by a fierce possessiveness, a need to claim her in front of Danny. Especially Danny.
That wasn’t the only reason he had kissed her though. There had been something deeply primitive about his compelling need to put his mouth on Sienna’s. It had been the same the first time he’d met her ten years ago. He had taken one look at her and known that he had to have her. He’d kissed her within the hour and slept with her three days later.
He knew every gorgeous dip and curve of her body; the little mole on her inner thigh that he’d always kissed before spreading her legs wide so that he could flick his tongue over the tight nub of her femininity until she writhed and begged him to possess her. Not that he’d needed any persuasion. Sex with Sienna had been wilder and hotter than with any other woman—a theory Nico had put to the test many times since his divorce.
He’d told himself that it couldn’t have been as good as he remembered. But when he had kissed her in the church a little while ago, their chemistry had been combustible. The soft gasp she’d made as she’d parted her lips beneath his had decimated his self-control and for a few moments he had forgotten that they had an audience of his brother and grandmother.
Now though they were alone, and as he watched Sienna’s tongue dart out and slide over her slightly swollen lower lip a carnal hunger tore through Nico. ‘Of course you want me to kiss you again, cara,’ he drawled. ‘I can read the signs.’ He lifted his hand to the front of her dress and traced the outline of one pointed nipple, wildfire coursing through him when she drew an audible breath. But she made no attempt to move away and her pupils had dilated so that her eyes were inky pools edged with silvery grey.
‘This is crazy,’ she whispered. ‘I did not have an ulterior motive for coming to your room. I wasn’t even aware that this is your room.’ She lifted her chin and said in a firmer voice, ‘I don’t care what you think, Nico. I’m not the besotted teenage bride who was in awe of you. I’ve changed.’
‘But this hasn’t changed,’ he said roughly, threading his fingers into her hair so that he could tug her even closer and angling her head. Her breasts rose and fell jerkily and her lips parted in readiness for him to claim her mouth. The sexual chemistry between them was tangible and his nostrils flared as he dragged oxygen into his lungs. But as he lowered his face to hers, she put her hand on his chest to stop him.
‘What about your grandmother?’ Sienna drew a shuddering breath, as if she was struggling for control as much as he was. ‘She needs her angina medicine.’
‘Like I said, I saw Iris just before I came upstairs. She was on her second glass of sherry and regaling the new vicar with lurid tales of her youth.’ Nico exhaled heavily, aware of the dull throb of unfulfilled lust in his groin. ‘But regrettably this will have to wait until later. We need to get down to the marquee in the garden for the wedding dinner, and I have various duties to perform as best man.’
He dropped his hands down to his sides but could not bring himself to move away from her. His senses were inflamed by her perfume and the sharp, sweet scent of desire—hers, his—was thick in the air.
She shook her head and walked over to the bed to pick up her hat. ‘There won’t be a “later”, Nico. If I hadn’t gone to the church we would never have met again.’ She flashed him a cool smile, but something like sadness chased across her face and her grey eyes were as haunting and mysterious as the mist that sometimes came down over the moors. ‘We have led separate lives for eight years. We’re strangers, and I’m not going to sit through your brother’s wedding reception and pretend that we are friends.’
Sienna disappeared through the door with a swirl of yellow silk, leaving Nico faintly stunned when he realised that she was leaving him—again.
A memory flashed into his mind of when he had watched her walk out of the gates of Sethbury Hall eight years ago. She had carried a small suitcase containing the few chain-store clothes that were all she’d owned when she had married him. He had found all the designer dresses that he’d bought her hanging in the wardrobe, and she had also left behind the jewellery he’d given her, including her wedding ring.
As he’d watched her slender figure march down the driveway, her back ramrod straight, he had told himself he was glad she was leaving. Lying bitch. Her accusation that he had been unfaithful was all the more galling because he knew the truth about her. She was the cheat, the one who had kept secrets. Dio, he had trusted her, but after what his brother had told him, Nico had vowed that he would never again believe a word Sienna said.
His jaw clenched. He had never revealed to Sienna that he knew she had slept with his brother first, before him. Danny had admitted it when Nico had confided two years after his wedding that the marriage was in trouble. When Sienna had suffered a late miscarriage she had been advised to wait a few months before trying to conceive again. Nico hadn’t told Danny or anyone else that after he and Sienna had tried unsuccessfully for a year to have another baby, he had done a home test, which showed he had a low sperm count.
Danny’s confession had eaten away at Nico, and the suspicion that Sienna had been pregnant with his brother’s child when he’d married her had festered like something rank and rotten in his soul. Sienna’s accusation that he was having an affair with his PA had been the final straw. Her hypocrisy had infuriated him and divorce had been a way out of a marriage based on lies. He had set her free so that she could meet someone else who would give her a child—which he was unable to do.
He pulled his mind away from the past when he heard the click of her heels on the marble stairs and pictured her in her sexy, yellow silk dress. Ten years ago she had been a pretty teenage bride with no idea of her potential to be a stunning beauty in the future. The grown-up Sienna had exceeded all his expectations, he brooded. She was a ravishing, sensual siren and ever since he had caught sight of her in the church, desire had pulsed hot and urgent in his blood.
The sensible thing to do would be to let her walk out of his life as he had done once before. But he had never been able to forget her, and seeing her again had evoked an unexpected sense of regret that he had lost her. At the very least, he was curious to know why she had turned up in Much Matcham having read in the paper that he was getting married. Her excuse that Iris had told her grandmother Rose it was Danny’s wedding was patently another lie.
Immediately after the divorce he had hated her, but now he was merely indifferent to Sienna’s wiles, Nico assured himself. He grimaced as the ache in his groin reminded him that his body was not as uninvolved as he’d like. But he wasn’t a young man at the mercy of his hormones any more. He was older, hopefully wiser, and he had learned not to mistake lust for a deeper emotion. Undoubtedly he could handle his inconvenient attraction to his ex-wife.
‘Nonna will be disappointed if you leave,’ he called after her as he strode onto the landing and leaned over the banister rail. ‘Especially as she clearly went to some lengths to make sure you came back to the house for the reception.’
Sienna paused on her way down the stairs and looked up at him. ‘Emotional blackmail won’t work with me. You allowed Iris to think there is something going on between us but you’ll have to tell her the truth.’
‘Oh, I’m all for the truth, cara,’ he murmured, walking swiftly down the stairs to join her on the half-landing. ‘And the truth is we both still feel the wildfire attraction that burned between us a decade ago.’ He felt a tremor run through her and saw hunger in her eyes before her lashes swept down and concealed her thoughts. Triumph surged through Nico, threatening the self-control he had been so confident would not waver.
‘I had only left school a month before we met. What chance did I stand?’ she demanded in a bitter voice. ‘You were
