Mistresses: Blackmailed For His Pleasure. Annie West

soon, she thought as she crawled into bed and doused the light. She sank into the down topper and sighed.

      All she needed was a few hours’ sleep.

      But she couldn’t close her eyes for when she did, she saw Stefano’s arrogant face and the dark desire that lit his eyes, which stirred an unsettling restlessness within her. So she paced the large bedroom in the velvet hush of night and prayed for exhaustion to overtake her.

      How appropriate that he was as difficult to remove from her thoughts as he was from her life! When her mind grew too crowded with imaginings of what he expected of a mistress, she peeked out into the salon.

      It was empty. All was quiet, and why shouldn’t it be since it was nearly four o’clock in the morning.

      Gemma slipped into the salon and paused, her brief silk nightgown cool against her bare skin. She debated going back to find a robe or coverlet, then decided not to bother.

      She was alone here. Stefano was asleep, and hopefully if she paced between the porthole and exterior door another thirty minutes she’d grow too weary to keep her eyes open, too.

      “You should be in bed,” Stefano said, his deep voice reaching her from the dark recesses of the room.

      She stopped and stared at him bathed in shadows. How long had he been standing there watching her?

      “I couldn’t sleep,” she said. “A problem I’ve had for years.”

      “Does nothing help?”

      “If I grow tired enough from pacing and fretting, I will usually fall asleep for several hours.”

      “You need a better diversion than pacing.”

      She was tired and cranky and in no mood to spar with Stefano tonight. “What do you suggest?”

       “Facciamo l’amore.”

      Making love was not a good idea, not without her new contract in hand.

      “We agreed to begin tomorrow night.”

      One broad, masculine shoulder lifted in a lazy shrug, and as the faint moonlight played over his olive skin she realized he wasn’t wearing a shirt. Her throat went tight as her gaze lowered, admiring his taut belly ribbed with muscle, lean hips that would make a god proud and the evidence of his desire that jutted hard and long toward her.

      Gemma’s legs turned to jelly, refusing to support her. Or maybe the heat from his gaze and the fire now sparking to life within her melted whatever usually held her upright.

      She managed a weak, “Oh,” as she crumbled.

      But she never hit the floor.

      No, Stefano moved like lightning to catch her up against him. Gemma pushed against his chest, but the effort was halfhearted.

      Her palms skimmed that unyielding masculine wall she’d longed to touch and she simply forgot how to breathe.

      He was hot and strong and oh so sexy. Even in the dim light she could see his eyes weren’t a solid brown but dusted with flecks of gold.

      Right now those specks were molten, melting any reser-vation that dared to cross her mind. Not that much was crossing her mind except how wonderful it felt to be held this close to this man.

      “I can’t let you do this,” she said, the words tumbling from her in a breathy whisper as she realized that he was going to kiss her.

      Or was she simply seeing what she wanted to see?

      The seductive slant of his smile warmed her more than a full sun. “Why try to stop what we both want?”

      His mouth captured hers, the kiss long and deep and drugging. Passion sang through her veins in a virtuoso’s concerto, bringing tears to her eyes for the sheer beauty and power that flowed from him into her.

      She didn’t know how a kiss could muddle her so, but she was lost in his embrace, in this moment. He pressed her into the bed without breaking the kiss and she started. How had he carried her to her bedroom without her being aware of it?

      Then the question was lost as he stroked her arms, her back, her breasts, taking his time with each. The glide of her silk gown was a barrier she loathed and an aphrodisiac that heightened her pleasure.

      Oh, and what pleasure he gave!

      His mouth moved over hers with ravenous passion and she trembled, starving for more. Each bold thrust of his tongue parried with hers sent an answering throb to the very core of her.

      She writhed against him, wanting something she could only imagine. It was as if she’d slumbered all her life and just came awake now.

      “Kiss me, bella,” he murmured against her lips. “Kiss me like you want to.”

      Dare she? Her experience was laughable, but her desire was great.

      Her small hands glided up his bare chest, awed and emboldened by the telling tremors that passed from this tall, muscular man into her. His hands weren’t passive, either, and those long fingers gliding over her sensitized skin adored and teased in turn. How could she have thought this man hard and cruel?

      They were chest to breast, yet she ached to be closer. She hooked her legs around his lean hips, the movement pressing her sex to the hard length of his.

      The silk of her gown sheathed his penis, yet each shift of their bodies created a delicious friction that shocked and emboldened her. She wanted skin on skin, wanting to know this man as intimately as a woman could.

      The desire was bold and totally unlike her. Yet she felt no shame. Just want.

      Her mouth played over his, treating him to the same sensual torment he’d afforded her. A deep moan of satisfaction rumbled from him, melding with the blissful sighs she could no longer hold back.

      “You are made for loving,” he said, his lips trailing over skin he’d just bared.

      Her skin pebbled under his knowing touch, but old promises and new fears threatened to dampen her amorous mood. He made a growling sound of protest and continued his exploration of her neck, her breasts.

      “You deserve a lifetime of amorous pleasure, mio caro.”

      She tried to summon up anger that Stefano only wanted an affair with her. But his mouth settled over one bare nipple and a maelstrom of new sensations exploded within her.

      What would be quickly faded into oblivion. Her life suddenly hinged on this sensual fever he ignited in her.

      She arched against him and breathed a sigh of relief when he rid her of her gown, the sound of tearing silk more erotic than she could have imagined.

      She gloried in those strong, masculine hands that played over her skin, amazed that he knew what she liked, what she craved, more than she knew herself.

      In this there were no barriers between them. At least not physical ones.

      They were a man and woman in the throes of a passion that was far too intense for her to imagine. Mio Dio, if Stefano was that passionately aggressive for an entire month, she’d never purge him from her mind.

       No, don’t think on those terms! Don’t think of falling in love with Stefano.

      But how could she not imagine giving her heart to this man when he whispered a litany of love words in her ear. When he made her feel desirable and wanted and loved.

      “Bella,” he breathed as his sex filled her.

      She gasped more from surprise and pressure than any pain that she’d been warned she’d feel this first time with a man. No, any pain she felt was in her mind—for what could never be between them.

      He went still, his dark eyes registering a moment’s shock as well. And she knew that he recognized she’d been a virgin.

      She could almost read the second