The raw emotion in her voice caused a curious ache in Raul’s chest, but he hardened his heart against her. She had proved that he could not trust her, and he reminded himself that her motives for pretending to be Gino’s mother were questionable.
‘What about you, Libby? Are you also a caring person?’ he queried sardonically. ‘Is that really the only reason you kept up the charade that Gino was your child?’
‘Of course it is.’ She stared at him in confusion. ‘What other reason could there have been?’
Raul shrugged. His face looked as though it had been carved from marble: so beautiful, but so cold and hard. She wondered what had happened to the man who had smiled at her with such warmth when they had made their wedding vows, and whether he had been a figment of her imagination.
‘I think you decided to fool me into believing you were Gino’s mother because you knew you would be able to live a life of luxury at the Villa Giulietta. You used Gino as your meal-ticket.’
‘No.’ She shook her head fiercely, horrified by his accusation.
‘Yes, he insisted grimly. ‘But you knew you only had the right to live here while Gino was growing up. No wonder you jumped at my suggestion that we should marry. As my wife you would be financially secure for life.’
‘That’s not true,’ Libby denied urgently. ‘I didn’t have any ulterior motive for accepting your proposal—any more than you did for marrying me. We both did it for Gino’s sake, so that he would grow up with two parents.’
Raul speared her with a look of savage contempt. ‘Do you really expect me to believe that the lure of money had nothing to do with your decision? You were presented with the opportunity to marry a billionaire and you seized it.’
He ignored the look of hurt in her eyes and pushed past her, unable to bear breathing the same air as her. History had a funny way of repeating itself, he thought bitterly. It was a pity he didn’t feel like laughing. He had a reputation as a ruthless adversary in the boardroom, so how had he allowed himself to be taken in by a gold-digger—not once, but twice? Dana and Libby were two of a kind, and he was the biggest fool on the planet.
He pulled on his shirt and turned to find Libby watching him, her eyes huge in her white face. ‘I thought my first marriage was short when it ended after a year, but twelve hours must be a record,’ he said brutally.
Libby hugged her arms around herself, shivering despite the warmth of the night, and stared at Raul’s hard face. ‘Wh…what do you mean? And where are you going?’ she asked shakily when he strode over to the door and pulled it open.
‘I mean that I will see you in court when I divorce you, cara.’ The sarcasm in the endearment made her shrivel. ‘As to where I am going—hell seems pretty inviting at the moment, compared to being in the same room as you.’
Panic swept through Libby and she shook her head desperately. ‘No, you can’t mean that—you can’t want a divorce. What about Gino? We married for him, remember? To give him a stable childhood…’
‘And that is exactly what I intend to give him. It will be better for him if I bring him up on my own than with a callous liar like you as his mother. There’s not a court in the land that would award you custody of him after the stunt you’ve pulled,’ Raul told her savagely.
Libby gasped and closed her eyes for a few seconds, willing the room to stop swaying. He couldn’t mean it. Her mind whispered the reassurance over and over, but the cold fury in his eyes warned her that he would never forgive her for deceiving him. She needed to make him understand how much she loved Gino, and that everything she had done had been for the baby’s sake. But he was walking out of the door. She took a jerky step forward and stretched out her hand. He couldn’t leave her.
‘Raul…please…’
He gave her one last bitter look that ripped her heart in two, and slammed the door before she could reach him. She stood trembling, willing him to walk back in, but the sound of his footsteps along the corridor told her he had gone. Suddenly the dam burst and she crumpled to her knees, tears coursing down her face. This was her wedding night, but thanks to her stupidity the honeymoon was over before their marriage had even begun.
Raul walked swiftly through the silent house and out of the front door, his feet automatically taking him to the place he always went when he needed to be alone. The lake gleamed silver in the moonlight, reflecting the dark shadows of the trees that lined the shore. An owl hooted somewhere, and his footfall thudded on the wooden jetty. It took him mere seconds to untie the mooring rope that secured his sailing boat and he leapt on board and cast off.
A breeze rippled the surface of the water and sent the boat scudding across the little waves. He focused on adjusting the rigging and headed far out onto the lake, the gentle flap of the sail and the lap of the water against the hull soothing his ragged emotions.
Libby was not Gino’s mother. She had deceived him and made a fool of him. His nostrils flared as he sought to control his anger, and he sailed on through the velvet darkness, his way lit by the moon and the myriad stars that studded the heavens.
She had done it for money, of course. She had lied to him just as Dana had lied when she had assured him that she wanted children. Dana had been an avaricious bitch who had married him to get her hands on the Carducci fortune, and Libby was no better.
But that was not quite true, he brooded. Libby had shown none of his ex-wife’s tendencies to max out his credit card or fill her days shopping for more clothes to cram into her overcrowded wardrobes. Nor had she shown any enthusiasm to visit nightclubs when he had suggested it on the two occasions before their wedding when they had stayed at his apartment in Rome. She would prefer to be at the villa with Gino, she had assured him.
Her dedication to the baby was indisputable; her love for him was absolutely genuine—Raul was convinced of that. He frowned as he recalled the grim, damp flat in Cornwall where he had found her. She must have made huge sacrifices—both materially and personally—for her little half-brother. He was under no illusions about the difficulties she must have faced as a single mother, trying to work and keep a roof over their heads while she cared for the baby. She was a beautiful young woman who should have been able to enjoy all the things that her peers took for granted: fashionable clothes, parties, socialising with friends—dating. But she had given all that up for Gino.
Could any woman love a child who was not her own with such generosity of spirit? he wondered sceptically. Dana would certainly not have done. But he knew of one woman who had. His adoptive mother had taken a feral, emotionally damaged seven-year-old boy into her home, and into her heart. Eleanora Carducci had loved him unconditionally, and he had adored her. But after his acrimonious divorce from Dana he had cynically assumed that all women had a hidden agenda. When he had discovered how Libby had tricked him his first reaction had been utter fury, but now his anger was cooling and he wondered if he had judged her too harshly.
‘I didn’t have any ulterior motive for accepting your proposal—any more than you did for marrying me. We both did it for Gino’s sake.’
Her words hammered in Raul’s brain, and guilt reared its ugly head—because he had had an ulterior motive, he acknowledged uncomfortably. He had married her to gain control of Carducci Cosmetics, and in truth had been just as guilty of deceit because he had not made her aware of that clause in Pietro’s will.
Another thought slipped insidiously into his head. Libby had not been Pietro’s mistress. She and his father had never slept together—in fact he had irrefutable proof that she had never given herself to any other man but him. For some inexplicable reason that fact filled him with a heady sense of triumph. He had always thought of himself as a modern guy, and he had absolutely no problem with a woman’s right to enjoy a varied sex life with a number of partners—but Libby was his, and he was shocked by the primitive feeling of possessiveness that swept through him, the feeling that he wanted to keep her locked up in the high tower of the villa, away from the gaze of any other man.
There was a glimmer of pale light in the sky when at last he headed back to shore, feeling calmer and in control of his emotions once more, but still unable to answer the question of what the hell he was going to do now.
Shock jolted through him when he caught sight of a figure standing on the jetty. The fiery red hair was instantly recognizable, and as he took the boat closer he saw Libby was wearing jeans and a soft, silvery grey sweater. She looked very young and achingly vulnerable, and he felt a gentle tug on his heart.
‘Catch this, will you?’ he called to her, and threw a rope onto the jetty. After a moment’s hesitation she picked it up. ‘Tie it around that post,’ he instructed as he brought the boat alongside and jumped out. She surveyed him warily, and he saw that her eyes were red-rimmed, her face so pale that she looked as ethereal as a ghost.
He glanced at his watch. ‘It’s four a.m. I wasn’t expecting you to be up.’
She shrugged, and said dully, ‘I haven’t slept.’
Her tension was tangible, reminding him of a nervous colt poised to bolt if he came too close. But that was hardly surprising after he had subjected her to the full force of his hot temper.
She looked past him to the soft mist that was drifting across the lake. ‘It must be so peaceful out on the water as the sun rises,’ she murmured wistfully.
‘To my mind it’s the closest place to heaven.’ He paused, and then said quietly, ‘Maybe I’ll take you with me some time.’
Her eyes flew to his face and her voice shook as she said desperately, ‘Please don’t send me away from Gino. I love him, and he loves me. It would be too cruel…’
‘I know.’ He exhaled heavily. ‘I am not an ogre. I am fully aware of your devotion to him, and that in his eyes you are his mother.’
For the first time since he had slammed out of the bedroom Libby felt the terrible tension that gripped her muscles ease a little. ‘I know what I did was unforgivable, but after Mum died I was so scared Social Services would take him. I had been in care myself. I know what it’s like to feel that you don’t belong anywhere or with anyone, and I was prepared to do anything to keep Gino with me.’
‘Including sacrificing your virginity,’ Raul said harshly. ‘Did you really think you could hide your innocence from me?’
Colour flared in Libby’s pale face. ‘I hadn’t expected the experience to be so traumatic,’ she admitted ruefully.
Guilt kicked Raul in his gut. ‘It should not have been. If I’d had any idea that it was your first time I would have been more patient.’ He had probably terrified the life out of her, he acknowledged, looking away from her as he recalled how his hunger for her had made him plunder her untutored body with a savagery that now filled him with shame.
‘I assure you I will be much gentler next time,’ he promised tautly.
Next time! Libby bit her lip. ‘Does that mean you intend for our marriage to continue? Even though I…?’ She stumbled to a halt, and Raul’s dark brows lifted sardonically.
‘Even though you deceived me and married me under false pretences?’ he queried coolly. ‘I admit my first thought was to send you back to England, but apart from the fact that Gino needs you, it is also possible that you have already conceived my child. I realise that when we made love it was not a great experience for you, but it certainly worked for me,’ he said self-derisively. ‘I did not use contraception, and it is perfectly feasible that you are pregnant.’
Libby’s heart clenched at the idea that she might be carrying Raul’s baby. She seemed to be on an emotional roller-coaster, and she hugged her arms around her body as a little tremor of excitement ran through her.
Raul frowned. ‘You’re cold. Let’s go back to the house.’
He walked beside her along the jetty, but Libby was so intensely aware of him that she stumbled, and would have fallen into the water if it had not been for his lightning reactions. He caught hold of her shoulder to steady her, stared at her white face for a second, and then scooped her into his arms, ignoring her protest as he strode towards the house.
‘You can barely stand. You’re wasting your energy fighting me, cara, because I’m not going to let you go,’ he warned her, and he knew as he said the words that he meant them. Somehow Libby had crept under his guard, and to his surprise he was in no hurry to evict her.
Chapter Nine
THE steady thud of Raul’s heart beneath her ear soothed Libby’s ragged emotions, and the strength of his arms holding her felt comfortingly safe. Wasn’t that what she had longed for when she was a child? she thought ruefully. To feel safe and protected? She had never doubted that her mother had loved her, but she had disliked most of Liz’s hippy boyfriends, and had yearned for the security of a proper home and a family. Had she been drawn to Raul from the moment she had met him because her instincts had told her that he was a strong and powerful man whom she could trust?
He strode through the house, and her heart skittered when, instead of heading for his study or the sitting room, he carried her up the wide staircase to the master bedroom.
‘We need to talk,’ he growled as he lowered her onto the bed.
To her consternation he sat down next to her—so close that she could feel the warmth of his body and breathe in the intoxicating scent of his cologne, mixed with another scent that was intensely male.
She twisted her fingers together in her lap and said quietly, ‘I don’t suppose you’ll believe me, but I felt really guilty about lying to you. You have every right to be angry.’
She sounded so convincing that Raul found it impossible to believe she was a clever actress. And even if she was, what difference did it make? He had married her to gain control of Carducci Cosmetics, and his other reasons were still valid: Gino, the desire for a child of his own, and his overwhelming desire for her that still burned with a white-hot flame.
He reached out and idly wrapped a flame-coloured curl around his finger. ‘I suppose I understand why you did it,’ he said heavily, and realised that it was true. He was still angry with her for her deception, but he could not help feeling a begrudging admiration that she had fought so hard to keep Gino. ‘If I had been in the same situation I too would have done anything to prevent Gino from being taken into care. The memories I have of living in the orphanage are not happy ones.’
‘How old were you when you were adopted?’
‘Seven.’
‘I was that age when I was allowed to leave my foster home and live with Mum again. We went to Ibiza soon after. Do you know anything about your real parents?’ Libby asked him curiously.
‘Only that they lived in dire poverty in the backstreets of Naples. My mother died shortly after giving birth to me, and for the first few years of my life I lived with my father.’ Raul grimaced. ‘My memories of him are of a big, brutal man—and the feel of his belt across the backs of my legs. He was an alcoholic, although of course I did not understand that then. All I knew was that he had an unpredictable and violent temper. He died when I was five. I don’t know what happened to him, although I suspect he was a member of a criminal gang. One night he went out, leaving me alone as he often did, and later police officers broke down the door of our flat and took me to an orphanage.
‘I was a difficult child, and the nuns who ran the orphanage struggled to control me. No one wanted to foster me, and it seemed likely I would spend the rest of my childhood in care. But Pietro and Eleanora Carducci were prepared to give me a chance. I don’t know why they chose to adopt a feral street boy,’ Raul said, his hard features softening as he remembered his adoptive parents, ‘but I am thankful that they did. My life changed for ever because of them, and I will be eternally grateful for all they did for me.’
Libby nodded, her heart aching as she imagined Raul as the brutalised and unhappy little boy he must have been before he had been adopted. ‘Life can be so precarious,’ she murmured, ‘and children are so vulnerable. All I want is for Gino to grow up feeling safe and secure and confident that he is loved.’
‘Together we will do everything possible to give him a happy childhood,’ Raul assured her. ‘But is that really all you want, Libby? Was Gino’s welfare truly the only reason you married me?’
She tensed as he slid his hand beneath her chin and tilted her face. He had moved along the mattress and was now so close that she could see the tiny lines that fanned out around his eyes. Last night those eyes had glittered with icy fury, but now, incredibly, there was a warmth in his gaze that gave her hope. ‘I didn’t marry you for financial gain, I swear,’ she said urgently. ‘I don’t want your money.’
His sensual smile stole her breath. ‘Then what do you want, cara?’
The atmosphere shifted subtly, and Libby’s heart-rate quickened when he brought his other hand up and smoothed her hair back from her face. Suddenly shy, she dropped her gaze, but staring at his lap made her heart beat faster still. She had a vivid recall of what was hidden beneath his trousers: long, muscular legs, and strong thighs covered with wiry dark hair that grew thicker at the base of his masculinity. Hot-cheeked, she dragged her gaze away from that pertinent area of his body. But she could not forget his promise that the next time they had sex he would be gentler, and as she lifted her eyes to his mouth she couldn’t help wondering when that next time might be.
The stinging sensation when he had taken her virginity had caused her to cry out more from shock than actual pain, but now she was aware of a restless ache low in her pelvis that grew stronger when she remembered how he had caressed her with his wickedly inventive tongue.
‘I regret that losing your virginity was not the special experience it should have been. But I think you found some aspects of lovemaking enjoyable—am I right, Libby?’ he queried softly.
-->