The Millionaire's Marriage Revenge

by Amanda Browning

  Lucas came to a halt and turned her to face him. ‘You said you loved me, but you left anyway,’ he reminded her in a gentler tone than he had used before.

  She shook her head despairingly. ‘That was different. I…just had to go. I couldn’t leave Tom. It would kill me.’ She looked into his eyes, trying to read what he was thinking. ‘It would destroy me. Is that what you want? Would that be enough to satisfy your thirst for revenge?’

  Lucas dragged a hand through his hair and swore softly. ‘I thought so once. Now…Now I’m not so sure. I want to keep hating you, but this damn thing between us keeps getting in the way! Why did you have to touch me earlier?’

  ‘What?’ she gasped, flung totally off balance by the question. Looking at him now, it was as if he had raised a barrier, for suddenly she could see a fierce emotion gleaming in his eyes.

  ‘I’ve been doing my damnedest to keep you at arm’s length, but you had to go and test me, didn’t you, caro? You had to go and rock the boat!’

  Her eyes widened as she struggled to take in what he was saying. ‘No!’ she denied, but he smiled tautly.

  ‘Yes. You did. Damn you, caro, you know I want you so much it’s like knives tearing me apart!’ he declared with a passion that took her breath away.

  Sofie blinked up at him, her heart thundering wildly in her chest. ‘But you said you didn’t want me,’ she stammered. Even though she hadn’t believed it, his almost angry confession was staggering.

  ‘I lied,’ he gritted out, releasing her shoulders and walking on a few steps. Then he looked back. ‘I took a leaf out of your book and lied.’

  ‘Lied?’ she repeated, knowing she sounded like an idiot, but unable to get her brain working properly. ‘Why?’

  Lucas shook his head and laughed. ‘Because I was angry. After I found out about Tom, I no longer had to get you in my bed for revenge, I had other ways to go about it. But you’ve always known I still want you, despite what I said.’

  Suddenly realising she might not have to seduce him after all, Sofie gathered her scattered wits and folded her arms. ‘Do I?’ she asked, striving to sound cool.

  ‘Don’t act coy, caro. You more or less told me so only a couple of hours ago.’

  Which, being true, she could hardly deny. ‘Yet it’s a reluctant wanting, isn’t it? You’d much rather not feel that way.’

  Lucas shrugged. ‘What sane man would want to admit that he’s still attracted to the woman who walked out on him? Who withheld the fact that he was a father from him? Well, I’ve admitted it, which means I must be crazy, because there’s something about you, caro, that pulls me to you in spite of myself. I know you’ve lied to me. I suspect you will probably do so in the future, but it doesn’t stop me wanting you. My need outweighs my better judgement. Isn’t that what you’ve been waiting to hear?’

  Sofie glanced away, staring out over the bay but seeing nothing of it. Despite the loss of trust his betrayal had caused, her heart still wanted to hear that he loved her. How stupid was that? But this wasn’t about love or trust, it was as basic as it could get. They were talking about desire. About the longing for each other that had refused to go away. It would never be enough, but it would be something.

  In the moonlight, she could see the wicked gleam that entered his eyes. ‘There’s nothing stopping you touching me now,’ he invited huskily, and her heart skipped a beat.

  ‘Out here?’

  ‘Why not?’ he challenged, closing the gap between them until it was barely there. ‘Backing out, caro?’ he goaded.

  Sofie shook her head, glancing back towards the villa where she could see Eleanor sitting at the table. ‘No, but your grandmother can see us.’

  A roguish smile curved his lips and he reached out to place his hands on her hips and urge her forward. ‘All the better, then. We want her to know how happy we are. So…whenever you’re ready…’

  Oh, he reckoned he was so smart, Sofie thought to herself. He was leaving it up to her, and no doubt believed she would chicken out, given their audience, but she was braver than that. Placing her palms flat against his shirt, and immediately feeling the warmth of his body, she looked up at him teasingly.

  ‘Are you sure you want me to do this?’ she queried, sliding her palms upwards until they slipped into the open neck of his shirt and stroked firm male flesh.

  Lucas’s response was to pull her hips tight against his. ‘I’m game if you are,’ he growled, setting her senses alight in no time at all.

  ‘OK,’ she murmured softly and, framing his head with her hands, began to plant a tantalising row of kisses along the line of his jaw until she reached his chin, then she changed her line of attack to his beautifully shaped mouth.

  It was highly arousing to hear his intake of breath when her teeth gently nipped at his bottom lip, and the catch in his throat when her tongue flickered over the very same spot. Laughing softly, she angled her head, the better to tease him with lips and tongue, delighting in his response but refusing to deepen the kiss. In the end it was Lucas who was compelled to stop her sensual forays by holding her head still. Only then did she accept the invitation he offered and took his mouth, their tongues engaging in a sensual dance that heated her blood and started a fire low down inside her.

  By this time both had forgotten their audience and, as kiss followed kiss, each more hotly erotic than the last, desire mounted between them until it was like a volcano poised on the edge of eruption. They drew apart finally, only because of a need to breathe, and then it was mere inches. Their heated breath mingled as they looked at each other.

  ‘I’d forgotten how wild an adventure kissing you could be,’ Lucas confessed raggedly.

  ‘I tried to warn you,’ Sofie couldn’t resist telling him, though her own actions had rebounded on her.

  Lucas managed a wry smile. ‘So you did,’ he agreed, his voice husky with passion.

  ‘Do you think we convinced your grandmother?’ Sofie asked next and they both looked to the place they had last seen her. The table was empty.

  ‘She’s gone in,’ Lucas observed. ‘Probably didn’t want to play voyeur. Things were beginning to get a little torrid.’

  ‘We ought to go inside. Your grandmother was probably embarrassed,’ Sofie proposed, feeling more than a little embarrassed herself.

  ‘She didn’t come down in the last shower of rain, caro. However, you’re right, we should go in. I have a phone call to make,’ Lucas responded soberly.

  Sofie was about to answer when they both heard a muffled sound. ‘That’s Tom!’ she exclaimed, recognising the sound of his crying. ‘He must have woken up and not known where he is!’ she added, freeing herself from his arms and heading for the path up to the villa.

  Lucas followed at her heels and they were almost there when Eleanor Antonetti came out of the house.

  ‘Tom’s awake. He wants you, Sofie,’ she explained immediately, and Sofie realised Eleanor must have heard him earlier, whilst they had been otherwise engaged, and deaf to everything around them. Colour swept up into her cheeks.

  ‘I must go to him. Excuse me,’ she said and, without looking either of them in the face, disappeared inside.

  Eleanor turned to her grandson. ‘Interesting. I wouldn’t imagine the woman you talked about all those years ago would be able to blush.’

  Lucas nodded his head slowly. ‘No, you wouldn’t,’ he agreed with a frown. ‘Sometimes she’s like an open book, and at others I can’t read her at all.’

  His grandmother laughed. ‘In fact, just like a woman,’ she pointed out wisely, and he sighed ruefully.

  ‘Do you mind if I use the study? I have some business to do. Seeing as my wife is otherwise occupied, I might as well get on with it,’ he decided, and stooped to kiss her cheek. ‘Goodnight. I’ll see you in the morning,’ he added, and disappeared, too.

  It was almost an hour before Lucas finished what turned out to be a series of telephone calls and went off in search of his wife. When she wasn’t in their bedroom
, he backtracked to Tom’s room.

  The sight that met his eyes brought him to a halt in the doorway. Tom was now asleep again, sprawled across the bed like an exhausted cherub, whilst Sofie sat in a chair beside him, fast asleep. Quietly he crossed the room and picked her up, freezing when she made a snuffling sound, but when she didn’t wake he carried her out of the room and back to their own bed. There he carefully laid her down and removed everything save her underwear and pulled the sheet up over her.

  For a moment he stood looking down at her, wishing he could penetrate the wall of her mind and see what was going on there. Knowing he couldn’t, he sighed and took himself off to the bathroom to shower. Sofie hadn’t moved an inch when he returned and he abandoned the towel he had wrapped around his hips before slipping into the bed beside her. Before too long they were both asleep.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  SOFIE sighed softly and stretched like a cat. At which point she discovered her pillow was gently rising and falling. For one nanosecond she was startled, but then her senses woke up and she recognised the male scent she breathed in. Lucas. Quickly following that knowledge, she realised her cheek was resting on his chest and one of her legs was curled around one of his. Not only that, but his left arm was anchoring her to his side, one large hand resting on her hip.

  Without opening her eyes, Sofie attempted to work out how she had got in such a position and could only imagine that she must have rolled over in her sleep and coiled herself around him. In the few months they had been together six years ago, they had slept this way most nights, and in her sleep she had instinctively sought out that source of comfort and safety.

  She smiled to herself, enjoying the rare moment. She was going to savour every second before Lucas woke up and the world impinged itself on them again. Slowly, slowly, she began to explore the silken flesh beneath her fingers, gliding over his powerful chest and flat abdomen, finally coming to a fluttery halt over his bare hip.

  One thought shot to her brain. Lucas was naked. Another thought followed. It felt like she was, too! Now it wasn’t that she had anything against two consenting adults being naked in a bed, but she did find it alarming that she had no recollection of getting there—or what had happened after that!

  At the precise moment she was having these startled thoughts, she heard the tempo of Lucas’s heartbeat change. She registered he must be awake just as he spoke.

  ‘Why did you stop? It was just beginning to get interesting,’ he asked in a sexy growl and her heart skipped a beat.

  Sofie opened her eyes at last and tipped her head up so she could see his face. Lucas was looking down at her with stubble on his chin and mayhem in his wicked blue eyes.

  ‘You have no clothes on,’ she pointed out, wincing at how prudish that sounded. Lucas must have thought so, too, for he grinned.

  ‘I always sleep with nothing on. You knew that, or have you forgotten, caro? You started to sleep that way, too.’

  ‘I know I did, but why am I that way now? What happened last night?’

  ‘Ah,’ Lucas uttered knowingly, and laughed softly. ‘So that’s the way of it, is it? You don’t remember.’

  Her nerves skittered. ‘What don’t I remember?’

  ‘Caro, you were incredible. A revelation. So wildly passionate you took my breath away,’ he told her fervently. ‘How could you have forgotten?’

  She almost fell for it until she saw his lips twitch as he tried not to grin. ‘You’re making it up! Nothing happened, did it?’

  He shrugged. ‘Only in my dreams,’ he admitted, and she frowned.

  ‘Then how come I have nothing on?’ she demanded to know.

  ‘Because, when I carried you to bed, I undressed you. For modesty’s sake, I left your underwear on.’ To prove it, Lucas caught the lacy elastic at her hip and snapped it. ‘Not that it hid much, hence my dreams.’

  ‘You could have woken me, so I could change,’ she argued, finally recalling what had happened in the garden last night.

  Lucas had stopped fighting his desire for her. They would probably have made love last night had Tom not woken up. She remembered settling him down again, and sitting in the chair beside him. That was where she must have fallen asleep. Then Lucas had found her and brought her back here and put her to bed.

  ‘I could,’ he agreed, lazily running a finger up her arm to her shoulder, then down again to the swell of her breast. ‘However, you were more in need of sleep than a nightie, so I left you dreaming like a baby.’

  Right now, lying so closely next to him, and with his finger exploring dangerously close to the front fastening of her bra, she didn’t feel in the least like a baby. Drawing in a shaky breath, she licked her lips. ‘Well, I’m awake now,’ she reminded him huskily, and his smile grew sultry.

  ‘Hmm, just in time for a good-morning kiss,’ he murmured, shifting slightly so that he could bring his mouth down on hers.

  As good morning kisses went, it worked wonders, stimulating her system, bringing her senses to life and sending her blood pulsing through her veins. She made a low catlike growl in her throat and raised her hand to slip her fingers into his hair and keep him where he was.

  Meanwhile, Lucas’s fingers had not stopped their exploration. With ease he snapped open the fastening of her bra and pushed the silky scraps of material aside to cup her breast in his hand. Sofie gasped as her nipple engorged, pressing into his palm, making her instinctively arch herself closer. His touch was gentle, but the stroking of his thumb across the hardened tip was scintillatingly erotic. In response she deepened the kiss, slipping her tongue into his mouth to engage with his, joining in a mating dance as old as time.

  When Lucas finally dragged his mouth from hers, they were both breathing heavily and Sofie lay back, looking up at him through misty eyes. Smiling, Lucas turned his gaze to where his hand still held her breast captive.

  ‘There’s more of you than there used to be,’ he observed thickly, lowering his head to tease her nipple with his lips, which stole her breath away and deepened the throbbing ache which had started deep inside her.

  Sofie had to struggle to concentrate in order to reply because he was working magic that made thought impossible. ‘I had a baby, remember,’ she said, gasping again as his tongue licked her sensitised flesh. Automatically her fingers clenched in his hair and her eyelids fluttered down.

  ‘Mmm, all the more for me to hold,’ he responded as he removed her bra completely and tossed it aside. Then he transferred his attention to her other breast and Sofie arched her back to offer herself more fully to his exquisite ministrations.

  He was driving her mad, teasing and caressing by turns, and all the while the coils of desire began to tighten and spiral upwards. It had been so long since he’d touched her, and she was so needy she knew it wouldn’t take much to send her over the edge. As if he sensed it, Lucas ended his ravishment of her breasts and raised his head to watch as he stroked his hand down over her hip and across the slight mound of her stomach. A faint silvery line caught his eye and he traced it with his finger before looking at her.

  ‘What’s this?’ he asked curiously, and Sofie opened her eyes again.

  ‘A stretch mark. I have a couple that didn’t go. Do you mind?’

  Enlightened, he gently ran his hand over her stomach. ‘Not at all. They’re the proud marks of motherhood, reminding me how you bore our son. Because of that, they will always be beautiful to me. You are beautiful to me, caro,’ he told her earnestly, holding her gaze so that she would know he didn’t lie.

  She shook her head slightly as moisture dazzled her eyes and her heart turned over. ‘Most men wouldn’t agree.’

  ‘I’m not most men, amore. I am your husband, and I know what true beauty is.’

  In a few words he had managed to remove any doubts she had had about the desirability of her body. ‘Ah, Lucas,’ she murmured with a watery sigh. She loved him so much it broke her heart to know he could never feel the same way about her.

  Then sh
e forgot all about it as Lucas began pressing a row of tiny kisses across her stomach, and turned her thoughts to jelly yet again. She barely felt him remove her panties and toss them aside, but the glide of his palms up her legs and over her thighs set her pulse racing. She reached out to touch him, but fell back with an aching moan as he pushed her thighs apart and sought out the moist, throbbing centre of her desire. His fingers teased and stroked, stoking the embers of need until they grew red-hot and her hands dug into the sheets as she fought to hold on to sanity and not plunge over the edge into the stunning freefall of release.

  ‘No, no!’ she pleaded through gritted teeth. ‘Wait!’ She wanted them to be together, joined, so that they could ride the roller coaster in each other’s arms.

  Lucas had other plans, and when his lips and tongue took over the devastating caresses she was lost. Her climax was white-hot and furious and, as she lay there waiting for her heartbeat to slow and her breathing to steady, her emotions see-sawed between enjoyment of the sheer pleasure and sadness that they hadn’t made the journey together.

  He must have sensed her dismay because seconds later Lucas propped himself up on his elbow beside her and cupped her cheek with his hand. When she looked at him through accusing eyes, he smiled faintly.

  ‘Don’t be angry, caro,’ he soothed softly. ‘It gave me pleasure to pleasure you.’

  ‘And what about what I wanted?’ she charged back, her voice still choked with emotion.

  At the question his smile broadened and his eyes glinted wickedly. ‘I cannot take it back, caro, but they say turnabout is fair play,’ he said with a sexy growl. ‘Do what you want, I won’t stop you.’ To underline the invitation, he lay back on the bed and waited silently.

  Sofie rolled on to her front and looked at him. ‘You know, that was a rash thing to say. You may come to regret it,’ she warned him, whilst all sorts of possibilities were running through her mind.