Mistresses: Blackmailed For His Pleasure. Annie West

do you mean?” she asked, though she feared she knew where this was leading.

      “I want you to be my mistress.”

      She set the glass down though she was tempted to hurl it at his hard head. “I won’t prostitute myself for you or anyone.”

      One devilishly dark eyebrow lifted in mock questioning. “Not even for sole ownership of your inn on Manarolo?”

      Damn him! “I can get a loan and pay you—”

      “Don’t bother,” he said. “You will not work for Marinetti beyond another month.”

      “You’re firing me?”

      He shrugged. “I am extending you one offer, bella. In addition to your duties as my personal secretary, I want you to be my mistress for one month.”

      “You’re vile.”

      “Think what you like. In exchange for your companion-ship for one month, I’ll give you the title to the inn on Manarolo free and clear.”

      She hadn’t thought she could hate him more than she did at this second, but a fury like she’d never felt before surged through her. She wanted to pummel his chest, kick him. She wanted to walk out of his life and never look back.

      But he had her in a vulnerable position.

      Unless she was willing to break her promise to Cesare, or see her inn sold to a stranger and her nonna displaced, she had no choice but to agree to Stefano’s outrageous demands. The fact that her body did respond to the power and erotic pulse of his was moot—and if she told herself that enough, just maybe she’d believe it.

      The cold fact remained that he was dangling the prize before her eyes. All she had to do to gain her heart’s desire was be his mistress.

      She wouldn’t have to like it. She just had to lay there and suffer his touch for a month.

       As if his touch would bring her anything but pleasure the likes she’d never known before!

      “I want it in writing,” she said, disgusted her voice trembled. “I won’t sleep with you until then.”

      A muscle tensed in his lean cheek and she braced herself for an argument. “Agreed. It is after all a solid business proposition.”

      It was a personal proposition to settle a vendetta, to bend her to his will because he simply could. Because he believed she had been his father’s mistress first and had bled Cesare of his fortune. What would happen when the truth did come out?

      Truths, she amended.

      She’d never been with a man before, and he was sure to realize that. How long could she put him off?

      Not long, she feared. What in the world would she tell him then regarding the jaunts to Milan?

      He set his glass down and strode toward her, nudging her chin up with a finger that sent a new wave of awareness crashing through her. She hated that her body responded so readily to him.

      “You look dead on your feet. Come, let me show you to your stateroom.” He guided her across the salon with a hand to her back, a hand that left her burning hot as if he’d left his brand on her skin.

      She broke contact with him as soon as she walked into the suite. But the effort drained her and the soft lighting, the quiet, all tempted her to curl up on the first sofa she came to and sleep.

      But before she did, she had to appease the final thing that would rob her of rest. “Have you spoken with your father?”

      His shoulders snapped taut for a moment, as if her query had been a stinging lash. “I talked with his nurse earlier. He’s resting and his surgery is scheduled for tomorrow.”

      “I gather you’ve instructed your crew to travel through the night,” she said.

      “They have their orders.”

      He pushed through double doors into a large bedroom that was dominated by a sumptuous bed. “The rooms are well stocked for impromptu visits. I trust you will find everything you need.”

      Did he entertain off-the-cuff often? Or was he speaking of his feminine conquests and the provisions he kept on hand for them?

      Jealousy slammed into her, blocking everything but the fact that she couldn’t bear to envision Stefano with anyone else. He was the last man she dreamed of making love with, and yet the only man who had invaded her dreams with lusty temptations and promises of forbidden pleasure.

      Would reality prove half as wonderful?

      “I’m sure I’ll manage,” she said, too weary to drum up genuine annoyance at him at this point.

      What’s done was done.

      “If you require anything, my suite is right across the salon,” he said, seeming in no hurry to leave her quarters.

      His tie hung loose around the strong column of his neck. He’d unbuttoned his shirt, revealing a teasing glimpse of his sculpted chest dusted with black hair.

      The contrast between stark white shirt and deeply tanned olive skin fascinated her. She’d spent her life around fishermen whose skin had baked a dark brown working in the sun. Her papa had had skin like leather.

      Not so for Stefano. His skin looked smooth and soft, stretching taut over hard, unyielding muscles. Soon she’d know what he looked like without clothes. She’d feel that strong hard body moving on hers.

      She clasped her hands together to still their trembling. And instantly noticed something very wrong.

      “No!” She stared at her ring finger. Her bare ring finger.

      “Bella, what troubles you?” he asked, his voice a rich baritone that stroked over her skin and left her trembling.

      “My ring,” she said, and quickly described the marquise cut aquamarine flanked by two tiny diamonds that matched her necklace. “I’ve lost it somewhere.”

      “I’ll have the servants search the boat and helicopter for it,” he said “D’accordo?”

      She nodded, even though it was not okay. Her papa had given her that ring when she’d gotten her degree. Losing it was like losing her papa all over again.

      She hugged her waist when she ached for someone to hold her. No, not someone. Stefano.

      She’d lost too much. Her parents. The inn. And now Cesare’s life hung in the balance.

      “I would like to accompany you to the hospital tomorrow,” she said, desperately needing to see the older man.

      Again that abrupt tightening of his shoulders and back. “The doctors have stressed he is not to think of work.”

      “I won’t mention the shipyard except to say all is fine,” she promised, not about to be dismissed so easily. “Please. I am worried about Cesare and will be a nervous wreck waiting at the office for news.”

      “Of course.” His smile was tight, and a hardened glint sparked his eyes now. Anger?

      Yes, he was likely annoyed that she’d insisted on coming to the hospital. He must know he couldn’t stop her, that her being there was simply a show of support.

      She was first and foremost Cesare’s personal secretary! This unsavory agreement she made with Stefano fell below that—as he’d said, it was simply business.

      “Sleep,” he said. “I can promise you that you won’t get much rest tomorrow night.”

      And with that predictive remark he was gone.

      She stared at the closed door a long moment, but the subdued light and luxurious bed called to her. He was right. She needed rest.

      Gemma found a silk gown in the bureau, one of a dozen that still had tags on them. A good deal of her pique drained away knowing