Her Mediterranean Playboy by Melanie Milburne

sensual mouth down to hers. She could feel the seductive pull of his inscrutable dark gaze as it warred with hers, and she could see the flare of his pupils signalling the desire he was no longer bothering to conceal. The thought of him possessing her intimately made her knees sag and her legs go weak. She could feel her inner body beginning to pulse with an ache for fulfilment she instinctively knew he would be more than capable of satisfying. She felt it in his touch; she breathed it in his male scent. The power and potency of him was making her whole body leap to fervent life.
    ‘I am a very rich man, Ally,’ he said into the erotically charged silence. ‘What is it you want? Diamonds? An apartment? An all-expenses-paid holiday to somewhere exotic?’
    Ally moistened her lips, wondering what he would say if she told him what she really wanted. She wanted her sister to be well most of all—and she would do anything, and give anything to bring that about.
    But for herself personally? That was simple. It was what most women wanted. Ally wanted to be loved, to be swept off her feet and adored by a man who would remain faithful to her, supporting her through all of life’s ups and downs. And she wanted tohave children, so she could experience the stability of a loving family unit and make up for all she and Alex had missed out on in the past.
    ‘I want security,’ she said in the end, taking the middle ground. ‘It is how women are made. It’s in our genetic code. We choose partners on the basis of how good a provider they can be. There is nothing sinister or avaricious about it. It’s just the way things are.’
    His mouth slanted in a smile as he slowly unwound her hair from his fingers. ‘So you are making a science out of seduction, no?’
    Ally pursed her lips at him, trying not to shiver in reaction as each hair on her head responded to his touch. ‘I’m not trying to seduce you, Vittorio,’ she said. ‘I am trying to be sensible about this…this unusual situation we are in.’
    His charcoal eyes bored into hers. ‘It is, as you say, unusual—but that does not mean it cannot be mutually satisfying,’ he said. ‘You apparently made the mistake of falling for a married man. I dare say a lot of women have done so many times before, and no doubt very many will continue to do so in the future. But I am not married, and you are now free, so why not explore the possibilities?’
    ‘W-what do you mean by p-possibilities?’ she asked, stumbling over her words as he cupped the nape of her neck with the warmth of his palm.
    His gaze went to her mouth. ‘Do I need to spell it out for you, Ally?’
    Her throat moved up and down as his gaze locked on hers. ‘I’m not ready for…for any…er…entanglements…’ she said.
    ‘Do not tell me you still have hankerings after Rocco?’ he asked as his index finger began a slow caress from the shell of her ear right to the corner of her mouth.
    Ally gave a mental gulp as he stopped just short of her tingling, quivering lips. ‘N-no, this is not about Rocco,’ she said. ‘I care nothing for him.’
    He hooked one brow upwards, his dark eyes still watching her intently. ‘Nothing at all, eh?’
    She gave her head a little shake. ‘No…he means nothing to me…er…now.’
    He studied her features in silence for a moment or two before saying, ‘I will leave you to prepare for our first public outing this evening. I have already phoned my older sister Justina and her husband, and told them of our affair. They will accept you as my current love interest—you will have no need to feel uncomfortable around them if you happen to meet them over the next few days. They believe, as I had hoped, that the press made a stupid mistake.’
    ‘What about Rocco? Have you told him about us?’ Ally asked.
    ‘Yes, but he was not happy about my solution to the problem,’ he said, his dark, mysterious gaze piercing as it held hers. ‘I found that intriguing, considering he