“Are you crazy? You forced me to marry you.”
“I didn’t force you. I offered you a choice.”
“What—marry you or lose everything?”
His eyes gleamed in the spotlight as they danced to the music. “I knew you’d make the right decision.”
Tess yearned to stomp hard on his foot with one of her stiletto heels. Instead, she bared her teeth into a smile for the benefit of the guests watching them as he whirled her around the dance floor.
“You are a monster,” she said sweetly.
“Cheer up.” He pulled her hard against his body. “I told you the truth. I intend to make you very happy in our marriage. Starting tonight.”
He cupped her cheek, and desire crackled through her body, from her scalp to her toes and everywhere in between.
Breathing hard, she turned away.
“Go to hell,” she spit out, trying to hide her conflicting feelings. How could her body still want him, when she despised him?
“I intend to satisfy you in every way possible.” He stopped on the dance floor, looking down at her. “Tonight, you will be in my bed. Willingly and completely.”
Trembling, she lifted her chin. In spite of her best efforts, her voice trembled as she taunted, “In your dreams.”
“My dreams always come true.” Stefano cupped her face in both his hands. “I always win, like Moretti said. I take what I want, at any price. And what I want—” he slowly lowered his mouth to hers “—is you.”
Tess held her breath. She knew she should push him away, resist, but she couldn’t. When his lips finally pressed against hers, the intoxication of his caress made her feel dizzy. She had to clutch his shoulders to keep from falling. The world spun around her as if she’d drunk far more than one glass of champagne.
Dimly she heard whistling and hooting from the crowd, but they all seemed far away. In Stefano’s arms, swaying to this beautiful song she’d loved all her life, her anger faded for a moment and her old dream resurfaced in her heart. She’d yearned for him for so long. Her perfect man. Her handsome prince. Their kiss brought it all back, sending her soaring into the sky.
As the song ended, he pulled away and Tess slowly opened her eyes.
Stefano stared down at her, his dark eyes wide as if he’d felt the same shock, the two of them in their own private world.
Applause thundered around them—for their first dance as husband and wife, and for Hallie’s amazing performance.
Stricken, Tess touched her bruised lips. How could she keep kissing him like that? With everything in her heart? Her body ached for him, and her nipples felt tight beneath the smooth silk bodice.
For over a year, she’d been tormented by hot, sensual dreams of Stefano, of the night he’d taken her virginity and they’d conceived a child. She’d yearned for the man she’d imagined him to be. Now she knew the truth.
The dream still held sway over her.
She wanted to be in his bed. No matter how she tried to fight it. No matter how she pretended otherwise. Even now, looking up at him, she unconsciously licked her lips. She heard his soft groan and felt lost in his dark, hungry gaze.
Stefano took her hand. Without a word, he led her past the crowd, off the dance floor. He drew Tess past the tables and guests. Her full white satin skirts shimmered beneath the lights of the glittering crystal chandeliers as he pulled her away from the gilded ballroom and out a side door, into a shadowy back service hallway.
Once they were alone, his restraint fled.
He pushed her roughly against the wall, kissing her hard, gripping her wrists. She kissed him back with fury, surrendering to the angry force of her own desire.
“You’re mine,” he growled, kissing down her throat. “Say it, Tess.”
Her head fell back as her veil tumbled and twisted around them.
“Yours,” she breathed, and knew she was lost.
AS STEFANO KISSED down her throat, stroking the silky fabric of her dress, Tess closed her eyes, her body taut with need. She gasped as she felt the rough heat of his hands beneath the sweetheart neckline of her bodice, against her naked breasts.
Through the closed side door, she could hear the muffled sounds of music, laughter, dancing from the distant ballroom. The sounds of their wedding reception, still carrying on without them.
Here in this quiet, darkened hallway, they were alone. He swayed against her, and even through her thick white skirts, she could feel the force of his desire for her. They gripped each other, panting in the intensity of their need.
Abruptly he lifted her up against the wall. Her white skirts parted, her legs wrapped around his hips of their own accord. She felt his shaft pressing hard against her, through his trousers and the flimsy fabric of her panties.
Lowering his head, he kissed her passionately. Her fingertips dug into the shoulders of his tuxedo jacket. She wanted him closer, wanted more. With a low growl, he unzipped his fly.
Holding her backside, he pressed her hard against the wall. He shoved her delicate lace panties aside and pushed his enormous shaft inside her, filling her slowly, inch by delicious inch.
She gasped as she felt him hard and thick inside her, stretching her to the limit. Drawing back, he thrust again, even more deeply inside her wet, aching core. Desperate need pounded through her. She choked out a cry, gripping his shoulders.
His thrusts became harder, faster, as her white satin skirts shook and fluttered around them, the fabric opalescent and gleaming in the pale shadows of the hallway. Her breaths came in ragged gasps, her full breasts overflowing the low-cut neckline of the boned corset, a sliver of her pink nipples now visible.
Feeling him so deep inside her, all the way to her heart, pleasure blazed through her like a wildfire, consuming her. She’d wanted him for so long.
The wickedness of letting him do this to her when she hated him, when any moment someone might come into the hallway and see them, should have made her pull back and push him away. Instead, she only wanted him more.
Three more deep thrusts and she exploded in a shuddering cry, digging her nails into the expensive fabric of his tuxedo jacket. At that, he shoved himself inside her with a harsh shout, gripping her against the wall, his eyes closed with fierce ecstasy.
Tess slowly came back to earth, literally, as he released his grip on her thighs, letting her feet slide back to the floor.
His large hands smoothed her frothy white skirts neatly back down, as if nothing had happened. Turning away, he zipped up his tuxedo trousers. Watching him, Tess leaned back heavily against the wall, hardly able to believe what had just happened.
“I was never going to let you touch me again,” she whispered.
Stefano glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. His cruel, sensual lips lifted into a cold smile. “If this is you hating me, I like it so far.”
With a humiliated gasp, Tess turned away. He grabbed her wrist.
“Wait.” His voice was low, and his earlier expression was gone, replaced with some emotion she couldn’t identify. “Don’t go. I didn’t mean it.”
“You did that just to show your control over me,” she choked out, wiping her eyes, knowing she was probably streaking mascara across her face.
“Is that what you think?”
“What else could it be?”
He