The Italian's Mistress (HQR Presents)

by MELANIE MILBURNE

  ‘She’s helping Rosa with breakfast. Are you going to get up now?’

  Anna secretly wished she could burrow back under the covers and not come out for a week, but in a few short days her son was facing surgery and there was so much to see to.

  ‘I’m up.’ She swung her legs over the side. ‘I think.’

  Sammy leaned forward and peered at her bottom lip. ‘What’s dat?’ His little finger pointed to the tiny cut.

  ‘I…I bit my lip.’

  ‘Silly Mummy.’ He smiled and patted her hand.

  There was a sound at the door and Anna looked up to see the dark, inscrutable features of Lucio focused on her.

  Sammy spun around and scampered over to him. ‘I didn’t wake her, Daddy, she was alweady awake.’

  ‘Good boy.’ He gave Sammy’s dark curls a quick ruffle. ‘Why don’t you go and tell Rosa we’ll be down in a few minutes, mmm?’

  ‘OK.’ He trotted off, carrying his toy truck under one arm as he went.

  Anna got to her feet and reached for her threadbare dressing-gown with unsteady fingers.

  ‘Anna.’

  She tied the straps and faced him defiantly. ‘Did you sleep well, Lucio?’

  His eyes flickered away from hers. ‘I want to apologise for my behaviour last night. I was…out of order.’

  ‘You don’t say.’

  His eyes returned to her flashing, resentful ones. ‘Things got out of hand…’

  ‘You got out of hand,’ she corrected him. ‘You were intent on humiliating me. Are you happy now?’

  His jaw visibly tensed as he held her fiery glare. ‘I was angry last night.’

  ‘That’s no excuse and you know it.’

  ‘I’m not making excuses.’

  ‘I don’t want to hear your apology or your excuses,’ she said. ‘I want to get through these next few days with Sammy without the complication of your plans for revenge colouring every moment.’

  ‘Will you accept my assurance that I will not harm you?’

  She gave him an incredulous look. ‘You think I would trust you on that?’

  His nostrils flared with aristocratic pride. ‘You have my word.’

  ‘Is that supposed to be some sort of guarantee? If so, it’s totally inadequate. I don’t trust anything that comes out of a Ventressi’s mouth, least of all promises that come to nothing in the end.’

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ His eyes narrowed slightly.

  ‘Go figure it out,’ she threw back.

  ‘Tell me what you mean.’

  ‘Why should I?’ she asked. ‘You’ll only twist it around to suit your own ends later.’

  ‘I want to know what you meant by that statement.’

  ‘All right—here it is.’ She drew in an unsteady breath. ‘Four years ago you asked me to marry you. You told me you loved me but as soon as that love was tested you bailed out. What sort of love is that? What sort of promise was that? You didn’t have the guts to face what had happened; instead, you tossed me aside, never once questioning the other possibilities.’

  ‘What other possibilities could there have been?’

  She gave him an exasperated look. ‘See? You still don’t get it, do you? You can only see my guilty part in it—you stubbornly refuse to see me as a possible victim.’

  ‘A victim?’ His brows snapped together. ‘What sort of victim writhes naked on a bed while someone takes pictures of them?’

  She knew she was fast losing the argument but something in her so wanted him to search for some other explanation.

  If only she could remember!

  ‘Maybe I was…drunk.’

  ‘Drunk?’ He glared at her. ‘Is that supposed to be a valid excuse for your behaviour?’

  ‘No…of course not…but I might have inadvertently had too much to drink and—’

  ‘I know what you’re trying to do, Anna, but it won’t wash with me. Painting yourself as the victim necessitates the casting of Carlo as the villain. Do you seriously think I would believe you over my brother, especially when he can recall every detail of that night while you, allegedly, cannot remember a thing?’

  There was no point in continuing the argument.

  It would always come back to her word over that of his brother’s—she didn’t have a leg to stand on.

  ‘No, I didn’t think for a moment you would believe me,’ she said on the tail-end of a defeated sigh.

  ‘Do you think I haven’t done this scapegoating exercise in my own head over the last four years? Searching for an answer to a question that should never have been raised? I loved you with my whole heart. Anna, you destroyed that love. I have nothing but bitterness to offer you now. I can barely look at you without wanting to…’ His words trailed off and he turned away from her, as if he didn’t trust himself to even speak the words in case he was tempted to act on them.

  Anna’s heart squeezed painfully in her chest at the cold wall of his turned back, each and every taut line of his body communicating his distaste for her.

  Shame coursed through her like a tidal wave, sweeping away her self-respect and the fragments of pride she’d clung to like a life-raft for so long.

  ‘I am going to work.’ He addressed her from the door, not even bothering to turn to face her. ‘The details of Sammy’s next appointment are downstairs. I will see you later.’

  The door opened and closed just like her mouth but, while the door shut with an audible click, her mouth was completely silent as it closed on a choked sob of distress.

  Sammy’s appointment was for later that day at the hospital where the surgery was to be performed.

  Anna held his tiny hand in hers as the nurse took them on a guided tour to help him understand what was going to happen next week.

  ‘And then we put you to sleep with this machine here.’ The nurse indicated the anaesthetist’s equipment. ‘Once you are asleep the heart surgeon will make a tiny cut in your leg, so he can put in a tiny camera that he will send to the hole in your heart, just like putting a piece back in a jigsaw puzzle.’

  The nurse made it all sound so simple, and while her calm, efficient manner seemed to be allaying Sammy’s fears, it was doing absolutely nothing to help Anna’s. The more she heard the more she panicked. So much could go wrong! What if the anaesthetist gave him too much anaesthetic? She’d heard of people having unusual reactions, some even falling into comas. And what if he bled uncontrollably? He was so small, so vulnerable…

  ‘Don’t worry, Miss Stockton.’ The nurse smiled at Anna’s stricken expression. ‘We do literally thousands of this procedure every year. Sammy is in the very best of hands.’

  Anna gave her a wan smile and hoped to God she was right.

  When they returned to the house the escalating heat drove them out to the swimming pool in the garden. Sammy was beside himself at the sight of the pristine blue water surrounded by lush green ferns, the dappled shade at one end taking the sting out of the afternoon sun.

  Anna held him close to her, not allowing him to overexert himself, content to feel his little body kicking at the water, his happy smiles doing much to calm her overstretched nerves.

  Jenny was a cautious swimmer, keeping her head above water all the time as she did her version of breaststroke. Anna couldn’t help smiling at her. In the last day or so she’d come right out of herself, moving from gangling teenager to blossoming womanhood. She hardly hesitated when speaking, even to Rosa, and her pretty face was nearly always smiling instead of looking pained as it had before.

  Anna couldn’t help thinking that perhaps the price she was paying was going to be worth it to see her son and sister finally happy. Whatever Lucio had in store for her she would face gladly if only Sammy and Jenny could be spared the sort of pain she’d had to suffer.

  ‘Is there room in there for me?’

  Anna jumped at the deep sound of Lucio’s voice behind her. She turned to see his tanned, lean body, naked except for a pair of swimming trunks, which sent her imagina
tion into overdrive. His leanly muscled body was in the peak of fitness, the sculptured muscles rippling as he brushed a lock of hair off his face.

  Her breath clogged her throat as he stepped into the water, the movement of his body disturbing the surface so that the little waves brushed across her breasts.

  She felt as if he’d reached out and stroked her.

  ‘Daddy!’ Sammy squealed in delight. ‘Look what I can do!’ He kicked his little legs, sending water everywhere.

  ‘Come to me, Sammy,’ Lucio said, holding out his hands. ‘Swim to me.’

  ‘He can’t swim,’ Anna said.

  ‘Then it’s time he learned.’

  ‘He’s only three.’ She met his hard look with one of her own.

  Sammy gulped in a breath and threw himself towards Lucio with all tiny limbs flapping.

  Lucio caught him before he went too far and, lifting him up out of the water, smiled up at him. ‘Well done! I can see you are going to be a champion.’

  ‘I love simming,’ Sammy said proudly, blinking the water out of his eyes.

  ‘Then I shall make a point of swimming every day with you,’ Lucio promised.

  ‘He won’t be able to swim for a while after his surgery,’ Anna pointed out.

  Lucio waited until Sammy had trotted to the other end where Jenny was before he responded. ‘You are too protective of him. He is a boy—he needs to explore the world.’

  ‘He is a boy with a heart defect,’ she reminded him darkly.

  ‘I have spoken with his doctors, Anna. He is assured of a complete recovery. You are worrying too much.’

  ‘Don’t tell me not to worry about him! I’m his mother.’

  ‘You will hold him back too much, like you’ve done with Jenny.’

  ‘What?’ She gaped at him.

  ‘You keep her tied to you unnecessarily. She is nineteen not nine. She should be dating, going out to parties and—’

  ‘She’d deaf, for God’s sake!’

  ‘She’s deaf but not disabled, Anna.’ He spoke calmly. ‘She can look after herself and, in fact, needs to do so in order to take her place in the world.’

  ‘She’s vulnerable…’

  ‘She is a strong and courageous young woman,’ he said. ‘She can hold her own in any company. Why not suggest she get a part-time job over the summer? It will help to bring her out of herself even more.’

  ‘I need her to help me with Sammy,’ she said. ‘Childcare is so expensive. I can’t work without her help on the weekends and at night.’

  ‘You will not be working for the next three months.’

  She gave him a stringent look. ‘What I’m doing for you is called work in the sex industry.’

  His eyes narrowed dangerously. ‘Don’t push your luck with me, Anna. I am a little tired of your tendency to hit out when you’re feeling cornered.’

  ‘And why wouldn’t I want to hit out? You come back into my life as both judge and jury, telling me what a terrible person I am, criticising me as a mother and now as a sister. I’m so sorry for not even coming close to your exacting standards but I’m human and no way near perfect.’

  ‘I’m not criticising you, just giving you some feedback.’

  ‘Did I ask for your observations?’ She glared at him. ‘I’m doing the best I can under very trying circumstances.’

  ‘I realise things have been difficult for you.’

  ‘How could you possibly know what it’s been like for me?’ she asked. ‘You come from a wealthy background; you’ve never had to think where the next meal is going to come from and who is going to pay for it. You’re surrounded by the best life can offer and yet you dare to speculate on my shortcomings.’

  ‘Anna, please…you are becoming hysterical.’

  Angry tears sprouted in her eyes and she dashed at them with her hand. ‘You think this is hysterical? You haven’t seen hysterical yet, so don’t push me too far.’

  ‘Mummy?’ Sammy came towards her uncertainly. ‘Are you sad?’

  ‘No, darling, I’m just—’

  ‘Come with me, Sammy.’ Jenny took his hand. ‘Daddy and Mummy need some time together.’

  ‘But I want to know why Mummy is—’

  ‘Come on, Sammy.’

  Lucio waited until they were inside the house before turning back to Anna. ‘Jenny is right. We do need some time together.’

  ‘I don’t want to be alone with you.’

  ‘What are you frightened of?’ he asked with a taunting little smile. ‘That you might be tempted to feel something for me other than hate?’

  ‘I could never feel anything for you but disgust at what you’ve done.’

  ‘Careful, cara. Hasn’t anyone told you it is not wise to insult one’s benefactor? He might very well be tempted to pull the plug on his generosity.’

  ‘You bastard!’ she hissed at him. ‘You arrogant, low bastard. You would do that, wouldn’t you? Hold Sammy’s health to ransom to achieve what you want.’

  ‘You know the terms of the deal.’ He spoke with implacable calm. ‘You do your bit and I will do mine.’

  ‘How can you be so callous?’

  He met her fiery look with intransigence. ‘You taught me well, cara. The day you slept with my brother you changed me for ever. If you don’t like the man you see in front of you now, you have only yourself to blame.’

  She gave an involuntary shiver, which had nothing whatsoever to do with the shifting sunlight. ‘I can’t bear to be in the company of someone with such ruthless disregard for another person’s needs.’

  ‘I am very aware of your needs, Anna,’ he said. ‘In fact, I am intimately acquainted with each and every one of them.’

  She felt his lazy gaze slide over her, lingering on the thrust of her breasts in her worn bathers, the thin fabric, she couldn’t help noticing now it was too late, doing a totally inadequate job of keeping her decent.

  ‘I’m…cold.’ She reached for the step but his hand came down on hers and turned her back to face him.

  ‘It’s close to thirty degrees in the shade.’

  ‘I…’

  ‘Don’t run away from me.’ He pulled her closer.

  She couldn’t breathe with him this close. His strongly muscled legs were brushing hers under the water, the masculine hairs tickling the smooth line of her thighs. She could see the tiny droplets of water clinging to his midnight-black eyelashes, could almost taste the warm firmness of his mouth as it came towards her slowly…

  ‘No…’ she breathed against the surface of his lips.

  ‘You know you don’t mean that.’ He pressed his mouth to hers in a tantalising feathery movement that did nothing to settle the erratic thump of her heart.

  ‘I do mean it,’ she said, her voice barely audible as the afternoon breeze disturbed the shrubbery around them. ‘I do mean it…’

  ‘Perhaps if you keep saying it you will eventually convince yourself, but you won’t convince me. You have a mouth that begs to be kissed, and a body that craves the mastery of a male mate.’

  Desire kicked in with a spurt of heat deep inside her, making her body go weak from her neck to her knees. Just one kiss, she rationalised. They were in full view of the house. What harm could one little kiss do?

  He saw the acquiescence in her gaze and captured her mouth once more, his tongue unfolding to take possession in one slow movement that sent a riot of sensation straight to her feminine core.

  She felt him walk her backwards in the water until her back was up against the smooth tiles, his mouth gentle but no less determined as he supped from her mouth, taking her on a journey of rising urgency.

  ‘You always taste so good.’ His breath feathered across her swollen lips. ‘I have never forgotten how good.’

  She closed her eyes and pretended he loved her. It was easier that way than to face the painful truth. She had killed his love; this was all that was left of it—a passionate want for fulfilment to settle a four-year-old score of injured male pride.

>   His lips moved with purposeful determination over hers, drawing from her an answering desperate need. The rasp of his tongue called hers into play, teasing it, tasting it and dancing with it until her senses swam.

  She felt his hands go to the strap of her bathers, deftly removing it so he could cup her straining breast. He bent his head and laved her tight nipple with his lazy tongue, the warmth of his mouth on her chilled flesh an exquisite sensation.

  Her legs were going from beneath her; she could barely stand for the ache of her need as he pressed himself even closer, the hard outline of his masculine form leaving her in no uncertainty of his high state of arousal.

  ‘You know, cara—’ he spoke softly near the shell of her ear ‘—this was not such a good idea, mmm? I am aching to sink into you but we are in the range of the windows along this side of the house.’

  I don’t care! she wanted to cry, but clamped her traitorous mouth shut.

  He stepped away from her and she shivered once more, this time with cold.

  He vaulted effortlessly out of the pool and held out a hand to her. ‘Come, we have some business to finish in private.’

  It was impossible not to follow him. His eyes held a promise she could not ignore. No amount of reasoning on her part could cancel the magnetic pull of his body as he led her upstairs to the master bedroom.

  Each step she took felt as if it were under his command, not hers, her body secretly preparing itself for his invasion even as her mind did its best to remind her of all that had happened between them.

  But pride had no place where passion ruled. The scales were tipped against her—she had needs far greater than pride to be fulfilled.

  He turned her in his arms once the door was closed behind them, his dark eyes burning with desire as he peeled her bathers from her with long, determined fingers.

  ‘Tell me how much you want this, Anna.’ He held the weight of her breasts in his warm hands. ‘Tell me you want to feel me inside you.’

  How could she deny it? Her body was doing all the talking for her anyway, her nipples so tight they almost hurt, her thighs like jelly, and her feminine folds so slick with moisture she was sure she was going to melt into a pool at his feet.