of her throat. ‘Pretty tough. She died trying to protect a few birds that were going to end up getting shot anyway. Ironic when you think about it. And Dad never forgave himself. He was convinced it was his fault.’
And she had been left to pick up the pieces. She didn’t say as much, but as Vieri studied Harper’s proud silhouette in the dim light it was plain to see—the care and compassion, the responsibility, that sat so heavily on her slender shoulders. It was clear that she would do anything for her family, even if, as he strongly suspected, they didn’t appreciate her. He wondered if her father and sister had any idea how lucky they were to have her, to have a family at all, in fact. But if they were guilty of taking her for granted, where did that leave him? He was using her entirely for his own gain. It was an uncomfortable thought.
‘Anyway...’ she gave him a forced smile ‘...that’s enough talk about sad things for one night. What I’d really like to do is dance.’ She looked at him boldly. ‘With you, I mean.’
Vieri shook his head. ‘We’re not going back in there.’
‘Who said anything about going inside?’ Removing his jacket, she held it at arm’s length. ‘We can dance here, under the stars.’ The jacket was dropped theatrically to the ground.
‘Harper...’
‘Come on, it will be fun.’
Suddenly she was advancing towards him, holding out her arms invitingly. Too invitingly. The scarlet dress glowed in the dim light, the sheer fabric of the bodice pulling tight around the swell of her breasts as she closed the gap between them, positioning herself in front of him like a defiant temptress. It was a lethal combination and suddenly Vieri understood why red meant danger. A danger that increased tenfold as she slid her arms around his neck.
He managed to resist for all of two seconds. But then suddenly his arms were around her waist, and he was drawing her into his body, her bare flesh tantalisingly cold beneath his hot hands. They began to sway, Harper’s softly sensual body leaning into his as their feet moved beneath them to the barely audible strains of music coming from inside.
Vieri closed his eyes, just for a moment. This felt good. Too good. He was already guilty of using Harper; he could not let himself take advantage of her any further. But as his hands strayed lightly over the ruched fabric of that firm little behind it was so hard to hold back. His body was already defying him, reacting wildly to the feel of her luscious body against his, the scent of her hair, the small but erotic movement as she swayed in his arms. As the tightening in his groin intensified, with supreme effort Vieri forced himself to stop.
‘That’s enough.’ His words were harsher than he had intended, and he saw Harper’s eyes widen as he roughly moved to hold her at arm’s length. He meant to apologise but before he had the chance Harper had launched into an attack.
‘Okay, fine, I get the message.’ Smoothing down the fabric over her hips, she turned to glare at him. ‘Heaven forbid that we should actually start to enjoy ourselves.’
‘I think you have enjoyed yourself quite enough for one evening.’
‘And you haven’t, I suppose? Apart from when you took the time to glare at me, of course.’
‘I’m surprised you noticed. You seemed to be far too busy throwing yourself at every available man.’
‘Perhaps if you had paid me a bit more attention I wouldn’t have needed to throw myself at anyone.’ She drew in a sharp breath that pushed her breasts seductively upwards. ‘You were the one who said we needed to put on a convincing performance and yet within minutes of arriving you were swanning off with your gaggle of female admirers.’
‘I was merely engaging in the normal rules of social etiquette.’
‘Well perhaps you should have spent more time engaging with the person you are actually engaged to.’
‘I would have done, if I could have got a look in.’
‘You didn’t even try, Vieri.’
They glared at each other, childish hostility shimmering between them.
‘So that’s what all that unbecoming behaviour was about.’ Keeping his tone low, Vieri gestured towards the party inside. ‘You were trying to make me jealous.’
‘Ha!’ Harper gave a contemptuous laugh. ‘I’m sorry to disappoint you and your mountainous ego but my unbecoming behaviour was simply me having a good time. Enjoying the company of some civilised men.’
‘Civilised be damned.’ Vieri’s voice boomed around the courtyard. ‘I saw the way Hans looked at you and there was nothing civilised about that.’
‘Excuse me, you’re the one who just accused me of trying to make you jealous.’ Harper leapt on his words. ‘But it’s clear that you don’t need any help in that department. You are more than capable of turning all green-eyed monster without any help from me.’
‘Nonsense.’
‘And while we are on the subject, what was all that chest beating in front of Hans? All that, “Back off, Langenberg.”’ She mimicked Vieri’s voice, piling on a heavy Sicilian accent to perfectly capture his ill humour.
Vieri felt the blood fire through his veins. ‘That’s enough.’ Harper was in danger of seriously overstepping the line. ‘I’m taking you home.’
‘And supposing I don’t want to go. Supposing I want to stay and have some more fun.’
‘Trust me, Harper, you don’t get the choice. The fun is over.’ Striding over to pick up his jacket from the ground, Vieri pointedly gave it a shake before looping his finger through the label and tossing it over his shoulder. ‘We are leaving. Now!’
‘HERE, DRINK THIS.’ Vieri slid the cup of espresso coffee across the table towards her.
‘For the last time, I am not drunk.’ Harper angrily folded her arms across her chest, glaring at Vieri, who was seated on the sofa opposite her.
It was true. Maybe she had had one too many glasses of champagne at the ball—why else would she have been stupid enough to ask Vieri to dance with her? But the way he had rebuffed her, his surly silence in the car on the way back to the apartment and now his patronising refusal to believe anything she said had sobered her up nicely, thank you very much.
She probably should have gone straight to her room. That had been her intention as she had simmered beside him in the warm, purring darkness of the car. Even when they were back at the apartment, Vieri noisily making coffee, she had intended to show her defiance by sweeping past him and marching to her room, firmly closing the door behind her. But halfway there she had realised that that was actually more cowardly than agreeing to sit down and have a cup of coffee with him. That fleeing to her bedroom would send out the message that she was upset by what had happened between them. Which of course she was.
Asking him to dance had been a stupid idea; she should never have done it. But his display of possessiveness in front of Hans, and then the way he had asked about her family, the surprising tenderness in his expression, had emboldened her, made her drop her guard. Only
