His Poor Little Rich Girl

by MELANIE MILBURNE

  ‘Yes, that is true,’ he said.

  ‘That’s a first, isn’t it, Signor Vallini?’ the journalist persisted. ‘You’ve never revisited a previous relationship before. Does that mean that we can expect to hear wedding bells in the very near future?’

  ‘No, it just means that Miss McCulloch and I are enjoying spending some time together for the time being,’ he said with a frown.

  ‘Miss McCulloch.’ The journalist swung to Rachel. ‘If Signor Vallini were to ask you to marry him what would you say?’

  Rachel smiled back even though it hurt to do so. ‘I would say yes.’

  She felt Alessandro’s hand tighten on hers. ‘If you will excuse us?’ he said curtly and escorted her into the café. Once they were seated and coffees were ordered Alessandro looked at her with brooding intensity. ‘You think you can manipulate me into offering you marriage?’ he asked in a sharp undertone.

  Rachel returned his look. ‘I am doing no such thing.’ He frowned. ‘Then why say such a ridiculous thing to the press?’

  ‘Because you told me to act like a devoted lover,’ she said. ‘If I was truly in love with you then of course I would want you to ask me to marry you.’

  He continued to frown at her. ‘You were supposed to leave all the talking to me.’

  ‘I don’t like other people speaking for me,’ she threw back.

  The waiter came with their coffees and Alessandro sat back. He leaned forward once the waiter had gone, his voice still tight with tension. ‘I know what you’re up to, Rachel. You want it all: the rich husband, the lifestyle you were brought up with and the security of knowing it can’t be taken away from you a second time. But I am not playing ball.’

  ‘I’m not asking you to,’ she said. ‘I just want the money for my label.’

  Alessandro set his jaw as he fought his knee-jerk reaction to her little game with the press. ‘I thought we were starting to trust each other but now I’m not so sure you’re being straight with me.’

  She flicked her hair back from her shoulders. ‘You don’t trust anyone. That’s not my problem, that’s yours.’

  ‘Two and a half weeks,’ he said through gritted teeth.

  ‘That’s all.’

  Rachel tossed her head. ‘I’ll be on that plane so fast you won’t get time to say goodbye to me.’

  He made a sound in his throat as he reached for his coffee. ‘I was a fool to allow you inside the villa.’

  ‘Oh, come on,’ Rachel said with a roll of her eyes. ‘You laid a trap for me.’

  He looked up at her, a frown still pulling at his brow. ‘You really think it was me who sabotaged your attempt at finance?’

  She arched her brow at him. ‘Wasn’t it?’

  He took a breath and slowly released it. ‘Now who’s talking about a lack of trust?’ he asked.

  ‘But this whole set-up.’ Rachel waved a hand to encompass them both. ‘You mean you didn’t plan it? None of it?’

  Alessandro shook his head. ‘You turned up at a very inconvenient time for me, Rachel. I wasn’t prepared for visitors. There was no way I was going to agree to see you. But then you worked your charm on Lucia. And then, when I got the invitation for the dinner with Sheikh Almeed Khaled I decided there was a way that things could work for both of us.’

  Rachel absorbed this new angle on things for a moment or two. She had always thought Alessandro had engineered things to have her under his command, but now it seemed he had simply used the opportunity that she had put in his hands by turning up on his doorstep. ‘Tell me about this business thing with the sheikh,’ she said. ‘Why is it so important?’

  ‘If he chooses my business analysis service it will be the biggest coup of my career,’ Alessandro said. ‘His inviting me to spend a week in Paris for dinners and meetings is a sign he is coming close to making his decision.’

  ‘And he asked you to bring your current mistress?’ Rachel asked.

  ‘Sheikh Almeed Khaled is a bit of a playboy himself,’ he said. ‘He admires beautiful women. He is rarely without one by his side. But I think in this instance he wants a glimpse into my private life. You will have to be on your best behaviour. I don’t want any slip-ups. Just keep in mind how much money you will have to pay back if you don’t behave yourself.’

  Rachel gave him a little glowering look. ‘Do you have to keep reminding me?’

  He signalled for the bill. ‘Just keep playing by the rules, Rachel,’ he said. ‘That’s all you have to do.’

  CHAPTER NINE

  THE boutique hotel in Paris was booked out by the sheikh and his entourage and select guests. Security were posted everywhere, their silent uniformed and armed figures making Rachel feel as if she had stepped into another realm, even beyond the privileged one she had grown up in. This was a world of private jets and servants to see to every need. It made her realise again how much Alessandro had achieved. He mixed with the big time movers and shakers as if it was an everyday thing for him.

  The last few days at the villa however, had shown her many different sides to his personality. He was a quiet man who liked his own space. He didn’t enjoy idle chatter. He was well read and kept himself informed on everything that was going on in the world. He wasn’t bombastically opinionated but he had strong, well-thought-out views. He had a sense of humour but it was dry and he didn’t waste his smiles. He always treated his staff with respect and politeness. When the team of gardeners arrived to do their weekly maintenance at the villa he was out there with them chatting over plants and hedges as if he were one of the gang. It was a painful reminder of how badly her father had treated him in the past.

  Alessandro cupped her elbow as they were shown to their suite of rooms. ‘Dinner is not until eight this evening,’ he said once they were finally alone. ‘Would you like to rest for a while or do something physical?’

  Rachel caught the gleam in his dark eyes. Although he had kissed her many times since, they had not made love again. Her body had missed him so much it was like a constant ache. Her period had long gone but she had felt hesitant about encouraging him to make love to her. How could she stop herself from falling in love with him when he made her feel so amazing? The physical sensations he had evoked in her had a counterpoint emotionally. ‘What did you have in mind?’ she asked, trying to disguise how she was feeling.

  He came over and tipped up her chin, looking deeply into her eyes. ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.

  ‘Nothing,’ she said, trying to smile.

  His thumb brushed over her lip. ‘That smile wasn’t genuine,’ he said. ‘What’s going on in that beautiful head of yours? You were very quiet on the trip over. Have I done something to upset you?’

  Rachel caught her lip in her teeth for a moment. ‘Alessandro. I’m not sure I can separate my feelings from sex like you do.’

  ‘What are you saying?’ he asked.

  She looked into his eyes but they were shuttered. ‘I don’t want to fall in love with you.’ ‘Then don’t.’

  She frowned at him. ‘It doesn’t work like that. I can’t just shut off my feelings.’

  He dropped his hand from her face. ‘I told you from the outset how this is going to work,’ he said. ‘No emotional entanglements. When it’s over it’s over.’

  ‘But what if one of us doesn’t want it to be over?’ Rachel asked.

  He walked over to the bank of windows that overlooked the Seine and the city below. ‘It has to be over,’ he said flatly.

  Rachel felt her heart contract. ‘I want more, Alessandro,’ she said.

  Alessandro swung around and shot her a dark look. ‘It’s not going to happen, Rachel.’

  ‘I don’t believe you’re incapable of love,’ she said. ‘I just don’t believe that.’

  Alessandro wanted to believe it too, but he wasn’t going to risk revealing his doubts and fears. Five years ago he would have given anything to hear her say she was in love with him. But now he felt a river of fear run through him at the thought of committing
himself if she were to state her feelings out loud.

  He came back over to her and gripped her by the shoulders. ‘Why are you doing this now? I have the biggest meeting of my career within a couple of hours and you are talking about things that are of no consequence.’

  ‘They are of consequence to me,’ she shot back.

  Alessandro muttered a swear word but his fingers softened on her shoulders. ‘I want you,’ he said. ‘I want you so badly I have found the last few days a torture. But that is all I can give of myself. You have to accept that.’

  Rachel looked into those dark sapphire eyes and felt another part of her heart fall away. ‘I want you too,’ she whispered.

  He brought his head down and covered her mouth with his, passionately, possessively, even a little angrily, Rachel thought. His tongue demanded entry and she gave it with a soft whimper of delight. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her close, so close she felt the hot, hard stirring of his arousal. It stoked her desire to feel him growing so hard so quickly. Her body tingled with the flood of sensations that coursed through her. His tongue stroked and then stabbed at hers. His teeth captured her lower lip, tugging on it and then releasing it to salve it with the brushstroke of his tongue. It awakened a roaring furnace inside her with each exquisite caress. She nipped back at him playfully, delighting in the way he made a sound at the back of his throat in response. He backed her towards the bed, his hands already at her clothes, pulling at them, tossing them aside as she did the same to his in a frenzied mutual mission to become naked as quickly as possible.

  His mouth engulfed her nipple as he pushed her down on the bed, her legs wrapping around his hips to lock him to her. His erection was rock-hard and she was so moist and so ready she arched up instinctively to receive him. He drove through with a guttural groan of pleasure that made her skin pepper all over with goose bumps. Her body gripped him tightly, ripples of pleasure rolling through her as he thrust deeply, as if he was unable to control the heat and fire of his need. He set a frantic pace but Rachel kept up. Her body moved with his, her hands caressing his back and shoulders, her mouth locked back on his. He coaxed her to climax with his fingers, just the right amount of pressure to have her soaring within seconds. She cried out with the magnitude of it, the cascading sensations so powerful, so earth-shattering she felt dizzy with it.

  His orgasm was just as mind-blowing. She felt him brace himself for that final plunge, all of his muscles tensing before he finally let go. He shuddered against her, his groan of pleasure swallowed by the heat of her mouth.

  Rachel lay within the circle of his arms, her chest still rising and falling in the aftermath. She wanted to stay connected to him. She loved the feeling of him locked with her like this: so intimate, so earthy and raw, the scent of sex filling her senses. She didn’t want him to pull away and close off as he had before. She wanted this time together to be as precious to him as it was to her.

  ‘I probably took that a little fast,’ Alessandro said against the sensitive skin of her neck.

  Rachel danced her fingertips up and down his spine. ‘It wasn’t too fast. It was perfect.’

  He propped himself up on his elbows, looking down at her with an unreadable expression. ‘I should have also used a condom,’ he said. ‘I’m assuming you’re on the pill?’

  Rachel wasn’t game to tell him she had missed a couple of days when her luggage had gone missing. ‘Of course,’ she said.

  He brushed some hair away from her forehead. ‘I should let you get up and shower,’ he said.

  ‘I’m quite comfortable here,’ she said, tracing her fingertip over the contour of his lips.

  He anchored her hand with one of his, holding her gaze like a laser beam as he sucked on her finger. Rachel felt a frisson of excitement run through her as his mouth drew on her, the slight rasp of his tongue and the scrape of his teeth stirring a primal urge inside her to do the same to him, but far more intimately.

  She gave him a sultry look as she wriggled out from under him, pushing him down on his back with the flat of her palm against his chest. ‘Stay,’ she said in a commanding tone.

  ‘I’m not going anywhere,’ he said with a glinting smile.

  Rachel had never felt so empowered before. She felt gloriously feminine and alive to her senses and to his. She held his smouldering look with one of her own as she trailed her fingers down his chest, stopping briefly at his belly button before going lower. His body responded to her touch, his erection hardening with each movement of her hand. She shimmied down his body, giving him a look from beneath her lashes before she surrounded him with her mouth. She heard him suck in a breath, felt him tense his entire abdomen as she worked her magic on him. This was nothing like the times her ex had insisted she service him. This was not smutty or horrible or distasteful. This was not impersonal or exploitative.

  This was sacred.

  She breathed in the scent of him, drawing on him with increasing pressure until she felt him come apart. She pulled back just in time to see him spill, his expression contorted with bliss as he hit the summit. His essence anointed her hand, just as it had her body only minutes before.

  His breathing gradually slowed and he looked at her, reaching out to touch her face in a stroke of his fingers that was so soft it was like the brush of a feather. He didn’t say anything. He just studied her features as if he were committing them to memory. She saw his eyes go to her mouth, and then back to her eyes, to her mouth again, her cheeks and her hair and then back to her eyes. His were dark and serious, shadowed.

  Rachel touched the spot between his brows where the skin had puckered in a slight frown. ‘I’ve never enjoyed doing that before until now,’ she said softly. ‘Somehow it felt different with you. Everything feels different with you.’

  He caught her hand and kissed her fingertips, holding her gaze with his. ‘You are a very sensual woman,’ he said. ‘But I have always thought that about you.’

  ‘That’s not how Craig would describe me,’ Rachel said. ‘He told me I was frigid. God, I hate that word.’

  His frown deepened. ‘You need to move on from what happened with Hughson,’ he said. ‘You need to stop blaming yourself for his shortcomings.’

  ‘I know,’ Rachel said. ‘I’m trying to. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have mentioned his name. I know it upsets you.’

  He paused for a moment before continuing in a gritty tone. ‘I hate thinking about you with him. It churns my gut to think of him touching you without respect or consideration.’

  Rachel placed her hand on the side of his face in a soft caress. ‘You sound jealous,’ she said.

  His mouth tightened and he pulled her hand away from his face and moved away, turning his back to her as he got off the bed. ‘We need to get ready for dinner,’ he said. ‘You have the first shower. I need to do another read-through of my proposal.’

  Rachel watched as he tossed on a bathrobe, tying it around his waist before he reached for his stick. His expression was shut down all except for a tiny movement at the edge of his mouth, an on-off pulse that he couldn’t quite control.

  She let out a sigh when he left the room to go to the study area of the suite. He had drawn a line between business and pleasure and she had better not forget it.

  Rachel was still putting the final touches to her make-up and hair when Alessandro came out of the dressing room dressed in a black dinner suit. She met his eyes in the mirror, saw the way his pupils flared and she felt a frisson of delight rush down her spine. He might not love her but he desired her. She felt the electric energy of it, the power of it making her skin tingle with awareness.

  ‘You look stunning,’ he said.

  Rachel was glad she had brought this particular black dress out of her collection. It was ankle-length with a swirly hem, the cut and design highlighting her slim figure. It was strapless but it had a sheer gossamer-like silk stole that she placed around her shoulders. She had put her hair up, pinning it in place with a Swarovski-crystal-encrusted h
air clip. ‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘So do you.’

  Alessandro took her hand, his expression turning serious. ‘Rachel …’

  She felt hope flare like a flame in her chest. ‘Yes?’ He raised her hand to his mouth and kissed it. ‘It doesn’t matter.’

  ‘What did you want to say?’ she asked.

  He waited a beat before saying, ‘I want to thank you for being here with me this week.’

  ‘Did I have a choice?’ Rachel asked.

  A brooding frown pulled at his brow. ‘You could have called my bluff. I’ve been expecting you to any day now. I know I haven’t been the easiest person to be around.’

  ‘Neither of us are perfect, Alessandro,’ she said.

  ‘No, perhaps not,’ he said, still holding her hand.

  Rachel turned his wrist over to look at his watch. ‘Isn’t it time we went downstairs?’

  Alessandro tucked her arm through his. ‘Let’s get down to business,’ he said and led her out of the suite.

  After introductions were made the sheikh led them through to the table for dinner. Alessandro watched as Rachel talked to the sheikh about her work as a fashion designer and her life back in Australia. She asked polite questions about his life and work too, which clearly delighted the sheikh. The meal progressed with lively banter that was unlike any of the other staid business dinners Alessandro had suffered through in the past.

  Just before coffee was being served Rachel excused herself from the table to visit the powder room.

  ‘What an enchanting partner you have, Alessandro,’ the sheikh said. ‘She is an asset to you. She is clearly in love with you and not in the least interested in your money. It’s a rare find for men like us. I wish I could find someone so genuine.’

  Alessandro gave him a forced smile. ‘Yes, she is rather gorgeous.’

  ‘Will you marry her?’ the sheikh asked.

  ‘I haven’t made any firm plans,’ Alessandro hedged.