Phantom Marriage

by Penny Jordan

  Veronica was quite moved by his grief.

  ‘He should have contacted you earlier,’ he went on with an angry flash in his dark eyes. ‘He was your papa. He was your flesh and blood. It was wrong of him to keep you a secret.’

  ‘I think so too,’ she agreed with a catch in her throat. ‘But it’s too late now.’

  ‘Si. Much too late. I do not understand what he was thinking.’

  ‘Neither do I.’

  Leonardo frowned. ‘Possibly he wasn’t thinking at all. He was very depressed after Ruth died. Very grumpy too, at times. But I still liked him. He was good to me when I needed him. I miss him. Terribly. As strange as it might seem, he was my best friend, despite our age difference. He was always totally honest with me. And I liked that.’

  ‘Honesty is a good virtue in a friend,’ Veronica choked out, struggling a little with this conversation. She would liked to have been her father’s best friend too.

  ‘I have made you sad,’ Leonardo said with a combination of regret and frustration in his voice. ‘I did not walk you home to make you sad. Now, no more delaying tactics,’ he went on with suddenly hungry eyes. ‘I don’t want coffee, or cognac. Not even that port I told you about. I just want you, Veronica. Only you…’

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  ONLY ME, VERONICA thought breathlessly as she watched him remove his arm from the mantelpiece and slowly walk towards her.

  He could not have said anything more perfect. Or more seductive. If ever she’d needed to be wanted the way Leonardo professed to want her, it was now.

  This time, she went into his arms without hesitation. And without any more qualms. Or worries. It was as though with those impassioned words he’d blinded her to the slightly sordid reality of the situation and turned their assignation into something sweet. Romantic, even.

  Her arms wound up around his neck and slowly pulled his mouth down onto hers. But within seconds of his lips meeting hers the timbre of the moment changed. Suddenly, there was nothing sweet or romantic about his kiss. Or her response to it. The inner fire which she’d been desperately trying to douse all day sprang back into life with a vengeance. It was like the most savage bush fire, the ones which scorched everything in their path. Up on tiptoe, she pressed her open mouth to his like a woman dying of thirst, with the moisture of his mouth her salvation. When his tongue dived deep, her lips closed around it and sucked hard. He gasped, then moaned, then lifted her up off her feet. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he carried her like that into the master bedroom. There, he threw her across the bed, his breathing ragged as he glared down at her.

  ‘Dio,’ he muttered, shaking his head as he kicked off his shoes and started stripping off his clothes.

  Veronica tried to think. Tried to will herself to move. But her mind was all on him, on this magnificent male animal whom she wanted as she had never wanted anyone before. Her hungry gaze ogled him shamelessly as he undressed, her eyes stunned by his rapidly unfolding beauty. Naked, he was everything she’d imagined and more. Not too big or too small. No flaws. Just perfect in every way. She loved the olive colour of his skin, and the sculptured look of his stomach muscles. She loved his broad shoulders and his long, strong legs. Skier’s legs. But most of all she loved the length and strength of his erection.

  When she started thinking of how he would feel sliding into her she did move, her hands reaching up under her skirt and ripping off her panties, uncaring that she’d ruined them. A need was possessing her, a need so powerful and impassioned that there was no room for shame. Or decorum.

  ‘Hurry,’ she choked out.

  For a long moment he just stood there beside the bed and stared down at her, his expression stunned. Veronica groaned with frustration, lifting her skirt up and spreading her knees.

  ‘Just do it,’ she begged, her desire now desperate. She was so turned on she feared she might come with him still standing there staring at her. ‘Please, Leonardo…’

  Finally, he fell upon her, entering her with little finesse, taking her hands and scooping them up above her head, holding her captive against the bed as he pounded into her. Surprisingly, she didn’t come straight away, moaning and groaning as her head whipped from side to side. He kept saying things to her in Italian. Not romantic-sounding words. Hard, hot, perhaps angry, words. After what felt like for ever she came, and he came with her, their bodies shuddering together, their mouths gasping wide. Veronica squeezed her eyes shut, afraid to look into his, afraid of what she might see.

  Please God, not disgust!

  He let her arms go with a sound she could not identify. Whatever, it didn’t sound happy.

  ‘I did not use protection,’ he growled.

  She opened her eyes, not to an expression of disgust, but anger.

  ‘You did not give me time!’ he accused her in harsh tones.

  He was possibly right. But she hadn’t exactly put a gun to his head and forced him to have sex with her. If he’d wanted to use a condom, he could have. She opened her mouth to apologise then closed it again. Why should she say sorry? Practising safe sex was as much his responsibility as hers.

  ‘You don’t have to worry,’ she shot back at him. ‘I won’t get pregnant.’

  Veronica knew her body well and her period was due next Monday. She should have ovulated more than a week ago.

  He clasped the sides of her face and glowered down at her. ‘You are on the pill?’ he demanded to know.

  His attitude both frightened and annoyed her. If she told him she wasn’t, he would probably have a conniption. Or a tantrum. She could imagine that Leonardo would have had tantrums as a boy. He was spoiled rotten. That much was clear. She hated lies, but there were times when a little white lie was the only option.

  ‘Yes, of course,’ she said. ‘What do you think I am, a fool? And, whilst we’re asking each other personal questions, I hope you don’t make a habit of practising unsafe sex.’

  ‘Never!’ he said, looking quite offended.

  ‘Before tonight, that is,’ she pointed out archly.

  It shocked Veronica how quickly her feelings for Leonardo could go from uncontrollable desire to outright dislike.

  He reared up onto his elbows with a strange look on his face. Was that shock in his eyes? Or just confusion? Clearly, he wasn’t used to losing control as he just had.

  ‘I think I should go,’ he said and suddenly withdrew, scrambling up off the bed and reaching for his clothes.

  Tears of hurt and humiliation stung Veronica’s eyes. Suddenly, she felt both used and very cheap. She must have a made a sound because he turned and saw her distress.

  ‘No, no,’ he said hurriedly, sitting back down and pulling her up into his arms again. ‘You were lovely. I am just not used to acting so foolishly. It has thrown me. There was this girl once. But no,’ he said with a bitter laugh. ‘I will not bore you with the details. Needless to say, it is a case of once bitten, twice shy when it comes to risking an unwanted child.’

  Understanding dawned. He’d been targeted once before by a gold digger, some girl who’d tried to trap him with a pregnancy.

  ‘I would not try to trap you with a baby, Leonardo,’ she said gently, and stroked the back of his head, feeling suddenly tender towards him. Thank God she was certain there would be no unwanted pregnancy from tonight’s mistake. ‘It’s a rotten thing for a girl to do.’

  ‘It is.’

  ‘Did she have a baby, this girl?’

  He drew back and smiled a relieved smile. ‘Happily, no. She wasn’t pregnant at all. She just said she was.’

  ‘What a wicked deception.’ Veronica knew all about wicked deceptions. They scarred people. This girl had scarred Leonardo, trying to trap him into marriage before he was ready. And no doubt without love involved.

  Leonardo sighed heavily, then stood up and started dressing. ‘I would have married her,’
he confessed as he zipped up his trousers.

  ‘But why, if you didn’t love her?’

  ‘It is a question of honour,’ he said, pulling on his shirt. ‘The baby would have been mine.’

  ‘That is a little old-fashioned, Leonardo. Honestly, an Australian man wouldn’t have felt obliged to marry such a girl.’

  ‘But to walk away from your own child,’ Leonardo said, frowning. ‘That is not right. I could not do that.’

  ‘You didn’t have to walk away. You could have paid child care and demanded visiting rights. Why marry when there’s no love involved? To do that is not right, either.’

  His smile was wry. ‘Italians feel differently on the subject.’

  Veronica shook her head. ‘Then you are different, all right.’

  ‘Apparently so. Now, I really must go, or Mamma will start getting ideas. She already likes you enormously,’ he added, laughing. ‘If I stay any longer she will be planning our wedding before the weekend is out.’

  Veronica laughed too. ‘Then you’d definitely better go.’

  ‘I’ll pick you up at ten tomorrow morning. Don’t wear a dress or a skirt. We’re going in a helicopter, remember?’

  ‘Okay.’

  ‘Ciao.’

  She watched him leave, thinking that perhaps she should have told him she was afraid of helicopters. But she didn’t want to sound like a scaredy-cat. She liked it that he saw her as a bit of an adventuress. Which she had been, once. She’d thought nothing of travelling to the snowfields in Europe on her own every year when she’d been doing her uni course. She would save up all year from her two part-time jobs and splurge the lot every January, backpacking from one ski resort to the next. It wasn’t till the last year of her course that she’d been able to make it a working holiday, using her qualifications to get a job as a remedial masseuse at one of the top ski resorts.

  That was where she’d run into Leonardo.

  Who would have believed what fate had had in store for her when she’d rejected him that night? Veronica would never have imagined that she would actually have sex with Leonardo several years later. Or that she would jump into bed with him so quickly and so shamelessly. For years after the night of that party, she’d told herself firmly that she’d imagined how turned on she was at the time, and how difficult it had been to resist him. But she’d known, the moment he’d introduced himself over the phone two weeks ago, that he was the most dangerously attractive man she’d ever met.

  Yes, she’d come to Capri to find out about her father. But she finally admitted that she’d also come because of Leonardo. To meet him again and see if all her sexual feelings about the man were just fantasies or the real McCoy. Well, now she had her answer, didn’t she? The desires he could evoke in her—oh, so effortlessly—were real. Very real.

  Not dangerous, though. Unless she did something stupid, such as fall in love with him.

  Which Veronica resolved not to do. She wasn’t a silly young girl any longer. She was an adult, with a wealth of experience behind her. She knew precisely what she was dealing with.

  Leonardo was a playboy and a commitment-phobe. He pretended that one day he would settle down but she very much doubted it. Clearly, he didn’t want to sleep with the same woman for the rest of his life. All he wanted to do with the opposite sex was have fun.

  Well, that was what she wanted from him, Veronica decided. Just fun.

  To want anything more would be crazy.

  And she wasn’t crazy. She was, however, crazy about Leonardo’s body. Oh, Lord he was just so gorgeous. Her stomach lurched as she recalled how it had felt when he’d entered her. She could hardly wait till tomorrow.

  Showing her Capri by helicopter wouldn’t take long, Veronica imagined as she hurried inside. She had no doubt that when he brought her home afterwards he would stay for a while. Maybe even for the rest of the day. Things tonight had been so rushed. Thrilling, yes, and very satisfying. Had she ever had an orgasm like it?

  All her internal muscles squeezed tight as she tried to relive the moment when she’d splintered apart in his arms. But the memory was already fading.

  I needed to experience it again. And again. I don’t want to ever forget.

  Veronica reached the master bedroom where she stared at the indentations their bodies had made on the bed. Tomorrow, she vowed, they would not be having a quickie on top of the quilt. They would lie naked together in the bed. She would insist Leonardo make love to her more slowly, with plenty of adventurous foreplay. Veronica had never been into oral sex all that much, but she suspected she would be with Leonardo. Just thinking about going down on him made her quiver with anticipation. She could hardly wait. She would also insist that before he entered her he remembered to use a condom. Then, whilst she was totally protected, she would whisper for him to do everything to her.

  A shudder ran through Veronica at this last thought. Her feelings for this man, she finally accepted, were dangerous. And threatening to run out of control.

  Get a grip, girl, came her stern warning. You will be going home to Australia in three weeks’ time and Leonardo will become nothing but a memory. Have fun with him, like your mother said, but never forget that this will just be a fling, not a for ever moment.

  Veronica went to bed with this warning at the forefront of her mind. She fell asleep surprisingly quickly. And didn’t dream. Which, when she woke, seemed a good portent for the day ahead. The weather looked excellent, the sun already up, the skies clear and cloudless. A good day for sightseeing, especially by air.

  Now, what was she going to wear?

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  VERONICA DIDN’T DISOBEY Leonardo’s instruction and wear a dress, despite being tempted, as she’d bought a couple of lovely sundresses for this trip. Instead, she sensibly chose three-quarter-length cuffed blue jeans, teaming them with a peasant-style pink-and-blue blouse and flat brown sandals. She gave in to vanity, however, and left her freshly shampooed hair down, hoping that her straw sunhat would control her sometimes wayward waves.

  Not the only wayward thing about her, she accepted as ten o’clock approached. Despite all her warnings of the night before, her heartbeat took off and a perversely delicious tension invaded her lower body. Several deep breaths later, things hadn’t improved.

  Leonardo was right on time, his own outfit just as casual as her own. He too was wearing blue jeans, matched with a simple white T-shirt and lightweight navy jacket. The day might be sunny but it wasn’t hot. She suspected his clothes were designer labels, because the fit and materials were superb. But she also suspected he would look just as good in anything. It was a case of the man making the clothes rather than the other way round. Leonardo was a total hunk who just exuded sex appeal. All of a sudden, Veronica wished they weren’t going anywhere. She wanted to grab him and drag him inside. Wanted to spend the whole day in bed with him.

  Hopefully, her eyes didn’t say as much. She did have some pride left. Not a lot, she decided ruefully. But enough. Though, it wavered when he said how lovely she looked. Lord, but this was one wickedly seductive man.

  ‘I’ll just get the rest of my things,’ she said, quickly putting her sunglasses on, then grabbing her straw bag and hat.

  Locking up was achieved without any embarrassing fumbling, Veronica depositing the key in the geranium pot before glancing up at Leonardo.

  ‘Let’s hope all your wine is still there when we get back,’ she quipped drily.

  He grinned. ‘It will be. Have you found the cellar yet?’

  ‘No. I keep forgetting to look.’

  ‘I’ll show you where it is when we get back. This way,’ he said, and cupped her left elbow, leading her not towards the stone steps but round the back of the house, where a taxi awaited them on the gravel courtyard.

  It wasn’t Franco’s yellow convertible. This one was olive-green and much smaller. With a proper
roof.

  ‘Saturday is Franco’s busiest day,’ Leonardo explained as he steered her towards the already opened back door. ‘This is Ricardo. Ricardo, this is Veronica, Laurence’s long-lost daughter.’

  Ricardo smiled at her. ‘She looks like him,’ he said, then just got on with the driving.

  ‘Does everyone on Capri know who I am?’ she asked quietly.

  Leonardo shrugged. ‘Pretty much. You can’t keep any secrets on Capri. Why? Does it bother you?’

  ‘I guess not.’

  ‘By the way, the Hotel Fabrizzi is fully booked for tonight. With a group from America. I hate the noise, so I might have to throw myself on the mercy of one of my neighbours.’

  Veronica’s heart flipped over, but she managed to keep a poker face, determined not to let this devil know how excited she was by the thought of having him stay with her the whole night.

  ‘Oh?’ she said in a superbly nonchalant tone. ‘Which neighbour were you thinking of asking?’

  ‘There is only one who has a suitably large guest bedroom.’

  ‘Will everyone on Capri know that you stayed at my place?’ she asked him quietly, so that the driver couldn’t hear.

  ‘Not everyone. But Mamma certainly will.’

  ‘Will that cause you problems?’

  Leonardo shrugged. ‘Nothing I can’t handle.’

  Veronica didn’t doubt it.

  ‘Let it be on your head, then, Leonardo,’ she told him. ‘Don’t come crying to me when your parents mistakenly think your intentions towards me are serious.’

  ‘Who says they aren’t?’ he asked with a look that she couldn’t decipher.

  It rattled her, that look. His dark eyes fairly smouldered at her from under half-lowered lids. She was still wondering what it meant when his tautly held lips split into a wide smile.

  ‘Got you,’ he said with a nudge against her ribs.

  ‘You are a wicked man, Leonardo Fabrizzi,’ she said, both annoyed and flustered that she would think, even for a moment, that Leonardo was anything other than a highly accomplished playboy.