Читать книгу Modern Romance Collection: April 2018 Books 5 - 8 - Andie Brock, Heidi Rice - Страница 21

CHAPTER ELEVEN

VIERI STIRRED, OPENING his eyes to see a shaft of moonlight illuminating the bed. He looked down to where Harper was asleep in his arms, her face buried in his chest so that all he could see was the tangle of auburn curls. His heart swelled. She looked completely adorable.

A strange feeling of pride came over him, a sense of peace. Closing his eyes again, he listened to her soft, even breathing, inhaling her unique scent, so different from his own, mixed in with the smell of flowers and candle wax in the room.

He had never expected to find himself here. At the start of yesterday he had been thinking about nothing other than getting the wedding ceremony over with, getting the day over with. He had been totally convinced that this was to be a union in name only, and a very temporary one at that. But as the day had worn on, something had shifted inside him.

Spending time with Harper, watching her talking to the guests, to Alfonso, always with that quiet charm, that easy grace, had made him realise just how exceptional she was. He had found his eyes following her around the room, seeking her out, an unfamiliar sense of pleasure stealing over him when she returned to his side. Jaco had soon picked up on the vibe, ribbing his old friend about getting a room, steadfastly refusing to accept Vieri’s account that this marriage was simply a means to an end. In fact it had been Jaco who had slipped the condom into his pocket, giving him a hug and muttering ‘just in case’ in his ear before retiring to bed.

And, of course, Jaco was right. What Vieri felt for Harper went way beyond an appreciation of her social skills, or her ability to make his godfather happy. The idea that that was all it was was laughable. The simmering attraction between them had been there right from the start but slowly it had become more than that. It had become something bigger, more whole, affecting him on a deeper level altogether. He had refused to face up to it. Until tonight.

Tonight he could ignore his feelings no longer. Tonight he had been able to think of nothing else but taking her in his arms and making love to her. The attraction between them, both physical and mental, had become an all-consuming need that he had been powerless to resist. Suddenly he’d found himself asking why not? They were consenting adults. They were actually married, for God’s sake. What was to stop them enjoying one night together? And once that idea had taken hold, nothing was going to budge it.

And the reality had been better than even his overheated imagination could have come up with. Sex with Harper had been amazing. Special. Maybe too special. Vieri realised that for the first time ever the sexual act had actually meant something, gone far beyond simple physical pleasure and taken him somewhere he had never been before, deep into unknown realms of emotions that he hadn’t even known existed. It felt dangerously like losing control, but for this one night he was going to allow himself to live solely in the moment, enjoy the here and now. He wasn’t going to think, he wasn’t going to analyse what had happened between them, or indeed the fact that Harper had clearly been a virgin. Not now. Not with her nuzzled like this in his arms. He felt himself drifting off into a contented sleep but when Harper moved softly against him, his arousal, which had already half woken from its slumber, defiantly made itself known.

‘Vieri.’ His name, uttered sleepily from her open lips, only served to stoke the fire, and when she reached for him, pressing her full breasts up against him, winding her legs around his, there was only one possible outcome. One hot and sensual, deeply sexual and infinitely satisfying conclusion.

* * *

Harper awoke with a start. The room was very still. A watery, early morning daylight was filtering through the gaps in the old wooden shutters. Pulling the covers under her chin, she stared at the foliage twisted around the posts of the bed, the roses that had lost their just-picked bloom.

She was alone. She knew that much without turning to look or spreading out a limb to check. She could sense the space where Vieri had been, feel it with a twitch of pain, like a hole in a tooth.

He had gone. Screwing her eyes shut, she forced herself to get a grip, to ignore the clenching of her heart, the acute sense of loss, abandonment.

She had known the deal when she had agreed to go to bed with Vieri. One night of pleasure. That was what they had signed up for. And clearly that night was over.

She turned on her side, staring at the indentation on the pillow where Vieri’s head had been. Despite the sense of emptiness inside her, she didn’t regret what they had done—she could never regret it. Because making love with Vieri had been the most wonderful experience of her life. She had felt it; it had happened. She was irrevocably changed. And even though the bed beside her was empty now, nothing could take that away.

Pulling back the covers, she caught sight of the crumpled pair of white stockings, remembering how Vieri had peeled them from her legs, some time in the middle of the night. How they had made love again, with such passion, such tenderness...but without a condom. She recalled Vieri cursing with frustration, searching his pockets again, coming back to bed empty-handed. But the power of their passion had been too strong and neither of them had had the willpower to stop. Instead Vieri had insisted that he would be very careful. She just hoped he was right.

Picking up the stockings, she rolled them into a ball and tossed them onto a chair before heading for the bathroom and a long, hot shower.

* * *

She sensed something had happened the moment she stepped out into the corridor. At first all seemed eerily quiet, but as she strained her ears she could hear low male voices and as she started to descend the sweeping staircase the two men in the hall looked up at her. Friends of Alfonso’s, they had stayed overnight. Harper started to smile at them but her smile froze as she got closer and caught the sombre expressions on their faces.

‘My dear.’ One of them reached out and touched her arm. ‘I am so sorry.’

Panic clawed at her heart. ‘W...what?’

‘You...you haven’t heard?’ The two men exchanged a glance.

‘No, tell me, please. What has happened?’

Just then the door to the study opened and Vieri appeared, his face ashen grey.

‘Vieri!’ Harper rushed towards him but he seemed to look straight through her.

A man in a dark suit followed him out and together they walked to the front door, speaking in soft but rapid Sicilian. Harper watched in frantic silence as they shook hands, the man pulling Vieri into a hug, patting him on the back, before turning to leave.

‘Vieri! Please, tell me what has happened!’ She ran to him again, putting her hands on his chest to bar his way, to prevent him from walking straight past her.

Vieri stopped, looking at her for the first time, and Harper felt her heart contract with pain. His handsome face was taut with grief, his eyes the colour of dull stone. He dragged in a breath, as if having to speak to her was costing him too much, more than he was prepared to give. But eventually he found the coldly terse words.

‘It’s Alfonso, Harper.’ He averted his gaze, as if he couldn’t bear to look at her. ‘He’s dead.’

‘No!’ Harper choked on the word, tears immediately brimming in her eyes. ‘But how...when?’

‘Some time last night.’

‘Oh, Vieri.’ Harper stared back at him, tears starting to roll down her cheeks. He took several steps away from her, then stood tall and straight, as imposing as ever, but with every plane of his body rigid with tension. As if, were she to touch him, he might snap. ‘I’m so sorry.’

He angled his head, giving an almost imperceptible shrug, as if to say her platitudes were of no interest to him. As if she were of no interest to him. This man, who only a few hours ago had looked at her as if she was the centre of his world, taking her to unknown heights of ecstasy, stealing her heart, was now regarding her with something bordering on disgust.

But he was grieving. Taking a shuddering breath, Harper wiped the tears from her cheeks with the back of her hand. He looked so devastated, so lost, that she thought her heart might break for him.

Her feet took her towards him again, the overwhelming need to comfort him blocking out all other emotions. Throwing her arms around his waist, she tried to hug him to her, but it was like hugging a block of stone. And when she crushed her head against his chest, her tears dampening the front of his shirt, it seemed as if his heart beating against her ear had slowed to a cold, hard thud.

He made an impatient noise over the top of her head. ‘I need to get on. There are a lot of things I have to see to.’

‘Yes, of course.’ Harper sniffed noisily, pulling herself away. She cleared her throat, tucking her hair behind her ears. ‘Can you just tell me...was anyone with him when he died?’

‘Maria was with him.’ His voice was dry, detached. ‘She said it was very peaceful.’

‘Well, that’s something to be thankful for.’ Harper sniffed again. She waited for some sort of reply but his silence made it all too clear that she was being dismissed. ‘Okay, I’ll...um...let you get on, then.’ She started to move away. ‘But if there’s anything I can do to help, anything at all, you will say, won’t you?’

‘Actually there is.’ The force of his reply turned her hopefully back to face him.

‘Yes?’

‘Get rid of the guests.’ His mouth flattened into a hard line. ‘All of them. Right away.’

Harper hesitated, but only for a second. ‘Yes, of course.’

She hated the thought of having to tell people that Alfonso had died but if it saved Vieri the painful chore then she would do it.

‘And that includes your sister.’ He fixed her with a cold stare, devoid of all emotion.

‘Very well.’ With a sombre nod, Harper moved away. She would do as she was told. Now was definitely not the time to question his orders.

* * *

‘Entra.’ Vieri briskly replied to the tap on the office door. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he tried to stem the headache that was building behind his eyes. He had been dealing with all the paperwork involved with Alfonso’s death for a couple of hours now, and, even though he was grateful to have something to keep his mind occupied, he knew he needed a break. He sat back in his chair waiting to see who the visitor was, inexplicably finding himself hoping it was Harper. He had been unnecessarily brusque with her—she was probably owed an apology.

But it wasn’t Harper. And as the door opened the sight of who it actually was saw Vieri leap to his feet.

‘You!’ Anger surged through him, hot and fierce. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’

‘Well, that’s not much of a welcome, I must say.’ Advancing into the room, Donatella moved around the desk to stand beside him. ‘You seem to have forgotten your manners, Vieri.’

She was wearing a fur coat and had some sort of small dog tucked under her arm, who stared at Vieri with bulging eyes.

‘I have forgotten nothing, trust me. And you are not welcome here.’

‘Now, don’t be like that.’ She tried to offer her cheek to be kissed but Vieri jerked his head away, stepping to the side. The thought of kissing this woman made him want to be sick.

‘I mean it, Donatella.’ Her name tasted like poison on his tongue. ‘I want you to leave.’

Totally ignoring him, Donatella moved to seat herself in the chair opposite the desk, settling the dog on her lap. ‘Surely you will allow me to pay my respects.’

‘Respects?’ Vieri spat the word back at her, his body rigid with tension. ‘I think it’s a little late for that. I don’t recall you showing Alfonso any respect when he was alive.’

‘As I recall, he disowned me.’ She stroked the dog’s fur with a hand heavy with jewelled rings. ‘And me his only living relative.’

‘And you know full well why. You made your lethal choice when you married into the Sorrentino family.’

‘Ah, yes, of course. I am the evil witch responsible for the extermination of the Calleroni family.’

‘For the murder of your father, Alfonso’s only brother, yes.’

‘Look at you, Vieri, so high and mighty, so morally upright.’ A sneer curled her lip. ‘And yet I seem to recall a time when even knowing who I was, what I was, didn’t stop you from coming to my bed.’

Vieri ground down hard on his jaw, not trusting himself to speak.

‘You were crazy for me once, Vieri. You can’t deny that.’

‘I was crazy, all right, crazy to ever have anything to do with you.’

‘Ah, I see the years have twisted the truth, il mio amore, made you bitter. But I’m sure you must remember the good times. I know I do.’

‘What I remember—’ Vieri sucked in a breath ‘—is that you made the decision to terminate our unborn child!’

Shock flickered across Donatella’s face, fighting to move the chemically frozen muscles. ‘So you know about that?’

A murderous silence filled the air. ‘I do.’

‘Then you should be grateful.’ Swiftly recovering her composure, Donatella lifted her chin.

‘Grateful?’ The word roared between them.

‘Yes, grateful that I swiftly dealt with the situation. Surely you didn’t think you and I would ever be playing happy families?’

‘Maybe not.’ Fury slowed his words to a low drawl. ‘But that doesn’t mean I couldn’t have raised the child myself. Had I ever been consulted, that is.’

‘Trust me.’ She gave a harsh laugh. ‘No amount of consultation would have persuaded me to keep that baby.’

Rage flowed thickly through Vieri’s veins like molten lava. He towered over her, his fists clenching and unclenching as he fought to find some control. ‘Leave! Now!’

‘Very well, I will go.’ Rising to her feet, Donatella tucked the dog under her arm and started towards the door, but then stopped, turning to look at him again. ‘Oh, how rude of me. I haven’t congratulated you on your marriage.’ She met his searing glare. ‘Such a charming young girl, that little wife of yours. Did she tell you we had met?’

Pure hatred whitened the skin around Vieri’s mouth.

‘Yes, of course she did. I’m sure you two don’t have any secrets.’ She gave him a sly smile. ‘No doubt she will be only too happy to bless you with any number of little brats if that’s what you want. I wish you a long and fertile life together.’

Vieri’s low growl gave him away and Donatella’s gaze sharpened.

‘Or have I got that wrong? Perhaps there is another reason for this hasty marriage?’ She raised a painted talon to her lip, pretending to think. The dog squirmed in her grasp. ‘Could it be something to do with your godfather’s imminent demise, I wonder? Something in the terms of his will that meant if you weren’t married, his money, this castello, would have come to me?’

‘Ha!’ Vieri laughed in her face. How typical of Donatella to assume that she was the reason for his rushed marriage. ‘Trust me, that was never going to happen.’

‘That’s just it, I don’t trust you, Vieri.’ She stared at him with calculating eyes. ‘I have watched your meteoric rise to fame, seen the way you have acquired exposed businesses, taken over failing companies. That takes ruthlessness, determination, grit. Qualities I like to think, in some small way, you may have learnt from me.’ She studied her fingernails.

‘Or to put it another way, I believe that over the years you have become every bit as manipulative and underhanded as me. I believe you will stop at nothing to get what you want, especially if that means depriving me of any inheritance. I just hope that poor unsuspecting young woman you have taken as your bride knows what she’s let herself in for. For her sake, I hope she knows the man you really are.’

‘Get out!’ Vieri roared with a violence that made the dog growl, bare its teeth. Marching past her, he flung open the door, standing sentry as she came towards him.

‘Don’t worry, I’m going. Ciao, mio caro.’ She reached up to touch his cheek but Vieri ducked away from her hand. ‘Until we meet again.’

Ushering her out into the hallway, Vieri turned and strode back into the office, slamming the door behind him.

One thing was for sure: if he had any say in it, they would never, ever, meet again.

* * *

Harper heard the slam of the door before she turned the stairs and saw Donatella Sorrentino standing outside the office. She stopped, her hand gripping the banister, a cold fear creeping up her spine. There was something about this woman and her relationship with Vieri that felt bad, dangerous. Harper had never forgotten the way Vieri had reacted when she had told him about Donatella choosing her dress. It had been extreme, violent even. And now this, the door slamming, the high colour of Donatella’s cheeks as she headed for the front door, proof positive that emotions between her and Vieri were running high. Harper didn’t know what those emotions were but she did know that they were deeply felt and still very much alive. Which logically only led her to the conclusion she had already suspected. At some point in time, Vieri and Donatella had been lovers. And they possibly still were.

Pushing that hideously painful thought to the back of her mind, she watched as Donatella reached the front door, desperate for the woman to be gone. But at the last minute Donatella turned, fixing Harper with an icy stare, and for a moment their eyes locked.

‘Good luck.’ Donatella broke the heavy silence with a caw of sarcasm. ‘You are going to need it.’ Then with a cruel laugh she turned and swept through the front door.

Harper sucked in a breath. She refused to be intimidated by her, refused to even think about who this woman was, what part she played in Vieri’s life. Not today, not on the day of Alfonso’s death.

Moving to stand outside the office, she was trying to pull her composure into place when the door flew open and she was suddenly confronted with Vieri’s towering figure. And judging by the murderous look in his eye, a towering mood to match.

Harper’s heart lurched with love and compassion and a myriad other emotions that she couldn’t begin to process right now.

‘Hi.’ She sounded ridiculously chirpy. ‘I was just coming to tell you that I’ve done as you asked. All the visitors have left or are leaving. They asked me to pass on their condolences, and Jaco said to tell you he will be in touch later today.’

‘Fine, whatever.’ With a shrug, Vieri looked over her shoulder, scanning the empty hallway.

‘If you are looking for Donatella, she has just left.’ Harper fought to keep the bitterness, any sign that she cared, out of her voice.

‘But you are still here.’ The dark blue eyes swung back in her direction, coldly focussing on her face.

‘Well, yes, of course.’

‘There’s no of course about it. I want you to leave too.’

‘Me?’ Harper stared at him in astonishment.

‘Yes, you.’ He squared his shoulders, determination setting in. ‘I want you to go. I don’t want anybody here.’

‘But I’m not “anybody”, Vieri.’ Harper gasped. ‘I’m your...’ She hesitated, the word wife refusing to come. Despite what had happened last night she was not his wife, not in the true sense of the word. And she never would be. ‘I loved Alfonso, you know I did.’

‘You barely knew him.’

‘Not like you, no, but that doesn’t mean I’m not deeply saddened by his death, that I’m not grieving too.’

‘Well, you can go and grieve somewhere else.’

‘Vieri!’ Horror stiffened her spine. That he could be so hurtful, so cruel, cut her to the quick. But he was in shock. Dragging in a stuttering breath, she forced herself to calm down. ‘Look, you’re upset. I’m sure you don’t mean that.’

‘I can assure you, I do.’

She stared back at him, the glimpse of his vulnerability beneath his granite façade the only thing keeping her strong. ‘Let’s not discuss this now. We can talk things over later.’

‘There is nothing to talk about, Harper.’

‘Don’t do this, Vieri. Don’t push me away. I want to be here for you, to be able to support you.’

‘The way you support everybody else, I suppose?’

Harper flinched at the bite of his words. ‘What do you mean by that?’

‘I mean that I don’t need your support, Harper. More than that, I don’t want it. You don’t need to fix me, the way you seem to have to fix everyone else in your life.’

‘That’s not fair, Vieri.’

‘No? Well, that’s the way it looks to me. It strikes me that you are so busy solving everyone else’s problems that you have never stopped to take a long hard look at your own. Not content with saving your sister’s life, it seems you have to carry on running it for her. And the same with your father, trying to control everything he does.’ He paused, his eyes glittering like flint. ‘Perhaps if you spent a bit less time meddling in other people’s lives and a bit more concentrating on your own you wouldn’t still be a virgin at the age of twenty-five.’

Harper gasped, her eyes widening in horror. It took a second or two for his vicious words to permeate, for it to sink in that he had really said them. But when it did her knees started to tremble beneath her and she had to reach for the wall to support herself. The blood drained from her face, taking her breath along with it, so that she had to fight to remain upright. She swallowed, made herself breathe, then swallowed again.

She could feel his eyes on her but she would not look at him. There were a thousand things she wanted to say but none of them would come. And none of them mattered, anyway. All the words in the world wouldn’t have made any difference. With his short, brutal analysis Vieri had made it quite clear what he thought of her. He had shown just what a sad, pathetic creature he considered her to be. And maybe he was right. Maybe she had spent all her life looking out for other people because she had no life of her own. Maybe to still be a virgin at the age of twenty-five was pathetic. Pitiful. And if that wasn’t, finally giving her virginity away to a man such as Vieri Romano certainly was.

But worse than that, far far worse, was the fact that her virginity wasn’t the only thing she had given him. She had given him her heart. And for that she would never forgive herself.

Moving away, she headed blindly for the stairs, tightly gripping hold of the banister to help in her ascent, all too aware of Vieri’s cold, cruel eyes trained on her every step. She forced her shoulders back and straightened her spine, determined at least to hang onto her last modicum of pride while she still had it. Because right now, it felt as if that was all she had left.