see the passion in your eyes; they flash with it like twin flames of grey and blue.'
Emma felt her stomach go hollow at the sensual threat behind his statement. Her heart was suddenly racing, her skin prickling all over and her face hot with colour. If it weren't for Simone and Chelsea, she would tell him right here and now where he could put his money and his villa. But then how many times had her sister stood in the line of fire for her? Simone had taken many a slap intended for Emma; she had even had her arm broken once when she had blocked their father from lashing out at her in a fit of rage. It was not going to be easy, but surely Emma owed her sister this chance. Rafaele might not be Emma's choice of husband material, but at least it was only a temporary arrangement.
She gave him a flinty look and moved past him to pour a cup of coffee. It annoyed her to see her hand shaking as she did so, but she comforted herself that her back was turned towards him so he couldn't see.
'The lawyer will be here at three p.m.,' Rafaele said. 'In the meantime I have some work to see to in my study. If there is anything else you need for tomorrow let me know and I will see to it that you have it.'
She cradled her coffee-cup in both of her hands as she looked at him. 'Thank you but, no, there's nothing I need.'
'What about your friends?' he asked. 'Is there anyone you would like to attend the ceremony?'
'No,' she said. 'Most of my friends are in Australia. I have a couple of new acquaintances I made while I was living in Milan but no one here.'
'What about your family?' he asked. 'Obviously it is too short a notice to get them here for the wedding, but have you told them?'
She shook her head. 'There's only my sister and my niece, but I didn't want to worry them.'
He frowned at her. 'What do you mean?'
She gave him a level stare. 'My sister has always been very protective of me,' she said. 'If I told her I was marrying a virtual stranger she would have a blue fit.'
Rafaele rubbed at his jaw for a moment. 'What if she finds out some other way? An announcement or photo in the press, for instance?'
She sank her teeth into her bottom lip as she put her coffee-cup back on the counter. 'I hadn't thought about that...'
'I have been doing some thinking,' he said. 'To give our marriage some sort of credibility we shall have to tell anyone who asks we met when you first began to look after my father and up until now we have conducted a long-distance relationship.'
'Do you think that will work?' she asked.
'It will have to work. I do not want the world to know I have been manipulated into a loveless marriage by my father's machinations from the grave.'
'I'm not going to lie to my sister,' she said with a spark of defiance in her eyes.
'As far as I see it you have already done so by omission,' he pointed out. 'Concealing the truth is the same as lying in my book.'
She gave him an arch look. 'And yet you are prepared to lie to the world about your relationship with me.'
'I am prepared to compromise quite a few of my standards in order to secure what is rightly mine, including sleeping with the enemy if she so desires.'
Her eyes flashed at him again. 'This particular enemy has no such desire.'
He smiled and stepped closer, close enough to take her chin between his index finger and thumb. 'Are you prepared to lay some money down on that, Emma?' he asked in a silky tone.
He felt her tremble under his touch and his groin leapt in response. Her mouth was like a soft, plump cushion of pink flesh just begging to be kissed. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to do it. He lowered his head, slowly, watching as her eyes widened before her lashes began to come down, her lips parting slightly, her sweet breath mingling with his, giving him all the invitation he needed.
Emma came to her senses just in time. She slipped out of his light hold, her heart hammering, her breath catching and her senses on fire. 'What the hell do you think you're doing?' she said, rubbing