Читать книгу Fascination - Кэрол Мортимер, Кэрол Мортимер - Страница 14

‘I’M STILL NOT absolutely convinced this is a good idea,’ Robin told Cesare later that evening, as the two of them went up to his hotel suite in the private lift.

He eyed her mockingly as he leant back nonchalantly on the other side of the lift. ‘Scared, Robin?’ he taunted.

‘Of you? No,’ she asserted, even as her fingers tightly gripped her evening bag. He wasn’t the one she was scared of—it was her own response to him that scared her. ‘I’m just not sure my father is ready for me to stay out all night, now that he will naturally assume I’m with you.’

‘You are twenty-seven years old—’

‘But I’m living in my father’s house at the moment,’ she returned swiftly.

Cesare shrugged, standing back to let her vacate the lift first once it had stopped at the penthouse floor. ‘You still have time to change your mind.’

Yes, she did, not having made the phone call to her father yet to tell him she wouldn’t be back tonight.

But, despite her uncertainty about exactly where in this spacious hotel suite Cesare would expect her to sleep—or not, as the case might be—Robin knew that she didn’t want to change her mind.

Her uncertainty about Cesare’s intentions apart, she just might see Marco again, might have the chance to hold him again as she had been aching to do since meeting him yesterday.

‘If it makes you feel better, Robin, I do not consider it … appropriate for us to share a bedroom tonight,’ Cesare rasped, impatient at her pondering silence. ‘Marco’s nursemaid is obviously also in residence, and as I intend for the two of us to be married. It is not appropriate,’ he repeated hardly. ‘And it is not flattering to me as a lover for you to look so relieved at the thought of not sharing my bed,’ he finished disgustedly.

Had she looked relieved? Robin wondered. Maybe. But not for the reason Cesare obviously thought; it just somehow seemed completely unacceptable that she responded so wantonly to a man who was forcing her into marrying him by threatening her family.

‘I was merely concerned that you might not benefit from missing another night’s sleep,’ she told him with a saccharine-sweet smile.

Cesare eyed her admiringly, not fooled for a moment by her insincerity. ‘A lot can happen before bedtime, Robin,’ he pointed out, rewarded by the delicate blush that instantly coloured her cheeks. ‘I will pour us both a glass of brandy while you call your father,’ he told her as he strode into the sitting room, deliberately giving Robin the privacy to make her call.

If he were Robin’s father—which he was not, thank goodness!—then he would have his concerns about her apparent choice of lover too.

Robin was frowning when she walked through to the sitting room several minutes later. ‘I spoke to the butler,’ she explained as she took her glass of brandy from Cesare. ‘He said my father seemed rather weary this evening and had retired early,’ she explained distractedly.

‘You think there is reason for concern?’ Cesare frowned.

Robin shook off her feelings of despondency to look up at him angrily. ‘Don’t pretend that you actually care, Cesare!’ she challenged. ‘Not when only yesterday you were quite prepared to ruin my father’s publishing company and probably kill him in the process!’ she reminded him accusingly.

Cesare’s expression darkened, a frown between those almost black eyes, his mouth a thin, disapproving line. ‘Must I remind you that I am not the one responsible for your father’s current ill health?’ he responded.

No, Robin acknowledged heavily; that had been caused by her father’s worry over Simon’s obsession with gambling, followed by his death. Although possibly her own failed marriage and then her divorce hadn’t helped the situation.

Whatever the reason, her father was still obviously under a lot of strain—which only seemed to confirm her decision to keep Cesare’s plans for Ingram Publishing from him.

She took a reviving swallow of her brandy before answering, ‘I’ve been trying to think of a way to return the shares of Ingram Publishing to my father—after we’re married, of course—without his ever becoming aware that they had gone out of the family’s possession—’

‘Do not trouble yourself, Robin,’ Cesare cut in arrogantly.

‘But I do trouble myself, Cesare,’ she retorted. ‘It will defeat the whole object of my … of my decision to marry you, if my father were ever to realise Simon had gambled his shares away.’

‘Of your sacrifice, I am sure you meant to say,’ Cesare drawled derisively.

‘Don’t attempt to put words into my mouth, Cesare!’ Robin threw back, her eyes flashing deeply purple. ‘If I had meant to say sacrifice, then I would have done so, I can assure you!’

Yes, he was sure that she would, Cesare noted. Robin’s frankness was one of the qualities he most admired about her.

‘The significant part of your previous statement concerns the fact that your father might realise,’ Cesare told her dryly. ‘But there is absolutely no reason why he should,’ he assured her. ‘Simon sold the shares to maintain his gambling obsession, I bought the shares from the casino owner, who happens to be an acquaintance, through my broker—’

‘How convenient!’ Robin couldn’t resist her sarcastic rejoinder.

Cesare’s eyes darkened warningly. ‘I bought them,’ he repeated evenly. ‘On our wedding day they will be gifted back to you. At which time you are perfectly at liberty to destroy all evidence of them ever having been out of family ownership,’ he completed with finality.

‘You really do have all of this worked out, don’t you, Cesare?’ Robin observed.

Not all of it, no—Cesare knew that he certainly had not been prepared for Robin Ingram, nor the desire he felt to make love to her every time he was with her.

As he did now!

‘Perhaps it is time we went to our respective bedrooms,’ he bit out tersely. ‘I have several business meetings to attend in the morning, and I need to read some papers tonight before going to sleep.’

Robin was surprised at the abruptness with which Cesare was bringing an end to the evening. She had been prepared for—had expected—a repeat of last night’s lovemaking before the two of them parted.

Was she just a little disappointed that Cesare felt no such inclination?

Of course she wasn’t!

Was she?

Well … maybe a little, she conceded reluctantly, as she placed her empty brandy glass firmly down on the coffee table. Which was pretty stupid of her. This wasn’t a love affair; she was being forced to accept Cesare’s marriage proposal!

‘Which bedroom would you like me to use?’ she prompted tartly.

His mouth twisted wryly. ‘I would suggest the one that adjoins my own, but I accept that might be misconstrued too!’

By whom? Herself? Or Marco’s nursemaid?

Not that it mattered. The truth was that Robin was the one in danger of spending a sleepless night this time, as she imagined a naked Cesare in the bedroom along the hallway from her own—meaning she would probably be feeling as irritable tomorrow morning as he had this evening!

‘A chaste kiss goodnight is permissible, however,’ Cesare murmured mockingly as he watched the play of emotions on Robin’s face.

The unattainable Robin Ingram most definitely wanted him physically!

He gave a satisfied smile, his own disappointment no longer as uncomfortable now that he knew Robin would be in the bedroom along the hallway from his own tonight, suffering the same sense of deflation.

‘A chaste kiss goodnight!’ she echoed. ‘No, thanks. I think I’ll pass,’ she said. ‘If you’ll just tell me which bedroom I’m to use, I’m sure I can find my own way.’

‘Do not be childish, Robin,’ Cesare chided softly as he crossed the room to her side.

Her eyes sparkled angrily as she returned, ‘I said I’ll pass on the chaste kiss, thanks!’

‘I was referring to the fact that you have pulled me up about the politeness of showing a guest to her bedroom, not your reaction to a chaste goodnight kiss,’ Cesare told her, his rebuke rewarded by the flush of embarrassment that coloured Robin’s cheeks.

‘A guest, Cesare?’ she repeated unbelievingly. ‘I would hardly call myself that.’

‘Nevertheless, for tonight that is exactly what you are,’ he insisted tautly.

‘Fine,’ she accepted tersely.

It was not fine. It was far from fine. But it was all that Cesare could do for this evening.

Marco’s nursemaid, Catriona, who came from their native Sicily, had been with Carla from the day of Marco’s birth. As Cesare expected one day to take Robin and Marco back to Sicily, if only for a visit, he considered that his wife’s reputation should be unsullied by any gossip which might take place between Catriona and her family. His sharing his bedroom with Robin before they were married, even for the night, was definitely not acceptable.

‘The goodnight kiss does not have to be completely chaste.’ Cesare offered throatily, standing very close to Robin once he had shown her to one of the four bedrooms in the suite—his room, Catriona’s and Marco’s nursery taking up the other three.

Robin’s lids narrowed as she looked up at him, slightly unnerved by his proximity, able to feel the warmth of his body so close to hers, the smell of his aftershave tantalising her senses. ‘Either a kiss is chaste or it isn’t, Cesare,’ she replied. ‘I really don’t think there can be degrees of chastity!’

His mouth twisted ruefully. ‘Perhaps I was a little hasty earlier …?’

Robin felt her earlier bad temper evaporating as she saw the way Cesare’s eyes had darkened to black, his lids slightly lowered as that gaze locked hungrily on her slightly parted lips.

He really had been serious about the necessity of not scandalising Marco’s nursemaid by the two of them sleeping together tonight! And she had thought he was just paying her back for his own feelings of frustration the night before.

‘No, you were perfectly correct, Cesare,’ she told him. ‘It really wouldn’t be appropriate for us to sleep together.’

‘Who said anything about sleeping?’ he said huskily.

Robin laughed softly even as she gave him a light push in the chest that took him back out into the hallway, quickly closing the bedroom door behind him to lean back against it, almost able to feel his brooding presence on the other side of that door. Her own feelings of frustration were nowhere near as deep now that she knew Cesare wanted her too …

Robin awoke with a feeling of complete disorientation, taking a few seconds to realise where she was—in a bedroom in Cesare’s suite—let alone the reason she had woken so suddenly.

It was still dark outside, and it was obviously still the middle of the night, so she couldn’t understand what—

And then she heard it again—that faint, totally unfamiliar sound of a baby.

Marco!

Robin lay in the bed for several minutes longer, hearing the sound twice more and wondering if Catriona had woken and gone in to Marco, or if he was alone. It wouldn’t hurt to at least check, now, would it?

She pulled on her panties and dress, not bothering with her stockings or her shoes, padding along the hallway in her bare feet to listen outside Marco’s bedroom door.

He seemed to be talking softly to himself now, rather than actually crying, which was something—although Robin still wasn’t sure whether or not he was alone. She couldn’t hear another voice, but perhaps Catriona was being quiet in an effort to get the little boy to go back to sleep.

Robin opened the nursery door quietly before peering inside and noticing that the room was lit by a single night-light plugged into the wall. Marco was alone, clearly visible in his cot, those dark brown eyes so like his uncle’s, lighting up excitedly as he spotted Robin in the doorway, and at once launched into the garbled chatter that only he understood.

‘Shh, baby, or you’ll wake everyone else,’ Robin crooned softly as she hastily entered the nursery and closed the door behind her, before moving to the side of Marco’s cot. ‘Can’t you sleep, little man?’ She smiled down at him, her heart turning a somersault in her chest as he beamed warmly back at her, falling down onto his bottom onto the cot’s mattress as he held up his arms to be picked up.

Robin didn’t quite know whether she should pick him up or not. Marco seemed to be wide awake, and she doubted he would simply lie down and go back to sleep now that he knew he wasn’t alone. But Cesare might not approve of her taking Marco out of his cot in the middle of the night …

When she married Cesare, Marco would be her son too, and if she wanted to pick him up in the middle of the night then she would, damn it!

And she did want to pick him up—so much wanted to hold his warm little body against her again, to hold and cuddle him as she would never be able to hold and cuddle a baby of her own.

Oh, he felt so good, she acknowledged achingly as she lifted him up to walk across to a chair and sit down with him still cradled in her arms. She nuzzled her face into his neck, his skin so soft and pliant, smelling of soap and talcum powder.

Marco giggled as her warm breath tickled his neck, his laugh one of pure enjoyment as his arms moved about her neck and he held on tight.

Robin’s heart melted inside her, unbidden tears springing into her eyes as she fell more in love with this adorable baby than ever.

And if—when—she married Cesare, Marco was going to be hers. Her own beloved baby. Her son!

Marco was touching her hair again now, seeming fascinated by its honey blondeness as he curled it about his fingers, quite at ease as he sat on her knee and talked in his own special language.

Robin had no idea how long she sat with him, playing and talking, making him giggle all over again as she blew gently on his obviously sensitive neck. Time didn’t matter. She never wanted to let Marco go, and was choking with emotion as he eventually grew tired and laid his head down on her shoulder to fall asleep in her arms, his tiny fingers still holding on tightly to her hair.

The tears fell silently down Robin’s cheeks as she sat in the chair just holding him. But they were tears of happiness for the maternal fulfilment she had thought would never be hers. For the gift of this beautiful little boy who already held her heart in the palm of his hand.

She wasn’t aware of falling asleep too, but daylight shone in through the window when she woke for the second time. Marco was still asleep in her arms—arms that had continued to hold him close even as she slept.

She couldn’t be found here, Robin knew—couldn’t allow Cesare to see how she cared for Marco. Cesare already had the upper hand in their dealings by being in possession of the Ingram Publishing shares. How much more dictatorial would he become if he were to realise how she really felt about this adorable baby?

She stood up to carry Marco across to his cot, reluctantly laying him gently down before tucking the covers over him. She lingered in spite of herself, unable to stop looking at him as he lay so angelically beautiful, longing to smooth those dark curls, to touch his creamy cheek, but knowing she didn’t dare be here when he woke again, that she didn’t dare risk giving her feelings away to Cesare.

Too much rested on Cesare not knowing that she already loved Marco, Robin accepted heavily as she reluctantly turned to leave the nursery. Cesare believed her to be immature and selfish, that it had been her choice to put off having children. And until they were married, until she had those shares in Ingram Publishing firmly in her hand, she didn’t dare let him see otherwise. ‘What are you doing?’

Robin’s breath caught in her throat as she turned to look at Cesare striding forcefully down the hallway to where she had just closed the nursery door softly behind her.

He looked thunderous, as if he suspected her reasons for being in Marco’s nursery were less than innocent.

Her chin rose as she frostily met his dark, accusing gaze. ‘I thought I heard Marco cry,’ she defended herself.

Cesare looked down at her searchingly, noting the pallor of her face with no make-up, the defiant glitter in those violet-coloured eyes, the stubborn set of her mouth.

He had woken at his normal seven o’clock, knowing he would have time to shower, shave and dress before Marco woke at seven-thirty. He usually spent half an hour or so having breakfast with his nephew before he had to leave for any business meetings.

He certainly hadn’t expected to leave his bedroom and see Robin emerging from Marco’s nursery!

Considering the reason Robin’s marriage had ended, and her ambivalence towards children, it was the last place Cesare would have expected to find her.

‘And did you?’ he prompted, and moved past her to open the nursery door and glance inside.

Marco was fast asleep in his cot.

Cesare’s gaze was once again accusing as he turned back to Robin after softly reclosing the door. ‘Obviously not,’ he grated.

‘Obviously not,’ she echoed, in an almost defiant tone.

Cesare’s eyes narrowed speculatively. He was not altogether sure he believed Robin’s explanation, but was unable to think of any other. ‘Do not fear, Robin. There will be time enough for you and Marco to become better acquainted once the two of us are married,’ he assured her sardonically.

‘I’m not frightened, Cesare,’ she came back hardly. ‘Of you or your nephew!’

Fear was the last thing Cesare wanted her to feel for him.

Although he was sure he had seen something like fear in her eyes just now, as she’d left Marco’s nursery.

Could it be that Robin actually feared caring for a young baby?

‘It is my intention that Catriona continues to care for Marco after the two of us are married,’ he informed her huskily.

It was Robin’s turn to look at him with puzzlement, to wonder why he was reassuring her of such a thing when he had earlier declared that caring for Marco, for Carla’s motherless baby, was to be part of her punishment for their blood feud.

Didn’t Cesare even trust her to be around Marco?

As if she would ever harm a glossy dark hair on that adorable baby’s head.

She resented Cesare for even thinking such a thing!

‘I’m sure that in your usual arrogant way you will continue making whatever decisions you want after the two of us are married,’ she said. ‘Well, you can make them, Cesare—but that doesn’t mean I’ll obey them! Now, if you will excuse me—’ she turned away ‘—I think it’s time I was leaving—What are you doing?’ she demanded indignantly as he grasped her arm and turned her back to face him.

He maintained that grip on her arm, his jaw clenched, his eyes dark as he looked down at her. ‘You are saying I am arrogant?’ he rasped.

Robin gave a choked laugh. ‘Saying? You are arrogant, Cesare. In fact, you’re the most arrogant man it’s ever been my misfortune to meet!’ she added.

Those dark eyes glittered warningly. ‘Misfortune, Robin?’ he repeated softly.

‘You don’t seriously think that a little kissing on your part has made me any more eager to be your wife, do you, Cesare?’ She shook her head even as she gave him a pitying look. ‘If you do, then let me assure you that you have seriously overrated your powers of sexual persuasion!’

The damned arrogance of the man! The gall! Hadn’t she already told Cesare that he would never rule her with the physical pleasure she’d experienced in his arms?

His mouth thinned as he continued to look down at her for several long, penetrating seconds, before his hand released her arm and he stepped away from her. ‘I find I have become tired of this delay before our marriage, Robin,’ he announced. ‘I am appreciative of the fact that you are close to your father—’

‘You should be, because it’s the only reason I’m here!’ she came back heatedly.

His face darkened. ‘I would go carefully, if I were you, Robin—’

‘Or what?’ she challenged.

‘You are once again being deliberately provocative,’ he warned her. ‘But this time it is a provocation I intend to ignore. I will come to your father’s house this evening so that we can discuss the date of our wedding.’

‘I’m twenty-seven years old and divorced. Don’t you think asking my father for my hand in marriage might be a little misplaced?’ Robin spluttered indignantly.

Cesare looked down his arrogant nose. ‘It was not my intention to ask your father for anything, but to tell him when we are to be married!’

‘Before you tell my father anything, don’t you think you should actually ask me to marry you first?’ Robin pointed out. ‘Or is it that you think you have such an upper hand in this situation that my agreement is already a foregone conclusion?’

‘And is it not?’ Cesare drawled.

Robin could cheerfully have hit him at that moment, so deep was her frustrated anger at his autocratic attitude. And all, it seemed, because he had caught her coming out of Marco’s nursery …

‘Oh, I’m going to marry you, Cesare,’ she assured him emotionally. ‘If only to make your life the misery that you’re making of mine!’ She was breathing hard in her agitation.

Cesare watched the rapid rise and fall of her breasts, knowing they were unconfined beneath her dress; her legs and feet were bare too, telling him that she probably only wore the dress and panties. Two items of clothing he wanted to rip from her body before taking her with a savagery that was almost out of his control.

Almost.

Because he had never forced himself on any woman, and he did not intend to start with Robin.

No matter how she provoked him!

Besides, she had just conceded that she would marry him… .

‘I’m interested to know what you’ll do if my father suggests we wait before getting married—get to know each other better before the question of marriage even arises,’ Robin taunted.

‘I am sure the fact that you stayed here with me last night will have told him we already know each other more than well enough for marriage,’ he opined. ‘Besides, I have every confidence that once you have reassured him of your feelings for me he will be happy to accept your decision.’

‘My feelings for you, Cesare?’ she parried.

He smiled humourlessly. ‘You will, of course, not tell him that it is hate you feel for me rather than love!’

Did she hate this man? Robin wondered to herself. Could she possibly hate him and still find such pleasure in his arms, in his caresses?

Somehow she thought not.

Although Cesare might possibly grow to hate her once he realised that she wasn’t about to produce the other Gambrelli sons and daughters he was obviously intending her to bear him.

She was saving that piece of information until after they were married and the shares in Ingram Publishing were safely back in her hands—she didn’t dare risk Cesare learning she couldn’t give him more children before she had those shares back! Though, after last night, she had another reason for maintaining her silence.

Marco.

She loved him—already couldn’t bear the thought of being parted from him if Cesare should discover her inability to give him more children and changed his mind about marrying her.

Maybe she was being a little unfair in not disclosing her apparent sterility to Cesare—but he wasn’t exactly being fair, either, when he demanded that she marry him.

She gave a stiff inclination of her head. ‘I’ll tell my father that you will be coming to the house this evening.’

‘Suitably assured of your own … desire for our marriage to take place, I hope?’ Cesare demanded.

‘Suitably assured of my determination that it will take place,’ she corrected him. ‘Believe me, if I could get those shares back any other way then I would,’ she added untruthfully. The lure of becoming Marco’s mother was more than enough to persuade her into marrying this man.

But she really couldn’t risk Cesare even guessing that before they were safely married, those shares were back in her possession, and Marco was her stepson.

Cesare’s mouth quirked. ‘What a pity—for you—that there really is no other way …’

‘You’re the one to be pitied, Cesare—for wanting to marry a woman who doesn’t love you,’ Robin assured him heavily as he raised dark, questioning brows. ‘Now, if you will excuse me, I have to go home and change before going to work—What is it now, Cesare?’ She sighed wearily as he scowled down at her.

‘You will cease to work for Ingram Publishing once we are married—’

‘I most certainly will not!’ she answered defiantly. ‘My father needs me to remain close just now, Cesare.’ She tried reasoning with him as he looked totally implacable.

‘Marco and I will need you to remain close also,’ he insisted.

‘You and Marco have got along quite well without me so far. I’m sure you can continue to do so after we’re married,’ Robin dismissed.

She was so stubborn, this woman Cesare intended to make his wife. Beautiful, but stubborn. Desirable, but stubborn. Loyal to her family, but oh so stubborn!

‘We will discuss this subject further once we are married,’ he compromised tightly.

‘We’ll discuss it now!’ Robin persisted. ‘I’ve never been a stay-at-home wife. I wouldn’t know how to be one.’

‘You have your charity work—’ ‘It isn’t enough, Cesare,’ she said. ‘You will have Marco—’

‘Who, as you’ve already informed me, will continue to be cared for by the very capable Catriona!’

‘Then I will find Catriona employment elsewhere!’ Cesare told her exasperatedly, absolutely determined that Robin would not continue to work at Ingram Publishing after they were married.

He travelled extensively on business, and he intended that she and Marco would travel with him whenever he had to go away—something Robin would not be able to do if she were still working with her father.

As far as Cesare was concerned it was not even a subject for discussion.

Robin looked at him from beneath lowered lashes, wondering if Cesare had any idea that he had just given her exactly what she wanted—and that was to be able to care for Marco herself.

Of course Cesare had no idea—he wouldn’t have made the suggestion if he had.

‘Is that decision non-negotiable?’ she prompted with false impatience.

‘Absolutely,’ he assured with certainty.

‘Then it seems this is yet something else I have no choice about,’ she conceded. ‘Now, I really do have to go,’ she finished, before turning to walk down the hallway to her bedroom to collect her things.

Robin was smiling as she closed the bedroom door behind her—a dreamy, ecstatic smile at the thought of taking care of her beloved Marco herself, all day every day.

In fact, she could almost love Cesare at that moment for being the one to give her what she so wanted!

Love Cesare …?

No, she couldn’t possibly feel love for such an arrogantly autocratic man, she told herself firmly. Physical desire, yes. But not love …