She crossed the large living room, furnished with delicate tables and chairs that looked as if they belonged on a film set. On a distinctly antique-looking coffee table was the most beautifully arranged basket of fruit, wine, cheese and crackers and, standing behind that, a spectacular arrangement of flowers. In front of the basket was a note.
Sadie picked it up and opened the handwritten envelope.
Sadie,
I hope you will join me in the Rose Room for breakfast at eight tomorrow morning. I’ve invited Calli and Cecily. I’d like to take this opportunity to get to know all of you better.
Monika
She walked to the window, remembering how nice Monika had been when she and Antonio had married, how genuinely pleased she’d been, even berating Sebastien when he’d talked of challenges. The hand of friendship had been extended then, but now she wondered how much longer she would be in Antonio’s life to nurture such friendship.
With a sigh she turned and walked through large white double doors and into a bedroom, again decorated in delicate pastels, although the furnishings and paintings were more modern, blending two styles together effortlessly. Could she and Antonio blend their differences so easily?
The question lingered in her mind as she heard his footsteps on the polished wood of the living room. She turned, ready to face him, but his expression was worried as he walked into the bedroom and he didn’t even register that they stood in the only bedroom of the suite.
‘Is something wrong? Is it Leo?’ she asked, a heaviness filling her stomach, making her feel nauseous with dread.
He looked at her for a moment, as if he’d only just registered her presence. ‘No, nothing is wrong with Leo. I was thinking about Stavros. We haven’t seen each other for several months. We’ve just been catching up.’
He didn’t enlighten her further and she didn’t want to ask. She didn’t want to know that he might have told his friend that he’d made a mistake marrying her, becoming a father.
‘Monika left a lovely note,’ she began and watched as Antonio pulled off his jacket, laying it over the arm of the sofa at the bottom of the bed.
When he still didn’t come out of his black mood, she tried again. ‘She wants Calli, Cecily and me to join her for breakfast tomorrow.’
‘Then you must.’ He looked at her, a strange expression on his face, and she had the unnerving sensation that the distance between them was becoming greater. ‘I’m going to have a shower. Alejandro, Sebastien, Stavros and I have a game of snooker planned for this evening after the cocktails, so you and the girls can get better acquainted then.’
Sadie stood transfixed as he pulled off his shirt, the memory of touching his chest, feeling his strength beneath her fingers rushing back at her. Had those sexually charged nights really happened?
‘Care to join me?’
Shock pulsed through her as she realised she’d been staring at him like a naïve and lovesick teenager. Colour rushed to her cheeks and she stammered slightly, ‘No, not now.’
He stood there, stripped to the waist, his dark eyes watchful and his mood lightening, becoming playful. ‘Not now? I will hold you to that, mia bella.’
She was rooted to the spot. She wanted to hurl abuse at him, accuse him of wanting her for nothing other than to warm his bed and make the façade of their marriage appear real. Then, to her horror, he crossed the room towards her, his heady masculine scent invading her senses.
‘It has been too long since we shared a bed, no?’ His accent had deepened and she knew she was in danger of moving towards him, of falling into his arms and tasting the passion they’d shared on their honeymoon. She wanted to pretend he loved her, pretend that everything was perfect, but of course all his flirting was only about creating the façade of love and happiness he wanted to portray to his friends.
‘That may be so—’ she finally found her voice, a very sharp and tart voice ‘—but being here in this room together, sleeping in that bed, will change nothing.’
He stroked her face gently with the back of his fingers and she almost sighed with pleasure. She bit down hard on the sound. There was no way she was going to let him know what he did to her, how much she yearned for his touch, his kiss. Him.
‘Is that a challenge, mia bella?’
‘No,’ she gasped, horrified when her voice came out as a husky whisper.
‘I think it is.’ He lowered his head and brushed his lips over hers and she couldn’t help her eyes closing, couldn’t stop the longing which filled her.
He stepped away from her, a wickedly satisfied smile on his face. ‘Until later.’
* * *
It had taken all of Antonio’s willpower to step away from Sadie earlier and he’d sought refuge under the cold jets of water, needing to get himself back in control. That control hadn’t lasted long as he’d escorted Sadie, dressed in a sexy blue figure-hugging dress, to the cocktails. Hot need had coursed through him as he’d watched her laugh and talk with Monika.
He’d been aware of Stavros watching him questioningly as he’d stood protectively close to Calli. As if a woman confident enough to carry off such a stunningly short gold dress needed protection. Antonio’s discomfort had increased as he’d witnessed Alejandro so obviously loved-up with his fiancée, Cecily, dressed in a sexy dress which had meant Alejandro only had eyes for her.
Thankfully it was now time to leave the ladies and the love-charged atmosphere and head to the snooker room with the men, for a game of snooker and a few glasses of fine whisky, as was customary when they stayed with Sebastien.
What wasn’t customary was for any of them to have wives or fiancées waiting for them in their suites. Sebastien sure as hell had excelled himself setting the challenge when they were all last together in St Moritz playing poker.
Now he had to see this through to the end and act the part of a man deeply in love with the mother of his child. A child he’d known nothing about, who had been kept secret from him for almost four years. Could any man forgive that?
Stavros had married Calli, possibly to appease his grandfather, but he’d married her. From what he’d seen of his friend and Calli together only half an hour ago, when they thought they were unobserved, they were certainly a couple enjoying the spark of physical attraction which he and Sadie had somehow left behind on their paradise island.
‘Antonio, ciao.’ As ever, Alejandro teased him.
‘Buona sera. Now, are we playing snooker or fooling around?’ Antonio strode into the snooker room, lit by the low light over the table. He caught sight of his reflection in the three bay windows and forced a smile. Nobody would believe he was a newly married man in love if he scowled like that and even though it irritated him how much things had changed he was determined it wouldn’t show.
‘I don’t think any of us are fooling around any more,’ Stavros said as he joined them in the snooker room.
‘Isn’t that what Sebastien intended?’ Antonio put in as he selected a cue and chalked the end, blowing the dust away as he looked across the table at Stavros. ‘He wanted us to see that life is about more than our inherited fortunes. He wanted us to find what he’s found.’
‘And have we?’ Alejandro asked with a raised brow of speculation.
A tense silence settled around the room, each looking at the other two, none prepared to take the subject any further. Antonio thought of Sadie. He’d never told either Stavros or Alejandro of their brief but passionate affair, but he had told Sebastien in a moment of uncustomary low spirits over whisky one night. He’d confessed that if his life had been different, if he hadn’t had the expectations he’d had to live up to, he would have wanted more from those two hot nights.
Sadie had been the only woman he’d wanted to be something more than a passing distraction. It had been his fast-approaching marriage to Eloisa and the duty he had to his family name which had made him walk away from her. An Englishwoman would never have been welcomed into his family, not when his mother had made it clear how much
she loved Eloisa, and his father had always intended two of Milan’s oldest families would be united by marriage. A marriage contract which had been settled many years previously by a father so cold and calculating he’d never given anyone’s feelings a thought, least of all those of his only child.
‘We have completed our challenges, have we not?’ Antonio avoided committing himself to any such declaration, pushing the shadow of the past away.
Stavros leant over the snooker table and lined up the white to take the first shot. The sound of the ball against the reds was all that could be heard as he and Alejandro watched in silence.
‘Gentlemen.’ Sebastien’s voice cracked through the tension and each of them looked at him as he entered, his slim and handsome face full of smug satisfaction. ‘We should toast your success.’
He moved into the room while several bottles of vintage whisky were brought in and, as Sebastien stood with his back to the windows, the bottles were opened and the amber liquid poured.
Sebastien took a glass and as his staff left them alone in the room he lifted it to them. ‘To your winning and my losing.’
Antonio picked up the whisky, noting the rare vintage. ‘You are opening a special year, Sebastien—and a priceless one.’
‘That’s because whilst I lost the challenge and you all think you have won, I know that really I have won.’ There was amusement in his voice, but Antonio detected a far more serious undertone. Sebastien’s challenge had been much more than a dare thrown down over a game of poker. He’d succeeded in making it life-changing—for all of them, if what he’d seen so far this evening was anything to go by.
‘Because you are going to have to part with half your fortune?’ Alejandro interjected as he joined in the toast. Stavros remained stoically silent as he savoured the vintage nectar.
‘But it’s a fortune I wouldn’t be here to part with if you guys hadn’t pulled me off the side of the Himalayas. A fortune I wouldn’t be able to put to good use by setting up a worldwide search and rescue operation. But the real glory moment is that you have all found what I had hoped you’d find.’
‘My son.’ Antonio spoke without thinking and, whilst he was aware of Stavros’s eyes fixed firmly on him, he kept his focus on Sebastien more than ever now, convinced that he had known of Leo’s existence.
‘Ah, now that was a bonus.’ Sebastien savoured another mouthful from his prized collection. ‘But not what I intended you to discover.’
‘So what was it all about?’ Antonio asked sharply.
Sebastien regarded him thoughtfully, took another sip of whisky and then put down the glass, moving round the table, assessing the balls, as if engrossed in the game which had only just begun.
‘If you are still asking me that, Antonio, you may not yet have found it.’
Alejandro looked at Antonio across the room and for a brief moment he thought he saw the same confusion in his friend’s eyes that he felt. But how could that be when he and Cecily were all loved-up and newly engaged? His and Sadie’s marriage was one of convenience.
The allure of a game of snooker with his three closest friends no longer held him and his mind wandered to Sadie, to the remarks she’d made about their marriage being nothing more than a paper one, for their son.
‘I’m not admitting to anything,’ Antonio joked as he swigged back the last of his whisky and poured a fresh glass. ‘Other than you have lost, Sebastien. We completed our challenges.’
* * *
Sadie had left Monika’s cocktail party soon after the men had moved to the snooker room. Her head was muzzy and she was so tired she could hardly think straight. It hadn’t helped when Antonio had acted the role of lover as he’d joined her in their bedroom and he’d continued that act as they’d started the evening together with cocktails. Had he been letting her know that if he wanted to make her his once more he could? That he could reignite the flames of passion which had consumed them on their honeymoon? Was he once again daring her to resist him?
She missed Leo too. It had been different on their honeymoon. Then she had known he was close by and happy with his nanny. Now, whilst she didn’t doubt he was still happy, he was in London and too far away from her.
The door to the bedroom clicked open and Sadie paused as she brushed her hair and looked into the mirror to see Antonio. Their eyes met in the mirror. The air filled with the spark of sexual attraction and she tried to fight it, tried to ignore it.
‘I thought you’d all be playing snooker into the early hours,’ she said, trying to keep her voice light and casual despite the jolt of desire which had thundered through her as he’d entered the bedroom.
‘I left early, soon after the port appeared.’ He walked across the room and came to stand behind her as she sat at the dressing table. The intensity of his gaze held hers in the mirror and when he placed his hands on her shoulders she wished she was wearing more than the silky nightdress she’d just slipped on after showering.
‘Why was that?’ A teasing huskiness filled her voice as she looked up at his reflection, not daring to turn and look directly into his eyes, knowing that if she did she would be lost. ‘Didn’t you want to indulge in port?’
‘Because I want you and, despite all your claims that we have a marriage only on paper, I know you want me.’ His words were heavily accented and the underlying sensuality undeniable. He gently massaged her shoulders, turning something innocent into something heady and erotic. Her resistance slipped to an all-time low because he was right—she did want him. With every fibre of her body she wanted the man she loved, wanted to immerse herself in the pretence of his love just one more time before she called a halt to the sham of their marriage.
‘It’s not what we agreed.’ Her whisper simmered with desire and for once she didn’t try to hide it, didn’t want to fight it.
‘To hell with what we agreed. Things have changed.’ He stopped massaging her shoulders and she turned to face him, immediately wishing she hadn’t as the powerful attraction between them invaded every cell in her body, became every breath she took.
‘Changed?’ She could only manage that one word as her mind fought to process what he’d said while her body heated with need for him. How could she want a man so much when she knew he didn’t love her?
Because you love him. Because you will always be his.
‘Our honeymoon changed things, Sadie. You can’t deny that. Those hot nights made it a real marriage.’ She looked up at him and as all the doubts she’d ever had about marrying him reared up like an angry horse he took her hand. ‘You are my wife and I want you. Tonight. In my bed.’
She wanted to tell him that she couldn’t, that if he didn’t love her, then they couldn’t continue to be married. She couldn’t live with him, spend blissful nights in his arms as she had done on her honeymoon, knowing he would soon move on, soon want the marriage to end, just as his marriage to Eloisa had. A marriage which had also been full of secrets as well as one of convenience.
‘Antonio...’ She started to speak, started to try to tell him she couldn’t live like this, couldn’t pretend any more. She couldn’t be what he wanted her to be, not even for Leo. She and Leo didn’t belong in this world of wealth and glamour.
As that last thought rang through her mind like church bells across the English countryside, he took her hands and pulled her up and into his embrace. She was lost, utterly and completely, as his kiss brought her to the point of surrender.
‘Don’t fight it, Sadie,’ he whispered against her lips. ‘Let us enjoy tonight.’
She didn’t want to wind her arms up around his neck, didn’t want to push her fingers into his hair, didn’t want to respond to his kiss and press her body against his, but desire and her love for him took over.
His hands caressed her body through the flimsy silk of her nightdress and she knew she couldn’t fight him any longer. She wanted him so much her whole body was on fire.
He stepped back from her, still holding her hand, and led her to
the large bed. From somewhere far away she heard a splash, as if someone had jumped into the nearby outdoor pool. It startled her from the moment, reminding her of her decision to keep a physical distance from him even if she couldn’t keep an emotional one.
‘What was that?’ she asked softly as he let go of her hand and reached up to slide the straps of her nightdress down, first from one shoulder, then the other.
‘I don’t damn well care.’ His voice was husky and deep, his eyes full of desire. ‘All I want is you, Sadie. Now.’
There wasn’t any time to answer before his lips claimed hers in a heady kiss which swept away all thought except being his once more. Tonight, for one last time, she would allow herself to love Antonio Di Marcello.
CHAPTER TWELVE
SADIE’S EMOTIONS WERE all over the place the next morning. She’d gone against her resolve and had slept with Antonio. The hours of hot passionate sex still made her limbs weak. Thoughts of her lack of control filled her with nausea and she had almost no appetite for breakfast, but she couldn’t let Monika down. Cecily and Calli would be there too and she hadn’t had much opportunity to talk with them. Cecily had been engrossed in the handsome Alejandro and Calli had barely left Stavros’s side last night.
She felt nervous and inferior as she slipped on her new floral dress, one she had been assured would be perfect for daytime at a country estate. She took a deep breath to compose herself and entered the Rose Room, to see Monika waiting with a warm smile of greeting.
‘I’m so happy to see you again, Sadie, and looking so beautiful. How is your adorable little boy?’ There was no doubt that Monika was genuinely pleased to see her again, or that she wanted to become friends, not only with her but with Cecily and Calli.
‘He’s well.’ She smiled in spite of the pang of guilt at having left Leo behind in London, but then wasn’t that the lifestyle of the rich and famous?
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