‘It would have been like reporting a murder without the corpse. You’d vanished like a thief in the night.’ Cesare lounged back with indolent relaxation and surveyed her intently, eyes slivers of molten gold beneath the luxuriant fringe of his ebony lashes. ‘And I did entertain myself briefly with a vision of you becoming a prison mascot, but ultimately it didn’t satisfy me. I think the punishment should fit the crime——’
‘I haven’t committed any crime…why won’t you listen to me?’ she gasped.
‘You used pillow-talk for profit——’
‘Pillow-talk?’
‘You ripped off that information like a professional. You made a fool of me. I could have been dragged down in the dirt with you. Guilty by association. I have no doubt you intended to say that you traded on my behalf if you were caught,’ Cesare told her very softly, every accented syllable dropping into the throbbing silence. ‘Pull the dumb dizzy blonde act and insist you had no idea that what you were doing was against the law.’
‘You’re out of your m-mind!’ Mina was white, barely able to vocalise.
‘Say you were seduced, used,’ Cesare continued with harshened emphasis, pinning her to the spot with smouldering dark golden eyes that burned. ‘If you were a man I’d have killed you…but you’re a woman and I intend to use you exactly as you used me…’
CHAPTER TWO
‘I BEG your pardon?’ Mina was still reeling with shock, her brain thrown into total chaos by the shattering accusation that Cesare Falcone had dropped on her four years after the event.
There was too much for her to take in all at once. But, devastated though she was, there had been a terrifying ring of reality to his derision when she had tried to protest her belief that she had been fired for the sin of once sharing his bed. No matter how insane his allegations, she suddenly had no doubt that he truly believed that she had committed a crime. It explained his attitude towards her. Both in the present and in the past. His hatred and his aggression now made sense out of what had earlier seemed like insanity.
Her mind was working in slow motion, one tiny step at a time. Cesare thought she had been guilty of insider dealing. Worse, he believed she had used information which he had given her in trust. Worse still, he was convinced that if she had been apprehended by the authorities she would have lied and said she had been acting on his behalf and not her own.
‘I shall use you as you once set out to use me,’ Cesare asserted.
She cleared her throat with difficulty. ‘And how are you planning to do that?’
‘How do you think?’ Cesare dealt her a look of grim amusement. ‘I don’t think you’ll ever tangle with a Sicilian again.’
Mina drew in a deep, shaky breath. ‘I intend to take legal advice about the allegations you have made against me.’
‘Cast-iron allegations with proof.’
‘You couldn’t possibly have proof of something I didn’t do!’
‘If you’ve got any of that money left, I intend to take it off you. By the time I am finished with you——’
‘You’re not even going to start with me!’ Mina told him, suddenly frantic to get out of the Ferrari but wanting to do so with dignity.
A hard smile slashed Cesare’s expressive mouth. ‘Don’t tell me I can’t do what I’ve already begun. Did you really think that I would let you get away with it? You should have known I would be on your trail. It made my day when I saw your photo——’
‘My photo?’
‘On the front of Earth Concern’s newsletter. That was a careless move, but then you were unlucky. My staff deal with the charity flyers. Rarely have I had such literature thrust at me at dinner parties,’ Cesare said very drily. ‘But there you were, looking all prim and proper, standing beside Haland at some fund-raiser.’
Mina had forgotten that she had featured in that same newsletter which Jean had mentioned as having ignited Cesare’s interest in the charity. She had assumed that their meeting tonight had been a ghastly coincidence and that he had not realised that she worked for Earth Concern until he’d seen her. The news that he had had that prior knowledge shook her.
‘A lying, conniving little confidence trickster like you working in a position of trust for a charitable concern,’ Cesare outlined softly. ‘A concern no doubt full of well-intentioned people, motivated more by environmental awareness than good business sense and strict control of their funds. And along comes Mina like a fox into a coop of little fluffy chicks waiting to be plucked. Haland’s blood would freeze in his veins if he knew what you were capable of!’
‘How dare you call me a confidence trickster?’ Mina objected strickenly, her breath rasping in her throat. ‘There has been some hideous misunderstanding——’
‘And it would appear to be on your side.’ Cesare treated her to a look from hooded golden eyes that was curiously chilling. ‘I’ve tracked you down and I know exactly what you are. Don’t preach to the converted. Watching you simper up at Haland and blush took me way back. And you’re so cute, you’re so little,’ he stressed, studying her slight figure with blistering derision, his mouth twisting and then compressing into a bloodless line. ‘You make men feel protective. You stitched me up, too. I don’t blame the old goat for falling for the fragile feminine act hook, line and sinker. Dio mio, didn’t I fall for it too?’
The atmosphere was explosive. Suppressed rage quivered through every syllable in that final statement. Anger so fierce that she could taste it vibrated in him. Her mouth was dry, ‘Cesare, I——’
He reached out a powerful hand, closed it round one slender wrist and yanked her bodily forward. ‘Shut up,’ he intoned with vicious bite. ‘I won’t ever fall for it again, cara. I know how clever you are, but your greed betrays you as surely as a streak of fundamental stupidity. You’re a treacherous bitch, but life as you know it is about to change. Betraying me was a big mistake.’
Trembling, trapped by his immensely greater strength, she gaped at him. ‘I didn’t betray you!’
‘You betrayed me in every way there was. As an employee and as a lover!’ Cesare raked at her. ‘One unforgettable night when my every fantasy was fulfilled. A virgin, but a whore in the making!’
Mina lifted her free hand and hit him a crack across one hard cheekbone that numbed her fingers. And then she froze, appalled by the violence that had roared up inside her from a place she didn’t know. She had never struck another human being before.
‘Relax…you were the best I ever had.’
Mina went white, her lower lip wobbling. Cesare hadn’t even flinched from that ringing slap. Disorientatingly, he smiled, and that smile chilled her to her bones. It was like the smile on the face of a tiger after drawing first blood. He knew she had lost control and he was triumphant, even amused. With a soft laugh, he released her wrist.
Her breath sobbed in her throat as she made a frantic attempt to get out of the car, but the door wouldn’t open.
‘It’s locked,’ Cesare said gently, and fired the engine.
‘Where are you taking me?’
‘Back to your pathetically poor bed-sit. Presumably chosen to yank at Haland’s heart-strings. He must be very naïve,’ Cesare delivered. ‘Ain’t no way what you’ve got on your back fits the poverty-stricken image you’re striving to put out for his benefit.’
‘The suit is borrowed,’ Mina said jerkily, and she didn’t even know why she was bothering to make that trivial explanation. Her nerves felt like elastic