His UnBearable Touch_Howls Romance Read online

  She heard a soft chuff of laughter and leaned closer trying to decipher the odd scratch of sound. Allegra felt him take hold of her free hand and set it on his arm. The fine wool under her hand invited her hand to explore, but she held back, touching the tip of her cane to the ground before her feet.

  “But your name,” she hesitated to ask, feeling like she might break the spell he’d wound around her, “isn’t Orpheus, is it?”

  Allegra couldn’t see his face, but she imagined that there was a smile on his lips.

  “Valerio,” he offered the name and she found herself repeating it in her head. “Valerio Orsino. And you?”

  It was only fair, she decided, he’d saved her from danger. The least she could do was give him her name in exchange. Before she spoke, she felt his fingers trace over the back of her hand, lightly rolling the silver chain bracelet that encircled her wrist. “Allegra Rossetti, and I’d like to thank you for helping me.”

  He lifted the chain from her skin and she felt it trace the tender skin on the inside of her wrist like a caress. “I couldn’t let him hurt you,” he replied, “I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again.”

  As they began to move she didn’t feel the tight press of people around her, didn’t feel jostling elbows or hear muttered curses. If she didn’t know better, she’d think that people on the subway platform were stepping aside to give them a wide berth as they walked through the station. Perhaps they sensed the wild strength in Valerio like she did.

  They mounted the stairs together, while Valerio guided her with gentle touches and soft words. She noted the tenderness in his manners and felt his strength beneath her hand. He said he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her and the hopeless romantic in her believed him.

  He’d called her his star, but maybe he just might be the same for her. He just might be the light in her darkness after all these years.

  Chapter Two

  She was walking again, but this time with Valerio’s arm under her hand, her cane held in the other. She hesitantly extended the cane out before her, worried that somehow she’d trip someone or anger them with her confused fumblings.

  The noise continued around them, but it didn’t push into her like before. Her experience now was unhurried and gave her a chance to absorb the environment. “So, this is what it’s like.”

  She heard a soft chuckle and turned instinctually toward Valerio. “What is it?”

  “It’s the subway,” she answered her voice a bit bright and breathless.

  He cleared his throat and just in that little bit of sound, she could sense his distaste. “It’s dank and dirty, the regrettable push of strangers. It could very well give me nightmares,” she could almost imagine his expression, but she knew she did his looks no justice, “and yet your voice is filled with wonder.”

  She shrugged, glad that she could push the fear out of her head for a few moments, but when she answered, it was her truth. “Is it strange to find the subway something new, strange and wonderful. When I first arrived in New York it was the first thing on my list of experiences to try, but I was busy with school and I lived a block away from classes. Then, when I moved away from campus…”

  She was trying to start over, make a new life, and talking about the past felt like she was still holding onto it. Her hand trembled, an involuntary movement like a flinch.

  “Are you still scared?” She felt him tense under her hand. “I meant what I said,” he continued, “he won’t hurt you again.”

  She smiled at the concern in his voice. “I don’t doubt you for a minute.” Allegra leaned a little more onto the arm supporting her. “Your voice says you’re earnest, truthful, and you didn’t say those words to impress or distract me.”

  “You can hear that in my voice?”

  She smiled and wondered if he was smiling back at her. “I may not see with my eyes, but I’m not completely helpless.”

  She couldn’t feel a smile or laughter any more. She felt a tension through his arm.

  “No. You’re not.”

  She didn’t know what to say in reply, or if there was anything to say at all.

  “You strike me as a strong woman, Miss Rossetti.”

  “Yet, you found me cowering from that man.”

  “Cowering? Hardly.”

  She felt a change of air temperature on her face and realized that she’d begun climbing the steps at his side without prompting. The stale underground air had turned to the crisp autumn chill that she’d come to adore. “We’re outside again.”

  She felt him shift beside her. “I thought it best,” he explained, “you’re trembling, likely in shock.”

  He drew in a breath and Allegra wondered what he looked like. “I suppose I’ve had enough adventure for the day,” she laughed and felt the sour taste of her lie on her tongue. Adventure was a welcome thing, being assaulted in the subway was not. And yet, here she was safe and sound with a man whose voice turned her knees to mush… and other parts of her heavy, tight, and aching.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.”

  She heard truth again and felt a blush steal over her cheeks.

  “I’ve missed my meeting with my brothers,” she heard a hint of a smile in his voice, “they’ll forgive me when I tell them I was with you.”

  “With me,” she laughed and felt the burst of sound down to her toes, “I doubt that very much.”

  “Come,” she didn’t hear a command in his voice, but an entreaty, “let us find somewhere to sit and I’ll let you ask them.”

  When she paused, stood silent beside him on the busy New York street, he was the one that questioned her silence.

  “Were you with someone earlier?”

  “With someone,” she questioned, “I was walking with Davis.” She felt his body tremble and a question furrowed her brow. “He was taking me on a bit of an excursion into the subway. I’m sure he’s frantic by now.” Fear clutched at her chest. “I should go back to the theater. They should know that I’m fine.”

  “Then that’s where we will go.” She felt his hand on her arm and knew by the shift of his weight that he leaned away from her.

  She covered his hand with hers and felt the heat of his skin burn through hers.

  “Don’t worry,” his tone was deep and reassuring, “I won’t leave you. I’m just getting us a car.”

  She felt silly. She’d just met the man. Taking his hand? Good job, Allegra, she chastised herself. Clingy.

  Valerio squeezed her hand and her cheeks flushed warm.

  She felt a rush of air and heard the soft brush of tires hugging asphalt.

  “Let’s get you inside.”

  She startled at the sound of his voice in her ear. She wanted to ask him for a moment. She needed to tell him what a nightmare it was for her to get into a car, especially one she wasn’t used to and-

  His hand gently released hers and settled on her waist, almost low enough for his fingers to brush over the fullness of her hip. “It’s a mid-sized SUV,” his voice soothed her nerves, “I don’t think you’ll have to climb up at all. Maybe just step in.” His laughter was like a caress. “If you like, I can pick you up and place you on the seat.”

  She pulled away slightly, a gasp parting her lips. “You’ll hurt yourself.” Allegra felt him tense beside her and felt the vibrations of a growl through his touch.

  “Let’s get you inside. Step?”

  She took in a breath and shivered at the scent of his cologne. It was, in a word, yummy.

  “Or, do I get to hold you?”

  Danger, Allegra, danger.

  “S-step.” She wanted his hands on her, but that wasn’t going to get them off of the street. And now that they were out of the subway, the adrenaline was wearing off and her knees weren’t going to last much longer.

  “Do you trust me?”

  “Yes.” She didn’t think about the answer, it was just there, and a moment later he proved that she was right.

  His hand led hers to the hand hold on the frame of the car.
His voice gently guided her closer, told her how close she was, how high to lift her foot. It was seamless and unnerving, as if he’d worked with her and Nurse Owens when she’d been in therapy and training.

  Never once did he let her flounder. Never once did she feel like she’d fall or make a mistake.

  Never once did she feel like he treated her like she was broken.

  And before she could really wrap her head around the idea, she was in the cab, taking the seatbelt from Valerio’s hand and setting it into the lock with a decisive click.

  When the door on the other side opened, she jumped a little and then turned away toward the window as if she could see out of it. The seat beneath her tilted slightly to the right and she set her hand down to keep her balance. A heartbeat later, she felt his hand cover hers. It was warm, his skin and the contact didn’t make her itch. The heat of his touch didn’t stifle, he didn’t crowd.

  Again, sensations swam through her, uplifting instead of claustrophobic. With Lance, it had always been-

  “Where to, Sir? Miss?”

  Allegra sucked in a shuddering breath as she focused on the driver’s question. Clearing her throat, she told him the address of the practice hall, finishing with, “Gotham Chamber Orchestra.”

  As the car pulled away from the curb, she admired the fact that the driver didn’t swerve into traffic like most. It helped her to keep her stomach even. Since the attack, sudden shifts in direction made it difficult for her to keep her balance and her stomach in check.

  Valerio lifted her hand from the seat, turning it over so her palm faced up. She turned her head and tilted it down instinctually, as if she could see what was happening. A touch, a caress, just a whisper against her skin from fingertip to her palm.

  She tried not to pull away, or rather, she tried not to lean into his touch. Whoever Valerio was, she not only instinctively trusted him, she craved him. That alone put her head in a whirl.

  After Lance, touching wasn’t… The past just wouldn’t leave her alone.

  “What instrument do you play?”

  She swallowed down the dark thoughts that had crept into her head. “Don’t you want to guess?” Her cheeky response seemed to shock them both, at least that’s what his laugh told her. “You were looking at my hand. Were you trying to find calluses? Resin? Polish?”

  The seat under her shifted again and the whisper of sound told her that he’d tucked his leg up on the seat, turning toward her. She didn’t trust herself to turn toward him.

  “I looked, but I also touched your hand, Allegra.”

  Wow, didn’t she know it. The sensation of his skin against hers was still making her blood pound through her veins.

  “I could guess, but I’d rather just hear you talk. A musical name,” he mused, “I should have known you were a musician.”

  “I’m certainly not a dancer,” her own dark humor caught her by surprise again, it was tantamount to courage and neither felt like the woman she’d become. Nervous laughter entered the silence in the cab. Maybe, she hoped, maybe he hadn’t heard her after all.

  “Why do you say that?”

  Nope, no such luck.

  “Why wouldn’t you be a dancer?”

  She blew out a breath and tried not to bite back at him with words, ask him if he happened to be blind too.

  “Because I’m… not the right shape for that.” The words sounded thin in her ears, her stomach twisting at the pain she felt. “I’m sure you see what I look like.”

  A moment later she was at a loss for breath. Her hand, her palm was pressed between his hand and… his chest. She could feel the steady pulse of his heartbeat.

  “I see…” his words were steady but she felt like she could hear a slight edge in his tone. She waited for the familiar fear to creep up her spine, make her tense, pull her away from him.

  But it didn’t happen.

  “… but I don’t know who twisted you up inside, Allegra.”

  Her mouth opened in silence. What a strange comment. And yet, she knew what he meant. It didn’t mean she understood the feelings he stirred up inside of her.

  “You make fun of yourself, and you laugh,” his hand shifted over the back of her hand and she felt the gentle caress of his skin, “but you’re just hurting.”

  She wanted to give him some kind of snappy comeback. She wanted to prove that she could shrug it off, but she couldn’t say a word. Damn him for being so right.

  The unmistakable ‘tick tick’ of a turn signal interrupted her thoughts and the driver called out to them. “We’re here.”

  Allegra freed her hand from his grasp and sat back in her seat. She set her hand on the seatbelt buckle, preparing to push the button when they stopped. She didn’t have to do it so early, but she needed that space between them to focus her thoughts.

  For years, she’d felt like she was so very alone with her thoughts. The only one to make any inroads into her head were her music teacher and Nurse Owens, but even they had only seen what she’s allowed them to see.

  Valerio Orsino must be some kind of psychic to burrow that deep inside her head. Her door opened and she heard his intake of breath, offering her hand before he asked for it. She released the belt and shrugged the restraint off of her body.

  He helped her down, offering a few comments so she’d know what she was doing, but he wasn’t ordering her around or leaving her out to hang in space.

  It was crazy how comfortable she felt with him. And how much she wanted to feel him against her. For so long all she’d done is pull inside of herself, but in just one afternoon that had all begun to change.

  When the cab pulled away from the curb, he reached his arm around her and stepped close enough to keep the blustery city winds away from her smaller form. His bear rose up with a heavy push and reminded him that her ‘form’ was curvy and everything they wanted pressed all over them, under them… wrapped around them.

  “If you could just show me to the door.” Hesitant. Tentative. Arm’s length. He didn’t like anything that her tone implicated. He felt a paw pushing on him through his link, but he didn’t need the hint.

  His hand moved down her arm, gently sweeping over her elbow and to settle on her hip.

  Her hip. He felt a silent growl vibrate through his body. The warm curve of her hip fit the broad palm of his hand, and he fought off the urge to burrow his hand under her coat and woolen dress and feel the heat of her skin against his. Instead, he satisfied himself with keeping her close, leaning down to whisper in her ear. “So eager to push me away, Allegra?”

  She turned and surprised him when her hand slipped under the open edge of his coat to press against his chest, mimicking the way they’d touched in the cab. “No.” Her teeth bit into her lower lip and the pale lines beneath her teeth only made her lips flush red like a berry. And he was hungry. So very hungry for her. “I just don’t want to waste any more of your time.”

  “Allegra?”

  He watched her close her eyes and knew it was her habit to close herself off, but the way she’d turned to him, sought to touch him, said how much she felt the pull between them.

  “Allegra, are you listening to me?”

  She shuddered against him and he tucked her against his larger frame and fought off the urge to kiss her senseless, but he didn’t want to share that moment with the people pushing along the sidewalks.

  Her voice drew his attention away from his bear’s demands. “I’m listening…”

  “Spending time with you, being near you… I can’t explain it all right now, but later. After you see your friends-”

  “Friends?” He’d startled her and watched her expression tense as her thoughts rushed through her head. “They’re not my friends, I don’t-” she swallowed and blinked furiously, “I don’t think they are, yet.”

  Her voice pulled at him. The wonder in her tone, tinged with sadness, made his bear push at Valerio, but he didn’t need the push.

  He wrapped both arms around her, cradling her against
his body. “You don’t have to worry about me. I’m here. I’ll always be here.”

  It took her a moment to react to his words, leaning back in his embrace. He loosened his hold and looked down into her face and waited for her to speak, but the question written so clearly on her face never passed her lips.

  “Allegra!”

  A second door opened up and a crush of people pushed toward them.

  “Allegra, where have you been?”

  The bear wanted to roar at them to keep back. He didn’t know who these people were and didn’t like the interruption, but his bear backed down when Allegra tucked herself against his side, holding up her hand.

  “Please, it’s too loud.” She shook her head and explained. “I can’t hear with everyone talking.

  The group quieted in a few moments, their gazes turning toward the man at the back of the group. He was shaking visibly as he walked toward them and Valerio narrowed his eyes at the other man. More than a head shorter than him, his hands wrung together as he passed through the group.

  “Miss Rossetti, thank goodness!”

  Valerio drew in a breath and his lip curled at the scents in his nose: fear and desperation.

  “I worried that I’d lost you. I came back here, hoping you’d return. I was even considering calling the police to search.”

  “Then why didn’t you? The Transit Police would have started the search instantly.” Valerio like the way that man flinched and the way his skin paled at his words. “You left her alone.”

  “But I thought,” the man was startled at the question, “what I meant was-”

  “Goodness, Davis,” a woman shoved through the crowd to get to his side. Thin and teetering on heels that would have made more sense on an exotic dancer, she managed to look down into the other man’s eyes, “you were more worried about the press. Admit it.”