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When it turns out Dante wasn't her sister's lover, Alicia has to make amends, and Dante wants more than a mere apology. He wants Alicia. She's whisked into his glamorous world. But despite the sizzling chemistry between them, Alicia knows she must leave—because she's falling for a man who despises her….
Alicia Parker was still stunned into immobility by the sheer audacity of her actions, which had stopped this man in his tracks. She looked up into a face so savagely handsome that the breath left her body. All her poor muddled, overtired and overwrought brain could formulate were impressions. Tall. Broad. Dark. Gorgeous. Sexy. Powerful. Sexy. Powerful.
Eyes as cold and dark as the night stared down with uncompromising arrogance and supreme assurance that she—and her preposterous accusation—were so far removed from his gilded life that she must be certifiably mad to accost him like this. His look could have turned her to ice…and yet, awfully, Alicia didn't feel cold. She felt hot. All over.
And as she watched, struck dumb by any number of things, the very least of which was his overwhelming presence, Dante D'Aquanni calmly and disdainfully extricated the expensive cloth of his suit from her white knuckle grip, flicked a glance to his minions nearby and strode off and out of the mammoth building which housed his offices in London.
He was gone, as if spirited away, without a backward glance at the petite, dishevelled woman who stood gaping at his departing back. Who'd had only the briefest of chances to get out a few words, her attempt to make him listen having failed abysmally.
Within seconds Alicia was surrounded by great hulking security guards and, without knowing exactly how, she found herself outside in the teeming rain and what had just happened seemed like a blur…or a bad dream…
Alicia's soft mouth tightened into a grim line. Unfortunately, that day a week ago hadn't been a bad dream. It was a stark reality and the reason why she was now seated in a tiny rental car across the road from an exclusively opulent hotel near the shores of Lake Como in Italy. She even had the remnants of a cold as a result of getting soaked to the skin that day. Dante D'Aquanni had refused to hear her out then, but he wouldn't— couldn't—refuse to listen to her here…
The sun had set some hours ago, but the sky was still a dark, bruised violet colour. That magical moment when day teetered into night had come and gone, its beauty unnoticed. And, across the road, the hotel quite literally glittered with luxuriousness, adding to this heightened sense of beauty.
Alicia was terrified. She was trying not to be bowled over by it. Trying not to let the pristine streets intimidate her, the unmistakable handsome foreigness of the smartly dressed people coming in and out of the hotel. But still not him…yet. This was a million miles away from anywhere she'd ever been, or anywhere she was ever likely to be. She closed her eyes for a second; they were gritty with tiredness, every limb ached with exhaustion. She knew she wasn't far from collapse, but didn't have the luxury of time to sleep, to catch her breath. She was existing in a haze, anger at his recent curt dismissal and sheer nerves keeping her going.
This was the only solution, and the only way she was going to get to see him, to force him to admit his responsibility. To admit to fathering her sister's unborn child. A sudden image of Melanie's small, pale face against the hospital bed linen made Alicia's breath stop painfully. She closed her eyes but the image got stronger and she could see with alarming vividness, the scary profusion of tubes and wires that had snaked around her too thin body with its small bump. Alicia felt tears threaten; if anything happened to her… She couldn't let it. Her eyes snapped open. She needed money now for Melanie's treatment and Dante D'Aquanni would be made to accept the part he'd played in this chain of events. Would be made to pay. He was their only option. Alicia was desperate.
Her sister had been involved in a horrific car crash while on her way to see this very man and somehow, miraculously, she and her baby had survived. But she had suffered a fractured pelvis, among other more minor internal injuries. With the complication of being pregnant, the result was that they desperately needed to get Melanie into the care of a consultant who had expert experience with pregnancies which had suffered trauma. He was based in central London and Alicia knew well that this kind of care came privately and with a hefty price tag.
With no other close family and no friends who had anything approaching that kind of money to call upon, it had left her no choice but to take this course of action. The ward sister, an old friend of Alicia's from her nursing training days, had assured her that Melanie was stable and could be left for a short time. That assurance had led her to feel confident enough to make this drastic, desperate step, along with the promise that she would be notified the minute that any change occurred in Mel's condition.
She looked quickly at the hotel's intricately carved doors again, afraid that she might have missed him. Nothing. She'd followed him earlier from his villa on the shores of the lake to the hotel, where he had met a stunning brunette on the steps. She could only imagine what they would be doing now and wondered if Dante D'Aquanni would be taking her back to his villa or entertaining her in an opulent suite inside. Alicia worried her lower lip. She prayed that he wouldn't bring her back— Alicia needed him on his own.
Something caught the corner of her eye and she looked across the road again. A valet was bringing a low-slung, gleaming silver car to a halt outside the door, which was opening. Her eyes widened in apprehension—his car. And then he appeared. Mere feet away. Coming out of the hotel in a black tuxedo, the bow-tie undone at his neck. Certainly looking more dishevelled than when he'd gone in. The beautiful brunette accompanied him down the steps in a glittering silver sheath of a dress, also looking sexily tousled, long, dark lustrous hair around her shoulders. She looked thoroughly bedded.
Alicia wanted to feel revolted, but as she watched the woman twine sinuous arms around his neck and press close, all she did feel was a tingling awareness and something much more disturbing. She felt bewildered for a moment by the confusing emotion. The man's overpoweringly good looks and charisma, which she could remember like a brand from the previous week reached out to her from across the road.
Like any protective, loving older sister, she believed Melanie was beautiful and that everyone else loved her too… but Alicia knew well that she and her sister were not the type of women to turn this man's head. He was out of their league, on a level that hadn't even been invented yet. A grim hardness settled in her chest… That was exactly why he had discarded Melanie with such callous ruthlessness.
The valet had opened the driver's door of the open-top sports car. Dante D'Aquanni extricated himself from the woman and, with a brief kiss on her cheek, strode down the steps and to his car. After discreetly giving a tip to the valet, he slid into the driver's seat and, with a muted roar of the throttle, sped off.
The woman stood on the steps looking after the car, a look of comic chagrin on her beautiful face before she flounced back up the steps and disappeared, no doubt back to the suite from where they'd just emerged. It was only then that Alicia came to, shaken out of the crazy reverie that seemed to have taken hold. Hands shaking, she turned the key in the ignition and pulled out of her parking space. What was wrong with her? She needed all her concentration just to navigate in the unfamiliar car.
She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw red traffic lights ahead and the familiar lines of the powerful sports car. The light went green and he pulled off again.
She pictured all too easily the supreme nonchalance of his movements as he had come down the steps of the hotel just moments before. The way he'd coolly discarded the woman. It seemed to mock her now. This man didn't have a care in the world. So utterly confident that he could wreak havoc, walk away and believe himself to be protected.
Her phone rang shrilly on the seat beside her and she picked it up, listening for a second before saying briefly, 'Just follow me, I'll show you where we can get in.' She looked back and, sure enough, another car was not far behind. She cursed herself; she'd almost forgotten about the others. She couldn't let this man scramble her thoughts.
Fear gripped her at what she was about to do but she willed it down. She couldn't lose her bottle now. Not when she'd come so far. Not when she'd gone to so much trouble to find out where he was going on holiday, any one of his palatial homes being a possibility.
The road beside Lake Como at any other time might have been a magical route, but she couldn't enjoy the scenery, the way the rising moon was bathing everything in a dark, inky-blue light. All she could focus on were the car lights ahead of her.
She knew that the back of his villa faced on to the shores of the Lake, of which he had an unimpeded view. And that apparently one of his favourite times was dusk: he would watch the lights twinkle and come on across the still waters from his terrace, which was covered with antique drapes. Or at least that was the picture of the man that the gushing article had painted. Idyllic. A man who could have anything he desired at the click of his fingers. Alicia knew all about the exclusivity of the Lake Como villas. They were never advertised for sale, it was all word of mouth, buyers carefully vetted. And prices invariably soared into the high millions.
But then, for a multi-billionaire who controlled the largest, most successful construction company in the world, who would expect anything less? Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. She didn't imagine that he would have the callused hands of his workers.
His lights disappeared and Alicia...
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Smokin Hot Italian Meets Fearless English Beauty !,
By
This review is from: The Mediterranean Billionaire's Blackmail Bar (Harlequin Presents) (Mass Market Paperback)
I absolutely loved this book it's definitely signature Abby Green's style at her best. Alicia Parker and Dante D'Aquanni is the Napoleon and his Waterloo of harlequin presents romance. Alicia all five feet of her was a force to be reckoned with, she was a fighter and protected those she loved fearlessly. I loved the fact that she was a woman who had seen the world in some of its cruelest forms but still was able to be optimistic and humble, most of all she did not let Dante's rich and powerful and at times cynical and cruel self cower her.
Dante was the type of character that at first glance I thought was going to be a cardboard cut out alpha-male, and at times he was, but Alicia was able to knock him down to size and get under his thick skin, and during those moments I was able to see why he was the way he was, but also that he had depth. It was also refreshing to see that neither hero/heroine was neither saint nor sinner to the extreme, no the author was able to humanize them and make them appeal to the reader which gave the story fullness. Alicia was so strong and feisty and maybe I'm a bit prejudice, but being only a bit over five feet tall myself made me cheer for her even more. I even liked the supporting characters Melanie (Alicia's sister) and Paolo (Dante's brother) I found myself rooting for their happy ending as well. I also liked the characters Derek and Patricia O'Brien they were really full bodied and added to the story and gave you more insight into the main characters, I didn't fill as though they were put there for filler sake. This story had a plot that made you keep reading and the characters main and supporting all had texture and depth. It all came together beautifully! Oh and for you die-hard Abby Green fans did anyone notice that she brought back Xavier Salgado-Lezille from her book "Chosen as the Frenchman's Bride" to make a brief cameo appearance! I recommend this book as a good weekend read. Happy Reading All!
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
I like this author, so this pains me,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Mediterranean Billionaire's Blackmail Bargain (Harlequin Presents) (Kindle Edition)
I'm glad THE MEDITERRANEAN BILLIONAIRE'S BLACKMAIL BARGAIN wasn't my first Abby Green book, because it probably would have been the last. As usual, Green produces a well-written story with great chemistry, but I never liked either of the two main characters. The hero was too "tortured" for too long, and I don't understand how the heroine fell in love with him since he treated her so poorly throughout the book.
Maybe I was prejudiced from the start. With very flimsy evidence, the heroine mistakenly believes the hero got her sister pregnant, and hies off to another country to break onto the hero's property with some reporters to force the hero to publicly acknowledge his responsibility because she believes he's shirking his duty. (I guess she's never heard of establishing paternity via family law.) And she never grew on me because she falls in love with the hero even though he is NEVER nice to her. Oh, he spends money on her, but he is guarded and abusive almost the entire book. And she just takes and takes it. Then there's the tortured hero. He was once the victim of a con artist who pretended to be in love with him. So he spends the entire book faced with mounting evidence that the heroine is an uber-decent person (she's still healing from injuries obtained while nursing with an aid organization in a war zone in Africa for Pete's sake!), and repeatedly thinking and saying things like, "You might try to pretend to others that you didn't leave your bleeding heart behind in Africa, but you won't fool me." He's even horrified at the end of the book when she tells him she loves him until, suddenly, he's no longer tortured and he's okay with everything. The problem here for me is that HARLEQUIN PRESENTS are just too short to heal the psyche of someone who is so damaged in a satisfying way. And here's something I haven't read in a recently-published romance in a while: the quasi-rape scene couched as forceful "seduction." Check out my favorite line from this scene: "Without force, he merely twisted one arm back behind her ..." I actually laughed out loud when I read that. Since when can you twist someone's arm behind her back without force? It's like the editor knew it was a rape scene and lazily tried to turn it into a love scene by adding the phrase "without force". Well, here's a tip. The only way to turn this scene into anything resembling intimacy and romance would be to delete it and start over. It's been a couple of weeks since I finished this book. I didn't want to pan it because I have enjoyed other Abby Green books, but I couldn't get it out of my head. I also started out wanting to give this book at least two stars because she's good with a story. But after writing this review, I'm disgusted anew, and I'm giving it what I think it deserves. Abusive hero + doormat heroine + quasi-rape scene = one star. I feel like I should apologize, but there you have it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Emotional and Sensual,
By Marilyn Shoemaker (Seattle, Washington) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Mediterranean Billionaire's Blackmail Bar (Harlequin Presents) (Mass Market Paperback)
England, Italy, and Cape Town are all places you will visit along with reading Dante and Alicia's sensual journey as only Abby Green can pen. It's an explosive story of revenge, full of tension and passion..
Dante D'Aquanni is not only a successful and powerful businessman, he's one hot Italian who has learned the hard way from growing up on the streets of Naples. He's a self made billionaire who raised his brother while building his wealth. Now he's faced with a woman who has hurled accusations not once but twice and now in front of the press at his Lake Como Villa. She has accused him of being the father of her sister's baby and he's going to put an end to it and her as he suspects she and her sister to be gold diggers. The beautiful Alicia Parker has recently returned home from Africa with little money a broken spirit and a secret. On top of this, she has learned her sister has been in a serious accident which she and her unborn baby have critical injuries and need long term care if she is to carry to term. When she tries to find out the identify of the baby's father she misunderstands her sister and believes it to be Dante. She has always taken care of her of her younger sibling since they were orphaned and whatever it takes by whatever means she will make him pay and stand up to his responsibilities. Dante is in the middle of an important deal which will put his company and it's investors well over the top and place them as the most successful construction organization the in the world. He can't afford any scandal or publicity. He knows several things.....he can't mess up the deal, and he must keep an eye on Alicia and keep her close, and keep her sister and the baby a secret. However, the most important fact is there is something about her that calls out to him and he must have her even though he mistrusts her. In fact he doesn't trust any female due to a past experience and he certainly will never marry. Alicia realizes she has made a mistake by accusing Dante falsely of being the father of her sisters baby when in fact is was his brother. He uses this to blackmail her into staying with him during the business negotiations. In return, he agrees to assist financially with her sister's and baby's care. She also knows deep down inside this man has the capability of hurting her emotionally due to their attraction for each other. After just one kiss and later when they take their relationship further, she knows he can destroy her. For the past year she has cut herself off from emotion and yet this man can bring her to tears. Leaving would be the easiest solution but she keeps coming back for more. What I would warn the reader is "read at your own risk" because you will be in tears and filled with emotion each time Dante uses cynical and harsh words or when he's abrupt with her out of his own frustration. He always believes the worst in her but is drawn to her like a moth to a flame. He's a coward to trust in something good which is just so terribly sad. However, when the truth and reasons for his actions are revealed, just be prepared because it's extremely moving and emotional
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