Melanie Milburne Bestseller Collection 201209/The Marcolini Blackmail Marriage/Bound by the Marcolini Diamonds

by MELANIE MILBURNE

  He came over and tickled Molly under the chin. ‘Come è la mia bambina?’ he asked.

  Sabrina felt her nostrils flare to take in the clean, sharp tang of his aftershave. He was standing so close she felt his body heat; she could even see tiny droplets of water clinging to his slicked-back hair. He was smiling down at the baby, his eyes like melted chocolate, and his finger now stroking the tiny, dimpled cheek.

  ‘She is so young and defenceless,’ he said, meeting Sabrina’s gaze.

  ‘Um, yes. Yes, she is,’ she said, scarcely able to breathe.

  The baby grasped his finger with her tiny hands and gurled at him, her little legs kicking up and down in excitement.

  ‘Is she hungry?’ he asked. ‘She seems to want to gnaw on my finger.’

  ‘She might be teething,’ Sabrina said. ‘Some babies get them earlier than others.’

  ‘Does it hurt?’ he asked, looking at her again.

  Sabrina felt herself drowning in the dark pools of his eyes. His forehead was creased slightly, his expression serious and concerned. ‘Sometimes,’ she said. ‘Their gums can get a little red and sore just before the tooth breaks through.’

  His gaze shifted back to the baby in her arms. ‘Can I have my finger back, mio piccolo?’ he asked.

  Molly smiled and kicked her legs some more, still clutching his finger with her little dimpled hands.

  Sabrina watched as his mouth curved upwards in another smile, the effect on her making her feel as if someone was slowly pulling a long silk ribbon out of her insides. She could see why Ric had insisted Mario be appointed as Molly’s guardian. He might be an out and out playboy, but there was no question over his attachment to the child. She had seen biological fathers show less affection for their children than Mario did towards Molly.

  Mario gently freed his finger and stroked the baby’s wispy dark hair. ‘Have you thought about what Molly should call us?’ he asked.

  Sabrina captured her bottom lip for a moment. ‘I’m not sure,’ she said. ‘Mummy and Daddy seems—I don’t know—not quite right under the circumstances.’

  ‘Yes,’ he said, frowning slightly. ‘I have been thinking the same, but I suppose that is because it has been such a shock. We are not used to thinking of ourselves as her parents. I think in time I will get used to her calling me Papa. I don’t want her to address me as “Uncle” or by my first name. I want her to look upon me as her father, even though I am not.’

  Sabrina couldn’t help noticing he didn’t offer any suggestions over what she should allow Molly to call her. She could only suppose it was because he didn’t envisage her being around in the long term. She looked down at the baby in her arms and felt her heart tighten at the thought of being shunted aside some time in the future. She couldn’t let it happen, even if it meant fighting him tooth and ten bitten nails every step of the way.

  Mario stepped back once Molly released his finger. ‘Have you decided what you want from the room-service menu?’ he asked Sabrina.

  ‘I haven’t had time to look,’ she said, transferring Molly to her shoulder and gently patting her on the back to soothe her.

  He picked up the hotel services guide and handed it to her. ‘The chef will do anything to order if there is nothing on the menu that takes your fancy,’ he said. ‘Help yourself to a drink from the bar while I get dressed.’

  Sabrina glanced at the bar once he had left the room, but in the end she decided against a unit or two of Dutch courage. The intimacy of sharing a suite was doing enough damage to her equilibrium. She was already having trouble keeping her mind focussed and in control. The last thing she needed was to have her inhibition blurred by alcohol, given what had happened the last time she had indulged.

  Mario came out a few minutes later dressed in black trousers and a casual light blue shirt. His hair was still damp and finger-combed back, giving him a rakish look that was disturbingly attractive. ‘Is Molly asleep?’ he asked, looking at the baby snuggled peacefully against her neck.

  ‘Yes; I was just waiting for you to come out so I could put her back down,’ Sabrina said, moving past him towards the bedroom he had just vacated.

  Once she had left, Mario poured himself a drink and wandered over to the bank of windows to look at the view. The city and harbour lights twinkled in the spring evening air, and he watched as a train crossed the Harbour Bridge like a long, golden centipede.

  He felt a pang of loss deep in his gut at the thought of never seeing Ric Costelli again. How many times had they shared a drink and chatted about their lives and interests? When he’d received the news of the accident he had been rocked to the core. He had thought it was a mistake, a sick joke someone was playing on him. How could someone so vital and alive like Ric be lying now in a cold, dark grave?

  Memories came flooding back: the childhood pranks he and Ric had got up to when they’d been in elementary school; the day Ric had left with his family to come to Australia; the various trips they had taken when Mario had flown over to visit, most especially the skiing, when they had both stared mortality in the face and won.

  Mario remembered Ric phoning him two years ago to tell him he had fallen in love with an Australian woman called Laura, and then just four months ago calling him in the middle of the night to tell him he was the father of a baby girl. Now Molly was an orphan; she would never know her mother or her father, never hear their voices, never look into their eyes and see the love they had had for her.

  Mario was determined to do the right thing by Molly, even though it meant sacrificing his freedom for the time being at least. Although, the more he thought about it, it might not be such a hardship being temporarily tied to Sabrina Halliday. She had a certain allure about her—that defiant grey gaze, that stubborn chin, that quick-firing tongue and that slim but feminine-in-all-the-right-places body stirred him more than he had thought possible. She certainly wasn’t his usual type. But he could not remember a time when he had wanted a woman more. Was it because she had held him at arm’s length thus far? It wouldn’t be for long, of that he was sure. She was as on-fire for him as he was for her; he could feel it every time their eyes met. It was like a vibration in the air, a high frequency of energy that passed between them. He saw the way her pupils flared, the way her tongue swept over her lips, making them moist and soft and so very tempting to taste.

  God, he was getting hard just thinking about it. She would be dynamite in bed; he could tell from the way she had come on to him at the christening. Her soft, full mouth had barely touched his before it had flowered open beneath the responding pressure of his. Her tongue had tangled with his, her small, white teeth nipping at his bottom lip until he had been close to losing control. Her body had been so tightly clamped against his he had felt every delicious contour of hers, and he hadn’t been able to wait to have her naked in his arms, to feel her creamy, satin skin against his. He had been tempted to take her up against the nearest wall, but the sound of someone coming had prevented him taking things that far. His body had throbbed and ached for hours afterwards, and he’d determined then that one day, somehow, he would have her.

  He would make her forget all about Howard Roebourne and any of her other lovers. It would be his name she gasped when she came, it would be his bed she occupied, no one else’s.

  Mario turned and looked at her when she came back into the room. She met his gaze and he felt another surge of blood in his groin.

  Yes, she would be his, he determined, and he had a feeling it would be sooner rather than later.

  ‘Can I get you a drink, Sabrina?’ he asked.

  She shook her head. ‘No, thank you.’

  He twirled the contents of his glass as he held her gaze. ‘I can order some champagne, if you would like it.’

  A rosy hue came into her cheeks and she shifted her eyes away from his, although her voice was curt. ‘No, thank you.’

  ‘Have you decided what you would like to order?’ he asked.

  Her teeth worried her bottom lip as sh
e flicked through the menu. ‘I’ll just have some soup and a roll,’ she said, briefly meeting his gaze.

  He raised one brow in a teasing arc. ‘Surely you need more than that to satisfy you?’ he said. ‘You strike me as a woman of—shall we say—robust appetites.’

  Sabrina felt her face grow hot at his double entendre. ‘No, on the contrary, I am not one for over indulging,’ she said, forcing herself to hold his satirical look.

  He smiled a knowing smile. ‘Only when you think you can get away with it, right?’

  She set her mouth. ‘Are we talking about food … or something else?’ she asked.

  ‘If Roebourne is to be believed, you are insatiable,’ he said, still idly twirling the spirits in his glass. ‘He said he had trouble keeping up with you.’

  Sabrina silently ground her teeth. She could just imagine the light she had been painted in, one that made her look like a predatory trollop with no regard for anyone but herself. However, instead of defending herself, this time out of a perverse desire to annoy him she fed right into his assumptions with her response. ‘I am surprised he admitted his failings in that regard. Don’t all men like to portray themselves as full-blooded studs no matter what their age?’

  A brittle look came into his eyes as they held hers. ‘What did you see in him besides his money, I wonder?’ he asked. ‘He’s at least thirty or forty kilograms overweight and as ugly as a hatful, as the saying goes.’

  ‘Unlike men, who place a high value on looks, women are much more accommodating when it comes to choosing a lover,’ Sabrina clipped back. ‘We choose a mate on other criteria.’

  ‘Money being the primary one,’ he inserted with a curl of his lip.

  Sabrina gave her head a little toss. ‘I am the first to admit that money is not everything, but it does show a man who is going somewhere. No woman wants to be tied to someone who can’t enhance her life in some way. What would be the point?’

  ‘What about love?’ he asked.

  She raised her brow. ‘Love, Mario?’ Her tone was just shy of scoffing. ‘I thought you didn’t believe in love. I thought for men like you it was all about the physical, that you would never allow emotions to have a foothold.’

  ‘Just because I have not felt love for a sexual partner does not mean I am incapable of ever feeling such an emotion,’ he countered. ‘The point is I have not met anyone who has that effect on me as yet.’

  ‘What happens if you were to meet such a woman during the period of our marriage?’ Sabrina asked, trying to ignore the strange, tight little ache she felt in her chest.

  He put his glass down on the nearest surface before returning his eyes to hers. ‘That would indeed be a difficult situation to be in,’ he admitted. ‘I have made a commitment to Molly, and yet I do not think Ric or Laura would have wanted me to sacrifice my own happiness indefinitely.’

  ‘What if I meet someone?’ she asked, deciding to play devil’s advocate.

  The hardness in his eyes turned to black marble. ‘I would expect you to do the right thing by Molly,’ he said. ‘We both have to make some sacrifices until she is of an age where she can understand the circumstances of her life.’

  ‘It’s easier for you as a man,’ Sabrina said. ‘You can hold off having children of your own for years and years to come. I am twenty-five years old. I don’t want to have children in my mid-to-late thirties. I would have liked to settle down in the next couple of years and have children while I am young and fit and healthy.’

  ‘I understand that, and that is why this marriage between us is a temporary arrangement,’ he said. ‘By the time Molly is of school age, you will still be young enough to get on with your life.’

  Sabrina frowned at him. ‘But I’ve already told you, I can’t just walk away from Molly like that. And what if the woman you eventually fall in love with resents having someone else’s child to bring up? I know of several friends who have had to deal with stepmothers or stepfathers who made their lives absolutely miserable, especially when they have their own biological children. They always felt like the odd one out, like they didn’t belong.’

  ‘I will do my best to ensure Molly never feels like that,’ he said. ‘In any case, I do not envisage falling in love with a woman who does not also love Molly. As far as I am concerned, that child is a part of my life now and will be until the day I die.’

  ‘It’s very commendable of you, Mario, but life doesn’t always work out the way you think it will,’ she said. ‘Love isn’t something you can switch on and off. It happens, and it can happen between people who are totally unsuitable in other ways.’

  ‘I am not planning on complicating my life in such a way,’ he said. ‘For the time being my life will continue as it has done. I work hard and I play even harder.’

  ‘Will you be discreet with your playing hard, or am I to constantly be made a fool of?’ Sabrina asked with an excoriating look.

  ‘That, of course, is entirely up to you,’ he said with an arcane smile.

  She eyed him suspiciously. ‘What do you mean?’

  His dark gaze ran over her lazily, slowly undressing her as each second throbbed past. ‘I would have no reason to make a fool of you by playing around if you were willing to entertain me at home.’

  Sabrina felt her spine tingle at his indecent proposal, even though the rational part of her brain baulked at what he was suggesting. ‘You think I would agree to be used by you?’ she asked.

  ‘For a price, I think you would do just about anything,’ he responded cynically.

  ‘I think you need to extend your social circle,’ she said crisply. ‘You have obviously been mixing with people who are not representative of how normal and decent people behave.’

  ‘Come now, Sabrina,’ he chided her. ‘You can hardly describe yourself as normal and decent after what you have done. You have been accused of tearing apart a loving family for a roll in the sack with a man almost old enough to be your father.’

  Sabrina mentally counted to ten. Think of the children, she told herself. It was not their fault they had a sleaze of a father and a cold and vindictive mother. ‘In spite of what you might think, I am quite choosy in whom I sleep with,’ she said. ‘And you, I am afraid, do not qualify.’

  Before she could move to counteract it, he suddenly pulled her up against him with such force the breath was knocked right out of her. She felt every hard ridge of him against her; his belt-buckle dug into her almost painfully, his fingers on her upper arms were like steel clamps and his eyes were like black diamonds as they clashed with hers. ‘You are doing this deliberately, are you not?’ he ground out savagely. ‘Teasing and taunting me with this touch-me-not game. There is of course a rather coarse name for a woman like you. Do I need to remind you of it?’

  Sabrina pulled back against his grip but it was impossible to gain any leverage. She felt fear climb up her spine on long, spidery legs, her heart picking up its pace and her mouth going completely dry. ‘Y-you’re hurting me,’ she gasped, even though it wasn’t quite true. Her traitorous body wasn’t feeling pain; it was feeling desire, hot and strong. The blood was thundering through her veins, making her breathless. Her breasts were swelling, her belly turning to liquid, and her legs trembling as his strong ones bracketed them either side. She felt the bulge of his erection swelling against her, the erotic reminder of all that had pulsed between them from the moment they had first met.

  He wanted her.

  She wanted him.

  And in spite everything she felt about him Sabrina suspected it might not be too long until they both got what they wanted.

  ‘You would open your legs right here and now if the price was right. But I am not going to pay you any more than I have already agreed on.’

  ‘I don’t want your filthy money,’ she spat at him, eyes blazing with hatred.

  ‘But you want me,’ he said, his fingers tightening a fraction. ‘I can see it in your eyes and I can feel it in your body. When we do it, Sabrina, you will not forget
it in a hurry, I can assure you. Your body will hum and throb for days afterwards—I guarantee it.’

  Sabrina felt her head spin at his sensual promise. She could feel his potency, the dangerous heat of him burning its way through her paltry resistance. She was in no doubt making love with him would be totally unforgettable. One stolen kiss had shown her how vulnerable she was to him. She had practically melted in his arms, just like she was doing now. He had only to bring his mouth down to hers now and she would be his willing slave. It galled her to think she was so weak where he was concerned. What was wrong with her? Was she turning into the sensual witch he took her for?

  ‘Admit it, damn you,’ he continued in the same rough tone. ‘You want me to beg like all the others have done. That is how you get off, is it not? You like to have power over the men in your life. That way, you can get what you want from them.’

  Sabrina was way out of her depth, but doing her best to struggle to the surface. ‘You are wrong, Mario,’ she said somewhat shakily. ‘I don’t want any such thing.’

  ‘So innocent,’ he said with the customary cynical twist to his mouth. ‘Even Ric fell for it, and he was usually so adept at identifying a fraud.’

  ‘I am not a fraud,’ she said. ‘I am just like you—trying to do the best thing for Molly under incredibly difficult circumstances.’

  He put her from him almost roughly. ‘I have no idea why Ric and Laura nominated you as co-guardian,’ he said. ‘But I swear to God, if you put one foot wrong you will never see that child again. Do you understand?’

  Sabrina held her ground but on legs that were trembling. ‘You can’t take her away from me,’ she said in a voice that was nowhere near as strong and determined as she had intended.

  His eyes burned like a laser beam into hers. ‘You just watch me.’

  CHAPTER FIVE

  SABRINA made herself scarce until their room-service order arrived. Her stomach was in knots of tension and she wondered if she would be able to do the light meal justice with Mario sitting opposite her looking at her in that contemptuous way of his. The injustice of it all was stinging. She had nothing to be ashamed of, other than her blindness to the devious ways of men like her previous employer. If only she had suspected Howard Roebourne’s motives from the start she could have done something to prevent the shame of being labelled as the seductress who had shattered the harmony of a supposedly loving family. Imogen Roebourne had latched on to Sabrina as the culprit, not for a moment listening to her denials of any wrongdoing. Imogen had been determined to switch the anger she should have been feeling towards her wandering husband on to the babysitter instead. Sabrina still cringed when she thought of how poorly she had been portrayed in the press. She was almost grateful now she had no living relatives to witness the shame that had been dumped on her. Her foster parents now lived interstate, and rarely kept in touch, but if they were to hear of the rumours Sabrina knew they would automatically assume she was the guilty party.