The Sicilian's Innocent Mistress. Carole Mortimer

surprise that his sister and Luc were actually supposed to be out on a date together this evening had been even more interesting, and posed the question why hadn’t Darci informed her twin on Thursday evening that she had agreed to have dinner with Luc tonight?

      Luc had a lot of questions where Darci Wilde was concerned.

      Questions, one way or another, he was determined to have answers to…

      CHAPTER FOUR

      ‘DRINK some of this. It will make you feel better.’

      Darci, sitting cross-legged on the sofa, turned frowningly to take the glass of orange juice from Luc’s long tapered fingers, feeling like a fraud at his unexpected display of kindness.

      Who would have thought that the heartless Luc Gambrelli, after having been informed Darci wasn’t well, would actually come here like this and offer to care for her until Kerry returned later this evening?

      Darci certainly hadn’t.

      It didn’t exactly fit in with her image of him as a selfish playboy, did it? she acknowledged, a troubled frown creasing her brow as she sipped the cold juice.

      Maybe—

      ‘I also brought you this,’ Luc murmured, before placing something against her forehead.

      That ‘something’ was several ice cubes wrapped in cling film which, once placed against Darci’s forehead, made her arch up in surprise. Her back stiffened as the intense cold was almost painful against her overheated skin.

      ‘Good grief!’ she gasped breathlessly, and she struggled to sit up—the action made harder because of the way she was sitting cross-legged. Her awkwardness dislodged the makeshift ice-pack and caused the cling film to burst open and scatter the ice cubes.

      Most of them down the front of Darci’s pyjama jacket!

      ‘Oh, dear,’ Luc said ruefully as Darci, her entangled legs making it difficult for her to stand up, flapped the pyjama jacket in an effort to stop the icy cubes coming into contact with her flesh. The movement gave Luc, as he stood behind the sofa, tantalising glimpses of her bared breasts…

      They were firm and uptilting, their nipples rose-pink, hard and enticing, causing his own flesh to burn, to stiffen, as his body responded.

      Luc took a step around the sofa. ‘Would you like me to—?’

      ‘Don’t even think about it!’ Darci cut in warningly as she finally managed to stand up, allowing half a dozen ice cubes to fall onto the carpeted floor as she backed away from him. ‘You did that on purpose!’ she accused furiously, her cheeks flushed, her green eyes sparkling.

      Much as they would look when she was sexually rather than emotionally aroused…

      ‘I was merely trying to help, Darci,’ he contradicted. Her pyjama jacket was damp in several places now, the wetness of the material clinging to her luscious curves…

      ‘By almost giving me a heart attack?’ she scorned. ‘I don’t think so!’

      Luc didn’t think so, either, having considered, as he took the ice cubes out of the freezer to put into her drink, that perhaps a cold awakening was the least Darci deserved for what he was now convinced had been a deliberate ploy on her part to stand him up this evening.

      Since arriving at her apartment, Luc had noted the look of absolute horror on Darci’s face when she’d opened the door and found him standing there, had taken in at a glance the almost empty bowl of popcorn in the sitting-room and the fact that the DVD player was on ‘Pause’, and had become convinced that Darci was no more ill than he was! Before he’d arrived she had obviously been lying on the sofa indulging herself by watching a movie and eating popcorn. Toffee popcorn, he had noted irrelevantly.

      The fact that she had decided to continue with the deception of her supposed illness had brought out a need for retribution in him. Hence the deliberately precarious cling film wrap on the ice cubes…

      ‘Now, why on earth would you even suggest that I should deliberately cause those ice cubes to fall?’ he asked with feigned innocence.

      Darci didn’t know—surely Luc couldn’t have guessed that her excuse about being ill in order to avoid their date this evening had been a complete fabrication?—she was only sure that he had.

      ‘Because—Well, because—’ She broke off as Luc took another step towards her, taking a step back herself as she easily read the intent in those dark, compelling eyes.

      Luc Gambrelli was going to kiss her!

      ‘I told you not to even think about it!’ she warned sharply as, her gaze fixed on his, she continued to back away—only to come to an abrupt halt as her back hit the wall.

      Leaving her trapped by the obviously determined Luc Gambrelli.

      ‘Stay away from me,’ she told him breathlessly, eyes wide with apprehension as he continued to move stealthily towards her.

      Like the stalking predator he was…

      ‘Are you sure that’s what you really want, Darci?’ he questioned, and he took the two steps that brought him to stand dangerously close to her.

      Darci wasn’t sure of anything any more—except that she didn’t dare allow Luc Gambrelli to kiss her.

      Because, against all reasoning, all her inner warnings that this man was a consummate flirt, as well as being a selfish playboy, she wanted him to kiss her!

      Her body ached with wanting to feel his hard sculptured lips against hers, her nipples were tingling with awareness, and her inner thighs were warm—becoming warmer by the second!

      ‘I didn’t think so, Darci,’ he said, his gaze steadily holding hers as he reached out to smooth her hair back over her shoulders, before stroking his fingertips from the hollows at the base of her throat down to the valley between her breasts.

      She couldn’t breathe—had forgotten how to breathe!—as the touch of those lean, caressing fingers seemed to burn against her flesh. She was completely mesmerised as Luc’s head slowly lowered to hers and he claimed her lips with his—gently, softly, enticingly—sipping from her lips, parting them with the tip of his tongue. The hardness of his thighs, pressed intimately against hers, told her of his own arousal…

      Darci had no idea what was happening to her as her body curved weakly into his, was only aware that in Luc’s arms she had become someone different, someone she didn’t recognise. Her body felt full and lush, her breasts and thighs sensitive to his pressing demand, all of her senses now screaming for his intimate touch.

      As his lips became heated on hers, as he deepened this kiss and his hand moved to cup beneath one throbbing breast, his thumb stroking unerringly across the hardened tip, Darci forgot everything and everyone else, able only to feel and taste Luc.

      Her hands were crushed against his chest, against warm skin and solid muscle, and every inch of him was hard male as his mouth continued to plunder and capture hers, his tongue seeking out every secret as it probed and caressed and duelled with hers. Her throat arched instinctively as he broke that kiss to trail moist kisses against that sensitive column, down to the creamy swell of her breasts, his hands now busy with the buttons down the front of her pyjama jacket.

      He looked up, his gaze easily holding hers captive as he peeled the sides of the jacket back, his eyes darkening appreciatively as he finally looked down at the naked fullness of her breasts.

      ‘You’re beautiful,’ he groaned achingly, and his head lowered.

      Darci barely had time to draw in a ragged breath before his mouth closed moistly over one turgid nipple, drawing its fullness into his warmth as his tongue licked and stroked its ultra-sensitive tip and his other hand captured its twin, to caress and roll the peak between his fingertips. Waves of restless need washed over her as she felt herself swelling, as hot moisture pulsed between her thighs.

      Luc