Free Not Juliet by Ella Medler Page B

over.”
    “Lover?” Luca
smiled at her use of the word. “Is that the English way of saying
‘yes’?”
    Riella felt her
face heat up and had to take a couple of deep breaths before she
could say anything.
    “I want you,
Luca, in every sense of the word. There has never been anyone for
me… No one I wanted, no one I trusted or needed the way I
need you. And I know there will never be another man for me, ever
again. Not now that I’ve met you. The way I feel for you, this kind
of love, well… it’s not for the faint-hearted.”
    Luca’s lids
narrowed. He stared at her for a long moment, enough to make Riella
nervous about the road, then he pulled sharply on the steering
wheel for the second time that day and took the car down a dusty
lane, which wound its way behind a small copse of trees. What was
he up to now?
     

Chapter 13
     
    The shiny new roof of
the chapel of San Francesco d’Assisi was the first thing one could
see when slipping off the national highway and into rural Tuscany.
Father Marco owed him big, and Luca was counting on cashing in a
favor. He wasn’t sure his plan would work, but if he knew anything
about women – and he hoped he did – he knew he would eventually
bring Riella around to his way of thinking.
    He’d just have
to watch out for the shock, when it hit her.
    He kept a
steady speed all the way to the little church, raising clouds of
dust he was certain would be visible from miles away.
    As soon as the
car was parked in the narrow strip of shade along the west wall of
the chiesa, he pulled Riella into his arms and allowed his lips to
capture hers. This move achieved more than one thing: it ensured
Riella stayed quiet and happy as they waited for the dust raised by
their arrival to settle, and it was a welcome distraction for
himself, too. Unfortunately, he was so turned on by the feel of her
hot skin on his, the pert nipples poking through the thin material
of her dress and into his chest, the velvety smoothness of her
tongue intertwined with his, and her fingers tugging gently at his
hair, that he almost forgot to stop. Again.
    Reluctantly, he
broke contact, licked and smacked his lips, then told the
truth.
    “You taste so
good, it’s unbelievable. I can’t wait until I get to taste you
everywhere.”
    And then he
pulled her out of the car. Her dumbfounded expression was comical,
but whatever retort she was thinking of was lost in the face of her
curiosity.
    “Why have we
stopped here?” she asked, eyes wide.
    “You said
something about being lovers. I want to make an honest woman out of
you.”
    Riella gasped
and pulled back on his hand. “Now? Here?”
    Luca turned her
around in a tight circle. “Look around. Is there any better place
on earth?”
    The little
chapel was bordered by a few cypress trees and a couple of low,
elderly maples. Beyond them, to the east, lay the village of Santa
Fiora, sheltered behind ancient woods which formed part of one of
the national natural reserves. Undulating smooth green hills spread
out as far as the eye could see, rising higher to the north, in a
mountain peak. Tall cypress trees interrupted the smoothness of
slow curves, lending the landscape the appearance of curving
women’s hips, laying replete and fulfilled, awaiting their lovers’
caress. Perfect, in Luca’s view.
    From the look
on Riella’s face, she saw the beauty in it, too.
    Father Marco
walked out of the copse of eucalyptus to the left of an olive grove
at a fast pace. He smiled widely when he spotted first the Bugatti,
and then Luca. His head tilted sideways in an unspoken question
when Luca pulled Riella closer into his body and wound an arm
around her back.
    “Ah! Just in
time,” Luca said quietly.
    Riella waited
for the man to approach in silence. Had she got the message yet?
Luca wasn’t certain. She gasped when she spotted his dog collar.
Luca braced himself.
    “Are you
serious?”
    She pulled away
from him a little, so she could face him and shout in his