Lahat ng Kabanata ng MARRYING MY BEST FRIEND'S FIANCEE: Kabanata 321 - Kabanata 330

Where are we going?Gregorio gave Chloe a brief glance from behind his dark sunglasses as she sat beside him in the black sports car that he had borrowed for the day from his cousin Tiziano. The soft top was down, and Chloe wore her long red tresses unconfined today, so that they tumbled in the wind and gleamed like fire as the sun shone down on the two of them.Chloe had been waiting for Gregorio at her apartment when he’d arrived just before one o’clock, relieving him of the trouble of having to go looking for her. Something he had considered as a distinct possibility after her obstinacy before leaving on Sunday evening.But he should have known that Chloe was made of much stronger stuff than that. That she wasn't the type of woman who would flee and hide from what she had to know was the inevitability of their relationship.At least, he hoped she realized it was inevitable.The last 36 hours had been incredibly long ones as far as Gregorio was concerned. Most of them had been spent

Chloe looked at him from beneath lowered lashes and was struck anew by the way he looked: his hair was a gleaming gold, his eyes a warm, indulgent brown, and those aristocratic features were almost too perfect to be true. steely strength melded with raw sensuality. His body was lean and powerful, exuding that same sensuality even when relaxed, as it was now as he sat beside her on the blanket.The plain, totally honest truth was that this man didn’t need to do anything to make her completely aware of him!"You think I should have gone out this morning and bought the things for the picnic myself?" he guessed, sounding slightly miffed at her continued silence.Chloe understood what he meant; picturing Gregorio Di Costa wandering around a supermarket delicatessen selecting meats and cheeses for their picnic wasn't easy!It was also slightly disconcerting that, in some areas at least, Gregorio seemed to be able to read her mind.She only hoped he wasn’t as knowledgeable concerning her inc

"Don’t touch me!" she snapped, and she wrenched her arm out of his grasp. She was probably bruising herself in the process, but she didn't care because she couldn't bear having Gregorio touch her when she was so emotionally vulnerable.Gregorio drew in a harsh breath as he teetered on the edge of losing his usual self-control.All of the Di Costa men had a temper—a red-hot temper that burned so deeply that it became icy and steely—but that cold control often gave the impression that they were without emotion at all.Chloe’s show of contempt for him was in serious danger of evoking that extreme reaction.And Gregorio would guarantee that she wouldn’t like it if it did!He released her to draw in several more controlling breaths. "You did not seem to find my touch so abhorrent a few minutes ago—in fact, the opposite!" He reminded her frostily, aware that his English had become stilted—a definite sign that he was in danger of losing his temper!It was something that he had no choice but

He abhorred the men in his profession who did use such enticements on young and beautiful actresses, who were often tricked into believing that going to bed with those men would help their careers—especially as it invariably didn’t. It was usually the ones with little talent for acting who resorted to the casting couch, because any actress of any repute would make it on her own merits without having to reduce herself to that level.Chloe's belief that he had acted in this manner with a close friend of hers explained her strange behavior over the last few days.It also explained why Chloe was so confused about her own response to him.Gregorio realized grimly that she hadn't expected to be attracted to him.She had thought merely to attract him and then shun him as recompense for hurting her friend.All of this—Chloe’s barbed conversation that had so attracted him when they’d met at the film premiere, the way she had deliberately stood him up at Garstang two evenings later, the pointedl

Had he aroused her on purpose, touched her, and caressed her with the sole intention of humiliating her?"Oh, I think you understand me perfectly well, Chloe," he said, his gaze once again sweeping over her disdainfully. "I’ve never even met your friend Alana, let alone showered her with flowers, compliments, and empty promises in order to seduce her into my silk-sheeted bed," he stated plainly, so that there should be no lingering misunderstanding.Chloe blinked up at him, trying to make sense of what he was saying. But she said—she"I don’t give a damn what your friend Alana said, Chloe," Gregorio informed her disgustedly. "I have never met the lady—if, indeed, that’s what she really is," he added, with a scathingly dismissive curl of his top lip.Chloe couldn’t mistake the utter conviction in his voice for anything other than the truth, and she looked up at him dazedly, able to clearly see freezing emotion in the harshness of his expression. She realized fully now what had been beh