Читать книгу The Sicilian's Innocent Mistress - Кэрол Мортимер, Кэрол Мортимер - Страница 6

CHAPTER TWO

‘DID you see much of Mellie while you were in Los Angeles?’ Darci prompted her brother lightly.

‘Mellie?’ Grant repeated, as he turned from surveying the crowded reception room at the glittering post-premiere party.

Darci gave him a coy smile. ‘Yes, you know—Mellie. Old schoolfriend of mine. We all shared a flat together a few years ago.’

‘Very funny,’ her brother drawled. ‘I just wondered at your interest, that’s all.’

Darci’s interest was in knowing whether or not Grant knew of Mellie’s ill-fated involvement with Luc Gambrelli!

‘Perhaps the exulted film director Grant Wilde is far too superior now to remember his old friends…?’ she continued to tease her brother.

‘Very funny!’ Grant came back. ‘And, yes, I did see Mellie a couple of times,’ he confirmed. ‘But I—Oh—hi there.’ He turned to greet someone smilingly.

‘Would you care to introduce me to your beautiful partner for the evening, Grant…?’ Luc Gambrelli asked huskily, strolling over to join the young movie director and the entrancingly lovely woman who stood at his side, drinking a glass of the champagne that was flowing freely now that the after-party was in full swing.

The premiere had been a success as far as the critics invited to the party were concerned, although the newspapers tomorrow morning would probably be more revealing.

Luc had been aware of the striking redhead at Grant Wilde’s side earlier this evening the moment she entered the theatre on the other man’s arm. She was far too beautiful to be overlooked, even amongst this glittering crowd of celebrities. Her long red hair was like that of a woman in a pre-Raphaelite painting, her eyes a clear lucent green, her complexion creamy smooth, with a tiny smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose, her lips a full sensual pout—and as for that body, shown to advantage in a clinging green gown!

She was very slender, with long shapely legs, narrow hips and a flat abdomen, but in contrast her breasts—bare beneath that clinging gown, Luc felt certain!—were full and pert, their creamy swell tantalisingly visible above the low neckline of her gown.

His curiosity had been piqued earlier, as her coolly dismissive gaze had swept over the crowded foyer. Those eyes the colour of moss—an exact match to the gown she wore, which clung so enticingly to that curvaceous body—had paused on him momentarily, before she had turned away, uninterested.

Enough to quicken the interest of any red-blooded man!

And especially one who had already found her so immediately attractive…

There hadn’t been time for any introductions before the film showing, but Luc had been determined to meet her once they moved on to the party afterwards.

She was even more beautiful close to: her skin satiny smooth, those green eyes mesmerising through lowered dark lashes, a deep peach gloss on the pout of her lips, her hair the most incredible shade of red as it tumbled over her bare shoulders almost down to her waist. And, being several inches taller than her, even in her high-heeled sandals, Luc had more than a glimpse of that amazing cleavage!

His gaze was heated as he looked at her from beneath hooded lids, his tongue moving across his lips as he imagined what it would be like to view that cleavage, that amazing body, without the benefit of the green gown, to kiss her, taste her, touch her…

Having been pursued—and having allowed himself to be captured for a short time—by some of the most beautiful women in the world, Luc found his instantaneous response to this woman’s beauty something of a novelty.

Although, as he knew from his jaded experience, the novelty wouldn’t last any longer than it took to entice her into his bed!

If he could entice her into his bed.

The cool lack of interest that he had seen in her eyes earlier, as her gaze had swept over him so dismissively, hadn’t abated in the slightest as she looked up at him now, from beneath those long, dark lashes.

‘Of course, Luc,’ Grant answered him warmly. ‘This is my twin sister, Darci Wilde. Darci—Luc Gambrelli,’ he introduced them.

Grant’s sister?

This woman was Grant’s twin sister?

The two couldn’t have been more unalike; Grant was a six foot blond, and the woman at his side a tall red-haired siren. The only features they appeared to have in common were their height and those moss-green eyes.

‘Darci,’ Luc acknowledged, his dark gaze holding hers as, instead of shaking the hand she held out to him, he raised it to brush his lips across her creamy knuckles.

Her hand felt soft and warm in his, her fingers long and slender, and her perfume—something elusively musky—at once assailed his senses.

Darci guardedly returned Luc Gambrelli’s gaze from beneath lowered lashes, even as she congratulated herself on the fact that she hadn’t had to ask to be introduced to him after all—that he had come to her.

Not that she was too surprised at that. She had noted his dark gaze on her when she’d arrived with Grant earlier this evening, and several more times when she’d happened to surreptitiously glance his way. No doubt in a theatre full of celebrities the fact that he had no idea who she was had something to do with that interest.

Although she was a little less pleased with her success now, as he bent his head over her hand, those dark eyes openly flirting with hers as his lips brushed against her skin.

Kerry’s warning came back to haunt her…

Aged in his midthirties, Luc Gambrelli was just as lethally attractive as he looked in media photos. But more so. The flesh-and-blood man exuded a leashed power, the force of which couldn’t possibly be captured in a photograph. His body was lithe and muscled, in a black dinner suit, snowy-white shirt and black tie, and that overlong burnished gold hair was completely at odds with his olive complexion, his deep chocolate-brown eyes and very white teeth. He raised his head to give Darci a slow, wolfishly appreciative smile while still maintaining his hold on her hand.

But his reputation, and the cold-hearted way he had used and then discarded Mellie, breaking her heart in the process, made Darci determined not to be in the least impressed by his heart-stopping good looks, that pulse-racing Sicilian charm, or the nerve-tingling huskiness of his voice as it moved as silkily across her flesh as his lips had seconds earlier.

‘Mr Gambrelli,’ she returned coolly, as she extricated her hand from his, and she returned his gaze defiantly but uninterestedly.

‘Please call me Luc,’ he invited, heavy lids narrowed now over speculative brown eyes.

‘Of course.’ She gave a terse nod, deliberately not returning the politeness.

‘And are you involved in movie-making, too, Darci?’ he enquired. ‘An actress, perhaps—?’

‘I’m afraid not.’ Darci’s reply was dismissive as she levelly returned his flirtatious gaze.

A look that more than piqued Luc’s interest. ‘I believe Jackie is in need of your assistance in handling the media, Grant,’ he told the younger man lazily, while keeping his gaze firmly fixed on the beautiful Darci.

‘Hell,’ Grant muttered, as he turned and saw that Jackie, a complete newcomer to the stardom that had hit her overnight after starring in his movie, was stuck in a corner with a few of the more voracious members of the press. ‘I had better go and rescue her,’ he said. ‘Darci—’

‘I will ensure that Darci does not become too bored in your absence,’ Luc assured the other man, and he reached out to once again take hold of Darci’s hand and draw it into the crook of his arm.

This man didn’t miss a trick, did he? Darci acknowledged with an inward scowl, as she felt the hard, disturbing warmth of Luc Gambrelli’s body against her arm as he anchored her to his side.

Grant grinned at the older man. ‘Take it easy on my little sister, hmm, Luc…?’ he warned dryly.

Luc gave the other man a mocking inclination of his head, totally aware of the tension in Darci Wilde’s body as she stood beside him.

Totally aware of everything about her. From the glorious scented red hair that he longed to bury his face in, to the beauty of her red-lacquered toes that he wanted to kiss through the black strappy evening sandals she wore. Before slowly working his way up the sultry curves of the rest of her body to those voluptuous breasts….

Most men, he knew, had a particular part of a woman’s body that they preferred to any other—legs, bottom or breasts. But Luc couldn’t say he had ever before thought of a woman’s breasts as being his own particular preference. He would definitely make Darci Wilde the exception!

Grant’s grin widened. ‘I should warn you, Luc—it takes a lot to impress my little sister,’ he advised, before strolling off determinedly to rescue his leading lady.

Darci gave a rueful smile as her brother left her alone with this wolf—in wolf’s clothing!—without so much as a backward glance.

Not that Grant had any idea of her ambivalent feelings towards the Sicilian film producer. There were some things you didn’t confide even in a twin, and Mellie’s humiliation at Luc Gambrelli’s hands was definitely one of them!

But, even so, her brother had to be well aware of Luc Gambrelli’s reputation with women—

On second thoughts, Grant probably saw leaving her to the legendary lethal charms of Luc Gambrelli as a huge joke!

Although whether Grant intended that joke to be on her or on Luc Gambrelli, she wasn’t quite sure. Grant was as aware of her own elusiveness when it came to relationships as he had to be of the other man’s will-o’-the-wisp attitude towards them.

She turned to the man standing so arrogantly beside her. ‘I believe you did that on purpose,’ she murmured mockingly.

‘True,’ Luc Gambrelli drawled unrepentantly. ‘Is what Grant said also true, Darci?’ he prompted as he moved slightly, effectively cutting her off from the rest of the room.

‘That I’m not easily impressed?’ she rejoined. ‘What do you think?’ she prompted provocatively.

He raised dark blond brows over those melting chocolate-brown eyes. ‘I don’t believe you are ready yet to hear what I’m thinking,’ he came back throatily.

Darci blinked as he returned her provocation tenfold, the intimacy of his tone telling her exactly along what line his thoughts were wandering.

As if the dark caress of his stare as he slowly moved it across her face to trail down the length of her body wasn’t already making her completely aware of that!

Well, she wasn’t some shrinking violet, or a relatively unknown actress who was hoping he would give her a break in her career; she was twenty-eight years old and a doctor, and she was going to take great delight in letting this man know that she really wasn’t impressed by anything about him.

She stepped back, deliberately removing her hand from Luc Gambrelli’s arm as she did so, amazed at how much easier she found it to breathe now that she was no longer so aware of the hard warmth of his body. ‘Try me,’ she invited challengingly.

Appreciation lit those dark eyes as he grinned at her. ‘Would you like a detailed account or just an overview?’ he came back easily, so obviously a consummate flirt.

Darci calmly took a sip of her champagne as she seemed to give the question some thought, inwardly fighting a battle not to wipe the confident smile off Luc Gambrelli’s arrogant face. Not yet, anyway.

She’d had every intention of having the pleasure of giving Luc Gambrelli a royal set-down this evening, if he should show interest in her, to let him know that he really couldn’t have every woman he wanted. But just these few minutes in his company had shown her that his interest in her was certain. Those dark brown eyes easily conveyed the depth of his physical attraction to her.

So much so that Darci couldn’t help wondering if she shouldn’t take this a step further than just this evening….

There were a couple of ifs involved in that plan, of course….

If Luc Gambrelli should actually ask to see her again.

If she had the nerve to actually agree to seeing him again, knowing she had no intention of keeping that date!

She looked up at Luc and allowed her green eyes to meet his unblinkingly. ‘The detailed account, I think,’ she invited coquettishly.

Grant Wilde’s sister was becoming more and more of a surprise to him the longer he spent in her company, Luc acknowledged appreciatively; he was no longer just attracted to her luscious body, but also to the sharp edge of her tongue and the intelligence he could read in the depths of those moss-green eyes.

She was Grant’s twin, so Luc knew she had to be aged in her late twenties, and, beautiful as she was, she must have received more than her fair share of male attention. And it was attention she obviously had no difficulty in dealing with.

The fact that there wasn’t even the slightest blush on her cheeks as she encouraged him to voice the intimacies he would like to share with her confirmed that.

He gave a slight inclination of his head. ‘Perhaps we should go somewhere a little more—private, for this conversation?’ he suggested softly.

Darci continued to survey him coolly. ‘I was only suggesting that you tell me your thoughts, Mr Gambrelli—not that we put any of them into action!’ she told him tartly.

‘Ah.’ He smiled. ‘My mistake.’

‘Indeed,’ she snapped waspishly, those green eyes glittering warningly.

Luc allowed his gaze to once again move appreciatively over the beauty of her face. Darci Wilde, he decided, was something of a contradiction; that glorious abundance of red hair, the lush curve of her breasts and the slenderness of her waist and thighs were so totally feminine, and yet at the same time were in total contrast to that sharp flick of her tongue.

It was a contrast he was finding more and more intriguing by the minute!

Perhaps not such a good idea…

Only a year ago there had been three Gambrelli bachelors: his cousin, Cesare, his brother, Wolf, and Luc himself. But a year ago Cesare had fallen in love with Robin, and then, four months later, the two of them had married. Only three months ago Wolf had married his beloved Angel. Leaving Luc as the only one who remained single.

A status quo that he was absolutely determined to keep!

So much so that he had avoided entering any relationships at all since his brother Wolf’s wedding.

But telling Darci Wilde of the ways in which he would like to make love to her wasn’t a relationship, was it?

‘Very well. As you insist.’ His voice lowered huskily. ‘First of all I would like to kiss you. Just your mouth, you understand? It’s such a—delicious mouth,’ he added, as his heated gaze locked onto her peach pout. ‘Soft. And full. And `so tempting. Yes, I would very much like to kiss you,’ he confirmed. ‘To taste you. To let my tongue explore you.’

Darci could feel the heat creeping into her body as the intimacy in Luc Gambrelli’s voice moved across and into her. She was aware of the way her breasts had swelled, their nipples hard and tingling, of the heat moving between her thighs.

Not exactly what she had planned to happen when she’d decided to call this man’s bluff!

‘And while I am kissing you,’ Luc Gambrelli continued in that low, sensuous voice, ‘I would like to thread my fingers into your beautiful hair, to feel its silky softness, to tangle it about my fingers as we deepen the kiss. And then I would like to release one of my hands to run the zip of your dress slowly down your spine, touching you as I do so, caressing the smoothness of your bare skin as I allow the gown to drop to the floor. Underneath the gown you would be wearing nothing but a pair of silk panties—black, I think,’ he added, as he looked over her with slow consideration, ‘and sheer flesh-coloured stockings—’

‘Are you trying to shock me, Mr Gambrelli?’ Darci cut in quickly, hopefully hiding her inner discomfort at the fact that he had guessed exactly what she was—or rather, wasn’t!—wearing beneath her gown.

No doubt, experienced lover that he was, Luc Gambrelli was more than capable of undressing a woman with just his eyes, she acknowledged hardly.

‘Am I succeeding?’ he enquired, those dark eyes glinting with a devilish humour.

Something else Darci hadn’t been prepared for…

She had expected Luc Gambrelli to be as good-looking as sin. And he was.

She had expected him to be arrogant. And he was most definitely that.

But what she hadn’t expected was that he would also have a wicked—and very appealing—sense of humour!

‘Not in the least,’ she assured him with calm dismissal, as she took another sip of her champagne.

‘Good—because I haven’t got to the best part yet,’ he murmured assuredly, laughter glinting in those dark eyes. ‘Once I had you out of your dress I would kneel at your feet, paying homage to your beautiful breasts with my lips and tongue on the way down, and then I would slowly slide off your silk panties—’

‘I’m sure it’s fascinating to hear your fantasies, Mr Gambrelli.’ Her scathing tone told him she considered it the opposite. ‘But then they are just fantasies, aren’t they?’

‘For the moment,’ he agreed, and once again his gaze fixed caressingly on the full pout of her mouth.

Darci knew exactly the effect her looks had on men of all ages—how her height, her unruly red hair and voluptuous breasts prevented most men from taking her seriously. She had been fighting against that prejudice all her life, but especially during her years of training to be a doctor. In fact, she was still fighting it with the male staff at the hospital where she worked. And with some of the patients, too—young men considering her easy bait for their teasing, and most older men reluctant to let an attractive young female doctor care for them at all.

The fact that Luc Gambrelli had taken one look at her and decided not to take her seriously, either, only made her see red!

She was more determined than ever that he needed to be taught a salutary lesson—and that was never to underestimate a woman scorned or, in this case, never to underestimate the friend of a woman scorned!

‘As you said earlier, Luc, this is hardly the place for this sort of conversation,’ she dismissed, with a lightness she was far from feeling. Her breasts ached—her nipples actually throbbed!—and there was a dampness between her thighs from just listening to this man talk about making love to her.

‘Where would you consider the right place to be?’ he encouraged naughtily.

Nowhere, as far as this mesmerising man was concerned!

‘Fascinating as this conversation has been, Luc, I think it’s probably time I rejoined Grant,’ she replied smartly. ‘I—What do you think you’re doing?’ She frowned as Luc Gambrelli reached out and grasped her bare arm, his long fingers dark against her much paler skin.

Yes, what was he doing? Luc wondered impatiently.

Darci Wilde was beautiful, yes. Desirable. Intelligent, too. Certainly quick-witted enough to hold his interest. But wasn’t this an interest, raw as he still was from Wolf and Cesare’s defection to the married state, that Luc was trying to avoid at all costs?

But Darci was so incredibly beautiful, and he was already aroused just from talking about making love to her deliciously sensual body…

‘I wonder if you would care to have dinner with me one evening?’ he asked smoothly, not at all sure of the wisdom of seeing this woman again, but aware that his caution stood little chance of winning out when his body throbbed with a need to know her better.

An urgent need.

A need that at the moment far outweighed those feelings of caution.

Darci looked up at Luc Gambrelli for several long minutes, torn between the satisfaction of having this man invite her out after all, and the fact that, now she had actually spent some time in Luc Gambrelli’s company, she appreciated that Kerry’s warning of yesterday had some merit.

Not that there had ever been any real chance of her actually falling for Luc Gambrelli—not after the way he had treated Mellie. But at the same time Darci had to acknowledge that he really was much more lethally attractive in the flesh. His unusual colouring and undeniable good looks were mesmerising, his every movement was one of elegantly leashed power, and that wicked sense of humour was definitely more appealing than it should be.

His description of how he wanted to make love to her hadn’t been in the least calming, either!

‘Perhaps if I were to assure you, despite what I have just described, that you won’t be on the menu…?’ He mocked her lengthy silence.

Darci’s mouth tightened at the challenge. ‘Perhaps I should assure you that you won’t be, either!’ she came back acidly.

Those dark eyes warmed appreciatively. ‘Tomorrow evening, then? Say eight o’clock?’

‘I’m busy tomorrow evening,’ she took great satisfaction in telling him.

It was the truth, after all; she had a late shift at the hospital tomorrow. But even if she hadn’t, she would have made an excuse not to meet him tomorrow evening. If only to show him she was less than eager to see him again.

The fact that the warmth had faded slightly from those dark eyes, his lips thinning, more than justified her refusal.

No doubt he was used to a more enthusiastic response to his invitations.

No doubt most women would have put off any previous engagement in order to have dinner with him tomorrow or any other evening he suggested.

Well, as Luc Gambrelli was going to learn, Darci wasn’t most women.

And in his case forewarned had definitely been forearmed!

She had no doubt, despite her own reluctance when it came to relationships, that she would have been totally bowled over by his deadly charm if she hadn’t already known what a heartless bastard he really was.

‘Saturday evening?’ he pressed abruptly.

Darci deliberately gave the alternative suggestion some thought, knowing as she glanced at his face from beneath lowered lashes that the egotistical Luc Gambrelli wasn’t best pleased by her obvious hesitation.

He was going to be less pleased when she didn’t even turn up for their dinner date!

‘Why not?’ she finally accepted offhandedly. ‘As long as you intend taking me somewhere sinfully expensive.’ She looked up at him beguilingly, wondering how he liked the idea of literally being used as a meal-ticket.

He didn’t, if the tightening of his mouth and the narrowing of his gaze was anything to go by!

Although it was an emotion he quickly masked as he gave a shrug of those broad shoulders. ‘I’m sure I can find somewhere appropriately sinful,’ he replied.

‘Sinfully expensive,’ Darci corrected—did this man have to reduce everything to the nerve-tinglingly sensual?

‘Of course,’ he drawled, the confident warmth back in those dark eyes as he easily held her gaze and released his grip on her arm to trail his fingers caressingly downwards.

Darci’s breath caught in her throat at the headiness caused by that light touch. Her skin actually seemed to tingle, her own fingers contracting slightly as his thumb intimately stroked the palm of her hand.

It was deliberate seduction, she told herself firmly. Something this man was a master at. In fact, he probably had a diploma on his bedroom wall—as well as several dozen notches on his bedpost!—to testify to his expertise on the subject!

Telling herself that didn’t help in the slightest as those long tapered fingers linked with hers and he once again lifted her hand to his lips, his breath warm against her skin as he brushed his mouth against her knuckles, his dark eyes easily holding hers as his tongue rasped briefly—tasting?—where his lips had just kissed.

A master of seduction? The man should come with a public health warning!

No wonder poor Mellie had fallen victim to Luc’s advances…

‘Until Saturday evening, then, Darci,’ he confirmed, releasing her hand as he straightened. ‘Is Garstang’s sinfully expensive enough for you?’

The exclusive restaurant wasn’t one that Darci had ever been to—a junior doctor’s pay didn’t exactly run to establishments that didn’t even list the prices on their menu!—but she had heard of it, of course, and Grant had been there several times, she knew.

‘It sounds perfect,’ she accepted.

‘I’ll call for you—’

‘No, I’ll meet you at the restaurant at eight o’clock,’ Darci told him firmly; having this man arrange to pick her up was not part of her plan at all.

Garstang’s exclusivity, and the fact that Luc Gambrelli was perfectly confident about being able to secure a booking in a top-class venue that was totally booked months in advance, made it the perfect venue for the humiliation Darci intended to inflict.

She could just picture him now, sitting at the table in the fashionably exclusive Garstang’s, looking oh-so-lethally attractive as he waited for her to arrive.

As he waited.

And waited.

Until it finally dawned on him that Darci had no intention of turning up.

That the legendary lover Luc Gambrelli had been publicly stood up.

Sinfully delicious!