Hot Picks: A Convenient Marriage

‘Can I have a drink?’ she asked.

‘Sure,’ he said. ‘What would you like?’

‘White wine,’ she said.

‘Are you sure it’s a good idea to combine alcohol with those pills?’ he asked.

She gave him a surly look. ‘I’m not a child.’

‘No, but you’re under my protection,’ he said. ‘I don’t want you getting ill, or losing consciousness or something.’

She started chewing her nails as the pilot pulled back. Angelo took her hand away from her mouth and covered it with his. ‘You’ll be fine, cara,’ he said. ‘You were in far more danger driving to the airport than you ever will be in the air.’

She shifted restively, her eyes darting about like a spooked thoroughbred’s. ‘I want to get off,’ she said. ‘Please—can you tell the pilot to stop? I want to get off.’

Angelo put his arm around her and brought her close against him. ‘Shh, mia piccola,’ he soothed. ‘Concentrate on your breathing. In and out. In and out. That’s right. Nice and slow.’

She squeezed her eyes shut and lowered her head to his chest. He stroked the silk of her hair, talking to her in the same calm voice. It took a lot longer than he expected but finally she relaxed against him. She slept for most of the journey and only woke up just as they were coming to land in Rome.

‘There,’ he said. ‘You did it. That wasn’t so bad, was it?’

She nodded vaguely and brushed the hair back off her face. ‘Have I got time to use the bathroom?’

‘Sure,’ he said. ‘Do you want me to come with you?’

Her cheeks pooled with colour. ‘No, thank you.’

He gave her a mocking smile. ‘Maybe next time, si?’

The press had obviously been given a tip-off somewhere between their arrival at the airport and Angelo’s family villa in Rome. Natalie watched in dismay as photographers surged towards Angelo’s chauffeur-driven car.

‘Don’t worry,’ he said as he helped her out of the car. ‘I’ll handle their questions.’

Within a few moments Angelo had managed to satisfy the press’s interest and sent them on their way.

An older man opened the front door of the villa and greeted Angelo. ‘Your parents are in the salon, Signor Bellandini.’

‘Grazie, Pasquale,’ he said. ‘Natalie, this is Pasquale. He has been working for my family for many years.’

‘I’m very pleased to meet you,’ Natalie said.

‘Welcome,’ Pasquale said. ‘It is very nice to see Signor Bellandini happy at last.’

‘Come,’ Angelo said, guiding her with a hand resting in the curve of her back. ‘My parents will be keen to meet you.’

If they were so keen, why hadn’t they been at the door to greet her instead of the elderly servant? Natalie thought bitterly to herself. But clearly there was a different protocol in the upper classes of Italian society. And Sandro and Francesca Bellandini were nothing if not from the very top shelf of the upper class.

Natalie could see where Angelo got his height and looks from as soon as she set eyes on his father. While an inch or two shorter than his son, Sandro had the same dark brown eyes and lean, rangy build. His hair was still thick and curly but it was liberally streaked with grey, giving him a distinguished air that was as compelling as it was intimidating.

Francesca, on the other hand, was petite, and her demeanour outwardly demure, but her keen hazel eyes missed nothing. Natalie felt them move over her in one quick assessing glance, noting her hair and make-up, the style and make of her clothes, the texture of her skin and the state of her figure.

‘This is Natalie, my fiancée,’ Angelo said. ‘Natalie—my parents, Sandro and Francesca.’

‘Welcome to the family.’ Francesca was the first to speak. ‘Angelo has told us so much about you. I am sorry we didn’t meet you five years ago. We would’ve told him he was a fool for letting you go—si, Sandro?’

‘Si,’ Sandro said, taking her hand once his wife had relinquished it. ‘You are very welcome indeed.’

Angelo’s arm came back around her waist. ‘I’ll see that Natalie is settled in upstairs before we join you for a celebratory drink.’

‘Maria has made up the Venetian room for you both,’ Francesca said. ‘I didn’t see the point in separating you. You’ve been apart too long, no?’

Natalie glanced at Angelo, but he was smiling at his mother. ‘That was very thoughtful of you, Mamma,’ he said.

Natalie had to wait until they were upstairs and alone before she could vent her spleen. ‘I bet you did that deliberately,’ she said.

‘Did what?’

‘Don’t play the guileless innocent with me,’ she flashed back. ‘You knew your mother would put us in the same room, didn’t you?’

‘On the contrary. I thought she would go old-fashioned on me and put us at opposite ends of the villa,’ he said. ‘I told you she’s incredibly insightful. She must have sensed how hot you are for me.’

Natalie glared at him. ‘I’m not sharing that bed with you.’

‘Fine,’ he said unbuttoning his shirt. ‘I’ll let you have the floor.’

She frowned at him. ‘What are you doing?’

He pulled his shirt out of the waistband of his trousers. ‘I’m getting changed.’

Her eyes went the flat plane of his abdomen. He looked amazing—so masculine, so taut, so magnificently fit and tanned and virile. She swung away and went to look out of the windows overlooking the gardens.

‘Why did you let your parents think it was you who ended our affair five years ago?’ she asked.

‘I didn’t want you to get off to a bad start with them,’ he said. ‘I’m their only child. Parents can be funny about things like that.’

Natalie turned around. He was only wearing black underwear now. The fabric clung to him lovingly. Her insides clenched with greedy fistfuls of desire. She had kissed and tasted every inch of his body. She had taken him in her mouth, ruthlessly tasting him until he had collapsed with release. She had felt him move deep within her. She had felt his essence spill inside her. She had been as brazen as she could be with him and yet still he had always been a step ahead of her. He had pushed her to the limit time and time again. Her flesh shivered in memory of his touch. Her spine tingled and her belly fluttered. She drew in a breath as she saw his gaze run over her. Was he too thinking of the red-hot passion they had shared?

‘I don’t expect you to take the blame,’ she said. ‘I’m not ashamed of breaking off our relationship. I was too young to get married.’

‘That won’t cut it with my mother, I’m afraid,’ he said. ‘She was barely sixteen when she fell in love with my father. She has never looked at another man since.’

‘Is your father faithful to her?’

He frowned. ‘What makes you ask that?’

Natalie lifted a shoulder up and down. ‘They’ve been together a long time. It’s not uncommon for a man to stray.’

‘My father takes his marriage vows seriously,’ he said. ‘He is exactly like my grandfather in that.’

‘And what about you, Angelo?’ she asked. ‘Will you follow in their honourable footsteps, or will you have your little bits on the side if I don’t come up trumps?’

He came over to where she was standing. Stopped just in front of her. So close she could feel her body swaying towards him like a compass searching for magnetic north. She fought against the desire to close the minuscule distance. She stood arrow-straight, stiff to the point of discomfort. Her heart was racing; the hammer blows were making her giddy, her breathing shallow and uneven.

Her resolve, God help her, was crumbling.

Angelo slipped a warm hand behind her head at the nape of her neck setting off a shower of sensation beneath the surface of her sensitive skin.

‘Why do you fight with yourself so much?’ he asked.

Natalie pressed her lips together. ‘I’m fighting you, not myself.’

His fingers moved through her hair in a spine-tingling caress. ‘We both want the same thing, cara,’ he said. ‘Connection, intimacy, satisfaction.’

She could feel her resolve slipping even further out of her control. Why did he have to look so damned gorgeous? Why did he have to have such melting brown eyes? Why did he have to have such amazing hands that made her flesh tingle with sensation? Why did he have to have such a tempting mouth?

For God’s sake, why didn’t he throw her backwards caveman-style on the bed and ravish her?

In the end it was impossible to tell who had closed the distance between their bodies. Suddenly she felt the hard ridge of his erection pressing against her belly. It was like putting a match to a decade of dried-out tinder. She felt the flames erupt beneath her flesh. They licked along every nerve pathway, from the top of her scalp to her toes.

Her mouth met his in a combative duel that had no hint of romance or tenderness about it. It was all about lust—primal, ravenous lust—that was suddenly let loose after being restrained for far too long. She felt the scorch of his lips as they ground against hers. And then his tongue thrust boldly through the seam of her lips, making her insides flip over in delight. Her tongue tangled with his, fighting for supremacy, but he wouldn’t give in. She felt the scrape of her teeth against his; she even tasted blood but couldn’t be sure whose it was. She fed off his mouth greedily, rapaciously, and little whimpers of pleasure sounded deep in her throat as he varied the speed and pressure.

He crushed her to him, one of his hands ruthlessly tugging her top undone so he could access her breast. She felt her achingly tight nipple rubbing against his palm. A wave of longing besieged her. She felt it flickering like a pulse between her thighs. She felt the honeyed moistness of her body preparing for his possession. She rubbed up against him intimately, the feminine heart of her on fire, aching, pulsing, contracting with a need so great it was overwhelming.

He kept kissing her relentlessly, his tongue diving for hers, conquering it with each and every sensual stroke. Her lips felt swollen but she didn’t care. She kissed him back with just as much passion, nipping at him with her teeth in between stroking him with her tongue. He tasted just as she remembered him: minty and fresh and devastatingly, irresistibly male.

He tore his mouth from hers to suckle on her breast, his tongue swirling around her areola and over her nipple until her back arched in pleasure. She knew it would take very little to send her up into the stratosphere. She could feel the tremors at her core, the tension building and building, until she was close to begging him to satisfy that delicious, torturous ache.

He brought his mouth back to hers—a slower kiss this time. He took his time exploring her mouth, his tongue teasing hers rather than subduing it. She melted like honey in a hothouse. Her arms went around his neck. Her hands delved into the thick denseness of his hair. Her throbbing pelvis was flush against the hardness of his.

He raised his mouth from hers, his breathing heavy, his eyes dark and heavy-lidded and smouldering with desire. ‘Tell me you want me,’ he commanded.

Natalie was jolted out of his sensual spell with a resurgence of her pride. ‘I don’t want you,’ she lied.

He gave a deep and very masculine-sounding mocking laugh. ‘I could prove that for the lie that it is just by slipping my hand between your legs.’

She tried to back away but he held her fast. ‘Get your hands off me,’ she said through gritted teeth.

He slowly slid his hands down the length of her arms, his fingers encircling her wrists like handcuffs. ‘You will come to me, cara, just like you did in the past,’ he said. ‘I know you too well.’

She held his gaze defiantly. ‘You don’t know me at all,’ she said. ‘You might know your way around my body, but you know nothing of my heart.’

‘That’s because you won’t let anyone in, will you?’ he said. ‘You push everyone away when they get too close. Your father told me how difficult you are.’

Natalie’s mouth dropped open in outrage. ‘You discussed me with my father?’

His hands fell away from her wrists, his expression masked. ‘We had a couple of conversations, yes,’ he said.

‘About what?’

‘I asked for your hand in marriage.’

She gave a derisive laugh. ‘That was rather draconian of you, wasn’t it? And also hypocritical—because you wouldn’t have let the little matter of my father’s permission stand in the way of what you wanted, now, would you?’

‘I thought it was the right thing to do,’ he said. ‘I would’ve liked to meet him face to face but he was abroad on business.’

Natalie could just imagine the ‘business’ her father was working on. His latest project was five-foot-ten with bottle-blonde hair and breasts you could serve a dinner party off.

‘I’m sure he didn’t hesitate in handing me over to your care,’ she said. ‘I’m surprised he didn’t offer to pay you for the privilege.’

His gaze remained steady on hers, dark and penetrating but giving nothing away. ‘We also discussed Lachlan’s situation.’

‘I take it he didn’t offer to postpone his business in order to be by Lachlan’s side and sort things out?’

‘I told him to stay away,’ he said. ‘Sometimes parents can get in the way when it comes to situations like this. Your father has done all he can for your brother. It’s time to step back and let others take charge.’

‘Which you just couldn’t wait to do, because it gave you the perfect foothold to force me back into your life,’ she said, shooting him a resentful glare.

Those piercing brown eyes refused to let hers go. ‘You came to me, Natalie, not the other way around.’

A thought slipped into her mind like the thin curl of smoke beneath a door. ‘My father was the one who contacted you, wasn’t he?’ she said, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. ‘I only came to you because my mother begged me to. I would never have come to you otherwise. He put her up to it.’

‘Your father expressed his concern for you when we spoke,’ he said. ‘It seems it’s not only your brother with an attitude problem.’

Natalie stalked to the other side of the bedroom, her arms around her body so tightly she felt her ribs creak in protest. Her anger was boiling like a cauldron inside her. She wanted to explode. She wanted to hit out at him, at the world, at the cruel injustice of life. The thought of Angelo discussing her with her father was repugnant to her. She hated thinking of how that conversation would have played out.

Her father would have painted her as a wilful and defiant child with no self-discipline. He would have laid it on thickly, relaying anecdote after anecdote about how she had disobeyed him and made life difficult for him almost from the day she had been born. He would not have told of how he had wanted a son first, and how she had ruined his plans by being born a girl. He would not have told of his part in provoking her, goading her into black moods and tempers until he finally broke her spirit. He would not have told of how his philosophy of parenting was ‘might is right’, how tyranny took precedence over tolerance, ridicule and shame over support and guidance. He would not have told of how he had used harsh physical discipline when gentle corrective words would have achieved a much better outcome.

No, he would have portrayed himself as a long-suffering devoted father who was at his wits’ end over his wayward offspring.

He would not have mentioned Liam.

Liam’s death was a topic no one mentioned. It was as if he had never existed. None of his toys or clothes were at the family mansion. Her father had forced her mother to remove them as soon as Lachlan had been born. The photos of Liam’s infancy and toddlerhood were in an album in a cupboard that was securely locked and never opened. Natalie’s only photo of her baby brother was the one she had found in the days after his funeral, when everyone had been distraught and distracted. She had kept it hidden until she had bought her house in Edinburgh.

But for all her father’s efforts to erase the tragedy of Liam’s short life his ghost still haunted them all. Every time Natalie visited her parents—which was rare these days—she felt his presence. She saw his face in Lachlan’s. She heard him in her sleep. Every year she had night terrors as the anniversary of his death came close.

With an enormous effort she garnered her self-control, and once she was sure she had her emotions securely locked and bolted down she slowly turned and faced Angelo. ‘I’m sure you found that conversation very enlightening,’ she said.

His expression was hard to read. ‘Your father cares for you very deeply,’ he said. ‘Like all parents, he and your mother only want the best for you.’

Natalie kept her mouth straight, even though she longed to curl her lip. ‘My father obviously thinks you’re the best for me,’ she said. ‘And as for my mother—well, she wouldn’t dream of contradicting him. So it’s happy families all round, isn’t it?’

He studied her for a heartbeat, his eyes holding hers in a searching, probing manner. ‘I’m going to have a shower,’ he said. ‘My parents will have gone to a great deal of trouble over dinner. Please honour them by dressing and behaving appropriately.’

‘Contrary to what my father probably told you, I do actually know how to behave in company,’ she said to his back as he went towards the en suite bathroom.

He turned around and meshed his gaze with hers. ‘I’m on your side, cara,’ he said, with unexpected gentleness.

Her eyes stung with the sudden onset of tears. She blinked and got them back where they belonged: concealed, blocked, and stoically, strenuously denied. She gave a toss of her head and walked back to the window overlooking the gardens. But she didn’t let out her breath until she heard the click of the bathroom door indicating Angelo had gone.

Angelo was putting on some cufflinks when he heard Natalie come out of the dressing room. He turned and looked at her, his breath catching in his chest at the sight of her dressed in a classic knee length black dress and patent leather four-inch heels. Her hair was pulled back in an elegant knot at the back of her head, giving her a regal air. She was wearing diamond and pearl droplet earrings and a matching necklace. Her make-up was subtle, but it highlighted the dark blue of her eyes and the creamy texture of her skin and model-like cheekbones. Her perfume drifted towards him—a bewitching blend of the wintry bloom of lily of the valley and the hot summer fragrance of honeysuckle. A perfect summation of her complex character: ice-maiden and sultry siren.

How could someone so beautiful on the outside be capable of the things her father had said about her? It was worrying him—niggling at him like a toothache. The more time he spent with her, the more he found new aspects to her character that intrigued him.

Yes, she was wilful and defiant. Yes, she had a streak of independence. Yes, she could be incredibly stubborn.

But she clearly loved her brother and was prepared to go to extraordinary lengths to help him. How did that fit in with Adrian Armitage’s assessment of her as totally selfish and self-serving?

‘You look like you just stepped off a New York City catwalk,’ he said.

She lifted a slim shoulder dismissively. ‘This dress is three seasons old,’ she said. ‘I bought it on sale for a fraction of the cost.’

‘I like your hair like that.’

‘It needs cutting,’ she said, touching a hand to one of her earrings. ‘This is a good way to hide the split ends.’

‘Why don’t you like compliments?’ he asked. ‘You always deflect them. You used to do that five years ago. I thought it was because you were young back then, but you’re still doing it.’

She stopped fiddling with her earring to look at him, her chin coming up. ‘Compliment me all you like,’ she said. ‘I can handle it.’

‘You’re beautiful.’

‘Thank you.’

‘And extremely intelligent.’

She gave a little mock bow. ‘Thank you.’

‘And you have the most amazing body,’ he said.

High on her cheekbones twin pools of delicate rose appeared, and her eyes moved out of reach of his. ‘I haven’t been to the gym in months.’

‘You’re meant to say thank you—not make excuses,’ he pointed out.

She brought her gaze back. ‘Thank you.’

‘You’re the most intriguing person I know.’

A mask fell over her face like a curtain dropping over a stage. ‘You need to get out a little more, Angelo,’ she said.

‘You have secrets in your eyes.’

She stilled as if every cell in her body had been snap frozen. But then, just as quickly she relaxed her pose. ‘We all have our secrets,’ she said lightly. ‘I wonder what some of yours are?’

‘Who gave you that jewellery?’ he asked.

She put a hand to her throat, where her necklace rested. ‘I bought it for myself,’ she said.

‘Do you still have the locket I gave you from that street fair we went to?’

She dropped her hand from her neck and reached for her purse. ‘Your parents will be wondering what’s keeping us,’ she said.

‘My parents will think we’ve been catching up on lost time.’

Her cheeks fired again. ‘I hope they don’t expect me to speak Italian, because I’m hopeless at it.’

‘They won’t expect you to do anything you’re not comfortable with,’ he said. ‘They’re keen to welcome you as the daughter they never had.’

‘I hope I live up to their lofty expectations,’ she said, frowning a little. ‘But then, I guess no one is ever going to be good enough for the parents of an only child.’

‘I’m sure they will grow to love you if you show them who you really are,’ he said.

‘Yeah, like that’s going to work,’ she said, and picked up her wrap and wound it round her shoulders.

Angelo frowned. ‘Why do you say that?’

‘No one really gets to be who they truly are on the inside, do they?’ she said. ‘We all fall into line because of cultural conditioning and family expectation. None of us can say what we really want to say or do what we really want to do. We’re hemmed in by parameters imposed on us by other people and the society we live in.’

‘What would you do or say if those parameters weren’t there?’ he asked.

She gave one of her dismissive shrugs. ‘What would be the point?’ she asked. ‘No one listens anyway.’

‘I’m listening,’ he said.

Her eyes fell away from his. ‘We shouldn’t keep your parents waiting.’

He brought her chin up with his finger and thumb. ‘Don’t shut me out, cara,’ he said. ‘For God’s sake, talk to me. I’m tired of this don’t-come-too-close-to-me game you keep playing.’

Her expression flickered with a host of emotions. He saw them pass through her eyes like a burgeoning tide. They rippled over her forehead and tightened her jaw, but she spoke none of them out loud.

‘You won’t let me in, will you?’ he said.

‘There’s nothing in there.’

‘I don’t believe that,’ he said. ‘I know you try and pretend otherwise, but you have a soft heart and you won’t let anyone get near it. Why? Why are you so determined to deny yourself human connection and intimacy?’

She stepped out of his hold and gave him a hardened look. ‘Didn’t my father tell you?’ she said. ‘I’m a lost cause. I’m beyond redemption. I have a streak of selfishness and self-preservation that overrides everything else. I care for no one but myself.’

‘If that is so then why have you agreed to sacrifice yourself for your brother’s sake?’ he asked.

There was a hint of movement at her slim throat, as if she had tried to disguise a swallow. ‘Lachlan isn’t like me,’ she said. ‘He’s sensitive and vulnerable. He doesn’t know how to take care of himself yet, but he will. He just needs more time.’

‘You’re paying a very high price for his learning curve.’

She met his gaze levelly. ‘I’ve paid higher.’

Angelo tried to break her gaze down with the laser force of his but she was indomitable. It was like trying to melt a wall of steel with a child’s birthday cake candle. ‘I won’t give up on you, Natalie,’ he said. ‘I don’t care how long it takes. I will not give up until I see what’s written on your heart.’