Page 188 of Modern Romance Collection May 2024 Books 1-4

‘This isn’t about him. It’s about Elena,’ Alessandra parried, gesturing for Rae to follow her to the front of the salon and indicating a chair on the front row, right next to the seat occupied by the broad shoulders and proud back of Domenico. He was dressed in another black suit, neat and exquisitely fitted to his broad form, and he looked exceptional, far more so than anyone in a state of grief should.

‘Are you going to sit on the chair or just continue to stare at it?’ Domenico posed with a dark arch of his brow and, with a resigned sigh, Rae sat. But, as she did, her arm brushed against his and heat crackled through her, making her instantly feverish as remembrance of the previous night crashed through her.

She had spent the better part of the night wide awake and trying not to think about what had exploded between them. How he had framed her face in his strong hands, how she’d been trapped between the wall and his very solid, very hot body, how his lips had been rightthere, a mere breath from hers. The fact that nothing had actually happened didn’t ease the alarm she felt, because something very easilycouldhave happened. It had been on the cusp of happening. She had been seconds away from begging for his mouth to be on her—her lips, her breasts, her...No!

Rae knew her only hope now was to leave as soon as possible. If she got away quickly, she could consign the previous night’s events to some dusty shelf in the far recesses of her mind and, within a matter of weeks, hopefully it would be as if it had never happened. As if none of the emotional upheaval of her ill-thought-out trip had happened.

‘You slept well, I hope,’ Domenico said suddenly, without tuning his head to look at her.

‘The room was very comfortable,’ Rae answered noncommittally, because there was no way she wanted him to have a single idea of how unsettled he’d left her.

‘You didn’t sleep?’ he pressed, and this time he did turn his head and she was swallowed up by his bottomless dark gaze. His regard was as hot and heavy as his physical touch had been and Rae’s mouth ran dry, her lips tingled and a pulse ignited between her legs.

She squeezed her thighs together, but it failed to quash the reaction pounding through her. The liquid heat of need raced through her veins, making her hunger for his touch all over again, and suddenly all she could feel was the sensation of falling. That she was tumbling head over heels into him and wanting nothing more than to be back in that hallway last night, caged by his delectable male body.

From what sounded like far away Rae heard a female voice—Alessandra—calling everyone to attention and asking them to take their seats—and she clung to it, using it as a lifeline to grip onto as she tried to drag herself from her sensual freefall.

‘I slept fine, thank you,’ she said, cleaving her gaze from Domenico’s and fixing her attention straight ahead. She forced herself to ignore the sirens wailing in her body and listen to every single one of Alessandra’s welcoming and introductory words before she handed over the duties to the other executor of Elena’s estate, Elena’s long-time friend and confidant, Vincenzo D’Aragona. Very quickly, his smooth baritone voice filled the salon.

One more hour, Rae estimated as Vincenzo began on the bequests, and then she would be on her way home. The thought brought a little bit of calm to her galloping heart because she wasn’t sure how many more moments like that with Domenico she could withstand.

Exhaling shakily, Rae tuned back in to the reading of the will. Vincenzo was in the middle of stating Elena’s wish that her donations to certain charities continued from her estate. Then he moved on to the individual bequests, monetary gifts and heirlooms for specific friends and family—none of which surprised Rae, as Elena had always been extraordinarily generous.

‘Finally, to the matters of business and real estate. It was Elena’s wish that all of her shares in The Ricci Group pass in totality to her named heir, Domenico Paolo Ricci. Her real estate portfolio, including but not limited to her homes in Rome and Lake Como and the apartment in Paris, will also pass to Domenico Paolo Ricci. However,’ Vincenzo continued with a pregnant pause, during which Alessandra cast something of an uneasy glance Domenico’s way and, noticing it, a slither of unease stirred in Rae’s stomach, ‘with regard to Palazzo Ricci here in Venice, Elena insisted upon the addition of a marital clause and in the event that Domenico fails to meet the stated requirements of said clause, Palazzo Ricci will pass to Elena’s next closest living relative, her sister.’

The gasps of surprise from others were quickly quelled with a stern look from Vincenzo. Face tight but expressionless, Domenico leaned slightly forward, biceps straining against the confines of the suit.

‘In this case, the marital clause stipulates that Domenico will only inherit on the celebration of the second anniversary of his wedding to his wife Raegan Dunbar-Ricci on October the second this year.’

Domenico went rigid, but it was an extra second before it hit Rae. And, once it did, her eyes flew wide.

What?

CHAPTER THREE

DOMENICOPACEDback and forth over the same length of floor. If he thought about it hard enough, he knew he would find a way out of the situation, some clever escape hatch...but each turn of his thoughts only brought him back to the same place, the same damnable words of Elena’s will clanging over and over again in his mind.

‘Are you okay?’

Having thought he was alone, Domenico quickly drew to a stop and raised his head. Alessandra stood in front of the closed door and Domenico pinioned her under his furious glare.

‘What do you think?’ Solely by virtue of the self-control honed meticulously over the years, he had managed to regulate his reaction for the remainder of the reading and the interminable process of bidding everyone goodbye, but the tether around his frustration was now frayed perilously thin. ‘I can’t believe you knew this was going to happen and didn’t warn me,’ he hissed, the sting of her treachery arrowing deeper into his skin.

At least now, however, he understood why Alessandra had been so insistent that Rae stay and attend the will reading—but he was far too angry to feel any gratitude to her.

‘You know very well the contents of a will have to remain private until after a person’s death,’ Alessandra reproached him. ‘I was doing my job, Domenico. It’s nothing personal.’

‘It’s personal to me,’ he snarled.

‘And is that all that is angering you?’ Alessandra queried levelly.

‘Isn’t that enough?’

‘So it’s not about Rae’s involvement in Elena’s stipulation?’ She allowed her words to hang in mid-air for a second before continuing. ‘I won’t pretend to know what’s going on in your marriage, Domenico, but there’s obviously something. Rae has been gone for weeks and you’ve been in a less than pleasant mood for most of that time.’

He spun away to stare moodily out of the window, fixing his arms across his chest. ‘The state of my marriage is nobody’s business but mine and Rae’s.’

But as he bit out the words, Domenico knew that wasn’t the case any more. A spotlight had been placed on their union—the union on which something incredibly precious to him now rested.

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