The Helen Bianchin And The Regency Scoundrels And Scandals Collections. Louise Allen
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saw a familiar car parked in the visitors’ area. As if there was any doubt, Diego’s tall frame leaning indolently against the Aston Martin’s rear panel merely confirmed it.
For a few heart-stopping seconds she forgot to breathe, then she eased her car towards the security gate, retrieved her ID card and inserted it with shaking fingers and drove down to her allotted space, killed the engine, then reached for the door-clasp…only to have the door swing open before she had a chance to release it.
She tilted her head to look at him, and almost wished she hadn’t, for his features appeared carved from stone.
‘What are you doing here?’
‘Did you think I wouldn’t come after you?’
She felt at a distinct disadvantage seated in the car. By comparison he seemed to tower over her, and if they were going to get into a heated argument she needed to even the stakes a little.
With careful movements she slid from behind the wheel, then closed and locked the door before turning to face him. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Yes, you do.’ His voice resembled pure silk, and she swallowed the sudden lump that rose in her throat.
‘Why didn’t you stay?’
‘There was no reason to,’ she managed. ‘We don’t owe each other a thing.’
‘All obligations fulfilled,’ Diego accorded with dangerous softness.
It almost killed her to say it. ‘Yes.’
‘No emotional involvement. Just good sex?’
She was breaking up, ready to shatter. ‘What do you want from me?’ It was a cry from the heart that held a degree of angry desperation.
‘I want you in my life.’
‘For how long, Diego?’ she demanded. ‘Until either one of us wants it to end?’ As it would. ‘Nothing lasts forever, and lust is a poor bedfellow for love.’
A car swept close by and slid into an adjacent space. She recognised the driver as a fellow tenant, and she met his concerned glance.
‘Everything OK, Cassandra?’
Diego hardly presented a complacent figure. She managed a reassuring smile. ‘Yes.’
The tenant cast Diego a doubtful look, glimpsed a sense of purpose in those dark eyes, and chose to move on.
‘Let’s take this upstairs.’
If he touched her, she’d be lost. One thing would lead to another…
It was better to end it now. ‘No.’
Diego barely resisted the temptation to shake her. ‘Tell me what we share means nothing to you.’
She couldn’t do it. Her eyes clouded, then darkened as she struggled to find something to say that wouldn’t sound inane.
Some of the tension eased in his gut as he reached for her. He cupped her nape with one hand and drew her in against him with the other, then his mouth was on hers, moving like warm silk as he took possession.
When he lifted his head she could only look at him.
‘You’re a piece of work,’ he accorded quietly. ‘No woman has driven me as crazy as you have.’ His lips curved into a warm smile. ‘A year of being held at a distance, when you’ve politely declined every invitation I extended. I’ve had to be content with brief, well-bred conversations whenever we attended the same social functions.’
Cassandra recalled each and every one of those occasions. The edgy onset of nerves the instant his familiar frame came into view; a recognition on some deep emotional level she was afraid to explore, fearing if she entered his space she’d never survive leaving it.
‘Marry me.’
Cassandra opened her mouth, then closed it again. ‘What did you say?’
‘Marry me.’
She could only look at him in shocked silence.
‘Do you really want our children to learn their father proposed to their mother in a basement car park?’ Diego queried gently.
This was a bad joke. ‘You can’t be serious.’
‘As serious as it gets.’
‘Diego—’
‘I want to share the rest of your life,’ he said gently. ‘I want to be the father of your children and grow old with you.’
There could be no doubt he meant every word. It was there in the depth of his dark eyes, the heartfelt warmth of his voice, his touch.
Joy began a radiating spiral as it sang through her veins, piercingly sweet and gloriously sensual.
A faint smile lifted the edges of his mouth as he gave the concrete cavern a sweeping glance. ‘I’d planned on different surroundings from these.’
Cassandra’s lips parted in a tremulously soft smile. ‘I don’t need soft music, dimmed lights, fine food or wine.’
Diego brushed his fingers along the edge of her jaw, tilting her chin a little as he caressed the curve of her lower lip with his thumb. ‘Just the words, querida?’
She felt as if she was teetering on the edge of something wonderful. ‘Only if you mean them.’
‘You’re the love I thought I’d never find,’ he said gently. ‘I want, need you. You,’ he emphasised gently. ‘For the rest of my life.’
For a moment she didn’t seem capable of finding her voice. It overwhelmed her. He overwhelmed her. In an instinctive gesture she pressed her mouth against his palm.
‘I didn’t want to like you,’ Cassandra said shakily. ‘I especially didn’t want to fall in love with you.’ She’d fought him every inch of the way, hating him for forcing recognition their souls were twin halves of a whole.
‘Because of my so-called dangerous past?’ he queried with teasing amusement.
‘It shaped and made you the man you’ve become.’ Providing the tenacity, strength of will and integrity lacking in many men his equal.
He fastened his mouth on hers in a kiss that was so evocatively tender it melted her bones.
Minutes later Diego caught hold of her hand and began leading her towards the lift. ‘We need to get out of here.’ His smile held the heat of passion over-layed with a tinge of humour. ‘Your place or mine?’
‘You’re letting me make the decision?’
He paused to take a brief, hard kiss, tangled his tongue with hers, and felt the breath catch in her throat. ‘You have a sassy mouth.’
‘That’s a compliment?’
Seconds later the lift doors opened and they entered the cubicle. ‘Foyer?’ Diego queried as he indicated the panel. ‘Or your apartment?’
‘There’s the cat—’
‘Not the foyer.’
The lift began its ascent towards her floor. ‘I need clothes,’ Cassandra continued.
‘The cat will adjust.’
‘To what?’
‘Her new home.’
She looked at him, and melted. ‘I love you.’
‘Love me, love my cat?’ he quizzed with amusement.
‘Uh-huh. She’s with me.’ The lift slid to a stop, and she preceded him into the lobby.
He took the keys from her hand and unlocked and entered the apartment, then he closed the door behind them.
‘I take it that’s