Page 9

The words came out of my mouth unbidden, spurred on by her brazen demand. It wasn’t a lie. I had no plan at all, and was acting on pure instinct. At first, my only objective was to get Mila away from those other men’s stares, now, I had to keep her away.

Damn it, I was supposed to be on my way to revenge, using her as the ace up my sleeve to end this stalemate with her family. Mila Fokin was my chance to regain what had been stolen from me. What was I doing?

I dropped my gaze from her stunned expression to all the exposed creamy skin, despite the fact that she was still clutching my jacket around her like a life preserver.

Her lush thighs were far too tempting, and I was already too heated.

Not just with the lust that there was no fighting at the mere sight of her, but from the fury at my uncle.

Damn it all to hell, but Eldar was only supposed to keep an eye on her until I arrived.

Then, I could decide how to proceed and make a move, decide what would best get me what I wanted.

Not this, definitely not this. Eldar would have to pay somehow, but that was the least of my worries at the moment.

I’d blurted out that I was going to marry the sister of my sworn enemies, so now I had to do it.

And it was truly the only way forward, the more I considered it.

The Fokins would go to the ends of the earth to ransom Mila from the hands of the man who bought her, or else tear him apart.

Slowly, piece by piece. Those fuckers knew how to torture, when they couldn’t get their way in a simpler fashion.

I needed to make it so neither option was open to them.

Mila had to be mine, belong to me in a way that was beyond dispute. That meant making her my wife.

After my announcement, her big, round eyes went glassy with disbelief.

I didn’t want to see her cry. It would only annoy me.

I had seen her burst into tears once before, when she dropped a tray of drinks at her brother’s restaurant.

It had been a foolish, childish reason to break down.

Instead of dissolving into tears, she stared straight ahead, lapsing into silence.

I turned back to the highway, almost deserted in this lonely part of the city.

I had gone to the place Eldar had instructed me to as soon as I landed, and hadn’t even had a chance to settle in yet, but I kept a place in Milan and had already instructed that it should be ready for me to arrive.

It was as good as anywhere else for the moment.

Long minutes passed without a peep from Mila, and I glanced her way again.

She leaned against the window, with her long hair falling across her face, and her eyes closed.

Her hands lay still in her lap, and the jacket had fallen open, revealing more of her curves in that ridiculous outfit my uncle had forced her to wear.

Somehow, she still made it enticing. Or maybe that was all her, since I had found her supremely sexy in the most staid of outfits when I’d seen her before.

It was fucking irritating, how damn perfect she was.

Classy, even in the worst situation, even wearing a Halloween hooker getup, and making me react in a way that was anything but in control. I was going to veer off the road and kill us both if I kept getting distracted by her body. Reaching over, I tugged the jacket closed.

Reacting faster than a cat only pretending to sleep, she slapped my hand out of the way and straightened up, glaring at me with the promise of more pain if I dared move toward her again.

Good. Maybe she wasn’t such a whimpering little fool trapped in the body of a goddess, after all.

“You only have to cooperate, and you’ll be fine,” I told her.

“Shut the hell up,” she replied, leaning back against the door and closing her eyes like nothing had happened.

Interesting. Very interesting indeed. Her sudden fire was surprising, and not in a bad way. Quite the opposite. Maybe this little detour on the way to regaining my territory could be fun.

We arrived at the villa I used when I checked in on the quarry, when the quarry had been mine.

My anger rose back to the surface as I remembered it was just one of the things that had been stolen from me.

If my house here hadn’t been bought under an anonymous shell company, the Fokins probably would have found a way to steal that from me, too.

In fact, Mila might have already been living there since she was now in charge of the marble business.

The thought gave me a dark chuckle that she was here now, in much different circumstances.

As soon as I turned off the car, she whipped her head in my direction.

“I’m glad you’re finding this so amusing,” she snapped, the terrace lights illuminating her pale skin and eyes that blazed with fury.

She forced out a maniacal laugh. “I’m finding it pretty funny thinking about the moment my brothers tear your head off your body. ”

“I’m certain you’ll have a front-row seat,” I said mildly.

She sputtered. “I’ll be helping them.”

Yes, this could be way too much fun, sparring with her. The fact I was actually enjoying myself in such a strange situation also made me uneasy. I wanted her more than I should, and that wasn’t good. She was a means to an end, nothing more.

“Come on,” I said, fighting weariness after a long day.

“Take me somewhere I can call my brothers,” she demanded.

“You can call them from here,” I said with a shrug. “But you won’t.”

“You won’t let me,” she corrected, raising a brow as she jutted out her full lower lip.

“That’s correct.” God, I wanted to kiss her some more. Nope, not going to happen. Nothing more than a means to an end.

She reached over with both hands to possibly scratch my eyes out, but I slid out of the car and was at her side in a blink, swinging open the door before she could turn to fight me.

“Don’t you dare,” she hissed. “I’ll walk.”

“Hmm,” I laughed again. “Why don’t I believe you?”

Maybe she was telling the truth, but why miss an opportunity to get her into my arms?

Slinging her over my shoulder, I carried her past the stony guard, waiting patiently for my arrival, and into the house.

She felt much too good and much too right, despite pounding on my back and making all sorts of pain-filled promises.

My hand raised up the length of her thighs, brushing against the swell of her soft ass, and she went still, her string of curses ending abruptly.

“I’m only trying to keep you from flinging yourself onto the floor from six feet in the air,” I told her, but let my hand linger a moment too long. Her silky skin felt too good under my heated palm.

Once we were inside, I put her down, keeping my hand clamped around her wrist. I only meant to lock her in one of the guest rooms so I could put together a plan for the next day, but the moment her feet hit the floor, she kicked me in the shin. Hard.

Her body was flush with mine in an instant, one hand wrapped around her waist, the other gripping her hair so she had to look up at me. Still struggling, she stomped on my foot, grinding her heel into my shoe.

“Enough,” I said. “You have bare feet. That has to hurt you worse than it hurts me.”

Her blue eyes flashed, darker than a clear spring day now. Definitely veering toward a storm. Her cheeks were pink, her lips parted, ready to spit out more threats. I could think of a much more pleasant use of those lips.

“You should be careful,” I warned.

“Why is that?” She leaned back, glaring up at me.

“Because you’re even prettier when you’re pissed off.”

Her jaw dropped in shock, and I tugged her closer, kissing her fiercely.

Taking what was mine. Her body stiffened as she clawed at my shirt, but as I swept my tongue across the tight seam of her lips, she was suddenly no longer trying to peel my skin off.

Instead, her fists stopped pounding, and her palms rested against my chest, slowly sliding up to my shoulders.

All those soft curves melted against me, hot as molten gold, threatening to incinerate me. I only pulled her closer, my hand moving down her back until she whimpered against my mouth. This was the last thing I expected when I landed in Milan, and yet now the only thing I wanted.

I still had to instruct Eldar to get an impromptu wedding in order, make sure everything was legal, and there could be no dispute that Mila was mine. And continue to stay hidden, now with an angry woman in tow.

But kissing her was so much more fun, and she was gripping my shoulders now, no longer pushing away by any means. Hell, nothing was getting done at this rate.