Nina’s eyes flashed at him with false bravado. ‘You lay one finger on me and you will be the poorer for it.’
‘It would be worth it, I can assure you,’ he shot back.
‘You think?’ She tilted her chin at him. ‘Your brother certainly thought so.’
Nina knew the only thing that saved her at that point was the fact that Georgia was in his arms. Her tiny starfish hands were clutching at the stark whiteness of his business shirt, her little elfin face looking up at him as if in wonder, her brown-black eyes so like his own with their thick fringe of lashes.
Nina saw the struggle he had to control himself playing out on his features as he stood before her. The line of his mouth was grim, his jaw tight with suppressed anger and his eyes sparking at her as if he wanted to torch her to the ground right then and there.
The intercom on his desk broke the brittle silence.
‘Mr Marcello?’ Katrina’s cheerful tone entered the room like a light being switched on in pitch blackness. ‘Your father is on line two.’
Marc handed Georgia back to Nina without meeting her eyes. ‘Excuse me.’ He turned his back to attend to the call.
Nina reached with one hand for the baby pouch where she’d left it earlier when she heard the first few words of Marc’s conversation with his father. Even though he spoke his native tongue rapidly she had studied the language long enough to pick up on the general gist of the exchange.
‘Yes,’ Marc said. ‘I have found a solution. I am marrying her on the fifteenth.’
Nina couldn’t hear what his father said in response but she could more or less piece together the rest on Marc’s reply.
‘No, she insists she does not want any money or anything to do with Andre’s estate…I am not sure but I suspect she is trying to butter me up by pretending to be a changed person…Yes, I have arranged an allowance but it will not take her long to work her way through that, I am sure…Yes, I know she is everything that Andre said and more…I know, I know…she is an unprincipled whore…’
Nina had trouble keeping her reaction disguised. She silently fumed and vowed revenge on his insulting assessment of her as she eased Georgia back into the pouch.
‘Yes…I know, I will watch my back, and yes…’ Marc gave a distinctly male chuckle ‘…my front as well. Ciao.’
Nina smiled guilelessly as she turned back to face him. ‘So, where are we going shopping?’
A short time later, as they began trawling the department stores as well as exclusive designer boutiques, Nina had cause to wonder if she had catapulted herself into some sort of shopaholic’s dream. Marc’s credit card was flashed so many times she thought she was going to go blind with the amount of currency going past her eyes as he bought item after item for his niece. Beautiful clothes, expensive toys, special feeder cups for when she came off her bottle—all were parcelled off to be delivered to his office.
When it was time for Georgia’s next feed Marc suggested they go to a quiet café where she could feed the baby whilst they had a coffee and a sandwich.
Nina wished she wasn’t starving so she could refuse, but she’d missed breakfast due to Georgia’s crying bout and her stomach was letting her know in no uncertain terms it was well and truly time for a pit stop.
They were soon seated in a booth in a café overlooking the lively shopping mall below. The rushing lunchtime crowds and talented buskers performing below added to the high energy of the city.
Georgia’s bottle was soon heated and brought back to the table by a young waitress. Once she’d gone, Nina was about to offer her niece the bottle when she caught Marc’s dark gaze on her.
‘Would you like to feed her?’ she found herself asking him.
His dark eyes held hers for a brief moment of silent hesitation.
‘Sure, why not?’ he finally answered and, standing up, reached across the table to gather Georgia in his arms.
Once he was seated, Nina handed him the bottle and a soft cloth she used to catch any drips. She leaned back in her own seat and watched as he positioned the teat for Georgia’s searching mouth.
Seeing the way he held the child set off a funny reaction deep inside Nina’s belly, like the sudden unfurling of a tightly wound ball of string. She shifted in her seat and forced herself to look at the menu the waitress had left for their perusal but the words all seemed a blur to her as her thoughts shot off in all directions.
Marc was so at ease handling his niece and she wondered if he had ever wanted children of his own. If so, why was he tying himself to her in a loveless paper marriage?
She knew Italians had a deep sense of family, and the value of children in their lives was high. But surely marrying a stranger, even though she was supposedly the mother of his brother’s child, was going a little too far in terms of familial duty?
It had occurred to her that he might annul the marriage at some point in the future and apply for full custody of Georgia. It was an uncomfortable scenario as she knew she wouldn’t stand a chance once her true identity became known. She would be seen as a scheming, manipulating liar and no magistrate would hand her niece to her, even for access visits, let alone assign her full or partial custody.
Suddenly her earlier gnawing hunger faded and she pushed the menu away with a slump of her shoulders.
‘Not hungry?’ Marc’s eyes met hers across the table.
‘I’ll just have coffee.’ She shifted her gaze from his. ‘Black.’
The waitress came over and took the order from Marc, lingering to hover over the baby who had by now finished her bottle.
‘How old is she?’ the young girl asked.
‘Four months,’ Nina answered.
The waitress smiled as she looked between the baby and Marc. ‘She’s like her daddy, isn’t she?’
It was on the tip of Nina’s tongue to say that Marc wasn’t actually Georgia’s father but something stopped her at the last minute.
‘Yes,’ she said instead, shocked that she hadn’t seen it before now.
Georgia did have a look of Marc about her, seemingly more so as each day passed. Her olive colouring was one thing, so too the dark eyes and silky black hair. But she could also see evidence of herself and Nadia in the rosebud mouth and the slightly retroussé nose and wondered if he could too.
The waitress bustled off to get their coffee and Nina watched as Marc eased Georgia up against his shoulder, gently patting her tiny back as if he’d done it a hundred times before.
‘Have you given any thought to having a child of your own some time in the future?’ she asked before she could stop herself.
Marc’s expression gave little away but Nina was sure she saw a flicker of regret pass through his dark-as-night eyes before he quickly disguised it.
‘No.’ He shifted Georgia to his other shoulder. ‘I had not planned on marrying and doing the whole family-rearing thing.’
His answer intrigued her. She knew there were plenty of sworn-in life members of bachelordom about the place, but somehow Marc didn’t seem the type.
‘Was this your father’s idea for us to marry?’
His eyes met hers, holding her questioning gaze intently. ‘What makes you say that?’
‘I…’ She fiddled with the edge of the tablecloth, doing her best to avoid the full force of his all-seeing eyes. ‘A hunch, I guess. I’ve heard Italians are pretty big on kids.’
‘I suppose that is why you sent him that letter to twist the knife a bit,’ he said, leaning forwards on the table so the other diners couldn’t hear his harsh accusation. ‘Did you ever consider how much you were hurting an elderly man who is already doing his best to cope with unbearable grief?’
Nina wished she could tell him the truth. It hurt so much to have him think so poorly of her when in fact it had been her sister who had acted so unthinkingly.
‘No.’ She let the edge of the tablecloth go and raised her eyes to his condemning ones. ‘No, it was very insensitive of me. I’m sorry.’
Her an
swer seemed to surprise him. If it had come from Nadia, it would have surprised even her, Nina thought wryly. She couldn’t recall a single time when her sister had apologised for anything; ‘I’m sorry’ just wasn’t in her twin’s vocabulary.
‘Sometimes sorry is not enough,’ he said, leaning back again, settling Georgia more comfortably against his shoulder. ‘Once the damage is done there is no going back to undo it.’
Nina felt sick at the truth of his curt statement. How much damage had she already done with all the lies she’d been forced to tell on her sister’s behalf?
‘Yes, I know.’ She stared at the salt and pepper shakers standing side by side like small china soldiers on the table in front of her. ‘I guess I was so confused at the time…I hardly knew what I was doing.’
There was a small silence broken only by the soft gurgling of Georgia, who had found the breast pocket of Marc’s business shirt, her tiny fingers clutching at the fabric in delight.
‘You deliberately tried to trap my brother, did you not?’ he upbraided her. ‘By using the oldest trick in the book.’
She wished she could deny it on Nadia’s behalf but knew that too would be yet another lie. Her sister had deliberately set about to snare Andre Marcello by fair means or foul. Nina had been appalled when Nadia had told her of her plan to trap him, casually revealing the way she’d sabotaged a whole box of condoms in order to bring about a pregnancy as if it was all a game, not real life with the potential for irreparable damage to occur. Nina still tortured herself with her own guilt at not being able to talk her sister out of it. Maybe if she’d spent more time with her, had counselled her to think a little further ahead than the next moment of pleasure…
‘It was a stupidly impulsive thing to do…’ she finally said, her voice low, her eyes downcast. ‘I had no idea of how it would backfire on…me.’
Again her answer seemed to surprise him. She chanced a look at him and found his hard accusatory expression had softened slightly as he looked across at her, the child in his arms nestling against him preparatory to sleep.
‘There are few of us who get through life without one or two regrets,’ he offered.
Nina gave him a rueful smile. ‘Don’t tell me the great Marc Marcello admits to getting it wrong now and again?’
He held her gaze for a moment before looking down at the child in his arms. ‘I have made one or two errors of judgement in the past but I have no intention of ever doing so again.’
Nina wondered if he bore the internal scars of a broken relationship which had made him wary of emotional commitment. The more she thought about it, the more likely it seemed. What better way to take himself out of the game than to marry for convenience, not love? He would be free to liaise with whomever he chose without the pressure of formal commitment due to the piece of paper that would soon be documenting her as his wife.
His wife…
She swallowed a lump of panic as she thought about all such a relationship would entail. Even though he’d stated implacably that the marriage would not be consummated, they would still be living in the same house which would force certain intimacies on them both regardless.
She imagined seeing him in less formal attire, perhaps in sports gear or after a shower with a towel around his waist, his long strong body exposed. Or seeing him unshaven in the morning, his chiselled jaw dark with stubbly growth, the sort of growth that tingled female skin if it brushed up against it…
Nina pulled back from her thoughts with a little jerk in her chair, her guilty glance meeting Marc’s questioning one.
‘Is something wrong?’ he asked.
‘No, of course not.’
‘You do not seem yourself,’ he observed.
‘Oh, really?’ She gave him one of Nadia’s scathing looks. ‘And you know me so well after, what is it—’ She checked her watch for the date and looked back at him. ‘Less than a week?’
‘Suffice it to say I am familiar with your type,’ he answered smoothly.
‘So you think one size fits all?’
His smile was cynically lopsided. ‘I have been around long enough to recognise danger when I see it.’
‘Danger, eh?’ She arranged her lips into a smirk. ‘You see me as dangerous? What exactly are you threatened by? My sex appeal?’
His mouth tightened and she knew she’d scored another hit. It struck her as ironic that he was fighting an attraction to her when she was pretending to be someone else. What chance did she stand of him being attracted to her as Nina—the real Nina? The Nina without the reputation or the Nina without the baggage? Not to mention the Nina without the designer wardrobe. The Nina who was in very great danger of falling in love with a man who despised the very sight of her.
‘Your ego no doubt has had considerable stroking over the years but I refuse to join your band of avid admirers,’ he said. ‘If you are looking for compliments I am afraid you will have to go elsewhere.’
Nina gave him an arch look. ‘But you do find me attractive, don’t you? Go on, admit it.’
‘I admit nothing.’
She laughed. ‘You’ll get sand in your eyes if you bury your head too deeply.’
She saw his jaw tighten another notch. ‘Women like you think they are irresistible but let me tell you, you are not. Do you think I am so easily swayed by full breasts and pouting lips and come-to-bed eyes?’
She pursed the said pouting lips and affected a super-confident pose. ‘I can feel your interest from right over here,’ she said in a breathy undertone. ‘I bet if I slipped my hand under this table and examined the evidence for myself you’d have some serious back-pedalling to do.’
Black eyes met grey in a challenge that rocked Nina to her very core but she was determined not to back down. She held his look with a spirited defiance she hadn’t thought herself capable of.
Although he tried to disguise it, she noticed he shifted backwards in his chair as if he didn’t trust her not to do exactly as she’d said. Her mind began to wander of its own volition…What would he feel like fully aroused? Would he shudder at the touch of her fingers around his length or would he groan with deep out of control pleasure? And what would his reaction be if her mouth were to close over him, drawing from him a response that would spill his life force out of his body in an explosion of pleasure?
‘It’s time to leave.’ His announcement was curt as he got stiffly to his feet.
Georgia gave a soft rumble of protest about the sudden movement but soon settled back against his chest, her tiny eyelids fluttering closed, her miniature fingers still grasping his breast pocket.
Nina rose with less speed, taking her time to gather up the baby’s changing bag and her own handbag, shooting him a glance from across the width of the table.
‘Do you think it’s worth disturbing her to put her back in the pouch?’ she asked.
Marc looked down at the tiny infant against his chest and shook his head. ‘No.’ He lifted his gaze back to hers. ‘I will carry her.’ He scooped up the bill the waitress had left and added, ‘Is there anything else we need to buy?’
It was the ‘we’ that really got to her. Seeing him with Georgia cradled so tenderly in his arms, she couldn’t help feeling a deep sense of regret over how circumstances had led them both to this. How different things might have been if they had met without the baggage of both of their wayward siblings. If the truth were known they probably had more in common than not. He was the solid dependable type, anyone could see that, and she…well, she was hardly the sleep-around town tart he thought her to be.
If only he knew!
‘No.’ She carefully avoided his eyes in case he saw the glitter of sudden moisture. ‘I think we’re more or less done.’ She hoisted the changing bag over her shoulder and followed him out of the café with her head well down.
The city streets were so busy as to make conversation both difficult and unnecessary. Nina was glad of the reprieve. Guilt flooded her from every direction. Maybe she should have been firmer
with Nadia, should have insisted she stay and face her responsibilities. But then, when had Nadia ever faced anything? Her policy had been to move from one disaster to the next with her twin picking up the pieces behind her. Nina had even done it for their mother in the past, becoming the parent instead of the child in an attempt to provide some level of security for them. Much good it had done in the end, she thought sadly. Her mother had still drunk and drugged herself into an early grave and there had been nothing Nina could do to stop it.
Marc pressed the pedestrian button and flicked a glance down at the silent figure beside him as they waited for the lights to change. ‘You are very quiet all of a sudden.’
Nina shook herself out of her mental anguish and sent a vacant smile his way. ‘I’m just tired.’ She yawned widely. ‘Georgia woke me early.’ She patted her mouth and forced another smile. ‘Kids; who in their right mind would have them?’
Marc was saved a reply by the lights changing. It was clear to him that money was Nina’s primary motive and she had targeted the richest man she could and had got on with the business of falling pregnant to him. But it was still somewhat of a mystery to him why she hadn’t asked for a whole heap of money when he’d offered her marriage. He’d been expecting her price to be in the millions and yet even the allowance he’d organised for her had seemingly surprised her. And, as for pretending she had no interest in Andre’s estate, what possible reason could she have other than to try and fool him into thinking she had somehow changed from a money-hungry pleasure seeker to a woman of high morals?
But he knew Nina was trouble from the top of her shiny head to the soles of her dainty feet. She had a disturbing habit of switching from sultry siren to wide-eyed innocent as if she was deliberately trying to confuse him about who she really was. If Andre hadn’t told him how manipulative she was he would sometimes be tempted to think he was dealing with someone else entirely.
He slanted a covert glance her way, instantly noting the line of her slightly anxious brow and the way her small white teeth nibbled at her bottom lip.
Bought For The Marriage Bed (Bedded By Blackmail) Page 7
