The Surprise Conti Child. Tara Pammi

what you did and walk away calmly? Probably into the media’s mouthpiece? Make a mockery of the Contis?”

      His grip viselike, he dragged her through a turn in the corridor that led to another sit-out area and then past a dark oak door. The hard thud of the door cut off the noise from the party, locking them away.

      Breath rattling, Alex kept her back to him.

      Her skin prickled at his nearness, her senses still jarred at the impact with his hard body. She rubbed fingers over her forehead, willing her heart to calm.

      Slowly, she took in the sumptuous furnishings in the huge room, a dark mahogany study table to the side with papers strewn on it, the large four-poster king bed with dark blue sheets. That same cool aqua scent clung to the room. A small, framed picture sat on the nightstand on the opposite side, of a pretty woman with dark hair and delicate features.

      Dear Lord, was this his room? Who was that woman then?

      With her gut in a tight knot, Alex forced her gaze to the window. The view afforded here of Lake Como was even better. Spectacularly maintained gardens, acres of it, lit softly by moonlight and solar lights along the paths greeted her. Silence lingered in this part of the gardens.

      Even his guests were not allowed to impinge on his private slice of heaven, she realized slowly.

      This estate was not just beautiful but huge.

      And this was only one of the many properties they owned.

      The Contis were a dynastic family with an old-world wealth and Leandro...at the helm of it. And she had barged in on their illustrious party and told them that he had a daughter.

      If her chest wasn’t so tight, Alex would have laughed at the absurdity of it.

      “You’re afraid to face me now? After that performance in front of everyone.”

      Low and crisp, his tone was like fingertips sliding over her bare skin. As if it was yesterday he had touched her and not seven long years ago.

      Alex turned slowly, loathe to betray how unbalanced she felt in his presence.

      He stood leaning against the closed door, minus the suit jacket, the gray of his dress shirt making his eyes gleam doubly. Leaner than she remembered, his features sharper. Even more settled into that powerful aura that had always clung to him.

      The austere severity of his features from the sculpted jaw to that aquiline nose, the lean, wiry breadth of his chest tapering to a waist, the thinly sculpted curve of his lower lip, everything about Leandro Conti said leashed power.

      Any moment now, she wouldn’t find him attractive. Any moment now, she’d remember that the same mouth that could kiss so passionately and tenderly could also shred her to pieces as soon as he was done.

      “I’m trying to overcome my shock that you cared enough to stop me.” Instead, her insides thrummed with a thrill. “And if that was a performance, then you forced me to it.”

      Those eyes of his studied her relentlessly. Why didn’t the infuriating man say anything? Demand a DNA test? Throw her out if he didn’t believe her? Threaten her like his grandfather had done?

      She had been prepared for all of that. Except his impenetrable silence, this unnerving composure.

      It made her want to take a sledgehammer and smash it to pieces.

      “You pulling me into a room like this, away from prying eyes should bring back memories for you,” she threw recklessly. “Lucky for me, because it seems you erased that evening from your mind.”

      His chin jerked, and his eyes lost that inscrutable expression. “I was successful. Until this very evening.”

      Alex blinked at the hurt that pinged through her, as if her poisonous dart had found its way back to her. She didn’t think he was saying it to get a rise out of her, like she’d done.

      No, he merely stated fact.

      “What would you have dared to remind me, Alexis?”

      Her name on his lips was a possessive caress that threatened her paper-thin composure.

      Suppressing the dangerous urge to take up the challenge in his tone, she said, “Your assumption that I’m dying to...renew our acquaintance smacks of arrogance. I’m here only for Isabella.”

      Whether he believed her or not, Alex didn’t know. But then, from what little she knew of Leandro, he thrived on self-control. That he hadn’t instantly called her a liar like his grandfather had done, his utter silence in the face of her declaration, said something else entirely, she realized with a little panic.

      He circled the room, moving a thing here and there and finally, leaned against the bed. “How are you here, today?”

      “I don’t understand.”

      “How did you come to be here at the villa, tonight of all nights? Did you know—?”

      “About the party? Of course not. You think I wanted to make a spectacle of myself in front of your exalted family? Valentina must have decided tonight was best.”

      One haughty brow rose on his face. “For what?”

      “I hinted, pretty heavily, that I wanted to say hello to you and Luca. She assumed that I was eager to renew my friendship with Luca.”

      “And Luca?” The two words rang with his displeasure.

      Frustration made her voice sharp. “What about Luca?”

      Something flashed in his gaze, the first sign that maybe he wasn’t so composed. “How did you arrive on his arm?”

      Of all the things he had said and unsaid today, this annoyed her most. “He was kind enough to escort me to you when I insisted on seeing you.”

      “You told me that night that you were protected.”

      The sudden shift in the conversation caught her off guard. “I was. I began the pill a few weeks before I left for Italy.”

      “In preparation for your fling abroad?”

      His barb pricked her, but she’d rather he believe that he’d been the convenient choice. The one man she’d picked out of a lineup to have her supposed holiday fling with. “I was in over my head from the minute I saw you, yes.” Resentment she’d swallowed for years flared. “What’s your excuse then?”

      “You think I blame you for that night.” The idea seemed to shock him.

      What else was she supposed to think, she wanted to throw back at him. Even now, he looked at her as if she was his worst nightmare. There was no point in scraping old wounds however. “Even the pill is not one-hundred-percent foolproof.” He remained silent again and it began to scrape Alex raw. “If you don’t believe me, then—”

      “Since I’m still feeling the consequences of that...very activity seven years ago, I believe I will refrain from it.”

      “That’s not an invitation. This trip isn’t a ploy to renew that...madness. You probably find this hard to believe but not every woman wants a piece of your esteemed Conti pie.” She was so angry she wanted to thump the man.

      “Really?”

      He made it so easy to despise him with his insufferable attitude.

      To pretend that her skin hadn’t prickled, her heart hadn’t raced, that even the thought of Izzie had disappeared in that moment when she had spied him again in that lounge. To act as though, for seven years, she hadn’t relived every moment with him a thousand times.

      “Yes. I have too much self-respect to be attracted to a man who thinks I’m a liar and worse. To want a man who dismissed me like garbage back in my life.”

      Faint lines appeared around his mouth before he looked away.

      Bloodthirsty enough after that scene in the lounge, Alex felt feral satisfaction that