Innocent of His Claim by Janette Kenny

yours?”
    “There was no reason to.” He glanced at his watch with a scowl. “I’ll drive you to Montiforte.”
    “That’s not necessary. Your housekeeper told me it was an easy walk,” she said, the breathy catch in her voice mocking her stamina.
    The last thing she wanted to do was be alone with him. If he hadn’t kissed her, if her body hadn’t so readily responded, she might be able to suffer through his company. But after having his hands on her, his lips devouring her own and setting her blood on fire, she couldn’t risk it. He was simply too dangerously appealing and those memories she’d never been able to purge from her thoughts were rushing forward, tempting her with wild ideas of how good it could be with him.
    “I insist. Come. Let me show you the winery and then we will have lunch,” he said.
    “Marco, I must get to town.” Must get away from him while she could, while she still had the will to resist him.
    “You can spare a half hour,” he said. “There is a bistro in Montiforte that serves excellent fare. I insist you join me.”
    Of course he would. The cosmic force that was solely Marco engulfed her, threatened to wash her out into an uncharted sea that terrified her and enticed her.
    “I appreciate the offer but I have a lot to do.” Like visit the shops without Marco’s company, without sharing lunch with him which sounded far too much like a date. “Time is short to get everything in order.”
    He waved her worry away. “As it is for me, overseeing the harvest as well as finalizing preparations for the festival. But we both must eat. As for wine, it goes without saying that we will serve our label at the wedding, but you should sample it so you are aware what foods would best be served.”
    What to say? She had every reason to trust in their contract that precisely detailed her duties and her reward for complying, but the fact that he’d lied about owning the villa kept her suspicions alive.
    Her father had excelled at rescinding offers and finding loopholes in contracts. She had no idea if Marco had become just as ruthless.
    “Point taken,” she said. “The housekeeper mentioned the festival, but I hadn’t realized it coincided with harvest and the wedding.”
    He threaded fingers through his thick hair. “Yes, too much happening at once. And not just here but throughout Umbria. It’s maddening.”
    “And now a wedding,” she said, and wished that his smile hadn’t warmed her so. But it had and there was no denying her attraction to him.
    “
Si
. This way.” He laid a hand at the small of her back and urged her forward.
    Her skin burned beneath his palm, the heat seeping into herbones and leaving her weak-kneed. But she forced her legs to move, taking each step with care and hoping he didn’t notice how much his touch affected her.
    The interior of the winery was a welcome distraction, a beautifully vaulted space with warm terra-cotta floors and ancient-looking frescoed walls that simply took her breath away. “This is absolutely gorgeous.”
    “My great-great-grandfather built the winery and a local painter did the walls. Generations have added on to the structure but none have touched the fresco.”
    “Nor should they ever.”
    “Precisely. I made necessary repairs once I’d reclaimed it, but for the most part this building is as it had been four generations ago. Come, let me show you the rest.” He slipped his arm around her shoulders and escorted her through the room, accompanied by the gawks of onlookers, as if it were the most natural thing to do, as if they hadn’t been separated for ten years.
    An electric shiver eddied through her, bringing every sensation awake. Her blood hummed from the contact, from the promise in his touch and from the memory of pleasure untold.
    She hated that he still had this effect on her even though she savored this connection. The contradiction in her baffled her and she hated that as well. Hated that he could control the