CHAPTER ONE

      GABRIEL DEMARCO OPENED his eyes. That seemed to be quite enough work for today, so he closed them again.

      ‘How are you feeling?’ A woman’s voice flowed over him like warm honey. It was a nice voice, quiet yet firm. The kind of voice that any man should take notice of.

      ‘I could go back to sleep.’ The words slipped out before he had a chance to tell himself that sleeping probably wasn’t what the voice wanted him to do. And at the moment it seemed like a siren’s call, which couldn’t be resisted. ‘Or... I could wake up.’

      It sounded as if the voice was smiling. ‘Why don’t you wake up? You’re in hospital.’

      Really? The thought didn’t bother him as much as it should. He was comfortable and relaxed, as if lying on a cloud. He tried opening his eyes and light seared through his brain, making his head hurt. He’d just have to keep them closed for a while...

      ‘Which hospital?’ Not that it mattered particularly. But talking might convince the voice that he’d complied with her request.

      ‘The Royal Westminster. You’re in the private wing.’

      That made sense. Someone must know who he was, and that the son of Leo DeMarco, head of one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies in Europe, could stand the cost of a night’s stay in hospital. Or maybe he’d been here longer than just one night. Gabriel couldn’t remember.

      He flexed his fingers, running his hand across his chest and then moving his legs. Everything appeared to be working. No pain. Whatever he was in here for was probably very minor...

      ‘Open your eyes.’

      No... He didn’t want to. Maybe he said as much, without knowing it, or maybe the voice just read his mind, because he felt the touch of a hand against the side of his face.

      ‘Come on. Open your eyes.’

      He couldn’t resist. This time the pain wasn’t so bad, because the hand was shading his face. When he turned his head in the direction of the voice, a mass of red-blonde curls and a pair of blue eyes snapped suddenly into focus. What had happened to him suddenly came a very poor second in importance to who she was.

      ‘What’s your name? Are you a nurse?’ Stupid question. She wore a dark blue sleeveless summer dress, which seemed to be held together by a few buttons and a belt around her waist. Clearly not a nurse unless they’d changed the uniform from sensible to sexy.

      ‘My name’s Clara Holt. I’m not a nurse, although I’m medically trained. Your father sent me.’

      His father? Since when had he started sending women to sit at Gabriel’s bedside? The thought occurred to him that maybe his father had, for once, made a marvellous choice. She was perfezione...molto bella... Porcelain skin and shining gold hair. Right now, making the gorgeous Clara happy was all he wanted to do...

      ‘Grazie.’ Her lips curved into a slight smile. He’d missed out her lips, and that was unforgivable...

      ‘You speak Italian?’

      ‘Only a few words.’

      She knew the ones that mattered. Every woman should understand the words a man said when he called her beautiful.

      Wait. How many of his thoughts had sprung to his lips by mistake, and what language had he voiced them in? The feeling that this wasn’t right was beginning to nag at the edge of his consciousness. If he thought a woman beautiful, he usually had the manners to wait, and make quite sure it was the kind of compliment she wanted to hear.

      Gabriel shook his head, trying to clear it, and struggled to sit up. Pain shot across his temples and he suddenly felt very nauseous. The wonderful Clara reached out, gently pushing him back down onto the pillows.

      ‘You’ll feel better in a moment, just take it slowly.’

      She was an angel. Clara could take him up to her cloud any day of the week and...

      No! He still wasn’t thinking straight. He fought to locate a sensible question in his head, and came up with only one.

      ‘What’s the matter with me?’

      * * *

      This was to be expected. Gabriel was still struggling with the residual effects of the drug in his bloodstream. His impulse control was impaired, and when the feeling of well-being started to wear off he’d be experiencing the worst hangover he’d ever had.

      It was best to stick to the basic facts for the moment and leave the rest until he was a little more able to get his head around it. Gabriel was clearly not quite in control of his tongue yet, and if the most important thing on his mind was that she was beautiful, then that was just a sign that he hadn’t woken up properly. The shiver that his words had produced was both unnecessary and inappropriate.

      ‘You’re going to be all right.’ Clara decided to skip the part about what was wrong with him.

      ‘Am I? Really?’ He frowned.

      ‘Yes, you are. You might have a headache and you probably don’t remember what happened last night—’

      ‘Yes. I have a headache. And I don’t have a clue how I got here.’

      ‘The disorientation will pass, too.’

      ‘When...?’

      ‘Soon. You’re going to be fine.’ Clara reached into her bag, taking out one of the plastic bottles she’d brought with her and cracking open the seal. ‘Would you like some water?’

      His gaze seemed to be following her every move. ‘Yes, please...’

      She opened the packet of drinking straws from her bag, putting one into the bottle and leaning over to hold it close to his mouth. His fingers closed around hers, light and caressing. His touch was just as electrifying as his words had been.

      But she wasn’t here to experience the delights of Gabriel DeMarco’s dark gaze. If all the rumours were true, there were more than enough women who were happy to share those things with him. She had a job to do and when her boss had called her at one o’clock this morning, it had been immediately obvious that being chosen for this was an opportunity. A high-profile client, in an extremely sensitive situation.

      ‘Take it easy. Not too much...’ He was gulping the water down as fast as the straw would allow, and she pulled the bottle away from him for a moment. His fingers tightened around hers, stopping her from taking the bottle back completely.

      ‘Thank you. May I have some more, please.’

      ‘Slowly, this time.’

      He drank again, and when the bottle was half-empty he let her take it away from him. ‘You know I’m a doctor?’

      ‘Yes, I do.’ Gabriel DeMarco’s file contained a lot more information than that about him.

      ‘Then you’ll know that I’ll understand whatever you tell me about my medical condition.’

      The facts, maybe. The hows and the whys, probably not. But he seemed to be getting more and more agitated and it was clear that he wasn’t going to just rely on her and go