to have him in spite of her convictions?
He had made it more than clear what he wanted. He was attracted to her certainly, but only as a means to an end. Once he got what he wanted she would be discarded, just as he had discarded his numerous other mistresses.
It hurt Emma to realise how much she wanted it to be different. How had that happened in such a short space of time? She had hated him the first time she had met him and yet it was difficult to dredge up such intense feelings now. There was something about him that drew her in like a moth to a deadly flame. He intrigued her, he excited her and he made her feel things she had never felt before. She truly wondered if she would ever be the same now she had tasted his potent passion on her lips. Would every kiss she received from this point on be measured by the heat and fire of his? Would any future lover of hers fall short of his blistering benchmark? Would she always feel short-changed and frustrated as a result?
'I'm going inside,' she said, turning away again.
His hand stalled her. 'Wait.'
Emma felt the steel bracelet of his fingers and suppressed a tiny shiver. She looked up at his face, her breath catching at the back of her throat at the intensity of his dark gaze as it meshed with hers. 'I-I can't do this, Rafaele...' she said. 'It's not right.'
His thumb found her pulse, the drumbeat of her heart beating against his skin. 'But you want to, don't you, Emma?' he asked softly.
Emma compressed her lips to stop them from trembling, her heart pumping so hard she could feel it against her sternum. It would be so easy to throw caution to one side and step into his arms. It would be so easy to press her still-swollen lips to the sculptured curve of his.
It would be all too easy to fall in love with him...
'Go on, admit it,' he said. 'You want me just as much as I want you.'
She drew in a prickly breath. 'I want a lot of things I can't have, Rafaele,' she said. 'Wanting something doesn't make it right.'
The hard look came back into his eyes. 'Is it because of my father?' he asked. 'Do you still have feelings for him even though he is dead?'
Emma frowned at him. 'Why must you persist with this?' she asked. 'Just let it go, for God's sake.'
'Damn it, Emma,' he growled. 'I hate the thought of you with him. It sickens me to my stomach. I cannot get it out of my mind. I keep seeing him pawing at you like some animal.'
She gave him an ironic look. 'Isn't that what you've been doing to me?'
His brows snapped together and his hand fell away from her wrist. 'Is that what you think?' he asked.
Emma wished she hadn't said it. The anger was coming off him in waves. The air crackled with it, the tension building to an intolerable level. 'No...no, of course not,' she said. 'I'm sorry...I shouldn't have said that.'
'No, you should not,' he said through tight lips. 'You were with me all the way, Emma. You were hot for it.'
She felt her face fire with colour at his blunt crudity and her own traitorous transparency. 'You know, I was really starting to like you earlier this evening, but now I think I will stick to my first impression of you,' she said with a blistering glare.
He gave her a mocking smile, but anger was still glittering in his eyes. 'And what might that be?'
She pulled in a tight little breath. 'You're an unscrupulous, selfish bastard who uses people without conscience.'
'And do you know what my impression of you is, Emma?' he threw back.
'That's hardly necessary considering you've used every available opportunity to tell me,' she said with bitterness sharpening her tone. 'A tart, a whore, a slut, the list goes on and on.'
'You are a clever little cat with an eye on the main chance,' he said as if she hadn't spoken. 'You want it all, don't you, Emma? That's what you are counting on, isn't it? That I will walk away before the year is up and by doing so hand you the lot.'
'I don't want you to walk away from what is rightly yours,' she said. 'I'm trying my best to do the right thing by you. I admit there are certain advantages for me,