Читать книгу His Virgin Bride - Маргарет Майо - Страница 9
ОглавлениеWHEN Emma came downstairs the following morning Rafaele was leaning against the kitchen counter with a cup of coffee in one hand. He put the cup down and pushed himself away from the counter and came to stand in front of her. ‘I believe I owe you an apology,’ he said. ‘I have no real excuse for my behaviour last night. I was not even drunk, not that it would have been any excuse even if I had been. It was a difficult day for me…coming back here after a long absence. I guess I had underestimated just how much of a strain it would be.’
‘It’s OK,’ she said and, after a little pause, asked, ‘How is your hand?’
‘It is fine,’ he said, holding it out for her to see. ‘I do not think there will even be a scar. You did a good job.’
A silence hummed for several seconds.
‘Have you come to a decision?’ Rafaele asked.
Her grey-blue eyes moved away from his. ‘I have…yes…’ She ran the tip of her tongue over her lips. ‘I have decided I will marry you. It’s the most sensible thing to do and…and it’s what your father wanted.’
Rafaele smiled to himself. He had known from the first moment she would not be able to resist getting her hands on a fortune. She thought she had it all stitched up now, but he wasn’t going to let things go her way. Nor was he going to make life easy for her. He would marry her certainly, for there was no other way to get his inheritance, but he wasn’t going to stay married to her any longer than necessary. Once the year was up that would be it. Although looking at her now with her slim but curvy figure dressed in a white sundress, he was tempted to make the marriage a real one. She had an air of sensuality about her that was intoxicating. He had seen the looks she gave him when she thought he wasn’t watching. She was as attracted to him as he was to her. He had felt the tension passing between them like high voltage electricity. He could even feel it now. ‘I am sure we will be mutually satisfied by the arrangement,’ he said with an enigmatic smile.
A flicker of something came and went in her gaze. ‘I would like to establish some ground rules,’ she said.
‘Such as?’
‘This is a hands-off arrangement, correct?’
‘If that is what you want,’ he said. ‘But if you change your mind just let me know.’
She gave him a withering look. ‘I will not be changing my mind,’ she said. ‘As far as I am concerned this is a temporary businesslike arrangement. I hope I won’t have to keep reminding you of that.’
Oh, but she’s damned good at this, Rafaele thought, deliberately withholding her charms to make me feel the lure of the chase. He would bring her to heel, however, and a whole lot sooner than she realised. His body hardened at the thought of driving into her softness, claiming her as his until she forgot all about her affair with his father. She would be screaming his name in the throes of pleasure. She would be raking her nails down his back as he took her to paradise. ‘You will not have to remind me,’ he assured her. ‘I will take my cue from you.’
Her gaze narrowed slightly. ‘What do you mean?’
He gave another inward smile at her artifice. ‘I mean that if you make the first move I will respond to it as any full-blooded man would do in the same situation.’
She gave him a condescending look. ‘So any woman with a pulse will do for you—is that it?’
‘You do yourself a disservice, Emma,’ he said with a lazy smile. ‘You are a very attractive young woman. I would be more than happy to consummate our marriage if you should require my services.’
Her cheeks pooled with angry colour. ‘I am sure I will be able to survive the duration of our marriage without resorting to such a measure of desperation,’ she clipped back primly.
Rafaele felt his groin kicking with anticipation. He had never felt such wild desire before. No wonder his father had agreed to give her half of his estate. Rafaele felt like offering her double what he’d already offered just to have her on her back on the floor right here and now. He had to fight not to show how she was affecting him. He schooled his features into indifference and reached for his coffee again. ‘I will have some legal papers for you to sign later today,’ he said.
‘What do I need to sign?’ she asked with a guarded look.
‘A pre-nuptial agreement, for one thing,’ he said. ‘I am not going to be stripped of half of my assets when we terminate our marriage.’
‘How soon do I get the money you offered?’ she asked.
He held her grey-blue gaze. ‘How soon do you want it?’
She lowered her eyes. ‘I have some debts to see to…they’re rather urgent.’
‘If you give me your bank account details I will see to it the moment we get back from the church.’
Her eyes flew back to his. ‘The church? You mean we’re getting married in a church?’
‘Do you have a problem with that?’
She sank her teeth into her lower lip for a moment. ‘No… it’s just I thought a register office would be more appropriate under the circumstances.’
‘I do not think our marriage would be considered authentic if we did not have it consecrated by the church,’ he said. ‘I will also arrange for a dress and veil for you.’
‘You don’t have to do that.’
‘It is no bother,’ he said. ‘My mother’s wedding dress and veil have been well preserved and you are much the same size as she was.’
Her eyes were wide grey-blue pools. ‘I can’t wear your mother’s dress!’
‘Why not? People will think it a loving gesture on your part,’ he said. ‘Besides, this is probably going to be the only time I marry anyone so I might as well do it properly.’
Emma chewed at her bottom lip in agitation. This was going to be much harder than she had expected. Somehow she had thought a quick civil service would make her feel less married. That was vitally important to her. She didn’t want to feel married to him.
‘I will get my mother’s rings out of the safe for you,’ he said. ‘But of course they must be returned to me once our marriage ends.’
‘Yes, of course…’ she said. ‘I wouldn’t dream of keeping them.’
‘The wedding will take place tomorrow.’
Emma’s heart gave a sickening lurch. ‘T-tomorrow?’
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘The legalities will be seen to this afternoon. The ceremony will take place tomorrow at the Basilica of Saint Abbondio, the ancient cathedral in the town. Have you by any chance been there?’
‘I haven’t done a lot of sightseeing yet,’ she said. ‘I was too busy looking after your father.’
He paused for a moment, his eyes still holding hers before he continued. ‘We will have a small reception at a function centre afterwards, but there will of course be no honeymoon.’
‘I wasn’t expecting one, I can assure you,’ she said. ‘Besides, I need to contact the agency in regards to finding a local placement.’
‘You will not be returning to the agency while you are married to me,’ he said.
Emma blinked once or twice. ‘What did you say?’
His dark eyes challenged hers. ‘I said you will not be returning to work. I have already contacted the agency and terminated your contract.’
Emma gaped at him. ‘You did what?’
‘You are now employed by me to act as my wife. I do not want people speculating on whether this marriage is the real deal or not. What if a client needed you to live in for weeks on end? No one would expect any wife of mine to be employed and certainly not as a carer.’
‘Well, no husband of mine would ever expect me to give up the job I love to pander to his needs,’ Emma tossed back.
‘I am not asking you to pander to my needs, but if you feel the need to do so I will not stop you.’
She gave him a blistering glare. ‘What am I supposed to do all day? Laze about the pool and paint my nails? I’ll go stark staring mad.’
‘Think of it as a holiday, Emma,’ he said. ‘You can explore a hobby or two. Most of the women I know would give anything for a year to indulge themselves at a rich man’s expense.’
‘You really need to widen your circle of women friends,’ Emma said in a crisp tone. ‘Most of the women I know value their self-respect and independence too much to be indulged like a spoilt child.’
‘I am sure you will adapt very quickly,’ he said. ‘After all, you have had plenty of practice while living with my father as your sugar daddy. Money is your motive and always has been, has it not? Why else would you be marrying me if it was not for the money?’
Emma ground her teeth. ‘I don’t want the money for myself,’ she said. ‘Otherwise I wouldn’t dream of agreeing to any of this. Do you think I want to be married to someone as loathsome as you?’
A muscle leapt in his jaw. ‘Careful, Emma,’ he warned. ‘I will not tolerate insults from you once we are married.’
Her chin came up at a defiant angle. ‘If you insult me I will insult you straight back.’
His eyes glinted. ‘I will enjoy taming you, Emma March,’ he said. ‘You are a little wildcat under that demure façade, are you not? I can see the passion in your eyes; they flash with it like twin flames of grey and blue.’
Emma felt her stomach go hollow at the sensual threat behind his statement. Her heart was suddenly racing, her skin prickling all over and her face hot with colour. If it weren’t for Simone and Chelsea, she would tell him right here and now where he could put his money and his villa. But then how many times had her sister stood in the line of fire for her? Simone had taken many a slap intended for Emma; she had even had her arm broken once when she had blocked their father from lashing out at her in a fit of rage. It was not going to be easy, but surely Emma owed her sister this chance. Rafaele might not be Emma’s choice of husband material, but at least it was only a temporary arrangement.
She gave him a flinty look and moved past him to pour a cup of coffee. It annoyed her to see her hand shaking as she did so, but she comforted herself that her back was turned towards him so he couldn’t see.
‘The lawyer will be here at three p. m.,’ Rafaele said. ‘In the meantime I have some work to see to in my study. If there is anything else you need for tomorrow let me know and I will see to it that you have it.’
She cradled her coffee-cup in both of her hands as she looked at him. ‘Thank you but, no, there’s nothing I need.’
‘What about your friends?’ he asked. ‘Is there anyone you would like to attend the ceremony?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘Most of my friends are in Australia. I have a couple of new acquaintances I made while I was living in Milan but no one here.’
‘What about your family?’ he asked. ‘Obviously it is too short a notice to get them here for the wedding, but have you told them?’
She shook her head. ‘There’s only my sister and my niece, but I didn’t want to worry them.’
He frowned at her. ‘What do you mean?’
She gave him a level stare. ‘My sister has always been very protective of me,’ she said. ‘If I told her I was marrying a virtual stranger she would have a blue fit.’
Rafaele rubbed at his jaw for a moment. ‘What if she finds out some other way? An announcement or photo in the press, for instance?’
She sank her teeth into her bottom lip as she put her coffee-cup back on the counter. ‘I hadn’t thought about that…’
‘I have been doing some thinking,’ he said. ‘To give our marriage some sort of credibility we shall have to tell anyone who asks we met when you first began to look after my father and up until now we have conducted a long-distance relationship.’
‘Do you think that will work?’ she asked.
‘It will have to work. I do not want the world to know I have been manipulated into a loveless marriage by my father’s machinations from the grave.’
‘I’m not going to lie to my sister,’ she said with a spark of defiance in her eyes.
‘As far as I see it you have already done so by omission,’ he pointed out. ‘Concealing the truth is the same as lying in my book.’
She gave him an arch look. ‘And yet you are prepared to lie to the world about your relationship with me.’
‘I am prepared to compromise quite a few of my standards in order to secure what is rightly mine, including sleeping with the enemy if she so desires.’
Her eyes flashed at him again. ‘This particular enemy has no such desire.’
He smiled and stepped closer, close enough to take her chin between his index finger and thumb. ‘Are you prepared to lay some money down on that, Emma?’ he asked in a silky tone.
He felt her tremble under his touch and his groin leapt in response. Her mouth was like a soft, plump cushion of pink flesh just begging to be kissed. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to do it. He lowered his head, slowly, watching as her eyes widened before her lashes began to come down, her lips parting slightly, her sweet breath mingling with his, giving him all the invitation he needed.
Emma came to her senses just in time. She slipped out of his light hold, her heart hammering, her breath catching and her senses on fire. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ she said, rubbing at her chin as if he had burnt her.
‘I was doing what you were all but begging me to do,’ he answered smoothly.
She glared at him. ‘I was doing nothing of the sort. You touched me. I didn’t touch you.’
‘You will have to touch me tomorrow. In fact you will have to kiss me in front of the congregation, so perhaps we should rehearse it a couple of times now.’
Emma couldn’t quite control the flutter of nerves in her belly. ‘I-I don’t think that will be necessary,’ she faltered. ‘Surely we can just…you know…wing it at the time…’
He gave a wry smile. ‘Wing it?’
‘Ad lib,’ she said. ‘You know…go on instinct…’
His eyes darkened to black pools of ink. ‘I thought that was exactly what I was just doing,’ he said, ‘and so were you if you were honest with yourself.’
‘Maybe I was thinking of your father,’ she said, even though she knew it would infuriate him. Better that than admit to him how much she had wanted him to kiss her. That was just asking too much of her pride, battered as it was.
His features went tight with anger. ‘You gold-digging little whore,’ he bit out savagely. ‘I swear to God you will not be thinking of my father when I finally take you to my bed.’
His confidence fuelled Emma’s defiance. She gave her head a little toss and gave him a taunting look. ‘That is not part of the deal, Rafaele, remember? If you want the goods on display, then you will have to pay extra for them.’
A nerve pulsed like a jackhammer at the side of his mouth. ‘Goddamn you,’ he ground out. ‘I am not paying another penny for a cheap little tramp like you. When you come to me you will do so because you want it so badly you cannot help yourself.’
Emma stood her ground as he brushed past her in a swish of anger-filled air that lifted the strands of hair about her face. She closed her eyes once the door clicked shut behind him, her chest deflating on an expelled breath, her throat tight with the effort of holding back a stray and totally unexpected sob.
* * *
Emma heard the lawyer arrive just on three in the afternoon and made her way downstairs to the library. She wished she had thought to ask Rafaele what he intended to tell his legal advisor about their relationship. As she came into the room she looked at him for guidance but his expression was impenetrable.
Brief introductions were made and she sat down and began reading through the wordy documents, deliberately taking her time before she signed the places marked with a sign-here sticker. Emma had no problem with signing a pre-nuptial agreement—several of her friends back home in Australia had done so when they had begun living with their partners or got married. She totally understood Rafaele’s position, he couldn’t risk a division of his assets upon their inevitable divorce, but somehow she wished things were different between them. She wasn’t used to people taking an instant dislike to her. Even her parents, for all their faults, had not really hated her; they had just loved their drugs more.
She signed the last place and gave the lawyer a smile. ‘Thank you for going to the trouble of printing a copy for me in English.’
‘Prego.’
Once the lawyer had left Rafaele turned to Emma. ‘I have left my mother’s dress and veil in the dressing room upstairs. If it is not suitable will you let me know immediately so I can come up with an alternative?’
Emma arched her brows at him. ‘You must have some very fancy connections in that little black book of yours if you can come up with wedding finery at short notice.’
‘There are certain advantages in being extremely wealthy,’ he returned with a stretch of his lips that was almost, but not quite, a smile.
‘Yes, well, you’re lucky, I suppose, that you’ve got that going for you in compensation for your other numerous shortcomings,’ she said with a pert tilt of her chin.
‘If you are looking for an apology for this afternoon’s discussion I am not going to give it to you,’ he said.
‘I wasn’t expecting you to be civil,’ she threw back. ‘I know that about you at the very least.’
His black-brown gaze clashed with hers. ‘You will know a whole lot more about me before this marriage is over, let me assure you.’
She gave a bored sigh and folded her arms across her chest. ‘I can hardly wait.’
Rafaele felt his control slipping. She was goading him deliberately, making him feel things he didn’t want to feel. He had never met a more infuriating woman, or a more desirable one. He wanted her so badly his body burned with it. The blood was already thick and heavy in his groin, the pulse of lust so strong he could feel it pounding in his ears. But acting on it was out of the question, or at least until they were officially married. She stood between him and his last link with his father. If he made a wrong move now she might pull the plug just to spite him. How could he trust her? For all he knew she might have cooked this scheme up with that cold-hearted bitch Sondra Henning. They could share the spoils of their victory, leaving him with nothing.
He was not going to let that happen.
He rearranged his features and forced his tense shoulders to relax. ‘This is not getting us anywhere,’ he said. ‘We are arguing like children in a playground. Tomorrow is going to be difficult enough for both of us.’
‘I couldn’t agree more,’ she said. ‘That is why I am going to have an early night. If you want dinner you will have to make it yourself.’
Rafaele frowned at her churlish expression. ‘I do not expect you to prepare my meals, Emma. That is what I have a housekeeper for. I have employed a temporary one to fill in until my father’s lady returns from leave. She will start next week. I could not get anyone any sooner.’
‘Have you told her our marriage is not a real one?’
‘I did not see the necessity to do so,’ he said.
‘Isn’t she going to think it rather unusual we will not be sharing a bedroom?’
‘Many couples do not share a bedroom for a variety of reasons,’ he said. ‘I will tell her I am a very light sleeper if you like.’
‘Fine,’ she said and turned to leave.
‘Emma?’
He heard her draw in a breath of petulance as she turned back to face him. ‘Yes?’
He searched her features for a beat or two. ‘I hope I do not need to remind you that I expect you to refrain from bringing any of your lovers back here to the villa.’
She arched her brows at him. ‘Do I get the same guarantee from you?’
‘Any affairs I conduct will be discreet.’
Her eyes flashed with sparks of grey-blue hatred. ‘If you embarrass me publicly, then I swear to God I will do the same to you.’
Rafaele held her feisty glare. ‘Do so at your peril, Emma. You might think you have got the upper hand now your goal of marrying a rich man is just hours away, but do not forget who you are dealing with. My father might have been a weak-willed pushover, but you will not find me so easy to manipulate. You put one foot out of line and you will live to regret it. I will make sure of it.’
She gave him an insolent look. ‘Do you have any idea how much I loathe and detest you?’
His mouth tilted in a mocking smile. ‘If it is even half of what I feel for you, then I would say we are in for a very entertaining year of marriage.’
‘I am not staying married to you any longer than necessary,’ she said with another defiant glare. ‘Once I have what I want I am leaving.’
‘Believe me, Emma Money-Hungry March,’ he drawled dryly, ‘I will be the first on hand to help you pack your bags.’
She looked as if she was going to fling another retort his way, but suddenly seemed to change her mind. Instead she pressed her lips tightly together and brushed past him, her gait stiff with haughtiness. It was only later, much later, that he recalled seeing a glisten of moisture in her eyes before she had lowered them out of the reach of his.
