‘You were late.’ Vito’s words were slurred. ‘You killed her by being late!’
‘No, Papa,’ Marc insisted gently. ‘You were the one who was late. Do you remember how I had to wait for you to turn up to sign the rest of the documents on the Milan deal? You had been drinking. I had to wait for you to sober up before you signed.’
Nina watched in anguish as the older man reached for his glass and downed the contents, his chin wobbling as if he was having trouble controlling his emotions.
‘It is easy to blame someone else rather than face the pain of the truth,’ Marc continued on the tail end of a sigh, his tone gentle. ‘Perhaps we are both to blame. I should not have covered up your drinking for as long as I did, but I only did it to protect my mother. I would do differently now that I know the price we all had to pay for my silence.’
Vito pushed himself away from the table and gestured for the young man who had poured the drinks to wheel him from the room.
Marc got to his feet as a mark of respect as his father left. Nina stayed put, her throat raw with emotion at what Marc had had to deal with on top of his own grief.
Marc’s eyes met hers across the width of the table. ‘I am sorry you had to witness that.’
‘It’s all right.’ She looked down at the table rather than hold his gaze. ‘I understand…you have no idea how much.’
There was a stretching silence.
Nina hunted her brain for something to fill it but couldn’t think of a thing to say. She was conscious of the weight of Marc’s gaze, as if he was trying to solve some puzzle about her that had previously eluded him.
‘How long have you spoken my language?’ he asked, bringing her startled gaze back to his.
‘I…I studied it at school and university.’
‘And yet you did not think it necessary to inform me of this?’
‘I had my reasons.’
‘Yes,’ he said with a hint of resentment. ‘So you no doubt could hear what was being said about you to use against me later. Is there anything else you have neglected to tell me about yourself that I should know?’
Nina lowered her gaze. ‘No.’
She heard him get to his feet, heard his approach, her breath halting when he took her chin between two fingers and turned her head to look at him.
‘Why do I get the distinct impression you are lying to me, Nina?’
‘I—I don’t know,’ she answered lamely.
He tilted her chin even further so her skittering gaze had nowhere else to go but lock with his probing one. ‘You are an intriguing woman, cara,’ he said softly, the pad of his thumb stroking along the curve of her bottom lip. ‘I wonder what other secrets those grey eyes of yours are hiding from me.’
‘Th-there are no secrets.’ Her voice came out thinly. ‘I don’t have any secrets.’
His thumb moved back and forth until Nina couldn’t think straight. Her lips were buzzing with the need to feel the hard pressure of his, her breasts already tightening in anticipation of his touch.
He drew her slowly but inexorably to her feet and brought her up close to his body, his hands at her waist, his thighs brushing hers as his head came down.
A soft sigh escaped from her lips into the warm cavern of his mouth as it captured hers, her whole body singing with delight at being in his arms once more. She felt the thrusting probe of his tongue and began to melt inside and out, her legs weakening as she clung to him unashamedly.
His hands slipped from her waist to her hips, bringing her even closer to his pulsing heat. She felt the hard ridge of his erection and stifled a gasp of pleasure when he moved against her.
Marc dragged his mouth off hers and stepped back from her, his eyes glittering with desire. ‘I told myself I would not touch you. After last night…’
She was saved from having to respond by the staff coming in with their entrée. She resumed her seat, picked up her water glass and drank deeply, all the time doing her best to avoid Marc’s dark watchful eyes.
She was relieved when the meal was finally over. They had eaten most of it in silence, only occasionally exchanging a comment or two over the various dishes that were brought out from time to time.
Marc got to his feet once the last of the plates were cleared and came around to Nina’s chair to escort her from the table. She got unsteadily to her feet and took his proffered arm as he led her from the room, while the nerves in her stomach fluttered frantically.
He opened the door of her suite for her and looked down at her, his expression unfathomable. ‘I would like you to think about our marriage becoming a real one.’
Nina stared back at him, her heart starting to gallop behind her breast.
‘I want what is best for Georgia and, in spite of what my brother told me, I now believe that you do too. That is why I feel it would be best if we conduct ourselves in a normal manner so as to give her the best possible environment in which to grow up. It would not be good for her to be around parents who bicker and snipe at each other all the time.’ He gave her a soft smile as he reached out to tuck a loose strand of her hair behind her ear. ‘You are still jet-lagged. I will let you sleep in peace. For now.’
She didn’t want to sleep in peace! She wanted to sleep with him, but how could she tell him that without revealing her true feelings?
‘Go on, cara,’ he said when she didn’t move. ‘I am trying to be a gentleman here but you are not making it easy for me.’
‘I—I’m not?’ She moistened her dry lips.
‘No, you are not. I only have to look at you and I want to bury myself inside you. Go now while I still have the strength to resist you.’
Nina turned and went into her room with dragging steps, the door closing softly behind her.
She wasn’t so sure she liked the thought of Marc being able to resist her, especially when she had no such strength where he was concerned. But then he wasn’t in love with her, she reminded herself painfully. He hated her even though he desired her, but he had decided to put that hatred aside for Georgia’s sake. How much more would he hate her if he ever found out who she really was?
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
NINA woke some time during the night with the familiar cramps that had plagued her on and off since puberty, the clawing fingers of pain tearing at her from the inside. She stifled a groan as she dragged herself from bed.
She made her way to the en suite bathroom and, after swallowing a couple of painkillers, sat on the edge of the bath, willing them to work before she made her way back to bed.
‘Nina?’ Marc’s voice sounded from just outside the door. ‘Are you all right?’
‘I’m fine,’ she answered.
‘I thought I heard you groaning. Are you sick?’
‘Not really.’
‘Can I get you anything?’
She eased herself off the edge of the bath and opened the door. ‘I’m fine. It’s nothing I haven’t had before.’
Marc frowned as realisation gradually dawned. ‘You are having a period?’
‘You’re off the hook, Marc,’ she said as she made to move past him. ‘You’re not going to be a father; aren’t you pleased?’
He caught her wrist on the way past and turned her back to face him. ‘You look pale. Are you sure you are all right?’
‘Georgia is fast asleep, Marc. You don’t have to pretend you are the least bit concerned for my welfare right now.’
‘You are living under my family’s roof and therefore under my protection,’ he said. ‘If you are sick you need to tell me.’
She pulled out of his hold. ‘I am not sick! I just need to be left alone. Is that so much to ask?’ She felt the blur of tears film her eyes and spun around for the door.
Marc caught the back of her over-sized nightwear and, like an elastic band, she bounced back towards him. He turned her around and looked into her streaming eyes, something deep inside him loosening as he saw the betraying wobble of her chin.
He brushed the pad of his thumb
across her cheek where a tear was making a crystal pathway, the softness of her skin like velvet beneath his touch.
‘You are crying,’ he said, his tone sounding surprised.
‘You don’t say.’ She gave a little choked sob and brushed at her eyes with her free hand.
‘Why are you crying?’
She lifted her head to look at him. ‘Do you have a law against it, Marc? Do I have to ask your permission before I have a good howl?’
‘No…I was just asking.’
‘I’m crying because I always cry when I have my period,’ she sobbed. ‘I can’t help it. I get overly emotional and start blubbering over the stupidest things.’ She blew her nose on the tissue he handed her from the box nearby and continued, ‘I didn’t mean to wake you. I’m sorry…but I…’
‘Hey.’ His hand cupped the back of her head and brought it into his chest, his fingers stroking through the silky strands of her hair in soft soothing strokes.
Nina buried her head into his warmth, her cheek pressed against the steady thump of his heart, her arms going around his waist before she could stop them.
‘Shh,’ he said softly. ‘Don’t cry.’
His kindness and gentleness only made it worse. Her guilt over all the lies she’d told him assailed her and she sobbed into his chest all the harder.
After a while Marc felt her settle against him, her crying bout over. He stood with her in the circle of his arms, his chin resting on the top of her head, his nostrils filling with the gardenia scent of her hair. He wished he could freeze time and stand here forever with her, holding her close to him, his body silently communicating the love he had been unable to stop himself feeling in spite of her past.
‘I’m sorry.’ She eased herself away from him and let her arms fall to her sides. ‘I’ve made your shirt wet.’
He looked down at the damp patch and smiled. ‘That’s all right. I was just about to take it off anyway.’
Nina gave him a little embarrassed glance as her hand fluttered in the door’s direction. ‘I…I’d better go back to bed. It’s late.’
‘Nina.’ He captured her fluttering hand and brought it up to his mouth, his lips brushing each of her fingertips as his eyes secured hers.
‘Marc…I…’ She swallowed as his lips closed over her little finger, the rasp of his tongue instantly curling her toes.
‘Do not talk, Nina.’
‘I don’t think we—’ She stopped when he pressed a finger to her mouth.
‘No talking,’ he insisted. ‘I have changed my mind. I am taking you to bed, in my room.’ He kept his finger on her lips as he continued, ‘Not to have sex with you; that can wait. I just want to hold you.’
‘W-why?’ she asked as soon as his finger moved away from her mouth.
His eyes held hers for seemingly endless seconds before he answered. ‘Because when I hold you I forget about my brother. I forget about my grief. I think of nothing except how you feel in my arms.’
She drew in a breath that got caught somewhere in the middle of her chest, her heart squeezing at the honesty in his dark gaze as it rested on her.
‘All right.’ She lowered her eyes. ‘I will sleep with you.’
He led her out of the bathroom, his fingers curling loosely around hers as they walked down the passage to his bedroom, every step she took reminding Nina of every lie she’d told which had paved the pathway to this.
He thought she was Nadia and was attracted to the persona she’d projected, never once suspecting the woman he’d married was a fake, a total lying fake who had no business being in his life, let alone in his bed.
Marc pulled down the covers for her and she slipped between the cool sheets, carefully avoiding his eyes as she curled on her side.
She heard him in the en suite bathroom brushing his teeth and a few minutes later the sound of the shower running. She closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep before he joined her but her nerves were on high alert, finely tuned to pick up every single sound he made.
The bathroom door opened. She tightened her eyelids and, keeping herself to the furthest edge of the mattress, held her breath as he approached the bed.
She heard the soft rustle of cotton as he slid the covers back, felt the depression of the mattress as it took his weight and the sound of his small sigh of relief as his head finally met the pillow.
The silence seemed to be creeping towards her from every shadowed corner of the room, curling around her, making it impossible for her to relax enough to sleep. Her legs felt twitchy and uncomfortable and she longed to stretch the tension out of them but didn’t want to encounter his long legs in doing so.
She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to count back from a thousand but she’d only got to nine hundred and twenty-seven when she heard Marc turn on the bedside lamp and felt him move towards her.
Her eyes sprang open to see him propped up on one elbow, his mouth tilted as he looked down at her. ‘Are you always this restless in bed?’ he asked.
‘I’m not used to sleeping with—’ She stopped mid-sentence as she realised what she’d just said, her cheeks heating from the inside out.
The smile went from his mouth. ‘You mean that in the past you loved them and left them? Got the business done and moved on?’
‘I wouldn’t exactly put it like that.’
Marc wished he could control the tide of jealousy that assailed him every time he thought of her with his brother and God knew how many other men, but it ate at him regardless. He could just imagine how she had flitted from bed to bed on her hunt for the highest bidder. Hadn’t his own experience with women taught him that in the past? Money was the biggest aphrodisiac for mercenary women and, although Nina was giving an Oscar-winning performance as a wide-eyed innocent, he had to remember it was an act, and it wasn’t likely to last.
‘How exactly would you put it?’ he asked, unable to remove the contempt from his tone.
She moistened her lips and stared at the pulse beating in his neck rather than meet his eyes. ‘I don’t want to argue with you. I’m tired and it will only make things worse.’
‘Did you ever spend a whole night with my brother or did you just service him and leave as quickly as you could?’
Nina flinched at his blunt crudity, her anger rising steadily within her. Her sister was promiscuous, yes, but she sure as hell wasn’t a prostitute and she resented him implying it.
‘That’s a despicable thing to say,’ she bit out.
‘Did you ever spend a full night with him?’ he asked again.
‘It’s none of your business.’ She shut her eyes again and turned her back.
His hand came down on her shoulder and turned her over in one swift movement, his expression grimly determined as he held her gaze. ‘Did he ever pay you for sex?’
‘What do you think?’ she said with a challenging edge to her tone. ‘You’re the one who thinks he knows me better than Andre ever did. Do you think I would do something like that?’
Marc wanted to believe her incapable of such behaviour but everything his brother had said proclaimed her guilt. Besides, the allowance he had given her had disappeared almost as soon as it had been deposited.
After a tense moment that seemed like forever, he released her. He twisted round to snap off the bedside light and lay back down and closed his eyes, wishing he could wake up in the morning to find that the woman he had come to care for was someone else instead of the woman who had destroyed his brother’s life.
‘Marc?’ Nina whispered in the darkness a few minutes later, but there was no answer except the deep even breathing indicating he had fallen asleep.
She flopped on her back and stared at the ceiling. If only she could fall asleep so easily, she thought with a touch of resentment. Her conscience was very likely to keep her awake for the rest of her life.
Some time during the early hours of the morning Nina became aware of strong arms holding her, the warmth of a large body behind her making her feel safe in a way sh
e’d never felt before.
She moved one of her legs and felt the springy hair of Marc’s legs where they lay entwined with hers. He mumbled something in his sleep and his hold tightened a fraction, one of his hands gently cupping her breast through her thin cotton nightshift.
She closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep but it was impossible to ignore the heated probe of his growing arousal at her back. She felt it swelling against her, the heat coming off his body melting her like chocolate beneath a blowtorch. She felt her own body responding, the tightening of her breasts, the clench of her stomach muscles and the feathering feeling stirring between her thighs.
She drew in an unsteady breath as he began to nuzzle her neck, his mouth playing further havoc with her senses.
‘Mmm,’ he murmured against her skin, the movement of his mouth tickling her. ‘You taste wonderful.’
‘I—I do?’ She gave a tiny shiver as his tongue unfolded in her ear.
‘Mmm.’ His mouth moved towards hers, hovering just above, the movement of air when he spoke caressing her lips. ‘Delizioso.’
She shut her eyes as he closed the distance, the soft press of his mouth on hers sending her back into the mattress with a deep sigh of pleasure. It was unlike all of his previous kisses in that it was slow and drugging, no hint of urgency, although no less tantalizing. She felt the slow melt of her bones in his loose embrace, the way her spine softened where it lay against the mattress, her legs gently tethered by the length and strength of his.
His kiss deepened with the soft stroke of his tongue, the sensuous movement sending shooting arrows of need to her core. She could feel her body clamouring for more, his pace two steps behind her need of him. She groaned against his mouth as he sent a hand to the soft swell of her hip, the splay of his fingers drawing her inexorably closer to where his erection pulsed with thick, passion-charged blood.
‘I want you so badly,’ he said against her mouth. ‘I do not think I have ever wanted someone so much.’
Bought For The Marriage Bed (Bedded By Blackmail) Page 14
