A Facade to Shatter Read online

  Please read on for a sneak peek at the next book in

  SICILY’S CORRETTI DYNASTY,

  A Scandal in the Headlines by Caitlin Crews,

  which features in

  The Correttis: Scandals

  available in August 2013.

  A SCANDAL IN THE HEADLINES

  Caitlin Crews

  She understood that she would have to live with this. That this was a defining moment. That her life would be divided into before and after this scorching hot dance, and that she would never again be the person she’d believed she was before this stranger pulled her against him. But his eyes were locked to hers, filled with wonder and fire, and she didn’t pull away. She didn’t even try—and she understood she’d have to live with that, too.

  And then he made it all so much worse.

  ‘You cannot marry him,’ he said, those dark green eyes so fierce, his face so hard.

  It took her longer than it should have to clear her head, to hear him. To hear an insult no engaged woman should tolerate. It was that part that penetrated, finally. That made her fully comprehend the depths of her betrayal.

  ‘Who are you?’ she demanded. But she still let him hold her in his arms, like she was something precious to him. Or like she wished she was. ‘What makes you think you can say something like that to me?’

  ‘I am Alessandro Coretti,’ he bit out. She stiffened and his voice dropped to an urgent, insistent growl. ‘And you know why I can say that. You feel this, too.’

  ‘Coretti …’ she breathed, the reality of what she was doing, the scope of her treachery, like concrete blocks falling through her one after the next.

  He saw it, reading her too easily. His dark eyes flashed.

  ‘You cannot marry him,’ he said again, some kind of desperation beneath the autocratic demand in his voice. As if he knew her. As if he had the right. ‘He’ll ruin you.’

  Elena would never know what might have happened then, had she not jerked her gaze away from Alessandro’s in confusion—and seen Niccolo there at the side of the dance floor, glaring at the two of them with murder in his black eyes.

  Elena was amazed that it was possible to hate herself so much, so fully. And that the shame didn’t kill her where she stood.

  ‘How dare you?’ she hissed at Alessandro, all her horror at her own appalling actions in her voice. ‘I know who you are. I know what you are.’

  © Harlequin Books S.A. 2013

  Special thanks and acknowledgement are given to Caitlin Crewes for her contribution to Sicily’s Corretti Dynasty series

  All the characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author, and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all the incidents are pure invention.

  All Rights Reserved including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. This edition is published by arrangement with Harlequin Enterprises II B.V./S.à.r.l. The text of this publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, storage in an information retrieval system, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

  This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the prior consent of the publisher in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  ® and TM are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks marked with ® are registered with the United Kingdom Patent Office and/or the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market and in other countries.

  First published in Great Britain 2013

  Mills & Boon, an imprint of Harlequin (UK) Limited,

  Eton House, 18-24 Paradise Road, Richmond, Surrey TW9 1SR

  THE CORRETTIS: SECRETS

  © Harlequin Enterprises II B.V./S.à.r.l. 2013

  A Façade to Shatter © Harlequin Books S.A. 2013

  Special thanks and acknowledgement are given to Lynn Raye Harris for her contribution to Sicily’s Corretti Dynasty series

  eISBN: 978-1-472-01565-5