Rafaele rose from the table with a frown. ‘You should have told me earlier,’ he said. ‘No wonder you have been so tetchy. What can I get you?’
‘Nothing,’ she said, putting a hand to her damp forehead. ‘It’s just a little headache. I’ll be fine once I’ve had a rest.’
He came around and placed his arm around her waist, guiding her upstairs with the gentle solicitousness Emma found so very confusing since he maintained he didn’t love her. ‘I will sleep in one of the other rooms tonight so as not to disturb you,’ he said.
‘You don’t have to do that,’ she protested.
He gave her a wry smile. ‘I have to leave at an ungodly hour in any case,’ he said. ‘Now get into bed and I will bring you a glass of water and some paracetamol.’
Emma crawled into the big bed and closed her eyes against the swirling nausea as she waited for him to return…
Rafaele came back into the bedroom to find Emma fast asleep, her face still far too pale, the bruise-like shadows beneath her closed eyes making his gut suddenly clench. He sat on the edge of the bed and, pushing the silky hair off her face, gently stroked her smooth brow. She made a child-like murmur and nestled against his hand, the movement so trusting he felt another blade of guilt slice through him. He should never have allowed things to go this far. She was young and inexperienced, of course she fancied herself in love with him. It wouldn’t last, he was sure of it. And then where would he be? He wasn’t used to feeling so vulnerable in a relationship. Every time he made love to her it was a totally new experience, his pleasure reaching heights it never had before. Seeing her blossom with sensuality was captivating, she was such a generous lover, shy but adventurous, her passion a perfect match for his.
But how could he give her what she wanted? She had no idea of how things had been set up. If she were to find out about the codicil to his father’s will she would no longer be talking about loving him. She would hate him and how could he blame her?
He bent down and pressed a soft kiss to Emma’s temple and she blinked sleepily and looked up at him. ‘Rafaele?’
He brushed his thumb over her slightly parted lips. ‘Qual é il mio piccolo?’ he asked.
She placed her hand over his and held it to her cheek. ‘I’m going to miss you,’ she said.
‘Sto per perdere anche voi,’ he said, and then translated, ‘I am going to miss you too.’
The villa was achingly empty once Rafaele left the following morning. Emma heard him leave first thing and felt immediately disconsolate. The days stretched ahead of her interminably. She couldn’t imagine how she would survive when their marriage was brought to its inevitable end.
She pulled back the covers and got to her feet but was so quickly assailed by a giant wave of nausea she stumbled to the en suite and was promptly sick. She staggered out after the bout of sickness was over, but she still felt so wretched she had to lie down again.
A little thought began to gnaw at her like a tiny mouse nibbling at a crumb, and, although she tried to ignore it, it wouldn’t go away.
It couldn’t be possible.
It couldn’t be.
They had used protection.
She was back on the pill.
Her hand crept to her belly, her thoughts still whirling out of control. She couldn’t remember the last time she had been physically sick. It didn’t seem possible she could have fallen pregnant in such a short space of time.
Panic clutched at her insides with claw-like fingers. How could she tell Rafaele? He had never promised her anything but an affair. She had been the one to profess love, not him.
Emma knew she had to have a test before she worked herself into a state of hysteria. There was no point in worrying about something that might not have even happened. She could easily have picked up a bug of some sort. After all, she had worked tirelessly looking after Valentino Fiorenza; it had drained her more than she had realised, leaving her run-down and vulnerable.
She got dressed and walked down to the town centre to the nearest pharmacy and in her rather fractured Italian managed to relay to the assistant what she wanted. She felt every eye on her as she took her purchase and left, wondering if she had been wise to buy the test locally, given everyone knew she was Rafaele Fiorenza’s new wife.
The test was positive.
Emma stared at it for several heart-chugging seconds, her pulse so heavy she felt every beat of it in her fingertips as they clutched at the basin in the en suite.
The phone started to ring in the bedroom and she left the test on the counter to answer it. ‘Buongiorno, Villa Fiorenza.’
‘Buongiorno, Emma,’ Rafaele said with a smile in his voice. ‘I see you are practising your Italian.’
She ran her tongue over the dust-like dryness of her lips. ‘How is your business trip?’
‘It is the usual run of boring meetings,’ he said. ‘How are things with you?’
‘Um…things are fine…’ she said, trying to inject some life in her tone.
‘You sound distracted, Emma.’
‘I-I’m not.’
He gave a soft chuckle of laughter. ‘Are you missing me, tesore mio?’
‘Are you missing me?’ Emma asked in return.
‘What do you think?’ he asked.
She felt the velvet drape of his voice all over her skin and suppressed a little shiver. ‘I think you have probably found some way to distract yourself,’ she said. ‘I can’t imagine you pining away in your hotel room all on your own.’
There was a small silence.
Emma heard the thud thud of her heartbeats and felt another wave of nausea wash over her. She swallowed thickly and clasped the phone a little tighter to keep control.
‘You have no need to be jealous, Emma,’ he said. ‘I have told you before, I am not interested in anyone but you.’
‘For the moment,’ she said in an embittered tone.
He gave an impatient sigh. ‘I have not got time for this. I have another meeting in a few minutes.’
‘In the bedroom or the boardroom?’ she asked.
This time the ensuing silence had a menacing quality to it.
‘If you want me to find someone else to make the accusations you toss at me true, then that can easily be arranged,’ he said. ‘Is that what you want?’
What Emma really wanted was for him to love her the way she loved him, but she knew it was pointless telling him. ‘No…no, of course that’s not what I want…’ she said in a broken whisper.
‘I want you, Emma,’ he said in a tender tone. ‘I wish you were here with me now.’
‘I wish I was there too,’ she said, caving into his charm. ‘I miss you.’ And I am carrying your baby, she wished she could add if circumstances were different.
‘I will be back as soon as I can,’ he said. ‘Take care of yourself while I am away.’
‘I will…’
There was another little pause.
‘Emma?’
‘Yes?’
‘Nothing,’ he said after a moment. ‘It can wait. I will talk to you when I get back.’
Emma hung up the phone once he’d ended the call and went back to the en suite, and, picking up the pregnancy test, looked at it again to make sure she hadn’t been imagining it. The truth stared back at her, making her heart pump with dread all over again…
CHAPTER TWELVE
EMMA was in the pool enjoying the peace of the evening when Rafaele returned. She hadn’t heard his car on the gravel driveway and felt at a disadvantage when he came out to the deck and found her dripping wet as she hastily tried to wrap a towel around herself.
His hands stilled her clumsy movements and the towel slipped to deck at her feet. ‘You don’t have to be shy with me, Emma,’ he said. ‘I like seeing your body. It is beautiful.’
Emma felt suddenly exposed. Could he see how her breasts were slightly bigger? she wondered. Her cheeks grew hot under his lazy scrutiny and one of her hands crept to the flat plane of her belly, just to reas
sure herself there was no sign of the tiny life growing there.
He bent his head and kissed her soundly on the mouth. ‘You know something, Emma?’ he said, looking down at her with that sooty gaze of his. ‘Right now all I want to do is kiss you and take you to bed. I have missed you more than I realised.’
Emma could feel herself weakening and nestled closer, her arms going about his neck to bring his mouth down to her. ‘I missed you too…so much.’
His mouth connected with hers in a prolonged kiss of passion, his tongue thrusting against hers in a sexy motion that sent her senses spinning out of control. His hands cupped her breasts, moulding and shaping them possessively until she was boneless in his arms. She felt his erection pressing against her, its rock-hard presence a heady reminder of all the pleasure he had shown her before.
He lifted his mouth off hers to kiss her neck before going lower to where her breasts ached for his attention. He undid her bikini top and suckled on her tantalisingly, her nipples pushing against his tongue in their eagerness. She whimpered as he turned his attention to her other breast, his hot mouth like a brand on her quivering flesh.
He placed his hands on her hips, bringing her against him as his mouth returned to hers with renewed vigour.
Emma rubbed up against him feverishly, her body clamouring for his possession. Every nerve ending was screaming out for release, her body so ready for him she felt the humidity of her need between her thighs.
As if he sensed her growing urgency he helped her out of her bikini bottoms, his fingers searching for her slick warmth with devastating accuracy. She squirmed as he touched the tight pearl of need, the sensations rocketing through her.
Just when she thought she could stand it no more he suddenly turned her around. Emma’s breath locked in her throat as she heard his zipper come down. She whimpered in excitement as he parted her legs for his entry, the anticipation of that first deep thrust almost sending her over the edge then and there.
He surged forward, a deep groan of pleasure bursting from his mouth as her tight muscles clenched around him. ‘God, I have been dreaming of this the whole time I was away,’ he said, grasping her by the waist to keep her in place.
Emma was beyond speech. Each rocking thrust was bringing her closer to the ecstasy she longed for, his guttural, almost primal sounds of pleasure like music to her ears. She felt him search for her again, those long, clever fingers intensifying the sensations until she was panting breathlessly as the first waves of release began to wash over her. She shuddered convulsively, the hard, repeated thrusts pitching her headlong into an orgasm so intense it was like fireworks going off in her head.
He kept pumping; his strong thighs braced either side of hers, his fingers digging into her waist as the pressure inexorably built. Emma shivered as she felt him get closer; she loved that moment when he finally lost control. It was the only time he ever allowed himself to be vulnerable; it made her feel as if she was the only woman in the world who could do that to him.
With one last groan he was there, the breath going out of him as his essence spilled into her tight warmth, his chest rising and falling against her back as he held her in the aftermath.
Emma breathed in the musky scent of him, the sensation of his fluid between her thighs intensely erotic.
His hands moved from her waist to cup her breasts, his body still joined to hers. ‘I should have used a condom,’ he said, ‘but I couldn’t wait. That is how much you affect me.’
Emma could feel herself tensing and forced herself to relax. ‘I’m sure it will be OK…’
He began to nuzzle beneath her left ear. ‘You smell so nice,’ he said. ‘Like orange blossom with just a hint of chlorine.’
She gave a little shiver as his tongue circled the shell of her ear. ‘Maybe we should go upstairs,’ she said somewhat breathlessly. ‘I wouldn’t want Lucia to see us like this.’
‘She has gone home for the day,’ Rafaele said as he pressed his mouth to the nape of her neck. ‘She was leaving as I came in.’
Emma tilted her head sideways, her skin breaking out in goose-bumps as his lips and tongue moved over her. She felt his body thickening again and her belly began to quiver in reaction.
‘Can you feel what you are doing to me, Emma?’ he asked against her neck.
She began to writhe as he moved against her. ‘Yes…’
‘I can never seem to get enough of you,’ he said, rocking back and forth, slowly at first, his body growing harder with each movement.
Emma started to gasp as his speed picked up. Her legs were trembling as his hands went to her hips, her inner core so alive with nerve endings every surging movement of his body within hers made her quake in delight.
‘Do you like it like this, Emma?’ he asked as his thumbs rolled over her tight nipples.
‘Yes,’ she said, sucking in a breath as he thrust deeper. ‘Oh, yes…’
‘You like how I make you feel, don’t you, cara?’ he asked.
Emma whimpered again as he drove harder. ‘You know I do…’
His hands went back to her hips, his fingers splayed possessively. ‘Your body fits mine perfectly,’ he said. ‘I like the feel of you skin on skin. Yours reminds me of silk, so soft and smooth under my fingertips.’
Emma shuddered as his fingers found her feminine cleft, the coaxing motion against her sensitised flesh making her breathless with excitement. She couldn’t hold back her response, it hit her in a series of pounding waves, tossing her about like a bit of flotsam, her body so spent she felt limbless.
She felt him shudder his way through his release, the sheer force of it reverberating through her body where it was pressed against his.
After a long quiet moment he moved back and gently turned her in his arms. ‘Why don’t you go upstairs and have a shower while I make a couple of calls?’ he said. ‘I will not be long.’
Emma felt her doubts returning and wondered who he intended calling at this time of night. ‘I can wait with you while you make the calls,’ she offered.
His expression became mask-like, but not before she saw that camera shutter flicker in his eyes. ‘No, Emma,’ he said, re-zipping his trousers. ‘I have some private matters to discuss with a client. It would not be appropriate for me to conduct such a conversation within the hearing of someone else.’
‘This is how it’s always going to be, isn’t it, Rafaele?’ she asked bitterly. ‘You’re content to make love to me, but not to share any other aspect of your life.’
His mouth tightened. ‘Watch it, Emma,’ he said. ‘You are starting to bore me with this jealous wife routine.’
‘Why don’t you send me away, then, Rafaele?’ she said. ‘Why not dismiss me from your life like all your other mistresses?’
He stood looking down at her with a nerve ticking at the corner of his mouth. ‘I do not need this right now. I have only just walked in the door; I do not want to be drawn into a pointless argument with you.’
She gave him a churlish look. ‘You won’t give me anything but your body. It’s not enough, Rafaele. I want more.’
He let out an impatient sound. ‘I am going to the study,’ he said. ‘I will see you in the morning.’
‘So you’ve finished with me for this evening, have you?’ she sniped at him. ‘You’ve slaked your lust and now I’m to go away like a good little whore until you need me to service you again.’
A hard look came into his eyes. ‘I have not treated you as a whore and you damn well know it.’
She turned away in distress. ‘Sometimes I wish I still hated you. It would be so much easier than this…’
Emma felt him come up behind her, his hands coming to rest on her shoulders. ‘I do not want you to hate me, Emma,’ he said gently. ‘That is not what I want at all.’
She turned back to face him. ‘But you don’t want me to love you either, do you?’
The pads of his thumbs moved in a slow caress of her cheeks as he cupped her face in his hands. ‘Love is some
thing I am not so sure of,’ he said. ‘People say they love each other all the time and the next day they are at each other’s throats. How can anyone know if what they feel is genuine?’
Emma looked into his dark eyes. ‘I can’t speak for other people, but I know what I mean when I say I love you.’
His eyes searched hers for a long moment before he released her. ‘Go to bed, cara,’ he said softly. ‘I will be up shortly.’
Emma turned over in bed early the following morning to find Rafaele propped up on one elbow looking at her. She shoved her tussled hair out of her eyes and gave him a coy smile as she thought of the tumultuous passion they had shared the night before when he had finally come up to bed. She trailed her fingers from his sternum towards his groin as she had done only hours ago.
He captured her hand and held it against his chest. ‘There is something we need to discuss,’ he said in a tone deep with gravitas.
Emma felt her stomach lurch. She looked at him uncertainly, her heart thumping so hard she was sure he would feel the blood pounding in her fingertips where they were pressed against him. ‘Y-yes?’ she said in a scratchy whisper.
His dark, inscrutable eyes were steady on hers. ‘Why didn’t you tell me you are not on the pill?’ he asked.
Emma stared at him in silence for several heart-chugging seconds, her mouth growing dry.
‘Why, Emma?’ he asked, his expression darkening with what looked suspiciously like anger. ‘You have had numerous opportunities to tell me, but you have not done so.’
Emma swallowed unevenly. ‘I…how do you know I’m not on it?’
This time the anger was unmistakable. She could see a jackhammer-like pulse beating at the corner of his white-tipped mouth. ‘Because I looked, that is why,’ he said.
She rolled her lips together for a moment. ‘Looked where?’ she asked.
‘In your toiletries bag in the bathroom,’ he answered. ‘There was no sign of any contraceptives in that or your handbag and I would like to know why.’
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