JACO SHUT THE door to his office, double-checking it had locked behind him. He took in a breath as he looked around at the gleaming wooden panelling and the sparkling mirrors, the dazzling spotlights, suddenly wondering why he had commissioned this flashy monstrosity. Even naming it The Alessia, after his mother, felt all wrong. In no way did it reflect her gentle personality.
At the time he had considered the luxury yacht just another compulsory toy for the billionaire playboy, along with the fast cars and the fancy properties all over the world. But Jaco was no longer that man.
The memory of all those years of hollow sex with women who had meant nothing to him now filled him with revulsion. He’d told himself he was having fun, that no-strings sex with a host of beautiful women was every red-blooded man’s dream. Now he realised it had all been a pointless waste of time. That the reason he had never wanted any commitment was because he had never found anyone he wanted to commit to.
Until Leah. Until the day Leah McDonald had burst into his life like a ray of autumn sunshine, bringing a glow of vitality to everything around her with her spirit and her smile and her infectious enthusiasm. He hadn’t fully realised it at the time, but that day had been the turning point of his life.
Striding down the windowless carpeted corridor, Jaco focussed on what he had to do. Bringing Leah and Gabriel to the yacht had never been part of the plan, but Leah had left him no choice. By phoning the police she had seriously jeopardised the whole operation. And, worse still, put herself and Gabriel in danger.
Because Jaco didn’t trust the police. He didn’t trust anyone apart from the select few who had managed to prove themselves through rigorous checks and several years of loyal service. Everyone else he viewed with the deepest suspicion. That way there were no nasty surprises.
He had no idea who this person was that Leah had spoken to. But he did know that she had not only given them his name but the name Garalino, which would have immediately set alarm bells ringing. One of the most powerful families in Sicily, the Garalinos were on intimate terms with both the carabinieri and the polizia di stato. Bribery, corruption and coercion was rife.
Even if Leah’s call had triggered a legitimate response there was no saying that that couldn’t be just as calamitous. Because walls had ears, and in the murky world that Jaco was dealing with here, those ears belonged to some very dangerous people indeed.
So rapidly moving Leah and Gabriel onto this yacht had been the only course of action. Keeping them safe was Jaco’s main priority, closely followed by limiting any potential fallout from Leah’s reckless action.
They were moored off the coast of Palermo, which meant he was close enough to get to the action when it all kicked off tonight. The yacht was secure enough, but even so Jaco had taken the precaution of appointing Cesare, his most trusted bodyguard, to watch over Leah and make sure she didn’t pull any more stunts like the last one.
Even with just a skeleton crew on board he couldn’t be too careful—he certainly couldn’t afford any loose tongues. It was absolutely vital that no one knew about the sting tonight, and that included Leah. He simply couldn’t risk telling her—it was too dangerous. Left to her own devices, who knew what havoc she could wreak? She had enough fire to start a conflagration, and more courage than any woman he had ever met. Like a repelling magnet, all the qualities that he loved about her were the ones that were also driving him crazy.
Ushering her into one of the sumptuous suites with Gabriel held tightly against her chest hadn’t been pleasant. The look of utter disgust she had given him when she had spotted Cesare positioned outside the door would have sent a chill through the devil incarnate. He could still see its image, scorched on the back of his retina. But it was a necessary precaution. And it wouldn’t be for long.
The cargo ship from South America was on course to arrive this evening—exactly at the allotted time. The whole Garalino family would be slavering in their eagerness to get their hands on what they thought was the largest shipment of cocaine ever recorded. The international drug enforcement agencies, all meticulously vetted, were primed and ready to pounce at exactly the right moment. Everything was in place.
But it would only take one false move for everything to go catastrophically wrong.
Which was why Jaco was obsessively following every step as it happened. Like watching a gruesome game of chess, he followed the moves being made on a bank of computer screens in his office, receiving coded updates from the intelligence agents as the clock ticked ever closer to the conclusion.
With the whole Garalino family under surveillance, in numerous different locations, it was a massive operation. But it was Luigi Garalino who was the real prize. Head of the notorious Garalino family, he was the man behind a string of evil atrocities stretching back over several decades.
The man who had murdered Jaco’s parents.
Jaco had only had this devastating piece of information confirmed relatively recently. Always deeply suspicious about how they had died—why their car had plunged over a cliff on a road they knew so well, with no other vehicle involved and no treacherous weather conditions—he had made it his mission to discover the truth. Eventually he had tracked down someone who had worked for the Garalino family at the time, and with enough cash to loosen his tongue the whole sordid story had come out.
It was just as he had thought. The day Luigi Garalino’s evil gaze had fallen upon the profitable Capezzana vineyard his parents’ fate had been sealed. By standing up to Garalino and his band of thugs, refusing to have any part in his corrupt plans for their precious vineyard, they had had their lives snuffed out—just like that—when the brake lines on their vehicle had been cut.
Having this heinous act confirmed had consumed Jaco with a fury that knew no bounds. He had decided there and then that he would have his revenge. That he wouldn’t rest until he did. And so the many months of meticulous planning had started.
Luigi Garalino thought he was invincible. That his power was so great, his evil influence so all-pervading, that no one would ever dare try to bring him to justice. Well, Jaco had news for him.
He was going to be there on the docks when that container was opened... When Garalino’s most trusted henchman—a meticulously trained undercover cop—slit open a couple of specially prepared sample sacks to verify their contents. He was going to be there when the money changed hands, and he was going to step out of the shadows at the precise moment that Garalino was arrested. When he knew the game was up. And Jaco was going to look him in the eye and swear vengeance for the death of his parents.
* * *
Leah marched up and down through the lounge area to the bedroom and then back, her steps muffled, silenced by the thick cream carpet. In a cosy cocoon in the middle of the enormous bed Gabriel slept soundly, blissfully unaware of his captivity and the truly villainous man his father was.
Jaco bringing them here and putting a bodyguard outside their door—the same brute who had evicted her from her flat, no less—had been the final straw. His explanation that Cesare was there to protect them was as patently bogus as everything else about him. Cesare wasn’t there to protect them, he was there to detain them, to make sure they didn’t escape—as Leah had rapidly discovered when she had tried to explain to him that his boss was an evil man, and that Cesare needed to help them to get away.
Clearly wanting to engage as little as possible with this crazy Scottish woman, Cesare had explained to her in broken English that his job was to watch over her and the child. That was all. She’d figured that much out for herself.
Striding over to the wall of windows, Leah peered out. All around her in every direction all she could see was sea. Crossing the room, she did the same on the other side. More sea, and low sunlight sparkling on the water. There were a few boats visible in the distance. Maybe if one came close enough she could signal to them—wave a sheet out of the window or something. But closer inspection revealed that the windows were security-locked.
She could try screaming. God only knew she felt like it. She wanted to scream and shout and bash her fists against the door and the walls and the windows. She wanted to kick and fight and holler and yell until someone—anyone—came to her rescue. But what would be the point? No doubt Cesare had been instructed to restrain her if she kicked off, and even if some of the crew on board did hear her they would be Jaco’s employees, obeying Jaco’s orders.
So she was stuck—powerless, trapped. Totally at the mercy of Jaco Valentino.
Sinking down onto the sofa she picked up a cushion and buried her face in it, hot tears starting to stream down her face. Tears of fury and frustration, but most of all tears of sorrow—for the man she had thought she had known and for the man she still loved with all her heart.
Muffled against the cushion, she didn’t hear the door open or the sound of Jaco approaching. So when he reached out to touch her shoulder she let out a panicked scream.
‘Per Dio!’ Roughly sitting down beside her, Jaco removed the cushion from her clawlike grasp. ‘Calm down, Leah.’
‘Don’t you dare tell me to calm down.’ Leah scooted across the sofa to try and get away from him, all the fire and fury back with a vengeance. ‘Don’t you dare tell me how to behave. You can hold me prisoner, impose your will upon me by physically moving me from one place of captivity to the next, but you will never, ever tell me how to think.’
‘You’ve been crying.’ Ignoring her outburst, Jaco reached out to touch her face.
Moving away from his hand, Leah furiously brushed at her cheeks with the back of her hand. If she didn’t know better, she might have thought he looked genuinely concerned.
‘You really mustn’t upset yourself, you know.’
‘Didn’t I just tell you not to tell me how to think?’ She glared wildly at him.
‘Oh, Leah.’ He gave an exasperated sigh. ‘Vieni qui...come here.’
‘No, I won’t.’
But it was too late. He was already there, enclosing her in his strong arms, in the warm, drugging, mind-numbing spell of his embrace.
‘Get off me.’ She muttered the words against the wall of his chest.
‘No.’ He tightened his hold, his breath hot against the top of her head. ‘Not until you’ve heard what I have to say.’
‘I’m not interested, Jaco.’ She squirmed inside his hold. ‘I don’t want to hear any more of your lies.’
‘I have never lied to you, Leah.’ Releasing the band of his arms, he cupped her face in his hands, tipping her head to meet his iron gaze. ‘You can accuse me of many things, but lying is not one of them.’
‘You are right—I can accuse you of many things. I would barely know where to start. Because lying takes many forms, Jaco, and you lie by omission.’ She gave him a withering stare. ‘Which is just as bad.’
‘Even if that omission is for the greater good?’
‘The greater good?’ She laughed in his face. ‘Who the hell do you think you are, Jaco Valentino? Some sort of higher being who doesn’t have to obey the rules of common decency? Who thinks that us lesser mortals should just mutely accept that you have all the power? Because let me tell you right now—that is never going to happen.’
‘Well, for your own protection, then.’ Dark brows pulled into a menacing line. ‘Can you not see that there are circumstances when knowing information can be more harmful than not knowing it?’
‘No. All I can see is a man so egotistical, so consumed with greed and power, that he no longer knows right from wrong. A man totally without morals, whose dark secrets no longer define his actions but make up who he is. Rotten to the core.’
‘Is that so?’ Jaco’s voice was terrifyingly low.
‘Yes!’ Leah fired back.
‘And that is your opinion of me?’
‘Yes. And you know what? I feel sorry for you.’
‘Really? Why would you feel sorry for such a creature?’
‘Because you will end up abandoned and alone. For all the money you have made, all the fancy houses and luxury yachts you have bought...’ she gestured around her ‘...for all the glamorous women you have taken to your bed, you will still end up alone. Because no decent person will want anything to do with you.’
‘Have you quite finished?’
‘Yes...no, I haven’t, actually.’ She dragged in another breath. ‘You need to realise that you can’t treat people the way you have treated me and Gabriel and expect us to hang around. You need to take a long, hard look at yourself through the eyes of people who know you. Then perhaps you might see the person you really are, and why you lead such a solitary existence.’ She fixed him with a withering stare. ‘Why even your family have abandoned you.’
‘Chiedo scusa?’ Jaco leant forward, a sweeping dark intensity holding him terrifyingly still. ‘What did you just say?’
‘Well, it’s true, isn’t it?’ Like a spark igniting the dry Scottish heath, Leah felt the fire sweep over her, taking hold. ‘You have said yourself that you have no contact with your family. And just why do you suppose that is?’
‘My relationship with the Garalino family is absolutely none of your business.’ Pure rage emanated from every syllable. ‘And I would strongly advise you to keep your misguided views on that subject to yourself.’
‘What’s the matter, Jaco? Touched a nerve, have I?’
‘I’m warning you, Leah.’
‘Warning me?’ She leapt to her feet, throwing her hair over her shoulder. ‘Just listen to yourself, Jaco. I’m not one of your mindless thugs that you can order around—who will do your bidding without question. Do you really think you can silence me with threats?’
‘Maybe not with threats.’
Beside her in an instant, Jaco towered over her, his forbidding presence taking away her breath, eating up her air.
‘But I can think of other ways.’
His mouth came crushing down on hers, hot and fierce and punishing, taking and giving in equal measure, but all on his terms. It was a kiss of purely carnal intent, to show her who was in charge, who called the shots.
And when his arms moved around her Leah responded. Because she refused to be the passive female, to try and pretend she wasn’t attracted to him physically—because, frankly, they were way past that. No, she would respond in kind, give as good as she got. She would show Jaco Valentino that this fire that burned between them wasn’t one-sided. That he was every bit as defenceless as she was when it came to the raw animal passion they aroused in one another.
Linking her arms around his neck, she pulled him down, closer to her, pressing her body against his until she felt him respond. That physical, all-male response that sent such a thrill through her, liquefying her bones, melting her core. But, more importantly, she knew it was a response that he couldn’t control.
Now who was in charge?
Leah opened her eyes. She wanted to see the effect she had on him as well as feel it—she wanted to live it this one last time.
Jaco altered his stance, widening his legs, and she turned her body to accommodate him, pressing herself firmly against his groin, fitting herself perfectly to him. He moaned, deep and low in his throat, and the sound resonated through her like a wave of hunger. She had caught him in her trap. Or maybe he had caught her. Either way, she was going to prove to him the power she had over him. So that when she was no longer around—and she planned to escape the first chance she got—the memory of what he was missing would continue to haunt him.
Jaco was moving her backwards now, his hands travelling down her back to her bottom, his breathing heavy. There was no doubting where this would lead if Leah didn’t put a stop to it. With superhuman effort she stiffened her body, bracing herself to push against the hot wall of muscle and sinew and skin.
Immediately she felt Jaco hesitate, giving her the space to breathe. She took it, and his arms fell away from her, dropping like weights to his sides. She stepped aside.
They stared at each other, the breath still pounding in their chests, their eyes wild with arousal. Leah swallowed, dragging her hand through her hair to push it away from her face. And then she lifted her chin slowly, deliberately, maintaining eye contact so that he could see that she refused to be the victim any more.
Jaco finally pulled his gaze away, turning to stride over to the windows before swinging back to face her again. ‘It seems that we are destined to drive each other crazy.’ He slanted her a wild look.
Leah remained silent, folding her arms across her chest, pursing together lips that were still throbbing from the pressure of the kiss. It was a victory of sorts. As near as she was going to get, anyway.
He advanced towards her again, but stopped a respectful distance away. ‘We can’t carry on like this, Leah.’
‘So you finally recognise that?’ It was the first concession Jaco had ever made and Leah clung to it like a lifeline. Whatever else, she must not weaken now. She must not let this glimpse of a more vulnerable Jaco wear her down.
Neither must she let those mesmerising brown eyes that were focussed so unblinkingly on her now, nor the dark tousled curls, nor that achingly handsome face, pierce the thin protective film that she had wrapped around herself.
‘Give me my freedom and we won’t have to.’ She concentrated on keeping her voice neutral, refusing to acknowledge the thudding of her heart.
Jaco hesitated, his face a granite mask. ‘Your freedom? That’s all you want?’
‘Yes, Jaco! That’s all I have ever wanted.’
‘Then you shall have it.’ He forced his hands into the pockets of his trousers. ‘Very soon.’
‘And Gabriel too?’ A sudden terrifying thought occurred to her—that Jaco meant to separate her from her son.
‘Of course.’ He gave her a scathing glance. ‘Though obviously I will need to have regular access to Gabriel.’
‘And what does that mean?’ She didn’t trust anything he said.
‘I don’t know.’ Exasperated, he raked a hand through his hair. ‘These are all things that will need to be worked out. But I have no intention of being unreasonable.’
‘Really? Well, there’s a first.’
Jaco growled, the granite mask slipping to reveal his silent anger before he pulled it back into place.
He walked towards her, stopping just short of Leah’s tautly held body. ‘We have to find a way through this—both of us. Tell me truthfully, Leah.’ His eyes delved into her soul. ‘What exactly is it that you want?’
‘Well, that’s easy.’ With a derisive huff, Leah willed herself to stay strong. ‘I want to get as far away from you as possible.’
‘Really? You are quite sure?’
He studied her face with such frightening intensity that the ground seemed to shift beneath her feet.
‘Because I am not going to ask you again.’
‘Yes, quite sure.’ Leah backed away, swallowing to ease the tightness in her throat. ‘What does it take to get through that mountainous ego of yours and make you see that I want nothing more to do with you, Jaco? Not now—not ever.’
A silence fell between them, tightening like a tourniquet.
‘Very well.’ When Jaco finally spoke his voice held no emotion, but the haunted look in his eyes stripped her bare. ‘If that’s what you want, then I will respect your wishes. As of tomorrow you will be free to leave, to go wherever you want. Other than maintaining contact with regard to my son, we need have nothing more to do with one another.’
‘Well, good.’ Leah fought to make her vocal cords work, to inject some conviction into her voice. ‘About time.’
‘I am setting you free, Leah. Not just from the necessary confinement of the last couple of weeks, but from me. From whatever it is that we have together. Or don’t have. I don’t know any more. All I do know is that it’s over. This is the end. We owe each other nothing. We will go our separate ways.’
‘Fine.’ It was a pathetically inadequate response, but all she could squeeze out before her throat closed over completely.
‘Fine.’ Jaco repeated the word, but using the Italian meaning. The end.
He moved towards her with a silent stride, and for one heart-stopping, deliriously crazy moment Leah thought he was going to kiss her again—erase the hideously painful conversation they had just had with the urgent pressure of his lips, mould her against him and never let her go.
But he didn’t. Capturing her eyes with a stare totally devoid of light, he slowly raised his hand, brushing the back of it against her cheek. It was a gesture so tender, so final, that Leah’s heart splintered into a thousand pieces.
Then, dropping his arm, he turned and walked away.