I’d made a fatal mistake by being nice to her. I saw that now.

In a last-ditch effort to keep myself in check so I wouldn’t fuck things up more than I already had, I’d switched tactics. I’d flipped from asshole to agreeable, hoping less confrontation would give the fires simmering between us time to die out. I’d been wrong. Less confrontation had only cooled the smoldering embers, but they were still hot. Still sizzling. And now, thanks to my latest bright idea, they were packed with enough erotic energy to spontaneously combust at any moment.

Heat flushed Natalie’s cheeks as she stared at me. I didn’t miss it. I also didn’t miss the way she looked at me differently. As if she knew my secret. As if she liked my secret. As if this one moment changed everything between us.

I fought back the raw hunger that look kick-started deep inside me and focused on Sofia and her mother, careful not to lapse into English as I spoke to them. I didn’t need to give Natalie any more reason to think she had me figured out. She didn’t. She thought she knew who I was? She had no fucking idea. One good deed did not change reality. If she knew what I really came from, if she knew anything at all about the Salvaticis, she’d run as fast and as far as she could and never glance back.

For reasons I didn’t understand, that reality made something in my chest twist. I tried to ignore it as I continued to speak with Sofia’s mother, but the sharp bite of pain didn’t ease. I wanted Natalie gone. I wanted her out of my life sooner rather than later. So why the hell did the thought of never seeing her again make that pain sharper?

Sofia and her mother hugged me one last time, then they both said goodbye and left the courtyard. And, alone with Natalie, I fumbled for something to say all the while wondering what the hell this woman was doing to me.

“That was a very nice thing you did for them,” Natalie said quietly, looking up at me with those tender gemlike eyes that screamed busted.

Sonofabitch. That bite turned to a full-on ache, right beneath my ribs, right where I didn’t fucking want it. This was why I had to get her away from me. Because I didn’t need her innocent, naïve eyes staring up at me as if I were some kind of hero. I wasn’t one. I was just trying to fix a little of the shit my fucking family had unleashed on the masses.

My jaw clenched down hard. Cursing my stupid tactics today, I reverted right back to the asshole I knew would kill whatever hero worship was lurking in those deep blue eyes. “It wasn’t nice. It was a business decision, nothing more. Their restaurant sits on valuable land. In a month, it’ll be torn down.”

Her lips quirked. “No, it won’t, Luc.”

Shit, she was right. And I fucking hated that she knew she was right. I especially hated the way my blood pumped hot as she gazed at me with both challenge and heat, daring me to prove her wrong.

My fingers vibrated at my side, and my breaths increased speed. I wanted to bend her over my knee and show her who was in charge. I wanted to grab her and kiss her and lose myself in her sweetness. From one moment to the next, I wasn’t sure how I would react to this woman, and that threw me because women did not control me. I controlled. I set the rules. But this one…

This woman could disarm me with one look, electrify me with a simple smile. And she could make me completely fucking crazy just by using my first name as she’d done only seconds before.

I turned away from her, desperate for space, desperate to clear my head, desperate to get away from her sultry heat and that wicked scent that only amplified my hunger and made me absolutely ravenous for a taste of her.

I didn’t wait for her as I moved back into the building, but I knew she followed. I could feel that sexy gaze of hers boring into my back. The fashion show wasn’t over, but I’d had enough. As soon as I’d realized she’d disappeared, I hadn’t been able to focus on a single thing except where she was, whom she was with, and what the hell she was doing. I still didn’t know why she’d left, but I planned to find out soon. Then I planned to lay down the law so she knew I wasn’t fucking around. I could get this plan back on track right now by being the coldhearted ass we both knew I was. I could make her hate me by the end of the week if I stepped up my ruthlessness. Then, at least, she’d be safe from my brother. And from me.

“Call the driver,” I snapped over my shoulder, not slowing my steps or turning to look at her. “Tell him to meet us at the west entrance. We’re finished here.”

“Yes, sir, Mr. Salvatici.”

The word sir shot a wicked burst of fire straight into my cock, and visions of her calling me sir on her knees flooded by brain. Clenching my jaw, I fought the sultry images and told myself she was never going to do that for me. For fuck’s sake, I was doing all this to make sure she was never forced to do that for anyone else either.

I heard her speaking to the driver on her phone at my back. He was parked three blocks away, waiting for our call. Knowing he’d reach the west side of the building by the time we did, I didn’t slow my steps. Fuck this week and fuck this entire day. I swiped at the sweat dotting my forehead. All I wanted tonight was to go back to the hotel, lock myself in my room, and down half a bottle of scotch. I usually wasn’t one for losing control and getting wasted, but tonight I was all for it. Tonight, all I cared about was finding a way to banish these erotic fantasies about Natalie James from my mind for good.

The west entrance was empty when we reached the double doors. Since the show was still going on, we didn’t have to contend with other guests leaving. I pushed the right door open and stepped out into the warm early evening air. The sun had just reached the horizon and shot a blinding glare straight into my eyes. Muttering a curse, I held the door open for Natalie and lifted my other hand to block the rays. Just as Natalie stepped out behind me, a flash burst to my left, followed by another to my right. Spots appeared in my vision, messing with my sight, but I recognized the sound of hurried footsteps and frantic, excited voices that signaled only one thing.

My adrenaline surged. “Cazzo. Natalie.” I swung out with my arm to grasp her before the paparazzi got to her first. “Stop.”

My hand passed through nothing but air. The voices grew louder, screaming as the mob descended on us. Camera flashes continued to fire around me, and I blinked against the pulsing lights boring into my eyeballs as I tried to find her.

“Natalie!” I held up both hands against the pops of light, trying to see anything besides these fucking spots.

Angry, incensed voices screeched my name, followed by words such as malvagio, diavolo, and peccatore. My stomach twisted because I’d heard those words before. Too many times to count. I lifted my head and tried to see through the sea of faces. And as I did, as I took in the thirty or so people closing in on me, I realized this mob wasn’t just made up of paparazzi.

“Natalie!” Panic surged inside me, spurring me forward. I frantically searched the crowd for her, trying to stay close to the doors so I could grab her and pull her back when I found her.

A scream echoed to my left. A scream I recognized. The sound shrilled in my ears like a blaring alarm, bringing every hair to attention, sending ice straight down my spine.

“Natalie!”

I charged toward the sound, shoving my shoulders into bodies blocking my way, pushing aside paparazzi to my right and left. The spots slowly faded from my vision as I rammed my elbow into a man who stepped in my way and tried to take my picture. His camera shot from his hands and shattered on the concrete. He stumbled back and screamed obscenities at me, but I barely heard him. All I could hear was the rush of blood in my ears, melding with Natalie’s screams.

My throat closed when I finally spotted her ten yards away, struggling against the hold of a tall, willowy man dressed in a long brown robe with white hair down to his shoulders. His hand was wrapped tightly around her upper arm as he pulled her with him away from the crowd, down the side of the building toward the parking lot. She jerked back and screamed at him to let her go.

I bolted forward, lifted my fist as I drew close, and slammed it into the man’s jaw. Natalie shrieked. The man stumbled to the side but didn’t release his hold.

Hate was a weapon fueling my fury. I grasped the man at the wrist just above his hold on Natalie and dug my thumbnail into his veins. He cried out but still held tight. Natalie stumbled and screamed my name. Light flashed in my peripheral vision, but all I could see was the monster trying to take her away from me.

“Lascia andare!” I slammed my fist at his jaw again.

The man’s hold on Natalie broke, and he tumbled to the ground. She fell into me with a gasp.

Wrapping her quickly in my arms, I pulled her against me to protect her from the people around us. I was just about to carry her back into the building when tires squealed in the parking lot to my right.

“Signore Salvatici!” a voice yelled. “Over here!”

I jerked toward the sound and spotted our driver, Vincenzo.

“Hold on to me, Natalie.” She sucked in a pained breath when I scooped her off her feet. Voices continued to shout around us. Footsteps pounded close. The man who’d attacked her lay moaning on the ground, and all I wanted to do was finish what I’d started and beat the living shit out of him for touching her, but I wanted Natalie out of this nightmare more.

I shoved our way through the crowd. Natalie turned her face against my neck and clung to me. Vincenzo was already at the back door by the time I reached the car. I slid inside with Natalie on my lap, and he closed it quickly after us.

She hissed and backed off my lap to sit on the seat beside me, pressing her hand against her right side. Vincenzo jumped into the front, and we tore away from the crowd, still screaming and yelling after us. I looked away from the camera flashes growing smaller in the window, then fought back a new sense of panic when I spotted the blood staining Natalie’s blouse beneath the hand pressed to her side.

“Figlio di puttana.” I shifted on the seat, turning to face her as I gently tugged the garment from her waistband. “You’re hurt.”

“I-I’m…okay.” She eased her shoulder against the seatback so her injured side faced out where I could see it.

She wasn’t okay. Fear closed my throat and shot my adrenaline straight back into overdrive. She was fucking bleeding. I shrugged quickly out of my jacket, jerked off my tie, and wadded it into a ball. “Move your hand.”

She tensed but did as I said. Her blouse was torn across her side. Forcing back the rage that ignited in me all over again, I carefully lifted the fabric to check the wound.

“Santo cazzo Madre di Cristo.” Blood gushed from a two-inch gash against her ribs. I quickly pressed the wadded tie to her wound. My other hand landed on her opposite hip, holding her still. That fucker was lucky I hadn’t seen this before we’d left. I’d never wanted to commit murder more than I did right now.

Natalie winced, and knowing she was in pain sent a wave of guilt washing through me that dampened my need for revenge. “Sorry.” I tried to gentle my hold. “It’s not deep. I don’t think you’ll need stitches.”

“Well, that’s good at least.” She shifted closer to me and resting her head against the seatback.

Her soft hair fell down her arm, tickling my forearm and fingers where my hand rested against her hip. Tingles shot through my skin and into my chest. Tingles I knew I shouldn’t be feeling when she was sitting here in pain because of me.

“Vincenzo,” I said to the driver, “call the hotel and tell them I need a first aid kit sent up to the suite right away.”

“Sì, Signore Salvatici.”

As Vincenzo reached for his phone, I lifted my tie away from Natalie’s side and checked the wound. It still oozed red, but the flow was slowing—thankfully. “What did he cut you with, do you know?”

“I-I’m not sure.”

“Was it a knife?” If it was a knife, I’d hunt the fucker down.

“I don’t think so. It didn’t feel like a knife. I thought he had some kind of medal or necklace or something in his hand when he grabbed me.”

My chest contracted. “A seven-pointed star medallion with an eye in the middle, cut down the center by a dagger?”

“Yes,” she said, angling her gaze up toward my face. “You know it?”

I was careful to keep my eyes off hers. This was my fault. All because I couldn’t control myself around her. In my attempt to get away from her, I’d led her right into the lions’ den. And now she was paying the price for my negligence. “The man who attacked you is a member of the Seventh Sanctum.”

“I’ve never heard of the Seventh Sanctum.”

“Few have.” They targeted the immoral, depraved, and corrupt—or so they called my family.

“Are they a religious group?”

I huffed. “No one religion will claim them. Their membership is composed of various religions, races, and cultures.”

“What’s the star for then?”

“They call it the star of truth. The seven-pointed star can be translated into a number of things, but with these freaks, it’s a symbol of their devotion to the peace and prosperity of the masses, which they think they’re protecting.”

“I’m guessing you don’t agree.”

I didn’t try to hide my disdain. “They don’t give a shit about peace. Today they used their sacred star as a weapon against someone who never did a damn thing to them. Fuck their version of protection.”

Natalie was silent for several seconds, then said, “I think hurting me was an accident, Luc.”

My gaze jerked up to hers, and that fury lingering in my blood rushed right back to the surface. “This wasn’t an accident.”

Her eyes held mine, but I didn’t see fear in those soft blue pools as she gazed at me, I saw confusion. “I don’t think that man was intentionally trying to hurt me. I think he thought he was protecting me somehow. He said diavolo over and over. As if he was afraid. Do you know what that means?”

That space in my chest that had pinched hard before tore open wide. I knew exactly what it meant. Just as I knew I had to tell her. Fuck. All this time, I’d thought dragging her to Italy with me would keep her safe from Giovanni, safe from my family, safe from anyone who might want to hurt her. What I hadn’t considered was that by keeping her with me, I was making her a target for every person who hated what we represented.

Tearing my gaze from hers, I checked the cut on her ribs once more and forced words I didn’t want to say out of my mouth. “It means devil.”

“Why would he think I was a devil?”

“He doesn’t think you’re a devil. He thinks I am.”

Her brow wrinkled. “Why? You just said he wasn’t religious.”

“I didn’t say he wasn’t religious. I said his order isn’t defined by any one religion.”

“But I don’t—”

“Listen very carefully.” Guilt stabbed at me from every angle. Guilt and an ache that spread through my chest like wildfire because I knew I couldn’t keep her here with me anymore. The only solution was to send her back to the States. I had to get her away from Covet and out of my life as soon as I could so nothing like this ever happened to her again.

I steeled myself against the pain that realization caused and locked down any stupid feelings I’d developed for this girl. She wasn’t special. So what if she was hot and had gorgeous blue eyes? I could find an attractive woman way more agreeable than Natalie James with barely a glance.

“I’m only going to say this once.” My voice hardened as I looked back at her, pinning her with my icy stare. “The Salvatici family is very powerful, and there are people in Rome and across the globe who do not approve of the way they conduct business. This man was one of those people. When I told you in your apartment that you couldn’t defy me while we were in Italy, I did so with this in mind. You ignored my order when you left the fashion show. Everything that happened after that moment is because of your defiance, and I told you what would happen if you didn’t listen.”

Her gaze searched mine, strong, confident, never once cowering from my harsh tone or threatening words—dammit. “That you’d send me back to Idaho? Yeah, I remember. But we both know you aren’t going to do that.”

Every nerve ending in my body jerked awake as if an electrical current had just jolted me to life. She was doing it again. Standing up to me when she should be backing the hell down. She was injured, for fuck’s sake. Hurt and vulnerable, practically leaning against me because of what I’d done. And yet…she was still challenging me. Blood rushed straight into my groin and stiffened my cock.

Bloody hell, I wanted—no, I needed—to show this woman that I could be pushed only so far before I lost it. I leaned toward her and lowered my voice to a menacing whisper. “You don’t know a fucking thing about me.”

“I know you wear that arrogant mask like armor,” she said just as low, still not backing down. “I know you threaten and intimidate so no one can see the real you. And I also know you get off on control and that you think that makes you as dark and dangerous and as much of a devil as that man today claimed you to be.”

My heart raced a bruising pattern against my ribs as I stared at her, so fast my pulse was a whir in my ears. Everywhere, heat engulfed me, igniting both hunger and rage deep inside because she’d just struck at the heart of who I was. In a matter of days, she’d looked into my soul and seen what no one else ever had. And that didn’t just light me up, it scared me right down to my bones because it meant she held more power over me than even my House.

“Here’s the thing though,” she went on, her voice softening. “You’re not evil. Not even close. What you did today proves that.”

An emotion I didn’t know how to define whooshed into my chest, dampening the rage, making my head light and my breaths shallow. What the hell was happening to me? What the fuck was this woman doing to me?

I grappled for control, for that mask she thought I wore. For something to get her to back the fuck off. “Be careful, Natalie. This is not a game.”

“I know it’s not,” she whispered. “I realized that today when I was watching that fashion show and disjointed memories of the party I went to with your brother flashed in my mind.”

My whole body went completely still.

Shit. She was not remembering that night.

“You were there, weren’t you, Luc? You were the man in the Phantom mask.”

Panic gnawed at my throat as I leaned away from her. Lifting my hand from her hip because her heat was all but searing into my palm, I placed it on the back of the seat, but I couldn’t move away from her because my other hand was still holding the tie against her wound. And I had no fucking idea how to answer her question. If she’d remembered me at the party, did that mean she’d also remembered what had happened upstairs? How she’d kissed me? How I’d fucking kissed her back?

“Gio drugged me, didn’t he?” she asked before I could come up with an answer.

The air left my lungs in a whoosh. No, she hadn’t remembered the kissing. She couldn’t. She’d already been too far gone by the time she’d made it up those stairs. “Yes.”

“With what?”

“I don’t know.”

“But you have a guess.”

My jaw tightened. “Probably GHB. It’s a rave drug that creates a high similar to alcohol but with more intensity.”

She considered that for several moments. “Could it make a person horny?”

“Yes.” Shit. “Combined with alcohol it can also make a person pass out,” I added quickly.

“Did you take any that night?”

“No. I stopped doing drugs when I was twenty.”

A smug look filled her mesmerizing eyes, one that said, oh yeah, she totally remembered all that kissing—and without the aid of an aphrodisiac on my end.

Heat rushed to my face, but on its heels, I saw her grinding against my lap in the back of that car. I saw her gorgeous body laid out on her bed after I’d stripped her, the image of her sheer panties and bra making me hard all over again. And I heard her voice in my head as I’d carried her out of that party, begging me to fuck her.

Raw, primal hunger consumed me again, lighting up every inch of my body, making my dick absolutely throb. The knowing glint in her eyes told me she sensed it too and wanted me to unleash it, right here and now.

My muscles vibrated. My fingers itched to slide into her hair and tug her mouth toward mine. My whole body trembled with the need to dominate her, to devour her, to own her in any and every way I could.

“Don’t look at me like that,” I said in a low voice.

“Like what?” A flirty smile toyed with the edge her mouth.

Motherfucker. When she smiled at me like that, the last of my control nearly shattered. “You know like what. I’m not the fucking hero you’re making me out to be.”

Her smile widened. “Yes, you are. Even when you’re being a beast.”

That one word—beast—supercharged my need to prove her wrong and show her just how much of beast I really was.

“Do not call me beast again.”

“Or what?” She tilted her chin up, just a touch, challenging me with those gemlike eyes all over again. “You’ll spank me?

Sweet mother of mercy. That was exactly what I wanted to do to her. And then I wanted to fuck her until she was a shaking, moaning mess of a woman who couldn’t move. “Don’t tempt me, Ms. James.”

“I won’t, Mr. Salvatici. At least not until I’m no longer bleeding.”

Shit. The power struggle she’d taunted me with had completely distracted me from her injury. The car bumped, and I realized we’d just pulled into the circular drive of the hotel. The victorious smile on her lips told me she wasn’t the least bit surprised by that fact.

Vincenzo pulled the car to a stop, climbed out, and tugged my door open. Natalie’s hand came down over mine against her wound, soft, warm, inviting…everything I didn’t want her to be. Head spinning, I let go of her and climbed out of the car, drawing a deep breath of air that did shit to cool me down.

Was she leading me by a noose around my neck? It felt like it. My head and body were at war with each other, hurling thoughts and emotions I didn’t understand and liked even less. The only thing I knew for certain was that I fucking wanted her. I wanted her with a desperation I’d never felt before. In a way I’d never wanted anyone else. And that rock-solid self-control that had guided me my whole life was starting to crumble. Every time she smiled at me, every time she challenged me, my resolve cracked. And I knew if I didn’t put her on a plane tonight, I was going to lose the fight and give in to every one of my wicked, depraved, wanton urges and take her.

And if that happened…

Well, if that happened, it would only be a matter of time before the reality of my destiny crashed down around us. Then she’d be as dead as her friend.

My stomach twisted at that thought, sending bile up my throat. Bile I was thankful for because it forced me to refocus on what was really was at stake here.

Her.

Not my stupid wants and desires. Her safety. Her life.

This time, no matter what, I was determined to save someone beside myself.

I turned to look back at her and held out my hand. “Come on, you need bandages. They should already be up in the suite.”

“Thanks.” Her fingers curled over mine as she rose from the car and pushed to her feet. Tingles spread from our joined hands, up into my arm, and all through my chest. Tingles I savored as I hefted her up into my arms because I knew they were all I was ever going to get.

She gasped in surprise but quickly slid her arms around my neck and smiled. “See? Told ya. Not a devil.” Sighing, she laid her head against my shoulder in a way that felt warm and right and stabbed like a knife, straight through my heart. “My knight in shining armor.”

I was no knight. I wasn’t anything but exactly what that man had called me today.

I was a devil. And she was the angel I wouldn’t let myself destroy.