Coercion to Love (3 page)

'Angels watch over the living,' she suddenly announced, why, Cass didn't even try to understand. 'My mummy won't let you hurt me or Cass. If you try, she'll send you to the devil!'

'Terri!' Cass sighed, scolding her for what, in actual fact, could be a great comforter to herself if she could only believe in it.

As if sensing she had gone about as far as both adults were going to let her, Terri put her head on Cass's shoulder and closed her eyes, one set of little fingers playing idly with a salt-stiffened lock of flaming-red hair.

‘She is very outspoken,' Carlo murmured after a while when the steadiness of the child's breathing said that she had fallen asleep.

'She has a mind of her own, and likes to use it'

 She was instantly on the defensive  '—so don't think you can win her over with your false Italian charm the way you obviously did her mother!'

'I want my daughter, Cassandra Marlow,' he stated grimly, answering the angry challenge in her voice.

‘You never wanted her when Liz was alive.'

'That is a lie,' he growled, turning his head to scowl at her. 'If your sister had-----'

'Keep your excuses for Terri,' Cass cut in tightly. 'I have no wish to hear them.' She lifted her own gaze, as aeen as glass and twice as cold, to clash contemptously with his. 'In my eyes, Mr Valenti, there are no excuses worth listening to that can justify a man's deserting a woman pregnant with his child!'

CHAPTER TWO

They continued their journey in hard silence after that— Cass sitting stiffly beside Carlo, her heart throbbing with a deep and burning malevolence for the man, while he drove with his handsome face closed to everything, increasing the speed of the car to send them flying along the road, through the busy town and out on the other side, past his very own Hotel Valenti Grande without even sparing it a glance.

They hit the cliff-road which connected San Remo with Genoa, the car speeding by the spectacular views on either side of them with all the powerful grace of its famous reputation. It was a full ten minutes before they turned off the main road and on to a narrow by-road that took them zig-zagging up a hillside drenched in afternoon sunlight. But it was only as they reached the peak of the hill and Cass saw what was waiting for them on the other side that she showed any reaction whatsoever to the scenic beauty of the drive.

Before them opened up a ravine-like valley the likes of which she had never seen in her life before. Eden in hell, she named it drily as her senses were bombarded by the sheer drama of the view below them.

Narrowed almost to nothing at either end and thickly lined with trees, the valley opened into a wide, fertile basin in the centre cut almost in half by a thin river which threaded its silvery path along the valley's full length, snaking around clumps of heavy leafed trees, and babbling over bleached white rocks as it went. A house stood on the other side of the river, its white-washed walls blinding in the afternoon sunlight. Single-storeyed and built on four wide spreading wings around a central courtyard, it was surprisingly modern and more in the Spanish hacienda style than the old stone-built casa you would expect to find in a place like this. Yet it possessed picture-postcard qualities, set as it was in such lush surroundings. Cass just managed to glimpse horses grazing in a field to one side of the house and cattle in another before the road took them beneath a canopy of tall fir trees.

'Trust you to live in a place like this,' she muttered, knowing somehow that this whole valley must belong to him.                       'I will not apologise for my wealth, Miss Marlow,' he threw back grimly.

But will you apologise for the way you treated my sister? she wondered, then scowled because she did not want his apologies. It was blatantly obvious that this man had enough money to keep a hundred unwanted children in luxury!

They were dropping sharply downwards now, the sunlight seeping through the high tree-tops dappling the ground all around them. He had slowed down considerably as soon as they'd begun their descent, the steep, winding road demanding his full attention, and Cass found herself turning to study him.

He really was the most outstandingly attractive man she had ever seen, she reluctantly confessed as something inside her did a flip and a dive in response to the sheer male virility he exuded. She observed his features, strong-and proudly Roman, his straight black hair combed carelessly back from a high, intelligent brow which led to the long, thin, arrogant nose. His mouth was slim and straight, wearing a slight sneer which went with his contemptuous character. His dark brown eyes hooded at the moment, lost beneath blackly frowning brows as he concentrated on his driving, long, blunt-ended fingers with short well-kept nails lightly hooked around the leather-bound steering-wheel, a heavy gold wedding-ring on his finger catching her eye as the sun burned on to it.

'You're married!' she gasped in appalled accusation, making Terri jerk in her sleep.

He lanced her with a withering look. 'Widowed,' he clipped, then added deridingly, 'before I met your sister,' the hardness of his expression warning her not to push that line of discussion any further.

She turned her face away, having no intention of probing into his past. This man's life was his own. The only part of it she was interested in was where it encroached on her own life and Terri's. Then, perversely, she found herself wondering what the late Mrs Carlo Valenti would have looked like.

Beautiful, no doubt, perhaps even a member of the Italian aristocracy, with the same kind of inbred arrogance and sophistication that oozed from him.

They came out of the trees on to the valley bottom, where the road took them between two lines of loose walling trailed by heavily blooming flowers Which added charm to an already enchanting scene. They crossed the river via a narrow stone bridge, and drove up to the deep veranda at the front of the house, where another Ferrari was parked, a bright red one this time, gleaming spotlessly in the afternoon sun.

Carlo cursed softly when he saw it, his hard mouth tightening even more. 'Stay there,' she was told as he opened his door, and Cass stared balefully at him as he unfolded his long frame out of the car and came around to open her own door.

But the moment he bent to take Terri from her she hugged the sleeping child closer. 'I can manage,' she clipped, struggling out of the car without his help. There was no way she was going to let him get his hands on Terri again. He had all but kidnapped them, frightened Trerri into a fit of hysterics, and terrified herself! He may have them in his power at the moment, but that was all. She and Terri were still a pair, and he the unwanted outsider.

'Carlo!' Surprise echoed in the new voice which broke into the tension eddying around them, and they both spun around to see a woman step out from the shadows if the deep veranda and come gliding down the steps towards them.

'Hello, Sabrina.' He found a smile, but it was forced. Obviously he didn't like being caught red-handed abducting two females! Cass thought acidly. 'What are you doing here?'

'Am I not always welcome in your home, caro?’ Taking her cue from him, the woman replied in English, her tone awash with all the seductive confidence of one who knew herself to be very welcome. 'But you were lot expected back for another week, at least.'

She was exquisitely beautiful, Cass noted, of Elizabeth's age and ilk, with that same glossy finish she had watched her sister apply each morning before she left for work. Tall and reed-slender, Sabrina's body swayed sensually in smooth fluid movement as she came towards them.

'Business,' Carlo explained. 'I had urgent business to attend to in Genoa.'

Completely ignoring Cass's presence, Sabrina walked right into his arms, sliding her hands around his neck and arching her body against his so that the points of her breasts brushed against his chest, making him laugh softly at this blatant coquettish display as he bent to place a kiss on both silk-smooth cheeks.

'It is good to have you home, amore,' Sabrina murmured huskily, her long red-tipped fingers stroking the silken hair at his nape. 'I miss you so when you go away.'

They had to be lovers, Cass decided as she stood there, beginning to burn up with resentment at being made to await their pleasure while the sun blazed down on her uncovered head and Terri grew heavier in her arms with each second that passed by.

She gave an impatient sigh, wondering cynically if Carlo Valenti would even notice if she just climbed back into his car and drove away, his attention was so captivated by the lovely Sabrina!

The sound brought his head up, though, his eyes narrowing on Cass's contemptuous expression.

'Goodness me,' the Italian beauty drawled, 'you have taken to bringing home waifs and strays, Carlo?'

Cass flushed, cringing inside at the open disdain in the other woman's tone. This is all I need, she sighed inwardly as she was made suddenly and uncomfortably aware of how scruffy she and Terri must look to the silk-sheathed Sabrina. Sending Carlo Valenti an accusing glare, she hid her discomfort by making the most of shrugging Terri's dead weight into a more comfortable position.

'Here, let me.' Cass jumped, startled once again to find him suddenly standing in front, and, for the second time, he took her by surprise by plucking Terri out of her arms and folding the child into his own strong embrace.

The other woman was standing glaring at Cass with the kind of hostility that said she did not like being upstaged by a scruffy waif and sleeping stray. Then Terri stirred in her sleep, and Sabrina's attention was suddenly caught by the hot little face turned up to the bright sunlight.

'So,' she let go with a soft gasp, looking just a little shaken beneath the mask of superior derision she had been wearing, 'this is the child you have been searching so long and hard for, Carlo.'

'Si,' he answered huskily, locking Cass's throat up on a jealous bank of tears as his mouth brushed the sleeping child's brow, dark eyes softening to look so tender that it made her want to scream and kick in much the same way Terri had done earlier.

'Go home, amante,' Carlo ordered suddenly. 'As you see, I have guests, and they are tired; I have no time to entertain you today.'

'But Carlo,' Sabrina cried in outright dismay at the way she was being so summarily dismissed, 'I came here especially to see your mamma'

'Then I will offer my mother your apologies, and she will surely arrange another visit for you at a more convenient time.'

With that, and without a second look at the other woman, he turned towards the house, obviously expecting Cass to follow him. And with a helpless shrug she did so, finding she had enough of the bitch in her to enjoy the stony look on Sabrina's lovely face as they left her standing there with Carlo's absent, 'Ciao,' ringing in her ears.

The light was dim inside, the air deliriously cool after the fierce heat of the afternoon sun. Cass followed him across the tiled floor and through another door which brought them into the central courtyard where brightly blooming flowers trailed in glorious profusion over white-washed walls. Bougainvillaea, honeysuckle and pretty star-shaped clematis all vied for space. Huge teracotta pots stood on the cobbled ground, spilling with bright red and pure white geraniums, and the air was leaden with the scent of them all.

Carlo led the way around a small central fountain where a stone cupid sprayed diamond-studded water into a lily-covered pond, then through another door which brought them into yet another spacious hallway.

'My own private wing,' he informed her as he moved across the hall to fling a door open wide before stepping back to allow Cass to precede him inside.

She did so reluctantly, afraid of what might be waiting on the other side.

'It is not a prison cell,' he drawled, reading her mind. 'It is a suite of rooms, which you and Teresa will use during your stay here.'

'Who said anything about us staying?' she challenged on a last ditch attempt to assert herself, but she was trembling with alarm, and she sensed he knew it.

The room was large and square, furnished with chic and modern elegance in soft tones of creams and green. The walls were lined with creamy fitted furniture, and a double bed covered in cream satin stood between two pairs of soft-green satin-draped french windows. Not even in Liz's expensive flat was she used to this kind of stylish luxury—nothing overstated, but just simply if expensively done.

'Teresa's room opens off this one.' Carlo nudged by her, carrying the child across to a half-open door where once again he waited for Cass to precede him through it.

There was no sign of satin in this room, she noted as she stepped inside. Instead the whole was furnished in bright childish cottons of sky-blues and summer-yellows. Carlo laid Terri down on the pretty lemon duvet-covered bed, where a big pot-bellied, sleepy-eyed grey rabbit sat high on the pillows above the child's sleeping head.

'Is there anything we can do to make her more comfortable?' he asked, frowning down at the disreputable state which was his daughter.

Cass moved to stand beside him, her face automatically softening as she took in the wild disarray of jet-black curls tumbling around a dirt-smeared face. A brief glance at the man beside her told Cass that he hadn't escaped his share of dirt on his expensive shirt, and she gained some small satisfaction from knowing it.

'I'll remove her sandals, that's all,' she said, bending to the task. 'She wouldn't sleep long.' The poor thing would be hungry, having missed out on their lunch to stay longer than usual at the beach today.

Straightening again, she almost cried out as her shoulders made contact with his chest. She hadn't realised he had moved to stand right behind her, and die spun around to face him warily. He was staring at her, the colour of his eyes so dark that they looked black beneath the sweeping curve of his thick lashes. A strange warmth went washing through her, prickling along the surface of her skin, and she jerked nervously away, her mouth trembling a little as she pushed around him and made quickly for the other room. The last thing she needed was to become physically aware of him; she had enough to contend with coping with the other powers be had over them right now.