Castellano's Mistress of Revenge by Melanie Milburne

the tight band around her head instantly relax.
    The heat of the day drove Ava out to the infinity pool Douglas had installed in the terraced gardens at the back of the villa. It was one of Ava’s favourite spots, for the screen of the shrubs gave her a sense of privacy as she swam lap after lap. The sun was warm, but the water spilling over her with each stroke she took felt like cool silk, the sensual glide of her body through the water making her feel weightless and free.
    She wasn’t quite sure of when she first realised she was no longer alone. At first it was just a prickling-at-the-back-of-the-neck sensation that she was being watched, but when she stopped at the end of the poolshe could see no sign of anyone about. However, it was on her last lap that she noticed Marc sitting on one of the sun loungers, looking magnificently male in nothing but his black close-fitting bathers. Every muscle of his abdomen looked as if it had been carved from dark marble. Not a gram of excess flesh was on him anywhere. She could see he was no stranger to the discipline of regular and hard exercise. If anything, he was looking even fitter and leaner than he had in the past.
    â€˜You swim well,’ he said, lifting his sunglasses to prop them just above his hairline.
    â€˜Thank you,’ she said and, using the steps at the side of the pool, came out of the water, trying not to feel self-conscious in her bikini.
    She felt Marc’s eyes on her as she went to the other sun lounger, where she had left her towel, the heat of his gaze warming her far more than the late-afternoon sun. She used her towel like a sarong around her body before she faced him. ‘Celeste told me you weren’t coming back to the villa until later this evening.’
    He placed his hands behind his head as he stretched out on the lounger, the action making every carved contour of his biceps bulge with latent strength. ‘I finished the business I had to see to earlier than expected,’ he said.
    Ava narrowed her gaze as she stalled in the process of wringing out her wet hair over her shoulder. ‘Were you checking up on me by any chance?’ she asked.
    He crossed his ankles in an indolent manner, his dark eyes still roving her form so thoroughly she felt her skin prickle all over with sensory awareness. ‘Were you thinking of an escape route?’ he countered.
    Ava pursed her lips, letting the damp rope of her hair go. ‘Is there one I could use that would succeed?’
    He smiled a confident smile. ‘No.’ He leaned back even farther in the lounger. ‘I have thought of everything, cara . You have no choice but to stay with me or face the consequences of your late husband’s debts.’
    Ava tightened her towel around her body. ‘If I am to be shackled to you indefinitely I would like something to do to fill my time,’ she said. ‘While I was…’ she hesitated ever so briefly over her choice of word ‘…living with Douglas I helped him with some aspects of the business.’
    Marc rose from the lounger, dropping his sunglasses back over his eyes. ‘You can’t have been keeping too close an eye on them, otherwise you would have seen the way things were and left him and his sinking ship long ago,’ he remarked.
    Ava felt her heart give a little flutter as he stepped closer. She had no way of escaping unless she stepped backwards into the pool. ‘Th-that’s because towards the end when he became ill I left things to his accountants and business manager and instead looked after him myself.’
    â€˜Why didn’t you leave him while you had the chance, or didn’t he give you a choice?’
    â€˜It might surprise you, but yes, he did give me a choice, but I felt I owed it to him to stay,’ she said. ‘He had no one else. He wasn’t close to his children, which he regretted deeply. I felt sorry for him. He didn’t want to die