Savage Interlude

by Carole Mortimer

  ‘But it seems a good morning to you other than that?’

  ‘I—I suppose so.’ She was very much aware that under the bedclothes he was as naked as she was.

  His eyes never left her flushed face and he smoothed her hair back as she leant above him. ‘I’ve been a bloody fool about you, haven’t I?’ he murmured softly.

  She felt the old panic returning. ‘What do you mean?’ Surely he couldn’t be tired of her after only one night together! She knew she was inexperienced, but she would soon learn. Everyone had to start somewhere.

  ‘When I left here last night I went to see James,’ he told her calmly.

  Kate recoiled away from him. ‘What did you do that for?’

  Damien swung his legs out of the bed, standing to don his robe. He tied the belt firmly, his long brown legs protruding from its knee-length. He shook his head. ‘You should have told me, Kate, should have made me shut my foul mouth.’ He looked thoroughly disgusted with himself, the lines of strain about his mouth and nose deeply etched into his skin.

  ‘James told—he told you?’ She swallowed hard.

  ‘He had no choice. I would have knocked it out of him if necessary.’

  ‘But how did you— Why did you—’

  He moved about the room with fierce controlled movements. ‘As soon as I’d made love to you I knew there was something wrong with my theory about you. I was your first lover,’ he said harshly. ‘After you’d lived with James for two years I knew there had to be something you were hiding from me. I knew there could be nothing wrong with his manhood, he and Sheri appear to be happily married.’

  ‘They are.’

  ‘I know that,’ he said impatiently. ‘When you fell asleep last night I lay here in the dark trying to work out what was going on. None of my answers seemed to be the right one. James seemed to be the key to the whole thing, so I went and asked him.’

  Kate watched him from the bed, aware that he was angry, but whether at her or not she couldn’t yet tell. ‘You could have asked me,’ she pointed out.

  ‘I wasn’t sure you would give me the answers I wanted. James wasn’t too willing at first, apparently he didn’t think it was any of my business.’

  ‘I would have told you sooner or later, Damien. But it isn’t something one goes around talking about. But I was going to tell you, you’re my husband, you have a right to know.’

  He nodded his head grimly. ‘Yes, I’m your husband. How do you feel about that? Do you want to leave me?’

  Her eyes widened. ‘Leave you? Why should I want to leave you? The fact that you now know James is my brother doesn’t make the slightest difference to our marriage—unless you dislike my illegitimacy?’ It was a possibility that had never occurred to her. Some people wouldn’t be able to accept such a thing, maybe Damien was one of those people.

  ‘Why should that bother me, you little fool? I thought you might want to leave me because you couldn’t bear to live with me any longer, now that you know what a selfish idiot I am.’ He closed his eyes as if to shut out some inner pain. ‘I’m not even sure I can live with myself any more.’

  ‘I don’t understand.’

  He looked at her in wonderment. ‘No, I don’t believe you do. Kate, last night I took your innocence from you. I more or less forced you to marry me, played on the fact that I could arouse you. I’ve mocked you, scorned you, insulted you at every turn. The fact that you don’t hate me, don’t appear to hate me, comes as something of a shock to me. Do you hate me?’

  ‘You must know I don’t,’ she answered huskily, unable to look at him.

  ‘And you don’t want to leave me?’

  She shook her head. ‘No.’

  He sat down on the bed, gently lifting her chin to look at her. ‘You’ll stay with me? Let me try to make amends?’

  ‘I won’t leave until you tell me to go.’

  ‘That will be never!’ He held her to him, his arms wholly possessive. ‘I don’t deserve a second chance with you, I don’t deserve anything from you. But I love you, Kate. I think I must have been half out of my head with love for you to be able to think those things of you. Anyone can see you’re sweet, and good, and much too perfect to be married to me.’

  ‘You love me?’ she squeaked. ‘But—but when …’

  ‘For ever, I think,’ he answered her unfinished question. ‘Certainly since the day I came to see James and heard you tell him you loved him. I saw red when I heard you say that to him. I knew then that I wanted to be the one you said that to, the only one. But my stupid damned pride got in the way. I wanted you for my own, but because you’re the only woman I’ve ever loved I wanted to be the first with you, I wanted no other man to have touched you. Every time I thought of James or someone like him possessing your body I resorted to insults. If I hadn’t I think I might have hit out at someone. I’ve been eaten alive with jealousy, ripped to shreds inside until I could hardly stand the pain.’

  Her eyes shone. ‘The one and only love of the Savage men,’ she said softly, unable to believe that she was this to Damien.

  ‘Yes,’ he ground out fiercely, his grip on her shoulders quite painful. ‘I knew from the first that that’s what you were to me. But I couldn’t tell you that, the type of person I thought you to be would have taken advantage of that love. I was already suffering the pains of living hell, I don’t think I could have stood any more. But I desperately wanted you with me. I even offered to give you a screen test in the hope that I could direct you. Then I got to thinking of all those other men ogling you and I knew it wouldn’t work out.’

  So that was the reason he had changed his mind. ‘James was rather puzzled by the fact that you seemed relieved when I said no, especially as you seemed so certain I could be a success,’ she told him.

  ‘You still could be. But I couldn’t stand it,’ he said grimly.

  She soothed away the frown from between his luminous green eyes. ‘I wouldn’t ever ask you to. Damien …’ she hesitated. ‘You said you believed I might take advantage of the love you have for me, don’t you think I might do the same now?’

  He shrugged. ‘It’s a risk I have to take. If you’re ever going to grow to love me you have to at least know that I already love you. As a start I suggest we have a trial separation.’

  ‘Damien!’ she gasped. ‘What are you saying?’

  ‘I’m making the ultimate sacrifice.’ He gave a rueful smile. ‘I could keep you here, make you infatuated with our lovemaking, but it wouldn’t be what I want. I want your love, all of it. We’ve done things the wrong way round, married before I had a chance to try and win your love. I admit that was mainly my fault, I couldn’t be with you more than five minutes without wanting you. But now that I know there’s been no one else I think I might manage to last a little longer than that.’

  ‘And if you can’t?’

  ‘I have to,’ he groaned. ‘You’ll never know the pain and disillusionment I went through when I thought you were encouraging men like Matt Strange and James. If I know that I’m the only one you’re seeing I might be able to get by for a few weeks.’

  ‘I never encouraged Matt Strange, you know. I detest him utterly, I always have.’

  ‘So do I—now. It’s been hell working on this movie with him. The friction between us has been electric.’

  ‘So James told me.’

  Damien’s mouth tightened. ‘If I ever catch Matt near you again I’ll break his damned neck. I ought to have done it anyway, the way he was pawing you. The trouble was, I thought you were secretly enjoying it. You know, a case of “the lady doth protest too much"!’

  ‘I was protesting because his touch made my skin crawl!’

  ‘At least I can say that I don’t do that. Once I realised I loved you I tried to forget you again. I was so sure that no woman would ever hook me, make me nothing but a helpless fool. I’ve been nothing but a fool since the day I met you, a damned stupid idiot. So will you try? Will you let me take you out, get to know me, try to love me?�
�

  ‘And if I can’t, what happens then?’

  ‘I die a very slow painful death.’

  Kate looked at his face for some sign of teasing, but could find none. He was in deadly earnest. ‘And do you think you’ll be able to leave me at my door every night?’ she persisted.

  A look of torment crossed his face. ‘I have to do that too. If you’ll give me the chance I’m not going to ruin it by my selfish lust. I want you like hell, but I want your love more.’

  ‘Oh, Damien,’ she choked, ‘you already have it. I would never have married you for any other reason than that I love you.’

  His face was deathly white under his tan, his eyes like huge green orbs. ‘Do you mean that?’ His look was uncertain.

  ‘I mean it. I love you so very much. If you can trust me with your love then I can certainly trust you with mine. That’s what loving someone is all about—trust.’

  ‘Oh, honey!’ It was a sigh from deep within him. ‘You love me? You really love me?’

  She put her arms up about his neck, pulling him closer and closer. ‘Maybe you’ll believe me if I show you how much.’

  ‘Kate …’ he groaned as her lips met his, feeling himself drawn down and knowing himself lost in her loveliness.

  Kate lay against his chest, happy in the aftermath of their lovemaking. She giggled. ‘You’ve been such a brute to me in the past,’ she teased.

  ‘Only because I love you so damned much,’ Damien growled against her ear.

  ‘If that’s how you show your love I would hate to see you annoyed with me!’

  His arms tightened about her and he kissed her temple with lingering passion. ‘It was your closeness to James that triggered it off. His mother’s attitude towards you only seemed to convince me that you were everything I thought you were. I suppose her feelings are understandable in the circumstances.’

  Kate nodded. ‘What did you believe me to be?’

  ‘A gold-digger after a wedding ring,’ he told her bluntly.

  She sat up. ‘But you married me anyway.’

  He pulled her back down on to his chest. ‘Of course I did. I can’t live without you, Kate. I kept walking away from you only to come back a few weeks later.’

  ‘I could have died this evening when you gave our marriage a two months’ life-span,’ she shuddered at the memory.

  ‘How do you think I felt? I said that because I didn’t want you to feel trapped, but I can assure you that I had every intention of staying married to you for all time.’

  ‘But if you believed me to be a gold-digger?’

  ‘I had to have you anyway. I knew from the first that you weren’t indifferent to me, and I believed that a love as strong as mine is for you couldn’t go to waste. You had to love me in return. You had to!’

  She smoothed away the frown from between his eyes, realising it would take time to make him sure of her love for him. ‘I’ve loved you since you made all those implications to James about our weekend together before you walked out on me.’

  ‘That long?’

  She nodded. ‘That long. I love you very much, Damien.’

  ‘Forever?’

  ‘And beyond.’

  He was pulling her inflexibly towards him, his eyes on her parted lips. ‘That’s all I ask. I love you,’ he murmured before kissing her.

  * * * * *

  Now, read on for a tantalizing excerpt of Caitlin Crews’s new release,

  BOUND TO THE SICILIAN’S BED

  The next part of the Conveniently Wed! miniseries!

  When Rocco’s runaway wife asks for a divorce, the Sicilian billionaire seizes his chance! They’ve never discussed their painful past, but this is the perfect opportunity to get Nicole out of his system for good. He offers her a deal: if Nicole wants to move on with her life she will be his one last time!

  Keep reading to get a glimpse of

  BOUND TO THE SICILIAN’S BED

  CHAPTER ONE

  ROCCO BARBERI FELT anger pumping through his veins and it was enough to stop him in his tracks. Because he didn’t do anger. He was known as a man of cool calculation. His implacable Sicilian features were notorious for never betraying a flicker of emotion and his business rivals often said he would have made a world-class poker player. So why was rage flooding through him like hot lava as he stood outside a tiny art shop in some God-forsaken Cornish town?

  He knew why. Because of her. His wife. His mouth twisted. His estranged wife. The woman who was standing inside the shop studying some sort of vase, her thick dark curls cascading down her back, leading the eye naturally to her narrow waist and the luscious curve of her bottom. The woman who had walked away from him without a qualm, uncaring of his reputation and everything he had done for her.

  He pushed open the door and the doorbell jangled loudly as he walked in. He saw her look up, her face freezing with shock—and Rocco enjoyed a brief moment of pleasure as he read disbelief in those green eyes, which had once so bewitched him. He heard her suck in an unsteady breath and as she put the vase down he noticed her fingers were trembling. Good, he thought grimly. Good.

  ‘Rocco,’ she said breathlessly and he could see her throat constricting as she swallowed. That long, pale neck he had once covered in urgent kisses before moving on to the infinitely softer territory of her breasts. ‘What�what are you doing here?’

  The deliberate pause he allowed was just long enough to increase the sudden tension, which had gathered like a storm cloud in the small shop. ‘You’ve just served me with divorce papers, Nicole,’ he drawled. ‘What did you think would happen? That I would just sign over half my fortune and let you walk off into the sunset with a toss of your pretty curls? Is that what you were hoping?’

  She was brushing a dark spiral of hair away from a face flushed pink—acting with the self-consciousness of a woman who was uncertain about her appearance and Rocco was unprepared for the sudden wave of lust which washed over him. Would she have taken a little more care with her clothes if she’d known he was coming—worn something a little more flattering than those faded jeans and a filmy white shirt, which concealed far too much of those luscious breasts?

  ‘Of course I wasn’t,’ she answered, still in that faintly breathless voice. ‘I just thought�’

  ‘Yes?’ His voice rang out flatly and he saw her flinch.

  ‘That you might have given me some kind of warning.’

  ‘You mean, like you did when you walked away from our marriage?’

  ‘Rocco—’

  ‘Or when your lawyer sent me those papers last week?’ he continued relentlessly. ‘You didn’t even do me the courtesy of a phone call to let me know you were about to file for divorce, did you, Nicole? Which naturally led me to the conclusion that you were the kind of woman who favoured surprises. So here I am,’ he finished softly. ‘Your big surprise.’

  Nicole felt dizzy. Faint. And not just because of the steely accusations which were slicing through the air towards her. She met the blaze of his eyes and wondered how, after just a few seconds in his company, she was already feeling mixed up and at a disadvantage. She hadn’t seen Rocco Barberi for two whole years yet his impact was as devastating as it had ever been. Maybe even more so. She’d forgotten the way he could dominate the space around him and make any room seem to shrink whenever he walked in. She’d forgotten because she’d forced herself to forget the man she had loved even though duty had been the only thing on his mind when he’d slipped that wedding band on her finger. She licked her lips. Maybe she’d been foolish to expect anything deeper when their relationship had been doomed from the start—because those kinds of relationships always were. Rich man/poor girl was all very well in theory, but in practice�

  She thought about the fuss which had surrounded their unlikely marriage and all the lurid newspaper headlines which had been splashed around. It had been a big story at the time. ‘Sicilian Billionaire Weds Cleaner’—and the inevitable: ‘Fairy Tale Marriage Turns Sour’. And then it had end
ed as abruptly as it had begun. She’d walked away from him and their marriage because she’d needed to. The gulf between them had widened to such a distance that she’d known there was no going back, and when she’d lost the baby there had been no reason for them to be together any more. She’d needed to break free in order to survive.

  She had told herself that over and over again in those early days after she’d left Sicily. At first every painful minute had seemed like an eternity but gradually the days had drifted into weeks and eventually months. She hadn’t taken Rocco’s phone calls or answered his letters because she’d known that a clean break was the only way she would have the courage to end it, although it had felt like torture at the time. When the months had turned into years she’d assumed Rocco had accepted they were better off apart, just as she had done. Yet here he was, just turning up out of the blue. In her shop and in her life. It felt as if someone were crushing her heart between their fingers. It brought the pain of the past rushing back so fast that she had to remember to breathe.

  And that was what she needed to focus on—her brief tenure as Rocco’s wife. The reality—not the fairy tale, which had never really existed anyway. When even her choice of clothes had been dictated by the influential Sicilian billionaire who had treated her like an old-fashioned chattel he’d been forced to purchase against his better judgement.

  But that didn’t stop her looking at him. From letting her gaze drift over his muscular physique, clad today in one of those expensive charcoal suits he favoured, which emphasised every honed sinew of his remarkable body. Her throat dried as she registered the pale shirt which contrasted so vividly with his olive skin. Had she hoped she might have acquired some kind of immunity to him in the intervening years? Of course she had—because hope was the one emotion which defied logic, the one which could make you get up in the morning and put one foot in front of the other no matter how dark the world seemed outside. Yet Rocco seemed even more dazzling than she remembered—as if absence had only added an extra dimension to his powerful sexuality.