Sabrina Philips - Valenti's One-Month Mistress

‘I am not here for your pleasure.’

‘Aren’t you?’ Valenti put down his knife and fork and challenged her with his full attention. It sent a shiver down her spine, and she felt suddenly conscious of the thin layer of fabric between her breasts and the cool air of the restaurant.

‘No. I am not.’ Faye concentrated on sipping her mineral water. ‘I am here because, before you rudely cut short our business meeting this afternoon, you suggested you had something worth saying.’

‘Ahh.’ His pause was arrogant, his eyelids low. ‘So you prefer to digest an idea before your food. Very well. I am willing to take a chance and transfer a small advance to your business account now.’

‘You are?’ Faye was so shocked that she almost knocked over her glass. But he had refused point-blank earlier. This made no sense. He hadn’t even looked at her proposal.

‘On one condition,’ he continued, his eyes glittering in challenge. ‘For the next month you will take up where you left off six years ago.’

Sabrina Philipsfirst discovered Mills & Boon ®one Saturday afternoon in her early teens at her first job in a charity shop. Sorting through a stack of pre-loved books, she came across a cover which featured a glamorous heroine and a tall, dark, handsome hero. She started reading under the counter that instant—and has never looked back!

A lover of both reading and writing since childhood, Sabrina went on to study English with Classics at Reading University. She adores all literature, but finds there’s nothing else quite like the indulgent thrill of a Modern™ Romance—preferably whilst lying in a hot bath with no distractions!

She grew up in Guildford, Surrey, where she now lives with her husband—who swept her off her feet when they were both just sixteen. When Sabrina isn’t spending time with her family or writing, she works as a co-ordinator of civil marriages, which she describes as a fantastic source of romantic inspiration and a great deal of fun.

A decade after reading her very first Mills & Boon ®, Sabrina is delighted to join as an author herself, and have the opportunity to create infuriatingly sexy heroes of her own, which she defies both her heroines—and her readers—to resist! Visit Sabrina’s website: www.sabrinaphilips.com

VALENTI’S ONE-MONTH MISTRESS is Sabrina’s debut book!

BY

SABRINA PHILIPS

www.millsandboon.co.uk

To Mum, for your unquestioning support, always.

And to Phil, for exceeding every dream I ever had.

CHAPTER ONE

WOULD she look him in the eye and plead? he wondered. Or would she be reluctant to meet his gaze, knowing that the last time she’d held it she’d had her legs wrapped around him and had given herself to him so freely? Dante spread the report across his expansive mahogany desk and his mouth hardened. No, he doubted that. Reluctance was not a word to be associated with Faye Matteson.

Leaning back in the wide leather chair, he glanced at her name amongst the appointments in his electronic diary. When his PA had come to him last month, asking if he would agree to see her, he had immediately deduced what it was that she wanted. He knew only something like this would bring her back to Rome. But she needn’t have bothered making the trip. How she stated her case would make no difference. He smiled wryly. It amused him that she actually believed he might be willing to help her. Like hell he would. But then why would she consider any outcome other than the one that she wanted? She never had before. He doubted six years had changed her. Yet it had changed him. The once angelic English waitress with the come-to-bed eyes no longer posed a danger. This time he knew she was a witch.

‘Miss Matteson is here, Mr Valenti,’ his receptionist purred over the intercom, interrupting his thoughts.

Dante stood up, preparing to savour the revenge.

‘Send her in.’

Nothing had changed, then, Faye thought to herself as she took a deep breath and sank down tentatively on the pristine sofa indicated by the svelte redhead—the final obstacle between herself and his office. His empire might have grown, but the set-up was the same: employees still orbited around him and every woman gravitated in his direction like flowers towards the sun. No doubt he still plucked whoever took his fancy and then left them to wilt.

Faye shuddered and tried to relax her shoulders. The tension was only partly due to the after-effects of the cramped seating on last night’s flight. Now was not the time to dwell on back then . She looked around the luxurious reception area. This world—his world—was unfamiliar to her now. Had she ever really been a part of it? She suspected that was just another delusion. There was no point even wondering. She had not stayed a part of it. After all these years she doubted he even recalled her name. But then it had dawned on her during the metro journey here that Dante Valenti did not allow his PA to make appointments for anyone he had not fully vetted first. So he must remember, and he had agreed for her to come anyway. Which meant… What did it mean? That the past was nothing to him, she supposed, and that business came first. And business is all that matters now , she berated herself silently. It’s about time you started thinking the same way . The fact that he had agreed to see her surely meant there was a chance that he at least might be willing to help, didn’t it? And there was no way she was going to blow Matteson’s last hope by dwelling on a stupid, childish disappointment.

Faye checked her watch for the third time, catching sight of her freshly manicured nails, so alien to her, clutching the proposal. This had to work. It had to. She watched the immaculate redhead murmur into the intercom, feeling self-conscious, and swept a tendril of her own fair hair back into the clip which held it away from her face. Her budget had not stretched to a professional cut too. This would have to do.

‘Mr Valenti will see you now.’ The woman spoke as if bestowing upon her an undeserved honour, and ushered her towards the elaborately panelled door.

Faye smoothed down the skirt of her new grey suit unnecessarily, her heart racing, the pressure echoing at her temples. She had spent over six years believing she would never have to lay eyes on him again, and now she had brought it upon herself. But what choice did she have? Over the course of the last year she had appealed to every bank, every possible investor she could think of, but no one would lend her a penny. At first it had been disheartening, worrying. Now it was desperate. There was no other choice—because it was this or watch her family’s restaurant go bankrupt before her eyes. And that wasn’t an option. Not just because she felt instinctively that it was her daughterly duty to prevent that happening, but because she loved the business. So much so that she was sure even if she had been born into an entirely different family she would always have been drawn—like a bird to the south—to the simple yet deep pleasure which came from seeing other people sit together around her table, enjoying good food. The way people once had at every table in Matteson’s. Which was why there was nothing left to do but to walk, as confidently as she could feign, into the enormous room.

He did not speak at first. Faye was silently grateful. For, though she had only dared flick a glance in his direction, the action had rendered her speechless. She had prepared herself for facing the old Dante, and that had been painful enough. What she had not taken into account was how time would have changed him. It was not the plush new office—he had always exuded wealth and class—nor the atmosphere of power that seemed to emanate from the ground where he stood. No, the years had somehow refined him . His luxurious dark hair seemed thicker, the irresistible slant of his jaw more chiselled, the curve of his full lower lip even more sensual. And those dark eyes, thrown into relief by that smooth olive skin, were the most changed of all: more piercing, more commanding—like ice. And, formidable though he looked, he was still the sexiest man she had ever met, and her treacherous eyes wanted to drink in every inch of him. Her memories had been distorted in so many respects, but she had never been wrong about that. No matter how much she wished that she had been.

‘To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure, Ms Matteson?’ His cut-glass enunciation of the English language with its seductive Italian undertone was as impressive to her now as it had been at eighteen, and sent long-dormant senses into overdrive. ‘I can only imagine .’

She raised her head tentatively, not able to focus her eyes above his broad chest. He gestured brusquely for her to sit on one of the black leather chairs flanking the enormous desk whilst he remained standing, making him seem even taller than the city buildings outside the window. She perched on the edge of the chair. She wished he’d remained silent, for she had not predicted the arousing effect that voice would have on her in spite of the damning intention of his words. She felt the blood course faster around her veins, making her aware of pulse-points even her unrelenting nerves had not discovered.

‘Hello, Dante.’

‘No formalities, Faye? You need not have booked this appointment through my PA if this is, after all, a personal call.’

Faye had been more than relieved last month, when she had been able to arrange this meeting without actually speaking to Dante himself. Now she suspected this whole charade would have been easier over the phone. She had mistakenly presumed she could be more persuasive face to face, but she had she failed to anticipate the sway his physical presence seemed to have over her.

‘Very well, Mr Valenti,’ she said, mimicking his formal address though her throat was dry and constricted. ‘I have come because I have a business proposition for you.’

‘Really, Faye?’ he counteracted. ‘And what could you possibly have that would interest me?’

The colour rose in her cheeks and she felt utterly exposed—all the more so because of his hawk-like advantage over her. She could feel the intensity of his gaze burning through the fabric of her suit and she wanted to take off her jacket—but she didn’t dare remove the layer of protection for fear that her cami would reveal the tingling buds of her breasts that thrust against the thin fabric against her will. Straight on with the speech , a voice inside her prompted. Don’t let him see he’s getting to you .

‘My family and I are keen to find some additional investment for Matteson’s, in return for a percentage of the profits. As someone who once showed an interest in our restaurant, I thought you might be eager to see the proposal.’ Her voice trailed off as she remembered his presence there back then: the delight that his approval had given her parents, the life he had breathed into it for her. She opened her folder on the desk and pushed it towards where he was standing at the other end. He ignored the papers.

‘Eager?’ She did not need to look at his face to catch his sardonic tone. ‘You may have been fool enough to presume I had any interest whatsoever in the restaurant back then.’ Dante dipped his eyes as he spoke, shaking his head. ‘But you must be plain stupid if you think I don’t know that Matteson’s is on its last legs.’