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  ‘No, leave it,’ he growled throatily as Dani would have reached up to undo the twenty or so hooks down the front of the corset. His gaze was intent on her masked face as he threw off his waistcoat and the black sash before moving to stand in front of her. ‘I have always wondered what it would be like to remove one of these,’ he admitted. ‘I am going to very much enjoy finding out.’ His accent had thickened in his deepening desire.

  Dani hoped that it felt as sensually arousing to him as it did to her as he slowly undid the hooks, one by one, as he savoured the moment her breasts were free and he could brush his fingers lightly over their pouting tips. Dani’s breath caught in her throat as he lightly caressed the taut and swollen nipples.

  She felt her knees go weak as he lowered his head and his lips claimed one temptingly pert bud, his tongue licking slowly, rhythmically, making her skin wet. Her nipple swelled in arousal inside his mouth as his teeth gently rasped against that sensitivity and he continued to taste and suckle.

  Her hands moved up instinctively to cradle the back of his head and she held him to her, her back arched, her breathing ragged as pleasure surged hotly between her thighs and dampened her until she was hot and aching.

  He moved the attentions of his lips and tongue to her other breast, licking, gently biting, while his hand captured its twin and caressed that hardened nub in the same pleasurable rhythm.

  God, she was so excited, so aroused, Dani realised in trembling wonder. She was going to explode into a million pieces right here and now while this man was still fully dressed and she was wearing only her panties!

  Her fingers clenched in the dark thickness of his hair as she held him against her. He increased the rhythm of his caressing tongue and his other hand moved from her breast to seek lower, cupping between her thighs. The pad of his palm pressed subtly, rhythmically, against the hardened nub nestling there. Pressing, caressing, until Dani felt an aching pleasure all centred there, before it spread out to every part of her body, hot and fierce, totally encompassing, and she arched against his caressing hand in a climax that seemed never ending.

  Her knees buckled slightly and her head dropped forward to rest against the broadness of his shoulder as those spasms of pleasure finally began to lessen, her breathing ragged and sporadic.

  ‘I don’t—I’ve never—That was so—’

  ‘You are beautiful!’ Niccolo assured her with husky force even as his arms moved about her and he lifted her up to carry her to the sofa. He laid her down on its length, his gaze once again holding hers captive as he straightened to begin unbuttoning his shirt.

  No woman had ever looked more beautiful to him, the glow of the moonlight giving her skin the appearance of alabaster against the cream silk underwear she wore, her eyes dark and satiated behind her mask. The posture of her body—turned slightly sideways on the sofa, with those small graceful hands resting on her thighs and the long silken legs bent slightly at the knees—was sensually enticing.

  Niccolo left his shirt unbuttoned, revealing the dark hair of his chest and the flatness of his stomach, as his fingers dealt deftly with the fastening of his trousers.

  ‘Let me.’ She held her hand out in invitation. ‘It’s my turn to undress you,’ she whispered, moving over on the sofa to make room for him to lie down beside her.

  No part of Niccolo found objection to that invitation—not the surge in his already hardened shaft, the increased beat of his heart, or the clamouring inside him to feel those delicate hands against his naked body.

  And God, those hands felt good as she pushed the sides of his shirt aside to lay them flat against his chest, light as butterfly wings as she moved up beside him, expression sultry, her bottom lip caught between tiny, even white teeth as she looked her fill of him and her hands touched and caressed him from shoulder to thigh.

  Niccolo breathed in sharply, his stomach tightening, as one hand moved lower, beneath the waistband of his trousers, and she touched him lightly before curling her fingers about his rigid hardness.

  He felt like steel encased in silk, Dani discovered as she pushed aside his clothing to slowly caress his arousal from tip to base and then back again. She revelled in the response of his long thickness as he moved slowly, sensuously, against her hand and fingers, in the increased raggedness of his breathing as her thumb caressed the sensitive tip and she felt the slight escape of moisture.

  But she wanted more. Wanted it all. To taste him, not just touch and caress him.

  She moved up on her knees beside him to slide his trousers and boxers down the long length of his legs and drop them down on the carpet beside them, holding his gaze as she parted his legs to move in between them and cup and hold him.

  Then she finally looked down at him. He was long, hard and beautiful, she acknowledged, even as she lowered her head to capture him in her mouth, feeling emboldened, empowered, as she heard his groan of acceptance and surrender.

  His hands came up to grasp her shoulders—not to push her away, as she had initially disappointedly thought, but to plead with her not to stop that rasping caress of her tongue or the rhythmic caress of her hands as she cupped and held him.

  His groans became deeper, more ragged, with each caress, and Dani wallowed in his pleasure as surely as if it were her own.

  It was her own!

  She had never known anything like this before, had never felt so uninhibited, so free to express her enjoyment in a man’s body. In this man’s body.

  It was a beautiful, perfect male body, muscled and yet silky, his shoulders wide, his stomach flat, his thighs—Oh, God, his thighs…

  ‘No more, little one!’ he suddenly rasped fiercely, his fingers tight on her shoulders as he sat up to gently hold her away from him. ‘I want to take off the rest of your clothes. Slowly. And then I want to kiss and caress you in the way you have just kissed me,’ he explained.

  Dani smiled as she knelt back to lift her own breasts to his dark, appreciative gaze before he lowered his head to draw one of those darkened nipples into his mouth as he slid the silk panties down her thighs.

  In seconds she knelt completely, unashamedly naked in front of him, knowing by the raggedness of his breathing and the intensity of that dark gaze that he liked what he saw.

  It was exhilarating, liberating, to be with a man like this, to just enjoy without doubt or responsibility…

  She was perfection in the moonlight, Niccolo acknowledged achingly as she slid the shirt from his shoulders and down his arms. Her breasts full and pert, her waist slender, hips curvaceous, a lush triangle of hair at their apex, and her smile enticing as she lay back against the cushions.

  He reached up and removed his mask—it had to be past midnight now—before bending to kiss first one dark-tipped breast and then the other, his hands dark against her much paler flesh as he trailed yet more kisses down her stomach to her navel, dipping his tongue into that sensitive well as he moved to lie between her parted legs.

  Her skin was like velvet, and she groaned her pleasure at each stroke of his hand, that groan becoming a soft mewling noise as he moved lower still, seeking and finding the hardened nub between those silken curls to roll his tongue against it slowly, rhythmically, caressingly.

  Dani felt boneless as waves of pleasure washed up and through her, turning to rigid tension as she felt another climax rapidly approaching.

  It was too much—

  She couldn’t—

  ‘Please,’ she whispered. ‘I want—I need—’

  ‘Tell me what you need and want, my beautiful lady,’ he encouraged gruffly.

  ‘You,’ she gasped, reaching down for him, fingernails digging into those broad shoulders. ‘I need you!’

  ‘Then you shall have me,’ Niccolo assured her, moving up and over her. ‘All of me.’

  He gave a primeval groan as he entered her and buried himself inside her heat. He didn’t move again for long, pleasurable seconds, just enjoying being inside her, and then he raised his head to watch the play of moonl
ight across her firm breasts with their deep rose tips.

  Perhaps it really was the mystery that surrounded this woman, but he had never felt such incredible excitement, such intense pleasure, as he did here and now. Then he began to move slowly, and he knew that the pleasure that had come before was as nothing compared to what he was feeling now.

  The pleasure intensified, grew hotter, stronger, until Niccolo wasn’t sure he could bear more without exploding. He began to stroke deep inside her, his body gliding over and in hers as she began to make soft noises of excitement.

  Niccolo held off as long as he could, promising himself to take longer next time, to take her to the edge of that peak again and again before taking her over it. But for now the need for release was too urgent, too intense for him to delay. And as he heard the first of her cries of release, felt her tighten and flex hotly about him, he allowed himself to let go too. A release made all the stronger, all the more satisfying, because they had reached it together.

  Dani lay entwined with her pirate, their bodies slicked with sweat in the aftermath of their lovemaking. She stroked the loosened, overlong darkness of his hair as his head rested between her breasts. Both of them were too satiated to even attempt to move, and still too afraid of breaking the spell, the magic of the evening, by so much as saying one word.

  And it had been magical. Beyond anything Dani had ever experienced before. This man had allowed her the freedom to explore and caress his body in a way she had never dared to do before with anyone else.

  This man made her feel beautiful. She was beautiful in his arms. And that he had enjoyed their lovemaking too she was in absolutely no doubt. She could feel his satisfaction in the way he still caressed her body from breast to thigh—not in a sexual way, but out of the sheer pleasure of touching her.

  But as she lay there in the silence, as she slowly became aware of their surroundings, could once again hear the muted strains of the music and the people laughing and talking outside, the full import of what had just happened hit her like a slap in the face.

  Dear God—there was recklessness and then there was insanity! And this, Dani realised belatedly, was insanity. She had made love with a perfect stranger—probably one of Eleni’s relatives—in her friend’s conservatory. And she continued to lie here naked in his arms when there were over two hundred guests outside in the garden!

  Beautiful, ecstatic insanity. But insanity nonetheless.

  And now it was over.

  It had to be over…

  ‘Have you fallen asleep?’ Niccolo asked teasingly at the sudden stillness and silence of the woman who had such a short time ago met and equalled his desire in the most incredible, most erotic lovemaking he had ever known.

  Their clothes, he noticed ruefully, were scattered all over the rug beside the sofa, their need for skin on skin having been absolute. He wanted this woman like that again. And again. Not here, in his sister’s home, where they could be interrupted at any moment, but somewhere they could be completely themselves, where there would be no need for masks or artifice.

  He wanted to know more about this woman—wanted to know everything there was to know about her. Wanted to look at her face, to see her wearing her long hair loose about her shoulders and nothing else.

  ‘Would you like to leave?’ he murmured. ‘We could book into a hotel somewhere. For a week. A month. Longer!’

  At this moment the world of D’Alessandro Banking seemed unimportant. She was the only thing that mattered right now—and for some time to come, he felt sure.

  ‘Belladonna…?’ he prompted as he raised his head to look down at her.

  Dani gave a muted gasp, and then ceased to breathe at all as she recognised the unmasked beauty of the face above hers in the moonlight.

  Her heart seemed to stop beating and the blood froze in her veins.

  The world itself seemed to stop spinning on its axis.

  The man above her, lying naked beside her, the man she had just made love with so wonderfully, so completely, was Niccolo D’Alessandro!

  ‘What is it, cara mia?’ He frowned down at her with concern. ‘Do not tell me that you are suddenly feeling shy?’ he teased.

  Shy? After the intimacies she had just shared with this man?

  Niccolo D’Alessandro…

  And she had—

  And then he had—

  Oh, Lord.

  But Niccolo obviously had no more idea of her true identity than she’d had of his. There was no way he would have flirted with Dani Bell in that way. Would have seduced Dani Bell so single-mindedly in the moonlight. Would have made love to Dani Bell with such intensity and passion.

  He couldn’t know it was her!

  The D’Alessandro ancestors had been priests, princes—and pirates, she belatedly recalled.

  And she couldn’t bear for this pirate to realise who his lover was. To have the warmth fade from those beautiful dark eyes as they assumed their usual expression of contempt whenever he looked at her. But how could she get out of here without Niccolo discovering the truth?

  He had given her the opening himself, she realised with dawning hope.

  She moistened her lips before speaking. ‘A hotel sounds good. But I don’t think we should leave without at least one of us making our excuses to Eleni or Brad.’

  Dani’s thoughts were racing now. If Niccolo left the conservatory to talk to Eleni or Brad, and if she could get dressed quickly enough, she might—just might—be able to get out of here and away from the house before Niccolo came back.

  ‘The two of us going to a hotel together only sounds “good”?’ His expression was amused as he moved to sit beside her on the sofa before turning to trail light fingertips over her body from her throat down to her thighs.

  Dani trembled as her body instantly came alive to his touch, her nipples hardening, tightening to aroused pebbles, and the heat returning between her thighs.

  This was Niccolo, she reminded herself impatiently. The man who made no secret of his utter contempt for her.

  ‘More than good. Wonderful,’ she corrected abruptly, just wanting him to leave so that she could get out of here.

  ‘That is better.’ Niccolo nodded his satisfaction, his gaze hooded as he stood up. ‘I will not be long,’ he promised as he moved to pull on his clothes, steeling himself not to lie back down beside her and make love to her all over again.

  But there would be plenty of time for that once they reached the hotel. Plenty of time to learn all there was to know about this beautiful and responsive woman.

  Niccolo could never remember feeling such possessiveness before during a relationship—this need to know a woman in every way. Perhaps that was because this wasn’t a relationship. Yet. But it was going to be. He didn’t intend letting this woman out of his life, his bed, until they had completely slaked their desire for each other.

  Which could take some time, he decided, when he only had to look at her for his body to harden with renewed desire!

  ‘The sooner you leave…’ Dani encouraged, with a lightness she was far from feeling.

  The realisation that she had just made love with Niccolo still made her feel weak at the knees, and she was only just managing to hold down her nausea as she imagined the darkness of his rage if he should learn her identity tonight.

  But there was no reason why he should ever find out who she was—if Dani could just manage to get away before he returned…

  ‘Five minutes,’ he stated as he strode forcefully towards the door.

  Dani’s encouraging smile vanished as soon as Niccolo had gone.

  She had only minutes in which to dress and leave—to escape like one pursued!

  It couldn’t be done!

  It had to be done, Dani decided grimly as she quickly began to throw her clothes back on. Not the corset. She really didn’t have time for all those hooks just now—

  If she could just make it to the front door undetected she could make good her escape—would walk all the way back hom
e if she had to.

  Once there she didn’t ever have to open her door again.

  Never had to see Niccolo D’Alessandro ever again…

  CHAPTER THREE

  ‘DANI! I’ve been trying to contact you all day; where on earth are you?’ Eleni demanded late on Sunday evening, when Dani finally took the call on her mobile.

  Dani was well aware of the fact that Eleni had been trying to reach her all day—she had just chosen not answer any of her friend’s telephone calls until now.

  Mainly because she had no idea what to say to her. Or what Eleni was going to say. Surely that all depended on whether or not Eleni was aware of Dani’s…encounter with her brother the previous evening?

  ‘I’m at Wiverley Hall.’

  ‘What are you doing there?’ Eleni sounded puzzled.

  Good question!

  Hiding, seemed to pretty well answer it…

  Dani had come up with the idea of visiting her parents—of removing herself from London completely—as she’d tried to find a taxi after the masquerade to take her back into the city. She had realised that to stay at her apartment was unthinkable. Niccolo could come storming over at any moment demanding an explanation for her behaviour, once he discovered she had been the woman in the gold gown.

  Because it was inevitable that he would find out eventually. After all, Eleni knew exactly which of her female guests had been dressed in the gold gown and mask the previous evening, and Niccolo only had to ask her to find out the unwelcome truth.

  Of course there was always the possibility that Niccolo, having returned to the conservatory to find his mystery lady had flown, would be too angry or too proud to actually ask his sister who the woman in the gold gown had been. But as Dani recalled the intensity of the passion they had shared, along with Niccolo’s determination to spend the rest of the night with her, she knew it was very likely a remote hope.

  ‘Visiting my parents and grandfather, of course,’ she said with false lightness.

  ‘You left last night without saying goodbye,’ Eleni reproved.