Wife By Force: International Billionaires II: The Italians by Caro LaFever Page B

strewn with bridesmaids, a bride…
    And him.
    The damned man had manipulated her once again. Forced her into a situation she couldn’t get out of. Not without making a fuss and causing a stir.
    Which would only call more attention to her dilemma.
    The crowd stood. The Casartelli clan surrounded her like a smothering blanket. Giana wiped her eyes with a lacy handkerchief, Dani’s babies babbled, all the sisters smiled as their youngest sister and oldest brother passed.
    Lara wondered if they’d mind if she tripped him on his stroll.
    The man was as controlling, as conniving, as cunning as she’d thought. She’d made it absolutely clear she wanted nothing to do with him. More than once. She’d been pleased to hear nothing else from him for the rest of the week. See nothing of him.
    She hadn’t thought about him at all. Not at all.
    Maybe a dozen times.
    His words of five days ago kept ringing in her ear. He’d wanted her twelve years ago—a revelation that had stunned her. Turned her memories of the night of her seventeenth birthday upside down. In vain, she’d tried to dismiss them, label them as a lie, another of his manipulations.
    But she couldn’t. She couldn’t remember his face, the taut line of his jaw, the intense blaze of his eyes, and reject his words as lies. He’d been telling the truth. She knew it in her heart.
    He’d wanted her that night.
    His cold rejection and cruel taunts had been a shield.
    A mask.
    I want you now .
    She remembered the gruffness of his voice as he said the words. This cool, contained icicle of a man burned for her, wanted her with unwavering passion. What made it worse was this knowledge fed her growing desires, desires she’d shut down long ago. The thought of sitting beside him, close to him for the next half hour, all through an emotional, symbolic ceremony, twisted the answering burn of lust inside her into a solid knot.
    “I’m so glad you’re here.” Dani squeezed her hand and smiled. “This feels exactly right.”
    This wasn’t right. This burn. This twist. This knot.
    Giana Casartelli turned around at her daughter’s words and beamed. “ Si. Si . It is right you are here with us. This is where you belong.”
    She didn’t belong beside him. She didn’t.
    The revelation of his want for her had been a shock and she had to admit during the last few days, it had also soothed some of her pain. He’d wanted her twelve years ago as much as she’d wanted him. But he had far more to answer for than one confrontation and a few nasty words. He’d done much worse than that. If he thought his confession of still wanting her would be enough to win her forgiveness for everything, he was in for a surprise.
    Dante handed his youngest sister over with a kiss and turned. His black eyes were, as usual, blank, his face austere. Yet her breathing notched up when she met his gaze because there was latent heat there, a smoldering burn that matched what she experienced inside herself.
    His face gave nothing away, however. Cool and autocratic. A mask?
    Lara cursed under her breath. She would not allow him to make her burn and twist and tie herself into a knot, questioning her conclusions. Imagining there was anything behind that mask other than arrogance was a fruitless waste of time.
    She needed to focus on what was genuinely important.
    Dante Casartelli’s motives for what he did twelve years ago were not important. Whether or not he wore some kind of mask was not important. The fact he ignited her libido was also not important.
    What was important right now was the fact he’d decided to involve his family.
    She knew the Casartelli women. Their keen gazes and talking tongues would be gossiping and thinking and plotting. Which would fit nicely into his machinations. She wouldn’t have to deal with only him going forward. Oh, no, she would be deflecting and avoiding a slew of Casartellis.
    There is nothing going on between your brother and me.
    Maybe she should have it tattooed