Pregnancy of Revenge

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He had known about her relationship with Summerville. She had told him over one of their infrequent lunches in Nice two years ago. At that time she had still been working and living in an apartment Jake had bought for her, and although Jake had never heard of the man, he had not queried her choice, because she had so obviously been happy, and confident it was only a matter of time before they married.

But now, remembering how appalled he had been when Anna had turned up at his home in Genoa five months ago, he bitterly regretted not investigating Summerville as soon as he’d heard the name.

Looking a shadow of her former self, Anna had cried on his shoulder and told him the whole sorry story of the affair. How she had given up her job and had been living with the man for over a year, but Robert had sent her away three months before he’d died, all because of his daughter.

He had explained she was his only child and had been spoilt by her mother. She was a bit insecure and very possessive of him, and flatly refused to meet Anna. He didn’t want to upset his daughter, so Anna had to leave while she was in residence. But he had assured Anna it would only be for a few weeks. In other words, to quote Anna, ‘Robert’s daughter was a selfish little spoilt brat.’ Anna had not even heard of his death in time to attend the funeral. For himself, after hearing the tale, if the man had not been dead already, Jake would have quite happily killed him.

Anna’s tragic death a few weeks after their last meeting had gutted him, and it didn’t help that the man who in Jake’s mind was indirectly responsible was already six feet under and out of his reach. As for Anna’s parents, they were crippled with grief.

Jake had spent the past three months simply being there for his foster-parents, his work for once taking second place.

This was his first trip abroad since her death, and catching sight of that catalogue in Reception had ignited his fury all over again. But at least he now knew the painting was safely on its way to his home in Italy. He was still angry he had been unable to prevent its showing, but, as he intended to destroy the painting, with a bit of luck Anna’s parents need never know it had ever existed. It was the least he could do for them.

Jake considered himself a modern, sophisticated man of the world. He enjoyed women and was rarely without a lover. Over the years he had had several affairs, and at least two of the women, as models, had been displayed naked on countless magazine covers. It hadn’t bothered him at all. Yet he saw nothing paradoxical in his reaction to the public exposure of Anna.

But what he did see after meeting the lovely Charlotte was a way to get revenge on the family that had brought about her death…and thoroughly enjoy doing so.

Spinning on his heel, he headed for the bathroom, and a cold shower. His last for some time, he reckoned, a predatory smile curving his firm mouth.

Charlie took one last look at her reflection in the mirrored door of the wardrobe. Slim-fitting grey trousers traced her long legs, and with them she had teamed a soft pink cashmere sweater. A heavy chain belt that fastened with a large clasp was slung low around her hips. A grey hide purse and matching loafers completed her outfit. Comfortably casual, she told herself, but in reality she hadn’t much choice: the only dress she had with her was the one she’d worn last night and the rest of her holiday clothes consisted of trousers and casual tops. She tweaked a stray tendril of hair behind her ear, and wondered again if she should pin it up. As it was it fell in loose curls to her shoulders. No, you look good, girl, she decided with a broad grin.

Last night, tossing and turning in bed, unable to sleep for thinking about Jake, replaying in her mind his every kiss and touch, her body aching for him, she had reached a momentous decision. Given the chance, she was going to pursue her relationship with Jake. He had said they could at least be friends, but innate honesty forced her to admit that she wanted much more from him. She had only known him for a few hours but he had tilted her world. She had no experience of love, but this intense physical desire for Jake, this flood of feeling that consumed all her senses, had to be love or something very like it.

In her work with International Rapid Rescue she had witnessed death and destruction on a huge scale. If the job had taught her anything, it was that life was precious but could be snuffed out in an instant by an act of nature. She was a twenty-six-year-old virgin, probably because all her life she had been a tomboy and the few men she knew considered her more of a buddy than a woman. She was not totally inexperienced—she had kissed men, but had thought the experience vastly overrated. But all that had changed last night when she had met Jake.

This holiday, the first she had taken in years, was supposed to be a complete change, a chance to rethink her hectic lifestyle. She was her own woman; she could do whatever she wanted, and what she wanted was Jake. She knew deep down on some elemental level that Jake could be her soul mate.

The voice of the doorman boomed over the intercom telling her a Mr d’Amato had arrived and should he send him up? She dashed to answer it. ‘No need, I’ll be right down.’

Her legs were shaking as she rode the lift to the ground floor and when the doors opened Charlie drew in a deep, calming breath, stepped out, and froze to the spot, her blue eyes fixed on the spectacular male animal leaning against the reception desk.

In a business suit Jake had looked stunning, but today he took her breath away. He was wearing black jeans that lovingly clung to long legs and taut, masculine thighs. A black button-down shirt, left open at the neck, revealed the strong column of his throat, and a black leather jacket fitting casually across broad shoulders completed the picture.

Telling her foolish heart to stop bounding, she wondered what it was about Italian men that enabled them to wear clothes with such casual elegance. She could not tear her fascinated gaze away. She saw his proud head lift as though scenting the air like some great jungle beast suddenly aware of his prey, and, straightening up, he turned towards her.

‘Charlotta-a…at last.’ He lingered over her name like a caress, his hooded dark eyes sweeping over her in blatant masculine appraisal as in a few lithe strides he covered the space between them. ‘You look exquisite.’ Before she could draw breath, a large male hand curved around her hips, another up her back to tangle in the loose fall of her hair.

The swift, exquisitely gentle brush of Jake’s lips against her own turned her legs to jelly, and when he teased her lips apart, the arousing sweep of his tongue in the moist interior of her mouth suddenly filled her body with a molten heat.

Charlie had thought the kisses they had shared in the car last night mind-blowing. But now, held in intimate contact with every hard inch of his big powerful frame, she was shocked by the force of his obvious arousal and secretly thrilled she could do that to him. Weak at the knees with wanting, she pressed unconsciously closer into his taut strength, and felt his great chest heave.

‘I promised you lunch,’ Jake rasped against her mouth and lifted his head.

Charlie stared up. ‘What?’ she murmured, flicking the tip of her tongue along her bottom lip, an invitation in her sapphire gaze she didn’t realise was there.

‘Lunch.’ Jake stepped back, his hands resting on her shoulders to keep her steady. ‘Before we really give the doorman something to talk about.’

Realising where she was and that she was staring at him far too hungrily, she dipped her head, a tide of red scorching her cheeks. ‘Yes, of course,’ she mumbled.

‘A lady who can still blush. I like it,’ Jake drawled, keeping an arm around her shoulder as he walked her out of the building.

‘No car?’ Charlie queried as his arm fell from her shoulders and he took her hand in his and began strolling along the pavement.

Jake looked at her, amused indulgence in his gaze. ‘Your wish is my command,’ he said smoothly. ‘You wanted to do the tourist bit, and visit the museum. Most tourists pound the pavement. No?’ He shrugged his elegant shoulders. ‘Plus I want to share everything with you, starting with a bottle of wine with lunch.’

He looked so attractive, and so unlike any tourist she had ever seen, Charlie burst out laughing. ‘I might have known you would have an ulterior motive. It’s not me but the wine that motivates you.’

‘You wouldn’t believe my motives if I told you,’ Jake responded dryly and spun her into his arms to kiss her with an urgency that left her dazed and breathless—so dazed she did not see the cynicism in his dark eyes. And for Charlie the kiss set the pattern for the rest of the day.

Jake kept his word and they shared a bottle of wine over lunch at the restaurant in the central courtyard of the British Museum. After lingering over coffee and cognac they eventually got around to touring the various exhibits.

It was seven in the evening when they walked back to his hotel.

The warmth of his arm felt so right around her waist, and when he stopped and asked, ‘What’s it to be, Charlotte? Dinner with me here or do you want to walk on to your apartment?’ they both knew what he was really asking. The whole day had been leading to this point.

Charlie raised her face to him and saw her own need reflected in the gleaming depths of his dark eyes. The force of emotion flooding through her kept her speechless for a moment.

‘We can call it a day,’ Jake heard himself say in a sudden surprising attack of conscience. Amazingly, he had enjoyed Charlotte’s company. In different circumstances he knew he would have dated her anyway—and he would still have been determined to get her into his bed.

He reached out and ran a long finger over her smooth cheek, and down her throat, his finger resting on the rapidly pounding pulse in her neck. She wanted him, he knew it, but she was still hesitating. Real or acting he did not know, but he knew enough about women to realise they all craved permanency in a relationship. Obviously Charlotte was no different. She was here on holiday and seemed determined to follow the tourist trail—and his quick brain had the answer.

He smiled, an intimate curl of his firm lips. ‘Whatever you decide. I am staying in London for a couple of weeks on business.’ He slowly raked her body with his gaze, registering the burgeoning peaks of her breasts beneath her sweater before he let his eyes meet hers. ‘And after the great time we have had today…’ He paused, his hand softly caressing her throat. ‘Work permitting, I would love to explore the tourist trail with you, Charlotte.’

The only trail he was really interested in exploring was every curve of her delectable body, every hill and hidden valley, until he sated himself in her. But he wasn’t crazy enough to tell her so. Though if he did not have her soon, he very well might, and that really worried him.

In the early hours of the morning Charlie had decided to pursue her relationship with Jake and see where it led, and all day she had fallen deeper and deeper under his spell. Now, with the impact of Jake’s deep eyes burning down into hers, and his huskily voiced desire to see her again echoing in her head, she knew it was the moment of truth. He had told her last night he would never marry, so either she had to accept what he was offering, an affair for a couple of weeks, or walk away. With blinding clarity she realised she did not have a choice. She could no longer deny her basic sexual instinct, an instinct she had only just discovered she possessed, an instinct she knew deep down inside she would only ever feel with Jake.

Charlie drew in a slow steadying breath. ‘I’ve done enough walking for one day.’

‘Me too.’ Reaching for her hand once more, he linked his long fingers through hers and led her into the hotel.

On one level Charlie couldn’t believe what she was doing as Jake ushered her into the lift and the metal doors closed on them. But on another purely sensual level the feelings were so immense she could not deny them, however much she tried. She stole a surreptitious glance at him through the thick veil of her lashes. He was so ruggedly attractive, so overtly masculine, simply looking at him made her heart beat faster. It wasn’t just his looks, though; she had seen men with more classically beautiful features. It was some unfathomable intense connection she could hardly believe was real. But every atom in her body was telling her it was.

‘This is it,’ Jake said, dropping her hand and splaying his palm across the small of her back, his powerful body tense as he urged her out of the lift to a door directly opposite. A quick flash of the card key and she was in his suite. He fought the instinct to simply sweep her off her feet and into the bedroom. Instead he shrugged off his jacket as he headed for the bar.

‘What would you like to drink?’ he asked, turning back to look at her, and stiffened. Damn it, but she was gorgeous, and the way she filled that pink sweater had been causing him agony all day.

Standing where he had left her Charlie glanced around the elegant room. It was as luxurious as she had expected. But Jake’s behaviour was not what she had imagined. She had thought he would sweep her into his arms, and make mad, passionate love to her. How naive was that? she castigated herself. Jake was a sophisticated man of the world, a man of discernment; of course he would never behave so crassly, she thought. But she was wrong again.

‘I’ll—’ She was going to ask for a glass of juice, but she never got the chance.

‘To hell with a drink,’ he growled and in a couple of lithe strides he reached her and hauled her hard against his chest. His expert mouth swooped down to capture hers, a soft moan escaped her, and, taking full advantage, his tongue slipped between her parted lips with devastating effect.

Charlie did not know what hit her. Before his kisses had excited her, but had ended abruptly and left her aching for more. This time Jake showed no such restraint. His tongue swirled around hers, igniting a passion that was red hot. His arms were tight around her, pressing her against his aroused body, telling her without words how much he wanted her. Her slender hands lifted to his broad chest, a finger catching on his shirt button.

She felt his smile as he murmured against her lips, ‘Go ahead, take it off for me.’ His dark eyes gleamed down into hers, an invitation explicit in the black depths.

Feverish colour flooded Charlie’s face, and she was stunned to realise he actually thought she was experienced enough to undress him without a qualm. Her body burned and her finger flexed against his chest. Dared she? Yes—this was what she wanted. She freed one button, and her stomach somersaulted as her fingers scraped the hot skin beneath.

‘Don’t stop now, cara,’ Jake husked, his hands sliding caressingly up and down her back. ‘Or perhaps you prefer I undress you first?’ His sensuous mouth swooped down to taste hers again, and went lower to nuzzle the elegant curve of her neck, and Charlie stifled a frustrated groan when he broke the connection.

‘Patience, cara,’ he teased, a knowing smile curving his firm mouth. ‘First let me get rid of this damn belt.’ One strong hand slid around her waist. ‘It could do a man a serious injury,’ he added, his fingers deftly unfastening the buckle, and the offending item fell to the floor. ‘Now tell me what you want, and I promise I will oblige.’

What she wanted was Jake, and her fingers, with a dexterity she did not know she possessed, swiftly unbuttoned his shirt. Then she stopped, her blue eyes widening to their fullest extent at the sight of a wedge of broad tanned chest, and the dusting of soft black curls that accentuated his powerful pectoral muscles. She swayed against him, her hands tentatively splaying on his naked chest. She could feel the heat through her palms, and her awed gaze lifted to his. ‘You are beautiful,’ she murmured softly.

‘I think that is my line,’ Jake mocked, but his eyes glinted with a hint of masculine satisfaction and something more. His dark head bent and his lips brushed across hers as he gathered her hard against him, and kissed her long and deep. So deep that when he suddenly eased her away from the heat of his great body, she was breathless, her legs felt like rubber and she could hardly stand.

But she didn’t need to.

CHAPTER FOUR

‘THIS is not the place,’ Jake said and swept Charlie up in his arms. ‘And we have too many clothes on,’ he added with a teasing grin as he strode into the bedroom and lowered her down against him onto her own feet, before stepping back, kicking off his shoes and shrugging out of his shirt.

The partial view of his broad chest had not prepared her for the awesome beauty of his naked torso. Mesmerised, she simply stared. His shoulders were wide, his chest broad and tapering down to a lean waist, his skin gleaming like burnished gold in stark contrast to the mass of black curling hair arrowing down his strong body. His long arms were hard and muscular and had their own dusting of hair. His hands…his hands were unfastening his trousers. Charlie gasped, her heart skipping a beat.

‘Something wrong, mia bella Charlotta?’ His hands settled on her waist and Charlie was glad of the support, shaken by the intensity of her own desire for him.

‘No,’ she murmured. ‘Never more right.’ She strove to match his sophistication but her voice shook ever so slightly.

‘But you still have too many clothes on, cara.’ A slow, sensuous smile curved his wide mouth, his eyes gleaming beneath black curling lashes. ‘Let me help you,’ he suggested throatily as his fingers caught the edge of her sweater and he eased it up from her hips.

Hypnotised by the intensity of his dark gaze, like a puppet on a string, Charlie raised her arms and he slipped the sweater over her head. His hands stroked down her naked back, and her bra went the same way as the sweater.

‘Magnificent,’ Jake husked as his hands swept round and up to cup her high, firm breasts.

Charlie sucked in a feverish breath, her breasts suddenly heavy, the small nipples swelling and tightening into pinpoints of pleasure. She had never imagined she could stand brazenly half naked before a man and, lifting her eyes, she felt her cheeks flood with colour at his intent masculine scrutiny.

‘You have nothing to blush about, cara.’ His smouldering gaze met hers, his voice fracturing a little. ‘You have perfect breasts, and I can’t wait to see the rest of you.’

‘Nor me you,’ she mumbled inanely, and she got her wish.

Jake lowered his hands from her breasts, but not before rubbing her tight, swollen nipples with skilful fingers as he kissed her again with erotic thoroughness before pulling back from her and calmly stripping off.

Faced by a totally naked Jake, she could not stop staring. He was all hard muscle, and sleek golden skin, from his broad chest down to his taut, flat stomach, and lean hips. A ribbon of paler skin circled the top of his powerful thighs. So he didn’t sunbathe nude, she thought, and it was her last sensible thought.

Eyes widening, her face burning along with every other inch of her body, for the first time in her life she was confronted by a magnificently virile aroused male and she could not tear her gaze away.

‘You’re lagging behind,’ Jake said with a husky chuckle. As she hastily lifted her head her entranced blue eyes connected with sensuous black and she couldn’t say a word. ‘Here, let me help you,’ he added and skimmed her trousers and briefs down her hips with a deftness that spelt of years of practice. He gathered her up in his arms and laid her on the bed.

‘Unbelievable,’ Jake murmured, staring down at the silky softness of her creamy skin, and the rosy-tipped peaks of her lush breasts. For a second embarrassment overcame Charlie and she lifted her hands to cover herself from his scorching gaze.

‘No, don’t,’ Jake growled. Sitting down beside her, he took her hands and pressed them onto the bed, one each side of her head. His dark gaze swept her. Her body was curvaceous yet toned to perfection with firm, beautifully shaped breasts, a narrow waist, flaring hips and fabulous long legs. ‘You are absolutely stunning,’ he said throatily, his gaze roaming back up over her incredible body and lingering on tight rosy nipples before lifting to her face. ‘And so very sexy.’ And he covered her mouth with his own.

The feel of his long hard body against hers, and the magic of his firm, sensuous mouth, his tongue tangling with hers, the taste of him… Charlie lost her every last inhibition. She tried to pull her hands free. ‘Please, I want to touch you,’ she said with a naive honesty.

‘Feel free.’ Jake grinned and let go of her hands, his heavy-lidded eyes gleaming into hers. ‘I certainly intend to touch every part of you, my sweet Charlotte, in every way.’ Dipping his head, he trailed kisses down her throat, sucking on the tiny pulse racing beneath her silken skin, before moving lower and licking and nipping the rosy nipples with his teeth and tongue, while his hand stroked down the curve of her waist and traced her inner thigh.

Charlie buried her hands in the thick dark hair of his head, her spine arching up to him, and she groaned out loud at the exquisite sensations lancing from her breast to the apex of her thighs. He kissed and caressed a sensuous path from her breasts to her navel, and traced the line of her hip and thigh right down to the soles of her feet with a hungry, erotic thoroughness that made her wriggle and squirm in feverish delight, before returning to her mouth and kissing her with a driving, possessive passion that she met and matched with helpless abandon.

She wrapped her arms tight around him, on fire for him. Her hands swept over the wide muscular shoulders, traced the indentation of his spine, and splayed over the strong shoulder blades. She pressed up into him and, with an eroticism she had never dreamt she was capable of, rubbed her achingly sensitised breasts against the hard wall of his chest, glorying in the excitement the friction aroused.

It was as if some other female had taken over, a sexy, liberated female, and she nuzzled into the hard curve of his shoulder, and moaned as his fingers toyed with her breast once more. When the hand on her thigh slipped ever closer to the centre of her femininity, she shivered in delicious anticipation. She was damp and hot and aching for him and her legs moved apart instinctively. Her head burrowed lower, looking for a taut male nipple, one hand sliding over his lean hips searching for something else.

Jake’s hand tangled in her hair and urged her head up. ‘Not so fast, cara.’ He laughed softly, his face inches from hers. ‘I want to make this good for you, to make it last.’

With passion-dazed eyes she looked into his face, the smouldering black eyes, the dishevelled hair that she was responsible for, and the wickedly sinful mouth smiling down. It was the smile that goaded her even as her insides were melting like hot treacle. Daringly her slender fingers inched around his hip and touched the long velvet shaft, and she heard him groan. ‘Why wait?’ she prompted breathlessly, her sapphire eyes widening to blaze with a need and knowledge as old as Eve. ‘We can always do it again.’

Jake was not made of stone, though at that moment he was as hard as any rock. He caught her hand and lifted it up to his chest, though it nearly killed him to do so. Dio, but she was a temptress, and she was right. Once would never be enough with this woman, he knew, and he took her teasing mouth with a savage hunger he could barely control.

Charlie fought to drag air into her starving lungs as he broke the kiss, his head swooping down, his tongue flicking over her aching breasts once more, even as his long fingers eased through the golden curls at the junction of her thighs, and expertly stroked the moist feminine heart of her. She wrapped her arms around him and clung, her hips rising from the bed, as with torturous strokes he teased and probed her tight, silken depths until she was sure she could stand no more. Her body was white hot and wound up so tight she felt she would shatter into a million pieces with sensual excitement.

Jake lifted his head, his eyes molten pools of black jet, his bronzed skin flushed along his high cheekbones. ‘You want me.’

‘I’m crazy for you,’ she groaned. He rose over her, and she was unaware he reached for something from the bedside table as the subtle stroke of his lean fingers took her to the edge again.

‘Yes,’ Jake rasped and in one smooth motion he grasped her hips, and lifted her.

She felt the hard length of him touch her, stroke her once, twice. Her whole body shuddered, and she drew in an audible breath as with one powerful move he entered her.

Jake stilled as a gasp of protest escaped her. He was a big man to accommodate, he knew, and she was so tight that the thought crossed his mind it must have been some time since she had indulged. He pulled back ever so slightly, and eased into her slow and deep, and felt her silken muscles clench around him.

The sudden slight pain had caught Charlie by surprise, but was instantly forgotten as Jake stroked deeper, and in that moment she lost it completely. She cried out loud, ‘Oh, yes, Jake, yes,’ at the incredible sensations convulsing her slender body with a fierce pleasure that shattered all her innocent illusions, and left her shuddering in ecstasy. So this was…it. But the thought never fully formed, as Jake plunged harder and faster in a wild, primitive rhythm that drove her higher and higher.