Claudia didn’t say anything. She just stared up at him with a stunned expression on her face.
‘When I returned, everything had gone to hell,’ Marco said. ‘My father and grandfather were dead. My mother had fled in shame. And Bianca, my sweet, innocent little sister, was a virtual orphan, living at the mercy of state care.’
He turned away, looking blindly out of the window. The pain and shame that he normally kept so well clamped down seared into him like a brand. He had failed his family. And they—not him—had paid dearly for that failure.
‘How did they die?’ Claudia gasped.
‘A car accident,’ Marco bit out. ‘My father should never have been driving. If I’d been here, I would have prevented it.’
‘It’s not your fault,’ Claudia said. Despite the way he had just treated her, there was a sympathetic note in her voice. Sympathy was the last thing Marco wanted to hear.
‘No—it’s Vasile’s fault,’ Marco said.
‘How awful,’ Claudia said. ‘For everyone—especially Bianca. She never told me anything about that.’
‘Don’t talk about my sister as if you care.’ Marco rounded on her. ‘That’s where all this started between us.’
Claudia stared at him, utterly stunned by what Marco had told her.
Patches of livid red burned on his cheeks and he glared back at her with eyes that were full of accusation. His shoulders were trembling and she realised that he was consumed by a terrible combination of guilt and fury.
It was almost too much to take in. He had told her the night before that his mother had betrayed his family and abandoned Bianca, but she had never imagined that he was talking about such a cataclysmic outcome for the entire family.
The fact that Primo Vasile had been his mother’s seducer, the catalyst behind all the destruction, was an appalling discovery. She knew he was a bad person—after all, he was blackmailing her into marriage—but the dark picture Marco had painted made her feel dizzy with horror that he had embroiled her in his schemes.
‘I don’t understand why you kept all this secret from me,’ she said.
It had wrenched her heart when he’d told her how his family had suffered, but it wasn’t fair of him to blame her. She’d been thirteen years old when it had happened. And she was still reeling from the shock of discovering that their families were connected in such an awful way.
‘We both kept secrets,’ Marco countered.
‘I never deliberately withheld information,’ Claudia said. ‘In fact I did tell you everything—you always knew the names of my parents and where I came from. I didn’t hide anything.’
‘You never mentioned Primo Vasile,’ Marco said. ‘Don’t you think that’s a fairly major omission?’
‘What did he have to do with me?’ Claudia asked. Her blood ran cold—but it was only in the last couple of days that she’d had any direct involvement with him. ‘Did you expect me to discuss every one of my father’s business associates?’
Suddenly she stopped and stared at him in shock.
‘That’s what it was always about!’ she gasped. ‘You got close to me, hoping to find out information to use against Primo—because of what he did to your family.’
‘No,’ Marco said. ‘Not then. I wanted to know what you were doing hanging round my sister.’
‘She was my friend!’ Claudia declared.
She glared at him, horrified that he could even imagine she might have had any other reason than friendship for spending time with his sister. Just what sort of person did he take her for? And what sort of person was he to judge her by such awful standards?
‘Is Primo Vasile your friend?’ he asked blandly.
‘I hardly know him,’ she snapped, still smarting from his insinuation that she had somehow been a threat to his sister.
‘Maybe not the best basis for marriage,’ he said.
CHAPTER NINE
CLAUDIA’S heart lurched.
Somehow Marco knew about her planned marriage to Primo.
‘No…I…’ she stammered. She wanted to deny it—it had been such a hard struggle to accept that she must go through with it. Having Marco throw it in her face was unbearable.
‘Do you think I’m a complete fool?’ Marco demanded. ‘I’ve made it my business to know everything that bastard does. I know everything he so much as thinks, even before he knows it himself. Something like a wedding would never escape my notice.’
‘But how…?’ Claudia’s voice died away. It was only two days since she’d met Primo and Francesca at the Ritz, and that was the first time the subject of her marriage to Primo had been raised. Or, rather, that was when they had used her father’s precarious situation to blackmail her into marriage.
Marco had appeared right outside the Ritz only moments later. Somehow he had known about it before she had.
She clamped both hands over her face, feeling sick to her stomach. She had been used. By everyone.
Francesca and Vasile had used her—were still planning to use her. She’d tried to shut that appalling reality away, not think about it because there was nothing she could do about it. She had to go through with it, for the sake of her father. But now the discovery that Marco had been using her too was overwhelming.
‘There’s no need to hide, bella mia.’ She felt Marco’s fingers on her wrists, pulling her hands away from her face. ‘The fact that you are not what you seem to be is nothing new to me. I know what the face of deception looks like.’
A sudden wave of anger washed over her, heating her blood, making her back straighter. She whipped her hands down, jerking her wrists free of Marco’s grip and lifted her chin in defiance.
‘You are despicable,’ she said.
‘As despicable as falling into another man’s bed only days before your wedding?’ he sneered.
‘You knew—but still you…’ She drew in a shuddering breath. ‘I felt so guilty. I tried to stop it, but you were so…persistent.’
‘You wanted it as much as I did,’ he reminded her.
‘You set me up!’ Claudia cried. ‘Appearing outside the Ritz. Following me to Wales.’
‘You ought to be used to set-ups,’ Marco said. ‘But you don’t like it when the tables are turned on you. Personally, I rather enjoyed myself. And I thought there was a certain poetic justice in the location—Wales always was special for us.’
Claudia’s head was throbbing and her mind spinning with what she was hearing. She’d never seen Marco behave like this before. Had never heard him use such a harsh tone of voice. Had never heard him say such cruel things.
‘You’re so different,’ she said, running her eyes over him almost desperately, as if by looking hard enough she might see some sign of the Marco who had meant so much to her. ‘I don’t even recognise the man in front of me.’
‘Is this better?’ he asked, stripping off his jacket, then his shirt.
‘What are you doing?’ She stared in shock at his naked torso. Her heart started to beat out a rhythm of alarm and a surge of adrenaline flooded her body.
‘This is how you’ve seen me most frequently over the last couple of days,’ Marco said. ‘I thought seeing me like this might help you get things in perspective.’
‘I’ve got everything in perfect perspective,’ she snapped, thinking just how much her world had changed in a matter of minutes. ‘Thank you for showing me, in case I hadn’t fully realised yet, just how much of a brute you are.’
She straightened her shoulders, refusing to take even one step backwards, although part of her wanted to turn tail and flee. Another darker, instinct driven part of her wanted to let her eyes roam over his naked skin. But she kept her head up, meeting his gaze steadily with her own.
She was wearing the smart high-heeled shoes she’d changed into for a day in the city, giving her three inches of extra height, but still he towered over her, making her feel shorter than she was.
‘You do realise nothing has changed,’ Marco said. ‘We are still the same
people we were half an hour ago. You’re the same woman who made love to me, only days before her wedding.’
‘It wasn’t like that,’ Claudia protested. ‘I would never have done that if…’ She bit her lip—it was so hard to explain. ‘The wedding—it’s not what you think.’
‘What do I think it is?’ Marco asked smoothly.
‘It’s just a business arrangement,’ she said.
‘Is that better than the alternative?’ Marco asked. ‘The traditional reason for marriage—that you’ve fallen in love.’
Claudia dropped her gaze, suddenly flustered.
There was another alternative—blackmail. But she couldn’t tell him that. If she did, he would discover the power Vasile had over her. Then he could take that power and use it for himself.
The man she’d thought he was would never do such a thing, but now she knew he was ruthless and had no honour. She could never expose her father to him.
‘It’s not going to be that kind of wedding—it will be platonic, a business arrangement only.’ Claudia lifted her hand and pushed her hair off her face.
‘To get your hands on your trust fund five years early,’ Marco said derisively.
‘How do you know about my trust fund?’ Claudia said in shock. Her father had always kept it quiet to protect her from people interested in her only for the money she would have one day.
‘I told you—I’ve made it my business to know these things,’ Marco said. ‘I suppose you’ve had enough of working for a living and can’t wait for the money.’
‘It’s not that simple,’ she said. ‘I need the money for something really important.’
‘And what does Vasile get out of it?’ he asked in a way that made a nasty prickle of distaste run down between her shoulder blades.
‘Nothing,’ she said automatically, then realised that wouldn’t sound very convincing. ‘Well, some money, of course.’
‘Only money?’ Marco said incredulously, letting his eyes roam across her suggestively. ‘You’re not naive enough to think Vasile won’t want to taste the delights of that body himself?’
‘You’re disgusting!’ she gasped, suddenly feeling the blood drain away from her head, making her feel dizzy with shock. The very idea of it made her feel sick. That was not what she had agreed to. She would never agree to something like that.
‘You’ve done a deal with the devil—what did you expect?’ Marco said harshly. ‘You can’t seriously think he won’t take everything he can get?’
‘Not that!’ she gasped, feeling her stomach turn over in revulsion.
‘Don’t worry about it,’ Marco said, lifting a hand and slipping it into her hair. ‘Vasile’s never going to get a chance to lay a finger on you.’
‘What…what do you mean?’ Claudia stammered.
A shudder of apprehension suddenly rippled through her and at the same time she became ultra aware of his hand in her hair. She tried to take a step backwards, but Marco responded instantly, slipping his hand to the back of her head to hold her in place.
‘I’m not letting him have you,’ he said.
He was so close that she could feel the heat radiating off his naked chest. See the subtle flare of his ribcage as he breathed.
‘It’s got nothing to do with you.’ She fidgeted under his intense gaze, unsettled by how breathless her own voice sounded. His eyes were boring down into her, penetrating the defensive barrier of emotional control she was trying to hold up against him.
‘It has everything to do with me,’ he said, pulling her slightly nearer to him. ‘You’re mine now.’
Claudia’s eyes widened and she swallowed nervously. Her body was already responding to the sexual message in Marco’s words—and that was the last thing she wanted.
‘You’ve just spent the last few minutes telling me what a terrible person I am,’ she said. ‘Why would you care if I married a man you hate?’
‘Vasile is not having you,’ he grated. ‘He’ll never have you.’
‘You don’t want me,’ she whispered.
‘You know I do. And you still want me,’ he goaded her.
‘No!’ She denied it. ‘How could I want someone so heartless—someone who was using me all along?’
‘I don’t know, bella mia,’ Marco said, skimming his hand down the back of her neck and slipping it under the soft collar of her blouse. Then he slowly drew it flat against the skin across her shoulder, around to the base of her throat. ‘Maybe because you’re not the kind of girl who marries for love.’
Tears sparkled in Claudia’s eyes as she looked at him. How could she challenge him? She had just told him she was marrying for business reasons. And, despite all the deception between them, she knew there was some truth in his words now. She did still want him.
His hand was burning against her skin, slipping lower and lower against her breastbone with every shallow breath she took. She had to stop him—but she didn’t want to.
‘Don’t do this.’ Her voice was shaky and she knew it lacked conviction.
‘We’ve been here before,’ Marco reminded her harshly, ‘when you begged me in the shower not to take your clothes off. Then, later, you were writhing in my arms as I made love to you.’
‘That won’t happen now,’ Claudia said, trying to pull his hand away from the inside of her blouse. But his reactions were too quick and she found her own hand pinned beneath his, flat against the skin above her left breast. She could feel her heart beating beneath her palm and the iron strength of his grasp as he held her hand in place.
‘I know it will,’ Marco said, lifting his free hand and starting to undo the front of her blouse. ‘But I don’t have time to play any more games. We have a flight to catch to the Caribbean and must be on our way back to the city soon.’
‘I’m not going to the Caribbean with you!’ Claudia gasped, barely aware of his fingers making quick work of her buttons. Did he know absolutely everything—even that she was supposed to meet Francesca and Vasile in the Caribbean? ‘I…I’ve made a commitment. I have to see it through.’
‘You’re coming with me,’ he said.
‘But why?’ she said, desperately trying to think of a way she could protect her father. If she didn’t marry Primo Vasile as she had agreed, Vasile would turn her father in to the police.
‘I plan to take everything from Vasile.’ Marco’s eyes were gleaming dangerously, setting Claudia’s sense of self-protection on to red alert. ‘Every little thing that is of any importance to him. And you are one of those things.’
‘I’m not a thing!’ Claudia’s voice quavered, but she squared her shoulders and stood up taller. The slight movement made her aware of her own hand just above her breast, with Marco’s hand pressing over it. But she carried on, determined to defend herself. ‘And I’m not important to Vasile.’
‘Your trust fund is,’ Marco said brutally.
‘It’s only money,’ she replied.
‘Money he desperately needs,’ Marco said. ‘Money he thinks will save him.’
‘From you?’ Claudia’s voice was small.
‘He doesn’t know it’s me,’ Marco said. ‘I’ve been squeezing him dry, pressuring him from all sides, waiting for him to make a mistake.’
She stared up at him, appalled all over again by what she was hearing. He was consumed by his need for revenge and she was to be part of that. His conquest of her was linked in his mind to the destruction of the man who had ruined his family.
‘It was Vasile who hurt your family, not me,’ she said. ‘What have I ever done to you to make you treat me like this?’
‘Enough,’ Marco said, suddenly closing the distance between them and bringing his mouth down on hers.
For a fraction of a second she wondered what he meant by the word enough. Did he mean that she’d done enough to deserve his revenge, or that they’d done enough talking?
Then all her thoughts were blown away as a surge of sensation rose up through her body. Marco was plundering her mouth with a ki
ss that was forceful and possessive. And incredibly erotic.
She tried to pull away but hot arousal sizzled along her nerve endings, obliterating any thought of resistance from her mind. She felt his hands sweeping quickly over her, striping off her blouse, unhooking her bra. Then reaching under her skirt to tug down her lacy briefs.
The next moment he lifted her on to the wide leather topped desk, pushing things out of the way impatiently. She was lying on her back with her knees bent. Her skirt had ridden up to show the wide band of lace at the top of her hold-ups and she was still wearing her high-heeled shoes. She moved her feet, intending to kick them off.
‘Leave them on,’ Marco commanded, pushing forward between her legs so that he was kneeling over her, his arms braced on either side of her shoulders.
She stared up at him, hearing her own breath already coming in shallow gasps as she anticipated his lovemaking.
All the unpleasant emotions that had been raging through her only minutes earlier seemed to have been converted into hot, physical desire. Maybe it was a subconscious act of protection against more pain. Or maybe it was simply that she still burned with sexual longing for Marco. Whatever the reason, she was suddenly desperate for him to make love to her.
His black hair fell down over his forehead, but it did not soften his appearance. His dark eyes were narrowed with intent and there was a fierce set to his jaw line.
Without saying a word, he dipped forward and took her nipple deep into his mouth. He kissed it roughly, drawing it into a diamond-hard peak of throbbing sensation. Then he moved to the other breast and repeated his actions. Her whole body trembled and she arched her back, pressing her shoulders down against the hard surface of the desk and thrusting her breasts up towards him.
Then he pulled back and in one fluid movement dropped down so that his head was between her legs.
Claudia gasped and tried to sit up, suddenly unnerved by that extra level of intimacy. But his hands were moving, pushing her back down on the desk, then forcing her skirt higher, before sliding round to hold on to her bottom to keep her still.
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