Was that a wink? Emily wondered, laughing back. She was so happy. ‘I will do my best to keep things that way,’ she promised, matching his conspiratorial tone.
‘I know you will,’ the elderly Prince declared confidently. ‘And as for you, Alessandro—’ He turned to face his son. ‘You are a very lucky man. And now…’ He turned around to draw Emily’s family into the conversation. ‘I think it’s time we left these two lovebirds alone. I would be honoured if you would all join me in my suite for a nightcap before we retire to bed.’
Giving her mother and father a warm kiss each, Emily saved a special hug for Miranda, taking the chance to murmur, ‘I like him,’ when she sensed Miranda’s handsome new conquest was uppermost in her twin’s mind. Embracing Alessandro’s father, she kissed him on both cheeks and whispered, ‘Thank you for everything…and thank you especially for Alessandro.’
With a last squeeze, he released her back into the arms of her husband.
‘Goodnight to you both, and a happy Christmas to everyone.’ With one last expansive gesture he led Emily’s family away.
Under protection of the darkness Alessandro’s lips brushed lightly against Emily’s neck, and then moved on to her cheek, her mouth, always light, almost testing—as if they were on a first date. The thought excited her, and she turned her face up to him to whisper, ‘Don’t stop.’
‘You’re very forward, Principessa,’ he growled softly. ‘Do you think we had better go inside?’
Emily’s limbs felt as if they had turned into molten honey as he swept her into his arms and carried her back into their suite.
Glimpsing her reflection in the mirror at the side of the bed, she watched Alessandro release the hooks on the back of her dress. As his hands moved lower he began to kiss the back of her neck and her shoulders, until she was leaning into him, sighing with pleasure. The jewelled pins in her hair made it seem scattered with stars, and he released them so that the ebony waves tumbled over her shoulders. Her breasts were creamy against the crimson silk bodice, the shadow of her cleavage deep and dark—
‘Stop looking in the mirror,’ he murmured. ‘I want all your attention on me.’
‘That’s not so hard,’ Emily admitted softly as the dress fell away and he eased it over her hips.
‘Beautiful,’ he murmured, looking at her admiringly as his hands moved to cup her breasts. ‘I should like to keep you here for ever.’
‘I should have to leave the bedroom some time,’ Emily teased, but she gasped as his thumb-pads stroked firmly against her nipples.
‘Don’t worry, I would never stop my wife doing the job she loves,’ he insisted, his gold eyes darkening to sepia as he observed her arousal. ‘But not tonight,’ he continued softly, sternly. ‘I have never wished to narrow your horizons, Emily…only to broaden them.’ And then, allowing her to sink back onto the soft pillows, he stood up and pulled off his clothes.
She was definitely ready to have her horizons broadened again, Emily thought, watching him strip. A familiar lethargy was already invading her limbs, and before he even touched her shafts of sensation were streaming through her body. As he lay down beside her she feared she was about to discover if it was possible to climax from anticipation alone.
Coming closer, he caressed her ear with his lips, moving on to nibble the tender lobe. And all the while his warm breath fanned her pulse, making her long for the firmer touch of his hands, a touch he knew just how long to deny her. Then his weight was controlling her, his hands positioning her, until she could do no more than submit—a licence he made full use of until she lay calm and sated in his arms once again.
And later, much later, when Alessandro was tracing the gently curving swell of her belly with awe, he murmured, ‘No more separation for us, Emily—ever. When you have a case in London we will move Court over there, so that I can be with you…the baby, too, of course,’ he said, a smile coming to his face as he looked at her. ‘We will buy a suitable property. I don’t see a problem.’
‘I’m sure you don’t,’ Emily said, smiling as she ran her nail-tips gently through his tousled hair, making him gasp aloud with pleasure at her touch. ‘But when have you ever seen a problem that you couldn’t solve, Alessandro? I don’t believe a problem ever existed that could defeat you.’
‘I almost met my match with you, Emily,’ he admitted wryly. ‘That is, of course, until I found the perfect way of dealing with you…’
She sucked in a swift breath as he entered her again, smoothly and firmly, filling her completely.
‘I can’t argue—’ She couldn’t speak. Pleasure had stolen her words away. And then his lips and tongue claimed her mouth, finally completing the task.
Could there be more happiness in all the world than this? Emily wondered late on Christmas morning, when Alessandro swung out of bed and left her briefly.
‘Another Christmas present,’ he explained, coming back to her side. ‘And this time it’s for both of us.’
‘What is it?’ she said excitedly.
‘This,’ Alessandro said, as he held out an official-looking document.
When she went to take it from him he only shook his head, and then, very slowly and deliberately, began to tear it into tiny pieces.
‘What are you doing?’ she asked in surprise.
‘Something I should have done months ago. That is what I think of our contract.’ Turning around, he dropped the tiny scraps of paper into the wastebin by the side of the bed. ‘Now it can never come between us again,’ he said, coming back to stretch out beside her. Drawing her into his arms, he murmured, ‘I love you, Emily—my wife, my only love, mother of my child—my children,’ he corrected himself with a long, lazy smile.’
‘And I love you, too, Alessandro,’ Emily said as she wrapped her arms around him and snuggled into his chest. ‘With all my heart.’
‘So,’ he murmured slumberously, ‘will you live with me and be my love, Emily?’
‘I will,’ she whispered, taking hold of his hand and placing it against her belly to feel their baby’s first forceful kicks.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-2404-3
THE PRINCE’S ARRANGED BRIDE
First North American Publication 2008.
Previously published in the U.K. under the title
THE ITALIAN PRINCE’S PROPOSAL.
Copyright © 2003 by Susan Stephens.
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