Shadow Rider (A Shadow Riders Novel Book 1)

There was a long silence while the music hammered at them. Created a cocoon of pure heat. His anger swamped her, but it only served to make her hotter. Her body felt liquid, breasts aching for his touch, nipples hard, pushing against the material of the dress in an effort to get closer to him. The junction between her legs was on fire, her clit pulsing with the beat of the music and absolute hunger. She knew her thong was already damp with hunger for him. She hated that she couldn’t control her needs with him. He was angry, and that just added fuel to the growing fire in her.

“Is that what you think of me? That I would need three women at once to satisfy me? Is that really what you think of me, Francesca?” His voice was low. Furious. A whip that struck at her with more force than a leather one would have.

She inhaled sharply and drew him deep into her lungs, her face remaining pressed tightly to his jacket, right over his heart.

His hand came up under her chin and pried her loose. “Fucking look at me, dolce cuore. Now. I’m not fucking around with you.”

Two F-bombs in under a second. He was more than furious. She had no choice but to lift her chin, but she kept her eyes childishly shut tight, afraid if she looked at him, she’d be lost. She was more hurt than she’d realized, hating that the other women had had him before her.

“Look at me.” With an effort he softened his voice, but it was still every bit as commanding. Impossible to disobey. “Open your eyes and look at me.”

She bit down hard on her lower lip and lifted her lashes until her gaze met his piercing blue one. His eyes had darkened into a vibrant, intense color that screamed danger. Once she locked gazes with him, she couldn’t look away. Her heart pounded harder than ever. Her stomach did a slow somersault. Deep inside her core, her muscles spasmed and then clenched hard in reaction.

“Do you really think I play with three women at the same time, Francesca?”

There was a promise of retaliation in his voice. Instead of scaring her, as it should have, she felt shaky with need–with hunger that seemed to be growing out of control. Of course he was going to force her to answer. Slow color stained her cheeks.

“No.” Her voice was low. Ashamed. “It was just that they were so smug. They said they sent you pictures last night . . .” She trailed off.

“I deleted them the moment they came in and I didn’t bother to reply to them. I haven’t seen any of the three of them since last year nor have I intended to do so. Had I known they intended to show up here tonight, I would have banned them from the club. They invited me to go to Texas to meet them and I said no.”

His anger hadn’t abated at all, she could tell by the lines around his mouth and the set to his jaw. Abruptly he caught her hand and took her through the crowd, almost dragging her, uncaring of her high heels. Fortunately, the crowd opened up for him, even there in the dark on the dance floor, allowing them through easily.

Stefano took her toward the back of the club, going between two of the bars to the shadowy alcove where a door led to offices. The alcove was very dark and she knew the shadows enclosed them in their own private world. She shivered, knowing she shouldn’t be alone with him. Not now. Not when he was so angry and she was needy.

He walked her backward until she came up against the wall and she couldn’t move another inch. His body crowded hers until there wasn’t enough room to slide a piece of paper between them, until she felt the imprint of his heavy muscles on her breasts and hips.

He tipped her chin up, forcing her eyes to meet his. “I’m going to spell this out for you, Francesca, using plain fucking English so there aren’t any misunderstandings. I’m not fucking around with you. I’m telling you straight up that I want a relationship with you, a permanent one. Exclusive. You and me. No one else. No other women for me. No other men for you. I want to settle down and have a family with you. I know you’re still getting used to the idea and that’s all right. I’ll give you time. But that doesn’t mean another man puts his fucking hands on you. He doesn’t get to hold you in his arms and feel your body up against his. Not. Ever.”

“I danced, Stefano. I like to dance. I don’t understand why you would be angry. You were busy, and I danced with him. I wouldn’t go out with him. I’m not attracted to him. I’m not a cheater. I knew we were both considering a relationship, although honestly, it’s moved so fast for me it’s hard to believe it’s real.”

He leaned down, his arms suddenly around her, yanking her hard against his body. “You aren’t listening to me. I will not tolerate another man putting his hands on you any more than I would expect you to tolerate another woman putting her hands on me. It’s dangerous, Francesca. Dangerous to whatever dumb fuck thinks he has the right to rub his body up against yours. I saw his hand on your ass. That ass belongs to me. No other man puts his hand there. When I saw that, I wanted to kill him. I needed to kill him. I live in a world of violence and now, so do you. You don’t want to put me in that position any more than I would put you there. That’s all I’m going to say on this. I don’t argue. This is your one and only warning.”

She blinked up at him. “You’re serious.”

“Dead serious.”

She moved s

ubtly, trying to pull away from him without seeming to do so. Subtle didn’t work. His arms became steel bands, locking her to him, and he leaned his weight against her so that it was impossible to move. The air around them was heavy with his anger. A little shiver of fear went down her spine. Not just fear. Still, impossibly, she felt safe in his arms. She realized that along with that spurt of trepidation, there was a dark, sensual excitement she couldn’t deny.

“You don’t hurt women.” She made it a statement because she had to believe it was true. She knew lies when she heard them; she also knew honesty. He spoke the truth about wanting to kill Dominic, but his anger was directed at her. Still, his hands on her didn’t hurt, not in the least. He could be rough, but he wasn’t violent with women.

“No. I don’t.” He left it at that.

Could she accept him just the way he was? Like this? Darkly sensual? A man used to violence? A man she really knew nothing at all about? She knew she was already lost, too far gone, so attracted to him physically, the chemistry so intense she could barely think with wanting him. Her sense of self-preservation was gone. She should have asked questions, demanded answers.

Francesca moistened her lips. “All right, Stefano.”

“‘All right’? What the fuck does that mean?”

“It means you can stop using such foul language and take a breath. I won’t dance with another man. I won’t let another man touch me. I wouldn’t like it if you were dancing with another woman, so even though it was perfectly innocent I understand what you’re saying. On the other hand, there isn’t any need to be dramatic and talk about danger, violence or killing. You wouldn’t really hurt another man just because he danced with me.” She wasn’t so certain that was true, but she wanted it to be.

He shook his head, some of the dark anger dissipating. “Bambina, you’re such an innocent. He wasn’t dancing with you. He was trying to get into your lacy little thong panties. His hand was on your ass.”

“I moved his hand back to my waist immediately.”

“Which is why the fucker is still alive. The only man who touches your ass or your panties is going to be me. Ever.” His hand slid down her hip to her bare thigh, fingers caressing her skin. “This dress doesn’t look the same on you as it did on that mannequin.”

His fingers began making little circles up her thigh. Barely there. Burning. Branding her. It felt as if he touched her with fire. She shuddered, leaning her weight into the wall, hoping it would keep her upright.

“I suppose the mannequin was board straight, and you’ve got all these sexy curves.” His other hand found her right breast, drifting over the soft curve until his fingertips were directly over her nipple. “I should have taken that into consideration.”

The fingers inched up her thigh, right under the hem of her dress, moving upward with soft, deliberate strokes. She put her hand on his wrist to stop him, her gaze moving around the club. It was dark and Stefano had taken her well back into the shadows for their little talk, but still, in another minute she knew she’d be too far gone to care what he did to her. She wanted his hands on her. His mouth on her. She had to have his touch more than she needed to breathe.

With her breath burning in her lungs and need driving her, she ran one palm up his chest to his shoulder. It was a tight fit because he refused to move back, his much larger body directly in front of her. Should anyone come up on them, they wouldn’t be able to see her the way he’d positioned himself. She realized that even when he was angry with her, he’d made certain to protect her.

“So you don’t like the dress?” Her voice came out sultry. A whisper of pure sin.

A soft groan escaped. “Dolce cuore, you can’t use that tone when we’re out in public.” His fingers dug into her inner thigh for a brief moment and then relaxed, gently caressing her skin over the sting. “I’ve never wanted a woman more in my entire life. There are half a dozen offices close by I could take you into and fuck you until neither one of us could move, but that’s not what I want for your first time with me. I want to at least try to be gentle with you. Right now I’m not certain I could be. Help me out a little, okay, bella?”

His fingers, sliding over her bare inner thigh, drove her crazy. She needed him right now, and the offices sounded good to her. His knuckles brushed her sex and deep inside, muscles contracted deliciously. She gasped and he immediately bent his head, his teeth finding her earlobe and biting down.

“Stefano.” His name came out as a moan.

“You’re already wet for me,” he whispered. “So ready. For me, bambina, that’s mine. All for me.”

She nodded helplessly, clutching at his wide shoulders to keep from falling at his feet. Her mind felt chaotic, her brain refusing to work. She couldn’t think of anything else but Stefano. She wanted his hands on her. His mouth. She needed that. “Please,” she pleaded softly, asking for something, but what she didn’t know.

His expression changed immediately. Gentled. Softened. Even his eyes changed color, darkening intently. His voice stroked caresses over her skin, making her shiver. “Kiss me. Right now. I need your mouth.”

She would have given him anything he asked for. She lifted her face up toward his, an offering, both hands at his shoulders, holding on for life. Stefano’s mouth instantly took command of hers. Took all control like a runaway train. The moment his tongue swept inside, he spread flames through her. Exquisite, perfect fire. Heat rushed through her veins straight to her sex, fanning the fireball that had lodged there.

His arms went around her, dragging her away from the wall and into his body so that she had no doubt she was imprinted on his bones–and he on hers.

“I want you,” he confessed, dragging his mouth from hers, resting his forehead against hers while they both tried to pull air into laboring lungs.

Her lashes swept down and faint color stole into her cheeks. “I want you, too,” she whispered. “So much, Stefano.”

“Say you’re mine.” There was steel in his voice.

She took a breath. Let it out. He was commanding more than that simple sentence. They both knew it. He was asking for commitment. Not just a night. A week. A month. He was asking her to say she belonged to him forever.

She heard the blood roaring in her ears. Her body was in flames. In terrible need. Wanting him. Could she give herself to him? She knew two things about him. He was a man with a strict code of honor, and he was a very dangerous man capable of swift violence.

“Give yourself to me,” he whispered, his voice an intimate caress, sliding over her skin like the touch of fingers.

His mouth was so close. She could feel every breath he took.

“Trust me with your life, Francesca, and I swear you’ll never have to worry about another thing. I can keep you safe. I will make you happy.”

He was the devil tempting her. So gorgeous. An incredible man. She knew he paid attention to details, the smallest ones. It would be a trait in him she would both love and hate. He would always make her feel important, maybe the most important thing in his world, but he would also try to control every aspect of her life. Not, she knew, because he wanted to dictate to her, but because his need to keep her safe would make him crazy about her security.

“Say yes, Francesca. I didn’t think it was possible to feel anything real for a woman. I just couldn’t. I tried, but nothing was there. I knew I was capable of loving because I love my sister and brothers fiercely. With everything in me. But what a man feels for a woman, the woman, eluded me until you. Until I saw you.”

He melted her resolve with every word he said. There was no shoring up her defenses, no getting away from the raw honesty in his voice.

“I know you don’t believe in love at first sight because I always thought it was impossible. I tried to tell myself it wasn’t real–it was just chemistry between us. And that chemistry is so explosive I knew I had a chance of being right, but then I watched you. I listened to you. I saw the way you were with others and I felt everything a man is supposed to feel for a woman and more. When I love, Francesca, it’s with everything in me. I’m loyal and I’m a fighter, which means I’ll fight with my last breath to make certain my woman is happy. I expect those in my life to be the same way.”

Her hands, of their own accord, crept around his neck, fingers lacing. The heat of his skin was scorching, but that only added to the fire permanently burning deep inside her for him.

“I didn’t care about any other woman, Francesca. Not a single one of them. I used them. They used me. I have a strong sex drive. I’m always hard. Always. I need a woman to give me relief, but I never wanted one for my own. Women were a tool, a body to bury myself in, nothing more. I didn’t know how to have them mean more because I just couldn’t feel anything at all for them, no matter how much I wanted to or tried. I know that makes me sound like a fucking bastard, but it’s the truth and that’s what I have to give you–the truth.”

She felt perverse enough to love what he was saying to her, to love that those women sending him pictures didn’t mean anything at all.

“I fucked a lot of women, Francesca.”

She winced. She knew he had. She’d seen the evidence in the tabloids. Most of the articles weren’t true, but the pictures didn’t lie.

His arms tightened around her. “I can’t lie about that. I can’t take that back. I know what you see and read; the things these women might say to you will hurt and I hate that. I hate that I’m the cause of that. That what I did so carelessly in the past might be upsetting to you. I can only promise you the future.”

“This is going so fast, Stefano.”

His fingers massaged the nape of her neck. “For you, bambina, but not for me. Time seems to have slowed down until I want to curse with frustration. My grandfather was in love with my grandmother. They were inseparable. They detested being apart. I’ve seen real love. I’ve felt it when I was with them. They died three hours apart. My grandmother first and then my grandfather followed. Love exists, and that’s what I’m offering you.”

His mouth found hers again and she was instantly lost in him. So much heat. So much pleasure lashing through her, little strikes, like lightning flashing through her entire body. This time when he lifted his head, his teeth found her bottom lip, sinking in, tugging, driving her wild.

She heard herself cry out, almost a sob of pure hunger.

“Give yourself to me, Francesca.” Pure command. Nothing less than a de

mand, and that told her something.

He was the devil, but she didn’t care. On some level she even knew he was using her own body against her, pitting her innocence against his experience, but she didn’t care about that, either. She wanted to leap into the fire with both feet, arms wide, eyes open. She knew his world might be something she would have a difficult time accepting, but he was worth it.

“Yes.” It came out a soft whisper. Almost nonexistent. A strangled resolve. Maybe it was her mind’s way of trying to save her. Self-preservation trying to stop her crazy jump off the cliff.

He went still. Absolutely still. His arms nearly crushed her. “Say it then. I need the words. Say you belong to me and that you’re committing to me. Look at me, Francesca, and say it and know there’s no taking it back.”

She moistened her lips and lifted her lashes to look into his piercing blue eyes. There was such a mixture there. Possession. Desire. Triumph. Demand.

“There’s no taking it back, Francesca,” he warned.

She licked her lips again, right over the spot where his teeth had bitten. “I won’t take it back, Stefano,” she said softly. “I want to be yours.”

“And you’re committing to me? You’ll wear my ring. You’ll come into my family? Be a part of us,” he prompted.

A ring? He hadn’t said anything about a ring. That was going even further than she’d anticipated he’d want. A part of her was thrilled. The sane part was terrified. Already it felt too much like ownership. As if he had already branded her in her bones. In her soul.

“Don’t.” He tipped up her face, forcing her to stay in eye contact. “I get that you’re afraid, dolce cuore. You have to trust me. Rely on me. That’s what I need from you. I’ve got you, Francesca. All you have to do is let me have you.”

She tried to think straight, but her body already belonged to him, her breasts aching for his touch, nipples pushing hard against the material of her dress. Between her legs, she felt empty and needy. Burning. Tension coiled so tightly she was afraid if she moved she might shatter. If she didn’t have him she might not make it through the night.

“I can’t think straight when you’re so close to me.” She could barely speak. His heavy erection pressed against her, high, along her waist and she felt every long, thick inch of him like a burning brand. “You’re taking advantage.”

“I’ll take any advantage I can get. Right now, Francesca, I’m being gentle. Push me and I’ll do more to get your yes. I’ll have my fingers buried inside of you and if that doesn’t work, it will be my mouth working between your legs. I’m shameless when it comes to you. This is a battle I can’t afford to lose so yes, I’ll use any means necessary to make certain your answer is what I want.”

She licked over that throbbing spot on her lower lip again. “Is this what I would have to look forward to once we were together? You using sex to get your way?”

“Absolutely.”

She wanted him so much. She could stall all she wanted, but in the end, she knew she would give in to him. “I said yes,” she pointed out. “I may be scared, but I said yes.”

He bent his head to brush kisses over her eyelids, almost as if he were closing her eyes so she wouldn’t see the elation sweeping through him. But she did. She felt it.

“I’m going to kiss you one more time, Francesca, and then we have to finish up so we can go home. It’s too dangerous to be in public when I need to be inside of you.”

The raw desire in his voice scraped at her, clawed at her belly, matching her own. She wanted to be home, too, as quickly as possible.

“Give me your mouth, bella.”

She did so without hesitation, needing the fire pouring down her throat and into her body. Surrounding her heart. The familiar flames rushed over her breasts, connected her nipples straight to her clit, so that she pulsed and throbbed with desperation. His mouth was pure sensuality. Hot with passion. His taste was addicting and when he began to lift his head to pull away, she chased after him with her mouth.

He caught her chin firmly. “Bambina, not here. I don’t have as much self-control as I’d like, not when it comes to you. I’m not about to fuck you against the wall where someone could just walk up on us, but we keep this up and it could happen.”

It was nice knowing she wasn’t alone in what she was feeling, but right at that moment, the idea of him “fucking” her against the wall was a blatant temptation.

He transferred his hold to her hand and stepped back to allow her to move away from the wall. “My cousins are here from New York. I’d like you to meet them.”

She blinked up at him, feeling as if she was coming out of a fog, or an erotic dream, and couldn’t quite shake it off. “I met them the other night, remember?” They made her nervous. She wasn’t certain she wanted to see them again in her present state of absolute craving. They saw too much.

He smiled down at her. “More cousins. You met Lanz and Deangelo Rossi. They’re brothers. They came with two other cousins, Salvatore and Lucca. Their last name is Ferraro as well. Salvatore and Lucca have one other brother, Geno. No sisters. Girls don’t seem to run in our family much.”

“Your family is so big, Stefano. I only had my sister. No aunts or uncles. No one else. You have enough cousins to make a small town.”

He laughed softly, tugging her closer until her front was locked to his side and she was under his arm. His cell phone chimed just as they stepped out of the shadows into the light behind the red bar. He stopped abruptly and pulled it from the inside of his jacket, refusing to give her any space, clamping her tightly to his side.

“You’re a slave to that thing,” she pointed out.

“True,” he agreed and flipped it open. “Stefano.”

He was as abrupt on the phone as he was in person, she decided, studying his face. He had a gorgeous face, one that belonged on the cover of a magazine. It was no wonder the paparazzi were obsessed with him. She was a little obsessed with him herself. Her heart was still pounding insanely at the giant step she’d just taken. She couldn’t even blame it on alcohol. That was all her, unable to resist him.

She leaned back against Stefano, mostly because he gave her no choice with his arm locked around her, right under her breasts. He smelled wonderful, his scent enveloping her, surrounding her with . . . him. She was acutely aware of his heavy erection pressed tightly against her. He always seemed to be hard around her. She had to admit she liked that. She wanted him to want her.

She had tuned out his conversation, listening to the music instead, used to the constant demands made on his time. It took a few moments before his side of the conversation penetrated. This was no call about someone needing help. She inhaled sharply and turned her attention completely to Stefano.

“No, Saldi, I’m at the club with my brothers and cousins. We’re celebrating tonight. Why the hell would you think I’d sneak into your fucking house and kill that piece of shit Tidwell right under your nose? I had no idea the bastard was staying in your home.”

Silence and then more. “Are you fucking kidding me? I beat the shit out of him and sent him to you to do whatever you wanted with him. Taking his building was enough revenge for me.”

Silence and then Stefano burst out with a string of profanities. “You’re pissing me off, Saldi. I can’t be in two places at one time. Come on down and see for yourself if you want, although the damn paparazzi has managed to sneak in and they’re taking enough pictures for an entire magazine.” Stefano’s voice was clipped and angry.

Francesca tensed. Tidwell had owned her building and now he was dead. Someone had–what–murdered him? Was that what Saldi was saying to Stefano? She shivered. At once Stefano bent his head and nuzzled her neck. His teeth nipped and his tongue swirled heat over the little sting, making her intensely aware of him.

“I’ll tone it down,” he whispered to her and pressed a kiss against the sensitive spot right behind her ear.

His arm, a bar around her rib cage, didn’t relax at all. He kept her tightly against him and resumed his conversation with one of the Saldis. Francesca had heard about them from several sources, but more, she’d read about them in news articles. They were definitely considered criminals.

She knew that family was into organized crime, yet Stefano didn’t sound in the least afraid. He swore at them and seemingly had no worries about retaliation.

“I don’t give a damn, Giuseppi, what you think. What I think is that you’d better find someone else responsible for that piece of shit’s cut throat. I’m not crying tears if that’s what you’re looking for. If it happened under your nose, look to your own people and tighten your fucking security.” He snapped the phone shut with an angry click and shoved it in his pocket.

Her breath caught in her lungs. “Giuseppi Saldi is the head of the largest crime family right here in Chicago,” she whispered, terrified for him. No one would talk to Giuseppi Saldi like that, not even the police. He was reputed to be extremely violent and often retaliated if he felt slighted.

“Yes.” He nuzzled her neck again. “You smell so good.”

“You weren’t very nice when you talked to him, Stefano. What if he gets angry with you?” A shiver went down her spine. Stefano was reckless when he lost his temper.

He stopped moving to look down at her, his arms shifting her so she was standing directly in front of him, her front tight against his. She had to tip her head back to look up at him.

“There you go, getting all protective on me. You’re worried about me, aren’t you?” His voice practically purred at her, a sensual mixture of possession, desire and something else–affection. “Dio, bambina, I love that.”

“He’s dangerous. Isn’t that the second time you’ve sworn at him?”

“More like the hundredth. I don’t like him and I doubt if he likes me much.” He brushed his mouth over hers with exquisite gentleness. “Don’t worry about him. He won’t come after me. He wouldn’t dare.”

Her heart gave a painful jerk in her chest. “Why, Stefano? Why wouldn’t he come after you?”

His hand shaped her face, his thumb tracing her high cheekbone, down to her mouth to linger over her bottom lip. “I told you, dolce cuore, no one fucks with me. I’m that kind of man. Stop worrying and come meet my cousins. You’ll like them.”

She hadn’t been so sure of his other New York cousins, the ones that had definitely been interrogating her. She turned her head as Stefano once again shifted her beneath his shoulder, his arm locking around her to keep her close. She put one hand on his washboard abdomen as her gaze collided with Janice’s. The woman had stopped moving right in the middle of the dance floor and was staring at her with absolute venom. Francesca shivered at the concentrated hatred in the woman’s gaze. The dancers shifted and Janice was swallowed up by the gyrating crowd.

“What is it, Francesca?”

He was so tuned to her, but she wasn’t about to admit his past women were giving her nasty looks and upsetting her. How jealous and lame would she appear? She was just jumpy. She was out in the open and it was impossible not to see the curious and speculative looks the crowd gave them.

“I’ve been hiding from Barry Anthon for so long that this makes me a little nervous. I feel very exposed,” she improvised quickly.

He laughed softly, his arm tightening around her. “You are exposed in that little black dress. I can see that I can’t just call a shopper for you, I’m going to have to see you in something before I approve it.”

That distracted her immediately. She gave him her darkest scowl. “Seriously? You think you’re going to actually get a say in what I wear?”

“Of course I’m going to get a say. I’m bossy and controlling, remember? I’m also jealous, a trait I had no idea I possessed until I laid eyes on you.”

His voice held laughter so she wasn’t certain if he was serious, although he looked serious. She was saved from having to reply because four men walked up to them, two dressed in dark pin-striped suits. She recognized Lanz and Deangelo immediately and knew instantly the other two were Stefano’s cousins as well. All four men were extremely good-looking and fit, but the two new ones really stood out. Something about the way they moved made her think of Stefano. They could easily be brothers, not cousins.

Stefano stopped on the edge of the dance floor as the others came up to them. Francesca tried to step away from him, to put a little space between them, but he simply stepped behind her and wrapped his arms around her rib cage, right under her breasts. The feel of his arms pressing so tightly on the undersides of her breasts made her feel needy. Achy. He was too potent and she couldn’t be so close, not with the spotlight so clearly on them. She couldn’t even take a breath without breathing him in.

“You know Lanz and Deangelo, bambina, right? These are two more of my cousins from New York. Salvatore and Lucca, this is my Francesca.”

Salvatore took her hand and brought it to his mouth. Before he could touch his lips to her knuckles, Stefano reached out and caught her wrist, pulling her hand away. Immediately his cousins burst into laughter.

“Damned swine,” Stefano said, without the least rancor. “Francesca, it’s best not to look directly at these New Yorkers. They may be my cousins, but they’re truly the devil’s best friends. Stay very close to me so I can protect you.”

She couldn’t help but laugh as the cousins looked pleased with Stefano’s assessment. Stefano waved his hand toward the VIP section and their table. Surrounded by the men, Francesca felt unbelievably protected as they moved up the stairs to their table. Stefano’s brothers were already there, seated with Emmanuelle, and they actually rose when Francesca approached the table. She found herself blushing at the attention they were getting.

“Where’s Joanna?” she asked Emmanuelle, a little worried that her friend might be upset that she’d disappeared.

“On the dance floor with Mario. They can’t take their eyes off each other,” Giovanni said. “I’m looking into that man. He’d better not break her heart.”

Francesca liked that, even though he really did sound menacing and the quick nods the brothers gave one another made them seem just as threatening. Still, it was Joanna, and she was grateful the Ferraro brothers took her protection seriously.

“Rigina and Rosina are keeping an eye on things,” Emmanuelle said. “Don’t go all cavemen on poor Joanna. She’s really into Mario, and he seems genuine enough.”

Stefano held out the chair for Francesca and then, when she slipped into it, pulled the one beside it close, so their thighs were touching and he could easily wrap his arm around her shoulders. He caught her hand and pulled it to his thigh, pressing her palm deep into his heat.

The waitress was there instantly. Francesca knew she shouldn’t–she needed to keep her wits about her–but she ordered another Moscow Mule with lime. The lime, vodka and ginger beer made a refreshing drink. It went down smoothly, sometimes too smoothly, but she didn’t care. She relaxed into Stefano and let the talk flow around her, although the cousins, brothers and Emmanuelle made certain she was a part of the conversation.

There was a lot of laughter. The Ferraro family clearly was close and they liked one another enough to give one another a hard time. Salvatore and Lucca’s brother, Geno, couldn’t attend the family celebration but had sent his congratulations.

“What exactly is the family celebrating?” Francesca asked Stefano, leaning close to him, her head on his shoulder, her lips pressed against his ear to be heard above the noise of the club.

Stefano threw back his head and laughed. She loved the sound. Carefree. Masculine. Enjoying life. He didn’t laugh a lot. “You, bambina, we’re celebrating me finding you.”

She was stunned by the sheer honesty in his voice. By the raw desire so plain in his vibrant blue eyes for anyone to see. By the possession stamped deep into his dark expression. He meant that. His cousins and family were celebrating Stefano finding Francesca. Claiming her. That knowledge went deep. She felt tears burn behind her eyes. Before anyone else could see them, she turned her face into his neck.

Immediately he wrapped his arms around her. “You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me, Francesca. Of course I’m going to share the most important woman in my life with the people I love. My cousins from San Francisco couldn’t make it, but they wanted to.”

“We’re careful not to all gather in one place,” Taviano supplied. “San Francisco drew the short straw.”

The short straw–she’d heard that term before when Emmanuelle hadn’t come to support her during what she thought of as “the interrogation.” “Why wouldn’t you be able to gather in one place together?” She frowned at them as they all went silent.

Stefano shrugged casually, when she knew he was feeling anything but casual. She could feel the tension around the table.

“It stems from hundreds of years ago, a law handed down in our family generations ago. The Saldi family in Sicily murdered the Ferraro family, killing as many members, men, women and children, as they could. The decree that we don’t all gather in one place was passed down by those surviving that massacre. It was a long time ago, just history really, but we still abide by that rule.”

Stefano had sworn at Giuseppi Saldi, deliberately goading him. When the two families had feuded for over a hundred years or more, why would he feel he was safe talking to the head of a crime family like that unless the Ferraro family was also a crime family as she’d first suspected? A small, icy finger of unease snaked down her spine.

“We’re celebrating tonight,” Ricco said, raising his glass. “To our Francesca. May she be followed by the right ones in a very timely manner.”

“Hear, hear,” the others chorused and clinked glasses.

She had no idea what they were talking about, but they all seemed happy, so she sipped at her drink, smiling. Letting herself believe that she could have a big family. That a man would love her the way Stefano seemed to. She didn’t deserve it. She hadn’t earned it, but she was determined to do so.

The talk flowed around her for another hour. She wanted to dance. One more Moscow Mule and she wouldn’t care whether it bothered Stefano or not. She leaned close to him. “I’ll be right back, Stefano,” she said. “I’m heading to the ladies’ room and no, you can’t go with me,” she hastily added as he rose with her. To her horror they all stood. The entire table of men. To try to stop the furious blush rising, she tugged at her hand to escape him. “And I’ll want to dance, so if you didn’t bring your dancing shoes, be prepared for seeing me dancing with another man.”

“That’s not happening, dolce cuore, not unless you want to see bloodshed. Fortunately, I always bring my dancing shoes. And I will be escorting you, so don’t argue with me anymore. I don’t like it and it won’t do you any good.”

She blinked rapidly, annoyed. “You seriously can’t say things like that to me. I mean it, Stefano. I’m sorry if I annoy you, but if I object to something, I’m going to voice it.”

He wrapped his arm around her waist, pul

ling her in close, her front to his side as they made their way to the restrooms in the VIP section. “Voice it all you like, Francesca. I didn’t mean you can’t tell me when you disagree, but there isn’t any purpose in arguing when it comes to your safety. You won’t get your way.”