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  Kiley O’Dell Wasn’t At All What

  Nicolò Had Expected.

  But then, neither had he expected the tidal wave of desire that slammed through him, rendering him blind and deaf to everything but the woman standing in the doorway of the elegant hotel suite. He saw her mouth move, but all he heard was the roaring that filled his ears, demanding that he take this woman and make her his. That he put his mark on her in every way possible. That he possess her, binding her to him until neither of them could escape.

  No. He flat-out refused to accept even the possibility that this might signify The Inferno.

  No. Way. In. Hell.

  Dear Reader,

  I have occasionally heard people say that they’d like to relive a portion of their lives and change the way they behaved, or make different choices. To start over. To take that other fork in the road. But would you be willing to wipe your life’s slate clean if it meant forgetting your past? All of it, even the good parts? It’s an intriguing fantasy. Imagine. All the foolish, traumatic, silly, sad, funny, tragic incidents in life…gone in the space of a heartbeat. Would you do it?

  And even more interesting…How much of yourself would be left once that slate was cleaned? What if you could only go with your gut instincts and behave the way your heart dictates? How much of who we are is determined by genetics and how much by environment? Those questions so intrigued me that I was driven to write this story and explore the possibilities. To find out if love could overcome the uncertainties and trauma of an empty past.

  That’s the premise behind Dante’s Wedding Deception. This love story is one of the most unusual I’ve ever written and one of the most satisfying. As the Dante family troubleshooter, Nicolò Dante is forced to give up control and trust in the Inferno, something he doesn’t think possible…until he meets Kiley O’Dell. But love has a way of changing everything and everyone, whether they remember who and what they are…or not.

  Enjoy!

  Day Leclaire

  DAY LECLAIRE

  DANTE’S WEDDING DECEPTION

  Books by Day Leclaire

  Silhouette Desire

  *The Forbidden Princess #1780

  *The Prince’s Mistress #1786

  *The Royal Wedding Night #1792

  The Billionaire’s Baby Negotiation #1821

  †Dante’s Blackmailed Bride #1852

  †Dante’s Stolen Wife #1870

  †Dante’s Wedding Deception #1880

  DAY LECLAIRE

  USA TODAY bestselling author Day Leclaire lives and works in the perfect setting—on an island off the North Carolina coast. Living in an environment where she can connect with primal elements that meld the moodiness of an ever-changing ocean, unfettered wetlands teeming with every creature imaginable and the ferocity of both hurricanes and nor’easters that batter the fragile island, she’s discovered the perfect setting for writing passionate books that offer a unique combination of humor, emotion and unforgettable characters.

  Described by Harlequin Books as “one of our most popular writers ever!” Day’s tremendous worldwide popularity has made her a member of Harlequin’s prestigious “Five Star Club,” with sales totaling more than five million books. She is a three-time winner of both the Colorado Award of Excellence and The Golden Quill Award. She’s won Romantic Times BOOKreviews Career Achievement and Love and Laughter awards, a Holt Medallion, a Booksellers’ Best Award and has received an impressive ten nominations for the prestigious Romance Writers of America RITA® Award. Day’s romances touch the heart and make you care about her characters as much as she does. In Day’s own words, “I adore writing romances, and can’t think of a better way to spend each day.” For more information, visit Day on her Web site at www.dayleclaire.com.

  To Donna Totton, for being the best sister-in-law in the

  world…and for your constant support and assistance.

  Thank you!

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  Nicolò Dante anticipated trouble the same way he anticipated marriage—one part dread, and two parts determination to find a way out of the whole unfortunate mess.

  Some men found a certain inevitability to the sorry state of “wedded amiss.” His two brothers, Sev and Marco, had eventually succumbed to the entire process like the not-quite-proverbial rams to the slaughter. Well, not him. He had enough trouble in his life without looking for more.

  And right now that trouble took the form of Kiley O’Dell.

  “We need you to look into this,” his eldest brother, Sev, instructed. “According to the documents Caitlyn uncovered, there’s a distinct possibility that this woman may own a substantial interest in Dantes’ fire diamond mine.”

  Such a simple statement, yet the implications were dire, and could cause endless problems for Dantes’ jewelry empire, an empire whose fame was built on the lure of fire diamonds. They could be found nowhere else in the world, except deep within the bowels of a Dante mine, and they were coveted by everyone from royalty to heads of state to the local shopkeeper around the corner.

  Nicolò’s expression darkened. “Our dear sister-in-law should have kept her nose out of those old papers. They’ve brought us nothing but grief.” He lifted an eyebrow in question. “Does Marco have no control over Caitlyn?”

  Sev shook his head in disgust. “You really don’t have a clue, do you?”

  “I’m probably the only one who does.” Nicolò leaned a hip against his older brother’s desk. “What’s the point of being so damn charming, if he can’t use some of it on his own wife? He tricked her into marriage, didn’t he? Now that he’s got her, the least he can do is keep her out of trouble.”

  Sev crossed his arms across his chest, his burnished gold eyes brilliant with laughter. “Keep digging that hole, bro. Your Inferno bride will be delighted to bury you in it when you eventually come across her.”

  “Forget it.” Nicolò made a brisk slicing movement with his hand. “As far as I’m concerned the family curse—”

  “Blessing,” Sev corrected mildly.

  “Blessing? Hell, it’s more like an infection.”

  Sev tilted his head to one side and considered the description. “That’s an interesting analogy, although I’d say The Inferno is closer to a melding.”

  Nicolò allowed a hint of curiosity to show. “What was it like when you first felt The Inferno for Francesca?”

  “Are you finally admitting it exists?”

  “I’m willing to admit you and Marco believe it does,” Nicolò conceded grudgingly.

  “And Primo.”

  Nicolò dismissed that with a swift shake of his head. “Our grandfather is the one who has perpetuated the legend all these years. It offers a convenient excuse to explain lust, no more and no less.”

  “Now you sound like Lazz,” Sev said. “But if that were true, Caitlyn never would have been able to distinguish between Marco and Lazz, considering how difficult it is to tell the two apart. And yet, she picked out her husband without any doubt or hesitation. And she did it under the most extreme circumstances. Wasn’t that enough to convince you?”

  Nicolò couldn’t deny fact. Nor could he rationalize what he’d seen that day. But that didn’t mean he’d allow Sev to draw him into a discussion about the veracity of The Inferno. “You still haven’t explained what it’s like.”

  An odd smile drifted across Sev’s mouth and his ey
es seemed lit from within, filled with an unsettling combination of pleasure and satisfaction. “When I first saw Francesca, I felt a physical pull, as though we were somehow connected by a thin tenuous wire. The closer we moved in proximity, the stronger the connection between us. It kept growing until it became so powerful I couldn’t resist it.”

  “That’s it? You felt physically attracted?”

  “Shut up, Nicolò.” There wasn’t any heat behind the demand, just amused impatience. “Do you want to know, or don’t you?”

  “I asked, didn’t I?” Though why he bothered, he couldn’t say. Horrified fascination, perhaps. Or perhaps forewarned was forearmed. The instant he felt anything similar, he’d get the hell out. Get out long before he did something as outrageous as Sev—like blackmail his future wife into first leaving their competitor and working for Dantes, and later still agreeing to a pretend engagement. Clearly The Inferno did strange things to the men and women it mated. “Something happens when you touch, doesn’t it?”

  “A shock.”

  At the reminder, Sev kneaded the palm of his right hand with the fingers of his left. It was a habitual gesture, one Nicolò had seen both his grandfather Primo and his brother Marco imitate. They all claimed it occurred as a result of The Inferno, a lingering residual from that first touch. Even Caitlyn rubbed her palm periodically.

  “A shock like static electricity?” Nicolò prompted.

  “Yes. No.” Sev grimaced. “It’s a shock, yes. But it doesn’t really hurt. It surprises. Then it seems to meld us. Complete the connection. After that, it’s done. There’s no going back. You’ve been matched with your soul mate and you’re permanently joined for the rest of your lives.”

  Damn. Nicolò didn’t like the sound of that. He preferred having his options open, to have a variety of choices. In his position as Dantes’ troubleshooter, he required the freedom to jump from one creative opportunity to another should the need arise. Experiencing such a total loss of control didn’t appeal to him at all. The Inferno stole that control, forcing its will on unwilling subjects. And though he didn’t mind bending on occasion, so long as it happened to be in the general direction he was headed anyway, he resented like hell the concept of being broken, stripped of power and forced along a path not of his choosing.

  “Well, with luck The Inferno will be clever enough to leave me alone,” Nicolò said lightly. “Now tell me what you’ve discovered about Kiley O’Dell.”

  “Nothing.”

  Nicolò’s brows tugged together. “What do you mean…nothing?”

  “I mean that since the question of who actually owns the fire diamond mine broke in The Snitch—”

  “Damn interfering gossip rag.”

  Momentary amusement flashed across Sev’s face. “Now you sound like Marco. Not that it matters. Apparently, the O’Dell woman reads The Snitch.” His amusement faded. “She’s come forward demanding a meeting to discuss the situation. A meeting you’re going to set up. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to get any substantive background info on her. At least, not yet.”

  Nicolò stared, appalled. “You expect me to go in blind?”

  “I don’t see what choice we have. Listen, just hear her out. Primo bought that mine fair and square. Find out why she thinks her family might still have a legitimate claim after all these years. Then stall while we put some investigators on this.” A fierceness settled over Sev’s face. “I don’t have to tell you how much we stand to lose if Kiley O’Dell’s claims prove genuine.”

  “Dantes will go under.” Nicolò didn’t phrase it as a question.

  Sev nodded. “Everything we’ve worked to rebuild over the past decade will have been for nothing. We need to find out what proof the O’Dell woman has that she’s a legitimate owner in the mine and then keep her happily oblivious while we find a way to take her down.”

  Nicolò’s expression hardened. “Then that’s what I’ll do.”

  “Nic—”

  “I understand how important this is.” It was probably the most delicate job he’d ever handled, as well as the most difficult. “I’ll find a way to keep her off balance.”

  “Tread lightly.” At Nicolò’s questioning look, Sev elaborated. “Her claim could be genuine. We don’t want to do anything to set her against us. We want an amicable resolution, not a pitched battle.”

  Nicolò shook his head. “Then she shouldn’t have started this war. Because one way or another I intend to finish it.”

  One

  Kiley O’Dell wasn’t at all what Nicolò expected.

  But then, neither did he expect the tidal wave of desire that slammed through him, rendering him deaf and blind to everything but the woman standing in the doorway of her suite at Le Premier. He saw her mouth move, but the sound refused to penetrate the roaring that filled his ears, a roaring that demanded he take this woman and make her his. To put his mark on her in every way possible. To possess her and bind her to him until neither of them could escape.

  No. He dropped his head and fought the sensation, fought for all he was worth. He flat-out refused to accept this feeling, flinching from the very real possibility that it might signify the start of The Inferno.

  No. Way. In. Hell.

  This woman spelled trouble from the top of her dainty red head to the tips of her tiny red-coated toenails. And he refused to allow trouble into his life, his bed, or his heart. No matter what it took, he’d put an end to this sensation. It couldn’t possibly be that difficult. It only required a single, simple solution. All he had to do was figure out what that solution was and The Inferno would pass him by.

  Lifting his head, he took a second to study Kiley O’Dell, using every scrap of creative skill at his disposal to search for a way out of his latest predicament. But nothing came to him and he simply stood and stared at her.

  Her name suited her. She stood no taller than a minute, with a taut, lithe figure that packed just enough curves in just the right places to tempt a man to explore every inch of that creamy white skin. She wore her hair long and it fell in heavy strawberry-blond curls to the middle of her back. She also possessed the most stunning pair of pale green eyes he’d ever seen, eyes that dominated her triangular-shaped face.

  “Mr. Dante?” she asked, clearly repeating herself. Her cultured voice contained a low, musical quality that fell easily on the ears. “Is there something wrong?”

  “Nicolò.”

  He shoved the single word from between clenched teeth. Did she have any idea how hard he struggled to act with a modicum of propriety while instinct clawed at him, urging him to snatch her up in his arms and carry her off to the nearest bedroom?

  Possibly, since a hint of wariness crept into her regard and a pulse kicked to life in the hollow of her throat, betraying her instinctive response to him. A response not all that unlike his own, if he didn’t miss his guess. A streak of color highlighted her arching cheekbones and he could almost smell the whiff of desire that perfumed the air between them. Oh, yeah, this wasn’t good.

  She recovered far swifter than he. “I’m Kiley O’Dell. Thank you for taking the time to see me.”

  Everything about her appeared quick and decisive, from the sharp once-over she gave him to the way her gaze leapt from him, to the hallway, and then over her shoulder to the spacious hotel room. He couldn’t help but wonder if that last glance was a final check to make sure she’d properly set the scene for their encounter.

  “Come on in,” she said, stepping to one side.

  She didn’t bother offering her hand, which suited him just fine. Considering the overwhelming hunger her appearance aroused it would be downright foolhardy to touch this woman. Not with The Inferno currently on the rampage, cutting a swathe of destruction through the Dante males.

  Not that he believed in The Inferno. Hell, no. He hadn’t when Primo first told the tale. Nor when Sev and Marco tried to convince him they’d both experienced it the first time they’d touched their future wives. And he damn sure didn’t inten
d to start believing in The Inferno now. Not even with this desperate need filling every empty space inside him with a want so huge he could barely contain it all.

  “Would you like something to drink?” Kiley tossed the question over her shoulder while she crossed the plush carpet. She moved with a hip-swinging stride that drew his gaze to her pert, rounded backside lovingly outlined by a pair of trim black slacks. He caught back a groan. Was it deliberate…or another aspect of the stage she’d set for their meeting? “I have sodas,” she continued. “Or something stronger if you feel the need.”

  Whiskey. He’d kill for a double shot of single-malt. “I’m fine, thanks.”

  “Do you want to talk first or get straight down to business?”

  “What’s there to talk about?”

  That had her turning around. A crooked smile tilted her mouth, giving her an almost gamine appearance. “We could take a stab at making this a friendly get-together. You know, exchange the usual pleasantries people do when they first meet.”

  Okay, he’d play along. “Like?”

  “Like…Tell me what you do at Dantes, Nicolò.”

  “I solve problems.”

  Laughter gleamed in those odd green eyes, turning them spring-leaf bright. “And I’m your current problem?”

  “I don’t know.” He lifted an eyebrow. “Are you?”

  She shrugged. “Time will tell.”

  She folded her arms across her chest and leaned her hip against the back of a richly upholstered divan. She took her time, studying him at her leisure. Searching for a weakness? he couldn’t help but wonder. If so, she’d have a long, fruitless time of it. The moment stretched, thin and sharp as razor wire. She broke first.

  “It’s your turn,” she prompted gently.