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Because she never rang Naples—never Had not done so once since she had left there three years ago Any co went on via lawyers or by letters sent to and frorandmother Luisa So this phone call was so unique it was likely to cause major ructions in the Giordani household And that was before she gave her reason for calling!

Therefore it ith reluctance that she went to sit down beside the telephone table And with her bare toes curling tensely into the carpet, she gritted her teeth, took a couple of deep breaths, then reached out for the receiver

By the tiits she was sitting there with her eyes pressed tight shut, half praying that no one would be home

Coward, she mocked herself

And why not? she then countered With their track record it paid to be cowardly around Vito She just hoped that Luisa would answer At least with Luisa she could relax some of the tension out of her body and try to sound normal before she attempted to break the news to her

No chance ‘Si?’ a deeply smooth and seductively accented voice suddenly drawled into her ear

Catherine junition turned her grey eyes green

Vito

Dah her A thick lump formed across her throat She tried to speak but found she couldn’t Instead her eyes drifted shut again and suddenly she was seeing hi here directly in front of her Seeing the blackness of his hair, the darkness of his skin, and the long, lean, tightly ant stance

He earing a dinner suit, she saw, because it was Sunday and co up to dinnertime there in Naples, and the Giordani fa meal on a Sunday So the suit would be black and the shirt white, with an acco black bow tie

And she could see the disturbing honeyed-gold colour of his eyes, with their long, thick, curling lashes, which could so polarise attention that it was i else when you let yourself look into them So she didn’t Instead she moved on to his mouth and let her mind’s eye drift across its s exactly what to expect when another telling little shudder hit her system

For this was the mouth of a born lover A beautiful ly expressive

rin and mock and snarl and kiss like no other mouth, and lie like no other, and hate like no—

‘Who is there, please?’ his deep voice demanded in terse Italian

Catherine juripping the telephone receiver as she forced her locked up vocal cords to relax enough to allow her to speak

‘Hello, Vito,’ she murmured huskily ‘It’s me—Catherine’

The bo silence The kind that ate away at her insides and made nerves twitch all over her Her h valves that had siht-headed but heavy-li suddenly—which was so very pathetic that at least the feeling ain

But Vito beat her to it ‘What is wrong withterse Italian The sheer violence in his tone was enough to warn Catherine that he had instantly ju conclusions

‘It’s all right,’ she said quickly ‘Santo isn’t ill’

There was another short, tense, pulsing moment while Vito took time to absorb that assurance ‘Then why do you break your own court order and ring me here?’ he demanded coldly

Griht to ask that question, Catherine still had to bite down on her lip to stop herself froe had not been pleasant, and the hostility between the three years on