“That’s my wife.” Nicco kissed her neck.
“Up to my knees in mud.” She blushed in her husband’s arms. “I’m never going to live that picture down.”
“It hooked me,” he said purposely in English because he wanted to jolt her.
Her eyes rounded, giving him the reaction he’d hoped for. “You’re an American! I thought you were a hundred percent Italian like Nicco.”
She spoke English now, playing the innocent to the hilt.
Nicco squeezed her. “Like you, my love, Riley’s a man of many talents. He even has the distinction of winning over Chloe on a first encounter. I think I’m jealous.”
“Dr. Wood won’t believe it when I tell him.”
“Dr. Wood?” Riley drawled.
She smiled. “He’s the vet in Prunedale who hired me out of medical school. He was the only person besides me Chloe would allow to touch her.”
“What about your husband?”
Nicco shook his head. “Let’s just say she was territorial about letting me sleep with my bride. It took her a week before she’d deign for me to stroke the back of her neck. I think it was a month before she rolled over so I could rub her belly.”
His black eyes flashed. “If your secrets translate to the track, Riley, I’m already feeling sorry for the other poor devils when you start to make your moves.”
“So you race?” she cried out with excitement.
She was good at dissembling. The best he’d ever seen.
“Never as a pro like your husband.”
“Why don’t we finish this conversation inside?” Nicco murmured against her cheek. “I don’t know about our guest, but I’m starving.”
“While you show Mr. Garrow where to freshen up, I’ll check to make certain Anna’s asleep, then meet you in the dining room.” She slipped away from Nicco and hurried inside with the dogs at her heels.
No doubt she was relieved to escape before she gave anything away. He couldn’t fault her for trying to make a go of her marriage.
Why out of all the many beautiful, exciting, exotic women he’d known in his life did he have to be hung up on the one female forbidden to him from the beginning?
Though he was no saint, he’d made it a rule never to become involved with a married woman. Little did Riley know another man had already claimed her when he’d met her on the set.
He supposed he should be admiring rather than angry of her devotion to her husband when Riley knew in his gut she’d once been as attracted to Riley as he’d been to her.
Riley was privy to a secret all right, one she didn’t want Nicco to know about.
Back then the head of the Danelli empire hadn’t won his bride’s heart and soul yet, otherwise those green eyes wouldn’t have come alive with desire for Riley when they’d first looked at each other.
He closed his eyes for a moment. He should have known this day was too good to be true.
You are in a great hurry, rushing down a path even more dangerous than the one before.
Riley liked Nicco. He sensed this was the kind of man he would want for a true friend. But under the circumstances, it wasn’t going to work. The wisest course would be to heed Mitra’s warning, excuse himself on some pretext and leave the country tonight.
“Shall we go in?” Nicco prompted him after parking his bike near the bushes. “Earlier in the day my wife told me Ann was making our dinner tonight. Between you and me she’s not as good a cook as Callie, but she’s a lot better than she used to be and she’s trying hard to learn Italian. Be patient with her when she makes the effort.”
Riley blinked. “Who’s Callie?”
“My wife.”
He was totally confused. “Then who’s Ann?”
“My wife’s twin sister. She flew in from the States last night for a visit.”
CHAPTER THREE
ANN swept through the door connecting the kitchen to the small dining room of the palace carrying a hot platter.
“I’m glad you’re home, Nicco. This chicken has been done for quite a while and—”
She suddenly stopped talking because she discovered her brother-in-law wasn’t alone.
As far as Ann was concerned, her sister had married an Italian Adonis. There’d only been one man Ann had ever met whom she’d thought was better looking. To her shock that man was standing there in the flesh next to Nicco dressed in a stunning tan suit with shirt and tie.
The platter literally slipped from her hands to make a thud on the table. “You—” she blurted when she could finally say something.
His sensuous mouth curved into a cruel half smile of acknowledgment. Her heart might as well have been a gong going off in the background.
Gorgeous, hunky, devilishly dark and handsome with silver eyes… No matter how many adjectives came to mind, none of them adequately described Riley Garrow. Inside that powerful male body he possessed a virile essence. It could swallow you alive just by looking at him.
No woman was immune from his intangible charisma.
Lover today, gone tomorrow.
That was his reputation. It preceded him wherever he went as Hollywood’s most sought after stuntman.
Oh, yes. She’d heard all about him long before he’d stepped foot on the set of her last movie. He was star material. Loaded.
No one could understand why he preferred to double for the hero in a dangerous scene rather than be the hero himself. No leading man had his matchless drawing power for women, his instincts for survival or his polish.
It was like some incredible dream to see him here inside the Tescotti palace of all places.
Worse, she felt irrational anger to discover he was even more attractive than she’d remembered. The line of his right eye tilted a trifle at the outer corner. When he stared at Ann through his heavily lashed lids, she felt seduced by his gaze and went hot all over.
What was it about men like Nicco and Riley who deliberately put their lives in mortal danger? How come they were better looking and more exciting than the average male? They might as well be a delectable poison.
Though she’d been tempted at the time, the rational part of her had been wise enough to turn him down for dinner after they were through shooting for the day. But her delight in thwarting him hadn’t lasted long because he never came near her again. He never called. So much for a true interest in her on his part.
Once again she was thankful she’d spared herself the grief of spending an evening with him, only to find out he had plans with another woman the next night. And the night after that, ad infinitum.
No thank you.
She felt Nicco’s speculative gaze. “It seems introductions aren’t necessary.”
“Not when it comes to the human cannon ball,” she mocked, feeling flushed and totally out of control.
Riley shifted his weight as if welcoming her aggression. “You’re referring to my father. He was the one billed ‘The Human Rocket.’”
Still so smooth and unflappable, as if nothing could disturb him. Damn him for that cloak of sophistication he wore like an invisible mantel, setting him apart from ordinary men.
Nicco wasn’t the only person to radiate a daunting indifference on occasion without being aware of it. Riley Garrow moved through life and women