protest, her breath catching on a wave of shocked pleasure.
His fingers pushed aside the flimsy lace cups of her bra, savouring breasts which Saffron knew were surprisingly voluptuous in view of the slenderness of her body, and now they seemed more voluptuous than ever, her nipples hardening against his palms as pleasure shuddered through her.
‘Nico…’ His name left her lips on a tortured breath.
‘I know,’ he agreed huskily. ‘Not here… but you make it very hard for me—very hard,’ he reiterated throatily as his lips moved provocatively against the aroused peak of her breast, stroking it lightly and then stopping as he felt the shudder she was powerless to control. Her face had gone paper-white with the strength of her emotions; the shock of experiencing such a stomach clenching intensity of pleasure. She wanted to tangle her fingers in his hair and hold him captive against her body, but shyness and inexperience held her aloof, and then Nico was on his feet, pulling her with him, straightening her tee-shirt and motioning her towards the car.
She hadn’t time to protest, and then, as she waited for him in the Mercedes, she realised that his hearing, more acute than hers, must have caught the approach of the battered Land Rover that came lumbering down the hill towards them.
It rolled to a halt and three people jumped out; two men and a girl, all dressed casually in a uniform of grubby jeans and sweat-shirts, and all of them carrying shoulder-hung machine-guns which were pointed in her direction.
Feeling as though she had suddenly strayed into a nightmare, Saffron watched helplessly as they advanced towards her. Behind her she heard Nico move, and a wave of relief swamped her to know that she wasn’t alone. She turned towards him, sobbing his name.
‘Get out of the car!’
It was the female member of the gang who issued the curt instructions, the heavily accented words just about penetrating the fog of terror engulfing Saffron.
‘Nico…’ She murmured his name as though it were an incantation against evil, helplessly appealing to him, her eyes widening in stunned disbelief as she saw his stony expression, and heard him say bleakly, ‘Do as she says, Saffron.’
‘But…’ Couldn’t he see that if she left the protection of the car she would be that much more vulnerable? The unkind laughter of the girl with the gun as she looked from Saffron’s pale, distressed face to Nico’s blank, frozen mask of rejection hurt as it grazed over Saffron’s jarred nerves.
‘Look at her!’ the girl taunted. ‘Even now she can’t believe it. You must have done an excellent job of persuading her to accept you, Nico. Even now she cannot see the truth. Little fool!’ she mocked Saffron, smiling evilly. ‘Nico is one of us. He will not help you.’
Saffron looked at the taut aloof mask of Nico’s face and knew sickeningly that it was true. He turned his head, cold grey eyes sweeping every vulnerable feature, and she knew with dreadful clarity that it had all been planned—every tiny last detail; every word; every caress, and she, like the fool she was, had fallen for it. And not just fallen for it, but woven stupidly sentimental dreams around him; deluded herself into believing that something rare and precious existed between them. Her head swam as she remembered how close she had come to giving herself to him. Thank God she had been spared that final humiliation! She pictured him and this bitter, olive-skinned girl with the hard brown eyes laughing over her lost virginity, her misplaced trust and adoration, and she reached blindly for the door handle, stumbling from the car in a daze. She stumbled on a sharp flinty stone, and would have fallen if Nico hadn’t grasped her arm, but she shook him away with a gesture of bitter loathing, masking the pain aching through her, using the agony of his deception to transmute pain into anger.
Her low, husky, ‘Don’t touch me,’ vibrated with horror and despair, and again the girl laughed mockingly. ‘Ah, Nico,’ she said contemptuously, ‘you have spoiled all her pretty dreams. She thought you wanted her for herself, but in reality all you wanted was her father’s money. How quickly do you think he will pay the ransom?’ she continued. ‘He had better not take too long, Rome badly need funds if we are to buy the equipment we need to…’
She broke off, gasping with mingled anger and pain as Nico left Saffron’s side to grasp her wrist, swinging her round to face him as he said in a cold, even voice, ‘Guard you tongue, Olivia!’ His warning glance encompassed both her and Saffron, and Saffron felt her blood turn to ice water in her veins as Olivia tossed her head and remarked callously, ‘What for? There are ways of making sure your little friend never gets to repeat anything she overhears, or have you lost your dedication to our cause, my friend? This is the second day we have made a rendezvous here.’
Nico’s shrugged, ‘I was delayed,’ obviously didn’t please her, and her thick dark eyebrows snapped together in a frown, her voice dangerous as she looked at Saffron. ‘By that?’ she demanded angrily. ‘Nico…’
‘I was delayed in Rome,’ Nico elaborated, his face tightening as he rounded on her, saying softly, ‘Try to remember that I am in charge here, Olivia, and that it is not for you to question my actions. Now, get the girl into the Land Rover, we have already spent too long here.’
‘Come.’ The muzzle of the machine-gun rested in the vee of Saffron’s tee-shirt. ‘Pretty but soft,’ Olivia commented, lips drawn back over sharp small teeth. ‘Look how she shakes! This gun is very sensitive,’ she told Saffron. ‘The trembling of your body is enough to…’
‘She is no use to us dead, Olivia,’ Nico pointed out with deadly calm. He had changed so much Saffron barely recognised him. Gone was the indolence, the warm smile and easy charm, and in its place was a forbidding menace that struck a chill right through her bones. His features might have been cast in bronze, every movement weighed, every thought calculated.
‘Not dead, perhaps,’ Olivia agreed, gloating over Saffron’s pale face, ‘but her papa will still pay well for his daughter, even if we mutilate her a little. You did well to choose her, Nico, let us just hope for her sake that her father cares as much for her as you say. We have read about you in the papers, Saffron Wykeham,’ she told Saffron, ‘of your affairs and your father’s money. We heard you were coming to Italy and laid our plans carefully. Nico told us it would not be hard for him to gain your trust; you have a weakness for handsome men.’
‘Stop wasting time, Olivia,’ Nico instructed. ‘Get her back to the farm. I have to take the Mercedes back, and send the telex off to her father. We should see results pretty quickly. Now remember, when you get up to the farm everything should appear normal. It’s bound to be checked out.’
‘When will you be back?’
Saffron saw his eyebrows rise at the aggression in Olivia’s possessive question.
‘I don’t know. It all depends how long it takes.’
‘And her?’ Olivia demanded, jerking her gun in Saffron’s direction.
‘Just stick to the plan,’ Nico told her. ‘No rough stuff, there’s no point…’
‘Because you don’t want anything to spoil her soft skin?’
Suddenly Saffron realised that Olivia was jealous of her. What was the other girl’s relationship with Nico? Were they lovers? The twisting pain in her stomach stunned her. Surely the knowledge of his deceit should have killed for ever whatever she had felt for Nico. It had done so, she assured herself fiercely; the pain she felt was the result of her shock.
‘Her skin is of no interest
