The Mediterranean Prince's Passion. Sharon Kendrick
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loud beat of dance music, but the woman appeared to be alone on deck.
In a few strides he had reached her. Bending over, he turned her onto her side, blotting out his instinctive first reaction to the way her magnificent breasts rose and fell beneath the skimpy jade-green bikini top she wore.
She was sick.
Assessingly, he ran his eyes over her. Her breathing was shallow, her eyes tight-closed and her skin very pink. He laid a brief exploratory hand on her forehead and felt the heat sizzling from it. Fever. Probably sunstroke, by the look of her.
Urgently, he shook her. âSvegli!â he ordered, but there was no response. He tried in French. âReveillezvous!â And then, louder, in Spanish. âDespierte!â
Through the mists of the dream that was sucking her down towards a black numbness Ella heard a deep voice urging her back to the surface, back towards the light. But the light was hurting her eyes and she didnât want to go there. She shook her head from side to side.
âWake up!â
Her eyes flickered open. A face was looming over herâits hard, handsome features set in a look of grim concern. A dark angel. She must be dreaming. Or dying.
âOh, no!â he exclaimed, and levered her up into his arms, supporting her head with an unmoving hand as it threatened to flop back. âYou will not sleep again! Do you hear me? Wake up! Wake up now, this instant. I demand it!â
The richly accented voice was too commanding to ignore, but Ella was lost in the grip of a fever too powerful to resist.
âGo away,â she mumbled, and she felt a cold terror when he lowered her back onto the deck and did just thatâleft her all alone again. She gave a little whimper.
Nico went below deck and the noise hit him like a wall. He stood for a moment, studying the scene of decadence that lay before him.
He could count five peopleâthree men and two womenâand all of them were in advanced stages of intoxication. One woman was topless and snoring quietly on the floor, while another gyrated in front of one of the men like a very poor lap-dancer.
Only one of the men seemed to notice his arrival, and he raised a half-empty bottle of Scotch.
âHey! Whoâre you?â he slurred.
Nico gave him a look of simmering fury. âAre you aware that youâre trespassing?â he snapped.
âNo, mateyâI think youâre the one doing that! This boat I paid through the nose for, andââ The man pointed exaggeratedly upwards. âThe sea is free!â he added, in a sing-song voice.
âNot here, it isnât. Youâre in forbidden waters.â And, turning on his heel, Nico went back up onto the deck. He slid a mobile phone from his back pocket and punched in a number known to only a very few, which connected him straight to the Chief of Police.
âPronto? Si. Nicolo.â He spoke rapidly in Italian.
There was a pause.
âYou want that we should arrest them, Principe?â asked the Capo quietly.
Nico gave a hard glimmer of a smile. âSi. Why not? A night in jail sobering up might teach them never to put themselves nor others in danger again.â But he stared down thoughtfully at the girl, for she was not drunk; she was sick.
He bent down and shook her gently by the shoulder. Her eyes fluttered open, dazed and green as spring grass.
Through the haze of her fever she saw his strengthâa rock, a safe harbour and her only means of escape. âDonât leave me,â she begged.
The raw emotion in her voice made him still momentarily but it was an unnecessary appeal for he had already made up his mind. âI have no intention of leaving you,â he said tersely, and scooped her up into his arms before she could protest.
Her arms clasped tightly around his neck, she slumped against his chest like a rag doll in an unconscious attitude of complete trust. He gripped her tightly as he manoeuvred her onto the jet-ski.
Most men would have struggled to cope with a woozy female, but Nico had been born to respond to challengeâit was one of the few things in life that invigorated him. A small smile touched the corners of his mouth as he set off for the shore.
He was always trying new thrills and spills, but this was the first time heâd ever rescued a damsel in distress.
COOL dampness rippled enchanting fingers across her cheeks and Ella let out a small sigh.
âMmm! Sânice!â
âDrink this!â
It was the voice that wouldnât go away. The voice that wouldnât take no for an answer. The voice that had been popping in and out of her consciousness with annoying frequency. A bossy, foreign voice, but an irresistible one, too.
Obediently Ella opened her lips and sipped again from the cup she was being offered, only this time she drank more greedily than before, gulping it so that the water ran in riveluts down her face, trickling over her chin and startling her out of the hazy fog that engulfed her.
âThat is better,â said the deep voice, with a touch of approval. âTake some more still, and then open your eyes properly.â
Befuddled, she did as she was toldâonly to find herself even more confused. For there was a man standing over herâa man she didnât recognise.
Or did she?
She blinked up at his face and something peculiar happened to her already unsteady heart-rate, for he was utterly spectacular.
His chiselled features gave his face a hard, auto cratic appearance, but a sensual mouth softened it. Narrowed eyes were fringed by blocks of dark lashes and his hair was jet-dark and wavy, and slightly too long. He looked rugged and powerfulâfamiliar and yet a stranger. His skin was golden and olive and glowingâas though it had been gently lit from within. His was the face that had drifted in and out of her fevered sleep, coaxing and cooling her. A dark angel. A guardian angel.
So she had not been dreaming at all. Nor, it seemed, had she died.
Still blinking in consternation, she glanced around her. She was in a roomâa very plain and simple room, containing little more than a small wooden table and a couple of old chairs. On the floor were worn floorboards, the walls were wooden, too, and she could hear the roar of waves. It was cool and dim and she was lying on a low kind of bed, beneath a tickly-feeling thing that was too thick to be a sheet and too thin to be a blanket. Her hand slithered inside.
She was wearing nothing but a manâs T-shirt!
The last of her lethargy fled in an instant and fear galloped in to take its place. Clutching the coverlet, she sat up and stared at the man who stood over her, his dark face shuttered and watchful. Was she certain that she wasnât dreaming? Who was he, and what was she doing here?
âWould you mind telling me what the hellâs going on?â she demanded breathlessly.
âI thinkâ¦â There was a pause. He watched her very carefully, like a hunter with his prey held firmly in his sights. âThat I should be asking you that very same question.â
Her heart was pounding like a piston. His voice was soft and rich and accented. And accusing. When surely, if there was any accusing to be doneâ¦Beneath the coverlet she ran an exploratory hand down over her body, as if checking that all her limbs were intact. And not just her limbsâ¦
Nico watched her. âOh, do not worry,â