The Unclaimed Baby by Melanie Milburne Read Free Book Online Page B

if the magic was still there so they could build some sort of future together. Would it be enough?
    â€˜Don’t fight me, Bronte,’ he said softly. ‘You are angry at me and I know I deserve it, but we still have something between us. You know we do.’
    Her eyes flared like a cornered animal facing a dangerous predator. ‘W…we share nothing,’ she stammered. ‘I don’t want to see you. I don’t want to be your sex slave. I don’t want to be your…your anything.’
    He brought her other hand to his mouth, kissing eachof her stiff fingertips until he felt them tremble against his lips. He kept his eyes trained on hers, watching as the point of her tongue darted out nervously to anoint her lips. ‘I am not asking you to be anything but my partner for dinner tomorrow evening,’ he said.
    She swallowed tightly. ‘And…and after that?’
    He kissed the backs of her bent knuckles, still holding her gaze. ‘If you don’t want to see me again I will have to accept it,’ he said.
    Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. ‘You’ll let me go? Just like that?’
    Luca stroked away the frown that had appeared between her brows. ‘If you frown all the time you will get wrinkles.’
    She arched her head away from his touch. ‘You didn’t answer my question, Luca.’
    Luca let out a sigh as he dropped his hand back by his side. ‘I didn’t have to blackmail you into my bed in the past,’ he said. ‘I don’t see why I should need to do so now.’
    Her chin came up and her eyes flashed blue fire at him. ‘So you think I’ll just dive in head first then, do you?’
    He examined her taut expression for a moment or two. ‘I think what will happen will happen, cara ,’ he said. ‘We should leave things to fate, sì ?’
    She continued to regard him warily. ‘Fate, huh? Like it’s fate that you’re suddenly my landlord.’
    â€˜You’re not in any danger of being kicked out on the street,’ Luca said.
    â€˜Can I have that in writing?’ she asked.
    He stood looking down at her for a long moment, breathing in her scent, that hint of honeysuckle and sunwarmed sweet peas that unfurled inside his nostrils, making them flare to take more of her in. ‘You really don’t trust me, do you?’
    She folded her arms across her chest. ‘No, strange as it may seem, I don’t trust you. I don’t like you and I can’t wait to see the last of you.’
    Luca felt his spine tighten with irritation. Did she have to keep reminding him of how much she hated him? Did she think it would make him want her less? If anything, it made him want her more. Or was that her intention? Was she playing hard to get to teach him a lesson, or to get more out of the relationship this time around? Maybe the last couple of years had toughened her up. Maybe she had enrolled in the academy of gold-diggers and now knew how to use men to serve her own ends. Either way, it didn’t matter. He wanted her any way he could get her. If she had changed, well, so had he. He was not the same person he had been two years ago. How could he be? Too much had happened.
    He went over to where he had put their champagne glasses down before. He picked up her glass and brought it back to where she was standing. ‘It would be a shame to let such good champagne go to waste,’ he said, offering it to her. ‘Why not stay a few minutes more and help me finish it?’
    She looked at the glass as if he was handing her a poisoned chalice.
    â€˜It’s just champagne, Bronte,’ he said. ‘Let’s finish our drink and catch up on the last two years.’ He took a sip from his glass, hoping she would follow suit. Anything to prolong the time he had with her in case she didn’t show up tomorrow. ‘Tell me about your teaching. Do you enjoy it?’
    She took a tiny sip of