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‘You intend to go down to the lobby, to face Rico Bavasso and his security, in own? Because that is not a tactic I’d recommend you employ It will end badly for you Very badly indeed’

‘I’ll take , his robe trailing the ground

‘That’s quite a risk you’re willing to take, then’

‘And one I prefer’

Her ga tiresoain froet, or as if she were so ‘Unfortunately it’s one I do not prefer,’ Cristiano said lazily ‘The lift is locked, bella You’re not going anywhere Not until I say so’

CHAPTER THREE

LAUREL WHIRLED AROUND, the breath leaving her lungs in one alainst the , his hands in his pockets, looking for all the world as if he were out for a summer stroll Not as if he’d just threatened her Not as if he’d just intimated that she was as captive in this hotel suite as she would be in Rico Bavasso’s

‘Out of the frying pan and into the fire, it see Cristiano was not hiding the heat that simmered in his eyes, but she could hardly believe it Ten years ago he’d batted her away like an annoying inconvenience So noanted her, and she had no say in the matter?

‘Fire has much to recommend it’

She stared at hi her? She couldn’t believe that he wanted her badly enough now to keep her captive in his penthouse She couldn’t believe he wanted her at all He had his pick of the lamorous women in the world, and she was an inexperienced hick from nowhere, Illinois What could he possibly see in her?

‘What do you want, Cristiano?’ she asked slowly, not entirely sure she wanted to hear the answer

He lifted his chin, his silver-grey eyes blazing, but with ice Cold and hot at the same ti icy and incredibly cold? That was how Cristiano felt to her A cold blaze of danger

‘It’s simple,’ he said ‘I want you’

He couldn’t put it more plainly than that, yet still she was sceptical ‘Why me? You could have any woman you wanted’

‘Thank you’

‘Why should either of us pretend otherwise? You’re in the celebrity gossip h’