Desire Has No Mercy Read Online Free PDF

leaned towards her, his nostrils tensing. 'You smell of lilacs,' he murmured. 'You look as if you'd been dipped in crystal like one of those classic figurines, all shining and worth a pretty penny.'
    'And that pleases you, doesn't it, Rome? I now belong to you and anything you possess has to be distinctive and worth its price.' Her voice matched her outward look of cool poise, but in her mind, and her body, she was remembering how he had swept her up in his arms as if she were weightless and how warm his skin had felt when he pressed her to his brown flesh hardened by the Italian sun. Rome was flesh and blood all the way through!
    'Are you very rich?' she asked. 'Have you made heaps of dollars out of those fools who gamble at your tables? I expect you have, you're that sort of man. But something puzzles me, Rome. I thought gambling was controlled by the Godfathers, those dark men from Sicily who lay down the laws where gaming is concerned—and other activities of a sinful nature.'
    'You're asking if I'm a member of the Brotherhood?' He looked at her in silence a moment, and then softly laughed. 'It's always the assumption, isn't it,
carina
? But as it happens life takes odd twists and turns. I told you, didn't I, that my father died as a direct result of defending a young man in prison. That young man eventually became one of the Dons of great power and he is a friend of mine, but he isn't in any way my boss. I run my own casino in Naples because of his friendship, but I run it regardless of the Brotherhood, who would never dare touch me because of Vitale's regard for me. It is in human nature to gamble… just as it's in the nature of the human race to eat and drink… to love and hate. I run a good establishment. No one gets really hurt.'
    'No one?' she murmured. 'You can say that to my face?'
    He swept his grey eyes over her, taking in the suit that was slightly open to reveal the silk-chiffon of her blouse, on its lapel a single orchid pinned with a little tiger whose eyes shimmered green as her own. 'If I hurt you, baby, it doesn't show.'
    'I have feelings,' she rejoined. 'I suppose you think be-cause you're good-looking and well-bathed, what you did to me bears no relationship to the back alley variety of assault? I had little defence against you. You're as strong as an ox!'
    'My first compliment from my bride,' he mocked. 'I'll treasure it.'
    'I'd tell you to go to the devil, Rome, only I know you're there already.' She smiled sweetly as she said it and in reply he raised his champagne glass to her.
    'Do you think we'll always be as happy as we are right now, Julia?'
    'Always?' she echoed, and as he continued to look at her, she felt goose bumps rising on her skin, especially her arms and the base of her spine, tingling cold and yet hot as if dry ice had been dropped down the back of her blouse.
    'Always is a long time, Rome, if you're getting ideas just because of that ceremony yesterday morning. Why was it in church? You aren't a religious man, you take too many gambles.'
    'It would have pleased my mother. She wanted me to marry so she could be a grandmother. Italian people like the solid continuation of the family; they enjoy seeing children around the house, hearing their laughter and seeing in their faces the family likeness. It makes death seem but a door through which to step, with part of you still alive. She would have been pleased about the child.'
    'Is that why you married me?' Julia asked quietly. 'It is only the child you want, isn't it? I—I need to know.'
    'Of course I want my child.' His lashes seemed to darken his eyes, the lowering of his lids giving him both a sinister and a sensual look. 'I've already made that perfectly plain, have I not, Julia?'
    'So long as I know, Rome. I don't want to stay married to you for longer than is necessary.'
    'The child will be as much yours as mine, Julia. You may love it regardless of me.'
    'I could never love any part of you,' she said scornfully. 'The kind of men