He tugged her to her feet and cupped her face to gaze into her beautiful large brown eyes. ‘Are you ready for me to take your dress off? Or do you want me to stop?’
Her throat moved before a shy smile curved her pretty cheeks and she turned her back to him. Gathering her hair together, she piled it on top of her head and held it there.
Tiny clasps ran down the spine of the dress and it took him a few attempts to undo the first. The second came a little easier. By the fourth, he’d got the knack, but he took his time, pressing gentle kisses to the exposed flesh.
By the time he’d reached the clasps that ran over her bottom her breaths had become heavy and little trembles shook her slender frame. The dress now undone enough to remove, he pinched the sides of it and tugged it down to her feet. She stepped out of it and after a moment of stillness, turned around.
His heart caught in his throat. He closed his eyes, disconcerted at the strange feeling, but when he opened them and found Claudia’s large beguiling eyes staring at him, the very foundations of his world seemed to shake.
Slender and softly curved, covered only in matching white lace underwear, she was ravishing.
He stroked her cheek. ‘You take my breath away,’ he whispered.
She swallowed and placed her fingertips to his chest.
His heart thudding so hard it felt as if it could thrash out of his ribcage, he gently laid her down and helped her wriggle over the rose petals until her head rested on a pillow. And then he kissed her. He kissed her mouth, rained kisses over her face and then slowly trailed his lips down her neck. The pulse at its base pounded hard.
Her skin was without doubt the softest and sweetest he had ever tasted with a scent that drove straight into his loins. In an effort to keep his ardour in check he tried to occupy his mind with things like financial reports, but the headiness of his responses to Claudia was too strong and all he could do was remind himself over and over to take his time and make this good for her.
When he reached her breasts she gave a sharp intake of breath and stiffened then almost immediately sighed and relaxed. Sliding a hand under her back, he found the clasp for the strapless bra and after a couple of fumbles undid it. Discarding it, he placed a kiss on one of the ripe nipples and heard her breath hitch and then a low, faint moan. Gently, gently, he kissed and caressed breasts that were much fuller than he’d expected and a hundred times softer.
The rest of her body was equally soft. Working languorously, he kissed, caressed and massaged her flat stomach, her gently rounded hips, discovered her inner thighs were a particularly sensitive zone for her, then moved all the way down to her feet. The only part of her body left unexplored was her most feminine part. She’d stiffened and automatically covered it with her hand when his mouth reached her abdomen and he’d known this would be a step too far for her. But he could smell her heat and it was as evocative and heady as everything else about her.
Claudia had had no idea pleasure could feel like this. Something deep inside her, something never before imagined or known, had come alive and it had spread into every part of her. Ciro’s every touch heightened the sensations fizzing on and beneath her skin. There was a deep ache between her legs that burned and throbbed. For a moment she’d thought he was going to kiss her most private part and had had a brief flash of panic—surely people didn’t do that?—but then he’d moved away and she relaxed into his tender attention and allowed herself to be enveloped by all the incredible feelings rushing and burning through her.
As his hands and mouth continued their assault of her senses, making their way back up her now boneless body, she hazily realised that her fear had disappeared. When his mouth found her breasts again, he trailed a hand gently over her pubis and touched a place that sent a bolt of sensation juddering through her, powerful enough to make her gasp and for her eyes to fly open.
What in goodness had caused that?
But then the wonderful weight of his body was on hers again and her mouth caught in a kiss filled with such hunger that all her thoughts became a cloud of Ciro. Something hard jutted against her inner thigh that made her insides clench then pulse even more strongly than before. She hadn’t noticed him remove his final item of clothing...or hers. When he broke the kiss to stare deep into her eyes, she read the question in them. Her hand trembled as she palmed his cheek and lifted her head to kiss him.
His throat moved and he stroked her hair as he adjusted himself between her legs before sliding a hand under her bottom to raise it a little. The hardness that moments ago had pressed against her thigh was now right there...
With one hand holding hers protectively and their lips brushing together, he moved his buttocks. His hardness pushed inside her.
Claudia sucked in a breath and forgot to expel it.
He pushed a little further.
Dear goodness...
Her fingers reflexively tightened on his. She stared into his eyes. His jaw was clenched with concentration.
Bit by bit his thick hardness filled her. And, bit by bit, Claudia dissolved.
His gaze not leaving hers, he placed his elbows either side of her head and withdrew...only to slowly drive back in. And then he did it again. And again. And...
Dear goodness...this was incredible. Whatever had she been frightened of? This...this...
Sensations she’d never conceived of thrummed through her heightened nerve-endings, taking her higher and higher to a place she’d never known existed.
She melted into another of his kisses and wrapped her arms tightly around him. His chest brushed against her breasts as he continued to move inside her, a steady but increasing rhythm, every thrust taking her closer and closer to...
And then, just as she thought she’d found the pinnacle of pleasure, a flood of pulsations rippled through her, starting deep in her pelvis and spreading out through her veins; a riptide so intense that she found herself crying out Ciro’s name and clinging to him, begging him not to stop, to never stop, never stop...
But even the most beautiful of experiences had to end and, just as she was floating back to earth, his thrusts became deeper, his groans longer and she realised he was about to reach his peak too. The moment that thought entered her dazed head, he gave an unintelligible shout and thrust into her one last beautiful time, holding onto his climax just as she had done, then, with a groan that sounded as if it ripped through his throat, collapsed on top of her.
For the longest time they lay there, his breath hot against her neck, her fingers stroking his hair, the only sound their ragged breaths and the beats of their hearts echoing together in her ear.
‘I love you,’ she whispered.
He lifted his head and stared at her. The expression in his eyes was unfathomable. But then he kissed her and rolled off, hooking his arms around her so she rolled with him and nestled into his chest.
Claudia drifted into sleep with more happiness in her heart than she had ever believed existed.
* * *
Ciro’s eyes opened to darkness. Claudia lay beside him, an arm draped over his waist. Her deep, rhythmic breathing told him she was fast asleep.
He pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to get air into his tight lungs. He felt sick. He was especially sickened that he wanted nothing more than to roll her onto her back and make love to her again.
Damn it, it wasn’t supposed to feel like this. He’d expected to feel like the king of the world. Not in his wildest dreams had he expected his plan to come together so quickly and so well.
Nor had he expected that making love to Claudia would leave him feeling as if something fundamental had shifted in him. He knew he’d made it good for her but all he felt was guilt. Her whispered words of love before they’d fallen asleep had contained such sincerity that he’d known he could never say them again to her because they weren’t true.
He was going to break her heart.
>
Disgusted with himself, he carefully extracted himself from under her arm and climbed out of bed.
The champagne they’d shared still sat on the coffee table, the bottle two-thirds full. He lifted it to his lips. It had gone flat, but he didn’t care and drank deeply.
Not feeling in the slightest bit better, he padded quietly back to the bedroom, bottle in hand, and pulled his phone from his jacket pocket. Checking that Claudia was still asleep, he carefully drew back the heavy curtain enough to open the French door and step onto the balcony. He didn’t notice he failed to close the door properly. It swung back open a couple of inches.
Resting an arm on the balustrade, he called his brother. It went to voicemail. Not unexpected considering it was the middle of the night.
‘Vicenzu, it’s me,’ he said. ‘Look... I can’t do this for much longer. I’ve fulfilled my part. She’s going to sign the house over to me today. You need to get your side done, and quickly. Whatever it takes to get the business back, do it, because I don’t know how much longer I can keep the pretence up.’
Disconnecting the call, he swigged the last of the champagne.
* * *
It was the shift in the air that woke Claudia. She groped her hand over the mattress and found it empty. Scents she’d never known before filled her senses. Hazily, she realised it was the scent of their lovemaking.
About to call out to Ciro, she noticed the curtains had been drawn back a little, the French door ajar. She got out of bed, intending to join him, but as she reached the door his deep rich voice cut through the clear night air and seeped through the gap.
She heard every word.
CHAPTER FOUR
‘ARE YOU SURE you’re feeling okay?’
After a day spent being pampered in the hotel’s spa, they’d returned to their suite. Claudia had immediately put the television on and curled up on the sofa.
She barely lifted her eyes to look at him and give the same answer she’d given every other time he’d asked. ‘I’m a little tired.’
‘Shall I order you a coffee?’
She glanced at her watch and shook her head.
Ciro had imagined waking on the morning after their wedding to find Claudia pressed against him, soft words of love ready to spill from her lips. The reality had been he’d woken alone and found her in the suite’s living area, fully dressed, watching television and drinking coffee. ‘Oh, good, you’re up,’ she’d said with a smile that wasn’t quite as wide as normal. ‘I’m starving.’
He’d offered to order room service, but she’d been insistent that she wanted to eat breakfast in the hotel restaurant. When he’d leaned down to kiss her good morning her response had been a brief brush of her lips to his before she’d jumped to her feet with another smile and bounded to the bathroom. She’d locked the door behind her.
His imaginings that their day would be spent with Claudia holding onto his hand and planting kisses to his lips every other minute had been disabused too. She’d booked herself in for so many spa treatments that he’d seen hardly anything of her. To Ciro’s disquiet, it had been him living in a near-constant state of arousal, him unable to tear his eyes away from her beautiful face in those times he actually saw her, him who ached to carry her back to their suite, lock the door and spend the hours before their flight making love. Claudia’s body language told him clearly that she had no interest in doing that.
He kept telling himself that she was probably on a bit of a low after the high of the wedding and feeling overwhelmed by everything. She’d been a virgin. It could simply be that she was feeling a little sore.
He opened the minibar and found the bottle of bourbon he’d requested. ‘Do you want one?’
She shook her head and pulled her knees up to rest under her chin.
‘Claudia?’
‘What?’
‘There’s something wrong. I know there is. Tell me.’
Dark brown eyes locked on his briefly before fixing back on the television. Was that contempt he’d seen flash at him? The disquiet that had been gnawing at him all day grew.
He downed a large measure of bourbon then crossed the room to kneel before her. Taking her hands in his, he stared at her, silently willing her to look at him.
‘Talk to me,’ he urged. ‘Tell me what you’re thinking. Did I hurt you last night? Are you worried about us not using contraception?’ That had been a mistake he’d kicked himself for ever since. He’d been so concerned about making it good for her and so caught up in the moment that, for the first time in his adult life, contraception had been the last thing on his mind. He could only pray it wasn’t a mistake that came back to haunt him. A child had no place in this sham of a marriage.
And yet, even though his marriage wasn’t real, even though he despised her, he found her aloof, silent treatment unbearable.
When she continued to ignore him, he let go of her hands to grab the remote and turn the television off.
Her jaw clenched. She looked again at her watch, looked up at him, looked back at her watch, lowered her knees to straighten herself then looked him straight in the eye. ‘Yes, you hurt me and yes, I’m worried that we didn’t use contraception. No child deserves to be born into a lie.’
Claudia felt no satisfaction to see Ciro recoil or the horror-struck comprehension rise on his face. She’d waited thirteen hours to confront the lying creep. All day she’d had to listen to him repeat ‘are you okay?’ and watch him giving her all those fake concerned looks, all the while resisting the urge to scream in his face and pound her fists against his chest.
All the tenderness he’d shown her, all the loving caresses, all the passionate kisses...
None of it had been real.
She’d stood by the French doors for an age, brain frozen, limbs immobile, the shock of what she’d heard and the implications too much to process. Then the paralysis had abated and, her heart hurting, she’d crept back into bed, trying desperately to think coherently. Ciro’s words had played like a reel in her head. Her stomach had plummeted too, to remember the sparks that had flown between Imma and Vicenzu at the wedding. She needed to warn her sister. Get her advice. Try and make sense of what her heart so longed to deny but which the rational part of her head would not.
Ciro didn’t love her.
When he’d eventually come back to bed, champagne fumes wafting from his pores, she’d feigned sleep and waited for him to fall into slumber before slipping out of bed and taking her phone to the bathroom. To play safe and drown out the murmur of her voice, she’d switched the fan on.
She didn’t know how Vicenzu planned to take the business from Imma but, if his brother was anything to go by, he would have no scruples in getting what he wanted. From the shock in Imma’s voice, Vicenzu’s plan had already been set in motion. Claudia had promised to wait until four p.m. before confronting Ciro. This would give Imma time to come up with her own plan of attack before Ciro could warn his brother that they knew.
The thirteen hours she’d spent waiting to confront him had been the longest she’d endured. The hands of her watch had turned with the speed of a snail on sleeping pills. At least that was one thing she could read, she thought bitterly. She couldn’t read words or men but she could read a watch.
But those thirteen hours had given her time to think and prepare. As humiliating as it was to admit, Claudia had been a doormat all her life. She’d been too frightened of the darkness in her father to speak out or stand up for herself, no matter how loudly she’d screamed inside.
She’d thought marriage to Ciro would free her from tyranny but all she’d done was exchange one hell for another.
The longer the day had gone on, the more the cold shock of Ciro’s despicable betrayal had turned into hot fury. It needed an outlet. She’d thought of her favourite heroine, Elizabeth Bennet, and asked herself what she would do in this situation. Elizabeth
would steel her spine and confront it head-on. And so must she.
A favourite line from Elizabeth rang in her head.
My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.
It was a line Claudia always thought of with longing, wishing she had such courage. From now on it would be her mantra.
Ciro got to his feet and walked nonchalantly back to the bottle of bourbon. ‘I’m sorry if I hurt you last night,’ he said, his voice as steady as the hand that poured himself another measure. ‘I tried to be gentle.’
‘I’m not talking about sex.’ She managed a small laugh while inside her heart wept to remember how wonderful his lovemaking had been. What she’d thought of as the most beautiful experience of her life had been tainted for ever. ‘Although remembering that hurts me too.’ She swallowed. ‘You should be ashamed of yourself.’
His throat moved before he downed the measure. ‘I am ashamed. I should have remembered to use a—’
‘Shut up.’
Ciro closed his eyes. Claudia hadn’t raised her voice but those two words were delivered with a punch that landed right in his stomach. Every curse he knew flew through his head as the nagging worry that had played in his gut all day rose to the surface. She knew.
‘I heard you. Last night. When you crept out on the balcony.’
‘What do you think you heard?’
‘Don’t bother trying to gaslight me. I know what I heard.’ Her eyes flashed as she casually mimicked, ‘“Vicenzu, it’s me. I can’t do this for much longer. I’ve fulfilled my part. She’s going to sign the house over to me today. You need to get your side done, and quickly. Whatever it takes to get the business back, do it, because I don’t know how much longer I can keep the pretence up.”’
His mouth dropped open. Ciro couldn’t remember the exact words he’d said in the message he’d left for his brother but was pretty sure she’d just recited them verbatim.
A Baby to Bind His Innocent Page 4
