"You dare to threaten me?" Lorenzo demanded.

"You may have managed to deceive my grandmother,

but you cannot deceive me."

He turned his back on her to pace the stone-flagged

floor of the Castillo’s Great Hall, his pent-up fury

rendering him as savagely dangerous as a caged animal

of prey.

"Admit it," he challenged as he swung round again

to confront her. "You came here deliberately intending

to manipulate and deceive an elderly dying

woman for your own ends."

"You know that I have no desire to quarrel with

you, Lorenzo," Caterina protested. "All I want—"

"I already know what you want," Lorenzo reminded

her coldly. "You want the privilege, the position, and

the wealth that becoming my wife would give you—

and it is for that reason that you harried a confused

elderly woman you knew to be dying into changing

her will. If you had any compassion, any—" He broke

off in disgust. "But of course you do not, as I already

know."

His furious contempt had caused the smile to fade

from her lips and her body to stiffen into hostility as

she abandoned any pretence of innocence.

"You can make as many accusations as you wish,

Lorenzo, but you cannot prove any of them," she

taunted him.

"Perhaps not in a court of law, but that does not

alter their veracity. My grandmother’s notary has told

me that when she summoned him to her bedside in

order to alter her will, she confided to him the reason

that she was doing so."

Lorenzo saw the look of unashamed triumph in

Caterina’s eyes.

"Admit it, Lorenzo. I have bested you. If you want

the Castillo — and we both know that you do — then

you will have to marry me. You have no other