Italian Marriage: In Name Only (14 page)

For a moment the memory of that kiss taunted her. How was it he was able to set her on fire so easily? Maybe she’d been right when she’d said that the mood and the ambience of the place had affected them. But then what was their excuse for the time before? Angrily she tried to clear the questions from her mind. It had just been a crazy moment and she was sure he was regretting it as much as her.

They reached the hotel and the night porter wished them a polite good-evening and went ahead of them to open the lift doors.

And then they were alone in the penthouse suite.

‘W
OULD
you like a nightcap?’ Antonio moved towards the sideboard and picked up a decanter.

‘No, thanks, I’m going to go and check on Nathan and then turn in for the night.’ Victoria suddenly remembered that all her belongings were in with Antonio’s in the master suite. And just the thought of that bed strewn with all those rose petals made her heart give an uneven little beat of consternation. ‘Oh, I forgot to tell you!’ She tried to keep her voice casually light. ‘I think we might have a problem with the sleeping arrangements.’

‘What kind of a problem?’ He flicked an amused look over at her.

‘The staff have put my things in with yours in the master suite. I would have moved them out,’ she told him hurriedly, ‘but there doesn’t seem to be another spare bedroom up here.’

‘I see.’ He sounded unconcerned.

She stood uncertainly, wondering if he was going to say anything else, point her in the direction of where he wanted her to sleep, but he didn’t. ‘OK…well, I’ll just go and check on Nathan.’

She’d hoped that when she returned he might have sorted the arrangements out but it didn’t look as if he had done anything. Instead he was sipping a whisky and standing with his back to her, looking nonchalantly out towards the terrace.

‘How’s Nathan?’ He turned as she walked back in.

‘He’s fine, fast asleep.’

‘Good.’

She couldn’t stop her eyes from flicking to the open doorway through to the master suite.

He intercepted the glance and she cringed. ‘Have you seen the room? The staff really have got the wrong idea,’ she told him huskily.

‘Hmm.’ He sipped his drink.

Was that all he was going to say? Anger started to build inside of her. ‘You could ring down to reception and ask if they have another room, couldn’t you?’ she countered. ‘There must be loads of spare rooms in a hotel this size.’

‘I hope not,’ he said quietly. ‘It would be very bad for business if the hotel was that quiet!’

‘Well, yes…I suppose it would,’ she mumbled. ‘So…what do you want to do?’

He looked at her playfully. ‘Well, now, there is an interesting question…or is it an offer?’

‘No!’ Her cheeks flared with colour. ‘Of course it isn’t! You are too full of yourself by far, Antonio Cavelli.’

‘Am I?’ He just looked more amused than ever. And she tried to gather herself together.

‘Yes, you damn well are! And…and let me tell you that I wouldn’t want to sleep with you…if…if my life depended on it! Really I wouldn’t.’ She raised her chin defiantly.

‘Really.’ He put his drink down with a smile.

‘Yes!’ She glared at him. ‘Now I’m going to bed…on my own…in the master bedroom.’

‘Oh, I’m not so sure about that.’ He reached out and stopped her before she could move past him and suddenly she was far too close to him.

‘Don’t, Antonio,’ she whispered, her heart racing with agitation and sudden fear.

‘Don’t what?’ He reached out and softly traced a finger over the curve of her chin.

‘Don’t play games with me.’ The whispered plea tore at him.

Suddenly the confident person of tonight seemed to have vanished and in her place was the vulnerable young woman he had first met, who had looked at him with such fragile eyes.

He said something in Italian under his breath. ‘I shouldn’t tease you like this…should I?’

‘No, you definitely shouldn’t.’ She tried to remain angry but the way he was looking at her was sending her senses in a different direction. ‘We don’t want to complicate things, Antonio. And if you and I ended up in bed together it would be a total disaster.’

‘Absolutely,’ he murmured, his eyes on her lips. ‘It’s not part of the deal at all.’

‘No, it’s not!’ Her voice trembled. The way he was looking at her was shaking her up in the strangest way. ‘And we are going to go our separate ways very soon.’

‘That’s the agreement…’ His finger had moved to trace the curve of her lips and he only seemed to be half listening to her.

The caress sent an erotic shiver straight through her and desperately she tried to pull away from him and dismiss it, but her limbs wouldn’t obey.

‘Much better that we at least remain friends after our time together is finished,’ she murmured. ‘And sex is highly overrated anyway.’

She had his full attention now.

‘So how many lovers have you had, Victoria?’

‘That’s…none of your business!’ Her skin was suddenly on fire.

He ran a finger over the smooth line of her shoulder and the feeling from that one light touch was so exquisite that it made her whole body tingle with pleasure. ‘So you don’t like sex at all?’

Her blood seemed to be too hot in her veins now! ‘I said
it was overrated, nothing else. And I don’t want to have this discussion, Antonio,’ she murmured, desperate to just drop the subject.

‘Maybe you just haven’t gone to bed with the right man—have you ever thought about that?’ he continued as if she hadn’t spoken.

‘And you are a very conceited man,’ she retorted. ‘Have
you
ever thought about that?’

He smiled, unconcerned by the charge, and continued to run his fingers lightly over her shoulder. ‘But the thing is, you are presenting me with quite a challenge, Victoria Cavelli,’ he murmured.

‘Well, that’s not my intention!’ Her eyes snapped open.

‘Nevertheless…I am very curious now.’

‘Well, I don’t want you to be.’ Her eyes flared with fire.

‘But I can’t help it.’ He smiled. ‘You’ve set me thinking…’ He bent and touched his lips to her shoulder, gently licking and tasting her skin in a way that made her eyes close on a sweep of fierce longing. ‘Maybe you just need the right man to take things a little more slowly with you.’

‘I don’t want to take things slowly or an way at all…’ Her breathing felt tight.

‘What about the way you kissed me earlier?’

‘That kiss was just a moment of madness. I thought we agreed that it was best forgotten!’

‘Did we say that?’

‘Yes, we did. We definitely agreed we wouldn’t discuss it again.’

‘Then if we can’t discuss it, I will just have to experience it again…because I keep wondering if I am imagining your fiery passionate responses…and I’m just going to have to find out for myself what the truth is.’

‘You mustn’t, Antonio!’ Her eyes widened. ‘I mean it—’

The rest of her sentence was lost as he leaned down and took possession of her lips. The feeling was as sensational as
it had been earlier, and desperately she tried to fight the emotions that flooded through her, but his mouth was hard and hungry and it demanded an urgent response.

And before she knew what she was doing she was winding her arms up and around his neck and kissing him back.

He pulled away and her eyes were shadowed as she looked up at him. The kiss had fragmented her already incoherent thoughts. ‘I just don’t think this is a good idea—’

‘Maybe we are both thinking far too much.’ Suddenly he swept her off her feet and up into his arms. ‘Maybe we just need to explore the subject in much more detail.’

‘Antonio, put me down this minute!’

He paid her no attention. And shocked, she was forced to hang onto him as he strode towards the bedroom.

‘Put me down,’ she asked again, but this time her tone had lost its vehement intent. Disturbingly she found she liked being held in his arms like this, that the feeling was sending a thrust of desire through her that was so strong it almost took her breath away.

Desperately she tried to hang onto the last semblance of sanity. ‘This isn’t a good idea.’

‘Well, I think it is.’ He closed the bedroom door behind him with his foot.

‘Now…where were we,’ he murmured as he put her down. ‘I think it was somewhere around about here…’ He bent and kissed her shoulder and then moved upwards. ‘Wasn’t it?’

She shuddered with pleasure and he smiled.

‘Yes, we were definitely around about here….’ He found the sensitive area of her neck and nuzzled in against her, biting her softly, peppering her with light kisses.

She’d never experienced anything as pleasurable before in her life and she was helpless to protest because the more he touched her, the more he kissed her, the more she wanted him. He pulled her a little closer and then unfastened the top of her dress with bold confident fingers.

‘I’ve imagined doing this all evening,’ he murmured as he watched the silky garment fall to the floor.

She was wearing lacy black underwear that hugged her curves provocatively.

‘You really are beautiful….’ His husky words made her close her eyes. She wanted to savour the moment; she wanted to believe that he really thought that about her, and that they weren’t just the words of seduction. ‘I don’t know why you’ve hidden yourself away beneath all those shapeless clothes…’ He reached out and trailed one hand down over the smooth line of her neck, and then lower to where the delicate lace held her curves. ‘When you have such a fabulous body.’

Her eyes flew open as he teasingly stroked his fingers over the top of her bra. The sensual twist of need increased inside her.

Then his hand moved lower, curving around her breasts, moulding them with firm possessive strokes that nearly drove her out of her mind with need. He leaned closer and kissed her neck again, and suddenly even the flimsy scrap of lace across her breasts was too much of a barrier. She wanted him to pull it away; she wanted to feel his hands against her naked skin. But he didn’t; he just stroked her, and murmured soft words against her ear as his hand moved lower over the narrow curve of her waist to the top of her lace pants.

‘You have the figure of a voluptuous woman, and I want you to promise me that you will never hide yourself away again.’

‘I haven’t hidden myself away…’ She tried to deny the accusation as a thrust of even deeper desire swept through her as his fingers moved lower over her pants.

‘Yes, you have…and I want to know what moronic man made you do that!’

She laughed breathlessly at the growled words.

‘You should be proud of your body….’ His hands cupped around her hips and then slid below the string of her pants and stroked over her stomach, and then down towards the sensitive core of her.

‘Now tell me that you want me and let’s be done with pretence, hmm?’ He said the words with commanding, arrogant confidence and she fought against answering him, but his hand was caressing her so provocatively that the fierceness of desire was pulsating through her.

‘I want you!’ The words broke in a gasp from her lips.

He covered her mouth with his, hungrily kissing her as his fingers probed with firmer, deeper strokes.

For a long moment she could think of nothing except the demanding needs of her body. It had never been like this with Lee…. The thought encroached and he pulled back slightly.

‘What’s the matter?’ He saw the shadows in her eyes.

‘I’m just a little scared,’ she admitted, her barriers crumbling her dignity and her pride deserting her. ‘I’m not experienced, Antonio. I know it sounds stupid—I have a child, but…’ Her voice trailed away as she remembered the past. ‘I went out with a man once, for several months, but we didn’t sleep together straight away—it just never felt the right time. And then when I did…it was awful, Antonio.’ Her voice broke. ‘He got angry because I was a virgin, said that he liked his women more experienced, and then he just took me without any thought and then it was all over…’ She saw the way his eyes darkened angrily.

‘I know you are probably used to women who know how to please you but—’

He placed a finger over her lips. ‘You do please me, with every kiss, with every look and word.’ He stroked a hand through her hair, hating to think about what she had gone through that night and later, alone and pregnant. No wonder she was so scared. He muttered something angrily in Italian. Then he kissed her again and this time his lips were gentle and probing. And for a long while he just held her close.

Then he reached behind her and unfastened her bra. ‘I will teach you in the ways of lovemaking, Victoria…’

Usually Antonio’s English was perfect but now as passion
overtook him he spoke half in Italian, half in English…his words punctuated with caresses that made her ache with pleasure.

He lifted her and put her down on the bed and she watched as he took off his clothes.

He had a fabulous body, lean and powerfully muscular.

She looked away as he caught her watching him and he laughed. ‘You mustn’t be shy with me, Victoria. It’s not allowed.’ He joined her on the bed. ‘I want you to tell me exactly what you like, or if you don’t like something, and we’ll find the way to a perfect union…hmm?’ As he spoke his eyes were on her breasts, admiring their pert ripe form. He reached out and stroked them, finding the hardened peaks of her nipples. Then he bent his head and allowed his mouth to replace his fingers.

She gasped with enjoyment as the warmth of his mouth seemed to pervade the whole of her body, and she reached out and raked her fingers over his shoulders, bending her head and burying her face in the thickness of his hair, breathing in the fresh scent of his shampoo….

Then he was bringing her back down on the bed, straddling her, his hands moving down over her possessively as his lips moved lower down over her stomach, his hands stroking lower.

He pulled her pants down impatiently and she wiggled out of them.

Then his hand moved between her thighs, parting her legs as his mouth moved down, kissing her playfully over her lower abdomen, then lower…lower…

The ache inside of her became a roaring torrent of need.

‘I want you, Antonio…I need you now…’ Was that husky pleading voice hers?

He sat back and looked at her. Her hair was loose around her shoulders; her face was flushed, her lips swollen from his kisses.

He stroked one hand over her breast and she arched her back like a cat, inviting him to stroke her further.

He thought he had never seen a woman more lovely, more alive and warm and passionate. He stroked her some more.

‘Tell me again, how much you want me,’ he invited playfully.

How could she have lost control like this? She tried to caution herself. She shouldn’t be giving herself like this to him when he didn’t love her. Where was her pride?
She’d promised herself she wasn’t going to do this!