Bought for the Marriage Bed

by MELANIE MILBURNE

  ‘What are you smirking at?’ Marc looked down at her derisively. ‘How quickly you are going to work your way through your allowance?’

  ‘That depends on how generous it is,’ she tossed back.

  Marc rolled his eyes and stabbed at the lift button once more as if to hurry its pace.

  ‘We are not married yet so I would advise against counting your pennies until they have been dispatched,’ he growled.

  The lift doors sprang open and Nina followed the rigid line of his back as he made his way to his suite of offices.

  It gave her a much needed sense of power to see how much she rattled him.

  As far as she knew she had never got underneath anyone’s skin before; that had always been Nadia’s role, and yet the thought of Marc Marcello fighting an unwilling attraction to her was both strangely tantalizing and terrifying. She’d seen the way he’d looked at her when he’d thought she wasn’t looking, his dark eyes lingering on her body as if he just couldn’t help himself. It made her skin prickle all over in awareness to even think about him seeing her in such a light, let alone ever acting on it.

  Her reaction to him totally confused her. She was supposed to hate him for what he was doing but somehow it wasn’t quite working. Every time his eyes moved over her she felt as if he was transmitting heat from his body to hers. That brief accidental brush of his hand over her breast had felt like an electric shock, sending her pulse racing and her heart kicking in reaction.

  She had to take better control, she mentally chided herself. To fall in love with Marc Marcello was asking for the sort of trouble she could well do without, considering the mess she was already in.

  The reception area of Marc’s banking empire could leave no one in any doubt of the company’s considerable profits, Nina thought a short time later. From the sweeping computer console in the reception area fitted out in shining galaxy black marble, complete with a catwalk perfect receptionist, to the plush ankle-deep carpet on the floor, and the stunning views over the city from every window, it all left one with the impression that the Marcello merchant bank knew how to do business and do it extremely well.

  Nina glanced towards a painting hung over the waiting room area, her eyes widening when she realized it wasn’t a print but an actual Renoir.

  ‘Mr Marcello,’ the receptionist purred at her boss. ‘Mr Highgate is waiting for you in the guest lounge adjoining your office.’

  Nina’s eyebrows rose. Even his lawyer thought the common waiting room beneath him, did he?

  ‘Follow me,’ Marc addressed Nina over one shoulder.

  Something in her decided right there and then that she wasn’t going to be ordered around in front of his staff, and in particular in front of his gorgeous receptionist, who had done nothing but stare at her the whole time she’d been there.

  ‘Hello.’ Nina held out her hand across the reception desk. ‘I’m Nina, Marc’s fiancée. And this is Georgia. She’s Marc’s niece, you know. Andre’s child.’

  The receptionist reared away from Nina’s outstretched hand as if by touching it she might be fired on the spot.

  ‘I…I thought your name was Nadia,’ the young woman finally managed to get out. ‘And don’t you remember?’ She eyeballed Nina accusingly. ‘We’ve met before.’

  Nina hadn’t even considered the possibility that her sister might have called at the Marcello office tower at some stage in the past.

  Her colour came and went as she tried to think of an excuse for not recognising the young woman but her brain felt as if someone had pulled the plug and she was left floundering.

  ‘It was when Marc was in Italy last September,’ the receptionist went on, her mouth tight with reproach. ‘Andre was in a meeting but you insisted on seeing him.’

  Nina was very aware of Marc listening to every word of this exchange and had to think on her feet to find a way out of it without blowing her cover.

  Mentally counting back the months she realised Nadia must have come to see Andre well into the pregnancy, possibly as a last attempt to try to force his hand. She lowered her head in a gesture of contrition, her hand idly stroking the back of baby Georgia’s head where she was snuggled up against her in the pouch.

  ‘Yes…well, I wasn’t really myself back then…hormones, you know…’

  The receptionist peered over the console at the sleeping baby, her stern expression instantly softening. ‘She’s very like Andre, isn’t she?’

  Nina nodded, deciding it was probably wiser not to respond verbally even if she could have located her voice.

  ‘Hold all my calls please, Katrina,’ Marc’s deep voice commanded, interrupting the tight little exchange. ‘Come on, cara, we have some business to see to.’

  Cara? Nina disguised her frown just in time. She wasn’t sure she could handle him addressing her with Italian endearments. It made her feel as if their relationship was shifting to another level, a level she had no experience in dealing with.

  She followed him down the spacious hall where even more priceless artworks were hung in stately array, each one reminding her of the amount of money Marc Marcello had at his fingertips if ever he decided to run her out of town—without Georgia.

  ‘In here.’ Marc held the door open for her. ‘Take a seat and I will summon Robert Highgate to join us.’

  Nina took one of the plush chairs facing the huge desk and, positioning Georgia into a more comfortable position against her, began to look around.

  It was a huge office by anyone’s standards. It was lined with bookshelves along two walls, the thick volumes rich with both a wealth of knowledge and variety of taste. Unless they were there simply for show, which somehow she seriously doubted, they indicated Marc was a man who read widely, for apart from the obvious financial and legal tomes she could see some recent bestsellers as well as some of the classics she’d read and loved herself.

  It gave her a funny feeling to have read the same books as him. It gave her a connection with him she wasn’t all that sure she wanted to have.

  The door opened behind her and she turned in her seat to see a man of about fifty-five or so enter the room carrying a document folder under one arm. Marc was close behind with one of his impossible-to-read looks on his handsome face.

  ‘Cara, this is Robert Highgate. Robert, this is my fiancée, Nina Selbourne.’

  Nina began to rise but Robert hurriedly gestured for her to stay where she was on account of the baby nestled against her.

  He shook her hand instead and looked down at the sleeping infant, his warm light brown eyes visibly softening.

  ‘What a little treasure. I have two daughters of my own. They are both my life and my daily torture.’ He grinned at her meaningfully.

  Nina gave him a tentative smile. ‘It’s not easy being a parent.’

  ‘No, but worth the struggle, I can assure you. My eldest is getting married in a few months; it seems only yesterday she was in ankle socks arguing with her mother over the length of her school uniform.’

  Nina gave a somewhat forced little laugh. She had very clear memories of similar scenarios between Nadia and their mother but none of them were particularly amusing. She saw Marc stiffen at the sound of her chuckle, his dark eyes so piercing she had to look away in case he saw more than she wanted him to see.

  ‘Now,’ Robert said as he opened the folder on the desk and glanced across at Marc. ‘I’ve drawn up the document the way you suggested but perhaps I should explain it to Nina first?’

  ‘Explain away.’ Marc’s tone bordered on uninterested.

  Nina felt herself shrinking in her seat in embarrassment. She had no real understanding of legal terms and wasn’t sure if she’d be signing her life away. Surely the least Marc could do was go through it with her as well?

  ‘As you wish.’ Robert opened the file and laid it in front of her. ‘Don’t be put off by all the legalese, Nina, this is pretty straightforward. This simply states in the event of a divorce you agree to a reasonable settlement but not a d
ivision of Marc’s total assets.’

  Nina did her best to read through the wordy text but it made little if no sense to her. She kept searching the document for Georgia’s name, hunting for some sort of clause Marc might have inserted to take the child away from her if the marriage was to fold, but as far as she could make out there was none.

  ‘This bit here states that you will receive an allowance during your marriage.’ Robert Highgate pointed to the relevant section.

  Nina stared at the figure nominated there and swallowed. ‘That seems a little…excessive.’ She looked up and caught Marc looking at her strangely. She lowered her gaze to the documents once more, her heart pounding in her chest. She would have to be much more careful in future. Marc wasn’t a fool. If he began to suspect he was being duped…

  ‘If you could just sign here.’ Robert Highgate indicated the dotted line for her. ‘And over here.’ He turned the page and she dutifully signed. ‘There, that’s all right and tight.’ He closed the document and bundled it back in its folder as he turned to Marc, who was leaning against the filing cabinet behind his desk, his dark eyes still trained on her.

  ‘May I offer you both my heartiest congratulations on a happy and fulfilling marriage?’ Robert said. ‘I know these are sad times but much joy can come about in spite of it.’ He cleared his throat discreetly and added, ‘How is your father, Marc?’

  Marc pushed himself away from the filing cabinet. ‘He’s coping…just.’

  Robert Highgate tut-tutted sympathetically, ‘A terrible blow, and so soon after your mother.’

  ‘Yes.’

  Nina privately thought Marc’s one word response spoke volumes. While he showed little emotion on his face, something in his voice suggested to her he was a man who felt deeply for all that. It made her see him in a new light. Not so much a hard-driven businessman who wanted to conquer the world, riding over people obstructing his way, but a man with a need to protect those he loved and felt responsible for.

  He would make a wonderful father for Georgia.

  The thought slipped into her mind and once in there took hold until she could think of nothing else. Visions of him with Georgia during her first Christmas, her first tooth, her first steps, her first day at school…her first boyfriend…

  ‘What do you think, Nina?’ Marc directed his gaze towards her.

  Nina stared at him in blank confusion. ‘Sorry?’

  ‘Robert suggested we draw up a separate trust file on Georgia. Andre’s estate now belongs to her, but until she comes of age—’

  She got to her feet in sudden agitation, holding Georgia close to her chest to avoid disturbing her. ‘I told you I’m not interested in Andre’s estate.’

  Marc sent her a quick warning glance but it was too late. Robert Highgate had seen the exchange and was at liberty to make his own conclusions.

  ‘I’ll have the necessary papers drawn up,’ he informed Marc diplomatically as he reached for the door. ‘Again, I wish you both well.’

  ‘Thank you,’ Marc said and, turning to Nina with an arch of one brow, prompted, ‘Nina?’

  She gave the lawyer a wan smile. ‘Thank you, Mr Highgate, for explaining everything to me.’

  ‘No problem.’ Robert held out his hand and grasped hers firmly. ‘You know you’re nothing like I thought you’d be, if you don’t mind me saying.’

  ‘I—I’m not?’ Nina’s stomach rolled over. God, had Nadia met him too at some stage?

  ‘No,’ Robert said. ‘But then you know what those gossip columns are like; they make that stuff up to sell the next magazine.’

  Nina’s heart instantly sank. She shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot as she tortured herself with images of her scantily clad sister cavorting at God knew which of Sydney’s nightclubs in order to have her photo plastered over some seedy gossip page.

  She lowered her gaze to the child in her arms and affected a demure pose. ‘That’s all behind me now. I’m a changed person.’

  ‘I congratulate you for it,’ Robert Highgate said. ‘Bringing up a child is a very maturing experience. Do you have any family—parents and so on?’

  She shook her head, carefully avoiding his eyes. ‘No, no family. My father died when I was a baby and my mother died three years ago.’

  Marc frowned as he listened to the exchange between his lawyer and his soon-to-be wife. He suddenly realised how little he knew of Nina and her background. He knew she was known to be an unprincipled whore who had made it her life’s goal to hunt down a rich husband to set her up for life, but he hadn’t known she had grown up without a father and had so recently lost her mother. His own grief reminded him of how devastating losing a parent could be and something inside him shifted a little ground. Yes, she was undoubtedly an opportunist and she sure as hell had driven his brother to his untimely end…but she clearly loved Georgia, which still somehow surprised him.

  The door closed behind the lawyer and Georgia began to grizzle. Nina extracted her from the baby-carrier and, reaching for the nappy bag, looked across at Marc who was standing in a brooding silence behind his desk.

  ‘I think she needs her nappy changed,’ she said.

  ‘Would you like me to do it?’ he offered.

  Nina stared at him in silent horror for a moment. How could she let him change Georgia’s nappy with the faint smudge of bruises still on her tiny chest?

  ‘No,’ she said flatly.

  Something came and went in his eyes and she knew she had offended him. He wanted to be a father to Georgia, a real and involved father who would feed and change a baby without rearing away in distaste as some men would do. But until those bruises were gone she had no choice but to keep him well away from Georgia without the shield of her clothes.

  ‘There is a bathroom two doors down,’ he said, moving from behind the desk. ‘Do you have what you need with you?’

  Nina gave him an imperious look as she held up the well-stocked nappy bag. ‘I have done this before, you know.’

  Marc didn’t answer but he held the door open for her as she stalked past him with her head held high. He watched as she made her way down the corridor to where the bathroom was situated, Georgia snuggled on one of her slim hips, the baby’s tiny hands buried in the length of her shiny blonde hair.

  His own fingers itched to do the same, to see if it was really as silky as it looked, but with a silent curse he thrust his hands deep into his trouser pockets and let the office door click shut as he went back his desk.

  He ignored his chair and instead turned to look out of the window as he had done thousands of times before, but this time he saw nothing of the harbour.

  All he could see was a pair of smoky grey eyes.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  NINA took as long as she could in the bathroom seeing to Georgia’s needs. She needed time to think. So much was happening and happening so fast she hadn’t had time to get her head into gear.

  She felt a fool for not anticipating people such as Marc’s receptionist having met her sister previously. And no doubt there would be other people she’d have to pretend she knew. And that little slip about the allowance—Oh, God! Her stomach clenched with tight fingers of fear as she thought of her charade coming unstuck in such a way.

  She daredn’t even think about Marc’s reaction.

  He turned from the window when she returned to his office and, in spite of her determination to keep cool and calm under pressure, she couldn’t help a tiny flip-flop in her belly at the sheer height and presence of him as he came towards her.

  ‘It has occurred to me that there are quite probably things Georgia needs, such as new clothing or toys,’ he said, taking the baby from her with gentle hands. ‘I have some time available now, so we could go shopping if you like.’

  Nina stared up at him, uncertain of how to answer.

  Georgia was in desperate need of clothes as she was growing so fast, but shopping with Marc as if they were any normal couple…?

  She lowered her gaze and pre
tended to be re-sorting the changing bag to avoid looking directly at him as she hunted her brain for some sort of excuse.

  ‘Since your own clothes are designer labels, surely your child is entitled to the same?’ A hard edge had crept into his voice.

  Nina tensed as she pushed the lid back down on the baby wipes container. She’d picked up one of Nadia’s cast-offs thinking it was one of the more conservative of the collection she’d left behind, never dreaming it was actually haute couture.

  ‘This old thing?’ she quipped with a disdainful glance down at the cashmere she was wearing.

  Marc’s mouth curled. ‘I suppose you only wear an outfit once before it is thrown to the back of the wardrobe?’

  Nina almost laughed at how close he was to describing her sister’s attitude to clothes. She could have afforded designer wear herself if she’d been given a dollar for every time she’d picked some discarded article up off the floor after one of Nadia’s wild nights out.

  She tossed her long hair behind one shoulder and smiled up at him saucily. ‘Is it my fault I get bored easily?’

  ‘You know something, Nina Selbourne?’ He gave her a cutting look. ‘I am almost looking forward to being married to you so I can teach you how to behave. You are the shallowest young woman I have ever had the misfortune to meet. I think it will be a great pleasure to bring you to heel as someone should have done a very long time ago.’

  Nina pretended to shudder in trepidation. ‘Oh! I am sooo scared of you, Mr Marcello.’

  His black eyes glittered with contempt. ‘If I was not holding Georgia right at this minute I would be tempted to begin lesson one right here and now,’ he bit out.

  Nina’s eyes flashed at him with false bravado. ‘You lay one finger on me and you will be the poorer for it.’

  ‘It would be worth it, I can assure you,’ he shot back.

  ‘You think?’ She tilted her chin at him. ‘Your brother certainly thought so.’

  Nina knew the only thing that saved her at that point was the fact that Georgia was in his arms. Her tiny starfish hands were clutching at the stark whiteness of his business shirt, her little elfin face looking up at him as if in wonder, her brown-black eyes so like his own with their thick fringe of lashes.