The Italian's Ruthless Baby Bargain

‘Most of my wardrobe is in autumn colours,’ she admitted, ‘and this—’ she spread her hands, looking down at the skirt she wore, and her cream blouse with its tiny brown flowers ‘—is one of my favourite outfits.’

The moment the words were out Penny regretted them. Her blouse had a drawstring neckline and sat quite low on her shoulders, and she had drawn Santo’s attention to it. She could feel his eyes on her breasts, which to her dismay hardened and tingled, and she couldn’t help wondering how it would feel to have his fingers stroke them. The very thought set her senses sizzling and pulses pounding and it was with an effort that she dashed it away.

Surely it was time they went. She couldn’t sit here thinking these thoughts any longer. She glanced at her watch. ‘I mustn’t be late picking up Chloe.’

‘And I must get back to work. I’ve enjoyed your company, Penny. I feel I know you much better now. It will be a pleasure allowing you to look after my daughter.’

‘You could always pick her up from school yourself,’ suggested Penny cautiously. ‘She’d like that.’

But Santo shook his head. ‘I have another meeting at three. Edward will drive you home. I can walk from here.’

‘And will you be home before Chloe goes to bed?’ enquired Penny.

‘I’m not sure. Probably not. Say goodnight to her for me.’

‘Chloe hardly sees you,’ she told him. ‘It’s really not fair on her, the hours you work. It would be nice if you tried to make more of an effort to see her.’ Then she clapped a hand to her mouth. ‘I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. It’s none of my business.’

‘You’re damn right it’s none of your business,’ he responded fiercely, his brown eyes losing the softness that had lingered during their meal. ‘I wouldn’t be where I am today and Chloe wouldn’t have the life she does if I didn’t work the hours I do.’

But you no longer need to, thought Penny, though she wisely kept the words to herself.

Amazingly, though, he wasn’t late home. Chloe was in bed admittedly, but it was only a little after eight and Penny was sitting outside with a book on her lap. It was a warm balmy evening and through the trees in the distance she could see the evening sun glinting on the lake and she couldn’t stop counting her blessings that she had been given this job.

Many of her friends would have found the solitude boring. They liked people and music and parties, but she was not missing them. Not yet at any rate. Or was it perhaps something else that attracted her—perhaps it was the man of the house himself?

She was sworn off men, so why she felt this pull towards Santo she had no idea. She’d met plenty of good-looking men in the course of her work and had felt nothing for them. Only Santo had made her senses run wild.

For a few seconds she closed her eyes and pictured his face. She could see him as he’d sat across from her at the restaurant. Those amazing dark eyes that could fill a woman with excitement without a word being said.

Even thinking about him sent a burning sensation through her lower body, made her head fall back and the tip of her tongue moisten suddenly dry lips. Oh, hell, she thought, was this really happening?

‘Penny.’

The voice was soft—and close! She was imagining it!

Then a hand touched her shoulder.

It was real!

‘Penny, are you all right?’

‘Santo!’ Her eyes snapped open and without even realising it she used his name for the first time. ‘You startled me. I—I didn’t hear you come in.’

‘Evidently,’ he said, his rich, deep voice throbbing through her veins.

It was the sexiest voice she had ever heard. And she couldn’t help wondering what it would be like if he were whispering words of love. She felt sure that it could quite easily make her climax without him even touching her.

What a crazy situation.

‘What were you thinking?’

‘Nothing,’ she answered quickly. ‘You’re home early.’

His mouth twisted wryly. ‘I took your advice. I thought I’d see Chloe before she went to bed, but it looks as though I’m too late.’

‘You’ve only missed her by about half an hour,’ Penny informed him, struggling for composure. At least talking about his daughter gave her time to rationalise her breathing.

To her dismay he pulled a chair close to hers and sat down. ‘Then it’s just you and me.’ He looked relaxed for a change, younger, less severe, and because of the way she’d been thinking earlier it made her want to—to what?

Touch her fingers to his cheek, explore the contours? See what it felt like to be kissed by a real man. Lord, this hadn’t happened to her since Max. She’d deliberately built a defensive wall and now it was crumbling fast.

She couldn’t do this, she mustn’t allow herself to once more fall for the wrong man. Santo wouldn’t be interested in her long-term. All he saw was a babysitter for his daughter, someone to take the weight off his shoulders. And if he could enjoy the pleasures of her body in the meantime—why not?

Now, where had those thoughts come from? He hadn’t shown the slightest inclination to want to kiss her. But men were men. She knew that. Men took advantage of situations.

And her instincts proved correct when he leaned towards her, when his mouth was inches away from hers. She could see the pores in his skin, faintly smell cedar wood, and the whites of his eyes were so clear that—that she had to get away before she was lost in them.

Heavens! This wasn’t really happening. It couldn’t be. She’d only been here two days. He wouldn’t pounce on her like that, surely? Risk the fact that he might send her running.

And she was right. He gave a satisfied smile and then sat back in his seat.

But she’d given herself away. She’d given him a hold over her. He knew that he could take her any time he wanted to.

‘Excuse me, I think I’d better go and check on Chloe,’ she said, jumping to her feet. She was gone in seconds, fleeing as fast as her legs would carry her, her heart pounding. Letting Santo see how she felt had been a big mistake. One he might take advantage of.

And she wasn’t wrong.

She looked in on Chloe to find her sleeping like an angel, a faint smile on her lips, her black hair, so much like her father’s, spread across the pillow. She was a sweet child and Penny couldn’t see why Santo didn’t devote more of his time to her, why he insisted on working long hours and getting someone else to look after his daughter.

Leaving the nursery, her head down, her mind still intent on what she saw as Chloe’s misfortune, Penny bumped straight into Santo. The sudden contact whipped the breath from her body and though his arms steadied her she felt as if her legs were about to buckle.

‘What’s the hurry?’ he asked, concern in his voice. ‘Is Chloe all right?’

Penny nodded. Everything was all right except these dangerous feelings flooding her system. A response that rocked her. Ricocheted a hot sizzle of awareness through every bone in her body.

‘Then it has to be you—or me—or both of us?’ His dark eyes filled with amusement and before she could guess at his intent, before she could protest or even draw breath, he lowered his head and captured her softly parted lips.

Penny had always known that Santo’s kisses would be sensational; nevertheless she wasn’t prepared for the whirlpool of exquisite pleasure that wreaked havoc inside her. The way her world began to spin until she felt sure that she would fly out into orbit if he carried on.

For so many years she had told herself that no man would ever get through to her again—and yet it was happening.

Now! And she had no control over it.

Santo had reached into the deepest recesses of her mind and turned it around so that she was once again a woman with needs that required satisfying, fully and deeply.

When he pushed open a door and urged her inside Penny realised they were in his bedroom. One tiny part of her mind railed against what was happening, the other exalted in the crescendo of feelings that were tipping her over the edge into a world where nothing else mattered except this moment in time.

And instead of fighting him she gave herself up to the erotic sensation of Santo’s kisses, breathing his name against his mouth, feeling the fire he had ignited take hold until it consumed her whole body. There was no room for questions, for wondering what was possessing her, all she wanted was to give in to the heated feelings that ravaged her senses.

Santo led her over to the bed, pulling her against him as they lay down, lifting one powerful leg over hers, tucking her head into his shoulder. It was a big bed, deep and comfortable, and Penny closed her eyes, forgetting where she was and what she was doing. All that mattered was Santo’s hot body next to hers, the throb of their passion that must surely be loud in the room.

With gentle fingers he traced the contours of her face. The urgency of that first kiss had gone; he was exploring now, gentle kisses followed his fingertips, and Penny relaxed against him, giving herself up to the magic of the moment, urging her body ever closer against his.

He found her mouth again in a kiss that shattered her senses, made her writhe against him and call out his name. She clawed her fingers into his hair and felt such a surge of emotion that it scared her. She hardly knew this man and yet here she was in his bed, enjoying his kisses as though he was the only man in the world.

With all the strength she could muster Penny pushed Santo away. This mustn’t happen; she couldn’t let it. It was the worst form of insanity.

CHAPTER THREE

TREMBLING all over, her blue eyes wide and accusing, she scrambled off the bed and glared down at him. ‘Is this why your other nannies left? You couldn’t keep your hands off them?’

‘Mio Dio! You really think that’s what I am like?’ Santo’s eyes turned jet-black as he unfurled himself from the bed, and his silence as he moved towards her with all the lethal grace of a jungle cat was more menacing because of it.

‘So tell me it’s not true,’ she challenged, finding it difficult to breathe. ‘Tell me you were kissing me because you found me attractive, and not because I just happened to be available and you were feeling horny.’ She stood her ground, glaring into his face, trying to ignore the sensations still skittling around inside her.

‘I don’t remember you fighting me off,’ he returned coolly. ‘It seemed to me that the desire was totally mutual.’

Damn him! He was right, but she wasn’t going to admit it, not in a thousand years. And since he hadn’t confessed to finding her attractive she had her answer. And now she felt stupid, and because she felt stupid it made her even angrier. ‘Trust a man to try to worm his way out of a situation,’ she muttered, heading to the door.

But within seconds a heavy hand had her spinning round to face him. ‘No one accuses me like that and gets away with it.’ Black eyes pinned her and the savage fury pouring out of them twisted her stomach into knots and stiffened every one of her limbs so that she couldn’t move had she wanted to.

‘Our desires were mutual and you cannot deny it,’ he informed her icily. ‘If it was a guilty conscience that attacked you, so be it, but never, I repeat never, accuse me of doing something I am not guilty of.’

‘So this is the end of it?’ Penny said, facing him boldly, her spine straight, her head slanting defiantly up towards his face. ‘Or should I be on my guard? Is it likely to happen again?’

‘That depends on you.’ He let her go, standing a couple of feet away, but his body was rigid, his arms folded across his broad chest, and his fantastic eyes were fixed unblinkingly on hers.

A quiver ran through her. She was here to do a job, not enjoy an affair with the master of the house. He’d thought she was fair game and she’d almost succumbed.

She felt sick even thinking about it. ‘If it depends on me then I can assure you, Mr De Luca, that this will never happen again.’

He inclined his head. ‘So be it.’

‘So be it,’ she flung back and this time when she marched to the door he let her go.

Santo smiled to himself as Penny left the room. It hadn’t surprised him that she’d put a stop to their passionate embrace. In fact he’d been surprised that she’d let him kiss her at all. There was no denying that he’d enjoyed the experience. She was temptation personified. He even began to wonder whether it had been a good idea employing her.

The other nannies had been stiff and starchy, and Chloe had hated them so much that she’d been a little minx. But his daughter apparently adored Penny and he knew very well that life in the De Luca household would be much more stable with her there. So—for the moment—he’d have to curb his hunger.

IT WAS the middle of the night and Santo heard Chloe calling for her mummy. She’d had these bad dreams ever since her mother had died, although they had got further and further apart and he’d thought she was finally accepting the situation.

Being a father didn’t come naturally to him. He always felt awkward when comforting Chloe and had never been able to find the right words. He guessed it was because he’d had nothing to do with her early years.

Now he leapt out of bed, pulling on a robe as he crossed the room, and in seconds was at his daughter’s door. To discover that Penny was already there. He watched in silence for a few seconds, marvelling at how good she was with Chloe, how her words of comfort came pouring out as though she were a mother herself.

Suddenly Chloe spotted him. ‘Daddy, I had a nasty dream. Penny made me feel better.’

He walked across to the bed, glancing at Penny, remembering the kiss—how could he not when it had made his male hormones run more rampantly that he could ever remember? Resolutely closing his mind, he turned his attention to his daughter. ‘Then I’m glad that I found her, mio bello.’

Chloe held out her arms to him and he immediately hugged her, conscious as he did so of Penny watching him closely. It was the first time she’d seen any physical contact between them and her faint smile confirmed her approval.

‘Daddy, can Penny sleep with me?’

Faint hurt pulsed through Santo. Why Penny? Why not him? He knew the answer before he had posed it: because he hadn’t yet earned his daughter’s love.

He looked at Penny, felt his gut twist into knots, a deep need rising like the devil incarnate, and knew that he had to get out of here before he gave himself away. ‘If Penny doesn’t mind.’

Penny gave him a curious look before she smiled at Chloe. ‘Just for a few minutes, sweetheart.’

‘I’ll see you both in the morning, then,’ said Santo as he left the room, but he knew as he lay in bed that he was in danger of making a fool of himself where Penny Keeling was concerned. He wanted her as he’d never wanted any other woman in his life. Because she was different? He didn’t know. Because he knew she would never chase after him as many other women had done? He guessed that was true. There was a special quality about Penny. She had integrity as well as beauty.

Whatever had made her succumb to his kiss, it wasn’t her normal pattern of behaviour. He felt sure of that. Her body would be given only to a man she was deeply in love with. And the fact that she had almost given in to him had scared her to death.

The best thing he could do was distance himself from her. And his saviour was the project his company was working on, a global campaign for a major company that had always eluded them—and they were so close this time that he was prepared to work twenty-four-seven to make sure he got the contract.

Penny knew that letting Santo kiss her, allowing her emotions to surface, giving way to them, allowing him to see that she was not immune to his kisses, had been a dangerous thing to do. Dangerous and exciting. It proved that the hurt she’d felt when Max finished with her was finally being laid to rest.

Max had been a big businessman too who could have his pick of any woman he wanted—just like Santo. She’d met him at a party and when he had singled her out, told her she was special, she had fallen head over heels in love. Their affair had lasted six months and she’d been expecting him to ask her to marry him. The shock when she discovered he was seeing someone else had made her sick.

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