The Count's Prize by Christina Hollis Page A

had startedoff her adult life by using hard work as the measure of her success. By the time she had realised her fiancé was more interested in his own prospects than their future together, he was already having an affair with one of her colleagues. That betrayal had been awful, and public. But there was another, darker side to her disappointment. The idea that sex with Andy had never set her on fire had been a private worry, which made today ten times more painful. In a few seconds Dario had blown away all her fears of being frigid, and released the animal inside her. Now she found herself wanting more. A man who could surely have any woman he wanted had managed to unravel all her self-control simply by holding her in his arms. In the seductive shadows, that scared her. Out here in the brutal light of day, it stoked her anger. It took the sight of Dario’s reaction to provoke an emotion in her more powerful than the fear of her own needs.
    No one turns their back on me any more!
she thought, getting to her feet and brushing her hands free from dust in a gesture dramatic enough for him to see. Shaking out the folds of her damp T-shirt and jabbing all the escaped strands of soggy hair behind her ears, she took a deep breath. Then she marched down the slope again. In a few frantic moments she had learned a little about Dario di Sirena—but a whole lot more about herself.
    It was time to start being ruthlessly honest. He had kissed her only after she had first accepted his offer of a picnic in a secluded spot.
    So what else did I expect to happen, after that clinch in the pool?
    The man had acted completely in character. In contrast, she had sent her common sense back home to England!
    A simple ‘no thank you’ to the picnic would probably have done the trick. I should have tried that first
, she told herself, but knew it would have been impossible. Well, now she had to face up to the consequences of her actions.
    The sun pounded down on her head almost as fiercely as the blood pulsed in her ears. Josie now realised she had been secretly wondering what it would be like to be kissed by Dario since first setting eyes on his sensuous mouth and those wonderfully dark, expressive eyes.
    It was time to put her willpower to the test. Officially she was here to work, and that would be so much easier with Dario’s goodwill rather than his contempt.
    I’m bigger than my shame, master of my anger, even stronger than the lust that’s still running through me—and this will prove it!
she thought, stamping the seal on her determination with every step. The slope gave her a bit more momentum than she expected.
    Dario was adjusting the harness of his horse, ready to leave the scene of the disaster. When he heard a noise and turned back to see what was happening, Josie was half-jogging down the hill in order to keep her balance.
    ‘I hope you don’t think I’m running back to you,’ she said with all the dignity she could scrape together.
    ‘No. But I do hope you have come back to accept my apology,’ he said gravely, picking up her discarded sun hat and holding it out to her.
    Josie hesitated, unable to decide whether he was being sincere or simply laughing at her. Stiffening her resolve, she grabbed the hat. To show how mad she was at him, she jammed it firmly onto her head. It was only then she realised Antonia’s head must be bigger than her own. The sun hat came right down over her eyes, only stopping when it lodged on her ears.
    Before she could do anything about it, lean brown fingers intruded into her restricted field of vision. Dario tilted the brim so he could look straight down into her eyes.
    ‘That’s better. As I said, you should never go without a hat in this sun.’
    His tone was as cool as a mountain stream, in stark contrast to the liquid heat of his kisses only moments ago. There was no trace of emotion visible in him now, either good or bad. Angry though she was, Josie felt her knees turn to jelly again