It’s a place where people work hard for what they have. Where you can’t just snap your fingers and expect everyone to leap to do your bidding, but then, what would you know of such things?”
What, indeed? It was none of her business, of anyone’s business, that he’d started his life scrounging for money, that he’d worked his hands raw in construction jobs when he came to the States, or that he could still remember what it was like to go to sleep hungry.
He’d never snapped his fingers and never would, but he’d be damned if he’d explain that to anyone.
“And your lover? He permits this?”
She looked at him as if he’d lost his mind. “My what?”
“Another question you don’t want to answer. That’s all right. I have plenty of time.”
Tally wrenched free of his grasp. “I’m the one with questions, Dante. What are you doing here?”
“We haven’t seen each other in a long time, cara.” A slow smile that turned her blood to ice eased across his lips. “Surely, we have other things to talk about first.”
“We have nothing to talk about.”
“But we do. You know that.”
She didn’t know anything. That was the problem. What did he know? Did he know about Sam? She didn’t think so. Surely, he’d have tossed that at her already, if he did.
Then, what did he want? He wasn’t here for a visit. He hadn’t bought the Shelby bank on a whim…
The loan. Her loan. Oh God, oh God…
“Ah,” he said slyly, “your face is an open book. Have you thought of some things we might wish to discuss?”
She couldn’t let him see her fear. There had to be some way she could gain the upper hand.
“What I know,” Tally said, “is that we never talked in the past. We went to dinner, to parties…” She took a steadying breath. “And we went to bed.”
His mouth twisted. Had she struck a nerve?
“I’m glad you remember that.”
“Is that why you came here, Dante? To remind me that we used to have sex together? Or to ask why I left you?” Somehow, she managed a chilly smile. “Really, I thought you’d understand. My note—”
“Your note was a bad joke.”
Tally shrugged her shoulders. “It was honest. Or did it never occur to you that a woman is no different from a man? I mean, yes, we can pretend in ways a man can’t, but sooner or later, things grow, well, old.”
Dante’s face contorted with anger. “You’re a liar!”
“Come on, admit it. We’d been together for months. It was fun for a long time but then—”
She gasped as he caught hold of her and encircled her throat with his hand.
“I remember how you were in bed,” he said, his voice a low growl. “Are you telling me it was all a performance?”
He tugged her closer, until her body brushed his and she had to tilt back her head to look into his eyes. It was deliberate, damn him, a way of emphasizing his strength, his size, his domination.
God, how she hated him! Three years, three endless years, and he was still furious because she’d walked out on him, but she’d done what she had to do to survive. To protect her secret from his unpredictable Sicilian ego.
“You were fire in my arms.” His eyes, the color of smoke, locked on hers. She tried to look away but his hand was like a collar around her throat. When he urged her chin up, she had no choice but to meet his gaze. “You cried out as I came inside you. Your womb contracted around me. Would you have me believe you faked that, too?”
“Is it impossible for you to be a gentleman?” Tally said, hating herself for the way her voice shook.
His smile was slow and sexy and so dangerous it made her heartbeat quicken.
“But I was a gentleman with you. Was that a mistake? Perhaps you didn’t want a gentleman in your bed.” She gasped as he forced her head back. “Is that why you ran away in the middle of the night?”
“I left you, period. Don’t make it sound so dramatic.”
“Left me for what, exactly? The glory of an existence in the middle of nowhere? A bank account with nothing in it?” His tone turned silken. “I think not, cara. I think you left me for a new lover who isn’t a gentleman at all.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
He thrust his fingers into her hair. The pins that held it confined clattered sharply against the marble floor as the strands of gold-burnished cinnamon came loose and fell over her shoulders.
“Is that it? Was I too gentle with you?” He wound her hair around his fist and lowered his head until his face was an inch from hers. “Had you hoped I would do things to you, demand things of you, that people only whisper about?”
“Dante. This is—It’s crazy. I don’t—I didn’t…” She swallowed dryly. “Let me go.”
She’d meant the words to be a command. Instead, they were a whisper. He smiled with amusement, and she felt an electric jolt in her blood.
“I said, let go…Or did you come here thinking you could bully me back into your arms?”
His eyes grew dark; she saw his mouth twist. The seconds ticked away and then, when her heart seemed ready to leap from her breast, he thrust her from him, stepped back and folded his arms.
“Never that,” he said coolly. “And you’re right. Things were over between us. I knew it. In fact, that was the reason I went to see you that night. I wanted to tell you we were finished.” He gave a quick smile. “As you say, cara, things get old.”
She’d known the truth but hearing it made it worse. Still, she showed no reaction. He wanted her to squirm, and she’d be damned if she would.
“Is that what this is about? That the great Dante Russo wants to be sure I understand I made the first move only because your timing was off?”
Dante chuckled. “Bright as always, Taylor—though you surely don’t believe I bought this bank and made this trip only so I could tell you it was pure luck you ended our affair before I did.”
Tally moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. She was dying inside, but she’d be damned if she’d let him know it.
“No. I’m not that naive. You bought the bank because—” Desperately, she ran through the terms of the loan in her mind. Could he do that? Could he cancel what Dennison had already approved? “Because you think you can cancel my loan.”
“Think?” he said, very softly. “You underestimate me. I can do whatever I wish, but canceling a loan that already exists would take more time and effort than it’s worth.” He smiled. “So I’m going to do the next best thing. I’m reinstating the original repayment terms.”
Her gaze flew to his. “Reinstating them?” she said stupidly. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s simple, cara,” he said, almost gently. “As of now, you will pay the amount you are supposed to pay each month.”
Tally thought of the four-figure number the loan called for. She was paying a quarter of that amount now, and barely managing it.
“That’s—it’s out of the question. I can’t possibly—”
“Additionally, you will pay the amount that’s in arrears.” He took a slip of paper from his pocket and held it out toward her. His lips curved. “Plus interest, of course.”
Tally looked at the number on the paper and laughed.