The Wedding Night Debt: Christmas at the Castello (bonus novella)

by Cathy Williams

  A couple of days in bed had dimmed Lucy’s recollection of just how stunning the tiny cove was: powder-white sand, sea so clear that you could see every polished stone you were treading on as you waded out, a distant horizon that was blue meeting blue.

  The breeze felt wonderful on her naked breasts. She turned to him, laughing, holding her hand to her hair to keep it out of her face and, for just a few seconds, she was literally dazzled by his masculine beauty.

  ‘Are you going to make me beg you to remove the rest of your underwear?’ Dio’s hand rested on the button of his jeans and he slowly pulled down the zip.

  Lucy was riveted at the sight of him removing his jeans. The sun glinted over his bronzed body, exposing the flex of his muscles as he tossed the jeans behind him onto a rock, followed by his boxers.

  Then, eyes not wavering for a second from her flushed, excited face, he touched himself and grinned.

  ‘Okay. Your turn.’

  Lucy slid out of her underwear, attempted nonchalantly to toss it to join his boxers, and then watched in dismay as a sudden gust of wind blew it into the sea.

  Dio laughed and shielded his eyes from the glare. ‘So...’ He pulled her into him and she yielded without hesitation. His hard erection pressed against her belly made her quiver. ‘Why the sudden sense of daring, my darling wife?’ He nibbled her ear and she sighed softly and squirmed against him. ‘What’s happened to the shy little creature who wouldn’t contemplate sex unless the curtains were tightly pulled?’

  ‘Maybe you’ve kick-started a sense of adventure in me,’ Lucy murmured and an unpleasant thought flashed through Dio’s head like a depth charge...

  Another man would be the recipient of her new found, so-called sense of adventure. He almost longed for the hesitant timidity that had made him keep those curtains tightly drawn.

  His unexpected possessiveness was disturbing but thankfully short lived as he cupped her naked breasts in his big hands, teasing and thumbing the ripe swell of her nipples.

  ‘Sand can be a nuisance,’ he murmured, flicking his tongue against her ear, knowing just where she liked to be teased. ‘So keep standing...’

  He worked his way down until he was kneeling in front of her.

  Lucy knew what he was going to do and her whole body thrummed with heady anticipation.

  She loved it when he licked her down there. It had felt outrageously intimate the first time he had done it, and he had had to gently but firmly prise her legs apart so that he could settle between them, but having him tease her clitoris with his tongue was a mind-blowing experience.

  She curled her fingers into his dark hair, arched back and parted her legs.

  The sand was warm between her toes. She wanted to look down at his dark head moving between her legs but, on a soft moan, she closed her eyes and tilted her face up to the sun, losing herself in the wondrous sensation of the slow, inexorable build to her climax.

  She cried out as she came against his mouth. Before she had time to return to planet Earth, he had hoisted her up, lifting her as easily as if she weighed nothing, and she wrapped her legs around him, feeling the thrust as he came in her.

  No protection. And he was normally so careful. The realisation vanished as he pulsed inside her, driving her higher and higher until she was clinging, shuddering and coming in waves of intense pleasure, knowing that he was doing the same, feeling his release with an explosion of pure ecstasy.

  Afterwards, they swam. Lucy would love to have been able to bottle the moment and treasure it for ever.

  Failing that, as they returned to the beach towels he had brought down with him and lay on the sand, she wondered how she could engineer the conversation towards this very real thing that existed now between them.

  Surely he must realise that things had changed?

  They hadn’t spoken about the divorce for days. She wondered whether her being ill had been a blessing in disguise. It had certainly been an eye opener for her. Had it been the same for him? So, he wasn’t the kind of guy who was into long conversations about emotions, but that didn’t mean that the emotions weren’t there, did it?

  She reached out and linked her fingers through his.

  They were both gazing up, squinting at the bright blue sky through the fronds of the palm trees.

  ‘So...’ She allowed that one syllable to drag out tantalisingly.

  ‘I should apologise.’ Dio was down from his high and acknowledging that he had failed to take protection. He had known exactly what would happen out here, on the beach, and yet he had still failed to carry protection with him.

  ‘Sorry?’

  Furious with himself for overlooking something so vital, he stood up abruptly and strode towards the discarded clothing, slipping on his sandy boxers and jeans, which he brushed down.

  Lucy immediately followed suit.

  ‘I risked an unwanted pregnancy,’ he said bluntly. ‘I didn’t use protection.’

  Hearing him say those words, hearing the tone of his voice, was like a slap in the face and she almost stumbled back.

  ‘I’m sorry if I sound harsh.’ He raked his fingers through his hair and cursed himself for not having had the will power to resist her when he’d known he should have. Instead, he had fabricated a bunch of non-excuses for enjoying himself one last time. Maybe if he hadn’t discovered just how innocent she really was, maybe if she had been the hard-nosed opportunist he had always assumed her to be, he might have felt better about himself.

  No, he would have felt better about himself. He would have taken what he had seen as his right and he would have walked away. As things stood, by exposing her own vulnerability, by revealing a softness he had never, ever expected, she had likewise exposed him for what he was: cold, ruthless, a man who had played the long game to get what he wanted.

  They were poles apart. He was a shark to her minnow and he wondered whether he would have been quite so keen to secure her in his bid for revenge had he known. Probably not.

  ‘I’m sure,’ he began, heading back towards the villa, ‘that, like me, the last thing you would want is to discover that you’re pregnant. Especially...’ he turned to face her fully ‘...when you consider that we’re going to be getting a divorce.’

  ‘It’s okay,’ she whispered. ‘We were caught up in the passion of the moment. I’m sure it will be fine.’

  Pain assaulted her on all fronts. She was giddy with it. How could he look at her like that, as though they hadn’t just shared the most amazing experience ever? And it wasn’t just about making love. It was so much more that they had shared. At least, that was how it was for her...

  How could he be so...callous?

  Desperation ploughed into her with the force of a sledgehammer and she hated it.

  ‘How can you be like this, Dio?’ The pleading whisper made her wince.

  ‘Be like what?’

  ‘We’ve just...made love...’

  Dio could feel the unexplained horror of something breaking inside him and, far, far worse, the knowledge that it was inevitable that he was now walking down this road. ‘It’s what we came here to do. To make love. To have our honeymoon...’

  ‘I know that!’ Stripped of words, she stared at him, heart pounding so hard that it hurt.

  ‘Then...what?’ This was where revenge had finally taken him, to this impasse, to the only place he had ever reached before where he was powerless. He had thought his heart to have been wrapped in ice, immune to pain. He was discovering that it wasn’t.

  ‘What we had... Do you feel nothing?’ Lucy longed to be cool, to just let it go, because she knew that she was trying to fight a battle that she was destined to lose, but the black void opening up at her feet seemed to galvanise her into a terrifying urge to cling.

  Dio banked down the wave of unfamiliar emotion surging through
him.

  Her hands were balled into fists, her body rigid with accusation, and he recognised the searing hurt that lay behind that accusation; knew that from that angry hurt would eventually come the return of the cold dislike she had nurtured towards him.

  And he knew that it was deserved. Hell, he knew that with as much certainty as he knew that night followed day.

  ‘I feel we’ve had our honeymoon.’ The words felt like shards of glass in his mouth but, deprived of any choice, he ploughed on, every muscle in his body braced for the job at hand—because that was what it was. ‘And now we have to have our divorce...’

  CHAPTER TEN

  LUCY STOOD AND looked around the brand-new apartment which would now be her new home.

  She knew that she should be feeling as pleased as punch. When she had finally garnered her courage all those weeks ago to bring up the matter of a divorce with Dio, this was exactly the sort of outcome she had had in mind.

  No. This was a whole lot better than the outcome she had had in mind.

  She had spent two weeks at the London house, during which time he had made sure to be abroad. He had fulfilled every single one of his promises, even though she knew, from what her lawyer had told her, that there had been no need because she had indeed signed up to a watertight pre-nup without even having realised it, idiot that she had been.

  He had been generous beyond words. He had immediately arranged the purchase of the breath-taking apartment in which she now stood. It was in a prime location and there wasn’t a stick of furniture she didn’t like. Just as he had glimpsed the part of her that was the girl with the pony tail, the girl she really was, he had made sure that some member of staff chose items of furniture that were homely, comfortable and cosy.

  She wasn’t amazed that he had managed to acquire the perfect apartment so effortlessly.

  Having spent a year and a half married to him, she knew that the one single thing money got when it came to purchase power was speed. What Dio wanted, Dio got. And what Dio had wanted had been this spectacular apartment.

  What he had wanted was her out of his life, having got the honeymoon he had demanded when she had asked him for a divorce.

  She sat on one of the boxes cluttering the living room and stared miserably out of the window. Her view, from here, was of the sky, a grey, leaden sky that seemed to reflect her mood.

  She should be counting her blessings.

  She was financially sorted for the rest of her life. The run-down building which had been her lifeline was in the process of a startling renovation which would make it the most desirable place in that part of London to which deprived children could go to further their education after school hours. She had no doubt that dozens would find their springboard to a better life. She had signed up to a teacher training course, something she had always wanted to do until marriage and Dio had swept her off her feet, and she would be able to do it without worrying about money. There were so many things for which she should be grateful.

  And yet...

  With a little sigh of pure misery, she strolled over to the window and stared down at the street below.

  For a little window in time, out there in paradise, she had actually dared to hope. She had opened up to him, thankfully only stopping short of telling him how she felt about him—not that she was in any doubt that he didn’t know—and she had dared to hope that destiny might veer off in a different direction.

  She’d been such an idiot.

  He might not have used her in the way she had been led to assume, but he hadn’t cared about her either. Why had he married her? Probably because he had fancied her and had decided that she could be an asset to him. It had been a lazy decision and he hadn’t banked on having a sexless marriage. Once sex had been put on the menu, he had been happy to grant her the divorce she wanted.

  She knew that at least he had parted company caring enough about her to ensure her physical wellbeing, except what was the good of that when her emotional wellbeing was in pieces?

  He had been ultra-courteous to her before they had parted company in London.

  The sad truth was that she didn’t want his bland concern. She wanted...

  Frustrated with herself, she began unpacking. It was not yet ten in the morning and there was so much to do that she hardly knew where to begin. She had left most of her designer clothes behind but Dio had insisted she take the jewellery.

  ‘It’s worth a fortune, Dio,’ she had protested half-heartedly and he had shrugged as they had boarded the plane.

  ‘What do you suggest I do with it all?’

  She had been tempted to tell him that he could always donate the lot to her replacement. She certainly had no intention of showing up to teach dripping in diamonds.

  Now, she opened the first box of jewellery. It all belonged in a safe but instead she shut the lid and began placing the boxes at the back of the wardrobe, knowing that in due course she would have to do something more secure with them. Stick it all in a vault somewhere. Or maybe flog it all and donate the proceeds to charity. That seemed like a good idea.

  She was so absorbed in her task, her thoughts so given over to silly, pointless rehashing over how her life had changed for ever, that she was barely aware of her entry phone ringing, at which point she wondered who it could be.

  Maybe she half-expected it to be Dio but she was still shocked when she saw his grainy image on the little screen. He was glancing impatiently around him and then he stared up and she felt a quiver of nervous excitement invade her body.

  ‘Are you going to let me in?’ he asked tersely.

  Lucy gathered her scattered senses to reply in a composed voice. ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘I’ve come to...’ To what? ‘Just let me in, Luce. I need to talk to you.’

  ‘Is it about the divorce? Because I thought it was all pretty straightforward.’

  ‘I’m not enjoying this conversation on your entry phone.’

  Lucy didn’t think that she would enjoy a conversation face to face but she buzzed him in, knowing that he had probably come to check and make sure everything was okay with the apartment. He would be polite and concerned and she would want to scream with frustration.

  ‘When did you get back?’ she asked, as soon as she had opened the door to him. Her voice hitched in her throat. Never had he seemed so gloriously good-looking, his dark hair swept back, his lean, sexy face reminding her all too painfully of the intimate moments they had shared before his passion had given way to cool indifference.

  ‘An hour and a half ago.’ And he had had a struggle not coming sooner; had had to endure the slow, dawning realisation that he had made a terrible mistake.

  He’d let her go. He’d allowed her to walk away and had then had to live with his uneasy conscience which would not let him go.

  ‘And you came straight here?’

  ‘I don’t like putting things off.’

  ‘Putting what off?’ She had to tear her eyes away from his handsome face and was dismayed to find that she was perspiring, that her hands were shaking so that she stuck them behind her back before launching into a grateful speech about the apartment—about how wonderful it was, nervously laughing at the boxes still to be unpacked, offering him something to drink.

  Dio glanced around him but he was driven to look at her. She looked scruffy. Her hair was tied back and she was in a pair of faded jeans, a baggy tee-shirt and some old, stained trainers. She couldn’t have looked less like the polished beauty who had entertained clients as though she had been born to it.

  But then, hadn’t he already realised that that polished beauty was not her at all?

  She also looked nervous as hell which, he thought wryly, could only be a patch on how nervous he was feeling. It was a sensation that was utterly alien to him. He knew that there was only one
person in the world who could inspire that in him and that person was looking at him anxiously, as though half-waiting for some hidden hangman’s noose to fall.

  ‘Have you...had a period?’

  ‘I beg your pardon?’

  Dio raked his fingers through his hair and glowered. ‘We made love without protection. Remember?’

  ‘You’ve stepped off a plane and rushed over here to make sure I wasn’t pregnant?’

  Dio shrugged and frowned at her. He was hovering in the middle of the cluttered living room but now he sought out one of the chairs and sat down.

  ‘I told you that it would be fine and it is,’ Lucy said tersely, arms folded, as the reason for him descending on her became clear.

  He hadn’t come to make sure she had settled in all right. He had come to make sure there was to be no inconvenient situation to be dealt with. Woe betide her if he had dealt with one inconvenient situation only to find that another had come along! One that might be a little trickier to deal with!

  ‘So you didn’t have to dash over here in a flat-out panic thinking that there would be some other mess for you to try and clear up!’

  ‘Why would I have panicked at the thought of you being pregnant?’

  Lucy refused to give houseroom to anything stupid like hope. She’d been down that particular road already and look where it had got her. Nowhere.

  His challenging remark was greeted with stony silence.

  ‘Why don’t you sit down?’ Dio urged.

  Likewise that was greeted with stony silence until Lucy replied with simmering resentment, ‘What for? You’ve told me why you came here and I’ve answered you. What more is there to talk about?’

  ‘A lot, as it happens.’ He hunkered forward, arms resting loosely on his thighs.

  Lucy watched, bemused, as he slumped into silence. He was hesitant. Had she ever seen Dio hesitant? Even when she had asked him for a divorce, he had immediately and confidently responded with his demand for his denied honeymoon. He was the most self-assured person she had ever encountered in her entire life, yet right now...