Dante's Honor-Bound Husband (12 page)

She blew out a sigh. “Fair enough. I'd like you to find a diamond for me. It went missing about a year and a half ago.”

“I don't suppose you're talking about Brimstone?”

Her mouth dropped open. “You
know
about Brim stone?”

“I know lots of stuff.” His dark eyes gleamed with laughter. “Most of which you don't.”

“That doesn't seem fair,” she complained. “I don't suppose you can tell me the whereabouts of Brimstone?”

“I can't.”

Hmm. “Can't…or won't?”

“Can't,” he repeated gently. “I don't know where it is.”

“Could you find out?”

His gaze intensified. No wonder Luc had hired Juice. Brilliant. Able to find anything or anyone. And, when he chose to be, one of the most intimidating men she'd ever met. “Why do you want to find it?”

“Someone else is after the stone and I think the Dantes should find it first.”

“Makes sense.”

“One more thing… In addition to finding Brimstone, there's a person I want you to track down. Don't approach him or do anything once you locate him,” she hastened to add. “Just keep tabs on him.”

“If you're talking about David d'Angelo, that's already covered.”

She should have known. “Luc?” she guessed.

He ticked off on his fingers. “Luc. Rafe. Draco. Your father. Primo. Various cousins. Pretty much the whole Dante clan.”

Alarm filled her. “What are they going to do when you find him?”

“Make him disappear.” He paused a beat. Then a slow grin split his dark face. “God, you're easy. I'm kidding, G. They want the same thing you do. To keep tabs on the guy. Dig up any dirt on him. Make sure he doesn't take advantage of some other poor woman. They want to see him pay…legally. After what he did to you, would you expect any less?”

“Oh.” For a minute there, she'd actually believed him about making David disappear. Scary thought. She cleared her throat. “Well, okay, then.”

“I'll see what I can do about Brimstone. Anything else?”

“That's it.” She eyed him in open curiosity. “What do you think the chances are you'll find it?”

“Fair-to-middlin'. What do you think the chances are that you and Constantine will hook up?”

“We're only dating, Juice.”

He tipped his head to one side. “I heard engaged.”

“Nope. Just dating.”

“Okay.” He stood and headed for the door, turning at the last moment. “Just so you know, I have a hundred on this weekend.”

She stared in confusion. “Excuse me?”

“The pool for when you and Constantine will make it official. I have this weekend. Winning might upgrade the chances of my finding Brimstone from fair-to-middling to who's-your-daddy.” And with that, he exited her office.

It took Gianna a full thirty seconds to catch her breath sufficiently to respond. When she did, she bellowed,
“Rafe!”

 

Taking pity on Constantine and his business woes, Gianna decided to pick up dinner and drop it off at Romano Restoration. She wouldn't stay, she promised herself. If he could spare a half hour she'd let him talk her into hanging around long enough to share a meal with him. But otherwise she'd make herself scarce so he could put the finishing touches on his proposal.

She caught a cab to his office building. The receptionist was no longer on duty, but the security guard tipped his cap when he saw her, recognizing her from her frequent visits. He even called the elevator for her, holding the door with a friendly smile. She stepped inside and used the key Constantine had given her to access his apartment. All the
while, the delicious scent of the dinner she'd picked up at the Oriental Pearl filled the small space.

He wasn't in the apartment, which meant she'd find him in his office. She'd assumed as much, but she had a few things she wanted to nab before she joined him. Snagging a throw off the back of his couch, she gathered up napkins, a bottle of wine and wineglasses. At the last minute she remembered to add a bottle opener to her stash and headed downstairs. Sure enough, he sat behind his desk, hard at work.

She paused unnoticed in the doorway and took the opportunity to study him. Usually he sensed her. But she suspected he was so focused on the job at hand that it would take more than even The Inferno to pry him loose.

His ink-black hair fell across his forehead in thick, unruly waves. She'd have called them curls, but suspected he'd take immediate exception to the term, a fact that made her smile. He jotted a note in the margin of the paper he held, the desk lamp casting sharp light across his features.

Dear heaven, but he was a gorgeous man. Elegant, and yet intensely male. His features were also intensely male—a firm, straight nose, a wide sensuous mouth, strong chin and jaw, high, aristocratic cheekbones. But the most devastating feature of all were his eyes. So dark. So sharp. So direct and honest.

Something deep inside of her gave a quick tug. A little lurch. She closed her eyes, unable to hide from the truth. She suspected that if she didn't actually love this man, she was teetering on the brink. Dante pride had kept her from admitting it, but she couldn't lie to herself. Not now. She'd fallen in lust the moment they'd touched. Her family called it The Inferno, but she knew lust when she felt it.

At some point in the dozen plus days they'd been together,
her feelings for him had grown. Deepened. Matured. It would only take a tiny nudge to send her tumbling. She almost laughed at the thought. If left to Constantine, it wouldn't be a nudge, but a full-body tackle from “maybe” to “happily ever after.”

She knew the instant he sensed her. A predatory stillness consumed him. He didn't move. Didn't speak. He simply lifted his eyes and stared at her. She returned the look, not moving or speaking, either. She let him eat her alive with his gaze while she returned the favor.

“Are you real?” he asked with a slow smile. “Or just a delicious dream?”

“Definitely real.” She held up the bag of food. “And extra delicious. Can you spare a few minutes for dinner?”

His smile grew. “Maybe you can feed me while I work.”

“Now you are dreaming.”

He chuckled. “It was worth a try.” He eyed the blanket she carried. “Cold?”

“Nope. I thought we'd have a picnic.” She slipped out of her heels. “Kick off your shoes and relax for a few minutes.”

He hesitated, shook his head. “I don't kick off my shoes.”

That gave her pause. “Seriously? Never?”

“Seriously. Never.” His expression darkened. “You can't be ready to go at a moment's notice if you're not wearing your shoes.”

She blinked. That never would have occurred to her. “I'm not sure what might happen in the next half hour that you'll need to be ready to go at a moment's notice, but I'll take your word for it.”

“Thanks.”

Now she knew something was off. Thinking back she realized that even when she and Constantine had been their
most relaxed during evenings at her row house, he'd never taken off his shoes. He'd also kept his possessions neatly gathered so all he had to do was pick them up on his way out the door.

Not the least like her. Half her possessions were scattered across every Dante home in the Bay Area. The Italian version of
mi casa es su casa
. She'd have dismissed Constantine's obsessiveness as a personality quirk if she hadn't caught that telltale darkness flitting across the hard contours of his face. Something was up there and she made a mental note to explore it at a future date. Until then, no point in making a big deal about it or attempting to involve him in a heavy discussion. Not when he was in the middle of a work crisis.

Keeping the mood light and easy, Gianna offered a cheerful smile and shrugged. “Oh. Okay. Keep your shoes on if it makes you more comfortable.” She held up the bag of goodies. “Hungry?”

“What did you bring for us?” he asked, only too happy to go along with the change of subject.

She grinned. “Everything.”

The next half hour turned out to be a brief moment of enchantment. They spent the time together eating and laughing, using the chopsticks that came with their meal to feed each other tidbits from the selection of cartons. The office setting faded into the background while they sat on the butter-soft blanket she'd liberated from his apartment. The light from his desk barely reached them, illuminating their impromptu picnic with a muted, distant glow.

“Will it always be like this?” she asked at one point while she refilled their wineglasses.

He paused, chopsticks lifted halfway to her mouth. “Like what?”

“Fun. Romantic.” She shrugged. “Wonderful.”

Raw pleasure shot through his gaze. “Considering who I have to be fun, romantic and wonderful with, it shouldn't be too difficult,” he replied, much to her delight. “Have you thought about what you'd like to do this weekend?”

She hesitated. “There's one thing…”

“Name it.”

“My family owns a place about three hours north of here. It's on a good-size lake. Great fishing and sailing. Over the years we've acquired all the property around it, so it's pretty private. Maybe Ariana mentioned it to you?” she asked uncertainly. “The entire family goes each summer for a huge Dante blowout.”

“Sounds like fun. Is this weekend the family blowout?”

“No, not for another few weeks.” She hesitated. “I thought we could go ahead of time, just for the weekend.”

“I'm not sure this is what Primo had in mind when he gave us a month to get to know each other better.”

“True.” She caught her lip between her teeth. “Even so, I'd like to go.”

He studied her for a moment and she wondered if he could read the truth in her face, if he could tell she had an ulterior motive. “If that's what you'd like, of course we can go to the lake. Do we need permission from Primo?”

She shook her head. “My brothers and cousins and I all have carte blanche to visit anytime we want. We can either stay at the main house or in one of the cabins by the lake. You can decide which you prefer when we get there.”

“What's going on, Gianna?” he asked bluntly.

She drew her legs close to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, resting her chin on her knees. All the
while she avoided his gaze. “I'd just like to take you to the lake without my entire family watching our every move.”

“And…?”

She blew out a sigh, deciding to come clean. “And, I'd like you to help me get over my fear of the water without my relatives catching on.”

He sat up straight. “
Accidenti!
Of course I'll help you if I can. But I'm not qualified to handle something so serious.” He reached for her, unwrapping her arms and legs, and tucked her tight against him. The firm beat of his heart steadied her as nothing else could have. “What has caused this fear, do you remember?”

She leaned into him. “It started when Uncle Dominic and Aunt Laura drowned. I was terrified to go in the water after that.”

He considered that for a moment. “They drowned while sailing, yes? It didn't occur at the lake?”

She shook her head. “I'd never have been able to return to the lake if it had happened there.”

His frown deepened. “Why hasn't your family helped you get over this fear?”

“They don't know,” she confessed. “I've kept it hidden all these years. I sunbathe and splash a bit in the shallows. But I spend my time there hiking or reading or any activity that doesn't involve swimming.” She searched his face. “Would you be willing to try to help me?”

“For you? Anything.”

She made a sound, half laugh, half sigh. “I'm not sure whether to be grateful or sorry.”

He lifted her face to his. “I vote for grateful.” He feathered a kiss across her mouth. “Very grateful.”

As it turned out, Constantine didn't return to work until a long time later.

 

Constantine picked up Gianna early the next morning. One look at her face warned she hadn't slept well. He took her overnight bag and tucked it away in the trunk of his Porsche.

“We don't need to do this, you know,” he informed her as they headed out of the city. “You're allowed to change your mind.”

She hid her exhaustion behind a pair of sunglasses, but the set of her chin told its own story. She'd go through with her plan no matter how difficult. “You can thank David for this,” she told him.

He spared her a brief, hard look. “Explain.”

“He scared me. Terrified me. As a result, I discovered something about myself.” She looked at him then, glaring over the top of her sunglasses. “I don't like being afraid.”

“I'll protect you from d'Angelo. I swear it.”

To his intense pleasure, she nodded in complete agreement. “Of course you will. Because that's who you are. But here's the thing…” She angled her body in his direction and stabbed her finger to emphasize her point. “Even though I was terrified, I still found a way to escape.”

He allowed his admiration to show. “Yes, you did.”

“If I can overcome my fear of David, I can overcome my fear of the water. And that's what I'm going to do.” She nudged her sunglasses higher on the bridge of her nose in a decisive movement. “With your help, that is.”

He shot her a swift grin. “I've thought of a possible solution.”

“Oh, yeah? What's that?”

“I'll distract you.”

“Hmm. Not sure that'll work. I don't think there's anything you can do that'll distract me to that extent.”

“Sure it will.”

“What?”

“Two words… Skinny. Dipping.”

She chuckled, relaxing for the first time that morning. “Okay, that just might work.”