Deceived

  “I’m not sure. Hopefully only a couple of hours.”

  I nodded, wishing he’d tell me more, knowing he wouldn’t.

  “I was thinking that when I got back, maybe we could spend the afternoon together.”

  “You were?”

  “Maybe a picnic?” His hands made quick work of his belt and buckle. “We shouldn’t leave the property, but this estate is big. There are plenty of places we can go to get away from everyone. And I...” A nervous look filled his eyes as they darted away, then came back to focus on me. “There are things we need to talk about. Things I want you to understand.”

  I swallowed hard, part of me afraid to hear all about those things he suddenly wanted to tell me. It was crazy. Information was what I craved, yet at the same time, information was the thing that had sent me running from Luc when things between us had been nearly perfect.

  “But more than that”—he stepped close and closed his large, warm fingers around my smaller and much colder ones—“I just want to be alone with you, Natalie. Without any distractions or anyone watching. Just you and me.”

  The honesty I saw in his eyes made me absolutely weak. “You do?” I whispered.

  “Disperatamente.” He lifted his hands to my face, and moved into me, closing the distance between us until he was so close, I realized if I wasn’t careful, I could drown in him. Just as I had before. “I’m wild for you, angioletto. Don’t you know that by now? I’ll never have enough of you. Everything I’ve done, everything I’m doing...it’s all for you. For us.”

  That word—us—brought tears to my eyes.

  He leaned down and pressed his lips against mine, and as I sucked in a breath and opened to him, he didn’t just kiss me. He claimed me. Dominating not just my mouth, but my body and soul as well. Just as he’d said he’d do on our first night together in Rome. Precisely as I’d secretly wanted him to do from the moment I’d awoken on his island. Exactly as my friend Elena’s mystery man had done when he’d ruined her life.

  That realization circled in my head as Luc drew back. Breathless and light-headed, I wobbled on my feet, but Luc’s arms were right there to pull me close and hold me tight against him. My brain said to fight the hold, to push back, to be the independent woman Elena hadn’t been, but my heart—the heart Luc had touched the last time we’d been in Italy—faltered, and as his familiar scent surrounded me, all I could do was press my cheek to that perfect spot on his chest and listened to his heartbeat while he played with my hair. To savor a moment I craved and didn’t want to let go of.

  Long minutes later, he sighed, and against my ear, I heard the low rumble of his voice when he said, “I have to go.”

  “I know.”

  But he didn’t release me. And I reveled in that knowledge and held him closer.

  Finally, he drew back, but I recognized the mischievous spark in his eyes when he looked down at me.

  My stomach tightened. “What?”

  He slid his hand down my arm, his fingers leaving a trail of heat in their wake. “Come here, and I’ll show you.”

  He drew me into the bathroom and tugged me to a stop in front of him. The bathtub was full and steaming and filled with bubbles. Candles illuminated the room, making the whole place smell of lavender, and three different paperback books, along with a small stack of fashion magazines, were positioned on the small table to the right of the bathtub. On the counter, I spotted a bottle of fancy French champagne in a silver ice bucket, and orange juice topped with a strawberry in a cut-crystal wineglass.

  “What’s all this?” I asked.

  Luc massaged my shoulders with his big hands. “How you’re going to relax while I’m gone. I stole the books from Fee’s library.”

  He leaned close and breathed hot over the sensitive skin behind my ear. “And I remember how much you like your baths.”

  My cheeks heated when I realized what he was referring to. The bath I’d taken in the middle of the night at his parents’ estate because I hadn’t been able to sleep without him. The one I’d fantasized about him taking with me. The one he’d caught me touching myself in as I’d been thinking about him and all the amazing ways he made me feel.

  Desire roared through my blood. A desire so strong, I couldn’t fight it a moment longer.

  I didn’t care if it made me weak. I turned into him, pushed to my toes, and pressed my mouth to his, trembling with an overpowering need only he could sate. He groaned and opened to my kiss, stroking his tongue with mine as he pushed me back against the counter so he could take control of my mouth and my body and every one of my wants and desires. And I let him. I willingly gave it all up to him because this was the Luc I’d been missing for so long. The one who could awe me with a single act of kindness and melt my body with one forceful touch.

  “Ah, angioletto,” he breathed against my lips, holding me so close, I could feel his straining erection against my belly. “If you keep that up, I’ll never get out of here.”

  I fisted the back of his shirt. “Stay and share that bath with me.”

  He growled and kissed me again. “Dio, you are a vixen. Tormenting me with things that gut me to refuse.” Sighing, he pressed his lips against the tip of my nose. “But I can’t this morning. I promise I will be back before you even miss me, though.”

  “Impossible.”

  His lips curled at the edges, not a full smile like he’d shown me in Venice, but more relaxed than I’d seen him in weeks. “Tell you what. Touch yourself and think of me. And when I return, you can tell me all the naughty things you fantasized I was doing to you in this bath.”

  I drew in a shaky breath and pressed my lips to his again in a soft, gentle kiss, unable to believe that only a few short hours ago, I’d thought everything between us was doomed for eternity. And now...

  Now there was a chance we might be okay.

  “You’d better be quick,” I mumbled against his lips.

  “I will drive ninety there and back. I promise.” He kissed my nose again and released me.

  Smoothing out my shirt—well, his shirt, technically, since I hadn’t been able to take it off this morning—I sighed and said, “That won’t work. I can’t have you getting in an accident. Seventy max.”

  One corner of his lips curled in a sexy smirk. Reaching for my left hand, he lifted my fingers to his lips and pressed a kiss right over my ring. The ring I now knew, thanks to Felicity, he’d designed specifically for me, and not for the reason I’d assumed. “Seventy it is, amore della mia vita. Now get in that tub and relax. I want you soft and pink and ready for me when I return.”

  His fingers slipped from mine. He moved back into the bedroom and reached for his suit jacket from the bed. I watched from the doorway as he slid his arms into the expensive fabric and shot me one last smoldering look before disappearing into the living room.

  The front door opened and closed, followed by the faint sound of his car door slamming and the engine humming to life.

  When he was gone, I glanced down at the tub he’d filled and ran my fingers through the frothy bubbles, a sense of hope I hadn’t felt in weeks struggling to break free from the ball of worry that had been knotted so tight inside me.

  This was a first step. We still had a long way to go to get back to where we’d been before, but the Luc I’d fallen for—my Luc—was still with me. I wouldn’t let his family come between us again. We were stronger than them. We’d survived so much. They couldn’t break us. I believed that. I had to believe it.

  Because any other truth would absolutely shatter me.

  My bath was amazing. By the time I got out, I felt better than I had in days. Relaxed, refreshed, rejuvenated. But that feeling slowly deteriorated as minutes turned into hours with no sign of Luc and no word about what was taking so long.

  By four o’clock, I knew something was wrong. Unable to concentrate on the paperback I’d been trying to read for the last two hours, I tossed the book onto the table beside me on the patio and pushed off the lounge chair
where I’d been relaxing in the shade. The main house was quiet as I approached. No sign of Luc’s car in the circular drive. No sign of Marco’s either.

  I knocked even though Felicity had told me to come in whenever I wanted. I still wasn’t comfortable imposing on her space. Caprice, Felicity’s housekeeper, met me at the door with a blank expression.

  “Miss Natalie.” The older woman stepped back with a nod so I could enter. “You are here to see Miss Felicity?”

  “Yes.” Caprice’s accent was thick, her salt-and-pepper hair pulled back into a tight bun. Last night when we’d been here for dinner, she’d been dressed in a light blue button-front dress with a white apron. Today, the dress was the same but black. The woman was all business, but I didn’t mind. It meant I didn’t have to worry about small talk, which I wasn’t in the mood to handle, especially when I remembered what Luc had told me about spies lingering even here. “If she’s busy I can come back later.”

  “She in her room.” Caprice closed the door at my back with a snap. “Wait here.”

  The older woman’s footsteps echoed like doomed drumbeats as she stalked toward the hallway and disappeared around a corner. Alone in the entryway, I studied a fresco on the high stucco wall and told myself to relax. I was working on the whole trusting thing, right? Just because Luc wasn’t back yet didn’t mean something bad had happened—or was going to happen. It just meant his family or his House was monopolizing his time and that he hadn’t had a chance yet to call me.

  Footsteps sounded on the travertine tile to my left, and I turned to see Caprice stalking my way once more. “Miss Felicity said for you to join her in her suite. This way.”

  “Thanks.” I followed Caprice down a long hall, then up a short flight of curved stairs to the second level. From the outside, the main house didn’t seem all that spectacular—just a stone farmhouse with arched windows—but inside, it was rustic and charming with beamed ceilings, arched doorways, and old-world touches I knew were Felicity’s influence.

  Caprice stopped outside a set of arched double doors and held out her arm. “Through here.”

  I nodded and stepped into what looked like a sitting room with a big fireplace, wide windows that overlooked the rolling Tuscan hills, and comfy chairs. Above the fireplace was a huge painting of an ancient stone castle set on a lush green hill overlooking the water.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?” Felicity said to the left of the fireplace where she stood leaning against an arched doorway with her arms crossed. “It’s my favorite painting. A friend sent it to me after I moved here.”

  “It really is. Is the castle real?”

  “It’s my childhood home. Gadleigh Castle’s been in my family for years. It’s about forty-five minutes from Edinburgh on the water. My parents live there now, though my father prefers to spend most of his days at their home down in Wales. Scotland can be quite cold.”

  It didn’t look cold to me. It looked absolutely gorgeous. And a million miles from Italy, which seemed like a fantasy just about now.

  When I finally pulled my gaze from the painting, I found Felicity studying me with a curious expression. Only something about her eyes seemed...different.

  I stared at her a heartbeat, then realized what it was. “Your eyes are brown? Yesterday, they were pale green.”

  “Oh that. Yeah. I forgot I had my colored contacts in. I wear these when I don’t want to be recognized. My pale eyes give away my noble blood more than that castle.” She nodded toward the painting.

  “Noble blood?”

  “Luc didn’t explain that?” When I shook my head, she said, “You know about the five main Houses, right?”

  I nodded, remembering what Luc had told me. She was part of House Merrick, the English House, and her father was the head of House Merrick.

  “The nobles are all about keeping the bloodlines pure. There are certain characteristics that are markers of noble blood—very pale eyes like mine, two different colored eyes like Luc’s brother Dante, a coloboma like Luc has, even a lock of white hair, which Luc’s sister Ariana has. Technically, they’re recessive traits that show up when both parents carry the same recessive genetic disorder. Most people in the world would consider it a flaw. The nobles in our world think it’s a gift.” She huffed. “They’re wacked. Of course, that tends to happen when your breeding pool isn’t too big.”

  I didn’t know a whole lot about genetics, but Luc’s father had the same keyhole pupil as Luc, and his mother had pale blue eyes like Gio. “Are you saying nobles can only marry other nobles with the same traits?”

  “Pretty much.” She pushed away from the doorframe. “Don’t worry. I’m not talking about incest. The bloodlines aren’t that compromised. Yet. I think Luc’s parents are technically cousins, but like twelve steps removed. Nothing to freak out about. But that is one of the reasons his father is not happy he married you.”

  An uneasy feeling rolled through my belly. That made sense, but was it enough to want me dead?

  I wanted to ask that but didn’t know if Caprice was anywhere listening. But before I could figure out a way to phrase it, I realized what else about her looked different. She was dressed in leggings and an oversized T-shirt that fell off one shoulder, her hair pulled back in a messy bun signifying a casual day at home. But her heavily made-up eyes and flawless makeup told another story.

  “You were in the process of getting ready to go out, weren’t you? I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

  “Oh, don’t worry.” She waved a hand and turned, motioning me to follow. “I was just messing around, trying to decide what to do with myself for tonight. Come on back and help me.”

  I had no idea what she meant, but, still wanting to know more, I followed her through the doorway and into the master bedroom. Another stone fireplace took up one wall, fronted by plush white chairs and a low coffee table. More arched windows looked out at the countryside, but my focus was pinned on the four-poster bed strewn with multiple dresses and shoes and wigs and masks.

  “What is all this?” I asked, moving toward the bed and fingering what looked like a strapless leather dress I doubted was long enough to cover Felicity’s ass.

  Felicity perched her hands on her hips and sighed. “My dilemma at the moment. I need something sexy and revealing that I haven’t used before. That one I wore several months ago, so I don’t think I can use it again so soon. It’d look great on you, though.”

  Confused, I glanced from the barely there leather outfit in my hand to Felicity.

  She laughed. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not a ho. I told you I do this sometimes. It’s for the party.”

  I blinked, completely clueless as to her meaning. And then it hit me. Hard. Like a punch straight to the gut.

  Holy shit. “They’re holding one of those parties tonight?”

  “Yeah. Didn’t Luc call y—” Her mouth snapped shut when she saw the fire in my eyes, then she muttered, “Shit. He didn’t call you, did he? Dammit, Luc.” She moved toward me before I could step away. “Don’t be upset. I just found out about it myself. Marco texted about a half hour ago to tell me he wouldn’t be home for dinner. If Luc didn’t contact you, I’m sure there’s a reason.”

  My vision turned red as I looked back down at the dress. “Sure.”

  Only I knew the reason he hadn’t called. Because he didn’t want me to know about the fucking party. The son of a bitch had lied to me again. He’d fed me a line of bullshit this morning to keep me quiet and docile. And like the naïve fool I’d been before, I’d fallen for his lies hook, line, and sinker.

  Dammit. I’d believed him when he’d told me he wanted to spend the day with me. I’d believed him when he’d said everything he was doing was all to keep me safe. Anger and stupidity bubbled inside me like molten lava. Leaving me here all alone so he could attend an orgy was not in any way keeping me safe.

  Revulsion pushed bile straight up my throat when I envisioned him in the middle of a party just like the one Gio had ta
ken me to on Long Island. Fucking some tattooed beta slave had absolutely nothing to do with my goddamn safety.

  My skin turned hot and tingled with an uncontrollable urge to get the hell out of this country once and for all. I was so consumed by my rage, I didn’t realize I’d moved toward the door until Felicity grabbed my hand.

  “Hey, I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m sure Luc would have told you if he’d been able to. Marco’s not watched as carefully as Luc. They probably took Luc’s phone from him so he couldn’t contact you.”

  Felicity could be right, but I was too worked up to accept that explanation. All I could think about was the fact I’d been duped—again.

  “Tell you what.” Felicity squeezed my hand. “Why don’t you come with me?”

  “Oh hell no.”

  “Just hear me out.” Her fingers tightened around mine when I tried to pull away. “No one will even know you’re there. I’m good at camouflage.” She nodded toward the bed strewn with articles of clothing. “I can put you in something that will completely disguise you. You can see for yourself that Luc’s not up to anything nefarious, which I know he’s not. Then you can leave and come back here without his ever knowing you were gone.”

  I met her gaze, debating my options. I didn’t like that she knew I didn’t trust Luc, but I had to admit I needed proof. I couldn’t go forward on blind faith anymore. It had burned me before, and I wasn’t about to be stupid. Not when my sanity was riding on whatever truth awaited me.

  “Are you sure it’s safe? Luc and Marco both said I shouldn’t leave the esta—”

  “Trust me. You’re safe with me. I know how to get in and out of these parties and blend without being noticed. You could walk right past Luc in one of my disguises, and he’d never know it was you.”

  I still wasn’t sure, but I couldn’t stay with Luc if I didn’t know what he was doing. And I wouldn’t allow myself to be pushed around a moment longer. Before I could stop myself, I said, “Okay.”