Innocent in the Italian's Possession Read Online Free PDF Page B

thousands of euros every month on top of your salary?”
    She trembled the slightest bit, like a hare cornered by the wolf. “It was a loan.”
    “A loan,” he repeated, and she bobbed her head.
    It was a lie. He was sure of it. But he didn’t hold any hope that she’d divulge her secrets. Not yet anyway.
    “What are the terms of your loan?” he asked, forcing a lighter tone with her now.
    She blinked and her soft mouth parted slightly. Could it be she hadn’t thought that for every loan there was an agreement of repayment?
    She shifted uneasily on the chair and looked everywhere but at him. “It was interest free for the first nine months, so I’ve not actually made a payment. Cesare agreed that I could wait until the inn was making a modest profit.”
    This time it was his turn to frown, for his hasty investigation of her revealed she was the daughter of a fisherman from Cinque Terre. Her only family was a grandmother who lived in Manarolo, and a brother who had a weakness for gambling.
    He’d been unaware that she owned property, but the fact it was a business raised his suspicions.
    “What inn?” he asked, careful to keep his tone casual.
    “My family’s inn in Manarolo.” Her eyes blazed with such passion that his own anger cooled for a heartbeat. “It has been in my family for generations, passing from mother to daughter. Since my mamma died long ago, my nonna and I own it. But it was falling into disrepair. I’ve refurbished muchof it with the money Cesare loaned me. It is beginning to do quite well with tourists.”
    As well it should, since she’d likely poured a small fortune into the restoration of it. Money that was drained from his father’s business!
    “Your nine months are up,” he said. “Where is your contract so I may review the loan details?”
    “Cesare and I had a verbal agreement. He never got around to deciding on a monthly cost I could afford.”
    “Then I must remedy that for my father,” he said, and had the satisfaction of seeing a damning flush steal over her pale cheeks. “I’ll have Umberto draw up the papers. Can we agree on payment in full within three months with the first installment due the first of the month?”
    Her lush lips thinned and he saw a second’s uncertainty flicker in her eyes. “Yes, of course.”
    She agreed far too quickly. More than likely she’d been salting the excess money away. Possibly she’d invested it and could pay back the loan in due time.
    But there was the possibility she thought to disappear and then he’d be cheated of his vengeance.
    He couldn’t let that happen. He had to hold her to their agreement and he knew of only one thing she seemed to prize above everything.
    “For collateral, I’ll hold your half of the inn until the loan is repaid in full,” he said.
    “No!” The worry lines deepening on her brow proved she didn’t like that idea at all.
    “Do you have something else you can put up in its place? Something of similar value?”
    “No, nothing,” she said.
    “Then we have a deal?”
    “Yes,” she said, though it was more a hiss.
    Though Stefano Marinetti prided himself on being a passionate lover, he excelled at coming out on top in any business transaction he entered into.
    This was cold, hard business.
    Still, his fingers curled around hers, gauging the strength of the delicate bones and admiring the texture of her silken skin. If he was a brutal man, he could crush her hand as surely as he intended to crush her future with Marinetti.
    He lifted her hand to his mouth and dropped a kiss on the back of her smooth, small hand. Her gasp echoed in the stillness and vibrated over his skin in a featherlight caress. He felt her telltale tremble before she jerked her hand away, seeming as shaken by her reaction as he was.
    “You surprise me, Miss Cardone. I expected a more—” he paused to let his gaze touch the tense curve of her mouth, the too rapid rise and fall of her breasts, then back to her tempting mouth