Author’s Note: While there is lots of delicious tension between the hero and heroine, this work is CLEAN. If you like gentle and sweet heroes who treat their heroines like a princess, Ezio is not for you. Ezio Sartori married Shakarri Watson for one reason—he needed an heir to his fortune. All the terms were laid out in the contract Ezio’s lawyer drew up. Shakarri agreed because she was desperate to get out from under a debt she couldn’t handle, one left to her by her scheming no good father. But the cost for taking on Ezio’s name might be too high for Shakarri to pay. Ezio is used to everyone obeying his orders, and he expects Shakarri to do the same. The contract she signed specifically states her obligation to please Ezio. Shakarri’s husband wants her pregnant within three to six months, as if a woman can control her body to such a degree. He’s got a lot of demands, chief being Shakarri’s obedience. She’s beginning to think she made a big mistake in marrying Ezio except for two problems. One, Ezio has taken over the payments for her debt, and he can just as easily give them back. Two, intimacy with her husband is far beyond Shakarri’s wildest imagination. There are even times she suspects there’s a heart beating behind the cold exterior. She’s starting to feel something for him. Now she has to decide—does she stay and remain at his mercy for the rest of her life or as long as he has need of her? Or should she run while she still has control of her own heart?