muffled in the thick silence of the night.
He stared down at her with sudden pain in his eyes.
Abruptly he released her wrists and rose to his feet.
“As you wish, cara mia,” he said, sounding almost bored. “Stay here if you wish. I am returning to my hotel.”
Thank you, thank you, thank you, she thought fervently. She scrambled to her feet, turning on her heel, ready to run.
“After all,” he mused behind her, “I want to make sure your baby is sleeping comfortably. And she hasn’t lost that little purple hippo she carries everywhere.”
Her heart stopped in her chest.
Wide-eyed with fear, she whirled back to face him. “What?”
He looked at her with cool disdain. “Oh, did I not tell you? My men picked up your daughter an hour ago.”
CHAPTER THREE
“YOU aren’t going to get away with this,” Lucy ground out for the tenth time as he drove them into downtown Chicago.
Unmoved, Maximo parked his sleek black Mercedes beneath the grand marquee of the Drake Hotel. “You have no idea what I can get away with.”
Furious, she ripped off her blue cashier’s smock, balling it up in her hands and tossing it to the floor. “I don’t know what the laws are like in Italy, but in Chicago, you can’t just kidnap someone—”
“There are laws against kidnapping in Italy, as well.” He abruptly stopped the car. “They do not apply in this case. I did not kidnap your daughter.”
“What do you call it then?”
“I knew you would accept my offer. I simply expedited our departure.”
Leaving the engine idling, he undid his seat belt and stepped out of the black SUV. Her eyes widened as she saw him carelessly hand a hundred-dollar bill to the waiting valet.
“Thank you, your highness,” the young man breathed, and hurried to open the passenger-side door for Lucy. She nearly tripped over her own feet running after Maximo. With his long stride, he was already to the main door.
“Welcome back, your highness.” The brawny doorman touched his cap with deep respect. “Happy New Year to you, sir.”
“Grazie,” Maximo replied with a brief smile. “To you, as well.”
Just inside the revolving door, Lucy caught up with him on the wide flight of stairs leading up to the lobby. She grabbed his arm. “You have them all fooled, don’t you?” she snapped. “Some prince. They think you’re respectable—honorable—but I know the truth. You’re nothing but a…”
He looked at her hand, then back up. His blue eyes were icier than Lake Michigan in winter. “I’m what?”
Fury pounded through her, making her reckless. “A thief. A blackmailer. A kidnapper of children—”
He grabbed her shoulders. She felt the strength of his touch. He looked down, towering over her. His handsome face was as cold and hard as ever; there was something new beneath his eyes—something ferocious and angry, held back by the sheerest force of will.
Looking up into his face, she was suddenly afraid.
His voice was low. “Be careful how you provoke me.”
She swallowed, remembering his earlier promise to punish her like a woman deserved. “I’m not scared of you,” she lied. “And if you think taking me to your hotel room—forcing me into bed—will hurt Alexander, you’re dead wrong.”
He abruptly released her.
“I’ve never forced any woman into my bed,” he said coolly. His eyes traced her face, then up and down the length of her body. “If I ever decide I want you, cara, you’ll come to me willingly.”
The colossal arrogance of the man! A hot flush suffused her cheeks. “How dare you—”
“Fortunately you are not my type,” he said. “You are far too plain, too badly dressed, too young—”
“Oh,” she gasped, humiliated to the core.
“You are not a woman to me,” he said coldly. “You are a weapon.”
A weapon? She sucked in her breath. “What do you intend to do to Alex?”
“Why do you care? Unless you’re still in love with him.”
She shook her head. “Of course not! But he’s my baby’s father!”
“Don’t worry.” His lip curled into a sneer. “He will merely be forced to admit that he has a daughter. Surely you have no objection to that?”
Alex had been keeping Chloe a secret? “No,” she muttered. “I’ve no objection.”
“And he will lose his bid for a company. Someone else—someone you don’t know—will also lose.”
“How many enemies do you have, anyway?” Lucy demanded, then shook her head. “Hundreds. Thousands. Everyone who’s ever met you, I imagine! I don’t care. Just take me to my daughter. If you’ve hurt or frightened her, I swear I’ll—”
“I would never hurt a child, signorina. Just as I would never hurt a woman.” His lip curled as he added under his breath, “Although you tempt me.”
She followed him up the steps to the elegant 1920s-style lobby. The soaring ceiling sparkled with enormous chandeliers. Beneath them, wealthy revelers crowded together, some wearing diamonds and fur coats, celebrating the advent of the new year with a half-drunken chorus of “Auld Lang Syne.”
Maximo led her past the well-heeled guests to the golden elevators behind the lobby. When they were alone behind the closed doors, he hit the button for the tenth floor.
Lucy repeated in a low voice, “I don’t even know you. So I don’t understand why you’ve done this. Kidnapped my daughter. Gotten me fired. Turned my life upside down—”
He turned to face her. “Don’t you want to be rich, Lucia?” he demanded. “To buy clothes, cars, jewelry? Don’t you wish to spend time with your daughter and buy her everything her heart desires?”
She stared at him, heart pounding in her chest. “Are you crazy? Of course I do! But strangers don’t just fall out of the sky and offer money. I’m trying to figure out your angle!”
“No angle. I’m offering a lifetime of wealth and luxury for you and your daughter. And the chance to repay the man who abandoned you both.”
“But there’s a catch,” she said.
“What makes you so sure?”
“There’s always a catch.”
“Perhaps.” He looked at her.
