‘Sienna is here because I invited her,’ he told his brother smoothly. ‘I didn’t reveal the name of my plus-one guest as there was a chance that Sienna wouldn’t be free to travel to Yorkshire this weekend. But luckily for me she was able to come to the wedding.’
What the devil was he playing at? She was conscious that Danny and Iris were both looking at her curiously but her gaze was riveted on Nico, on his mouth as he lowered his head towards her.
He was going to kiss her! She read the message in his brilliant blue eyes and her heart did a somersault. Her common sense told her to step away from him, run, scream—maybe all three, but she had never been sensible around this man. She opened her mouth to tell Danny that she wasn’t Nico’s plus-one guest, no way.
‘Actually that’s not...’ The rest of her words were smothered by Nico’s mouth as he crushed her lips beneath his in a fierce kiss that made her head spin. His arm felt like a band of steel around her waist and there was blatant possession in the way he clamped his hand on her hip.
Her brain told her to pull away from him and demand to know what he was doing. But her body reacted instinctively to the heat emanating from him and the bold demands of his mouth on hers. The years fell away and she was eighteen again, a girl on the cusp of womanhood, standing on a windswept moor and overwhelmed by the wild passion that Nico stirred in her. A tremor ran through her as she opened her mouth beneath his and kissed him back. Her body recognised his touch and desire swept fierce and hot through her veins as he deepened the kiss and her lips clung to his.
And then, as suddenly and unexpectedly as it had begun, it was over. He lifted his head and she saw a hard glitter in his eyes that sent a ripple of unease through her when she reflected on how easily, how shamelessly she had capitulated to him. Would she never learn that he was dangerous to her peace of mind? Their break-up had almost destroyed her but eventually she had grown up, moved on and established a good life for herself. She could not let a kiss from a skilled seducer who knew how to press all her buttons turn her into the doormat she had been when she was Nico De Conti’s teenage bride.
He withdrew his arm from her waist and she felt as if part of her had been severed. Get a grip, she ordered herself angrily. Nico had taken an outrageous liberty when he’d kissed her and she should slap his face. At the very least, she should ask him why he had lied to his brother and grandmother about inviting her to the wedding. She was about to challenge him but he swung round and started walking towards the main door of the church.
‘Photographs,’ he reminded a startled-looking Danny. ‘Sienna, if you wouldn’t mind helping Nonna to the car? I’ll see you back at the hall for the reception.’
Like hell you will. She clenched her hands by her sides as she watched him stride away. His arrogance made her seethe, but out of respect for his grandmother she swallowed her furious retort.
‘Domenico is so commanding, just like his grandfather was,’ Iris murmured when Sienna pushed her wheelchair into the vestry and down the ramp that led out of the church. Fortunately the chauffeur was on hand to assist the elderly lady into the car, and Sienna’s muttered uncomplimentary remark about her ex-husband’s bossiness went unheard.
‘I’m not coming to the reception,’ she told Iris. ‘I don’t know why Nico said he had invited me to Danny’s wedding. Perhaps his plus-one guest couldn’t make it.’ She disliked the idea that he had decided she could stand in for his current girlfriend, whoever that might be. Nico had a high sex drive and it was inconceivable that he did not have a woman in his life.
Thankfully Iris did not refer to that kiss, but Sienna unconsciously ran her tongue over her stinging lips. The taste of Nico was still in her mouth. ‘I have to drive back to London this afternoon and spend the rest of the weekend preparing for an important business meeting on Monday,’ she made the excuse as she stepped back from the car.
Iris nodded. ‘Rose told me that your organic skincare company is hugely successful and you have won awards for your products. She is very proud of you.’
Sienna felt a pang of guilt thinking that she should visit her grandmother more often. She tried to get up to Yorkshire once a month, but running her own business left her little leisure time. She frowned, trying to remember when she had last met up with her friends for a drink. And as for dating, it was over a year since she had accepted a dinner invitation from a man.
Why had she allowed her social life to dwindle to practically nothing? she asked herself. She was only just twenty-nine and she had a sudden sense that life was passing her by. She loved her career and the independence it gave her but she was aware that something was missing. Love, companionship, sex. Where had that thought come from? Her lack of a sex life had never bothered her before today, but when Nico had kissed her it had felt as if a floodgate had opened and need had throbbed between her legs.
She was jolted from her thoughts when she realised that Iris seemed to be struggling to breathe. The elderly lady clutched her chest.
‘What’s wrong? Are you feeling unwell?’ Sienna asked urgently.
‘I’m having an angina attack,’ Iris gasped. ‘I thought I had put my medication in my handbag. It’s a pump spray that I use under my tongue. But it’s not here.’ She closed her handbag that she had been rifling through. ‘I must have left it in my bedroom.’
‘Should I call an ambulance?’
‘There’s no need. I’ll be fine once I have my medication. Will you come in the car with me back to the house? You can run inside and find the pump spray.’
‘I’ll go and fetch Nico.’
‘No,’ Iris said sharply. ‘I don’t want to cause a fuss and spoil the wedding.’
There was no time to waste arguing and Sienna ran round to the other side of the car and jumped in. The journey through the village only took a few minutes. When the chauffeur turned onto the driveway of Sethbury Hall she felt a familiar sense of awe as she stared at the imposing manor house where she had once lived with Nico. She had always felt like an imposter. The daughter of the village publican who had married above her station, some of the villagers had whispered. Cinderella had found her prince, but the fairy tale had ended in a bitter divorce.
The car came to a halt and Iris said faintly, ‘You remember where my room is, Sienna? The pump spray should be on my bedside table. Please hurry.’
NICO LOCATED HIS grandmother in the orangery but Sienna wasn’t with her. He strolled across to the open glass doors and scanned the terrace where most of the guests had congregated, but there was no sign of a yellow dress.
His jaw tightened. Inexplicably he was disappointed that his ex-wife hadn’t accompanied Iris to Sethbury Hall. Frankly it was something of a surprise that Sienna had disobeyed him. When they’d been married she had always been eager to please him, especially in bed. Sometimes her puppy-like devotion had irritated him but she had been very young; a teenage bride, sweetly shy and biddable.
He frowned, remembering her accusation on the day she had walked out of their marriage that he had taken her for granted. With hindsight perhaps he had, he thought uncomfortably. Dio, but he had been young himself, with a weight of duty and responsibility on his shoulders. Sienna had been another of his responsibilities. Pregnant with his child and terrified of her abusive father. Nico had done the only thing he could do and offered to marry her.
He cursed beneath his breath. The last thing he wanted was a trip down memory lane. When he’d spotted Sienna in the church earlier he had thought at first that he must have imagined her. Standing in front of the altar with his brother had evoked memories of his own wedding ten years earlier, when Danny had been his best man.
Nico remembered the sense of panic he’d felt on his wedding day, of being trapped. He’d looked over his shoulder towards