His words hit Morgan like a sledgehammer, each syllable an individual blow she felt right through to her bones. She swayed on her feet as the floor rose up to meet her. Luca’s face, fuzzy around the edges, was the last thing she saw as she slid into a dead faint, completely unaware of the stunned expression that crossed Luca’s face as he caught her before she hit the floor.
Chapter Two
LUCA TENSED AS Morgan’s long, sooty lashes fluttered. Good, she was coming round. She’d scared the life out of him when her eyes had rolled back in her head and she’d slid into a dead faint. He was only thankful he’d managed to catch her before she’d fallen and hurt herself.
She whimpered as if she was in pain, then mumbled something under her breath. Luca moved closer.
The scent of orange invaded his nostrils again. He drew back, just far enough to stare into her unconscious face.
She really was magnificent. Skin the colour of magnolia petals. Silky hair the colour of a raven’s wing spread like a glimmering halo against the cushion he’d tucked under her head. A mouth that, while slightly too wide, had a sensually full lower lip that just begged to be kissed.
She stirred on the leather couch he’d laid her down on, lashes flickering.
‘Joseph,’ she muttered.
Luca jerked away from her as if he’d been burned, his stomach muscles contracting into a tight ball.
There was no mistaking what he’d heard this time. He’d been close enough to hear every damning syllable.
How dared she wake up with Joseph’s name on her lips?
Fury rose up inside him like a two-headed monster. He could feel it bubbling away inside him.
One part of his brain recognised that his outrage was way out of all proportion, but another part of him, a far more primitive part, accepted the emotion for what it was.
Jealousy.
As crazy as it sounded, he was jealous of his brother-in-law.
His hands balled into fists as he stared into Morgan’s face.
It was his name he wanted on her lips when she wakened.
It was his name he wanted her to cry out in the throes of passion.
Her lashes fluttered open. Eyes shadowed with pain gradually refocussed on his face. She stared at him for a long moment, awareness pulsing in the air between them, then swung her boot-clad feet to the floor, pushing him out of the way in the process.
She touched a hand to her forehead and frowned. ‘You said…’ She stopped and dragged in a breath. ‘You said that Joseph was dead.’
Luca grew still, his insides clenching down hard.
The emotions etched on her face were genuine. He would bet a million pounds on it.
Morgan Marshall genuinely cared for Joseph.
Rising abruptly to his feet, Luca strode over to the window and stared out. The pale milky sunshine that had been struggling to warm the morning had finally given up, hiding behind a bank of metallic grey clouds.
The change in the weather suited his mood.
He resented Morgan’s feelings for Joseph. He also recognised that persuading her to leave Joseph alone could prove more difficult than he’d first thought.
Not that her feelings changed anything.
Luca was determined nothing would affect the outcome of their meeting. Stefania was his number one priority. The affair had to end.
But he couldn’t let her go on thinking Joseph was dead.
He wasn’t that cruel.
‘Joseph is alive and well and currently on my private jet on his way to Sydney, Australia, for a well earned holiday with my sister,’ he said, without turning from the window.
The silence that filled the room had an eerie quality to it. The hairs on the back of his neck prickled. A warning flash of movement reflected in the glass window made him spin on his heels just in time to ward off the blow Morgan had aimed at his head.
In one smooth motion he twisted her arm behind her back and pulled her up close against him.
‘You bastard!’ she spat. ‘Did you enjoy lying to me like that?’
Once again she reminded him of a firecracker going off. The energy emanating from her was powerful. She was so full of life-force she made every other woman he’d ever known pale in comparison.
And just like that the wanting was back.
A surge of lust threatened to kick his legs out from under him. Her body was plastered against his, the cushioning softness of her breasts pushing against his chest, the warmth of her hips cradling his sex.
He dragged in a breath and forced himself not to act on the hormones raging through his system. ‘I didn’t lie,’ he replied calmly. ‘You passed out before I could finish my sentence. What I was going to say is that Joseph is dead as far as you are concerned.’
She just stared at him. She looked shell-shocked.
Another burst of sympathy flowered inside him, but he hardened his heart against it. ‘From this minute you are not to contact him. In person. By phone. Or by any other means. Capisce?’
‘Oh, I understand all right,’ she spat, eyes glittering up at him. ‘But as far as I’m concerned you can go to hell!’
His blood pressure soared.
Why didn’t she just do as she was told?
It might sound arrogant, but people—particularly women—were usually all too eager to do what he asked of them. This woman was like a beacon of defiance, beaming her lack of co-operation like a lighthouse gone crazy.
Infuriated, he tightened his arms around her. ‘Say that again,’ he snarled.
Her eyes widened.
And then she licked her lips.
Dio, but she shouldn’t have done that, Luca decided.
She had sealed her fate with the swipe of a pink tongue.
With a groan, he grasped her shoulders, pulled her towards him and fused his mouth with hers.
Her lips were soft. And sweet. She tasted like nectar. Or honey. A wave of lust rocked him, so hard and so fast he wanted nothing more than to pull up her skirt and take her right that very minute.
He cupped the back of her head, then ran his fingers over the thick swathe of her silky hair. The action set off a fresh wave of orange scent, making him decide that what he could smell was her shampoo.
He stroked a hand down her back, stopping at the base of her spine. And still he kept on kissing her.
And slowly, inch by inch, the stiffness melted out of her body and she began kissing him back.
The top of Luca’s head almost exploded. She had a taste all of her own. A feel all of her own. She was like heaven in his arms.
Luca backed her towards the desk. Something fell to the floor with a loud crash but he didn’t bother looking to see what it was. He wanted the kiss to go on and on, wanted the vision in his head—the one where she was naked except for the black leather I’m-in-charge boots—to become reality.
He urged Morgan onto her back without breaking the connection of their mouths. She didn’t protest. Instead, she wound her arms around his neck and clung to him as if she never wanted to let him go.
It was then that he smelled it.
Cologne.
Expensive cologne…but cloying.
The kind Joseph