‘Never,’ she gasped as he pulled away from her and looked down at her, hair spread across the pillow and eyes closed in total abandon.
He moved down, trailing his fingers over her stomach until he reached the final physical barrier between them, and as he slid off the bed, he pulled her panties down those delicious legs that had caught his attention the first time he’d seen her. Now that demure and controlled woman was his, her passion so fierce it almost burned him.
She opened her eyes and looked at him, a nervous question in them. She was so beautiful it broke his heart. Did he have one to break? He’d always thought that it had been replaced by stone the day his life had changed.
He grabbed the foil packet he’d pulled out of his wallet earlier, removed his underwear and, with her eyes hungrily devouring him, rolled on the condom. He’d intended to take it slowly, to try to be mindful of her claim of inexperience, but as he covered her body with his, hers welcomed his so expertly he lost that final thread of control and thrust into her, deep and hard.
Her fingernails dug into his shoulders, and with her head pushed back deep into the pillow, she cried out in shock and pleasure. He stilled, the effort making his body shake. She was more than inexperienced. She was a virgin.
‘Don’t stop, Liev, please.’
She moved her hips, urging him to continue, and that final thread of control he’d been hanging on to snapped. He moved inside her, and as she wrapped her legs around him again, keeping him deep inside her, he was lost. Waves of pleasure, so big he thought he might drown, cascaded over him, and he knew this moment would change things. It would change him, change everything he’d been driven to do since he was a young boy.
She gasped his name as her release swept her away, dragging him with her until he lay over her, shaking in a way he’d never done before. All he could think about was that he’d taken her virginity, stolen it with his deceit and lies, because there was no way she would have surrendered such a precious gift if she’d known all he wanted was revenge on ICE, revenge that would destroy her brother too.
With his breathing still ragged and his body still humming, he moved off her, disgusted with himself. He’d taken a woman’s innocence in the name of revenge. What kind of man did that make him?
‘Liev?’ He heard her startled question as he strode to the bathroom, but he couldn’t look at her, not yet. She would see the anger and disgust blazing in his eyes and she didn’t deserve that. She didn’t deserve any of this.
* * *
Bianca heard the shower and lay there, unable to move. She wanted to run back to her room and hide from the anger she’d seen blazing in his eyes and the contempt as he’d glanced back at her.
Should she have told him, made it clear that she was totally inexperienced—a virgin?
What had she done to change things so drastically? The passion had been so intense her body had burned for his; now it was icy cold with shock and she realised she was shivering. Whatever was wrong, she wasn’t going to run and hide. Bianca Di Sione didn’t hide; she faced things head-on. Always had done and always would do.
She pulled the delicate and creased fabric of her dress together, buttoning it up and wishing her hands would stop shaking. When he came out of that bathroom, she was standing in front of the mirror brushing down her hair, smoothing away the just-tumbled-in-bed look.
Their eyes met in the mirror and she blinked at the image of him naked but for a skimpy white towel around his hips. The passion she’d just experienced flared to life again and she wondered if this was to be the moment they would go back to bed—if they were lovers.
‘You should have told me, Bianca.’ He looked at her in the mirror, those icy grey eyes full of regret. ‘You should have made it clear you were not just inexperienced. You should have said you were a virgin.’
Indignation rose, as did the need to protect herself, just as she’d done ten years ago. ‘And if I had?’
He walked over to her and stood before her, hardly caring about his state of undress. She looked up at him, trying to ignore the increasingly rushing pulse just from being so close to him.
‘You were a virgin and I am not your fiancé. Hell, I’m not even your lover.’ The softened features of his face she’d kissed just moments ago were now hard and set in fierce lines.
‘No, you are my blackmailer. You’re no better than Dominic. He’d placed bets with his friends at the school prom he’d take my virginity. Thankfully I’d found out, played him at his own game. But you stooped even lower.’
‘I would not have done that if I’d known.’ The anger in his voice was so clear it cut at her delicate heart, crushing it cruelly. ‘I made a mistake.’
She gasped. ‘Don’t say that.’ Why was he pushing her away?
‘It shouldn’t have happened, Bianca.’
‘Where does that leave us now, Liev? What happens now?’
He stalked across the room to stare out at the gardens bathed in light from the setting sun. ‘We leave tomorrow morning as planned.’
She wanted to go to him, to ask what she’d done, but her pride and ever-present need for survival kept her from doing that. Instead she stood with as much decorum as her crumpled dress would allow and lifted her chin in the defiant gesture she always did when life hurt.
‘We still have to visit my grandfather. That was part of the deal.’
‘Very well. You kept your side of the deal today at the photoshoot. I will honour that.’
CHAPTER TEN
AS HE APPROACHED Bianca’s family home, Liev looked at the large white house set in immaculately maintained grounds and had to suppress his anger. This was what his mother could have enjoyed if ICE hadn’t duped his father so cruelly. Instead his mother had died in poverty and pain, broken-hearted after watching the man she loved drink himself into oblivion, believing he was nothing but a failure.
He tried to refocus his thoughts, bring them back to the present. Bianca had been stoically silent during the flight back from his island retreat. Now, as he stopped his car outside the imposing front doors, he glanced across at her. She looked much younger and more vulnerable than she’d ever done before. It was more than just the light make-up she wore today or the soft floating sundress, which caressed her body, reminding him how he’d done the same.
Every emotion she was feeling was exposed. A sensation he, too, felt and he didn’t like it one bit. She’d changed him, made him think differently, feel differently, and he couldn’t allow sentiment to get in the way of his plans—not now—not ever.
‘Grandfather will be resting for the remainder of the day,’ she said as she got out of the car and walked towards the sweeping front veranda of the house. Discreet members of staff came out to take his car to be parked. This was most definitely high-society living.
‘I trust he is well enough to meet with us later, even if only for a short while?’
‘Of course. That is the main reason we are here. He plans to join us before dinner this evening.’
The thought of being vetted by her grandfather sat uncomfortably with him. Naturally the old man would want his granddaughter to be happy, but what would he say if he knew she was being blackmailed? For a bracelet? What would the old man think of him if he knew he’d taken her innocence—her virginity—as part of that blackmail?
He watched as Bianca greeted the staff with genuine affection and didn’t miss the way they responded with fondness. The sound of her light laughter caught him unawares as she laughed at something the maid had said. Before he had any other opportunity to say anything, she turned and smiled at him, the laughter of moments ago still in her eyes.
‘This way.’
He walked with her up the wide staircase, the intimacy of being in her family home not lost on him. How many other men had she brought home to meet her grandfather? From the comfortable way she was dealing with this, it was something she was used to doing.
What he hadn’t expected was to be shown into a suite so large his own childhood home would have
fitted into it twice over. She closed the door and blushed, not able to meet his questioning gaze.
‘This is the principle guest suite and where we can change for dinner, or rest until we head back to New York this evening.’
Liev bit back against the urge to walk out right now and go back to New York. How could he have thought coming here was a good idea? He could feel his frozen emotions thawing, more rapidly than he was comfortable with, and knew the iron-strong will which served as his barrier against everyone was failing. He shouldn’t feel anything for Bianca. She was a means to an end, a tool which turned the wheel of his revenge.
He could understand her need to pacify her grandfather about the engagement. It was making headlines, and even if he was frail and elderly, the old man would want to know who it was his granddaughter had become engaged to. But being here, in the home he’d raised all the Di Sione children, including Dario, was too intimate, too personal.
Just as sleeping with Bianca had been. Not only sleeping with her, but taking her virginity, damn it. Guilt continued to eat away at him over that.
‘I have no intention of staying here any longer than necessary.’ He snapped the words out as he looked at the view from the doors which opened out onto a magnificent balcony. ‘It’s not as if the engagement is permanent. I only agreed to this so you could do what was needed to put your grandfather’s mind at rest. Nothing more.’
He didn’t need to look at Bianca to know she was bristling with indignation. He could feel it in the hot afternoon air.
‘I apologise for the inconvenience, but just because you are ruthless and cold-hearted doesn’t mean I am. I care about my grandfather, and even if this damn engagement is fake, I will not give him cause to worry about me. I played along with your photoshoot, gave you all you needed and more, so now you will afford me the same courtesy.’
He turned to look at her, hostility rushing off her in waves as she made yet more demands on him. The vulnerable woman he’d begun to glimpse on their last dates, the one who’d tantalisingly revealed herself over the past few days, had now gone. And why wouldn’t she? This was her family home, her territory. Just as she’d been emotionally exposed at his island villa, so he was here.
‘I will do my best to convince your grandfather I am worthy of calling myself your fiancé.’ Why it mattered to him when all he wanted was to avenge his parents was beyond reason right now, adding to those exposed emotions he was desperate to hide.
‘Thank you. Now if you will excuse me, I must just go and see my grandfather quickly.’
* * *
Bianca rushed from the room, desperate to calm herself before she saw her grandfather, but with the hum of desire still heating her body and the anger at herself for having responded to Liev’s expert touch, she doubted the short walk to her grandfather’s suite would do that. The hours on the plane, then trapped with Liev in his car, had been too much. The memory of her night in his bed was burning in her mind, so much she doubted it would ever fade.
Unnerved by how she’d all but begged him to make love to her, she smoothed down her dress and took a deep breath before knocking on her grandfather’s door. His frail voice called her in and her insides contracted, sure he would want to know if she had made any progress with the bracelet.
‘Hi,’ she said as she walked in, trying not to show how shocked she was by his ever-weakening health. Damn Liev and his blackmail. That emotion mixed uncomfortably with the passion she and Liev had shared and guilt added to the potent cocktail.
‘Bianca,’ he said with a smile, and he gestured for her to come closer. He took her hands in his and looked at the large diamond ring on her finger. ‘It is true, then. My Bianca has finally succumbed to love.’
‘Don’t.’ She smiled down at him, knowing he was only teasing. It was just a little too close to the truth. How had she even fallen for a man who used such underhand tactics as blackmail?
‘I just want you to be happy, Bianca, and whatever you do, don’t waste a chance of love if it comes along.’ His words, though frail, were steeped in deeper meaning.
‘No, I won’t.’ She had to paste a smile on her lips as she looked down at him. ‘But you rest now and later you can meet Liev.’
As she walked back to the suite, the guilt of deceiving her grandfather weighed heavily on her mind. What would he say when the engagement ended? He would be heartbroken for her; she knew that much. What would anyone say when it became public knowledge? Would all the effort she’d put into Liev’s acceptance by society be wasted as soon as word got out they were no longer engaged?
She could hear Liev talking on the phone as she opened the door to the suite. The Russian words were so alien to her that she had to stop and listen, but the coldness of his tone could not be mistaken. Whoever was on the other end of the phone had definitely angered him.
He met her gaze and ended the call. ‘My assistant in St Petersburg.’
‘Not bad news, I hope.’
‘No, not all.’ He stood and looked at her for a moment, as if seeing her for the first time. ‘How was your grandfather?’
The fact that he’d asked knocked her emotionally off balance and she blinked back the urge to give in to the tears which had prickled in her eyes since she’d left the old man’s rooms. She wished there was another way to get the bracelet. Not only was she lying to her grandfather and entire family, but she’d lost her heart and her virginity, given them away to a ruthless blackmailer who wasn’t even capable of love.
‘Frail, but looking forward to meeting you.’
‘Are any of your brothers or sisters here too?’ he asked as he sat down on the elegant white sofa, looking so relaxed it could almost be his home.
‘No. It’s just us here this evening.’ She thought of Allegra and wished she was here to guide her, though not with dealing with Liev and his blackmail tactics. That she could manage herself. What she needed help with was the way he made her feel, the way her heart leapt and her pulse raced just from thinking about him. The way she missed him when he wasn’t around. The way he’d awakened the woman within. It was all too real.
‘You look tired,’ he said as he stood up and came to her, guiding her to the sofa he’d just been sitting on. The genuine concern in his voice almost finished her. ‘Sit down and relax.’
She sat down, a little surprised when he sat next to her, his knee touching hers as he moved closer. ‘I know you don’t have brothers or sisters, but do you have cousins or other family?’ His mention of her family made her realise they still knew very little of each other. It shocked her to realise she wanted to know more about him, more about his family, his home.
‘No, I was an only child, which was hard when my parents died.’ He looked at her and she saw sadness in his eyes, the same sadness she felt when she thought of her parents. For him it was different. Not worse, just different. She could barely remember hers; he would have formed many memories with his.
Suddenly the need to talk washed over her like an incoming tide. ‘I can hardly remember my mother and the only images I have of my father are from photos. I did have brothers and sisters though. You had nobody. That must have been hard.’
* * *
Liev watched her beautiful face. She looked so defenceless his heart constricted with pain, for her loss as well as his. She had weaved a spell on him, bringing him physically nearer to his goal, but emotionally further from it. Right at this moment, as he looked into the blue depths of her eyes, he wasn’t sure if he still wanted the revenge on ICE he’d planned for so many years.
No. He pushed that thought away. Revenge was the only option, the only way to put right the past.
‘I had nobody and that had unsavoury consequences at the time, but it made me the man I am today. It made me stronger.’ He couldn’t help but compare the time he’d spent on the streets of St Petersburg with her life here, growing up like a cosseted princess. Just being in this house dragged them further apart.
‘It’s strange how an ev
ent can shape your whole life,’ she said earnestly, obviously thinking back to some hardship she had had to endure. Then he remembered what she’d said about her prom night. It had obviously affected her badly. He recalled how she’d ranked him as bad as that man. But he knew he was worse.
‘At least you had a home and your grandfather.’ He tried to keep the bitterness from his voice and his mind on the present. While she’d been living in luxury he’d been living through the hell of the regimented life of prison and all because his father had fallen victim to ICE, the company her brother now headed. Getting close to Dario would enable him to seek out those responsible for his father’s downfall. ‘And your brothers and sisters.’
She smiled at a secret memory and he felt strangely excluded. ‘The twins were so naughty, although I think Dario has settled down now.’
Exactly the topic he wanted. ‘The owner of ICE?’
‘Yes.’ She looked at him, surprise in her face briefly. ‘But then being in the same market, you know all about him, I’m sure.’
‘Not all.’ He laughed softly, anything to keep the anger from boiling over. ‘We are not competitors for business. Our products could complement each other’s.’
‘You should talk to him.’
‘Oh, I intend to, but now may not be a good time. Isn’t he about to launch his latest product? Maybe we shouldn’t be talking about it. There is, after all, client confidentiality.’
She smiled at him, her guard dropped by happy memories being in her home had evoked. ‘It seems you know anyway. It’s what I’ve been working on for the past two weeks, and with just two more weeks to go, it’s going to be a busy time. Just as well this interview should get you what you want. Then I can concentrate on that instead of playing the role of your fiancée.’
The barb hit home but he took it knowing he was finally getting to what he really needed to know.
‘He took over the company and made it into a bigger success, I believe. Highly commendable.’ Except for his ethics in pushing the company’s past dealings under the table without any compassion for those who’d lost and suffered due to being all but robbed by ICE. His parents weren’t the only ones. Finally he would get past Dario and confront those responsible.
To Blackmail a Di Sione Page 12