Carpathian 00 - The Scarletti Curse

drawn to him.
    She looked up at him and instantly was lost in the depths of his eyes. She saw so much need there. An intense hunger. Blatant desire. Hot flames that threatened to consume her if she dared to go near them.
    Her fingers curled against his chest.
    Giovanni moved her back toward the palazzo under Maria Pia's watchful eye. Sophie walked with them, looking curiously from one to the other. Ketsia would have asked a million questions, but Sophie was more reserved and always restrained herself until she could be alone with Nicoletta.
    "I have much work to do, Nicoletta, but I trust you can manage to stay out of trouble and away from other suitors until such time as I can be with you," Giovanni teased her. He held the door for the women to precede him through.
    Laughter bubbled up out of nowhere. "I never get into trouble, Don Scarletti. I do not know where you should have gotten such an idea." Deliberately Nicoletta winked at Sophie to include her.

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    Sophie hastily covered her mouth to keep her smile from showing. She had never heard her uncle Gino tease or be teased. He was the head of the household, and everyone was afraid of him. She had never heard him use that low, caressing voice before either.
    "Perhaps it has something to do with looking out my window and finding you in a tangled heap on the ground with an ardent young man." That drawling caress was back in his voice, brushing Nicoletta's skin like the touch of fingers. "Stay with Sophie, cara, so I can breathe again."
    "You breathe just fine," Nicoletta said, her soft laughter turning the heads of the servants and the guards.
    Giovanni had recently noticed a strange phenomenon in his home. It was as if Nicoletta's smiles were contagious. Many of the servants and soldiers now wore answering smiles on their faces. In the gloom shrouding the palazzo, Nicoletta was a ray of sunlight. His hand curled around the nape of her neck, his head bending low until he pressed his brow against hers. "I do not think our wedding can come soon enough to suit me."
    Maria Pia clucked her tongue to remind Don Scarletti that he was not wed yet and that his behavior was bordering on the unseemly. Giovanni let out his breath slowly, shaking his head ruefully. "You have your chaperone well trained."
    "You are the one who decreed I was never to be alone," she pointed out. "You could have come to our hill and courted me properly."
    He laughed softly, lightly rubbing a fingertip over her tempting mouth. "Properly? I do not think there would be anything proper about the way I would court you in the hills," he said wickedly.
    His voice alone was scandalous, whispering over her skin until her body burned with need. Flames danced through her, and she shook her head, mesmerized into smiling in reply. How could she ever resist the dark intensity of his eyes, his perfect, sensuous mouth?
    Maria Pia cleared her throat noisily. The don gave in to the pressure with a wry grin, taking Nicoletta's arm and Sophie's hand and walking down the corridor. "I think I have been reprimanded, Sophie," he confided in a whisper to the child, leading them toward his study.
    Sophie laughed out loud, the sound carefree and unexpected. She was always such a solemn child, but right now she was giggling along with Nicoletta. "I am glad it was you being chastised, Zio Gino, and not me. She frowns like this." Sophie glanced back to ensure the older woman was still some distance behind, then made a face much like Maria Pia's.
    "Zio Giovanni!" The strident voice carried down the long hall and seemed to echo up to the high, domed ceiling. Margerita emerged from the staircase leading from the ramparts and hurried toward them from the far end of the corridor. The last rays of the setting sun pierced the thickening fog and the stained-glass windows. Colors radiated over the walls and danced on the ceiling. Then, just as suddenly, a dark shadow swept over the palazzo as the sun sank into the sea.

Chapter Nine
    Nicoletta's heart was suddenly pounding in alarm. Margerita had nearly reached the small group, bringing with her an ominous portent of danger. The impression was so strong, Nicoletta wrenched her Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    arm away from Giovanni. The corridor seemed gray and sinister, dark and shadowed with violence.
    "Zio Giovanni." Margerita pushed rudely past Nicoletta, her nose