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‘You surely don’t expect me to agree to such a double standard?’ she asked. ‘What am I supposed to get out of this arrangement?’
‘You get to keep your child, with a rich husband thrown in as a bonus.’
She let out her breath in a whoosh of feminist outrage. ‘I thought men like you died along with the dinosaurs. Seems I was wrong. So, how are things on Planet Chauvinism these days?’
‘I am not by nature a chauvinist but I am sure it will do you good to be celibate for a while to concentrate on your responsibilities as a mother.’
Ironic laughter bubbled to her lips before she could stop it. Unlike her sister, who had lost her virginity at the age of fourteen, Nina was technically still a virgin. Technically because she firmly believed every modern woman had the right to explore her own body and find out how things worked, although she still wondered what all the fuss was about. The earth hadn’t exactly moved and she’d more or less given up on herself, deciding she was one of those women with unusually low sex-drives. But on principle she wasn’t going to let him have things all his way. He already thought her the biggest tart outside of the red-light district and a perverse little part of her was enjoying every dangerous minute of encouraging him to maintain that view.
‘You find the prospect of being responsible amusing?’ His tone dripped with contempt.
She coiled a strand of her long hair around one finger, hoping he wouldn’t notice her chewed nail as she affected another seductive pose.
‘You’re a laugh a minute, Mr Marcello,’ she said. ‘All this talk of being celibate is hilarious. I haven’t been celibate for ten years and I’m not about to start for you or anyone.’
Anger briefly flashed across his features as he looked down at her. Nina saw his hands tighten into fists as if he didn’t trust himself not to reach out and touch her.
A flicker of sensation unexpectedly erupted between her thighs at the mere thought of any part of his tall hard body touching her. She began to imagine what that firm disapproving mouth would feel like crushed to hers, his tongue searching arrogantly to duel with hers. She felt her breasts start to tingle and, almost without realising she was doing it, her tongue came out just a fraction to sweep over the surface of her lips.
Marc felt the sharp tug of sudden errant desire hit him in the belly like a closed fist punch. He struggled to control it, annoyed with himself for being tempted when he’d been so assured that he would be able to resist her, but something about her struck at him deeply. She positively oozed with sexual confidence, the smoky grey of her eyes and full-lipped mouth making his skin lift in anticipation of feeling her touch.
He decided to strike a deal with her even though he had cause to wonder if he was shooting himself in the foot in the process.
‘Since you seem unwilling to agree to my terms, I am willing to make a small compromise,’ he announced. ‘For the period of one month following our marriage we will both remain celibate; how about that?’
She pursed her lips as if considering it. ‘One month? Hmm…I think I could just about manage that.’
His jaw tightened and she gave him another sexy smile. ‘But no longer or I’ll go out of my mind. But then, from what I hear of you—’ she ran her eyes over him from head to foot as if undressing him thread by thread ‘—maybe you will too.’
‘I think I will manage to contain myself,’ he responded coolly.
‘I take it you don’t have a current mistress?’ She sent him a lash-fluttering glance.
‘I am not currently close to anyone.’
Nina couldn’t help wondering how good he might be when he was close. He was the whole knee-trembling spine-loosening package, even though it irked her to admit it. He was handsome beyond belief, his dark mesmerizing eyes promising explosive passion from within their glittering depths. His mouth was currently stretched into a hardened line of derision but she was in no doubt of its power to persuade if he allowed himself a moment of weakness and brought his head down to hers.
The pram near the window suddenly gave a squeak of protest as Georgia shifted in her sleep.
Marc swung his gaze to the pram before turning back to face Nina, his voice low and deep with concern. ‘Is she all right?’
Sending him a now-see-what-you’ve-done look, Nina went over to soothe her. The mewing cries stopped as soon as her hand stroked Georgia’s tiny legs, the gentle rhythmic movements sending the infant back to sleep within a couple of minutes.
Nina was intensely aware of the watchful gaze of Marc Marcello a short distance away. She could almost sense his cool assessment of her, no doubt weighing up her skills as a mother.
Once she was sure the baby was soundly asleep she turned and faced him, her grey eyes meeting his with as much equanimity as she could.
‘You said earlier you intended to marry within two weeks. Why the hurry?’
‘My father is terminally ill. He wishes to see his only grandchild before he dies. There is not much time.’
‘A fortnight isn’t very long.’ She gave her bottom lip a surreptitious nibble.
‘I will see to all the details. You do not have to do anything but turn up at the registry office.’
Nina knew it was pathetic of her to be feeling disappointed, but if by some quirk of fate she had to go through with this, her lifelong dream of a beautiful white wedding in a city cathedral was going to have to be shelved indefinitely.
‘But what about a dress?’ she asked, trying not to think of Marc Marcello’s motives for marrying her.
‘I have no real interest in what sort of outfit you wear,’ he said. ‘However, I do think it would be highly inappropriate of you to wear white.’ His eyes flicked to the pram and back again. ‘Don’t you?’
She held his gaze for as long as she dared. ‘I happen to like wearing white. It suits my colouring.’
Marc was certain she’d still look stunning even if she was covered from head to foot in a nun’s habit. Her come-to-bed eyes had tugged far too many men into their seductive orbit and he had to make sure he didn’t join their number.
‘Wear what you like; the ceremony will be over within minutes anyway. I will make an appointment with my lawyer to draw up the necessary paperwork.’ He made a move towards the door, slanting a warning look her way. ‘I should remind you at this point that if you wish to pull out of the deal I will have no choice but to activate proceedings to remove Georgia permanently from your custody. And do not think I cannot do it, for I assure you I can and will if I need to.’
Nina wished she could throw his threat back at him but the thought of losing her niece was just too wrenching. She knew he only had to see those fading but still present bruises on Georgia’s tiny chest for the fight to be over right here and now.
She only hoped that maybe in time Marc would see how much she too loved the baby and wanted the best for her. But what would he do if or when he found out the truth?
‘I won’t pull out of the deal,’ she said, wishing her voice hadn’t sounded quite so hollow.
‘No, I imagine not.’ His eyes held hers with a caution reflected in their glittering depths ‘I will, of course, be providing you with an allowance for the duration of our marriage.’
Nina instantly stiffened, but for some reason couldn’t find her voice.
‘What will you do with all that money to spend, I wonder?’ he mused insultingly.
She gave him one of her sister’s casual shrugs. ‘Shop and shop and shop, probably.’
Marc’s lip curled distastefully. ‘You are a complete and utter sybarite. Have you ever done a decent day’s work in your life?’
‘Work?’ She wrinkled her nose in repugnance. ‘Why work when you can have fun instead?’
‘I must be out of my mind,’ he muttered under his breath. ‘You sicken me. I can hardly believe you lured my brother away from Daniela. She postponed the wedding because of you. If you hadn’t come along when you did, Andre—’
‘How typical to blame the woman in the middle,’ she shot back furiously on her sister’s behalf. ‘He didn’t have to sleep with me; he could always have said no.’
‘You hounded him for months,’ he tossed back. ‘He told me how determined you were, how it became impossible to keep you at arm’s length.’
‘I think I can safely say he enjoyed it while it lasted. And I bet you would too. I can guarantee it.’
‘Sorry to disappoint you, but that will not be happening. You know the score and if you put one foot out of place I will use all the weapons at my disposal.’
Nina could well believe it. He quite possibly had cards up his sleeve that could prove to be a little too tactical for her liking. She had two weeks to think of a way out and she was going to do her best to find one, for it was becoming increasingly clear she was seriously outmatched in her opponent.
‘Will any of your relatives be attending the ceremony?’ she asked in an effort to hide her disquiet.
‘No, my father is unable to travel and my mother is…’He hesitated slightly before continuing. ‘She died a couple of years ago.’
Nina couldn’t help feeling a wave of sympathy for his father, who had been dealt a double blow of grief in losing his son so close to the death of his wife. She imagined Marc was dealing with overwhelming grief too and it made her anger towards his treatment of her soften around the edges.
‘It must be a very difficult time for you all,’ she said gently.
Marc threw her a look of disgust. ‘How dare you offer sympathy when if it had not been for you, my brother would still be alive?’
Nina stared at him in shock. This was getting even worse than a nightmare. What did he mean?
‘That’s a heavy accusation,’ she managed to get out. ‘Exactly what evidence do you have to substantiate it?’
‘You were the last person to see Andre before he went to pick up Daniela from the airport.’
Nina hadn’t known that little detail and wondered why her sister hadn’t mentioned it.
‘So?’ She made her voice sound as unconcerned as possible even though her stomach was rolling in consternation.
‘Daniela was understandably upset at what had gone on whilst she had been in Milan visiting her family the first time,’ he said. ‘She was threatening to call off the wedding altogether but Andre was adamant that his involvement with you had ceased. She knew about the baby and it caused a great deal of trouble between them, as she was concerned about him having further contact with you. She lived long enough after the accident to tell me that Andre had been on edge when he arrived to pick her up, as you had visited him the night before making your usual outrageous demands. He had not slept well after you left and his concentration was all over the place. A truck ran a red light and he did not have the necessary reaction time to avoid the collision.’
‘And you think that’s my fault?’ Nina asked tightly. ‘I wasn’t driving the truck!’
‘You might as well have been, as far as I am concerned. Andre was deeply ashamed of himself for getting involved with you. It almost destroyed his relationship with Daniela.’
‘He should have thought about the consequences before he gave me the come-on,’ she threw back.
‘Have you not got that the wrong way around?’ he asked with a flash of black eyes. ‘It was not Andre who was lying naked in the hotel bed that first night—it was you.’
Nina did her best to hide her shock at his statement. There was so much she didn’t know and the further she became embroiled in this farce the harder it was to maintain her cover. Nadia had told her virtually nothing, which meant she now had to lie her way through this emotional minefield.
Lie after lie after lie.
She’d read somewhere that if a person were to tell one lie they then had to go on and tell thousands to keep that single one in place. Now she could well believe it.
‘So?’ She tried the casual tone again. ‘He could have said no.’
‘There are very few men who could say no when such temptation is dangled in front of them,’ he said, raking his gaze over her once more.
Nina tilted her head at him provocatively. ‘So you admit to being a little tempted yourself?’
His hand left the doorknob as he strode back across the room to stand in front of her, his expression so full of hatred she had to force herself not to step backwards to escape the heat of it coming off him in scorching waves.
His eyes burned down into hers forcefully, the inky depths glittering as if he was only just managing to keep his temper under control.
‘You might have the body of a goddess and the face of an angel but I would not touch you even if you held the key to life itself,’ he ground out heavily.
Injured feminine pride made Nina hitch up her chin another fraction, her eyes issuing him a challenge she knew deep inside she should not be issuing but she just couldn’t help it. How dare he dismiss her so confidently?
‘Want to lay a bet on that, big boy? Put your money where your mouth is—so to speak.’
The line of his mouth grew even tighter until his lips appeared almost white. Nina could tell she had taken things a little too far but it was too late to back out now.
‘All right.’ He finally released his breath. ‘I will lay a bet on it. If I touch you other than in the most casual way during our marriage, you win the bet. I will double your allowance on the spot.’
She suddenly realised that Nadia would have asked how much he intended giving her by now but it simply hadn’t occurred to Nina to do so.
‘Um…how much are you intending to pay me?’
‘Much more than you are worth, I can assure you.’
Her eyes burned with seething hatred at his denigration, everything inside her quaking with anger until she could barely stand still. She felt it rumbling in her stomach, flash-flooding her veins as it was carried to every single cell of her body.
‘That remains to be seen,’ she said in Nadia’s confident flirty tone even though her teeth were being ground to powder behind her seductive smile.
His midnight eyes gleamed with confidence as he looked down at her, the small smile that was playing on his lips a combination of both mockery and challenge.
‘Go ahead, Miss Selbourne, go ahead and make me pay.’
She opened her mouth to respond but before she could get the words out the door opened under his hand and he stepped through and closed it behind him with an ominous click of the lock as it fell back into place.
She stared at the door for a moment or two, her stomach in tight knots of panic, her head throbbing with tension and her legs trembling at the thought of what she’d just done.
She turned and leaned heavily on the arm of the old sofa, her frazzled brain trying to find a satisfactory way out of her predicament.
If she told him who she really was he would have even more reason to claim Georgia, for she could hardly provide for her the way he obviously could and, with Nadia already abandoning her daughter, what hope would there be of fighting back?
But marrying him?
Her heart gave another heavy thump of panic at the thought of being formally tied to him in marriage, all the time having to keep her true identity a secret. But unless Nadia reappeared and claimed her daughter, Nina knew she was going to have to continue with the charade for as long as necessary. What other choice was there? Georgia needed her. She couldn’t let her down.
Two weeks…that was all she had and it wasn’t anywhere near long enough.
She gave a tiny shiver as she thought of him towering over her the way he had, his eyes aflame with dislike. He was ruthlessness and power personified; he was used to simply paying for any obstacles in his path to be removed and she would be the first to be crushed beneath his well-heeled foot.
She gave a little jump when the telephone rang on the small table beside her and, reaching out a still shaking hand, picked up the receiver and held it to her ear.
‘Nina?’ Nadia’s voice rang out airily. ‘I thought I’d call you en route. I’m in Singapore for a couple of hours while the plane refuels.’
‘Do you have any idea of what you’ve done?’ Nina choked, clutching at the receiver with both hands.
‘I know you don’t approve of me leaving Georgia,’ Nadia said. ‘But quite frankly I don’t care. I want—’
‘Will you shut up and listen to me?’ Nina bit out. ‘How could you do that to your own daughter? Not only did you abandon her but you hurt her!’
‘Look.’ Nadia’s tone hardened. ‘She was crying for ages while you were out. It drove me nuts.’
Nina’s stomach churned at the thought of the abuse happening under her very own roof.
‘She’s a defenceless child. You were one once; don’t you remember what it feels like to be so vulnerable?’
