The Playboy's Fugitive Bride (44 page)

“Okay.”  He knelt beside the bed, untied her wrists, and helped her up.  “You have two minutes.  Don’t make me come in there to get you.  And just in case you’re thinking of jumping through the window, I have two of my men stationed outside.”

Fuming with anger, Shaina hurried to the bathroom and answered the call of nature.  Of course she was tempted and glanced out the window.  Massimo hadn’t lied.  Two of his guards were sitting on the gazebo under the tamarind tree where Colby and Mark had threatened to tie her out to pasture.  There was only one way to beat the devil she realized: face him head-on.

Shaina almost collided with Massimo when she opened the bathroom door.  He towered over her, glaring down at her.  She thought of asking him not to restrain her again, but his tight strained expression told her that it would be useless.  Since a physically struggle with him might hurt her baby, when he took her hand and let her back to the bed, she lay down like a martyr and allowed him to tie her wrists again.

He frowned at her.  “What, no protests, no pleas?”

“Would it matter?”

His eyes narrowed.  “No.  Now, where were we?” he asked sitting in the chair again.

“You were saying you can’t do something,” she said in a terse, dry tone.

“Oh yes.  I can’t be worried each time I leave home that you won’t be there when I get back.  You promised me you’d stop running, yet here we are.”  He spread his hands in frustration.  “I had to cancel a meeting that was set in stone two months ago in order to fly halfway around the globe to find my wife.”

“I wasn’t lost.  I didn’t ask you to come looking for me.”

“I lost fifty million dollars for failing to close that deal,” he continued as if she hadn’t spoken.

Crap, that was a lot of money, even for a billionaire.
  But then again, fifty million was a drop in the bucket compared to the billions he would lose if...  “You have no one to blame but yourself,” she said, refusing to accept any blame for his financial dilemma. 

“How do you figure that?”  His expression was one of pained tolerance.

“You lied to me.”

“About what?”

She glanced away briefly, still feeling embarrassed about the revelation.  “The real reason you married me.”

He straightened up in the chair as if she’d struck him.  He gave her a level look.  “I married you because I love you, Shaina.  You are the love of my life.  The one woman I never knew I’d been searching for all these years.  You are my soul’s counterpart.”

Knowing that he would say anything to get what he wanted, Shaina yanked on the scarves.  “Untie me, Massimo.”

He shook his head.  “No.”

She glared at him.  “You married me to gain your inheritance.  To secure it, you have to stay faithfully married for three years and produce an heir within a year.  You promised you’d never cheat on me, but you failed to add that it was only for three years.  And all the talk about sons and daughters, all you need is one.”  Her mind wound back to the day she met his friends at the country club, the day he announced to the world that they were getting married.  A thought froze in her brain as she recalled the coded conversation between the men.  His need to marry before his birthday was the unmentioned topic of conversation, and his break-up with Gabrielle…  “Oh, God,” she said with disgust.  “That’s why Gabrielle Berkeley dumped you, isn’t it?  She found out the real reason you wanted to marry her.”  She pounded her feet on the mattress.  “This marriage is a farce.  I want a divorce, Massimo!  I want out.”

Massimo slumped against the back of the chair as if he’d been caught up inside a whirling tornado, stretched wide and thin, and then dumped on a cold hard patch of concrete.  How the hell did she know all that?  He knew none of his friends would betray him.  Their wives didn’t even know about the conditions in his father’s will.  The only other people who knew were his attorney and Dafne.

Steven wouldn’t dare say anything to her for fear of breaching their attorney-client privilege.  He’d told him to burn his copy of the will and the prenup he’d drawn up.  Steven had assured him that he’d followed his orders.  The only remaining copy of the will was in his home vault.  Shaina had no access to it since the key for that compartment was inside the Granite Falls branch of
La Banca di Bianchi
.  So, that left Dafne.  Could she be that vindictive, that jealous to try to destroy his one chance of happiness?  When he’d told her about his love for Shaina, she’d seemed excited for him.  Could she have been masking her true feelings?  No, he refused to believe that.  He’d known Dafne all his life.  She would never do this to him.  He glanced at his wife.  “Where did you get that information?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes, it matters a lot.”  It was crucial that he knew who his enemies were, because anyone who wanted to hurt him would use Shaina to get to him.  He needed to know who he had to eliminate from his circle of trust.  He sprung from the chair and perched on the side of the bed.   “Who told you?” he asked, staring down into her face.  Even when shrouded with anger, she was still so damned hypnotizing.  He would put all that fiery passion to good use later.

“Your father.”  She flung out the words brutally as if to tell him that all Andrettis stink.

“My father?”  Taken aback, Massimo tried to keep the rancor from his voice.

“He wrote me a letter welcoming me into the family.  Well, not me exactly.  The letter was addressed to Mrs. Massimo Andretti.  She just happens to be me,” she said, her brown eyes flashing with hurt and loathing.

It was the kind of loathing he’d detected in her when they’d first met, when she thought him responsible for her father’s death.  Massimo never dreamed he’d see that cold look in her eyes again.  “My father is dead.  How could he write you a letter?”

She rolled her eyes as if she were dealing with a daft child.  “Apparently he left it with another attorney with instructions to deliver it to your wife.  It’s over there in my purse on the dresser.  You can read it yourself.”

“Stay right there,” he said, rising and going over to the dresser to rummage through her purse.  He found the letter and, walking to the sliders, he silently read it in the early morning light.  Would he ever be free of his father’s dominance and control over his life?

Massimo ripped the letter to shreds and stuffed the pieces back into the envelope.  He folded the envelope into his pocket and strolled back over to the bed.  He sat down on the side again and held his wife’s gaze.  “I want you to listen, and I want you to listen well because we’re never, ever going to have this conversation again.”

“The only conversation we’re going to have is through our lawyers.  I can’t trust anything you say.”

Teetering at his breaking point, Massimo whipped off his silk socks and balled them in his fist.  “Do I need to stuff these into your saucy little mouth, or are you going to listen to me?  Next time you open it, in they go.”

Her chest heaved on a sharp breath, then she pressed her sexy lips together and settled down into the mattress.

Satisfied that he had her full attention, Massimo placed the socks on his lap and held her beautiful gaze.  “There is no denying my father’s terms for gaining my inheritance, which I initially had no intentions of fulfilling.  He died six years ago, and since then, I started Bianchi Incorporated and made my own money.  However, the closer I got to the deadline, the more I realized that the only thing I never wanted to lose was the home where I spent the best part of my life with my mother.  I didn’t give a damn about Andretti Industries, but I detested the thought of my half brother owning the place where my mother’s spirit and memories still linger.”

She nodded with understanding.

“Yes, I asked Gabrielle to marry me to meet the terms in the will.  She didn’t dump me.  I broke off the engagement when I discovered that she was addicted to prescription drugs.  If I didn’t have to produce an heir, I probably would have still married her, but I couldn’t make a baby with a drug-addicted mother.  I encouraged her to check herself into rehab and told her she could tell whatever story she wanted about the breakup.  She chose to tell the world that I was unfaithful.”  He paused.  “You are never to repeat this,” he said, wagging a finger at her.  “Do you understand?”

She shook her head in agreement.

“I was set to marry someone else a few days before my birthday.  She’s an old childhood friend who lives in Milan, Italy.  She offered to marry me, but,” he added, needing to be completely honest, “she would produce my heir by artificial means only.  You see, we had a brief sexual relationship when we were quite young.  We were each other’s first, actually, but we later decided that our friendship meant more to us than an occasional sexual encounter.  We didn’t want to mess up what we had, still have.”

Her eyes grew wide with questions but she kept silent.  He would answer all her questions later.  He just needed to get this out.

“I had a prenuptial agreement drawn up, and Dafne was to fly over to the States the day after I met you to sign it and settle in before we exchanged vows.  But the moment I gazed into your eyes, I knew that I could not marry Dafne, and I began plotting a way to keep you in Granite Falls and force you to marry me.  I also had a prenuptial agreement drawn up for you, but at the last minute I decided that what I felt for you was more important than anything else in this world.  I didn’t want to lose you, and that’s why I never told you about my father’s will, because quite honestly, it has nothing to do with the reason I married you, Shaina.  None whatsoever.”

Massimo noticed the changes occurring in her body.  She was a lot more relaxed and her sweet brown eyes were no longer spewing hate and anger, but had softened to a deep chocolate richness that made his heart pound and tears to well in his eyes.

He swallowed the lump in his throat.  “I had choices, Shaina.  I could have married Dafne and secured my inheritance, but I chose to marry you.  I married you both times because I love you.  I didn’t tell you the second time because I didn’t want you to doubt my love, question my feelings for you.  And yes, I didn’t want you to run, because the thought of not having you in my life brings me much pain.  I don’t ever want to be without you, live without you, Shaina.  And if you ask me to, I would relinquish my rights to Andretti Industries.  I would even give up the mansion for you.  And we don’t have to make a baby anytime soon.  In fact, let’s wait a year.  That’ll give us more time to devote undivided love and attention to each other.”

Massimo didn’t even realize he was crying until his tears splashed on her face, mingling with hers.  He dabbed her cheeks with the back of his hand as her mouth opened and closed in an attempt to talk.  “You can speak,” he said, his heart racing inside his chest, his breath solidifying in his throat.  God, he loved her so much.  The thought of losing her…

“You can’t give up the mansion.  I already have renovation plans for it—that is, if it’s okay with you.”

Chuckles erupted from deep inside Massimo’s throat.  After all he’d just told her, all she could say was “You can’t give up the mansion.”  He dipped his head and covered her mouth with his, then scooped his arms beneath her and held her close.  She was sweet, and soft, and warm.  Forgiveness came in many forms he realized as he inhaled deeply, drinking up her fragrance as their tongues twirled around each other like dancing ballerinas. 

“Mass,” she said, struggling against him.

He released her and gazed down at her, happiness and joy bubbling inside him like the hottest fire.  “Yes, pussycat.”

“About waiting a year to make a baby—”

“Yes,” he bent his head again and began to drop a series of kisses on her face, paying particular attention to the corners of her voluptuous mouth.  “We can use whatever method of birth control you want.  Just no condoms.  I’ve used them all my life.  I’m not using them with you.”

“It’s too late for birth control.”

He froze and raised his head.  The smile in her eyes, the joy on her face said it all.  His gaze wandered down to her stomach.  “Really?”  His stomach crunched up in knots.

She nodded.  “Really.”

“How far?”

“Dr. Jillian said a month.  I think I got pregnant the first time we made love.”

Massimo’s entire body trembled as the news sank in.  He was going to be a father.  He traced his hand down her body to her soft flat stomach and caressed her, closing his eyes and willing his soul to connect to his child growing inside her.  Finally, he opened his eyes, and drowned himself in the passion and the love he saw spilling from inside the brown depth of hers.  “I promise you, Shaina.  I will love our child.  I will respect him and value his opinions and wishes.  I will not try to control him like my father tried to control me.  I will make his mother the happiest woman in the world—as happy as she has made me.”

“She already is,” she responded on a choked whisper.  “And it might be a girl.  You’re not cursed, Massimo.  You’re blessed.”

He offered her an arresting smile.  “Because of you.  I’m not only blessed, but I’m changed.  I’m trying to be a better man, a husband you can be proud of, a father our children will admire and want to emulate.  I want to be perfect for you.  And so I called my brother.”

“You did?  That is nice, Massimo.  He’s your family and you should get to know him.”

“I was planning to pay him a visit on this trip, tell him who he was, but then I got the call from your brother, and here I am.”  He spread his hands.

“I’m sorry.”  She pouted her sexy mouth.  “Untie me so I can show you how blessed you are and how sorry I really am,” she said giving him such a sensual smile, his shaft went from semi to rock solid hard in a split second.

“Oh, I know I’m blessed, but you’re not getting away that easily,
cara
.”

“I’m not trying to get away with anything.  I want to make up for the worry I caused you.”

“I’m glad to hear that.  You once offered me the joy of having you for four million dollars.  I’d say your price just went up.”

Her brows furrowed in question.

He smiled as he pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it across the room.  “You owe me fifty million dollars, Shaina, and I intend to claim every cent of it in trade from your sexy little body.”