Untamed Italian, Blackmailed Innocent

by Jacqueline Baird

  ‘I lost my phone—or it was stolen. I only replaced it today,’ Sally interjected.

  He glanced at the box on the table. ‘So it would seem. Anyway, I told Jemma I would help her find you. A call to a detective agency with the name of the hotel you stayed at and I had your address within twenty-four hours.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘Oh? Is that all you have to say?’ he asked quietly, his dark eyes holding hers. ‘Aren’t you in the least curious as to why I came instead of Jemma?’

  ‘I never really gave you much thought.’

  ‘I can’t say I blame you.’ He shook his dark head. ‘I never gave you any consideration when I forced you into an affair, and for that I am truly sorry.’

  Zac? Apologizing? What was wrong with the man? ‘Forget it. I have,’ she lied. This soft-spoken, caring Zac was doing strange things to her heart-rate.

  ‘Damn it, Sally.’ He got to his feet. ‘I can’t forget.’ And he paced the length of the room, which for him was about six steps, looking strangely agitated. Then he dropped down beside her. She tried to get up, but he looped an arm around her waist and urged her back down. His contrite attitude hadn’t lasted long, Sally thought, squirming to break free.

  ‘Please, Sally, sit still and listen,’ he demanded. ‘I deserve that much, surely?’

  She stopped struggling. He didn’t deserve anything in her book, but he was too big to fight, and to be honest she was curious.

  ‘I missed you like hell when we parted, Sally, and I realised I did not want to forget you—could not forget you.’ His dark, serious eyes sought hers. ‘Not then, not now, not ever.’

  She looked away. ‘If this is a trick to sweet-talk me into marrying you for the baby, forget it. My mum is dead. I owe you nothing,’ she said bluntly. But with his hand curving around her waist, his long fingers resting on the side of her now rounded stomach and the warmth of his body against hers, he was arousing a host of old, familiar emotions.

  ‘It is no trick, I swear. I had made up my mind to go to London and ask you to forgive me for being such an arrogant, overbearing idiot even before Raffe told me your mother had died. I used her death as an excuse when you asked me because I am no good at revealing my emotions. Not that I had many until I met you,’ he said dryly. ‘The moment I saw you enter Westwold that day, I wanted you with a passion I had never felt before. I smiled at you, and you didn’t notice me.’ He gave her a droll look. ‘And I am quite large to overlook…’

  ‘Dented your ego…?’ she quipped, and met his eyes—which was a mistake. The warmth and the hint of vulnerability in the dark depths made her breath catch in her throat. Maybe, just maybe, he was telling the truth. A tiny flicker of hope ignited inside her. He no longer seemed quite the hard, overbearing Zac she had known, and though she did not want to marry him, they could perhaps come to some suitable arrangement.

  ‘Yes. That and more. It was a salutary experience, and probably long overdue,’ he admitted ruefully.

  He sounded sincere, but Sally still didn’t quite trust him—though she did give him an explanation. ‘I was too worried about Mum to notice anything much that day. Her doctor had told me the weekend before she had not long left.’

  Zac’s arm tightened around her. ‘Now I feel even worse.’ He grimaced. ‘I coerced you into being my lover at a really low point in your life, and I can only say sorry again, Sally. But I would be lying if I said I was sorry for making love to you. I think I fell in love with you on sight. My first thought was that you looked bridal…Maybe my subconscious was trying to tell me something even then.’

  Sally drew in a deep, shocked breath. Maybe once she would have been ecstatic to hear Zac mention the L word, but now she was doubtful.

  ‘From day one you confused me. I found myself changing my mind about you over and over again. But from our first kiss in the limousine I knew I had to make you mine.’ He stopped and was silent for a while. ‘The night I came to your apartment—the night you left me aching and frustrated and I stormed out—I was determined to have nothing more to do with you.’

  ‘I gathered that,’ Sally shot back smartly. ‘I think it was you telling me to stick my head in the cooler box that convinced me.’

  Zac’s lips twitched in the beginnings of a smile. ‘Not one of my better moments, Sally, and the only excuse I have is I was out of my mind with frustration. I wanted you so badly.’ He caught her hand and curled it in his own. ‘But later, when we did make love, I realised why you stopped me. It was the understandable nerves of an innocent.’

  Nerves of a not so innocent sort tightened at the warmth of the hand holding hers. Zac was getting to her, making her remember things she had tried to forget, and she tugged free.

  ‘Wrong. I caught sight of the two of us in the mirrored wardrobe and was reminded of where I was. My dad’s old love-nest. He graciously gave it to me at my mum’s instigation, after persuading her to sell the family home so he could buy himself a much grander apartment in Notting Hill. Mum agreed because the insensitive swine actually told her it would help with death duties.’

  It still enraged her even now when she thought about it, and once she’d got started Sally could not stop.

  ‘I hated that apartment. The first week I moved in the phone never stopped ringing with women trying to contact him. I changed the number in the end, and painted the whole place, replaced his furniture with my own. But nothing could change what that studio was in my eyes. The only reason I set the guidelines on our deal to that apartment was because it never failed to remind me of the faithlessness of men, and was therefore entirely appropriate for what you had in mind.’

  Sally had said too much. But digging over the past had aroused emotions she did not want to face. She just wanted Zac to leave, and she tried to rise.

  ‘Dio!’ Zac exclaimed. ‘This just gets worse and worse. But they say confession is good for the soul, and you are going to let me finish, Sally.’

  His arm tightened around her waist, the expression on his face one of grim determination.

  ‘I had no intention of seeing you again after that night, but when you and Al walked into that restaurant the next night, I saw red. I was crazy with jealousy—a first for me…I was frantic. I wanted to walk over and rip his head off.’

  There was no humour in his tone, but Sally had to bite back the laugh that bubbled up in her throat at his outrageous statement. She didn’t think he would appreciate being laughed at.

  ‘Instead I was sociable and polite, and you ignored me, then deliberately insulted me.’

  ‘What did you expect? A medal?’ Sally slotted in.

  ‘Don’t be facetious, Sally. I am serious. I was furious to the point of mindless rage with you, which was why I decided to use your father’s dishonesty against you. I knew you responded to me, and I didn’t care how I got you as long as I did. I behaved disgracefully, and I am thoroughly ashamed of my actions. But I can’t be ashamed of the result. And, though I bitterly regret any hurt I caused you, I will never regret making love to you. It was the most amazing, memorable experience of my life and always will be. What I am trying to say, Sally, is that I love you, and I want to marry you, and I did long before I knew about the baby.’

  Sally frowned, her blue eyes wide and wary, searching his face, looking for some sign that would convince her he was telling the truth. But with her parents as an example she had spent too long mistrusting love, and was too cynical about most men to immediately believe Zac.

  ‘Humph!’ she snorted ‘You could have fooled me. You walked in here, and when you realised I was pregnant you insulted me, and then demanded I marry you. Why should I believe a word you say now? I remember our first limousine ride as well. When you told me you were not into commitment, and had no intention of ever marrying, but were up for an affair with no strings attached. So you will excuse me for believing your transformation from arrogant, commitment-shy ex-lover to soft-talking want-to-be husband is just a tad too convenient.’

  ‘You do
n’t believe me, and I deserve that. But Sally, if you will just give me another chance to let me prove how much I love you…I won’t pressure you into making love as I did before, though it will be hell waiting. I need you, want you so much. You get under my skin like no other woman has ever done.’

  At his mention of other woman Sally was brought back to reality with a thud. Margot’s image loomed large in her mind. She reached for her cup and took a sip of tea to control her nerves before she responded.

  ‘As for being the only woman to get under your skin—that is no great accolade, given how many get into your bed. Margot for one. You must take me for an idiot, Zac. You tried to seduce me on the Monday, took her to your bed on Tuesday, and blackmailed me into sex the following night.’

  Sally watched his reaction and saw the effect her words had on him. His great body tensed and all the colour drained from his face, leaving him grey and looking older than his years.

  ‘You really think so little of me that you believe I am capable of such deplorable behaviour?’

  ‘I know so,’ she said bluntly.

  ‘I have never had sex with Margot in my life. In fact, you are the only woman I have made love to in well over a year,’ he declared outrageously.

  He actually sounded sincere, Sally thought bitterly. Going by her own limited experience with Zac, he was a highly sexed, three or four times a night man. Zac celibate for over a year was a joke…Why was she wasting her time listening to him?

  ‘I found her black hairband, clips and perfume in the cabinet in your bathroom. So don’t bother to lie.’

  For a moment he was silent, his brows drawn together in a frown. That had stopped his fairy tale of love and marriage, Sally thought cynically.

  Then suddenly he threw his head back, a broad grin lighting his face. ‘So that is why the last night we were together you changed from my Salmacis, my dream lover, to a cold-eyed witch,’ he declared. Taking her cup from her hand, he placed it on the table, and with his other around her waist tugged her towards him.

  ‘What…?’ was as far as Sally got as he kissed her with a hungry, driven passion that knocked the breath from her body. The suddenness of his action gave her no time to build a defence, and she reacted with helpless hunger to the pressure of his mouth, welcomed the thrust of his tongue with her own.

  Her instinctive response was all the encouragement he needed to continue, with a heady sensuality that drove her almost mindless. He groaned and lifted her bodily onto his lap, his arms like steel bands around her. The swiftness of his action, the tightness of his hold, the sudden awareness of his intensely aroused body, brought her back to her senses, and she flung back her head.

  ‘Stop it, Zac,’ she gasped, pushing at his chest. ‘Let go of me.’

  ‘Never,’ he said.

  But surprisingly, he did slacken his hold on her, and jerkily Sally slid back onto the sofa. But one arm remained gently yet firmly around her waist, preventing her moving any further away.

  Breathless, she brushed the hair out of her eyes and glared angrily at him. ‘What did you do that for?’

  ‘I had to.’ He grinned: a broad smile, revealing his perfect white teeth. ‘Because you gave me the first glimmer of hope I have had in months,’ he said, totally unrepentant.

  ‘Me?’ She was confused, and still shaken from the assault on her senses.

  ‘Yes. I realised you were crazy jealous because you thought I had made love to Margot.’

  ‘Don’t flatter yourself,’ she huffed, but without much force.

  ‘I wouldn’t dare with you,’ he said dryly. ‘You have the ability to chop me off at the knees with a glance. But I was telling you the truth before, Sally. And as for the stuff you found in the bathroom cabinet, Raffe and his very attractive black-haired wife were using the apartment while he worked on the transition at Westwold. After I arrived he went back to Italy on the Monday, and I moved in. It is a company apartment—not only for my use.’

  ‘Oh.’ Sally felt a fool. ‘I didn’t know Raffe Costa was married.’

  ‘He has been for five years, and they are desperate for a child.’ This time his smile was rueful. ‘I think he will be pleased for us, but hardly ecstatic given the circumstances.’

  ‘There is no us,’ she said automatically, but now she wasn’t quite so adamant. If she had known what she knew now that night in the apartment, would she have been so nasty to Zac?

  ‘Oh, yes, there is, Sally,’ Zac assured her in a husky tone. And, turning towards her, he ran his long fingers through the silken fall of her hair to cup the back of her head in his strong hand. ‘And you are going to marry me,’ Zac told her in a firm voice. ‘After we parted I spent the most miserable few months of my life, worrying about what you were doing and who you were with. I had the most dreadful nightmares. I’d wake up in the night sweating, imagining you with another man. Or I’d dream you were in my arms and wake up devastated to be without you…I am not going through that again, and I am not going anywhere until you promise to marry me.’

  Sally looked at him uncertainly. Had he really suffered so much without her? She saw the strain in his face and lifted a finger to trace the deep groove from his nose to his mouth. She looked into his eyes and saw he was deadly serious.

  ‘You once told me you wanted three children while you were young enough to enjoy them. Think about it, Sally. Do you want this baby to be an only child, like you and I were, or to have a few siblings to play with?’

  ‘I did not mean that. I was only trying to put you off.’

  ‘You didn’t succeed.’ And, taking his arm from her waist, he tilted her head back against the soft cushion. He withdrew his hand and stood up. He stared down at her, as though searching for words, and then slipped his hand into his pants pocket.

  ‘I know you, Sally, and I’d bet my life it never occurred to you to get rid of this baby—though plenty of women would.’

  ‘You’d win that bet.’

  ‘I also know that with your father as an example marriage might scare you.’ To her utter amazement he dropped down on one knee and, taking her hand in his other hand, he produced a small square box. ‘Sally, my Salmacis, please, will you marry me? I love you, and I swear I will never betray you.’

  He opened the box to reveal a brilliant sapphire and diamond ring.

  ‘I am not asking you to love me, but to let me love you, as your husband, and who knows…?’

  Sally looked into his eyes and saw the glimmer of moisture that could not dim the blaze of love and sincerity in the dark depths. Suddenly the defences she had built around her heart for years cracked wide-open, a flood of emotion pouring out, and she said, ‘Yes.’

  With an Italian sound of exultation, Zac grasped her hand and slipped the ring on her finger, then pulled her down beside him and kissed her with deep, profound tenderness and a love that touched her soul.

  Sally’s new rug was very convenient, as were the cushions from the sofa. With gentle, shaking hands he undressed her and shed his own clothes. He kissed her again, his hands cupping and caressing the fullness of her breasts and then stroking lower to cradle the still small mound of her tummy. She looked at him and saw the wonder, the awe in his eyes, before he bent his head to press a kiss on her stomach and his child.

  He lifted his head, his dark eyes seeking hers. ‘I won’t hurt you or the baby, will I?’ he asked.

  Sally smiled softly. For once her magnificent, arrogant man did not have all the answers. She responded by reaching for him, her hands curving around his broad shoulders and pulling him down to her. ‘No. I am past the first trimester—it is fine…’ She accentuated the last word and smiled.

  With a shout of joy mingled with relief Zac began to make love to her, with a gentle but tender and passionate intensity that surpassed anything that had gone before. Sally gave herself eagerly, and when Zac finally claimed her as his once more, she arched up to meet him, and they became one in a sunburst of love and life…

  Epilogue

/>   SIXTEEN months later Sally stood in the nursery of their home in Calabria, looking into the cot where Francesco, their son, was finally sleeping after an exciting day.

  She had married Zac in a quiet Christmas wedding at the small church in Villa San Giovanni, the nearest town to his home in the countryside. Zac had insisted she wear white, despite her swelling belly, and the guest list on her side had been Jemma, and Charles and his wife and family, but not her father. Zac had had Raffe and his wife, who had just discovered she was pregnant, Marco and his wife, and a few local friends and employees.

  Francesco had arrived on a beautiful spring day in March, just like today, and was a joy to behold. Sally reached down into the cot and stroked his black curly hair with a gentle hand. He was the image of his father, and just looking at him was enough to make her heart overflow with love and happiness. Today had been his first birthday, and they had thrown a party for a dozen children, from the ages of a few months to ten years old.

  Zac had supposedly been in control of the party. But he had been a bigger hit than the troupe of clowns and jugglers he had hired to entertain the children. Francesco had ridden around on his shoulders, and so had most of the other children. And a riotous game of football, beloved of all Italians, had mostly consisted of Zac running after the ball as the youngsters kicked anywhere and everywhere. Now he was lying in the huge bath in their en suite bathroom, trying to ease his aching bones.

  It seemed incredible to her now that she had ever doubted Zac or been afraid of marriage. He was a wonderful husband, and a devoted father who adored his son. Totally the opposite of her own father, who had married a woman thirty-five years younger than himself within six months of her mum’s death and retired to Spain. Who said crime didn’t pay? she thought, but without the anger and bitterness that had plagued her before. She had accepted that he had never been cut out to be a father, or faithful, and if anything she pitied his new wife…