Venice Vampyr - The Beginning

Her own body had almost betrayed her when he’d stood there in front of her. She’d wanted to run into his arms, ask him, beg him to make love to her, to pin her under his beautiful naked body and drive her wild. To feel his hard shaft in her, filling her, satisfying her. It had taken all her strength not to give in. Her life as she knew it would be over if she did.

Already, by bringing Raphael—oh, what a wonderful name—into her home and tending to him personally, she’d risked too much. She could only hope that Elisabetta would heed her threat. Adolfo she trusted one hundred percent. He was her ally, the only one of her servants who was completely loyal to her. Elisabetta was new in her employ and, Isabella hoped, too intimidated by her to go against her strict orders. She’d researched her background thoroughly before employing her, making sure she had no connections to Massimo. Massimo kept enough spies in her household.

Now she could only hope that no word of what had transpired in her home tonight would reach the outside world.





Chapter Five




Isabella waited until Elisabetta had undone her corset and stepped out of it. She was left with her chemise and drawers. Her hair was already relieved of the pins that had held it up and now hung loosely around her shoulders.

“That’ll be all for tonight.” She met Elisabetta’s gaze in the mirror. “And don’t forget, one word of what happened here tonight and you will never find another position in Venice.”

She curtsied. “Yes, Signora.”

When the maid finally left her bedchamber, Isabella let out a quiet sigh. All she could do was dream. At least she’d saved a life tonight. She hoped it had been worth it.

“Finally, I thought the chit would never leave.” The deep voice came from behind the curtains.

She swiveled on her chair and saw Raphael di Santori step out from his apparent hiding place. Gasping, she pressed a hand against her chest and frantically reached for her dressing gown. “Signore, this is an outrage! How did you get in here?”

He motioned to the window. “I climbed in. And don’t worry, nobody saw me. I understand how you value discretion.”

Isabella pressed her dressing gown to her front to cover up as much as she could. Her heart beat in her throat. Only a rake would enter a woman’s bedchamber without invitation. “I would value it even more if you disappeared just as discretely.” She paused for effect. “This instant.”

Raphael took a step closer. “I can’t do that.”

“Of course you can,” she insisted. “Surely, if you managed to climb in, you’ll manage to climb back out.”

He smiled his insanely crooked smile and flashed his brilliantly blue eyes at her. She’d never seen a man with such hypnotic eyes. “What I meant to say is I won’t. Because you, Signora, lied to me.”

She shot up from her seat. “Lied?” What was he accusing her of? And besides, what did it matter? He was trespassing on her property.

“You risked your own life to save mine. Why did you lead me to believe that your servant rescued me?”

“Oh, that.”

“Yes, that.”

Before she knew what he was about to do, he crossed the distance between them and clasped her shoulders with his hands. “Don’t you understand what kind of danger you put yourself in? You could have drowned with me, woman! How could you be so careless with your own life? Do you know how heavy I am? Did you even think?”

With every word he appeared to get angrier. She couldn’t understand why. After all, they were both safe. “But we’re both alive.”

“By whatever stroke of luck! You could have given your life for me, a stranger. You don’t even know whether I was worth saving.” His eyes grew darker by the second, his voice harsher with every word.

“I couldn’t let you drown. Every life is worth saving.”

***

Why this raven haired beauty could infuriate him like this, Raphael had no idea. Yet, she did. The moment he’d heard the gondolier say that she’d been the one who’d jumped into the frigid waters to save him, he’d felt like an ice cold hand had squeezed his heart. For the first time in his life, true fear had traveled through his body. Fear for another person. Fear of what could have happened to her.

And when the gondolier had told him how long Isabella had stayed under water and how hard it had been to pull them up, all he could think of was paddling her stubborn ass to teach her a lesson so she would never again put herself in the path of danger like she had.

“Damn it, woman, if I were your husband I would make sure you never jumped into another icy canal and risked your life.” Yes, if Raphael were her husband, there’d be a hell lot of things he’d do, starting with—

“And how would you try to achieve that, you arrogant, ungrateful man!” Isabella spat and pushed off his hands.