A heady sense of power swept through her as she let go of the satin sheet so that it slid down her breasts and Luca gave a low growl of appreciation.
‘I need a shower—and I need you,’ he told her as he scooped her into his arms and strode into the en-suite bathroom.
She helped him strip off his clothes and he pulled her into the shower cubicle with him and turned on the tap, so that they were deluged by a powerful jet of water. They took turns to slide a bar of soap over each other’s bodies—although Athena breathlessly pointed out that he did not need to lavish quite so much time on washing her breasts.
His low rumble of laughter turned to a groan when she took the soap and traced it over his abdomen, before circling his arousal with her hand and caressing him until he muttered an oath and lifted her against him.
‘Wrap your legs around me,’ he commanded, even while he slid his fingers inside her and brought her to the edge.
She cried out as he suckled her nipples, setting her body alight, and when he entered her with one smooth, powerful thrust, she dug her nails into his shoulders and clung on for dear life.
He took her hard and fast. She should have been shocked by his primal passion, but she loved how hungry he was for her, loved each deep stroke he made inside her.
They reached the pinnacle together and climaxed simultaneously in a glorious explosion of pleasure. And Athena told herself she must have imagined it had felt as though their souls as well as their bodies were joined.
* * *
Autumn was slipping inexorably into winter, and the last few leaves falling from the trees looked like orange-and-gold confetti, while the mountain peaks beyond Lake Como were wearing their first snowy overcoats.
Luca parked his car outside the front of Villa De Rossi and tightened his mouth with frustration when he glanced at his watch and realised that the dinner party he was hosting for his great-uncle Emilio and the other board members was due to start in less than an hour.
After a week of tense negotiations and boardroom battles in Japan in his role as chairman of De Rossi Enterprises, all he wanted to do now that he was home was spend some time with his daughter, and then a enjoy a quiet dinner with Athena before he took her to bed.
In truth, he was impatient to take his wife to bed and satisfy his hunger for her before he even thought about dinner. Five nights was the longest time they had spent apart since the first time they had slept together in Zenhab, and he had missed Athena more than he would have believed possible. And he hadn’t only missed making love to her, Luca acknowledged, although he had found himself thinking about her gorgeous, curvaceous body at the most inappropriate times while he had been away.
It had been a new experience for him to be distracted by thoughts of a woman—but Athena was not any woman. During the past weeks that they had been living together properly as man and wife at the Villa De Rossi he had learned that her sweet nature hid a surprisingly strong will, and her newfound self-confidence meant that she was not afraid to argue with him—which he found a novelty, because he had only known women who either sulked or sobbed in order to get their own way.
And their few arguments had been resolved by mind-blowing sex that had left him feeling as if he had conquered Mount Everest, as if he was king of the world—because he had never forgotten that Athena had said she believed he was an honourable man, and her words had finally banished the memories of his grandmother telling him he was worthless, a bastardo, and not a true De Rossi.
Luca walked into the villa and was surprised to see a stunning floral arrangement on the hall table.
‘Geomar.’ He greeted the butler, who was hurrying across the hall towards him. ‘Did you manage to book another catering company to organise tonight’s dinner party?’
‘Unfortunately not—and, as you know, the company I had booked cancelled at the last minute,’ Geomar explained. ‘But Signora De Rossi has organised everything. She made the decorative flower arrangements herself, Elizavetta is cooking the menu Signora De Rossi planned for dinner, and some girls from the village will be waitresses for the evening—including my own daughter.’
The butler looked rueful as a door opened and a small boy came into the hall, followed by his baby sister, who toddled after him.
‘I’m afraid my daughter has also brought her children,’ Geomar said. ‘I have tried to persuade them to stay in the kitchen, but Signora Rossi has allowed them to play in the house. She loves to see the bambini.’
‘I know she does,’ Luca said, in a non-committal tone intended to disguise his sudden tension.
Geomar smiled. ‘Perhaps before long you and the signora will be blessed with a family.’
A nerve flickered in Luca’s jaw. The staff did not know that his marriage was temporary and that he had paid Athena a million pounds to be his wife. But it was important that he reminded himself of that fact, he thought grimly. Maybe he also needed to remind Athena that the reason they had married had nothing to do with love, or planning to spend a lifetime together—all the usual reasons why people got married. And definitely not because they hoped to have a family.
He had made it clear that all he could give Athena was sex and that was all he wanted from her. But lately he had caught her looking at him in a certain way that sounded alarm bells in his head. He had seen that hopeful look on women’s faces before. Past experience had taught him that it always ended in tears, recriminations and hurt—and he really did not want to hurt Athena.
She was sweet and kind to everyone, and the staff loved her. And she was caring and endlessly patient with his daughter, often spending hours during the day with Rosalie, reading to her and pushing her wheelchair round the garden.
For the past few weeks Luca had felt increasingly aware that Athena deserved so much more than a sham marriage—and she definitely deserved to marry a better man than him.
He glanced towards the top of the stairs, and his breath became lodged beneath his breastbone when he saw her. The blue velvet gown he had designed for her matched the sapphire-blue of her eyes. The dress was maxi-length, with a full skirt, and had a tight-fitting bodice that displayed her slender waist and full breasts to perfection. Her chestnut hair fell almost to her waist in a silken curtain, and she looked so breathtakingly lovely that Luca felt a curious ache in his chest.
The ache intensified when she walked down the stairs, as graceful and elegant as a princess. ‘I’ve missed you,’ she greeted him softly.
He felt a sudden spurt of anger. She had no right to miss him. Their marriage was not like that and it never would be. She had no right to look at him with a dreamy expression in her eyes that was a sure sign she was weaving fantasies about him and their relationship.
Plenty of women had done the same thing in the past and he hadn’t cared. The realisation that he cared enough about Athena to want to protect her from losing her pride and, even worse, her heart over him showed him that he must take action now. And if he felt a twist of regret in his gut it was his problem and he would get over it, Luca assured himself.
‘Geomar tells me you have taken charge of organising the dinner party. Thank you.’
‘It was no problem. Elizavetta is working wonders in the kitchen, and everything else is under control. You might just want to check the wine I had brought up from the cellar. I think the wines I’ve chosen will suit the food...’
The wine appreciation-course she had gone on before her wedding to Charlie had been useful after all, Athena mused. She was surprised by how much she remembered, and felt fairly confident of her choice of wine to serve at the dinner party. It was funny how she no longer felt daunted by organising a dinner party for twenty guests, and yet it had been such an ordeal when she had been engaged to Charlie and desperate to impress his sophisticated friends.
She was a different person from the awkward, accident-prone virgin with a bucke
tload of hang-ups she had been a few months ago, she acknowledged. And she had Luca to thank for her transformation.
When she had first met him she had believed the image of him portrayed by the paparazzi of an irresponsible playboy. But she had learned that Luca took his responsibilities for his work with his fashion label, for his role with the De Rossi company established by his great-grandfather, and most of all for his disabled daughter, very seriously. His devotion to Rosalie was one reason why Athena was convinced that beneath his seemingly impenetrable steel shell he did have a heart—despite the fact that he had once told her he lacked that crucial piece of his anatomy.
Her wasn’t always cool and reserved, she reminded herself. Mostly when he made love to her he was in control, and he brought her to numerous orgasms before he took his own pleasure. But sometimes his iron control slipped and she glimpsed emotions in his eyes that filled her with hope for their marriage which had begun so inauspiciously.
She smiled at him, unable to keep the news she had received earlier in the day to herself any longer. ‘I have something exciting to tell you. You remember I sent the children’s books I wrote to an agent? Well, the agent phoned today and she said she has sold my stories to a major publishing company—and they have offered me a contract for more books!’
‘That’s wonderful.’ Luca dipped his head and brushed his lips over her cheek.
She gave a playful pout. ‘I was hoping for a proper kiss.’
Athena was disappointed when he stepped away from her.
‘I’ve been travelling all day in this suit,’ he murmured. ‘I’ll quickly shower and change before the guests arrive.’
‘Your great-uncle Emilio is already here. He said you had asked for a meeting with him before dinner. He’s waiting in the library—’
Athena’s voice broke off as she watched Geomar’s grandchildren run across the hall towards her. Marco and his little sister Mia were adorable, and she scooped the toddler up in her arms with practised ease after working for several years as a nursery nurse.
‘Let’s go and find your mamma.’
‘You will be a good mother when you have your own bambini,’ Geomar commented.
Luca watched Athena blush, and she darted him a quick glance that revealed more of her hopes and dreams than perhaps she realised.
It could not go on, he realised as he turned and strode up the stairs, his jaw and his mind implacably set on the course he was convinced he must follow.
* * *
The dinner party had been a great success, Athena thought later that evening, after the last guests had departed. The food and wine had been excellent, and the long table in the dining room had looked beautiful set with silverware, crystal glasses and the centrepiece of red roses and trailing ivy that she had arranged. Her only concern was Luca, who had barely spoken to her all evening.
He had emerged from the library grim-faced after the private meeting with his great-uncle. During dinner she had been aware of his amber gaze burning into her, but every time she had smiled at him he hadn’t smiled back, and his hard features had been indecipherable.
At least now that the guests had gone she and Luca could be alone—perhaps she would discover what his problem was.
She frowned when she noticed a light shining from beneath the door of his study.
‘I thought you had gone up to bed,’ she said, after she had knocked and he’d curtly told her to come in. Her eyes flew to the suitcase by his desk. ‘Are you going somewhere?’
He was standing in front of a fire that had burned down to glowing embers in the grate, and did not turn his head as he answered her.
‘I’m driving to Milan tonight because I have an early meeting in the morning.’
‘But you’ve only just come back from a trip.’
Athena’s stomach muscles tightened with tension, and she wished he would turn around so that she could see his face.
‘Luca, what’s wrong?’ she said softly. ‘Was there something wrong with the dinner party?’
‘No, it was perfect—thanks to you.’
She bit her lip and forced herself to ask the question that had filled her with sick dread all evening, since she had started to wonder if he had grown tired of her. ‘Do you have a mistress in Milan who you are going to see?’
Luca hesitated, tempted to lie so that Athena would leave him without further discussion. But when he glanced at her and saw her scared expression he couldn’t do it. One way or another he knew it was inevitable that he was going to hurt her—but he had no wish to shatter her self-confidence, and he could not forget that she had called him an honourable man.
‘No.’ He watched the ripple of relief cross her expressive features and hardened his jaw. ‘But why would you care if I did have a mistress? Our marriage is not real. We made a deal.’
‘I know we did.’
Athena did not know how to handle this new dark and dangerously unpredictable Luca. She acknowledged that it would probably be better if she went up to bed and left him alone, but she sensed that his black mood had something to do with their relationship.
‘But I thought over the past weeks we had grown...close,’ she ventured.
‘We’ve had a lot of sex,’ he said tersely. ‘And it was fun. But I warned you not to hope for hearts and flowers.’
He walked across to the table, where Geomar had earlier left a tray with a bottle of Scotch for his meeting with his uncle, and poured a generous measure into a glass.
‘Tonight I made a new deal with my great-uncle Emilio.’ He took a mouthful of whisky and savoured its fire at the back of his throat before he looked over at Athena. ‘Emilio has always been desperate for the chairmanship of De Rossi Enterprises, which is why he hoped I would fail to meet the terms of my grandmother’s will, and why he wanted to prove that my marriage to you is a sham.’
‘You must have given him all the evidence he needs—you virtually ignored me all evening,’ she muttered.
‘It is no longer necessary for us to continue the pretence that we are happily married. I have agreed to hand over the role of chairman to Emilio. In return he will not seek to prevent me from using the De Rossi name for my fashion label, and more importantly he won’t challenge my right to inherit Villa De Rossi. My lawyers have managed to overturn the clause in Nonna Violetta’s will which stipulated that I must be married for one year before I can inherit. The villa is mine from now, and Rosalie can live here for the rest of her life. I have got everything I wanted.’
Luca said all this in an unemotional voice, and it felt like nails being driven into Athena’s heart.
‘And you have one million pounds, as we agreed. You don’t have to pretend to be my loving wife any more. You are free to leave and get on with your life.’
Athena tried to swallow past the boulder that had formed in her throat. She couldn’t believe that Luca was sending her away. She had not just imagined they had been happy since he had brought her to live at Villa De Rossi, and she had sensed a developing closeness between them—even though he insisted that they had only been having sex.
Her pride urged her to walk away, as he seemed to want her to do. And it was what the old Athena would have done. But she had changed from the nervous mouse who had never stood up for herself, and she wasn’t prepared to give up without a fight.
‘I haven’t pretended to be your loving wife,’ she said huskily. ‘It’s the truth. I...I love you, Luca. I know you warned me not to fall in love with you, but I couldn’t help it. You helped me to step out of the past and leave behind my memories of being assaulted. You showed me that it didn’t matter if I failed to meet my parents’ expectations as long as I met my own. You gave me the confidence to be me,’ she said simply, ‘and it is because of your confidence in me that I have been offered a publishing contract for my children’s books.’
‘Don’t make me out as a hero, Athena, because I am certainly not one,’ Luca said with savage self-contempt. ‘I can’t be the man you want me to be—or the husband you deserve.’
‘How do you know what I want?’
‘I know you want a family...children of your own. I saw the wistful expression on your face when you held your sister’s baby, and I’ve watched you with Geomar’s grandchildren. You were born to be a mother. But I can’t give you children. After I found out that I am a carrier of Rett Syndrome I had a vasectomy, so that I would never have to watch another child of mine suffer as Rosalie suffers.’
He swung round to face her.
‘You’re shocked. Don’t deny it. I can see it in your eyes. I couldn’t risk having another child. Now I’m setting you free so that you can fall in love with a man who loves you and who can give you children.’
‘What if I don’t want to be set free?’ she said stubbornly. ‘I’m not shocked by the news that you can’t have more children. I guessed as much when you told me you carry the mutant gene which caused Rosalie’s illness.’
Athena plucked up her courage and walked over to him.
‘I have had time to think about the fact that we wouldn’t be able to have children of our own, and it doesn’t change how I feel about you. There are other ways we could have a family. I also have an idea why you shy away from commitment. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that, having been rejected by your mother, your grandmother and Jodie, you in turn have rejected love.’ She put a tentative hand on his arm. ‘You are the only husband I want, Luca. I love you. And if you love me—’
‘But I don’t—that’s the point.’
The fire in the grate had died completely, leaving behind a pile of black ash. Luca stirred the debris with the tip of his shoe, and did not, could not bring himself to turn his head and look at Athena.
A Bride Worth Millions Page 16