On Her Terms (Premiere Companions Book 2) (9 page)

“She won’t get married. Besides, who’d want her now…”

Don Cabrizi launched into Italian, giving Jamie a precious few minutes to digest this information. What he really wanted to do was fist pump the air, and race up there and kiss his girl senseless, but that was hardly appropriate behavior. So he forced himself to ignore the sudden flare of hope that seemed determined to take up residence in his chest anyway. So she called off the wedding. That didn’t mean she had done it for him.

Best not to read too much into this, until he had all the facts.

“Did she say why?” Jamie asked when the Don stopped his ranting to himself.

“Oh yes, she’s fallen in love, or so Lisetta tells me. How the fuck? I had her watched so closely. Who the fuck dared to…” The glass went flying through the air and crashed against the wall, just under the portrait of her mother. “She’s too much like Anna.”

Jamie followed the Don’s gaze. Nicoletta
was
the younger version of the woman smiling down on him, and not for the first time he wished he’d met her mother, while she was still alive. Had met Nicoletta in different circumstances for that matter. He’d been a fool to let the Don engineer all that.

“You say that as though it’s a fault.” Jamie smiled at the exasperated older man.

“Isn’t it? You know what her mother did, and Nicoletta, she—”

“Had plenty of occasions to run to the police. She hasn’t, and I don’t believe for one second that she will. Besides, you’re mostly legit now, anyway.”

The Don raised his glass in a silent salute, before staring into it as though it held the answers. This wasn’t getting them anywhere, so Jamie changed the subject. “Where is she? Let me talk to her.”

“You can’t be serious. You heard what I said, right? She’s not intact, dammit. My only daughter and she’s thrown herself on some young fool, like a harlot.”

The offhand way the man talked her down didn’t sit well with Jamie, and the Don’s eyes widened when he took a step toward the desk.

“Careful there. I won’t let you talk about her like that. Besides, this is the twenty-first century, and a bride’s virginal status is hardly required.”

Jamie took some grim satisfaction from the way Nicoletta’s father spluttered and reddened.

“But I thought—”

“Then you thought wrong. Now, excuse me, while I go and fix this mess you’ve created. I’m assuming she’s in her room, or has she managed to escape those apes you think so much of again?”

Don Cabrizi shot to his feet and glared at him.

“I trust Luigi and Stefano with my life. They’ve never let me down yet.”

Jamie didn’t bother to reply. He simply crossed his arms, and stared him down. Some of her father’s certainty deflated the longer this went on, until he sat back down with a sigh.

“How do you know all this?” Cabrizi asked.

Jamie shrugged.

“I may have been out of the country, but do you honestly think I wouldn’t keep an eye on her and you, for that matter? I wouldn’t be very good at my job if I didn’t.”

The man in front of him sighed.

“No, of course not, but if you knew, why in God’s name didn’t you intervene, son?”

“I had my reasons,” Jamie said.

****

Nicole sat on the window seat and watched the guests arrive with a frown. Surely, Papa had told people the wedding was off. The helicopter circling overhead gave her renewed palpitations. While the press hadn’t been invited, you could bet your bottom dollar that they would have a field day with this. After all, there was no hiding from the long lens shots of the paparazzi, and Papa’s influence only extended so far.

A gilded cage, that’s what she was in, and as Papa hadn’t thrown her out on her ear, one she had no chance of escaping anytime soon. Besides, she didn’t want to imagine what would happen to her out there.

Even Mama had not found true freedom, had she? She’d betrayed the man she’d loved in exchange for her freedom, only she hadn’t been free. A life spent in hiding wasn’t really a life. There was so much Mama hadn’t told her. Nicole should be cross at the deception, but she couldn’t find the anger she needed. Not today. Not when her heart was breaking into a thousand little pieces, and she hadn’t really achieved anything at all.

She touched the mark on her neck and smiled through her tears. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. She might only have her memories of one perfect night, but what a night it had been.

Nicole had been so absorbed in her thoughts, that the sound of the door to her bedroom being opened startled her.

“Now, what makes you smile like that,
bellissima
, I wonder?”

Jamie’s deep voice held a hint of amusement, and her heart leapt in joy, only for that to turn into sheer terror, when she saw the man himself step into her room and shut the door. Oh, he looked good enough to eat, but why on earth was he here and dressed in top hat and tails? That made no sense at all.

Not that any of that mattered when he looked at her like that, as though he couldn’t decide whether to paddle her ass or to strip her naked and fuck her silly. Her body responded to the silent authority in his gaze as though she was a puppet on a string, and when he smiled, crooked his finger at her and twirled it in an unspoken demand, she slid off the seat, stood up, and spreading the wide skirts of her dress dutifully spun in a circle.

The flash of heated emotion when she came to face him again took her breath away.

“They say it’s bad luck to see the bride before your wedding, but I don’t agree. You look utterly stunning,
bellissima,
but what is all this nonsense of you not getting married today? I didn’t get dressed up like this for my amusement, girl.”

“Wha-at?” Nicole knew she was making goldfish impressions, but what on earth was he going on about? She wasn’t marrying him, because…

Her heart cottoned on a long time before her brain did, and when it finally did, she only managed a squeak in response.

“You’re Jamison?”

“The one and only.” Jamie stepped closer and yanked her up against his large frame while he spoke, which was just as well, because her legs had turned to jelly at that announcement, and she would have crashed to the floor in an undignified heap.

“There, I’ve got you. This has come as a shock I can tell, but you’ve only got yourself to blame. Had you not run out on me like a frightened little girl that morning, I’d have explained all this then.”

He tightened his hold on her when she buried her head in his neck and inhaled. Oh, he smelled so good. Solid and safe, and above all hers.

“I’m sorry, Sir.”

His big chest rumbled in a groan, and in the next instant, Jamie had her pinned against the wall. Held up by his strength, her feet dangling off the floor, she shrieked in surprise when he licked his bite on her neck.

“I told you, you’re mine, and I don’t share what’s mine, you foolish girl. Lucky for you, the owner of Premiere Companions is my sister, and when your requirements landed on her desk, she was quick to inform me what my fiancée was up to.” He smiled at her gasp. She could feel his lips quirk against her skin, as he kissed a path up her jaw, until his mouth hovered over hers. “I must admit the urge to simply find you and pummel your behind for daring to do something that foolish rode me hard, but then I decided your way was better.” He nibbled along her bottom lip as he spoke but withdrew when she tried to kiss him.

He laughed at her frustrated grunt, and slowly slid her back on her feet, while he brought a hand round to her throat in a possessive move she fast beginning to crave.

“Sir?” she whispered, and his eyes flashed in approval.

“Yes, I am your Sir, and don’t you forget it,
bellissima.
I have a collar all picked out to put around this slender neck of yours once we’re married, and a paddle with your name on it for our wedding night.”

He smirked at the needy whimper she couldn’t help but utter in return to that promise … threat, she wasn’t sure what it was right now, only that she desperately wanted him to do that.

“You’ll let me do that, won’t you, girl?” he asked.

“Yes, Sir, but I still don’t understand why you wanted me in the first place.”

Annoyance crossed his features briefly, and then he kissed her. Stole her breath, in fact, with the intensity behind that kiss. It was more than a mere melding of lips and tongues, this felt like a promise, a merging of their hearts and souls. Nicole kissed him back with all the unsaid emotions which bubbled to the surface, and by the time he finally released her, they were both breathing heavily.

“I so fucking want you right now, but I think we tempted the fates enough. Tonight, though.” He grasped her ass cheek through the folds of her wedding gown, and yanked her up and closer until he could grind his solid erection into her groin. “You won’t be able to walk for days, girl.”

He released her abruptly, and stepping away, adjusted himself with a rueful grin in her direction. Everything south clenched in need seeing him do that, and Nicole knew she would need to change her underwear before the ceremony. It was both humbling and crazy to see the effect this man had on her hadn’t dimmed with the knowledge of who he really was. If anything it seemed to have increased it. It wasn’t wrong to lust after one’s fiancé after all, and what they had done was also validated. Perhaps she ought to be angry at him for deceiving her, but she hadn’t been truthful either, had she? And Nicole was no hypocrite. Besides, she was too damn happy right now to let anything spoil this moment.

“Would you really have told me who you were, had I not run?” she asked.

Jamie ran a hand through his hair and nodded.

“Of course. I planned to give you this and ask you to marry me properly.” He reached into the pocket of his suit and pulled out a little velvet box. Nicole’s heart beat faster when he opened it to reveal the most beautiful engagement ring.

“Did you never wonder why your elusive fiancé didn’t send you a ring?” he asked, and the world tilted a little more when he got down on one knee in front of her and held that box up for her.

“No, I just took it to mean that you weren’t really interested in me. I was just a means to seal a business deal.”  Nicole grimaced at the croaky quality of her voice, and Jamie shook his head.

“Perhaps that was the case at first. I mean when your father first approached me with this idea I told him he was insane. No woman nineteen years my junior would want to marry me, let alone to put me in her father’s shoes in the organization.” He smiled grimly at Nicole’s sharp intake a breath. “Guess he didn’t tell you that either. I’ve been working for some time to establish the more legitimate sides of your father’s business, which has been something of a struggle against the fierce opposition of your uncle for one and your father’s enemies. They would love nothing more than for him to show weakness and crumble, so they can claim his territories. Without a son to succeed him, they were a set to continue. Then he found you, and well … let’s just say it would be in lots of people’s interests if you never got married, and just
disappeared.
”

“Oh.” A shudder went through her at the implications, and Jamie grasped her hand and squeezed.

“There was no way I was going to let that happen, so as harebrained as that scheme of your father’s seemed, I went along with it. He promised he would explain all this to you, and I’m pissed that he didn’t, but your father is a man of few words. Never doubt that he loves you though, and did all this with your best interest at heart.”

He squeezed her hand again, and when she nodded, continued.

“Besides, judging by the pictures he sent me, I figured it wouldn’t be too great a hardship to have to fuck you.”

She flinched at the harsh words, and he turned her hand over and kissed her palm.

“I didn’t expect to fall in love with you,
bellissima.
”

“What?” She couldn’t have heard him right, could she? Over the sudden roaring in her ears she heard his self-deprecating laugh.

“You’ll think me a fool, but from the minute I saw you sitting there, shredding those napkins to pieces, looking terrified but oh so determined, I was hooked. The more I got to know you … well.” He looked up at her and smiled that bone melting sexy smile of his.

“I realize we still hardly know each other and marriage is not something to enter into lightly, but I reckon we’re off to a pretty good start. I didn’t dare hope that you might have developed feelings for me, but then your father said your maid told him you thought you were in love, so…”

He stopped speaking, and Nicole lost herself in the tenderness of his oceanic gaze. Right now, here, in this moment this big strong man carried his feelings in his eyes. No one had ever looked at her like this, and she was pretty sure she must look just as lovesick, because her heart was positively brimming over with happiness. He must have read her expression correctly, because he lifted that box up again.

“Well then, Miss Nicoletta Raffaela Cabrizi, will you please put me out of my misery and let me make an honest woman out of you?” He asked with a wink and then sobered. “I love you,
bellissima
, and I want to be the one to protect you for the rest of our lives. Will you let me do that,
please
?”