Finally, Issy’s eyes opened. After a moment’s hesitation, they locked on to his. Gianni’s heart slammed hard against his ribs.

After another beat, a lazy smile formed on her beautiful face. ‘I need a drink. Let’s go back.’

Disbelief almost made him mute. ‘That’s all you have to say?’

‘I’m thirsty.’ Laughing, she pushed at his chest and rolled out from beneath him.

His mouth opened and he shook his head. This woman was unbelievable, and he shook his head again as he watched her grip one of the handles around the inflatable’s edge and slip into the water.

‘Are you coming?’ she asked with a tilt of her head and a knowing smile.

He laughed through the pain in his loins. ‘I wish.’

She gave the faintest of winks. ‘I guess you’ll just have to wish harder.’

Before he could think of an answer, she’d pushed herself away from the inflatable and swum the metre distance to the steps the crew had earlier lowered for them.

Warm though the sea was, Gianni’s body was on such a high simmer that when he followed Issy’s lead, it was like sinking into a cold bath. He welcomed it. God help him, he was as horny as a sex-mad teenager, and as he watched her step onto the deck, all he could think of was untying those scraps of material covering her most feminine parts and screwing her until neither of them could stand.

Issy had no idea how she kept her back straight and stopped her legs from collapsing, and when she looked over her shoulder as she padded over the deck and saw Gianni’s head appear by the railing, the swelling in her heart was so painful and the weakness in her legs so strong that the truth that she was in over her head slapped her like a wet fish.

She needed to message Amelia and beg her to at least try and fast-track the signing of the contracts. Get them signed immediately. She couldn’t play this game for much longer. She needed to get as far away from Gianni as she could. He was just too much. All the research in the world couldn’t have prepared her for the reality of seducing a man into distraction when the man in question brought out feelings in her that had never existed before.Shewas the one being seduced here, by the devil himself.

Upping her pace, mentally composing the message she would send to her sister, she reached the table she’d left her stuff on and in seconds found herself close to tears. Her phone had gone.

CHAPTER SIX

‘SOMETHINGWRONG?’GIANNIasked casually as he reached for his towel. He could not fathom why Issy’s obvious anxiety should make his heart twinge.

She shook her sarong out. ‘I can’t find my phone.’

Of course she couldn’t. He’d instructed the crew to hide it in his cabin, the only space in the yacht kept locked and off-limits to Issy. She could have it back when this was all over.

‘It can’t have gone far,’ he assured her. ‘Where did you last have it?’

‘Right here. I left it on this table.’

He looked at his watch. It was coming up to ten p.m. in London. The meeting on the Aurora project would have finished hours ago. He could not let what had happened between him and Issy distract him from what needed to be done. He’d got rid of her phone so she was unable to contact her sister. His priority now was to warn Alessandro.

‘Ask your crew,’ he said. ‘Maybe one of them took it inside for you when they took mine in to charge or when they finished clearing lunch.’

She bit her lip and nodded. ‘Good idea.’

‘If they haven’t got it, it might be worth checking your cabin in case one of the crew put it in there for you and forgot to tell you.’

She nodded again, and hurried inside, forgetting to sway her hips seductively in her distraction. For some reason, this too made his heart twinge.

Pushing away the strange feelings threading through him—he needed to work fast and concentrate—he indicated to Mara, the head of his crew, to bring his phone to him.

He switched it on and immediately called his cousin.

Alessandro’s voice sounded down the crackly line. ‘Gianni, how—?’

‘Andro, listen, I don’t have much time.’

‘Okay, but what’s the—?’

‘Amelia Seymore,’ he interrupted. ‘She’s Thomas Seymore’s daughter.’