The Playboy's Fugitive Bride (43 page)

She felt betrayed and used in the worst way possible.  She was sure Massimo didn’t expect her to ever find out.  He obviously thought he could just bury his little secret in a snowbank somewhere.  He forgot one thing about snowbanks: they eventually melted, leaving your little secret lying exposed on the ground for all to see.

Amber got up and came over to sit next to her.  She placed a hand around her shoulder.  “Look Shaina, you were there for me during my nasty divorce from Josh, and I have no intentions of encouraging you to go down that painful path.  Josie and I aren’t trying to make you feel any worse than you already do.  What we’re saying is that you should talk to your husband, give him a chance to explain.  I believe that he loves you, and that he didn’t tell you because he was scared.”

Shania scoffed.  “Massimo scared?  I can’t imagine him being scared of anything.”

“When it comes to matters of the heart, all men are scared.  Yes, they fluff their feathers and beat their chests in public, but once behind closed doors, the one thing that scares them to death is losing that one special woman in their lives, messing up the best thing that ever happened to them.”

Shaina wrapped her arms about her belly.  “Then he should have just told me the second time around.  I would have understood why he had me thrown in jail and forced me to marry him the first time.”

“He knew you’d react by running, and you did.  He didn’t want to risk it.”

Shaina shuddered on a deep sigh and her arms tightened around her.  “He didn’t want to risk it until I was pregnant.  He thought that a child would be the only thing that would keep me from running, keep me bonded to him.  The one last thing that would secure his inheritance.”

As the nasty truth hit her hard, Shaina pushed her chair back and raced into the house.  She reached the bathroom just in time.  She dropped to the floor and held her face in the toilet bowl as her stomach heaved, forcing up the salt fish and johnnycakes she’d had for breakfast.

She felt Amber’s hand brushing her hair from her face.

“You know,” her friend said, handing her a glass of water, “not too long, I was in this very same spot heaving my insides out while Mark held my hair.  I think that was the instant I fell in love with him.”  She took the empty glass from Shaina and helped her to her feet.

“Well at least he didn’t lie to you.”  Tears welled in her eyes.

“No he didn’t, but I was lying to myself, just as you are doing now.  You love Massimo and you will forgive him.”  She patted Shaina on the shoulder.  “It’s gonna work itself out in time.  Love always conquers.”

Finally alone, Shaina locked the guest bedroom door and crawled into the bed.  How would it work itself out?  A marriage could not survive on love alone.  It needed trust, and right now, there was none between her and Massimo.  He didn’t have enough trust in their love, in her, to tell her the truth.

Shaina was never the kind of woman to fall apart and weep when trouble set in.  She’d always had to be strong for Cameron, but now as helplessness and uncertainty about her future assailed her, Shaina opened up her soul and wept her heart out.  Empty and numb, she finally curled up into a ball and fell asleep.  When she opened her eyes again and stared out the patio doors, the sun was hovering above the horizon and the blue sky above it had been transformed into a giant picturesque canvas of orange, yellow, and blue hues with the swaying palm trees in the forefront.  It was a lovely sunset, but Shania was robbed of the strength and liberty to enjoy it.

The sounds of adults talking propelled her from her bed.  She took a quick shower and pulled on a white cotton dress.  She didn’t bother with makeup, not even gloss.  The smell of dinner cooking made her stomach growl.  She was starving, and she was starving the tiny life inside her.  “I’m sorry, baby,” she said, rubbing her stomach.  “Mommy promises to start taking good care of you from this moment on.”

With that, she left the bedroom and walked down the hall toward the great open room that served as a kitchen, dining, and living areas, and that looked out onto the patio and beach on one side, and the majestic three-thousand-foot mountain known as Dulcina Peak on the other side.

Mark and Colby were on the veranda, drinking beer and talking, their deep voices floating on the evening breeze.  Josie and Amber were busy in the kitchen, chattering as steel drum music spiked the interior air.  It was a lazy, comforting, welcoming atmosphere.

“Hi there,” Josie said as she walked up to the breakfast nook.  “Feeling better?”

Shaina nodded.  “Thanks for letting me sleep.”

“You needed it, especially in your condition.”

“Do you guys need help?” she asked, watching them ladle dishes from pots into serving bowls.

“No,” Amber replied.  “Just sit there and relax.  You’re our guest.  When we visit you in your mansion in Granite Falls, you can wait on us then.  You must be hungry.  Here, munch on these.”  She pushed a platter in front of her.  “Dinner will be ready soon.”

Smiling, Shaina climbed up on a bar stool at the nook and dug into the assortment of fruits, cheeses, and crackers on the platter.  “Where’re the kids?’ she asked, glancing around.

“Monica took them for a walk on the beach.  By the way,” Josie said, stopping in her task of slicing tomatoes for a salad.  “Your husband called.”

Shaina almost choked on the piece of juicy papaya in her mouth.  “What?  How does he know I’m here?”

“My nosy sister.”

“Monica?”  Shaina had met the spirited young lady last night when she’d accompanied Josie to the airport to pick her up.  She’d liked her then.  Now, she wanted to throttle her.  She braced her hands against the cool marble countertop, trying to control her ire.

“She called your brother and he called Massimo.  She was worried when you emerged from the plane all puffy-faced and red-eyed.  She doesn’t know what’s going on.  She just thought he should know that his sister was upset and crying,” Josie said in defense of Monica.

Shaina took a deep steadying breath.  “What did Massimo say?”

“Not much, but he sounded pretty mad.”

“Good!”

“We’re to keep you here until he arrives,” she added, with a skeptical look in her eyes.

“Yep,” Amber said, grinning.  “We’ve been instructed to hog-tie you to a tree, any tree if that is what it takes to keep you on the island.”

“Don’t make us do it,” Colby warned from the veranda, holding up a spool of rope.

“But just in case, we already picked out the tree.”  Mark pointed to a tamarind tree near a gazebo a few yards across the lawn.  “At least you’ll have some shelter from the sun and the rain.  And we’ll even let the kids out to play with you, keep you company.”

Everyone thought the idea of her tied out to pasture was hilarious, and they doubled over laughing while she frowned at them.

“Oh come on, Shaina, you gotta admit that it’s funny.” Amber slapped her on the wrist.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”  She snarled.  “When is he due to arrive?” she asked when the laughter died.  She didn’t know whether to feel relieved or anxious over seeing Massimo again.

“Some time early tomorrow.”

Colby and Mark strolled inside, their imposing physiques sucking up the air and their charming sun-kissed faces grinning like servants of the evil one.  They were eagerly following Massimo’s orders and they hadn’t even met the man.  But that was Massimo.  He had that kind of effect on people.  He could make them do whatever he wanted them to do.  Herself included.

Shaina watched each man walk automatically up to his wife, laced his arms about her, and kiss her on the lips.  These two old friends of hers shared something special with their husbands, just like her two new friends back in Granite Falls.  She wanted what they had, what her parents had.  Living Cinderella story was every little girl’s dream.

She and Mass were supposed to be leaving on a three-week honeymoon next month.  They were going to spend one week in Kenya with Jabari, one week in Bellagio, and the last on a private island in the Mediterranean.  Two days ago, her future seemed so certain.  Now she had no idea where she was headed.

Crickets chirped and birds cooed in the flamboyant tree outside her window, and on the other side of the room, the ocean roared and waves flapped as they broke upon the sandy shore.  The symphony of nature in the early dawn coupled with the cool breeze fragranced with hyacinth and jasmine coaxed Shaina out of a deep sleep.

She took a moment to revel in her tropical surroundings and then tried to stretch.

“What…”  Her eyes flew open and her forehead crinkled as she came fully awake.  She tried to move her body only to realize that her arms were stretched above her head and her wrists were tethered to the bedpost with scarves.  Something that felt like the trunk of an aged cedar tree was lying across her lower body.  “Massimo.”

A huge dark figure rose from the mattress beside her and loomed over her, but not touching her.  “Good morning, pussycat.”  His devilishly handsome face was an olive effigy of frustration and rage, and his blue eyes glittered like glacial rocks in the morning sunrise streaming through the glass.  The sexy masculine smell of him made her dizzy.

Shaina yanked on the silk scarves that held her captive.  The knots weren’t tight on her wrists, and her arms weren’t stretched enough to cause her discomfort, but she was restrained, nonetheless.  “Massimo, untie me.  Right now!” she ordered as his lips tightened and a muscle twitched at the side of his mouth.

He tossed her a smile that did not indicate compliance.  “I don’t think you’re in any position to be making demands, my little flight bird.”  His eyes caressed the length of her body, which was scantily clad in a pair of pink panties and a matching camisole that only came down to her midsection.  His lazy gaze returned to her face and he held her eyes steady as his fingers crawled along her leg, up, up toward the inside of her thighs, leaving a fiery wake on her skin and sending tingling sensations shooting through her.

Shaina swallowed as her breathing increased and her body began to respond to him in the familiar trembling fit.  She stared up at the slowly spinning blades of the ceiling fan—anything to distract her mind from the betraying sensations in her body.  “Mass…”  She twitched as the warm heel of his palm pressed into her groin.

“What?” he asked in a throaty whisper as the soft pads of his long fingers splayed across her belly, stirring a dull aching need in the core of her womanhood.

For one thrilling moment, Shaina caved to the arousing desires as her body flushed and moisture rushed to the junction between her thighs, the place where he was massaging her ever so erotically.  She could feel her breasts swelling and her nipples hardening beneath her camisole.  She wanted…she wanted…to…touch him…

“Stop!” she shouted when the restraints on her wrists reminded her that they were at odds, that she was mad, hurt.  For the first time since she learned she was pregnant, Shaina wished she suffered from morning sickness just so she could throw up all over him.  “Massimo, untie me, or I’ll scream.”  She glared at him.

“Go ahead.  I already warned your friends that you have the habit of screaming when you’re in the throes of passion.  They won’t be barging in to rescue you.”

“I hate you!”

“Of course you do.  I wouldn’t respect you if you didn’t.”  He pulled his hands from her belly and pulled back his hair at his forehead.  “See this?”  He pointed to a spot at the full line of silky black hair.

Shaina squinted.  “See what?”

“It’s a gray hair, Shaina.  I’ve been turning gray with worrying about you ever since you walked into my life.”

“Well, you just got a year older,” she retorted.  “Maybe it’s just age.”

He sat up and shook his fists in the air, then waved his hands around like a bona fide Italian.  “
Dio!  Mi fai impazzire,
Shaina! 
Pazzo! Pazzo! Pazzo!
”

“English!  English, Massimo.”  She felt like she was in an episode of
I Love Lucy
.

He frowned with cold fury.  “You make me crazy!”  He shook his head on a groan then swinging his feet over the side of the bed, he stood to his six-foot, three-inch frame and glared down at her.

It was then that Shaina realized he was fully dressed in khaki slacks and a white linen short-sleeve shirt.  He was even wearing socks.

“Yes,” he responded to the question in her mind, his tone changing drastically to warm sensuality.  “I tied you up, and I slept fully clothed to protect myself from your wicked, seductive wiles.  I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m whipped.  I can’t keep my hands off you.  I can’t resist you, even when you make me madder and crazier than anyone else in this world ever has.  You’re in my head all the time.  I can’t concentrate on business when visions of our bodies tangled up in love dominate my brain.  You’ve got that kind of whip appeal on me, baby.”

A vision of them making love to Baby Face’s
Whip Appeal
flashed across Shaina’s mind, and those words he’d just spoken to her...  “Believe me, I wouldn’t have tried to seduce you.  In fact, I have no intentions of ever seducing you again.”  Now that her legs were free of his weight, she crossed them to combat the lingering effects of his caresses still zinging between her thighs.

“Promises.  Promises.”  His chest rose and fell on a deep sigh, and he rushed his fingers through his hair.  “I can’t do this, Shaina,” he said, dropping his weight into the chair near the head of the bed.

Something melted in Shaina’s heart at the sight of him slumped over in the chair with his elbows on his knees and his hands clasped.  She became aware of the black circles under his eyes.  He looked defeated, haggard, tired, like he hadn’t slept in weeks.  Maybe she was making him old.  Maybe…   “Mass, I have to go to the bathroom.”

“Oh no, you’re not tricking me into releasing you.”

“Seriously, Massimo.  I do have to go.  Please.”  Shaina was quickly realizing that pregnant women needed to frequent the bathroom a lot more than usual, but she would eat sand before she told Masimo she was pregnant with his child.  She would not give him the satisfaction of reaping the benefits of his lies and deceit.  No wonder he took her to bed every waking minute he could afford. 
Yeah, like you don’t enjoy it, too,
her annoying inner voice said.