The Medici Mistress: Nothing and no one would stop him from having her. by Clare Connelly Read Free Book Online Page A

downstairs had a party last night. I don’t think I slept a wink.”
    Patrice winced in sympathy. “Lay low here. I’ll go and catch you up on anything important you miss.”
    “Thanks,” Annie said with a breath of relief. “You’re a life saver.”
    It was a sentiment she came to regret. Less than half an hour later, her gratitude evaporated completely.
    A darkening of her room made her look up. Straight into the angry, emotionally charged face of Giacomo Medici.
    He stepped into her office wordlessly and shut the door. She had a small window that looked out onto the hallway. He pulled on the cord so that the slats closed, making her room completely private. For good measure, he clicked the lock in the door.
    “You look exhausted,” he muttered, moving around the desk so that he was standing directly above her.
    With deliberate care, she screwed the lid back onto her Mont Blanc pen – a graduation present from her parents – and eyed him squarely. He looked perfect, but she wasn’t about to tell him that.
    “Thanks,” she remarked drily. “Nothing a girl likes to hear more than that.”
    “Do you make a habit of staying out so late on a work night?”
    The lawyer in her spoke. “How do you know when, and if, I returned home?”
    His dark eyes shone. “I waited in my car.”
    “You… you waited for me?” She wasn’t sure if she was angry or perplexed. “What? Why?”
    “Why do you think, Annie?”
    She frowned up at him. He was so close that their knees were touching. She looked away jerkily. “I have no idea.” She slipped her feet into the soft leather of her Jimmy Choos and stood. Sitting down, he had every advantage. At least, standing, she felt less physically overwhelmed by his sheer strength.
    “Have lunch with me.”
    She shook her head. “I can’t.”
    “Yes, you can. I’ve checked your schedule.”
    She shook her head, an angry epithet on her lips. He stalled it with one, quietly spoken, emotionally charged word:
    “Please.”
    She opened her mouth, and closed it again. “Fine,” she said wearily.
    Confidence restored, he cast a glance at his gold wrist watch. “Let’s meet in an hour.” He named a restaurant renowned for its expensive meals and difficulty to get into. At least she wouldn’t run into any of her colleagues there.
    “Fine,” she said again, shrugging as if the matter was of no concern.
    But, of course, it was.
    When she emerged from the office a short time later, her nerves were stretched to breaking point. An enormous part of her wished Giac would disappear into thin air. She’d never gotten over him, but over time, she’d managed to at least appear to move on with things. Now that he was back, old emotions were making it impossible to put him out of her mind.
    The restaurant was only a few blocks from the high rise building which housed Amicus. She walked with her usual efficiency, grateful that the sun was shining and the air fresh. Her exhaustion had been replaced with a wired electricity.
    He was already there, when she arrived; he stood as she was shown to their table. His eyes locked with hers, the whole time she made her way across the crowded space. The waiter held her chair out but Giac moved around the table, to relieve the man of the job. He held the chair himself, breathing in her fragrance as she sat down on the leather seat.
    “Water? Wine?”
    “Scotch?” She was only half joking. She wasn’t sure her nerves could take much more time in close proximity to Giac.
    He raised his brows.
    “I’m joking. Water’s fine. I have to work this afternoon.”
    Actually, she didn’t, but Giac wasn’t sure she’d appreciate the fact that he’d cleared her afternoon so that she would be at his disposal for the day.
    He poured some sparkling water into her wine glass. “I am glad you joined me, cara. ”
    “I didn’t feel I had much choice,” she said drily, sipping on the water for something to do with her hands.
    “Perhaps not,” he mused. He