by Lynne Graham
‘Bridegroom’s prerogative…’ Luciano paused to haul her to him and claim a passionate kiss that went on and on and on.
Emerging from what could not have been termed an ordeal, her head swimming, Kerry did not protest when he swept her off her feet and carried her out into the sunlight. A rosy blush lit her face when an unexpected crowd of guests whooped and showered them with confetti.
Luciano almost groaned out loud. Her family were waiting to exchange a last word with her and his arms tightened possessively round her slender figure. He just could not bring himself to put her down and share her again. Only giving her time to wave and exchange fleeting goodbyes, he forged a determined path for the helicopter awaiting them. He had done the wedding with the five-hundred-odd guests, the socialising, the speechmaking, the whole polite thing, and now all he cared about was having his bride all to himself.
Costanza was the last to come forward. ‘Be gentle with him,’ she urged Kerry with a teasing grin.
Their final destination proved to be a tiny private island off the coast of Sicily. From the air, it looked to be a lush green wooded paradise and Kerry was no less enchanted when Luciano lifted her out of the helicopter and she first saw the long, low, contemporary house that sat above the smooth golden beach washed by the waves.
‘I don’t think that I’ll ever forget that you brought me somewhere so beautiful for our honeymoon,’ Kerry confided.
‘Hopefully this won’t be our only visit. This place is ours—’
‘Ours?’ Kerry gasped, wide-eyed.
‘It is only a small island,’ Luciano pointed out.
‘But it’s enchanting.’ Kicking off her shoes and hitching up her skirt to peel off her lace-topped stockings beneath his startled and appreciative gaze, Kerry hurried onto the beach. She curled her toes in the soft, silky sand, lifted her gown to her knees and proceeded without a shade of inhibition to paddle through the whispering surf like a small child.
With a helpless grin, Luciano bent down to hook long, lean fingers into the shoes worth a small fortune that his bride had just discarded within feet of the tide coming in and watched her enjoy herself. She was so unspoilt, for she suffered neither from vanity nor the desire to impress others. She was also very kind. In every way she was different from all the other women he had ever known and he had been very proud of her at their wedding.
Their guests had hailed from all walks of life but they had all felt comfortable with Kerry. Her abundance of natural warmth attracted people, and as she gained in confidence her special qualities became all the more obvious. Just looking at Kerry, sunlight glinting off her fiery curls, bright blue eyes sparkling with enjoyment, Luciano felt very much like a guy who had made an absolute killing on the stockmarket. He had captured her and made her his and got that ring on her finger just in the nick of time!
Why had he made such a fuss about that lying, thieving little weasel, Miles? Cunning and clever as Miles had once been, Luciano could now concede that the younger man was no longer a threat to him. As for punishment? Punishment was in hand for all the Linwoods and gathering a deadlier pace with every day that the Salut chain traded. But Luciano believed that Miles might well be destroying his own life even faster.
However, Luciano had no intention of distressing Kerry with his belief that her beloved stepbrother might well have been high on drugs at their wedding. Luciano had known enough addicts in prison to recognise the likely cause of Miles’s excitable state. That suspicion had given Luciano an even greater aversion to the younger man and he had found it intolerable to see Kerry in Miles’s company. But even though he had a security man dogging Miles’s footsteps, Bailey had not been seen to do anything he shouldn’t. Without concrete proof, Luciano knew better than to accuse Miles of wrongdoing.
Shedding those unpleasant thoughts, Luciano accompanied his breathless bride up to the house above the beach. Leaving wet, sandy footprints everywhere, Kerry breezed through the interior of the house, oohing and aahing with unhidden delight at all that she saw. Simple tiled floors, subtle drapes and stylish beech furniture played down the outright luxury of the comfort level on offer.
‘When did you buy this place?’
‘While I was still in prison. Just seeing the photos was enough to lift my spirits and give me the hope that some day I would walk across that beach—’
‘Oh, no…I paddled through your historic moment!’ Kerry cut in, her dismay palpable.
Luciano loosed a long, extravagant sigh. ‘And now, even worse, you’re about to get sand on my handstitched silk sheets…’
Her lush mouth opened on a soundless ooh of surprise.
‘Brides have been dumped for lesser sins, bella mia.’ His gorgeous golden eyes glittered with amusement.
‘Are you planning to dump me?’
Luciano reached behind her and ran down the zip on her wedding gown. ‘Not before I’ve ravished you within an inch of your life—’
‘Not funny—’
‘—for at least fifty years!’ He tipped the gown off her shoulders and watched it fall to expose the ivory silk bra and briefs she wore underneath.
‘OK…I’ll go wash the sand off—’
‘Too late…I can’t wait that long.’ Luciano laid her down on the wide, luxurious divan and began to strip off his suit with impatient hands.
Her heart was racing inside her, her mouth running dry. She lay there feeling weighted to the mattress, face burning, for she was wildly conscious of the embarrassing dampness between her thighs. It seemed almost wicked to want any man as much as she wanted him, and even more shameless to watch him undress and conceal just how magnificent she found him.
Familiarity did not make him one bit less gorgeous, and nine days of deprivation had only made her all the more aware of his potent masculinity. Her eyes lingered on his wide shoulders, the cluster of black curling hair outlining his strong pectorals and the sleek muscularity of his flat stomach. As he stepped out of his trousers, her breathing fractured. His black silk boxers moulded the impressive bulge of his aroused manhood. Then the boxers fell to the tiles and he bent down to unclip her bra and remove her panties with scant appreciation for the decorative qualities of either garment.
‘When I said I couldn’t wait, I wasn’t joking, cara mia.’ With molten male appreciation in his gaze, Luciano scrutinised the straining peaks crowning her small breasts and let his attention drop to the auburn curls at the apex of her thighs.
Without hesitation, he parted her legs. Unaccustomed to being fully exposed to him like this, Kerry reddened and would have attempted to cover herself had he not uttered an earthy sound of appreciation at the visible evidence of her excitement.
‘Luciano…’
‘I know this is a very last-moment request…but can I make love to you without using protection? I’d like to spend our honeymoon trying to make you pregnant,’ Luciano confided with a ragged edge to his dark, deep drawl.
Disconcerted, she looked up at him and the hungry urgency and longing she met in his bold appraisal turned her inside out and melted her. ‘Hmm…’
‘Is that a…yes?’
Unable to find her voice, Kerry nodded vehemently. She was overwhelmed, for once it had been her who was eager to start a family. He had wanted children too but he had also been frank about his desire to wait for a few years. Now she was touched to the heart that he should want a baby with her so soon. Having a family was something that she had tried not to think about because she had assumed that it would be a long time before he was ready to even consider the possibility.
‘You don’t think that maybe you ought to consider the concept in a little more depth?’ Luciano prompted.
‘No. I’ve always wanted your baby,’ Kerry confided a little unsteadily.
‘Why is a confession that once would have struck terror into my bones now so deeply, dangerously erotic?’ Luciano groaned earthily.
He plundered the sweetness of her mouth just once before he shifted his attention to the
stiff pink buds of her pouting breasts. She got lost in sensation fast, because, although until that moment she had not really acknowledged it, in recent weeks her breasts had felt more than usually sensitive. Luciano had only to stroke her tender nipples with his tongue to make her spine arch and provoke her into moaning out loud.
‘Don’t be so shy,’ he scolded gently when she gazed up at him afterwards in frank mortification. ‘When you respond to me like that it’s very exciting for me.’
He pulled her into his arms and with sure fingers explored the slick, responsive flesh between her slender thighs, lingering on the tiny swollen nub of her desire. With a gasp, she raised her hips off the bed in helpless, eager encouragement. In no time at all she was writhing, begging, heedless of all but her own tormented need for him.
Spreading her willing body under him, Luciano mounted her and plunged his aching shaft into her delicate sheath with forceful expertise. Jackknifing up to him in welcome, she cried out. His raw dominance just increased the splintering, explosive excitement roaring through her. His every movement gave her indescribable pleasure. She was on a wild roller-coaster of sensation that pushed her closer and closer to the height that her every skin cell yearned to reach. And then she was flying up into the sun, screaming and sobbing and coming apart beneath him in a sweet agony of fierce fulfilment.
Rolling over to release her from his weight, he held her close. He pushed her tumbled hair off her brow with a hand that wasn’t quite steady. Slumberous dark golden eyes sought out hers. ‘I have a confession to make…the first time I made love to you at Ballybawn I forgot to use protection—’
‘Forgot?’ Kerry gasped in astonishment.
Faint colour accentuated Luciano’s blunt cheekbones. ‘It had been over five years for me. I got carried away and I only realised afterwards—’
‘But you didn’t tell me—’
Luciano gave her a wicked grin. ‘You shouldn’t have needed to be told,’ he teased. ‘I knew you hadn’t noticed and I didn’t mention it because I didn’t want to worry you. After all, if you got caught, you got caught—’
‘Caught?’
‘Pregnant,’ he rephrased. ‘But obviously we got away with it, cara mia.’
‘Obviously,’ Kerry repeated absently while she wondered when she had last had her period. The date seemed lost in the mists of time and the calendar on which she had kept a discreet note was back in the kitchen in Ballybawn. Strain as she did to remember how many weeks it had been since that particular event, she could not. Even so, she thought it very unlikely that she might have conceived; foreign travel, a different diet and too much excitement must have put her system out of sync.
‘Obviously getting you pregnant is a project which will require lots and lots and lots of effort from me and loads of dedicated practice,’ Luciano purred, flipping her over and hauling her back against him to acquaint her with the reality of his renewed arousal.
‘You’re also very into this project, aren’t you?’ Her smile could have lit up the room and she turned back to face him and closed her arms round his neck. As she met those dark golden eyes of his, her heart lurched inside her.
‘Very into you,’ he traded, lifting her over him and anchoring her knees to either side of him.
Kerry was shocked. ‘We can’t do it like this—’
‘Dio mio…watch me…’ With deft hands and shameless expertise, Luciano angled her up and brought her down on him, penetrating her with the slow, erotic precision of a male who knew how to generate the maximum excitement.
It was a wedding night to remember. She did not dare challenge him with that word ‘can’t’ again but was tempted more than once. He even made love to her in the shower, and in the aftermath of an orgasm which wiped her out she mumbled, ‘I love you…I love you so much…’
It was his ultimate fantasy, which he had pictured so often when he lay fighting sexual frustration in his narrow prison bed: Kerry telling him how much she loved him again. He knew that exhaustion had blown away her defences and that she barely even realised what she had confessed. He lifted her off the bathroom carpet, carried her back to bed and covered her with the sheet. He stood looking down at her while she slept. Her hair was a riot of curls half wet, half dry and she was pale, faint bluish shadows showing below her lashes.
Luciano went for another shower. That fantasy had lurked at the back of his mind from the minute he walked free from that court: the instant of cruellest revenge as he ditched her when she least expected it. He had lived that vengeful moment in his imagination many times over. Dressed in designer separates and shades as only a suave Italian anti-hero could be, he would stride off into the sunset without even leaving her a note.
Only if he didn’t even leave a note, she might call out the rescue services thinking that he had gone swimming while she slept and drowned, mightn’t she? His handsome mouth quirked. Furthermore, a mega-smooth disappearing act would be something of a challenge to pull off on a tiny island. Was he planning to swim back to the mainland? Call for a helicopter? The landing would awaken her and the cool exit would get extremely messy and human.
From a built-in unit in the dressing room, he selected beige chinos and a black shirt. As he zipped up the chinos he watched her sleep. He knew he wasn’t going anywhere and he knew why. Somewhere along the way he had lost the desire to even picture her being scared, distressed or humiliated. She was his wife and he would look after her and he would not betray her trust. He had meant every word of those vows he had spoken before the priest. He had been honest when he told her that he wanted to have a child with her. There was a whole long list of good reasons why he was staying put but only one reason that really counted and that was the one he was least comfortable thinking about.
Kerry woke up and focused on Luciano. Lounging in the chair by the bed in an elegant sprawl, he was barefoot. His shirt hung unbuttoned and loose, revealing a muscular, bronzed wedge of chest. Blue-black stubble roughened his stubborn jawline and slumberous gold eyes enhanced by the dense black frame of his lashes rested on her. Her heart skipped a beat in response. He looked so vibrantly sexy he took her breath away.
‘How do you feel?’ he enquired lazily.
She ached all over. Face flaming, she dropped her eyes.
‘Why are you blushing?’
‘It doesn’t matter—’
‘Maybe I was a little too enthusiastic…?’
Her lashes swept up because he sounded so pleased with himself.
Luciano grinned with megawatt charisma and shrugged. ‘It would be much worse if I’d underperformed. I’ll run you a bath, bella mia.’
Twenty minutes later, after a great deal of mysterious toing and froing, he ushered her into a bathroom lit solely by two dozen glowing candles. She was so taken aback she let her towel fall and stepped into the scented warm water like a woman under a spell.
Luciano surveyed her with immense satisfaction. ‘I knew you’d go for this sort of thing—’
‘How did you know?’
He had seen her collection of candles at Ballybawn but he didn’t admit that because it was much more enjoyable to bask in her wondering admiration of his extraordinary perception. ‘I’ll call you when dinner’s ready…’
‘You’re cooking too…?’ Kerry settled back into the water and gave him a dazed smile of approbation. ‘I can hardly wait.’
She soaked in the bath and contemplated her candles. Ione had said that no guy was perfect but Ione was very, very wrong. Luciano was sheer perfection in masculine form! He looked gorgeous, he was gorgeous. He was utterly fantastic in bed and pure sex on legs even clothed. He was clever, honest, kind, incredibly thoughtful, full of insight and caring. She had to be the luckiest bride in the world.
Two days before their departure from the island, Luciano received the call that he had long awaited and almost lost hope of ever receiving from his lawyer, Felix Carrington. Normally the most cool and calm of men, Felix could not keep the edge of excitement out of his
own voice as he brought his client up to speed on recent events.
The big breakthrough that five long years of frustrating investigation had failed to turn up had finally occurred. A member of the Linwood family had made a discreet approach to Felix through his own lawyer to offer startling new facts. Steven Linwood had confessed his part in creating the false evidence that had framed Luciano for the charges of theft and false accounting and set him up for his prison term. Kerry’s cousin had sworn that he was prepared to go to the police and make a formal statement to that effect and accept the consequences for the crime he had committed. Why? Five years ago, Steven Linwood had been bullied into doing a blackmailer’s bidding. When his tormentor had threatened him yet again in an effort to force him into further wrongdoing, Steven had realised that he could only protect himself by coming forward to tell the truth.
‘You’ve been so quiet all evening,’ Kerry remarked when they went to bed that night. ‘Is there anything wrong?’
‘No.’ Once all the facts were out in the open, everything would be right for a change, Luciano reflected with quiet satisfaction.
It was very wrong that he could not be honest with his own wife but what choice had she given him? All along, Kerry had refused to take sides. It was her own fault that he could not trust her with confidential information about his case, and until Steven Linwood had actually made his statement to the police Luciano knew he would have to keep quiet. Kerry would need heavy persuasion before she would even consider accepting unpleasant truths about people she cared about. In a mistaken show of loyalty, she might even rush off to phone Miles and warn her stepbrother about the allegations about to come his way. If Miles got the chance to flee the country before he could be arrested, Luciano knew he would be ready to strangle his wife.
In the darkness he smiled and tugged Kerry into his arms, acknowledging that sometimes it was wisest to keep his own counsel. What she didn’t know wasn’t likely to hurt her in the short term…