The Mediterranean Billionaire's Blackmail Bargain by Abby Green Page A

you’d better get ready to be disgusted because we’re on the way to take a helicopter to Lake Como right now. And just remember, you weren’t disgusted when that plane was available to take you back to England at a moment’s notice.’
    She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the censure in his. Yet again he’d managed to make her feel in the wrong.
    She turned her head and looked unseeingly out of the window, her whole body tense and taut. She felt unbelievably exposed in the silky top and flimsy skirt. The silk of the new panties was also an unwelcome sensual reminder every time she moved, of the man who lounged on the seat only inches away. Little had she known that her actions would have brought her to this…back in Italy, to be paraded as Dante D’Aquanni’s newest lover. She might as well be part of the harem of some desert king. What she’d just endured was the equivalent of being washed and sent to his tent.
    Dante ached with the restraint it took not to reach out and haul her into his lap. But he imposed an iron will and he’d just remembered something. Her apparent ease and knowledge of the helicopter must have come from working with them in Africa. It made something uncomfortable lodge in his chest, and for the rest of the journey they were mutually silent.
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    The same benignly smiling housekeeper showed Alicia to her room. It was a different one from the one she’d spent that night in. The room she’d been locked in. She tried to hang on to that feeling of outrage as she sat on the bed and looked around, but it was hard. It was fading. Dante had surprised her by showing her where the study was and informing her that she could use it whenever she wanted to call Melanie.
    Then he’d handed her over to the housekeeper, who he’d introduced as Julieta, and informed her that they’d eat at five p.m. He’d told her to make herself at home. A far cry from the last time. She stood somewhat shakily and went to look out of the window. The lake was spread out before her and took her breath away in the early afternoon sunshine.
    Exploring a little, she looked around the room, found the en suite bathroom and then another door. Assuming it to be a dressing room, she opened it, only to find herself in another bedroom. His. She knew it without a doubt. It was huge, dominated by a massive king-size bed. Simple yet discreetly elegant furnishings—not too stark and masculine but enough of a stamp to make it unmistakably male.
    At that moment his door opened and Alicia stood there, her eyes growing round, transfixed when he walked in. He was pulling off his tie, undoing the top button of his shirt and then stopped, seeing her.
    His eyes raked her up and down. Took in her slight form, the jacket gone, the smooth skin of her shoulders bared. Took in her exquisitely shaped calves, her tiny bare feet. She had kicked off her shoes. Her hair was pulled back and one long tendril lay over her shoulder.
    â€˜I thought this might be a dressing room…’
    Dante spread out an arm, a hard smile playing around that seductive mouth. ‘By all means, you can dress in here if you want.’
    She stood stiffly. ‘You know what I mean.’ She turned. ‘I’ll go. Sorry for disturbing you.’
    He muttered something in Italian behind her and she turned again. ‘Excuse me?’
    He looked slightly tortured for a second and something in that look made an answering quiver erupt deep in her groin. But she couldn’t trust what she’d seen—it had to be her mind playing tricks.
    â€˜Nothing. Go. You should rest. You’re going to need it.’
    A fear of something powerful moving through her made her blurt out, ‘Do we have to have adjoining rooms?’
    He nodded and walked towards her. She backed away. ‘The guests will expect that we will be sharing a room, not merely occupying adjoining rooms, but here we can get away