Free The Italian's Passionate Return by Elizabeth Lennox Page A

hand dove into her hair, holding her head in place while his lips captured hers, his mouth possessed and his lips teased, his hands both comforted and controlled. This kiss was a dangerous combination of torture and promise and she grabbed onto his shoulders, holding him close even while he pulled her closer. The hand on her head tilted so the kiss could go deeper while his other arm wrapped around her waist, holding her close, pulling her higher and she could feel his reaction against her stomach, reveled in the power she had over this man even while he continued to control her with his kiss.
    “Mom! You’ve got to meet Adriana! She’s really….” Jemma broke away from Damien when she heard Dylan’s excited voice. Her hand nervously came up to touch her lips as if she could somehow wipe off the evidence of what they’d just been doing. “Cool…” he finally finished off, his eyes wide, a wiggling puppy in his arms and a shy, blond girl directly behind him with a puppy of her own.
    “Uncle Damien?” the blond girl whispered, her brown eyes confused.
    Dylan buried his face in the puppy’s body. “They were kissing!” he whispered, as if his stage whisper could keep a secret.
    Jemma shook herself mentally and put another step between herself and Damien, even though there wasn’t much room in the bedroom now that there were four people, one of them being a tall, enormously muscled man.
    Jemma bent down lower. “You must be Adriana,” she said, extending her hand. “I’m Jemma.”
    The little girl tried to shift her wiggly burden in order to shake Jemma’s hand but it was too hard. In the end, she huffed and set the puppy down, straightened up and took Jemma’s hand in a very appropriate, very un-child-like greeting. “Very pleased to meet you,” she replied. Then messed up her greeting by leaning towards Jemma. “Why were you kissing my uncle?” she asked, laughter in her eyes. “He’s old ,” she explained.
    Jemma heard Damien’s chuckle but tried to focus only on the little girl. “To be perfectly honest, I’m not sure why I was kissing him. I’d much rather be out with you and Dylan playing with the puppies.”
    Adriana looked down at the puppy that was plopped on her bottom, her pink tummy sticking out between her legs because that was the biggest part of the cute animal at this point, and lifted her treasure back up into her arms. “I like them a lot!”
    Jemma smiled, entranced by the sweet little girl. “I think dogs and puppies are pretty special!”
    “Uncle Damien brought me this puppy last week. I brought her back this week. He said Maisey would want to see her momma again.” There was a flash of sadness but the girl perked up when the puppy licked her face. It was almost as if the puppy knew that Adriana was wishing she could see her own mother again and tried to make her feel better.
    “I’m sure you’re playing with Maisey enough so that she’s not lonely for her momma, but why don’t we all go outside and check? I can show you the horses too.”
    Adriana loved that idea. “How many horses do you have?” she asked, awed by all the nature around her.
    “I have twelve horses right now, but I think two of them are going to be bought very soon.”
    Jemma made her way around Damien, trying not to touch him for fear of what she might reveal. As she led the group out the door, she wondered why she was even trying to hide her feelings for the man. He probably knew exactly how she felt since he’d just kissed her silly a few minutes ago. So much for playing it cool, she thought.
    Pushing open the barn door, she laughed when the horses – eager for their morning oats – nuzzled her with their warm breath. “Yes, I know,” she told each of them.
    “Have you already signed contracts for the two horses?” Damien asked behind her.
    Jemma shook her head. “I just got e-mails from a couple of people who were asking about the horses. I haven’t replied to them yet, but generally,