The High-Society Wife

With Valentine’s Day, February is always a romantic month. And we’ve got some great books in store for you….

The High-Society Wife by Helen Bianchin is the story of a marriage of convenience between two rich and powerful families…. But what this couple didn’t expect is for their marriage to become real! It’s also the first in our new miniseries RUTHLESS, where you’ll find commanding men, who stop at nothing to get what they want. Look out for more books coming soon! And if you love Italian men, don’t miss The Marchese’s Love-Child by Sara Craven, where our heroine is swept off her feet by a passionate tycoon.

If you just want to get away from it all, let us whisk you off to the beautiful Greek Islands in Julia James’s hard-hitting story Baby of Shame. What will happen when a businessman discovers that his night of passion with a young Englishwoman five years ago resulted in a son? The Caribbean is the destination for our couple in Anne Mather’s intriguing tale The Virgin’s Seduction.

Jane Porter has a dangerously sexy Sicilian for you in The Sicilian’s Defiant Mistress. This explosive reunion story promises to be dark and passionate! In Trish Morey’s Stolen by the Sheikh, the first in her new duet, THE ARRANGED BRIDES, a young woman is summoned to the palace of a demanding sheikh, who has plans for her future…. Don’t miss part two, coming in March.

See the inside front cover for a list of titles and book numbers.

Men who can’t be tamed…or so they think!

If you love strong, commanding men, you’ll love this brand-new miniseries. Meet the guy who breaks the rules to get exactly what he wants, because he is…

HARD-EDGED & HANDSOME

He’s the man who’s impossible to resist…

RICH & RAKISH

He’s got everything—and needs nobody, until he meets one woman…

He’s RUTHLESS!

In his pursuit of passion; in his world the winner takes all!

Brought to you by your favorite Harlequin Presents® authors!

The Billionaire Boss’s Forbidden Mistress

by Miranda Lee

#2524

The High-Society Wife

Helen Bianchin

www.millsandboon.co.uk

MILLS & BOON

Before you start reading, why not sign up?

Thank you for downloading this Mills & Boon book. If you want to hear about exclusive discounts, special offers and competitions, sign up to our email newsletter today!

SIGN ME UP!

Or simply visit

signup.millsandboon.co.uk

Mills & Boon emails are completely free to receive and you can unsubscribe at any time via the link in any email we send you.

All about the author…

Helen Bianchin

HELEN BIANCHIN grew up in New Zealand, an only child possessed by a vivid imagination and a love for reading. After four years of legal secretarial work, Helen embarked on a working holiday in Australia where she met her Italian-born husband, a tobacco sharefarmer in far north Queensland. His command of English was pitiful, and her command of Italian was nil. Fun? Oh yes! So too was being flung into cooking for workers immediately after marriage, stringing tobacco and living in primitive conditions.

It was a few years later when Helen, her husband and their daughter returned to New Zealand, settled in Auckland and added two sons to their family. Encouraged by friends to recount anecdotes of her years as a tobacco sharefarmer’s wife living in an Italian community, Helen began setting words on paper and her first novel was published in 1975.

Creating interesting characters and telling their stories remains as passionate a challenge for Helen as it did in the beginning of her writing career.

Spending time with family, reading and watching movies are high on Helen’s list of pleasures. An animal lover, Helen says her Maltese terrier and two Birman cats regard her study as much theirs as hers.

To Danilo, Lucia, Angelo and Peter

for their love and support through the years

CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

EPILOGUE

CHAPTER ONE

‘SOMETHING bothers you?’

The male voice held a faintly inflected drawl, and Gianna met her husband’s dark gaze across the master bedroom with equanimity.

It was a spacious room with two walk-in wardrobes with adjoining dressing-rooms, and two en suite bathrooms. Beautifully carved antique furniture complemented plush furnishings in muted colours of cream and pale green.

‘What makes you think that?’ There was no point in relaying she’d had the day from hell, and right now she’d sell her soul for a soothing session in the Jacuzzi followed by an early night.

Instead, she’d battled peak-hour traffic, arrived home late and raced upstairs to shed her tailored business suit and take a quick shower.

The thought of attending a fundraiser held in a city hotel ballroom, where she’d graciously participate in conversation, attempt to make her way through a three-course dinner, limit herself to one glass of champagne and play the pretend game held little appeal.

His eyes sharpened, and for a moment she thought he’d read her mind.

‘Take something for that headache before we leave.’

Oh, my. ‘You know this…because?’ Her voice sounded vaguely truculent even to her own ears.

He stood tall, with the build of a warrior, well-honed muscle and sinew flexing beneath smooth olive skin, his lithe body unadorned except for black silk hipster briefs covering his tight butt.

His dark hair was damp from a recent shower, his strong facial features all angles and planes, the dark shadow beard clean-shaven.

Dark eyes held her own. ‘You want to argue?’

She waited a beat. ‘Not particularly.’

One eyebrow lifted in silent cynicism before he returned to the task at hand.

Franco Giancarlo was something else, Gianna reflected as she entered her en suite bathroom and began applying make-up.

A ruggedly attractive man in his late thirties, who commanded respect among his peers and wreaked havoc with many a feminine heart.

Something she knew only too well. He’d captured hers at an impossibly young age—an adoration for a teenager ten years her senior that had shifted to hero-worship with the growing years before taking the leap to love.

An entity that had made it easy for her to accept his proposal.

For the sake of the Giancarlo-Castelli conglomerate, founded by their respective grandparents during the last century. An extremely successful business temporarily put under pressure little more than three years ago by a fatal plane crash which had claimed both Franco’s parents and Gianna’s widowed father.

Losses on the share market had been regained when Franco assumed directorial control. Restoring shareholders’ faith had taken three consecutive successful financial quarters. Yet future stability had remained in question, given Franco Giancarlo’s bachelor status and Gianna Castelli’s seeming lack of interest in choosing a husband.

The two widowed grandparents, matriarchal-Anamaria Castelli and patriarchal Santo Giancarlo, had presented what they had considered to be the perfect solution.

What better way to take Giancarlo-Castelli into the fourth generation than with children issued from a marriage between Franco Giancarlo and Gianna Castelli?

The fact Franco and Gianna had complied, for reasons of their own, had been cause for matriarchal and patriarchal delight.

The marriage had been accorded the wedding of the year, with a list of guests who figured high on Australia’s social register. Distant relatives and far-flung friends had flown in from Italy, France and America. The event had garnered television coverage and had featured in several prominent magazines.

A year down the track they remained the golden couple, their presence at various functions duly recorded and reported by the media.

In public she could play the part of adoring wife. Yet she was conscious of an invisible barrier.

Crazy, she silently chastised. She wore his ring, shared his bed, and played the role of social hostess with the ease of long practice. His in every way. Except she didn’t have his heart. Or his soul.

She told herself it was enough. And knew she lied.

Dammit, what was the matter with her? Introspection wouldn’t achieve a thing, and right now she needed to fix her hair, then dress.

Twenty minutes later she re-entered the bedroom to find Franco waiting with indolent ease, looking every inch the wealthy sophisticate in a black dinner suit, his black bow tie perfectly aligned.

Her heart leapt to a quickened beat as sensation surged through her veins. Breathe, she commanded silently, inwardly cursing the way her body reacted to his presence.

Did he know? In bed, without doubt. But out of it?

She didn’t want to fall prey to such acute vulnerability. It wasn’t fair.

‘Beautiful,’ Franco complimented her lightly, skimming her slight curves sheathed in red silk chiffon. Undoubtedly the gown was the work of a master seamstress, with its fitted bodice and spaghetti straps. The bill for which Gianna would have insisted on paying herself.

A slight intransigence which irked him. Independence was fine, up to a point. It appeased his sensibility she’d chosen to wear the diamond drop ear rings he’d gifted her on their wedding anniversary.

A matching wrap completed the outfit, and she’d swept the length of her hair high into a smooth twist held fastened with a jewelled clip. A diamond pendant rested against the curved valley of her breasts. Stiletto heels added four inches to her height, and he crossed the room, caught the subtle Hermes perfume, and offered a warm smile.

‘Grazie.’

‘For looking the part?’

The edges of his mouth lifted a little. ‘That, too.’

He offered her a glass half filled with water, and two pills.

‘Playing nurse?’

‘Tell me you’ve already taken care of it and I’ll discard the role.’

Gianna merely shook her head, popped the pills and swallowed them down. ‘Are we ready to leave?’

Southern hemisphere summer daylight saving meant they joined the flow of city-bound traffic while the sun sank slowly towards the horizon.

‘Want to talk about it?’ He hadn’t missed the slight edge of tension apparent, or the faint darkness clouding her expressive features.

Gianna cast him a wry glance. ‘Where would you have me begin?’

‘That bad?’

Her PA had called in sick, the replacement had proved hopeless, paperwork despatched via courier had been unavoidably detained, and lunch had been a half-eaten sandwich she’d discarded following a constant stream of phone calls.

‘Nothing I couldn’t handle.’ Wasn’t that what she’d been educated, trained and groomed for?

One goal…to take her rightful place in the Giancarlo-Castelli conglomerate. Yet, like Franco, she’d begun on the lower rung of the corporate ladder, learning firsthand how the business worked from the ground up, winning each subsequent promotion by her own merit.

Nepotism wasn’t an option in either family, and no one with any nous could accuse her of riding on her father or grandmother’s coat-tails.

Giancarlo-Castelli were generous supporters of several worthy charities, and tonight’s event held prominence among Melbourne’s social echelon. Children were very dear to Gianna’s heart, and the terminally ill deserved maximum effort in raising funds. She would make her own sizable donation privately.

‘Show-time,’ she murmured as Franco brought the powerful top-of-the-range Mercedes to a halt outside the hotel’s main entrance.

The spacious foyer adjacent to the grand ballroom held a large number of invited guests, mingling as they sipped champagne. Designer gowns from home and abroad, together with a king’s ransom in jewellery, graced the female contingent, while the men appeared almost clones of each other in black dinner suits, white pin-pleated dress-shirts and black bowties.

Wealthy scions of the corporate and professional world—although none, Gianna conceded, emanated quite the degree of power as the man at her side.

Beneath the sophisticated exterior lurked a latent primitive sensuality that held the promise of un leashed passion…and delivered, Gianna accorded silently, all too aware of the intimacy they shared, when it was possible for her to lose herself so completely in him that nothing, nothing else mattered.

Not the longed-for gift of his love, nor the unplanned delay in conceiving his child.

‘Darlings! How are you both?’

The breathy feminine voice was familiar, and Gianna turned with a smile, exchanged the customary air-kiss, then gave a soft laugh as the stunning blonde touched light fingers to Franco’s cheek.

‘Shannay.’

‘Ah.’ Shannay’s sigh held a wistful quality as Franco carried her fingers to his lips, and she offered Gianna a conspiratorial smile. ‘He does that so well.’

‘Doesn’t he?’

The girls’ friendship went back to boarding-school days and had continued through university. They shared a similar brand of humour, had been brides-maid honours at each other’s wedding, and remained in close touch.

‘Tom?’

‘About to join us,’ Franco drawled as Shannay’s husband came into view.

‘My apologies. A phone call.’ Tall, lean and bespectacled, Tom Fitzgibbon was a lauded heart surgeon, and one of those rare men who understood women. A widower with two young children, he’d allowed Shannay to do all the running in their relationship, only to take the wind out of her sails at the eleventh hour.

Gianna saw Shannay’s eyes soften. ‘A problem?’

Tom offered his wife a musing smile. ‘Hopefully not.’

Together they began to circulate, greeting mutual friends, separating as they became caught up in conversation.

The society doyennes were in their element as they worked the guests, issuing verbal reminders for upcoming events and exchanging the latest gossip.

Gianna took another sip of champagne and allowed her gaze to skim the foyer. Soon staff would open the ballroom doors and begin ushering the assembled guests to their designated seats.

Franco stood at her side as he conversed with an associate, and this close she was supremely conscious of the faint muskiness of his exclusive cologne. It teased her senses and sent warmth coursing through her veins.

Acute sensitivity heightened by sensual anticipation as to how the night would end. And just how much she wanted to savour his touch, match it and become so caught up in electrifying passion that nothing else existed.

He had the skill to take her places her wildest imagination could never cover. An emotional nirvana that was wholly primitive and disruptively sensual when she begged for the release only he could give.

Had other women reacted with him as she did? Oh God no, don’t answer that!

Franco had made her his by virtue of marriage. Albeit an arranged union cemented by mutual business issues. But what they shared in bed was special…wasn’t it?

‘Hungry?’

A trick question if ever there was one! A light musing smile lifted the corners of her mouth as she met his gaze.

‘For food?’

His eyes assumed a humorous gleam. ‘Naturally. Shall we go in?’

It was then she became aware numerous guests were moving towards the now open doors leading into ballroom.

Their designated table was well positioned, and the guests sharing it with them needed no introduction, which made for relaxed familiarity and ease of conversation.

Muted background music provided a pleasing ambience as wine stewards moved with swift precision among the tables, taking orders for wine and champagne, while waitresses followed in their wake bearing napkin-lined baskets of bread rolls.

It was the usual modus operandi for large charity events, where service, fine wines and good food formed part of the ticket price.

‘You’re very quiet. How is the headache?’

They were in the public eye, and as Franco’s wife and a representative of Giancarlo-Castelli she was expected to shine.

For they numbered as one of the golden couples who were seen to have everything.

She could play the part. It was one of her talents.

Gianna let the edges of her mouth curve into a warm smile. ‘Almost gone.’

He lifted a hand and brushed gentle fingers down her cheek. ‘Good.’

She held his gaze, and attempted to control the way her nerve-ends began to shred at his touch. It wasn’t fair to feel so emotionally naked.

With a steady hand she reached for the evening’s programme and skimmed its contents.

‘It looks an interesting mix,’ she relayed lightly. ‘A singer follows the customary speeches. There’s an orchestrated fashion show. A surprise mystery guest.’

At that moment the music faded and the Master of Ceremonies took the podium, welcomed the guests, gave a brief divertissement, then introduced the charity’s chairperson. A tireless matron who de voted her life to raising money to benefit numerous terminally ill children.

There was film coverage on the large drop-down screen of the charity’s achievements, with the camera panning to children undergoing treatments in hospital, at supervised play. What really caught at the heartstrings was their expressive features. The solemn stoicism, the smiles, the childish laughter.

Life went on…other people’s lives.

The chairperson made an impassioned plea for guests to provide generous donations.

Waitresses delivered the starters, and Gianna sipped her champagne, then offered a requested opinion as to the ‘in’ vacation spot of the moment.

‘I thought the Caribbean, but Paul favours trekking through Vietnam. Can you imagine?’

‘Alaska?’ Gianna ventured. ‘For its scenic beauty and the northern lights?’

‘Darling,’ the woman wailed. ‘I want shopping.’

Why? she wanted to ask, when one upstairs wing of the woman’s home was devoted entirely to storing clothes, with a room designated for each of the year’s four seasons. Yet another room held a collection of shoes and matching bags. A veritable treasure trove of designer gear.

The singer gave a credible performance before the main course was served, and when the plates were cleared the MC announced the fashion parade.

Beautiful models, gorgeous clothes, all shown with professional panache.

One gown in particular took Gianna’s interest, and she made a mental note to visit the designer’s boutique.

‘You’d look fabulous in the black. Franco must buy it for you. I know just the shoes to go with it. Manolo’s, of course.’

Of course. Gianna gave herself a mental slap on the wrist for her facetiousness.

As waitresses delivered dessert, the MC took the podium to introduce the mystery guest.

‘A young woman who has achieved international success as an actress.’

No…it couldn’t be. Yet Gianna found it impossible to dispel a growing premonition.

‘She has made the very generous offer to fund an all-expenses-paid holiday for three children and their families to Disneyland.’

The announcement brought a collective murmur of appreciation from the guests.

‘We have had the medical team select the names of those children fit enough to travel.’ He turned to wards the charity’s chairperson, who had stepped onto the stage with a top hat. ‘I’d like one of our esteemed guests to select three names from this hat.’ He paused for effect. ‘Franco Giancarlo. Would you please come forward?’

A sickening feeling settled in Gianna’s stomach as Franco rose to his feet, and she watched as he crossed the floor and gained the stage.

‘I’d like you all to welcome our mystery guest.’ The MC paused for effect. ‘Famke.’

Gianna didn’t know if she could continue breathing. Tension constricted her throat and momentarily left her speechless.

Famke.

There she was, making an appearance from backstage, tall, blonde, in her late twenties, and far more beautiful than any woman had a right to be.

An actress who had initially achieved success in foreign-produced films before finding fame and fortune in America.

No one recalled her surname, for it had long been discarded in the rise to stardom.

A stunningly beautiful young woman who took pleasure in seducing wealthy men, and was known to be skilfully adept at gaining extravagant gifts of jewellery from former lovers.

Five years ago Franco had been one of them, during his sojourn in New York, before his parents’ accidental death had brought him back to Melbourne.

Rumour at the time had whispered Famke wanted marriage, and the relationship soured when Franco wasn’t prepared to commit. Whereupon in a fit of pique Famke had seduced an LA billionaire, married him in a blaze of media coverage and produced a child.

Gianna kept her eyes riveted on Franco, desperate to gauge his reaction while a hundred questions hammered at her brain.

What was Famke doing here? Not only Melbourne, but here, tonight? And why go to such elaborate lengths to ensure a public face-to-face encounter with Franco?

‘She’s gorgeous, isn’t she?’ Gianna’s dinner companion observed. ‘I heard she’s recently divorced.’

And hunting.

Not any wealthy man, Gianna concluded with sickening certainty.

Franco Giancarlo.

CHAPTER TWO

IT WAS difficult to produce a smile as Franco rose to his feet. Yet Gianna managed it with seemingly effortless ease, and joined the guests in applauding his progress to the podium.

No one could possibly guess at the pain knifing her mid-section, or the effort it took to regulate her breathing as she caught the sexual voltage Famke exuded as Franco joined her on stage.

The actress’s effusive greeting was no doubt seen by most as an orchestrated act…the brush of Famke’s lips to Franco’s left cheek, then the other, as a familiar European gesture.

Famke’s sultry laugh, the lingering trail of scarlet-lacquered nails, were like sharp daggers piercing Gianna’s vulnerable heart.

Get over it, she bade herself silently. Famke is a witch, and Franco isn’t playing into her game.

Not in the public arena, a devilish voice pursued. But privately?

The possibility tore at her composure and reduced it to shreds.

It said much for her social élan that she managed to smile, applaud, even laugh at the on-stage production…for the benefit of the guests, the excitement generated in favour of the three children whose names were chosen, and the television cameras.

How long did it take? With on-screen cameos of each child, the family, with commentary? Fifteen minutes…twenty?

To Gianna it felt like a lifetime as she endured witnessing Famke’s touchy-feely antics on stage, the actress’s sultry smile and provocative laugh as she endeavored to display a picture of remembered intimacy with the man who numbered among her previous lovers.