by Maggie Cox
He massaged her silky lower lip with his finger, then trailed the same finger down onto her chin and lower, much lower, until it came to rest between the cleft of her breasts inside her top. A small pearl of perspiration slid down between her cleavage and Dante captured it with his finger, using it to make tantalising circles on her skin. Bliss sucked in her breath until it all but squeezed her lungs to bursting point, such was the tension and trembling that his action elicited. Already her nipples had puckered to a point almost past bearing and damp heat spread up the front of her thighs into her most feminine core like warm waves lapping onto a shore.
‘Do you know what I went through last night when I couldn’t touch you as I wanted?’ He breathed the taunting question next to her throat as his hand drifted ever downwards and palmed the fullness of her breast. As she helplessly surged against him her body came into full contact with his chest, where he had already undone the buttons of his shirt. Coming into intimate relations with flesh and bone that had the devastating tenacity of steel yet was silkily smooth and tantalisingly warm beneath her fingers, Bliss wondered how she’d ever imagined she could do without most things the male of the species had to offer. But that was before she’d met Dante. Right now the pleasure he was wreaking throughout her body was so intense that the idea of living without it was not to be borne.
But before she could further contemplate what the absence of his touch might mean in her life, Dante cupped her face and brought his mouth down onto her lips in a searing, uncompromising kiss that washed away all thought as thoroughly as a drenching rain swept away sand. His lips and tongue commanding the pace, he coaxed and teased, demanded then retreated, turning up the pleasure as only a man well schooled in the art of lovemaking knew how to do. Before she knew it, Bliss was transported to a world so exquisitely sensual that she easily forgot every single concern or worry she’d ever had and willingly yielded to the compelling enchantment that was woven around her. Beneath Dante’s devastating touch her limbs turned fluid and boneless and she readily capitulated to his teasing regime, letting her softly rasping breath fan across his face before another hungry, devastating kiss could capture the breath that came directly after.
Between a break in the lofty chestnut boughs above them, the sun filtered through in a laser beam of heat, lazily drifting across Bliss’s back as Dante lay down on the blanket and eased her against his hips. Pushing her white lace skirt up to the top of her smooth, slender thighs, he worked his fingers into her skin in a provocative massage, easing them ever upwards towards the destination that he so clearly sought. Already drenched with heat and longing, Bliss closed her eyes on a quivering little groan as he slid his finger inside her, rubbing against her most tender core until she could swear she literally saw stars as throb after throb of exquisite sensory pleasure washed over her, as if she were lying naked on a bed of golden sand beneath a spicy Caribbean sun. Time stopped. She felt herself connected to everything around her, the trees, the air and most especially the earth upon which she and her lover lay, and nothing in Bliss’s life had ever felt so absolutely right and good. Tears of pleasure and gratitude swam in the vibrant sea of her violet eyes. But before she could recover her breath, Dante was eagerly helping her part company with her white silk panties, then settling her urgently against him as he unzipped his trousers and eased the full length of his erection deeply inside her. Looking down at him as she was once again deluged in a fountain of sensory pleasure unimagined, Bliss could see that his eyes had turned as hot and as vivid as molten emerald. Bending her head to kiss him, she was taken aback by the almost violent clash of lips, tongue and teeth as his mouth claimed fierce ownership of hers, the erotically sensuous scent of his skin mingling with the scent of her own as he drove himself deeper inside her.
He cried out just as Bliss climaxed only seconds before him, his richly vibrant male voice echoing around her as his hips pumped against the softer, silkier texture of her smooth inner thighs. Greedily his hands guided her pelvis passionately upon his sex as though he wanted to extract every single drop of satisfaction and enjoyment she had to give and would not be happy with anything less.
‘How am I supposed to think about anything else today after you have almost made me lose my mind with desire for you?’ His face, relaxed of all tension, was so heart-rendingly handsome, almost boyish, that Bliss knew a moment of delirious joy. She almost couldn’t speak for the happiness pouring through her. Perhaps everything was going to be all right after all? When they were together like this she could almost believe anything were possible. Unwilling to break the profound connection she had found in his arms, she boldly cupped his face with her hands and smiled down into his hypnotic, long-lashed eyes with all the confidence of a woman who knew without doubt just how much pleasure she had given her man.
‘Who says we have to think, Dante? Can’t we just feel?’
’Si, carina.’ His voice growing husky, Dante reached for the shoestring straps of Bliss’s top and pulled them firmly down her arms so that the whole garment went with them and her beautiful breasts were fully exposed to his hotly possessive glance as the sun continued to shine through the trees. ‘I think that is a very good suggestion. Bellissima Bliss. I think you have made me your slave for life. Perhaps we should stay here for the rest of the day and just “feel”, hmm?’ His hands cupped her breasts as he said this and squeezed them. Sensing him hardening beneath her, Bliss could not suppress the soft, almost desperate moan that escaped her.
‘We—we can’t just stay here, Dante. Your family is expecting guests this afternoon, remember?’ Her brow furrowing with regret, Bliss endeavoured to move, feeling suddenly guilty, worrying about what Dante’s family would think should they return to the villa late and obviously flushed with the results of their lovemaking. But she stared at Dante open-mouthed in shock as he caught her wrists and held her, such a look of lascivious lust in his eyes that Bliss momentarily lost the power of speech. Rolling her expertly over onto her back, he smiled down at her with unconcealed primeval satisfaction. ‘The guests can wait. Right now il Presidente himself can wait until I have sated myself with your body.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
SIPPING from a glass of fruit punch, Bliss surreptitiously glanced around at the well-dressed gathering of guests milling around the terrazzo, her outwardly calm expression belying the deep-seated anxiety that was rolling through her inside. She didn’t fit in here, nor did she belong. With their relaxed, sometimes passionately charged voices permeating the warm summer air, along with the tinkle of glasses and the scrape of cutlery against Isabella’s exquisite crockery, the people at the party seemed like a breed apart to Bliss. And of course they were. Place her in a line-up with them and ask someone to pick the odd one out, and she didn’t doubt that she would be the first choice. The impressive line-up of cars on the gravel drive also highlighted the colossal differences in their lifestyles. Along with at least three fabulous Ferraris, there was also one Rolls Royce and a Lamborghini, as well as several other expensive vehicles.
What would Isabella’s fabulously wealthy party guests think when they discovered that Dante’s wife-to-be was an ex-shop assistant and one without any kind of connections—never mind wealthy—at all? She didn’t want to shame Dante with her past. Didn’t want him to have to deal with questions like, ‘Who is her family? What do they do for a living?’ and then see the quietly disappointed, even disapproving looks that crept into the questioners’ eyes when they found out the answers. She had felt so certain that everything was going to be all right when she and Dante had been alone together under the chestnut trees earlier, but now…Now doubt would not leave her alone.
‘I cannot believe my cousin has left you standing here all on your own. I have been watching you for some time now, expecting his return, but, as he has not appeared, I feel it is only right I should come and introduce myself. I am AlessandroVisconti and, as I know everyone else here, I take it you must be the beautiful girl who has finally captured his heart?
’
The man who made his presence felt was young, about twenty-three or four, black-haired and good-looking, and—it went without saying—beautifully dressed. A waft of spicy but understated cologne with a probably ludicrous price tag floated up on the warm air to her nostrils as Bliss automatically accepted his relaxed handshake, inwardly praying that she wouldn’t let her own composure slip and appear nervous.
‘I’m Bliss Maguire.’ And I haven’t captured Dante’s heart—I’ve merely made him feel obliged to marry me because I’m pregnant.
Alessandro’s smiling black eyes sauntered casually and a little boldly up and down her figure in the simple blue summer dress she wore, then returned to smile even more widely into her uncertain gaze. ‘Dante is a lucky man. A very lucky man, if you do not mind me saying so.’
Why was a simple telephone call taking so long? Bliss fretted silently. Dante had been gone at least fifteen minutes or more. She’d been introduced to practically everyone apart from this Alessandro Visconti, and, with Antonio going inside to take his medicine and Isabella accompanying her husband, there had been nothing for it but for Bliss to stand here on her own feeling ridiculously lonely and conspicuous. And, after their erotic little adventure beneath the chestnut trees earlier, Bliss was missing her husband-to-be as she would miss one of her own limbs were she to be separated from it. Somehow, over the course of just a few days, he had begun to mean everything to her and that gave Dante a power over her that was frankly terrifying to a girl who’d sworn she’d never fall in love, never mind get married.
‘So…do you work in the hotel business too, Alessandro?’ Taking a quick sip of her refreshing drink, Bliss told herself it shouldn’t be so hard to make small talk with Dante’s engaging cousin. With a little lift of his blue-black brows, he grinned unashamedly.
‘No. I am what you might call the black sheep of the family. I spend my family’s money like there is no tomorrow and, even worse, I travel around the casinos of the world gambling.’
‘And do you ever win when you gamble?’ Bliss asked interestedly, finding her attention unexpectedly captured by Alessandro’s unabashed honesty.
‘Sometimes.’ He shrugged. ‘And when I do I give it all to charity…of course. So perhaps I shouldn’t feel so guilty about squandering the family fortune, eh?’
She had to laugh at that. It was the first easy moment she had enjoyed all day and Dante’s young cousin laughed right along with her.
‘What’s so funny?’
Taking them both by surprise, Dante’s tall, imperious figure suddenly appeared beside them, the sombre expression on his handsome face silently castigating them both.
‘I was just telling your beautiful wife-to-be that I am the family rogue, Dante. No doubt you will agree with me?’
‘It is indeed a role you play to the hilt without any remorse, Alessandro.’ Making no attempt to hide the censure in his tone, Dante remained unsmiling, his expression disapproving. Feeling strangely disappointed that he should not find the slightest bit of charm in his cousin’s engaging manner, Bliss was sufficiently moved to jump to the younger man’s defence.
‘We are none of us perfect, Dante. Wouldn’t you agree?’
He clearly didn’t agree at all, Bliss saw with a shiver skating down her spine. The same eyes that had regarded her so ardently only just a very short while ago under the chestnut trees were now as cold and spectacularly aloof as a glacier.
‘I think it is time you went inside out of the sun, Bliss. I will accompany you.’
‘But I don’t want to—’
Silencing her protest with an even icier glance, Dante positioned his hand firmly beneath her elbow and led her away from the gathering on the terrazzo, leaving Alessandro staring after them.
In her bedroom, Bliss shook off Dante’s hold on her arm, put down her drink and faced him furiously. ‘What was all that about? It was very rude of you to walk away from your cousin like that!’
‘Do not presume to speak to me as if you know what you are talking about!’ With his brows drawing together like black clouds blocking out the sun, Dante glared at Bliss with such fury that it made her own anger seem completely impotent in comparison.
‘Alessandro is a young jerk! He has almost caused his mother a breakdown with his bad behaviour, not to mention squandering a large proportion of the family’s money on gambling and women! For this he has no remorse, no shame, and yet every time he comes home to his poor, tormented mother he is forgiven, and she believes him when he promises he will not behave in such a disrespectful way again.’
‘You sound as though you resent that.’
Her astute comment silenced the words that were on the tip of Dante’s tongue. Scraping his fingers through his hair, he turned away briefly to regain control of his temper and his composure. Merciful Father, he did resent it! Alessandro could behave as badly as he liked and yet he was loved and adored unconditionally by both his parents. In fact he played the role of ‘Italian Playboy’ to the hilt and was admired for it because his blood seemed to give him the right. And now Bliss—the woman Dante had pledged himself to—appeared to be as enchanted by his infamous cousin as everyone else! A little muscle throbbed in the side of his temple, giving testament to the white-hot rage that was searing his blood.
‘Your interest in my cousin is not welcome,’ he ground out through gritted teeth. ‘Do not forget that you belong to me now. You will not look at another man with desire and you will never leave me! Is that understood?’
His words shocked Bliss rigid. Did he really believe that she could possibly be attracted to someone like Alessandro over him? And after she had loved him this afternoon as she had loved no other? Hurt, anger and dismay almost brought tears to her eyes.
‘Don’t boss me around! You have no right to talk to me like I’m some kind of possession. I belong to no one but myself!’
In a flood of unstoppable Italian, Dante vented his spleen out loud. When he’d finished, there was a tense, silent pause as they stared at each other. He took a breath, then shook his head and examined Bliss’s slender, hurt figure with regret.
‘Perhaps I do,’ he said, gravel-voiced, hardly trusting himself to stay level-headed and calm beneath the onslaught of emotion that was coursing through him.
‘Do what?’ Bliss asked resentfully, still smarting from the fury obviously directed at her.
‘I do resent Alessandro,’ Dante admitted, his jaw reddening a little.
Seeing the glint of an old hurt in his eyes, Bliss had to know the full extent of what was troubling him. Now and again she had sensed a certain insecurity in Dante that she could hardly believe was possible in such a devastatingly attractive and successful man and she was sensing it again now. Her own anger died a swift death when she considered that he might be carrying wounds that wouldn’t heal. Especially when she remembered how his father had told her that his eldest son took his problems inside himself and did not share them with his family.
‘What is it, Dante? Is it just your cousin you are so angry about, or is it something else?’
He walked over to the window where there was a fine view of the grove of chestnut trees in the distance and, closer to home, the family’s guests making themselves comfortable on the terrazzo in the afternoon sunshine.
‘I do not have the same mother as my sister and brother.’ Swallowing across the dryness in his throat, he continued to stare out of the window. ‘My real mother was Irish—just like your father, Bliss. Does that surprise you?’ Turning his head, he didn’t wait for an acknowledgement. ‘Her name was Katherine O’Brien and my father fell deeply in love with her almost the moment he met her. When she became pregnant and my father wanted them to be married, his parents would neither give their approval nor their blessing to the union. Shortly after that my mother died. For six years my father brought me up on his own, struggling to get his business under way at the same time. I was left with my aunt during the day, and she—she disapproved of my mere existence. Life
was very tough for my father until he met Isabella. And then, when Tatiana and Stefano came along, I was no longer numero uno in my father’s eyes. Is that selfish of me to miss that? My family mean everything to me but…sometimes I have felt like an outsider because of my background. This is an old culture. Tradition is not easily put aside for more modern ways. Comprende?’
Bliss did understand. Dante worked so hard to make his family proud of him, somehow believing that he had to buy their acceptance—to prove what? That he was as worthy of love as his brother and sister? The very idea was preposterous! What he couldn’t seem to see, and Bliss could, was that they absolutely adored him and would do so whether he was a rich entrepreneur or a plumber. She only had to remember the look of love in Tatiana’s eyes every time she trained them on Dante and she had seen the same look—if not more intensely—in both Antonio’s and Isabella’s eyes too.
‘You have no need to be jealous of your cousin, Dante. From what I have seen of your relations, there is no doubt in my mind that you are very much loved and admired. You must try to put aside your reservations about that and be grateful that you clearly have such a wonderful family. Think about it this way…’ Moving across the room to join him, Bliss ventured to place her hand on his arm. Beneath her fingers there was a definite stiffening in the already taut muscles beneath the soft fabric of his shirt, but she didn’t let it curtail what she wanted to say. ‘Would you want our child to suffer in the same way you have just because he or she has mixed ancestry? What about little Renata as well? Her father was English, wasn’t he? Yet Antonio spoke very highly of his son-in-law. He clearly didn’t mind that Tatiana fell in love with a man who was not Italian.’
‘My father is not to blame. He never made me feel different in any way, but my birth caused a rift between him and his parents that was never mended. My birth deprived Stefano and Tatiana of their paternal grandparents too. You must understand…’ His green eyes blazed back at her with profound emotion. ‘These things are not easy for me to talk about. I have never discussed the matter with anyone else before until today.’ With Isabella and now with Bliss—the lavender-eyed temptress who was even now stirring his blood again just because he was casting his gaze over her alluring, lovely presence.
