by Alison Kent
It felt good to be naked. It felt good to feel his hand moulding her breasts. When he moved away so he could take off his own clothes she watched him through big blue sombre eyes that kept his own eyes sombre and his movements tense.
No man had a body like Rafael. The broad shoulders, the wide chest, the light covering of hair that arrowed down his long golden torso to the flat plain between his narrow hips. When aroused, as he was now, he was magnificent, and when he eased himself on top of her it was the most wonderful feeling on earth. All hard muscle and living warmth, and a breathtakingly seductive and overpowering strength.
She looked into his face and saw the man of her dreams there. Loving or hating him, that dream never changed. I still love you, she thought, and hoped she did not say the words out loud.
He kissed her so gently that she thought maybe she had. He kissed and touched and stroked her where she needed him to, and eventually encouraged her to do the same to him. It was so long since she’d tracked her fingers over his flesh and watched him shudder in response, watched his eyes close with pleasure when her fingers closed around his sex….
The tears had long gone—driven away by the first probe of a sensual finger that arched her spine and then allowed it to relax again. He captured one of her breasts, rolling the tight rosebud nipple around his tongue then sucking gently until she groaned out a breathless protest, then he moved to the other breast.
Then it all suddenly changed. And it happened so fast that she didn’t see it coming. His mouth came up to fuse with hers in a fierce, deep hunger, and at the same moment he located her G spot and turned the rolling waves of gentle passion into a driving, racing, turbulent storm.
She groaned and gasped and arched and panted. She scored her nails down his back and he took her, ruthlessly and without mercy, to the peak—only to stop and let her drop down again. When she opened her eyes to accuse him of teasing she met with raw desire, lashing his skin to his facial bones, and she knew what was coming just before he made that first deep silken thrust.
It was the difference between slow, sensual foreplay and hot, physical sex. He could indulge her for hours, but when he flipped over the edge he went without warning.
He needed it now, needed it all, and he needed it voraciously.
Each powerful thrust was deeper than the preceding one, and her muscles grabbed and held on, then quivered each time he withdrew to begin the next stroke. When she cried out with pleasure he shuddered; when she quivered he shuddered. When she shouted at the top of her voice, ‘Please—!’ he strapped her to him with his arms and increased the pace. And he kept on increasing until he felt the familiar sensation building through her. Quickly the feeling overtook the thrusts, and she became lost in that electric world of pure sensation.
Coming down afterwards was like trying to swim against the flow of a river. Her heart wouldn’t stop racing, and her blood was rushing so fast through her veins that she thought she could hear it. She tingled and shook and felt him still pulsating inside her. Her dry mouth and throat ached, because she still could not control her breathing.
‘And that,’ Rafael murmured huskily, ‘is having all of me—wrapped around you and inside you.’
While they still lay in a tangle of trembling limbs, recovering from their most intense experience yet, Nina could not argue with his husky-voiced comment.
His warm mouth moved against her shoulder. She shrugged it away. ‘Tell me about the second test you had,’ she prompted.
He went still, then uttered a sigh and carefully withdrew so he could ease himself away. Then he rolled onto his back beside her on the bed.
‘Last week,’ he said abruptly. ‘When the desire to exonerate you of everything grew strong enough to make me want an excuse to crawl to you on my knees and beg your forgiveness.’
‘It took you six months to get there?’
His eyes flashed darkly. ‘Do you want to hear this or not?’
‘Yes,’ she said.
He took a deep breath. ‘As soon as I found out the result I was coming straight back here to tell you—then Marisia called with her news and told me what she intended to do.’
‘I still can’t stand to think of you seeing her behind my back.’
‘Ditto you and Fredo,’ he countered grimly. ‘He is fresh out of a serious relationship. The last thing he needs is to see a door open to your broken heart, giving him ideas about two broken hearts making a whole one.’
‘It isn’t like that,’ she protested. ‘He’s nice—he’s your friend. We had lunch a couple of times and we talked about anything but broken hearts!’
‘He told me to my face that I do not deserve you,’ Rafael told her. ‘He said that if I had any feelings for you at all I would let you go, so someone else could give you what I obviously could not. Who do you suppose he was thinking about when he offered that advice?’
‘When did he say that?’ she gasped, lifting her head to stare at him.
His face was like rock again. ‘A couple of weeks ago,’ he added with a shrug.
Curiosity had Nina levering herself up a bit further so she could capture his guarded eyes. ‘He worried you,’ she murmured silkily. His mouth flattened into a straight line. ‘He planted the idea that I might actually give up on you altogether. You didn’t like it, so you forced yourself to retake the test!’
‘It was time.’
‘You were scared and jealous!’
‘I thought we were talking about Marisia!’ he rasped.
‘Oh, yes,’ Nina murmured, and subsided again.
He heaved in yet another deep breath. ‘She was frightened of what the family would think of her and saw abortion as her only way out,’ he continued. ‘You know what it’s like here, Nina. There is still a heavy stigma attached to unmarried mothers. I delayed my trip by a few days so I could try and talk her out of it. It was not easy, and I did not dare leave her behind in London while I came here to you because I could not be sure she wouldn’t change her mind. So I brought her with me—made her promise she would think about it over Christmas before she decided what she was going to do. She wasn’t supposed to blurt it out tonight.’
‘Then why did she?’
‘Because she’s a crazy woman—I don’t know!’ He sighed. ‘I did not hang around long enough to find out!’
‘Or because she wanted you tied down while she had the rest of us there as witnesses. If I knew about your affair with her then how many other people at that table knew?’
‘This is going in circles.’
‘Because I am still not convinced that her child is not your child?’ She sat up. ‘One mistake can easily become two mistakes, caro,’ she said deridingly. ‘Especially if you took so long to have your precious test! That makes the rest of this just—wallpaper!’
‘If you want proof, cara—’ he threw the same tone back at her. ‘—then you are going to have wait seven months. But I will prove it! I do not sleep around!’
‘Neither do I!’
‘All right—’ He held up his hands. ‘So I deserve all of this.’
The sound of a car coming up the drive caught their attention. Nina snaked off the bed and went to the window, tugging back the edge of the curtain, then releasing a sigh.
‘I think you are going to have to prove it sooner than you thought,’ she murmured, and turned to look at him. ‘My grandfather is here,’ she explained.
CHAPTER EIGHT
IT WAS like watching a light switch off, then come back on again to reveal a completely different man. ‘She set me up.’
Realization was finally beginning to hit him.
‘She’s very good at it.’
‘Her motive?’ He climbed off the bed.
Nina could only offer an empty shrug. ‘Regret for walking out on you? Or that good old motive revenge—on me this time, for jumping into her place?’
‘She did not walk out on me.’ Rafael frowned as he reached for his trousers. ‘We did not have the kind of relationship ei
ther could walk away from. But I did tell her I was in love with you.’
‘Me—?’ Nina stared at him. ‘Why would you tell her a lie like that?’
‘It was not a lie.’ Her huff of scorn made him grimace as he closed his trouser zip.
‘I don’t recall the word love coming into anything you said when you suggested we marry.’
‘It would have seemed less of a blow to my pride if you’d turned down a simple business deal than if you’d turned me down. You’re so…’ A hand came out, long fingers making a helpless gesture. ‘Special,’ he finished huskily.
It was like being hit by one too many revelations. Nina sank down on to her dressing stool and then just stared. Did she believe him?
He was standing there looking like a man who’d recently enjoyed a woman inside and out. His hair was ruffled, his mouth was wearing that sexy glow of too many hot kisses—but did that collate with a man in love?
‘I think you’re pulling rabbits out of a hat now,’ she said.
‘Meaning what?’ He sent her a curious look.
She shifted restlessly, because she wasn’t exactly sure what she meant—only that…‘I have this horrible feeling that I am being manipulated,’ she said in the end.
Car doors slammed then—several of them—bringing Nina back to her feet.
‘No,’ Rafael said gruffly. ‘You stay here.’
‘But he’s—’
‘Sicilian. I know,’ he nodded grimly. ‘Well, so am I—I think,’ he added with a wry smile.
It was the first time she had ever heard him actually mock himself like that. It brought tears to her eyes, which was silly—but it did.
‘What if he—?’
Grabbing up his shirt, he walked over to her and settled it across her shoulders. ‘Just think about this while I’m down there,’ he suggested huskily. ‘We all use manipulation in one form or another. At the moment I am fighting for my marriage, and I am prepared to do anything to save it. But lying to you is not one of those things. There has already been enough of that. So I am telling you, cara, I have been in love with you since I first set eyes on you, and if you can bring yourself to believe that then we can deal with whatever else comes at us.’
‘That is supposing I love you back.’
His eyes took on a glow. ‘You are a tough lady when you want to be.’ He sighed. Then he grinned and kissed her—once—briefly and was gone, leaving her with the itchy feeling that he knew she loved him—had always known…
The sound of knocking on the front door echoed through the hallway. Rafael was striding down the stairs just as Parsons was opening the door. The butler was barely given time to step to the side before Alessandro Guardino and his two sons were shouldering their way inside.
‘Good evening again, Alessandro,’ Rafael greeted him. ‘What brings you away from your own birthday celebrations?’
All three Guardino men came to a stop when they saw him. Bare-chested and shoeless, and with his trousers resting low on his waist, he should have cast a vulnerable figure—but he didn’t. Whoever his parents had been, they had endowed him with the kind of physique that intimidated other men.
It took the old man several seconds to deal with that before he took a threatening step forward. ‘I want a word with you,’ he gritted. ‘You have been playing my granddaughters for fools.’
Parsons was about to do his usual and melt away, but Rafael stopped him with the lift of a hand. ‘Wait,’ he said quietly. ‘Our—guests will not be staying long.’
Without a word the butler stayed perfectly still by the open door. The three Guardino men moved forward, their expressions pouring scorn on Rafael’s idea of back-up in a fist fight.
‘If you think he is going to stop us from killing you, then you are a fool,’ Alessandro jeered.
‘You have a point,’ Rafael conceded. ‘But I think Gino could sway the odds my way.’ And he lifted his eyes as his bodyguard stepped in through the front door. Built as wide as he was tall, Gino walked across the hall and went to stand beside Rafael.
All three Guardino men went very still.
‘Now,’ Rafael said, ‘I think you had better explain why you feel the need to kill me.’
‘You know why, you bastard.’
Strange, Rafael thought, but being called a bastard by this man was nothing like being called one by his wife. It must be the English accent that made the difference. Nina made the word sound so—sexy.
He smiled.
‘This is not a joke!’ Alessandro shouted.
‘Too damn right, it isn’t,’ Rafael agreed, his face suddenly hardening. ‘You had better explain what it is I am being accused of before I get Gino to throw you all out.’
Alessandro’s sons were eyeing up the bodyguard and wondering if the two of them could take him. Don’t try it, Rafael silently advised them. Gino had been known to wrestle five angry men to the ground.
‘You are the one who made Marisia pregnant!’
‘And you believe that?’
‘She has brought shame on the family—you are her cousin’s bastard husband!’
There was that word again. Rafael did not like it. He frowned. Beside him Gino flexed his muscles. He did not like the word either, since he wore the same label himself.
‘Your penchant for backing the wrong horse is showing again, Alessandro, so take care what you say to me or you may alienate the source which usually bails you out!’
The old man stiffened at the reminder—and the threat. But this was a matter of honour, and in any Sicilian household family honour had to come before everything else.
‘My own daughter confirms that she has seen you together! How do you explain that?’
‘Louisa, like the rest of you, should learn to think before leaping to conclusions. I have no desire to touch Marisia. She turned me cold two years ago and she turns me cold now.’
‘That’s a lie. You were going to marry her.’
‘You offered her, Alessandro, as a bargaining chip in lieu of the money you owed me. I politely declined.’
The old man went red. ‘Only because you saw Nina and decided you wanted her instead.’
‘Well, I can’t argue with that.’
‘Nina knows that you are the father of Marisia’s child! It is the reason the poor girl ran from my house!’
Rafael said nothing. The truth was the truth after all.
The old man read that silence as a crack in his argument. ‘She must be deeply hurt.’
‘It is understandable.’
‘You have been playing her for a fool—you have dishonoured her and the Guardino family. We have come to take her home with us.’
‘Nina is already home,’ Rafael pointed out.
‘We demand to see her!’ Angry frustration was beginning to set in. ‘For all we know you might have hurt her again, like you did the last time when you threw her down the stairs!’
Danger raised its head suddenly, and everyone sensed it, even Rafael himself. ‘I am going to give you a very good piece of advice now, Allesandro, and I suggest that you heed it.’ He began walking forward, his steps slow and measured across the chequered floor. ‘Leave this house now, while I still have some respect for you. You are, after all, my wife’s grandfather, and you do care for her—which is the part I still respect. But if you say one more word I will probably hit you, and then we will both lose respect—for ourselves.’
As he moved closer all three men started backing, and the fact that they were doing it while Gino remained where he was, made a point that hammered itself home. There wasn’t one of them witnessing this who didn’t see that Rafael in this mood was strong enough for all three Guardino men.
‘I’m an old man,’ Alessandro blustered. ‘My granddaughter would never forgive you if you laid a hand on me.’
‘Precisely,’ Rafael agreed. ‘Which is why I am asking you to leave.’
‘She deserves better than you.’
Another point Rafael had no argument with.
‘I will look forward to it,’ Rafael said. Then quietly and calmly closed the door.
When he turned round to face his two companions he discovered both had not moved at all. It was interesting, he mused, how danger emanated from within. He could feel it himself as he stood here. Was he pale? He felt pale, as if danger had leeched all the warmth from his blood.
He looked at the stairs. The stairs Nina had fallen down. He saw it happen again—watched her slip on her spindly heels then stumble, listened to her cries and his own as she rolled.
He flicked a glance at Gino. ‘Make sure they leave,’ he said.
With a nod the bodyguard eased out of the stasis holding him and disappeared towards the back of the house, meaning to carry out the task by stealth.
Parsons still had not moved a muscle, yet in some odd way Rafael knew he was not standing there like that because he was afraid to move. Too undignified, he thought, and would have smiled if he were able.
When he began walking towards the stairs again Parsons spoke. ‘I will lock up now, sir, if you don’t mind,’ he said.
Rafael nodded, then paused with one foot on the first stair. ‘Do you like living in this house, Parsons?’ he asked curiously.
For the first time since he’d known him Rafael saw the butler’s eyes give an anxious flash, as if sensing a trap. ‘I am content to live where Mrs Monteleone lives, sir,’ the butler replied.
Which did not answer the question. ‘But would you care if we all left here and never came back?’
The we all eased some tension out of Parsons’s shoulders. ‘No, sir,’ he said.
Rafael nodded, looked around him for a few seconds, then came to a decision. ‘How long will it take you to make the house safe to leave?’
‘No time at all, sir. Will an hour be too soon?’
‘An hour sounds about perfect,’ Rafael approved.
The butler was turning away, but he paused. ‘If you don’t mind me saying so, sir, it will do Mrs Monteleone good to get away from here.’