by Mary Lyons
Actually, the champagne seemed to have been a rather good idea, Gina told herself some time later as she and Antonio were consuming their really excellent meal. The one or two glasses…well, three or four, if she was to be strictly honest…were helping to an-aesthetise her desperately unhappy heart.
She obviously must tell him that she had now discovered the truth. That she had put them both through the tortures of hell only because she’d been utterly blind and stupid.
But he already knew that, didn’t he? He’d always known that he was innocent of those terrible accusations she’d made against him. So he was hardly going to be interested to know that she’d seen the light—at last! Other than to be able to point out—at some length, and as cruelly hurtfully as he felt inclined—just what an idiot she’d been.
And she’d have to take it on the chin. Because she deserved it. Even a grovelling apology on her part wasn’t going to make any difference to the way he felt about her.
On top of which…Antonio had, after his long soak in the bath, changed into more comfortable, casual clothes for their informal supper. Unfortunately, he’d chosen to put on a soft black cashmere sweater over a black open-necked silk shirt. Which was definitely not helpful, since he was looking even more handsome and diabolically attractive than usual.
Her other major problem…was that huge bed!
‘Never mind, querida,’ he murmured now, his dark eyes glinting with amusement as he caught her giving a slightly nervous glance at the bed. ‘At least there will be plenty of room for both of us to have a good sleep without disturbing one another, hmm?’ he added, his cool tone of voice throwing cold water over the slightly feverish thoughts which she’d been unable to stop flickering through her mind.
You fool! she told herself roughly. Why should he want you? Especially now that he’s undoubtedly got that voluptuous Carlotta Perez keeping him warm at night!
But Antonio—who must have recently taken up clairvoyance, she told herself grimly—seemed to have no problem in reading her mind.
‘You made a reference, earlier this evening, to Carlotta,’ he drawled, staring down at the tall champagne flute in front of him and slowly revolving the stem between his long, slim, tanned fingers.
‘In fact,’ he added slowly, still avoiding her gaze as he stared down at the golden bubbles in his glass, ‘I must admit to feeling deeply insulted that you should think that I would have anything to do with a woman who caused you—and subsequently myself—such deep unhappiness.’
‘But…but I saw a photograph of you both, in that magazine,’ she protested, suddenly feeling slightly disorientated by the low, deep note of sincerity in his voice. ‘It was only natural… I mean, what else could I think about the two of you? That picture was very…explicit.’
Antonio shrugged his shoulders before raising his head to give her a slightly bitter, twisted smile.
‘It was taken some months ago at a wine-tasting. And was undoubtedly just a piece of bravado on her part, for the camera. But—who knows? Because Carlotta no longer works for my company. In fact, I have no idea what she is doing nowadays.’
There was a long silence as she tried to digest what he’d been saying.
‘I…er…I was very surprised, and, I freely admit, very upset, when I saw that picture in the magazine,’ Gina murmured, throwing him a quick, cautious glance through her eyelashes. ‘I found it hard to really believe, that you and she… Well, to tell you the truth I don’t suppose I’d even have seen the cutting if Roxana hadn’t sent it to me.’ She gave a helpless shrug of her shoulders. ‘Which is why I naturally assumed that…’
‘Roxana!’ he ground out angrily. ‘Believe me, I’m going to kill that sister of mine. Just as soon as I can get my hands on her!’
‘Not if I get there first you won’t!’ Gina told him grimly.
And then, as they caught each other’s eyes, Antonio’s lips began to twitch, and she couldn’t prevent her own lips from curving into a wide, amused smile, before they both burst into loud peals of laughter.
Their shared amusement seemed to clear the air between them. And although she couldn’t pretend that Antonio remained anything other than his recent, sternly controlled self, Gina was highly relieved to feel the heavy, ominous dark cloud lifting slightly from her slim shoulders.
However, by the time their meal was over—and it was clearly time for bed—she once again found herself prey to increasing nervous strain and apprehension.
As Antonio stripped off the black cashmere sweater and began unbuttoning his black silk shirt she distractedly waved aside his suggestion that she might wish to use their communal bathroom.
‘No, you go first,’ she muttered, picking up a magazine she’d been reading on the plane and trying to avoid looking at Antonio as he removed his shirt and began undoing the zip of his trousers.
Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do to control the increasingly rapid beat of her heart as his naked figure walked casually past her towards their en suite bathroom.
Glancing fleetingly through her eyelashes at the broad, powerful strength of his shoulders and muscular arms made her feel quite weak. And it was only when he turned and closed the door behind him that she felt able to relax and try to pull herself together.
Goodness knows how she was going to get through this night, she told herself miserably. Because she still couldn’t seem to handle the effect that Antonio had on her—both in bed and out of it.
By the time he’d returned to the bedroom, and was slipping naked between the sheets on the far side of the bed, she was in such a state of nervous tension that she practically bolted into the bathroom.
Maybe a shower might help to calm her down—and also take her mind off the unhappy prospect of spending a long, lonely night lying awake beside her husband. Or…or could this be her one last chance to try and save her marriage?
But by the time she’d washed her hair and was blowing dry the long, pale gold strands, she was in a total state of indecision. Swinging mentally this way and that, she simply couldn’t decide what to do. The problem was that it was she who’d mentioned the dreaded word: divorce. If she attempted some sort of seduction then she would have to face the cruel possibility that he might reject her.
However, as she was brushing her now dry hair, Gina realised that she had to pull herself together.
Unfortunately, the one part of her mind which controlled reason and logic was lecturing her severely, telling herself not to be such an idiot as to court disaster. While the other, emotional half didn’t appear to be taking a blind bit of notice. It was only concerned with carefully brushing her hair and dabbing her favourite scent on her pulse-points, before turning around and glancing critically at her naked body in the floor-to-ceiling mirror.
You do know that you’re about to make an enormous fool of yourself, don’t you? her sane, sensible mind warned her.
But the emotional sapphire-blue eyes were staring defiantly back at her in the mirror, clearly determined to take this very last possible chance of saving her marriage.
However, by the time she’d gathered up enough courage to leave the bathroom, Gina saw that Antonio had turned off his bedside light and was lying with his back to her, apparently fast asleep. The only light switched on in the room was that of her own bedside lamp, whose dim glow barely pierced the surrounding darkness.
Realising that she had probably spent too long in the bathroom, she hesitated for a moment in the open doorway. And then, giving a brief shrug of her slim shoulders, she moved silently across the carpet, slipping naked into bed beside Antonio.
Lying silently for a few moments, she was just about to turn off her own light when she realised that, although he might appear to be fast asleep, it was obvious from the slightly uneven rhythm of his breathing that her husband was still very much awake.
Taking a deep breath, she rolled carefully across the bed towards him and slowly put out a hand to touch him, very lightly, on the shoulder.
; CHAPTER NINE
‘ANTONIO…?’ she whispered softly, gently resting the tips of her fingers on his broad shoulder.
‘Hmm…?’
‘I was just…er…just wondering if you were still awake?’
‘Yes. Obviously,’ he grunted.
‘Oh…good.’
‘Go to sleep, Gina,’ he muttered.
‘I can’t. I’m not sleepy,’ she murmured, her fingers moving very slowly, barely touching his skin.
‘You’ve had a long journey. You must be tired.’
‘Well, no…as it happens, I’m not.’ She hesitated for a moment, allowing her fingers to trail gently down over his muscular back. ‘But, of course, if you are feeling very tired…?’
‘I did not say that,’ he corrected her quietly in the darkness.
‘No, you didn’t,’ she agreed, her fingertips continuing to move in a gentle, feather-light touch over his smooth, warm skin.
‘I was merely concerned for you. It will be a long day tomorrow.’
‘Yes, I know. But the thing is…I do want to talk to you.’
‘Humph!’
She wasn’t at all sure what that slight grunt signified, but, encouraged by the fact that he hadn’t moved away—or commented on the touch of her fingers, now tracing delicate lazy patterns over the broad expanse of his back—she decided to try and take another small step forward.
‘There is something that I want…that I need to say to you,’ she whispered softly.
‘Oh, yes?’
‘Umm…’
‘And what is it that you need to say?’ he murmured.
‘Well…it is a little difficult…talking to your back,’ she pointed out quietly, before leaning forward to gently press her warm lips to his shoulderblade, while lowering her hand to rest it lightly on the curve of his waist.
There was a long…a very long, heart-stopping silence, before Antonio eventually gave a deep, heavy sigh.
‘Very well, Gina,’ he muttered, before slowly rolling on to his back.
Raising his arms and clasping his hands behind his head, he settled himself comfortably back against the pillows. ‘What do you want to talk to me about?’
So far—so good! she told herself, feeling incredibly nervous. But she wasn’t under any illusion about the difficulty she faced. The way he kept referring to her by her Christian name, and not his usual, far more affectionate night-time use of ‘querida’ or ‘darling’ was, quite frankly, an ominous sign.
‘I…I felt I should say…if it isn’t too late…that I don’t want a divorce,’ she murmured softly, leaning on her elbow and gazing down in the dim light at her husband.
‘Really?’ he drawled. The expression on his face was totally inscrutable, giving her no clue as to what was going through his mind.
‘No… That’s not what I want at all.’
‘And what do you want, Gina?’
‘Well…’ She took a deep breath to steady her nerves, allowing her free hand to settle lightly on his stomach.
‘Well…as you can imagine, I’ve given our marriage a great deal of thought,’ she began slowly. ‘I was so much…so very much in love with you. So deeply and truly happy. Which is why I now think…why I’m now almost certain…that I simply couldn’t cope with…with everything. With being told by Carlotta and your old uncle about the background to our wedding, for instance, only moments before I learned of my grandfather’s death.’
‘Yes, I, too, have been aware of that fact for some time,’ he told her quietly.
‘But…but you never said anything?’
‘Why do you think I didn’t ask you for a divorce long ago? Why would I have put up with such unhappiness and torment if I hadn’t believed you to be half out of your mind with grief?’
‘Oh, Antonio…!’ She shut her eyes for a moment against the weak tears which were threatening to fall at any moment. ‘I’ve been such a fool!’
‘I won’t disagree with that statement!’ he told her grimly.
‘But…I’ve now had time to think about…er…what happened,’ she said, hesitantly trailing her fingers over his flat stomach, one half of her mind noting the instinctive clenching of his muscles at her touch as she tried to gather enough courage to say what must be said.
‘The thing is…well, I don’t know how to say this…but I only learned today that all those terrible things I said—those really awful accusations I threw at you about only marrying me for my money—were totally untrue!’
‘Well, well!’ he said mockingly. ‘Is that the reason behind your sudden appearance here in Spain?
She stared down at him for a moment, tempted to take the easy route out of her difficulty, but finally forced herself to shake her head.
‘No…I’m afraid that I haven’t even got the excuse of dropping everything in London to rush here and beg your pardon. Although I am trying to ask for your forgiveness, of course,’ she admitted sorrowfully.
‘The fact is,’ she continued with a heavy sigh, ‘Roxana begged me so hard and so long to come to her wedding that I finally agreed to do so. And it was only when I arrived, and got around to reading the letter from my lawyer which arrived at the house in London this morning, that the scales finally fell from my eyes.’
‘Well, at least that is an honest answer.’ He shrugged. ‘I must confess that I have been wondering whether you had received the letter from my lawyers. And when—if at all—you would get around to acknowledging the fact.’
‘Oh, Antonio—do be fair!’ she protested. ‘I may have been stupid, and hurtful, and…and behaved most cruelly to you. But you must know that I would never, ever try to brush everything under the carpet. Not once I’d learned that my wild accusations were total moonshine!’
‘Maybe not,’ he agreed slowly. ‘But that letter was sent by my lawyers well over a month ago.’
‘Yes, well, I know that now,’ she told him earnestly. ‘But my lawyer wrote to say that he’s been in hospital, for an operation…I can show you his letter, if you like…and that’s why I only heard today.’
‘Ah, well…’ He gave a heavy sigh.
‘The thing is,’ she added hurriedly, ‘I really do owe you the most fulsome and abject apology. I…I really can’t believe that I’ve been such an idiot all these months. In fact, I can hardly bear to recall even half the terrible things I said to you. And…and when you accused me of not having faith and trust in you—you were absolutely right. I was stupid, and selfish, and…and…’
‘It’s all right, querida,’ he told her softly.
‘No, it’s not,’ she snapped nervously. ‘I’ve still got a lot of things to say. And if you keep on interrupting I’ll lose my train of thought!’
‘Ah, yes—of course. Forgive me,’ he murmured, doing his best to keep a straight face, but unable to prevent his dark eyes from gleaming with amusement.
‘I know you’re laughing at me—you damn man!’ she told him crossly. ‘But I am trying to apologise, and to confess how desperately sorry I am about my horrid behaviour.’
‘You’re absolutely right,’ he assured her solemnly. ‘I am a great believer in confession. It’s supposed to be good for the soul, I understand.’
‘Well…I’d be grateful if you’d just shut up and let me get on with it,’ she ground out, in a thoroughly un-loverlike tone of voice. ‘Now, where was I?’
‘That is a very good question.’ He grinned. ‘How about pressing the “fast forward” button and coming straight to the bit where you tell me that, despite everything which has happened, you still love me more than life itself?’
“‘More than life itself”? Hmm…I think that might be going just a little too far,’ she teased, trailing her fingers up over his deeply tanned skin, through the curly dark hair covering his broad chest, and back down the slim line of hair leading past his waist towards his manhood.
‘But I’m happy to talk about how much I love and need you,’ she added softly. ‘Far from wanting a divorce, I want to stay married to
you for the rest of my days. If that’s all right with you, of course…?’
‘Yes, I don’t think I have a problem with that,’ he murmured. ‘However, while I hate to interrupt this “talk” of yours, I have to confess that I am finding the touch of your hand extremely…er…distracting.’
‘No! Really?’ She turned her head to gaze at him, her blue eyes wide with well-simulated surprise.
‘Hmm…yes, I fear so,’ he told her, his lips twitching with laughter. ‘Although I do find myself wondering—strange as it may seem—whether you could possibly be attempting to seduce me?’
‘Me? Seduce you?’ She gave a low, breathless laugh. ‘Darling Antonio—how could I possibly do anything like that? I’m English, for heaven’s sake!’
‘Ah, yes. I must have forgotten that important fact,’ he drawled.
‘And I need hardly remind you,’ she said, slowly slipping her hand down beneath the sheet, towards the matt of dark, curly hair at the apex of his thighs, ‘that nice, well brought-up English women would never dream of doing anything so extraordinarily out of character!’
‘No…no, of course not,’ he agreed, before she heard him gave a slight catch of breath as her fingers discovered that he was already strongly aroused.
Ah! So maybe her cool, controlled husband wasn’t quite as calm and nonchalant as he might like her to think, Gina told herself, surprised to discover that she was enjoying playing the part of a wicked seductress.
It was a completely new role for her, of course, since Antonio had always been very much the dominant figure in their lovemaking. And she’d been more than happy to leave the initiative to him. But now…well, maybe it was time to turn the tables? To see if she could shake that strong iron control of his?
‘As I recall, you were saying a few moments ago how much you loved and needed me,’ he said blandly, not betraying by a flicker of an eyelid the fact that they were both aware of her increasingly intimate touch. ‘Perhaps you’d like to tell me more about that?’
