Her breasts brushed his chest, her hair fell in wild abandon as she began to move with her dancing rhythm, with all the volcanic passion inside of her, waiting for him, waiting for Byron. She rode him hard and fast, slow and leisurely, giving them both exquisite pleasure. She heard sounds. The wind. The beat of her heart. Whispers somewhere far off. She felt everything. The texture of his skin, the shape of his bones, the definition of his muscles, and the endless rush of an orgasm that rocked their world in complete harmony.
“How could she not?” He lifted her chin to kiss her mouth lightly. “They are whispering together.”
“How is it we can hear them, Byron? They’re downstairs. In the conservatory, I think. Why would we be able to hear them? And why don’t they all go to bed and leave me alone?”
“Because,
cara
, you are important to them, and they love you. They are only showing their concern.”
“Well, I wish, just for this one night, they would leave us alone.”
The second set of footsteps, this time undeniably determined, was coming up the stairs. They listened as the door was approached. This time the knock was authoritative. “Antonietta.
Cara mia
, you must open the door for me at once, or I’ll use the master key I’ve collected from Helena and open it. I mean it. I must see that you’re all right. You don’t have to talk to me, but you must allow me into your room. You’re scaring
Nonno
and the children.” Tasha was very firm.
“She’ll open the door, too. Tasha would never bluff. I haven’t a stitch on and the room is… Well, it’s obvious what we’ve been doing.” Antonietta panicked.
Byron waved a hand toward the bathroom. At once there was the sound of running water coming from Antonietta’s private bath. The heady scent of their lovemaking dissipated, to be replaced by the fragrance of her favorite bath salt. Byron bent his head, took his time kissing her thoroughly. “You take a nice, refreshing bath. I know you have been secretly longing for one. I will let Tasha in and keep her occupied until you feel up to facing her.”
Antonietta slipped from his lap. “Well, please put your clothes on. I don’t want her suddenly thinking you’re so hot she has to have you.
Grazie
. You amaze me how thoughtful you are.” It was a measure of how upset she was with her family that she allowed him to handle the details, that she would allow him to meet with her cousin alone while she bathed in the adjoining room.
Byron waited until Antonietta had closed the door to the bath before sauntering over to the door. Another wave of his hand made the bed and clothed him in the way of his people.
He pulled open the door just as Tasha thrust the key in the lock.
Tasha screamed, a cry of shock and horror. Her hand flew to her mouth, her eyes widening. “We all thought you were dead.” Her voice came out a whisper. “Thank the good
Dio
Paul didn’t kill you.”
Byron stepped back courteously to allow her entry. Celt inspected their visitor and turned to follow his mistress into the large bathroom, making it clear he was on the alert. The closed door didn’t present a problem, the borzoi merely turned the knob with his strong jaws and disappeared into the steam.
“Antonietta is taking a bath. I think it will help to calm her and make it easier for her to talk with her family,” Byron volunteered. He followed the borzoi across the room, pulling the door closed to allow Antonietta complete privacy. He was hoping it would give Tasha time to recover. She was so pale he was afraid he might have to deal with an old-fashioned swoon.
“I had no idea you were here, or I wouldn’t have interrupted.” She glanced at him from under long lashes. There was a mixture of weariness and relief in her dark eyes. “Antonietta was devastated over what happened, you know, and she blamed herself for leaving you when you were so injured. Paul doesn’t remember why they left either.”
She sighed and paced away from him, putting distance between them to help recover from the shock. Tasha always found Byron’s presence unsettling, and up close, in her cousin’s bedroom, she found he seemed more powerful than ever. Tasha cleared her throat nervously. “I know I haven’t been very welcoming to you, but it is more than obvious Antonietta cares for you, and if you don’t mind, I’d like to start over.”
Byron regarded her with a raised eyebrow. Her words had been forced out, and there was a small underlying spurt of distaste he caught in her tone. “Why the turnaround? You do not need to pretend with me in order to save Paul from prison. The incident will not be reported to the authorities. You have your cousin to thank for that.”
A small smile tugged unexpectedly at the corners of Tasha’s mouth. “You don’t think much of any of us, do you?”
Byron didn’t answer her but crossed the room to the stained glass window. “Why do you dislike me so much, Tasha?”
She laughed softly, but there was little humor in her tone. “Because you are the first real threat to ever come to us.”
He swung around, frowning at her, his dark eyes puzzled. “I am not a threat to you. You are Antonietta’s cousin. Unless you sought to harm her in some way, I would do my utmost to protect you. Why would you think me a threat?”
She turned her head away from him quickly but not before he caught the sheen of tears shimmering in her eyes. “That’s so like you.” She waved a dismissing hand.
“Tell me.” This time his voice was low and compelling. If she didn’t cooperate with a slight push, he had no problems pushing past the natural barriers in her mind to find her thoughts. As far as he was concerned, Antonietta’s family deserved little consideration.
“Look at me, Byron. You’ve never looked at me. I’m beautiful, my body is absolutely perfect.” There was bitterness in her voice. “That’s all anyone sees when they look at me. They never look past it to see me. And if they did, I’m not talented like Antonietta or brainy like Paul. I can’t have children like Marita. The moment Christopher finds out I’m barren, he’ll get rid of me or take a mistress to have his child. Even if he didn’t, the moment my looks go, and they will eventually, he will abandon me.
Nonno
barely tolerates me, and Paul is too busy feeling sorry for himself. Franco doesn’t notice me because, why bother? I can’t talk about stocks and the business to him.” She picked up her cousin’s perfume bottle and inhaled the fragrance. “I only matter to Antonietta. She can’t see the way I look, and she loves me for myself. Unconditionally. I never even had that from my parents. Of course you’re a threat to me. She’s actually interested in you. Really interested, not some passing whim.”
Tasha did turn to face him then. “I can see you’re a dangerous man, anyone can see it. It’s all over you, yet I know you’d never hurt her. But you’d take her away from us. Is it any wonder I fight for my own survival? Without her, I have no one.” There was no self-pity in her voice, only stark truth.
“I think you are selling yourself short, Tasha. It is true that I have not seen you as a person other than Antonietta’s cousin. I have been rather obsessed with Antonietta since the first moment I laid eyes on her. I knew immediately she was born for me, my other half.” He smiled at her, a genuine smile. “Please forgive me for not taking the time to know you. Antonietta is my world, and that means anyone in her world is in mine also. I have no intention of doing anything that would make her unhappy, and you are very important to her.”
“You do have a certain charm, I can see why she might have fallen hard.” Tasha made an effort to smile at him, in spite of her feelings.
“And you have many admirable traits you do not seem to regard as assets. You are wonderful with the children. They prefer you to their own mother.”