Renaissance Man Read Online Free PDF

knowing Battista, I figured you
    probably had a whole court of unimportant men hovering around. And I was right about that“ He didn’t look pleased
    at the notion.
    Alina suddenly grinned, finding his displeasure enormously amusing. „A whole court of unimportant men hovering
    about is exactly the way I like it!“
    He glanced at her sharply. „Because it’s safer that way?“ he hazarded.
    „Because if s much more pleasant than making one man important and having him disillusion you!“ she snapped
    back.
    He looked straight at her. „I know what it means to be disillusioned. You’re not alone. Why do you think it took me
    three months to work up the nerve to come and get you?“
    „What are you talking about?“
    „I was terrified that when I finally came for you, I’d find I’d been wrong in everything I’d learned from those
    letters,“ he said as if confessing a grave weakness in himself. „I was afraid you might turn out to be cold or
    passionately in love with someone else or cruel in the ways only a woman can be cruel.“ He saw her staring at him in
    blank astonishment and shook his head wryly. „I mean, I knew everything would be all right Intellectually and, for the
    most part, emotionally, I was sure of what I would find. But some small part of me was still a little afraid. Don’t you
    understand?“
    „No!“ Alina yelped, appalled. She rose to her feet in a restless movement, and almost instantly he was standing in
    front of her. „I do not understand any of this! You show up at my door and get yourself inside by trickery…!“
    „A slight misunderstanding on your part,“ he soothed.
    She ignored him. „And then you tell me you know about that business with the microfilm. Then you start sounding
    as if you’d followed me halfway around the world….“
    „Instead of just from Palm Springs?“
    „What little humor there ever was in this bizarre situation is gone. I’ll thank you to stop teasing me. I don’t know
    what you’re after unless you’re somehow trying to get that microfilm from me! And I can tell you right now, I’m not
    going to give it up until I’ve learned all I can from it I’m going to prove once and for all what finally happened between
    Francesco and Battista!“
    „I’m not after the film,“ he interrupted gruffly, his hands coming out to close over the thin silk on her shoulders.
    „I'm after you, can’t you get that through your head? I want you, Alina Corey. I’ve spent three months learning to
    want you, and I’m here tonight because I couldn’t resist you any longer. When you opened the door to me this
    evening, it was like having one’s private fantasy come to life!“
    „I’m not Battista!“
    „I’m not Francesco!“
    „I’m not so sure about that!“ Alina stormed.
    She was about to say more, much more, but suddenly it was too late. The strong hands on her shoulders tightened
    implacably, and she was hauled against the taut, waiting length of him.
    „Oh!“ Her mouth opened on the small cry of surprise and protest His lips came down on hers, swallowing the tiny
    sound and going on to plunder further.
    Stricken with the unexpected impact of the hungry, literally ravishing embrace, Alina stood utterly still, her
    fingertips braced against the dark fabric of his jacket It had all happened too fast, she realized dimly. He had gone from
    the verbal argument to the physical one before she had fully realized the depths of her danger.
    The force of his desire came at her in waves. The hunger in his kiss was like that of a wild creature which has been
    pent up far too long. The fundamental need in him poured over her as he explored the warmth of her stunned mouth.
    She almost flinched as the tip of his tongue flicked along her lower lip in sharp, urgent little movements. Then it
    moved further, seeking out her own tongue and drawing it forth into a sensual, intimate battle.
    She reacted because there was no option, she told herself. Against such