Feehan, Christine - The Scarletti Curse (44 page)

She tipped her head back, resting it against his broad shoulder, her dark
eyes laughing up at him. "You were breathing. I recall my first meeting
with you, signore, quite vividly. You were definitely breathing. As sick as you
were, you were still the most powerful man I had ever met. And you looked at
me…"

"I had to look at you. I could not take my eyes off you," he
admitted softly.

She smiled as she stared out into the gathering darkness at the swaying
trees with their silvery leaves. "In truth, I cannot say I am sorry that
you chose me to be your bride. I dream of a time when our people are happy and
unafraid in the palazzo, a time we can get to know one another without
interference from the outside world."

His mouth drifted lazily over her silky hair, found her ear, and tasted her
skin for a moment while his hands moved up her narrow ribs to settle just below
the soft weight of her breasts. "The outside world is conspiring to keep
me away from you," he whispered softly, his breath a warm temptation.
"But you know,
piccola,
there is no one out here to interfere with
us now."

She could feel the heat of his body, the way he thickened and hardened,
pressing tightly against her. Nicoletta smiled at his reaction and pressed even
closer to him. She tilted her head back and moved restlessly, an invitation to
his wandering hands. It was like that with him. He touched her, and her body
seemed to go up in flames. It wasn't simply a matter of wanting him to touch
her; she
needed
him to touch her. She seemed to catch fire, to melt each
time he looked at with his desire flaring in his black eyes.

Daringly, she reached behind her to circle his neck with one arm, bringing
his head down to her. His mouth found the pulse beating frantically in her
neck. He found each of the bruises on her throat, his mouth warm and soothing,
hot and exciting. Giovanni inhaled the clean scent of her. She seemed untamed
and free, elusive, a part of the mystery of the night, yet she burned for him
when his teeth scraped her soft skin and his hands cupped her breasts, his
thumbs caressing her nipples into hard peaks through the thin cloth of her
blouse.

The air was crisp, the wisps of fog weaving a shimmering screen of white
lace around them. The shadows in the trees lengthened and grew until it was
nearly impossible to see into the forest interior. They could hear the distant
crash of the waves against the cliffs. Night creatures were stirring, insects
singing. In the distance a wolf howled, a lonely, eerie sound. Another wolf
answered it, strangely intimate in the gathering darkness. A wildness. It
spread from the forest to catch them in its thrall.

Giovanni whispered something she couldn't understand, his hands finding her
blouse and pulling it from her body, allowing the material to flutter to the
bushes. His hands cupped lush flesh as he bent his head to the hollow of her
shoulder. There was something very erotic about standing nearly naked in the
night, her body leaning into his, her breasts held possessively right out under
the gathering stars. Nicoletta's breath caught in her throat. It was shocking
how erotic she felt, how sinfully excited. She was fairly certain this was one
of those things good girls didn't do.

But it didn't matter. Nothing mattered except the way her breasts swelled
into aching flesh at his touch. She wanted more. She wanted to know all the
ways to please him, to make him need her the way she needed him. The ache
started deep inside, spreading, blossoming into a firestorm as it raced through
her bloodstream. His mouth was hot, dancing tongues of flame moving over her
bare skin.

Nicoletta held him to her, closing her eyes to give herself up to the pure
pleasure his hands and mouth created. His teeth tugged gently at her ear.
"I want you to take off your skirt,
cara"
he whispered. His
hands dropped from her breasts so that he could turn her around to face him and
drink in her beauty.

His gaze was hot as it traveled over her. Nicoletta stood staring up at him,
her dark eyes enormous in the moonlight. He could read both the shyness and the
wanting. "I want to see how beautiful you are," he encouraged.

She reached up slowly and loosened the knot in her long hair, allowing the
silken skeins to cascade in waves to her waist. The action lifted her breasts,
and the silvery moonlight cast loving shadows on her body, so that he could
barely breathe at the sight of her. She smiled then, watching his reaction.

Nicoletta moved a few steps from him, just out of arm's reach, and, still
watching him, she slipped off her skirt. She heard his gasp, an explosion of
breath as it left his lungs. She lifted her arms toward the moon in a kind of
homage, so that her skin gleamed invitingly in the muted light, and her hair
caressed her body like fingers. "Is this what you want, husband? I wish to
learn to please you."

The silence stretched taut as he watched her, his gaze hot. Giovanni removed
his boots slowly as she stood naked, waiting before him. "Come here to
me," he ordered, his voice husky. "I want you to remove my clothing.
That would please me, Nicoletta. I want to watch you, see you tremble, know you
want me the way I want you."

She
was
trembling, shocked at her own daring, shocked at the dark
intensity in his eyes. He stared at her with a fierce possessiveness she had
never seen. It was frightening yet exhilarating. Obediently she stepped
forward, the breeze tugging at her hair so that one moment it covered her
breasts, leaving only her nipples peeking through, the next revealing her body
to his inspection.

Her fingers shook as she removed his shirt. He didn't help her, his hot gaze
never leaving her body. She felt him tremble when she began to unfasten his
breeches, her fingers brushing his swollen flesh. Nicoletta found courage in
his reaction. He was thick and hard, so utterly different from a woman. She
looked up at him, not knowing what to do next.

"Touch me, Nicoletta. Show me you want me, too." His voice was
more hoarse than she had ever heard it, his body so hot she could feel the heat
right through her. "You need to know my body the way I know yours."

She slid her hand down his chest with deliberate slowness, enjoying the feel
of his hard muscles. Bending forward, she kissed those muscles, her hair
spilling around him, brushing his skin so that he gasped again. His hands
caught her upper arms. Nicoletta smiled at the strength in his grip, at the
knowledge that she could bring such a strong, powerful man to the same
trembling need she felt. Her body was on fire, moist and hot and aching. She
wanted his hands exploring her, his mouth moving over her.

Exactly what he wanted. She caressed the length of him, exploring, shaping,
using her hand like a sheath and watching his reaction. He hardened more,
thickened, his hips thrusting into her palm. Her fingers danced and teased, and
she watched him closely while her own body grew hotter and tighter. "Tell
me," she whispered softly, a siren of temptation, "is this what you
like?"

She looked wild in the darkness, and he felt the same wildness growing in
him. "Use your mouth. I want to feel your mouth on me again, hot and moist
like the inside of your body," he instructed softly.

Her hands moved over his hips, and she bent her head to kiss his flat belly,
to find the ridge of his hipbone and to place a kiss there. At once she felt
the difference in him, as he stiffened in anticipation. Her tongue tasted him
tentatively. She heard the breath leave his body, felt him shiver. His reaction
made her bolder. It took a few moments to get it right, but Giovanni allowed
her to experiment on her own. She knew she was there when a growl escaped from
deep within his throat, when his hands tightened into bands, when his hips
thrust forward. His fingers left her arms and bunched in her hair.

"Nicoletta!" He called her name between his teeth, a groan of
pleasure, of stark desire. His hands caught her, nearly yanking her up to him,
then urging her to lift her head so he could find her mouth blindly,
instinctively with his. He welded them together, his hands dragging her so
close that she could feel the imprint of his every muscle in her soft skin.

Nicoletta gave herself up to his hot, seeking mouth. His hands were
possessive as they moved over her body, everywhere, finding her curves, the
hollows, the secret shadows. She immersed herself in him willingly, tasting his
need like a living thing, He craved her,
craved
her, and Nicoletta lost
herself in his strong body.

Flames were licking at her. Deep within her was a volcano of hot, molten
lava spreading out of control. She whispered to him, wanting his body buried
deep within hers. "Giovanni." A soft whisper of temptation. A plea.
An ache.

He caught her hands and placed them on a fallen log, bending her body so
that she was stretched out before him, her skin gleaming in the silvery
moonlight, her rounded bottom a blatant invitation. He pressed against her, his
hands biting into her hips. Nicoletta gasped at how thick and large he felt.
Giovanni whispered to her, his hands caressing her hips, her derriere. He
pressed his palm between her thighs to feel her hot and moist and ready. He
inserted a finger into her, testing her reaction, and felt her muscles clench
around him.

"You are ready for me,
cara"
he said softly, pressing into
her feminine entrance.

Nicoletta cried out at his invasion. He moved slowly, inch by inch, savoring
the feeling of her tight muscles, velvet-soft, fiery hot, tightening around
him. He watched the beauty of their bodies coming together. His hands once more
found her hips so he could pull her tightly into him as he surged forward,
burying himself deep, gliding in and out with the wind blowing her hair back
against him like so much silk.

"Dio,
Nicoletta, you are hot and perfect," he gasped,
riding her hard, pushing strongly into her so that she had to push back just as
hard to keep from being swept away.

As the firestorm swept through their bodies, the wind touched their skin
with cooling fingers, teasing and inciting, so that Nicoletta never wanted the
moment to end. He was taking her soaring through the sky, locking them together
with such passion, such force, she felt tears of joy in her eyes. She felt her
body tightening, like a spiral winding ever tighter, the friction causing
flames to dance in her bloodstream. He was thick with need, savage in his
possession, tender in his touch. Her body was welded to his by the fire,
belonging, aching.

She closed her eyes, gave herself up completely, and exploded, hearing him
roar with his own release, so that they were shattering together, flying high.
Her body continued to grip and tease his, and he shuddered with passion,
holding her tightly against him for a long time while their hearts pounded frantically
and their legs turned to gelatin. His arms slowly slipped around her waist to
hold her up, his body slowly, reluctantly sliding away from hers.

Giovanni turned her around to hold her to his chest, his body now a haven
for her. Nicoletta wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging to him, unable to
comprehend the magnificence of the way they had joined together. His hands
shaped her back, moving slowly over the long curve to her spine. He buried his
face in her wealth of long hair. "I love the way you respond to me,"
he said.

"The way your body grows hot, letting me know you need me every bit as
much as I need you." He kissed the top of her head. "I love the way
that you trust me when I have not earned it. When I have placed you directly in
the path of danger. When I gave you no choice, you still are willing to give
yourself to me. Thank you, Nicoletta, for being willing to take a chance with
me." He sounded very humble.

She could feel that curious melting sensation in the region of her heart.
Her hair fluttered around them like a silken cape, enveloping them both.

"Did you know, Nicoletta," he murmured softly, "that I often
dreamed of you even before I met you? I lay night after night in a sweat-soaked
bed, needing to bury my body in the softness of yours. Needing to see your
smile and hear the sound of your voice. I dreamed of you every night and never
once conceived that you could be real." He caught her chin in his hands,
tipping her face up toward his, his hands gentle.
"Angela into, amore
mia."

The moon tried valiantly to shine through the layers of mist, casting an
eerie glow in the swaying trees. Nicoletta smiled up at him, at the dark
intensity of his gaze as he studied her. "You have a bruise on your
face," he observed tenderly, "and more on your neck." He leaned
forward to brush her soft skin with his teasing, moist tongue to ease the
discomfort of her bruises. "It pains me to see you injured."

Her heart jumped, and heat pooled inside her, just that fast. "Do I
feel real to you when you touch me?" Nicoletta asked softly, tipping her
head back farther to allow him to reach the worst marks on her throat.
"Because sometimes when you touch me, I feel lost in a dream of pleasure
and passion, and I am not certain you are real."

"I am very real,
piccola,
and I am falling in love with you. You
cast a spell over me, a wonderful enchantment, so the sun shines for me only
when you are near." He kissed her throat, the dark smudges, the evidence
of danger. His mouth wandered lower, drifting over her satin skin as if he
could never get enough of her. He found her breast, teased her nipple, his
teeth gentle, his tongue swirling lazily.

Nicoletta cradled his head to her, allowing the delicious heat to spread
slowly through her body, savoring the way she coiled tighter and tighter.
"Tell me of your
famiglia,
Giovanni, your parents, your
grandparents, you all live in the shadow of a such a foul curse."