Free The Forced Bride by Sara Craven

you,carissima ,’ came the drawled reply. ‘Particularly when I have come so far to find you.’
    And, as Emily halted in stunned disbelief, Raf Di Salis stepped into the lamplit room.
    Emily couldn’t speak. She could hardly think. She just stood there, rooted to the spot, staring at him. Watching him strip
    off his gloves.
    He can’t be here, she thought. It wasn’t possible for him to have found out her destination and followed her so quickly.
    Yet he was only too real.
    There were snowflakes clinging to his dark hair and to the shoulders of the parka he was wearing and he was carrying a
    leather travel bag, which he allowed to drop to the floor with a thud that sounded ominously final.
    ‘Lost for words,mia bella ’ he asked, the hazel eyes raking her mercilessly. ‘How strange. You seemed eloquent enough
    when you spoke to my lawyers the other day. And very frank.’
    Her throat closed in fright as she remembered every reckless word she’d thrown at them. His arrival had made the
    cottage seem suddenly smaller and more cramped. And there was a note of cold, quiet anger in his voice that made her
    shiver.
    He noticed instantly. ‘You are cold, my angel Forgive me.’ He kicked the door shut behind him. ‘So, Emilia, are you
    pleased with the cottage’
    She found her voice at last. ‘I was—until a moment ago.’ She took a deep breath. ‘What thehell are you doing here’
    ‘I have come to talk to you,naturalmente ,’ Raf said softly. ‘To discuss your recent ultimatum—among other things. I told
    you so in my letter. And you must have received it, or why would you be here’
    ‘I came because I chose not to see you—not to have this conversation.’ She tried to keep her voice steady as her mind
    ran in crazy circles, trying desperately not to think what she was thinking. ‘As you must have known.’
    He shrugged. ‘But that was not your choice to make.’ He unzipped his parka and tossed it across the back of a sofa.
    Underneath he was wearing a black roll-necked sweater and his long legs were encased in blue denim and tough-looking
    boots.
    He too, it seemed, had dressed for bad weather—and a long stay. And a voice in her head was silently screaming,No …
    ‘I made my wishes clear to you, Emilia,’ he went on. ‘You should have listened.’
    ‘Ah,’ she said. ‘We’re back to the old obedience issue.’
    ‘There are a number of issues,’ he said. ‘In time, we shall deal with them all.’
    ‘No,’ she said angrily. ‘I came here to get away from you, as you’re clearly aware. Either you leave or I do.’
    He walked to the door and opened it again. A flurry of snow blew in on a wind that seemed to come straight from the
    Arctic Circle. ‘Then go,mia cara . I hope you have a destination in mind, because it is not a night to be homeless.’
    He paused. ‘Or you could be sensible and accept that this interview is inevitable. Which is it to be’
    There was a silence, then Emily turned away almost blindly, wrapping her arms round her body.
    ‘You are wise,’ he said and closed the door.
    She said, ‘How did you know where I’d be’
    ‘I think you already know the answer to that.’
    She said fiercely, ‘I suppose you must have forced it out of poor Simon somehow.’
    ‘No force was needed,’ he said. ‘I have known about this house for a long time. My friends originally offered it to me for
    our honeymoon and I regret now that I did not accept.’ He looked round him appraisingly. ‘It is charming and ideally
    secluded, don’t you think’
    The sensation that she was standing on the edge of a precipice was so vivid that Emily almost swayed. She made her way
    to the sofa and sat down.
    ‘Friends’ she echoed hoarsely. ‘What friends’
    ‘Marcello and Fiona Albero,’ he said casually. ‘You met them in London when he was at the Embassy, but I knew you
    would not remember. You were always too enclosed in your little private block of ice,mia sposa , to care about any