“Later,” Anna said impatiently. “Right now, just answer a question, okay?”
“What’s the question?”
“It’s … it’s …” Anna cleared her throat. “You took psych, right?”
“Huh?”
“Izzy, I said—”
“I heard you. Sure. I took psych 101. So did you.”
“Yeah. Well, remember that section on, ah, on sexual fantasies?”
“Anna,” Isabella said carefully, “what’s going on?”
“Wasn’t there something about, ah, about fantasizing sex with a stranger?”
“A dark, dangerous stranger.”
Anna put her fingers to her forehead, gave her temple a little rub.
“Right. And—and wasn’t there something else about sex in public places? Where there was a risk of being caught?”
“Anna,” Izzy said firmly, “what’s going on?”
“Nothing. Nothing, I swear. I just—I just wanted to clarify something, is all.”
“About risk? About sex with dangerous strangers? In public places? Hey, big sister, this is me, remember? What have you done?”
“I told you, nothing. I, ah, I read a magazine article on the plane. It was about sex. Risky sex.