himself. Not crazy. She was blind with panic and he couldn’t much blame her. What in hell had he done, all but tearing off her clothes like that? For all she knew, what came next would be—
Hell.
He kept one hand clamped around her wrists, used the other to try and pull the edges of the dress together. It was impossible, especially with her fighting him all the way.
Not exactly the way a man hoped to start his honeymoon. A joke, of course, because this was never going to be a honeymoon but still.
Her head jerked back.
She had some dangerous moves. He had to remember that. The way she could get her knee up, for instance, aiming with precision. Getting in close, putting her off balance, would be his only protection. He swept his arms around her, lifted her off her feet and brought her hard against him.
“Chiara! Stop fighting me!”
The lady was a hellcat personified.
And she was soft. Very soft. Her breasts were flush against his chest. Her belly was against his groin. She was still struggling, moving against him, rubbing against him.
Desperate, Rafe sent a searching glance around him. He needed a place to put her down. Crews on private jets were trained to be discreet but if the attendant chose this minute to see if her passengers wanted something, explaining what was going on might be, at the least, embarrassing.
The Orsini plane had a private bedroom and bathroom in the rear of the cabin. Well, there was a door in the back of this one. He had no idea what was behind it. For all he knew, it might be locked but it was worth—
Chiara’s sharp little teeth grazed his throat. Okay. Enough was enough. One bite a day was all she was going to get. Grunting, he upended her, tossed her over his shoulder and strode down the aisle while his crazy wife panted, raged, pounded the hell out of his back. Please, he thought grimly when he reached the door, grasped the knob.
Rafe breathed a sigh of relief.
The door opened. And beyond it was some kind of room. Not a bedroom. A lounge. Maybe an office. He rolled his eyes. Who cared what it was? There was a desk. A chair. A small lavatory visible beyond a partly opened sliding door. And, best of all, a small leather sofa just made for accommodating an out-of-control female, he thought, and shouldered the door shut.
He went straight for the sofa. Dumped Chiara on it and stood up.
Bad idea.
She was on her feet and trying to fly past him in a heartbeat. He grabbed her, wrestled her down onto the sofa again, squatted in front of her and clamped his hands around her forearms.
“Listen to me,” he said. “I am not going to hurt you.”
Chiara bared her teeth. An attack-trained rottweiler might have given him a friendlier response. Rafe shook his head in frustration. He had a mess on his hands and only himself to blame. He’d scared the life out of his bride. A joke to call her that, but that was what she was, at least for the time being.
His fault, sure, but how was he to know she’d go off like a roomful of high explosives if he touched her?
You didn’t just touch her, that sly voice inside him whispered. True. He’d gone at her as if he were out of control, but whose fault was that, if not hers?
A woman couldn’t play hot and cold. That kiss this morning. That one moment of incredible surrender. Was he supposed to forget it had happened?
Had it been real? Had it been a ploy to get him on her side? Who in hell knew? And what about the insults she’d heaped on him, her easy assumption that he was a villain, that she could buy him off? Did none of that count for anything?
Yes, but she’d been through a lot today. So had he, but it wasn’t the same. He hadn’t been threatened with wedded bliss as the wife of her father’s capo.
If even that had been real. If it hadn’t all been an act, meant to make him agree to a marriage a pair of aging dons on both sides of the Atlantic seemed to want.
For the moment he’d go with believing his wife hadn’t been in on the deal—and why in hell think of her as his wife? She was nothing but a temporary impediment in his life. Maybe she’d calm down once she understood that. Hell, she had to. He couldn’t spend the rest of the flight hanging on to her as she struggled to get away.
Rafe took a long breath.
“Look,” he said, “I’m sorry I frightened you. I never—I mean, I had no idea. The thing is, I got angry. And.” And what? None of that excused what he’d done. Truth time, he thought, and drew another breath. “Here’s the deal, okay? I thought you had been stringing me along. And—”
“Hah!”
“Hah?”
“Why would I string you along,” she panted, “when I would like to string you up?”
How could he want to laugh at a time like this? He couldn’t, not without enraging his wildcat even more. Instead he cleared his throat.
“I thought you were part of the plan. You know, to convince me to marry you.” Her face registered incredulity, but they were getting somewhere: she had stopped struggling, at least for the moment. “Okay,” he said carefully, “I’m going to let go of you. Then I’m going to stand up.” His eyes drifted down; he’d all but forgotten her dress was torn in half, showing all that schoolgirl lingerie.
Showing the small but somehow lush breasts, the narrow waist, the flaring hips.
Rafe forced his gaze back to her face. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse.
“I’ll stand up, and then I’ll get your suitcase so you can change clothes. Okay?”
Chiara glared at him. “I was not part of any plan,” she said with icy precision.
“You want something to wear or not?”
He could see her weighing the offer. At last she nodded.
“Good. Fine.” Slowly he took his hands from her. She scrambled back as he rose to his feet. She looked like hell, not just the torn dress, but her face was devoid of color, her eyes huge and dark.
And he was the cause.
He, the idiot who’d said yes to marriage to save her, had done this.
“Be right back,” he said briskly, striding from the lounge as if shredding a woman’s clothes and scaring the life half out of her were just everyday occurrences.
He didn’t see her suitcase. Just as well. It was probably overflowing with black dresses and he’d seen enough of them to last a lifetime. He grabbed his carry-on bag, headed back to the lounge.
And paused.
Chiara was exactly where he’d left her, clutching the torn dress together at her breasts. The only difference was in her posture. She sat with her head down, her hair tumbling around her face. The fight had gone out of her; she looked small and vulnerable. Mostly she looked defeated, just as she had in her father’s house.
It killed him to see it.
She was shaking. With fear? No, Rafe thought, not this time. He dropped the carry-on bag and hurried to her. She was hovering on the brink of shock. Adrenaline spiked, then dropped, and this was the price you paid.
“Chiara,” he said, when he reached her.
She looked up. He could hear her teeth chattering. He cursed softly, went down on his knees and gathered her into his arms.
She balked. He’d expected it and at the first jerk of her muscles, he drew her even closer against him, whispering her name, stroking one big hand gently up and down her back. Gradually he felt her body begin to still.
“That’s it,” he said softly, his mouth against her temple, his hand still soothing her, and at last she gave a shuddering