The Playboy's Fugitive Bride (5 page)

It hadn’t eased Nia’s pain when she’d learned that the new owner had renovated the mill, rehired most of the former employees, and turned it into the most prosperous in the area.  Her father was already dead and she and Aaron had been forced to leave the only home they’d ever known.

And now to fulfill her father’s request to take care of Aaron, she’d offered to become of all things—Massimo Andretti’s whore. 
His property
.  His eagerness to shell out four million dollars—well, two, since she wouldn’t be around to collect the other two million—just for the pleasure of bedding her gave her pause.  Did he find her that irresistible?  And should she trust him to adhere to the terms of their agreement?

As Nia joined Massimo at the concierge’s desk, he turned and smiled down at her.  “Have everything,
cara
?”

Nia nodded, the warmth in his voice and eyes making her tremble inside.  Half an hour ago, he’d insisted on following her up to her room when a man with a French accent had approached him in the lobby.

When he stepped aside to converse with the man in French, Nia had taken the opportunity to bolt.  She was thankful he’d been otherwise engaged, and that he hadn’t bothered to come up after his conversation with the man was over.  She didn’t think it would have been wise to be alone with Massimo and a huge bed in a hotel room.  She was honest enough to admit that it probably wouldn’t take much for Massimo to persuade her to change her mind about waiting a week to make love.

She was after all a healthy young woman with hot blood running through her veins.  And he was a hunk.

She forced a smile as Massimo folded his copy of the receipt and slipped it into the pocket of his parka.  Stepping closer to her, he placed his hand on the small of her back and steered her toward the revolving doors, ahead of the bellboy who followed with her luggage.

They drove in silence through downtown Granite Falls—away from Crystal Lake that bordered one side of Hotel Andreas.  Nia shifted uneasily on the seat when she realized he was taking her to the Andretti mansion on Mount Reservoir—a fortress that would be most difficult to escape from.  She’d hoped that when he’d said he was taking her home, he’d meant the lakeside villa his succession of mistresses occupied during his affairs with them.

No such luck for her.  To calm her anxiety, Nia took in her surroundings as they drove along.  The streets, that a few days ago were crowded with weekend ski bunnies from the south, were now all but deserted.  It was a lovely little town, a sort of unexpected mecca hidden at the foothills of the White Mountains, Nia thought as Massimo steered around a traffic circle surrounded by small businesses, local boutiques, cafés, restaurants, and other touristy shops, housed in beautifully renovated old mill buildings.  The Aiken River that had powered the mills—many of which had been owned by the Andretti family for decades—now flowed unhindered behind the buildings.

Nia could only imagine how lovely the summers were here with the beaches teeming with the town’s residents, noisy children playing on the shores, and small yachts cruising along the beautiful Crystal Lake.  Too bad she couldn’t stay long enough to enjoy some of it.

“Are you stopping at your office?” she asked as they traveled north on Industrial Drive and the glass tower that housed Andretti Industries headquarters loomed ahead of them.  She could really use some time away from him.  His nearness caused her mind to go into confusion and robbed her of her ability to think logically.  And she needed to think and plot.

“No,” was his only response as he passed Andretti Way that led to his office, made a left turn on to Route 80, crossed the Aiken River Bridge, and headed west into the mountains.

Nia took a glance at him and noted his set face, clamped mouth, and fixed eyes.  His mood had definitely changed since she’d left him to go up to her hotel room to pack.  Nia wondered if it had something to do with his conversation with the French man who’d approached him in the lobby.  During the first few minutes of that conversation, even though she’d had no idea what they were talking about, Nia had detected tenseness in Massimo as if he’d received unpleasant news.

Sensing he was in no mood to talk, Nia left him alone to his brooding.

Finally Massimo pulled off the highway and started a climb up a steep paved road.  A thick white forest with branches bowing laboriously from the weight of snow encased them.  After a few minutes, he made another turn and drove along a somewhat level road that took them further into the mountain.  A wrought-iron gate opened automatically as they approached it then closed behind them.

A cold shiver raced up Nia’s spine.  She felt like she’d just driven through the gates of hell with Satan at the helm.  A flicker of real fear coursed through her veins as the gross enormity of what she had done took a heavy toll on her senses.

“Too late,” Massimo said as they rounded a corner and reached a small plateau that overlooked deep ravines and a labyrinth of lakes in the distance.  He stopped the Mercedes, applied the parking brake, and unbuckled his seatbelt.

The sensual look in his eyes was unmistakable.  As much as she resented him, Nia knew that if he touched her, she would instantly dissolve like a snowball on a hot tin roof.

“Come, Nia.  I wish to taste you, now.”

“Massimo, we haven’t even had a date yet, and I don’t kiss on the first date.”  Nia forced humor into her voice, but the quaking of her body belied the fear and desire she felt deep in her core.

With little effort, Massimo unfastened her seatbelt and pulled her halfway across the seat.  “I’m a businessman, Nia.  We made a deal.  In business, it’s always wise to sample the goods before the final purchase.  I
will
sample the goods you offered.  The last thing I need is a scared little kitten in my bed.”

“I’m not scared of you,” she lied out loud, hoping he couldn’t hear the thumping of her heart against her chest.

“Prove it.”

He slid closer and Nia almost fainted from the heady smell of male flesh and the hungry glare in his electric blue eyes.  Her gaze dropped to his sexy mouth and she knew he could very well swallow her whole right here, right now.  She licked her lips.  “Massimo, I don’t think—”

“Perfect.  I don’t want you to think.  Just feel…  me.”  He pulled her softly against him.

“Massimo, you promised—”

“Don’t fight me, Nia.  Let your body relax and enjoy the call of desire.  It’s good practice for next Monday when we seal our little agreement.”  He held her chin in his hand, and his mouth came down upon hers, soft and fluttering like a feather.  He brushed his lips against hers then slowly traced his tongue along the outline, causing tiny explosions to erupt from every pore of her body.

“
Aprire la sua boca
,” he whispered, clasping one hand at the back of her head and tangling his fingers in her hair.  “
Avvolgere le braccia intorno al nio collo
.”

Nia didn’t speak a word of Italian, but somehow she understood him.  Her lips parted, and as his hot tongue swept inside her mouth, Nia wrapped her arms around his neck as he’d ordered.  She clung to him as an invisible fire threatened to consume her, bone, blood, and flesh.  Her heart drummed loudly as she surrendered to the enemy, as lust devoured revenge, and desire robbed her of all logic.

Massimo pulled up her sweater.  His warm hand crawled along her ribcage and his long fingers expertly pulled down the lacy cups of her bra, baring her achy breasts to his touch.

Nia whimpered against his mouth as her nipples tingled and hardened against his smooth palm.  He molded her breasts with skillful fingers, causing an intense yearning in her belly that quickly spread to the core of her throbbing sex.  Moisture collected in her panties.  She squeezed her thighs together to combat the pleasure, but quickly relaxed them when she realized it only intensified the ache.

Yielding to Massimo’s seductions was against the rules.  Her body and her mind had betrayed her.  All she could count on now was her heart.  It had to remain impassive to him.  And she didn’t think she could trust it. 

“Do you still think I can’t satisfy you, Nia?” he asked against her lips.  He kept his hand on the heaving mound of one breast and continued caressing the hard nipple between his thumb and forefinger.  “Do you find me inadequate?”

Nia squeezed her lids shut, refusing to answer.  She couldn’t talk.  Shouldn’t talk.  Or she might foolishly ask him not to stop.  As much as she loathed him, she had to admit that she’d been dreaming of kissing Massimo for six long years.  She’d heard that sexual fantasies were a lot better than the real thing.  Massimo Andretti just blew that theory out the steamed-up windows of his SUV.  Her fantasies about him were prayer vigils compared to his kiss and his touch.

“You’re a very desirable woman, Nia Sylk.  It will be extremely difficult keeping my hands off you for a week.”  He reluctantly released her breasts, pulled his hand from under her sweater and moved back to his side of the vehicle.

Nia’s eyes slowly opened to encounter the passionate fire glowing in the sentient depths of his.  She wanted to look away, break the spell, but it seemed some invisible cord held her transfixed.  She was bewitched.  She licked her burning, trembling lips.

“You have the most incredible brown eyes.  They set my heart on fire each time I gaze into them,” he said in a husky voice.  “And when you lick your lips and stare at me like that…”  He growled deep in his throat and shook his head, his black wavy hair brushing his shoulders.  “You have to help me live up to our agreement, Nia.  You have to stop being so damn sexy or I will not be held responsible for breaching our ‘no sex for one week’ agreement.”

Help him
?  She couldn’t even help herself, and she wasn’t trying to be sexy.

With her heart pounding erratically, Nia scurried to her corner and pulled the lace back up over her breasts.  It was just like Massimo not to clean up his own mess.  She’d known that at some point they would kiss.  It was what lovers do.  What she didn’t know was that a mere kiss would leave her this breathless, this weak.

She wasn’t ready for this. 
For him
.  Thank God they would be sleeping in separate rooms.  If she had to share a bed with this master-at-getting-what-he-wanted, she knew her resistance would be futile.  She had to stay strong, get the money, then escape from Massimo’s lair of seduction before it was too late.

As they continued up the mountain, another gate opened up, and two bulging, armed security guards in an expansive gatehouse waved them through.  Yep, escaping from this prison would be much more difficult than it would have been from his lakeside villa.  But she’d come with a will to escape Masimo Andretti, and where there was a will, there was always a way.  She just had to be a little more creative in far less time than she’d originally anticipated.

They rounded a bend and the sprawling Andretti Estate popped into view—acres and acres of evergreen terrain with buildings of varying sizes and shapes scattered about.  The main house, a white and blue limestone structure that comprised of three sections—a three-story center flanked by two-story wings on either side—dominated all the other buildings on the estate.  A combination of evergreen and deciduous snow-dusted trees surrounded the intricate architecture, creating the picture of a stunning Italian citadel set in the middle of an arctic jungle.

Nia looked on breathlessly at the serendipitous surrounding as Massimo stopped in the courtyard—an extension of the middle section that expanded into a wide covered portico. 

It was a fortress where the public was never allowed.  One entered these grounds by invitation only.  Electric fences, treacherous ravines, and armed guards kept the paparazzi at a distance.  The few photographs Nia had seen in several issues of Granite Falls People News didn’t do the estate the slightest bit of justice. 

The earlier Andrettis were reportedly not social at all.  After his father died, many thought that Massimo, the modern-day playboy, would open up his home and allow the public inside, but the world was still waiting with bated breath.  It was as if they were guarding some dark family secret.  Were there bodies buried on the grounds or trapped behind walls and stairwells?

Feeling a chill rush up her spine, Nia pulled her parka tightly about her shoulders as Massimo open the door of the Mercedes.  He helped her down to the stone cut floor of the covered portico, then up a flight of steps toward the front door.

“My luggage,” she said looking back.

“It’ll be taken care of.”

A teenage boy with curly blond hair emerged from a door on the side of the mansion.  “
Buonasera, Signor Andretti
,” he called out to Massimo. 

Massimo responded in a rush of Italian sentences.  The boy nodded and gave Nia a shy smile before he climbed into the vehicle and drove off behind the house.

As the cold dry air swirled around her, Nia shivered.  She wanted to go home, but when she remembered that she had no home to go to, and that she would never again have one if she backed out of this deal with Massimo, she swallowed the sob in her throat.

Massimo tried the knob on the front door and cursed under his breath when it didn’t turn.  He pushed a button on the wall. 

A few minutes later, the heavy oak door opened and a robust woman greeted them.  “
Jambo
, Massimo.  You
forgit
you key
agin
,” she said in a thick accent Nia thought sounded African.

“I didn’t forget my key, Azi.  You insist on locking my door when I’ve repeatedly asked you to leave it unlocked.”

She placed a hand over her heart and pretended to be affronted.  “You’re in a
gooood mooood
tonight, I see, Mr. Massimo. 
Goood
t’ing I made one of your favorite
disheees
to soothe your grumpy
mooood
, eh?”  Her eyes widened as they settled on Nia.  “And I see you have brought company.  A lady friend, eh?  Will she be stayin’ fer dinna?”  Her big white teeth glittered in the light from the ceiling.