The Vengeful Groom. SARA WOOD

close, dreading the thought of losing her. They were family. Giovanni was an outsider, however closely he might be bound by blood to Adriana.

      If he should assert his rights and demand access—or even custody—it would be unbearable. The days would be too empty. They’d gotten into the habit of washing one another’s hair, curling up on the sofa with their eyes glued to some weepie on TV and trying out new recipes together.

      What would Giovanni make of the trivial things that gave Adriana such pride? That neatly sewn apron, the final pom-pom on the knitted hat, the poem learned by heart…. She knew what milestones they were. Gio didn’t. And Adriana would be hurt by his lack of praise and bewildered at being torn from her familiar, much-loved surroundings and the safe rituals.

      Tina thought of her parents, devoting themselves to their teaching jobs in Puerto Rico, and how badly she missed her mother. Adriana had helped to fill that need for another female in the house who was close to her heart, someone to receive the huge amounts of love she needed to give to others.

      But stupidly she’d forgotten Gio’s rights. When she’d committed herself so completely to caring for Adriana, it had never crossed her mind that he’d come back to Eternity.

      Her worried eyes focused on his striding figure. He was an inveterate liar. Perhaps his threat that he was intending to live in the town had been spite and nothing else. For Adriana, for her own peace of mind, she must make every effort to make sure he left Eternity before he talked to anyone.

      Her body jerked into motion and she began to run, stumbling at first because her legs seemed to have lost their strength, and then finally catching up with him in a burst of fury and panic.

      “Giovanni!” she panted, jogging along beside him while his long strides covered the ground rapidly. “You’re bluffing, aren’t you?” she asked anxiously. “You mean to drive off—”

      “No.” He glanced down at her briefly, a flash of triumph in his eyes. “I’m not.”

      “But why come here, of all places in the world?” she asked, a sense of dread settling in the pit of her stomach.

      “For one thing,” he said evenly, “I mean to persuade the folks around here to give me a different kind of character from the one you and your dear friend Beth landed me with.”

      “Beth?” She felt relieved that Beth was safely out of harm’s way in Boston. But she was her ex-friend now. Giovanni’s two-timing and the trial had killed their lifelong friendship stone dead. “How do you intend arranging that?” she asked with a worried frown.

      “I have a very carefully thought-out plan,” he said smoothly. “Time hangs heavily in jail. One has to do something to keep amused.”

      She flushed. “Gio, this is unrealistic. You can’t come here to settle down! You’re behaving like…like a cartoon character!”

      “Well, this is my fantasy and I’m making it happen,” Giovanni said in mild sarcasm.

      “Don’t you have any concern for what I’d feel seeing you walking the streets? Or Grandpa?” she asked angrily.

      “It’s worth a little pain to get what you want,” he said quietly.

      Her shoulders drooped, her body slumping in distress, and she fell back a step or two. If he meant he wanted to give her pain, he was succeeding already. Grandpa would be hurt when he saw Gio, the man who’d killed his elder granddaughter and great-grandchild, driving around Eternity and showing no contrition, no sensitivity to their feelings. Then Adriana would be flung into the maelstrom…

      Seeing Giovanni had forged on ahead again, Tina hurried to catch up. “If you stay,” she reasoned, “you’ll upset us—and Beth’s parents, everyone who saw you that night, everyone who knew and loved Sue,” she said passionately.

      “Possibly.”

      Her mouth crimped with anger at his callousness. “Haven’t you the decency to stay away? Didn’t you learn anything from what happened?” she asked sadly.

      “Yes,” he replied. “Never to trust women.” His beautiful, rich chocolate eyes were almost black with contempt, the long lush lashes spiking at her accusingly. “If you want to know what else I learned in prison, we’ll need several hours and you’ll need a strong stomach.”

      “Oh, Gio!” she whispered brokenly. She’d have done anything not to be driving him away. In her heart of hearts, if he’d been different—penitent, changed, less vengeful—she would have loved to see him with Adriana and would have gladly prepared the ground for them to accept one another. The wounds would have healed. But sadly, it seemed he was no fit guardian for her precious Adriana. “Gio, if only you’d come back to apologize…” she began wistfully. And hesitated. Perhaps there was hope. “You could. It would make everything quite different.”

      “I have nothing to apologize for,” he said flatly. “You know, if you keep running along beside me, people will think you’re chasing me. Amazing how people can get the wrong impression from an isolated event they witness, isn’t it?”

      Tina flushed at the implication, the quickly rising color making her feel even hotter than before. She eased her T-shirt from her sticky body under Giovanni’s watchful dark eyes, then quickly smoothed her damp palms on her shorts and looked ahead as they strode on. Worryingly, a handful of students were still hanging around the derelict lot, discussing the car.

      “I did see you in the driver’s seat that night of the accident,” she insisted. “You did hit my sister’s car during a row with Beth, and all I want now is to watch you drive away before you hurt the people I love again!” she said miserably.

      “Save your breath, Tina. You won’t dissuade me from my intentions.”

      Suddenly he stopped, allowing his gaze to roam over her. And her soft-fringed eyes mistakenly lingered on him. Lisa had been right about the body language. He spoke fluent sensuality from every pore. Plenty of guys had spectacular muscles that left her cold, but Giovanni knew how to stand and move and project his masculinity and make a woman feel feminine and desirable and hungry. His sex appeal was earthy and direct and irresistible because he adored women and all that came with them.

      Gorgeous, she thought hazily. He was absolutely gorgeous and totally evil. Incredibly she caught herself wishing she didn’t look so scruffy and—

      “Were you really so beautiful before?” he mused as if genuinely unsure. Her eyes must have shown the leap of surprised pleasure that had taken her unawares, because his mouth curved into a beguiling smile. “Tempting. Tantalizing. Mysterious.”

      “M-mysterious?” she stuttered, unable to help herself from asking.

      “Then there’s the distortion of time.”

      “Time?” She could have kicked herself for falling into his trap. The say-something-kooky trap, to get a woman interested. “Look—”

      “It makes fools of us all,” he said softly. “Because I can’t recall that your eyes were such a deep blue. I could swear they’re almost as clear as the lagoon. You know the way it sparkles and invites you to plunge right in.” He gave her a disarming smile, but the words were enough to shake her.

      Tina tried to muster some reply, a sharp crack perhaps, but his gaze had drifted to her mouth and she hesitated, wondering what lavish claims he’d make, all thought of coaxing him back to his car temporarily forgotten while she waited, quivering in anticipation.

      “I remember that softness,” he said huskily, his eyes caressing. “Know what they always reminded me of?” She shook her head wordlessly. “That silky texture of a petal. Poppies in the meadows,” he mused with such a drowsy murmur that her mouth flowered into an even lusher pout of scarlet invitation. He smiled, breathing out hard so that his breath filtered tantalizingly over her lips till they parted. “I’m afraid that kissing you would tempt a man to linger too long for his safety.”

      Aware