Free The Unwanted Conti Bride (The Legendary Conti Brothers) by Tara Pammi Page A

reasons. Your grandfather leads that pack.”
    “So the wolves scared you, then?”
    Sophia shivered. “Yes. But then I reminded myself that they need me just as much as I need them at this point.”
    A sense of coiled tightness emanated from him. And Sophia knew instinctually that he was shocked that she’d figured him out. “Why do they need you?”
    “To corral you. To keep you amused and away from them.” Her fingers shook as she rubbed her temple. Nothing, she was beginning to realize, was simple with Luca. And she’d hitched her already limp pony to his ride.
    He touched her then. A mere brush of his fingers over her jaw. Sophia let the bookcase dig into her back, anything to keep her grounded in reality. “Have I ever told you how much I love that clever brain of yours , cara mia ?”
    Warmth fluttered through her stomach. “No. And you are probably the only one.”
    “I do.” Something like pride glittered in his eyes. “And to show my appreciation for it, I’m going to kiss that lush mouth of yours.”
    She raised a brow. “First, tell me what that was about.”
    “Is it only me that finds this bossiness of yours hot?”
    Another flicker of warmth. Another pocket of heat. “Luca...”
    “They had the particular pleasure of seeing my father go off the rails. Now they look at me and wonder if I will do the same.”
    “Why you?”
    “Because I’m the mirror image of him, a carbon copy. The man embezzled from his own company, used his power to prey on women and generally blazed a destructive path through every life he touched. He almost brought CLG to its knees and only then Antonio interfered. He brought Leandro into the company, and together, they ousted him in two years.” There was no intonation to that statement. Yet the very bald way he said it sent a shiver through Sophia.
    “What happened to him? Your father?”
    “He died in jail.” A vicious gleam, a dark fire in his eyes that transformed his face. To that of a disconcertingly cruel stranger. “So Antonio waits and watches, as he’s been doing for years, to see if I will self-destruct like that, too. He tries to do a course adjust every few years.”
    Which was why he’d stalked and cornered Sophia. After Luca’s latest debacle with a minister’s wife, Antonio had been desperate.
    But how could anyone think Luca would turn out like his father?
    She couldn’t imagine Luca ever preying on anyone’s weakness. Couldn’t imagine Luca destroying anyone’s life with such malicious...
    What do you call what he did to you ten years ago? the rational part of her whispered. What he does every day with his life? How much do you really know him? “You—”
    “I think we have had enough talk about bloodthirsty wolves.”
    Trying to calm her ratcheting heartbeat, Sophia focused her gaze everywhere else but him. “Why are we here?”
    “To have a celebratory drink, why else?” He made a show of glancing at his watch, as if he hadn’t timed all this with precision. “We have been successfully married for a whole morning.”
    That was when Sophia noticed the ice bucket with a champagne bottle and next to the bucket, in a cardboard box with a little bow that looked very familiar and dear to her heart, chocolate truffles.
    He was seducing her ; another warning from that increasingly annoying voice.
    She groaned, her mouth already watering as she imagined the dark, rich taste on her mouth. Other disturbing sensations floated beneath. She had told him once that she would sell her soul for truffles.
    Countless women he’d seduced and countless little nothings they would have whispered in his ears, flushed from the good sex he gave...did he remember all those details ? she wanted to ask . “Keep those away from me, Luca. They are the very devil for my diet.”
    His mouth pursed tight, as if he was trying to stop himself from bursting into laughter. Which in turn animated the rest of his face.
    Mouthwatering chocolate, knee-melting Luca and