He imagined how gorgeous they would look in the Caribbean light, gazing lazily up at him as they lay together on the soft white sand, warm water lapping gently at their feet.
Suddenly the image shattered and he found himself picturing her distraught face after he’d confronted her with the truth in her father’s study. The pain and betrayal in her eyes had pierced him like a jagged knife, tearing through his emotional barricades and slicing down to expose his nerves.
But he had been so wrapped up in his own agonising memories when he’d recounted what Vasile had done to his family that somehow Claudia’s pain and distress had become indistinguishable from his own.
Now he let himself remember how horrified she had looked. How completely devastated she’d seemed at the discovery that he’d been using her all along.
A stab of conscience pricked at him.
He pushed it down ruthlessly.
He had wanted to hurt her. He had wanted her to share in the pain that had consumed him for twelve years. It couldn’t have been that much of a surprise to her—she’d always known about his past, about the way their families were connected. It must have simply been frustration that her attempt to pretend ignorance of the past—to slip in past his defences again—had not succeeded.
He would not let her dupe him again. When they’d first met he’d made the mistake of letting down his guard and giving her the benefit of the doubt. That had nearly led to unthinkable consequences.
This time he’d thought that he’d been the one in control—that he’d been the one calling the shots. But now he realised she had started to get under his skin once again, drawing him into her world with her subtle emotional displays.
He’d felt her distress in Wales when she’d wept for her father, and he’d shared her joy when she’d discovered he wasn’t dying. He’d even felt a jolt of protectiveness towards her as it had become clear that she had been deliberately misled.
He jerked to his feet and walked away down the plane, feeling his fingers coil round into tight fists.
The only thing he had to remember was how Claudia had deliberately taken him out of the country, allowing Vasile access to Bianca.
The background noise of the aeroplane engines roared in his ears. He looked at his watch, wishing the journey would be over soon. He hated flying, hated the confinement. Usually he passed the time by burying himself in his work. But he was too distracted to concentrate.
His thoughts turned to Claudia once again—this time to her assertion that Francesca and Vasile were blackmailing her into marriage. He realised that she was probably telling the truth. He believed that they’d lied to her about Hector’s illness, and blackmail was well within Vasile’s capabilities.
Another unwanted jolt of protectiveness towards Claudia made itself felt, but he ignored it. So what if Vasile was using her now? Four years ago she had been acting for Vasile when she’d set Bianca up.
He turned back and looked bitterly at Claudia—still lost in sleep. The only time in his adult life he’d ever slept soundly was during the few months he’d spent with her four years ago. He told himself that his relationship with her had made him soft, had made him let down his guard.
The possibility that he’d slept well because he was happy—because being with Claudia made him happy—drifted into his mind. He clenched his jaw shut and rammed the thought aside.
He wasn’t wrong about her. And she was going to pay for what she’d done.
Claudia stood staring out across the emerald lagoon, hardly able to believe she was actually in the Caribbean, but the tropical sun was shining brightly, heating her body through the thin sarong she had wrapped over her bikini and the warm water was lapping gently at her bare feet. She could see silvery fish flashing past her in the crystal clear water close to the shore, and further out she could see the spectacular breakers where they crashed over the coral reef that surrounded the island, partially protecting the beach from the power of the ocean waves.
Marco had brought her to an exclusive private island resort where they were staying in their own luxury villa in a grove of palm trees, on an idyllic bay reserved for their personal use. The island was close to St Lucia, which was where she had agreed to meet Vasile and Francesca, and Marco had said he would take her there at the right time, although he’d assured her again the wedding would not be going ahead.
‘Beautiful, isn’t it?’
Marco’s voice beside her made her jump.
‘Do you have to sneak up on me like that?’ she said touchily, continuing to stare resolutely out across the lagoon.
‘I didn’t sneak,’ he said. ‘You were obviously lost in thought.’
‘I was wondering how to get off this island,’ she said. She still had to find a way to make him change his mind about letting her marry Primo—she couldn’t let him carry out his threat to take the incriminating evidence about her father to the police. ‘I don’t like being your prisoner here. Why couldn’t you have taken us to a normal hotel like normal people?’
‘You’re not my prisoner,’ he said. ‘You can leave any time you choose—just ask Pierre and he’ll take you over to St Lucia. But I’m surprised you don’t like it here. I thought you’d enjoy the isolation. Apart from reminding you of your grandmother, I thought that was the main attraction of the cottage in Wales.’
‘Don’t do that,’ Claudia snapped.
‘What?’ Marco asked.
‘Don’t keep acting like you know me, like we’re…friends or something.’
‘I do know you. I made it my business to know you,’ he said. ‘And we’ve never been just friends.’
Something in the tone of his voice made a spark of electricity prickle across her skin and she turned to look at him.
She drew in an inadvertent breath of appreciation as she laid eyes on him—he truly was a magnificent man. He was only wearing his swimming trunks, and nothing was left to her imagination—not the impressive width of his shoulders and powerful biceps, or the well-defined muscles of his chest and stomach. His bronzed skin glowed with vitality in the warm sunlight, making her want to reach out and touch him, to feel the potent masculine energy that was flowing through his body.
She lifted her gaze to his face, determined not to let him catch her ogling him, but she was too late. His eyes bored into her with an intensity that let her know that he was well aware of her train of thought.
‘Four years ago, before you left me, it felt like you were my friend,’ she said, ignoring the way her pulse-rate had accelerated, and turned to look back out to sea.
‘That was the whole point,’ Marco said.
‘The whole point?’ She frowned and spun back to stare up him. ‘I thought I was almost…incidental, part of your plan for revenge because I was involved with the people who hurt your family.’
‘You were never incidental,’ Marco said, lifting a hand to trace his fingertips lightly over her cheek.
‘Don’t.’ She shrugged his hand away and took a step backwards, despite the way her body suddenly longed to lean into his.
‘Do we have to go through this every time?’ Marco asked, closing the distance between them and sliding one hand round her waist to pull her closer still. The heat from his powerful body burned through the delicate fabric of her sarong and she felt butterflies of anticipation flutter in her stomach.
But it was wrong. After everything that had happened between them, it was wrong to fall into his arms again. She might have fallen in love with him, but if she had any self-respect she would push him away for good.
‘No. I mean there won’t be any more times,’ she said, ignoring the heavy feeling of loss that settled inside her at the thought of never lying in Marco’s arms again. ‘Not now I know you are just using me.’
‘We made love in Italy, after you knew the truth,’ he said, slipping his other hand under the sarong to cup the curve of her bottom.
‘That wasn’t love,’ Claudia said, suddenly finding the will to push him away and ta
ke another step backwards. As his hands lost contact with her she felt herself sway with intense disappointment—as if she had just lost some vital part of herself.
‘No, it wasn’t,’ Marco agreed. ‘You made your feelings for me plain afterwards when you said that you hated me. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t good sex. Incredible sex.’
He stepped closer once more, his well-toned muscles rippling deliciously beneath his taut bronze skin, sorely testing her resolve to keep her distance. Although the soft sand shifted beneath his feet, he moved with an amazing fluid grace that spoke of power and control.
She gazed at his superb athletic form, bewildered by a haze of conflicting thoughts and emotions. When they’d first met, she’d believed that he was a good man—the kind of man who took care of people. In her heart she’d felt they had made a real connection, but he’d proven her wrong when he’d disappeared. And almost everything he’d done since then had been at odds with her initial belief in him.
‘Is that all it ever was?’ she asked. Could she really have fallen in love with someone so heartless? ‘It felt like so much more.’
‘It was an act,’ he said. ‘We were both acting.’
‘It can’t have been just an act,’ she protested, not caring about saving face in front of him. She was losing—had lost—something that really mattered to her and she needed to come to terms with what had happened. ‘The kindness you showed me, the way you seemed to understand what I was feeling and thinking about everything. You were inside my head and my heart.’
‘I did my job well,’ Marco said, looking down at her dispassionately, despite the tug of some unidentifiable emotion bubbling distractingly inside him. He ignored it—he would not let her get to him again. She was obviously getting desperate—playing another of her games with him. ‘How do you think I got where I am today? When Vasile took everything my family owned I was left with next to nothing. I worked hard to build my business, but it takes more than commitment and effort. To be successful it’s vital to understand what motivates people.’
‘But that’s not what you’re like—I know it isn’t.’ Her eyes were wide as she stared up at him, and he felt his chest ache in a subconscious response to the innocent image she was projecting. She was trying to appeal to his better nature—but that was something that he’d slammed shut the day she’d betrayed Bianca. ‘You’re not the kind of man who uses people and takes what he wants without caring who gets hurt.’
‘You don’t know me,’ he said, suddenly reaching out to drag her hard against him. ‘Because this is exactly what I’m like.’
‘No, I don’t believe it. Let me go!’ She struggled in his arms, trying to pull away, but he tightened his hold on her with one arm clamped around her waist and lifted his other hand to stroke her cheek.
‘You don’t want me to let you go,’ Marco said, dipping his head close to hers so that his mouth hovered only inches above hers. ‘You want me to kiss you senseless. Then make love to you, right here on the sand.’
‘That’s the last thing I want.’ She stopped struggling against him—it was simply making her dangerously aware of his raw masculine sensuality. She took a breath and stood absolutely still, trying to close her mind to the mental picture of making love with Marco on the beach and suppress the feelings that image aroused.
‘Maybe that’s what your head is telling you,’ he said, stepping just far enough away from her to let his smouldering gaze slide lazily down from her head to her toes. ‘But your body is telling you something completely different.’
‘It’s not my head speaking to me,’ Claudia said, doing her best to ignore the physical sensation ignited by the sweep of his gaze. ‘If I listened to my head I’d be on a boat out of here. It’s my heart—in my heart I can’t believe you are doing this.’
‘You ought to be grateful to me,’ Marco said. ‘In two days’ time Vasile will be destroyed and you’ll be free of him.’
‘But what about my father? If I don’t marry him—’
‘Vasile will go to prison whether you marry him or not,’ Marco said. ‘And if I let you go ahead with the wedding you would lose everything. Any funds transferred from your trust fund would be seized to repay Vasile’s debts.’
‘I don’t care about money!’ Claudia gasped. ‘I was doing it to protect my father—to stop Primo revealing damaging information.’
‘What does Vasile say he has on your father?’ Marco asked.
‘I’m not telling you!’ Claudia said. ‘You’ll just use the information yourself.’
‘I don’t believe Vasile has anything,’ Marco said. ‘God knows I’ve invested enough time and money looking for incriminating evidence. Did they show you proof?’
Claudia bit her lip and looked up at Marco, thinking she’d be a fool to tell him anything. But she also knew that Marco was never going to let her marry Primo, so the information was going to come out anyway.
‘He took money from the pension fund,’ she said quietly. ‘I don’t know why he did it—he must have been intending to replace it, but then he got sick.’
A triumphant look flashed across Marco’s face and Claudia stared up at him in agitation. She had the feeling that, yet again, he knew something she didn’t.
‘Vasile embezzled the pension fund, not your father,’ Marco said. ‘Millions of euros. Hard evidence of that was part of the information I picked up from my legal team in Turin.’
‘I don’t…’ Claudia’s voice died away in confusion. ‘But they had evidence. Proof that my father had transferred money.’
‘Did you study them properly?’ Marco asked. ‘Were they original documents?’
‘I don’t know…’ Claudia stared at Marco momentarily stunned. She realised just how much of a fool she’d been. She’d let Primo and Francesca use her without properly questioning what they had told her.
She’d known her father wasn’t guilty, but she’d been too scared to risk being wrong about it. They’d manipulated her perfectly—playing on her love for her father who, they’d told her, was dying. They knew that Claudia would never willingly let anything bad happen to her father. The whole situation had horrified her so much that she’d simply agreed to their demands.
‘Oh, my God!’ she said, covering her face with her hands. She’d let herself be used—had agreed to marry Vasile—and now Marco despised her for her weakness. ‘I’ve been such a fool!’
Marco looked at Claudia, watching her realisation that she had been duped. The change that came over her was so profound that he had no doubt that it was genuine.
A brief, ironic smile flashed across his face as he thought about Vasile’s desperate attempt to save himself from financial ruin. It amused Marco that Vasile clearly had no idea that money would not be anywhere near enough to save him.
But that moment of satisfaction was short-lived. As he stared at Claudia—face buried in her hands and shoulders huddled forward in misery—an unexpected surge of a different emotion churned in the pit of his stomach. He forced it down angrily—he would not let himself feel sorry for her. She deserved whatever she got.
He’d already suspected that she’d been the victim of Vasile and Francesca, but he’d felt no pity for her then. After all, she’d been the one doing their dirty work in the past, and it stood to reason that she knew how they operated. It was her own fault if she was foolish enough to be taken in by them. There was even a certain poetic justice to it. After all, she should pay for her part in what had happened to Bianca.
So why did her obvious distress affect him now?
He realised that she was shaking, despite the heat of the tropical sun. Was she crying? He didn’t think so, but she was obviously experiencing a powerful reaction to the discovery that her stepmother and Vasile had played her for a fool.
Suddenly she dropped her hands and lifted her face to look at him. Her face was startlingly pale and her golden-brown eyes seemed huge.
‘Is it true?’ she asked urgently. ‘Is it true that my father is
safe? That Francesca and Primo can’t hurt him?’
‘Yes,’ Marco answered flatly, forcing down his automatic response to the appeal in those wide, innocent looking eyes.
‘Oh, thank God!’ she said. A spark of relief lit her face and a spot of colour returned to her cheeks. ‘I’ve been so desperately worried about him.’
‘You were very quick to believe him guilty,’ Marco said, wondering how they had convinced her. As far as he was aware, Hector had led a spotless business life.
Claudia pressed her lips together, looking perplexed.
‘I didn’t believe it, not at first,’ she said. ‘But I just couldn’t take the risk. Primo said he’d go straight to the police if I didn’t do want he wanted. And Francesca backed him up.’
‘Well, you’ll be free of her soon,’ Marco said dispassionately. ‘She’ll be going to jail too, for her part in Vasile’s schemes.’
‘Oh, my poor father,’ Claudia gasped. ‘How awful to have his wife arrested and sent to prison.’
‘He should thank me,’ Marco said. ‘For freeing him of that bloodsucking leech. Marrying her was the worst mistake he ever made.’
‘You heartless pig!’ Claudia exclaimed, looking at his cold, hard face.
‘Don’t you wish he’d never replaced your mother with that witch?’ Marco asked.
Claudia stared at Marco in shock. She’d wished a million times that she still had her mother—but as far as she was concerned, Francesca wasn’t a replacement for her. And she knew her father didn’t view her like that either. Until her grandma had died he had taken her to Wales as often as he could, keeping up her only connection with her real mother.
‘Francesca wasn’t a replacement,’ she said. ‘My father never tried to make her that—and, goodness knows, Francesca didn’t try to act like a mother.’
‘Just think how much better your life would have been without her,’ Marco pressed. ‘And, more importantly, Primo Vasile would never have been part of it.’
‘I never liked Primo. And I always had the feeling my father didn’t either. Although he’d be shocked to discover just how evil Primo has been.’ she said. ‘But when he married Francesca she was already his business partner, so my father chose to let that be.’
Married By Christmas Bundle: Anthology Page 40
