Fascination

She turned away from his unreadable expression. ‘Don’t be silly, Daddy,’ she dismissed teasingly as she crossed the room to her father on legs that shook slightly, linking her arm with his and drawing him farther into the room. ‘I don’t need to introduce the two of you, do I?’ she asked lightly.

‘Gambrelli,’ her father said curtly, and he held out his hand.

‘Ingram,’ Cesare answered just as curtly, as he briefly shook the older man’s hand, impatient with the interruption—although in truth, holding Robin in his arms, kissing her, he had forgotten that her father was expected to make an appearance, had forgotten where they were!

Robin gave a husky laugh. ‘Now, I want the two of you to return to your corners and when the bell goes come out fighting!’

Charles Ingram ignored her levity as his stare remained locked on Cesare’s.

It was a silent battle of wills, Cesare acknowledged, with grudging admiration for this man who was Robin’s father.

But he had also been the father of Simon Ingram—the man Cesare held responsible for Carla’s death!

His mouth hardened. ‘I do not think your father appreciates your humour, Robin,’ he reproved tersely.

‘And you?’ She looked up to taunt him. ‘Do you appreciate my humour, Cesare?’

He gave Charles Ingram one last narrow-eyed look before turning his attention to Robin, deliberately softening his expression as he saw the light of challenge in her eyes, her cheeks slightly flushed. With temper rather than arousal, he thought.

He smiled slightly. ‘I, of course, appreciate everything about you, Robin,’ he drawled mockingly.

That flush deepened in her cheeks. ‘Well, of course you do,’ she replied stiffly. ‘Daddy, Cesare has come here this evening so that we can all sit down cosily together and discuss our wedding plans,’ she explained. ‘When is the wedding to be, Cesare?’ she prompted, her voice brittle.

Cesare saw the way Charles Ingram’s frown deepened, knowing as he did so that Robin was coming perilously close to revealing the tension between the two of them. It did not bother him personally, but he had thought the pretence important to Robin.

What had he done to anger Robin so much that she was in danger of revealing the disharmony between them when she had already assured him she wanted to keep it from her father?

‘That is, of course, for you to decide, Robin,’ he replied smoothly.

‘Is it?’ she scorned, with that same recklessness.

Cesare’s mouth tightened. ‘As long as it is within the next few weeks, yes.’

‘The next few weeks?’ Charles Ingram was the one to exclaim as he turned to look at his daughter incredulously.

Cesare gave an abrupt inclination of his head.

That was news to Robin. But why should it be? Cesare had told her this morning that he was tired of the delay.

She was filled with conflicting emotions at the thought of them being married so soon. Positive feelings because it seemed she was to become Marco’s mother in a matter of days. And uncertainty because it also meant she would become Cesare’s wife at the same time—a wife he had nothing but contempt for.

Well … that wasn’t quite true. Cesare obviously felt desire for her too.

As she desired him.

But at the moment she was angry with him for what she perceived as his manipulation of her physical response to him just now—timed so that her father had walked in on the two of them obviously in a passionate clinch. She didn’t at all like the way Cesare had used her response to him against her.

‘This is preposterous,’ her father exclaimed. ‘The two of you have known each other only a matter of days—’

‘Sometimes that is all it takes,’ Cesare answered him quietly.

‘Robin …?’ Her father appealed to her agitatedly.

Her heart ached at the bewilderment she could see in his face. She knew that he was concerned for her, but at the same time was aware there was little she could say that would alleviate his concern. Not without telling him the truth. And she had no intention of doing that.

‘Sometimes that’s all it takes, Daddy.’ She sadly repeated Cesare’s words.

‘But—’

‘I understand your concerns, Charles,’ Cesare told the older man smoothly. ‘But Robin is a grown woman—certainly old enough to make her own decisions about her future.’

‘And her own mistakes,’ her father came back impatiently.

Robin’s breath caught in her throat as she saw the way Cesare stiffened and looked down his arrogant nose at her father. It instantly brought her back to an awareness that Cesare was only playing this role for her sake—that he actually cared nothing at all for either her own or her father’s feelings.

‘My marrying Cesare won’t be a mistake, Daddy,’ she assured her parent as she removed her arm from linking with his and moved to stand at Cesare’s side. But not quite touching him … ‘We love each other. We want to get married as soon as possible. And we—I would like your blessing.’ She looked at her father with the same appeal he had used on her seconds ago.

‘But whether you give us your blessing or not, we still intend to be married,’ Cesare stated implacably.

Robin gave him a quick glance, knowing by the pulse she could see beating in his tightly clenched jaw that Cesare was very close to losing the temper he usually kept under such rigid control.

And that she had probably helped push him there with her slightly reckless behaviour a few minutes ago.

But she resented being manipulated like this!

Which was slightly ridiculous of her when Cesare had done nothing but manipulate her, from the moment he’d come here two days ago and told her of his demands!

‘Then it seems I have little choice, doesn’t it?’ Her father sighed wearily. ‘If this is really what Robin wants, then of course I wish you every happiness together.’

Robin’s sadness for her father grew at the same time as she acknowledged there was nothing she could say or do that would alleviate his anxiety. The truth—that Simon had gambled away his shares in Ingram Publishing—would hurt her father so much more than this apparently impetuous marriage of hers could ever do.

‘It’s what I want, Daddy,’ she assured him quietly.

Cesare found himself brooding as he listened to the conversation between father and daughter.

Although why he should be in the least disturbed, he had no idea. Hadn’t he already used the deep love that existed between father and daughter in order to force Robin into marrying him?

Yes, of course he had. He just hadn’t expected to feel quite so … discomforted at being the cause of this obvious tension between Robin and her father …

‘I’ll ring for Cameron and have him bring some champagne—’

‘I am afraid Robin and I have a previous engagement.’ Cesare cut abruptly across the other man’s suggestion, feeling Robin’s surprised gaze on him as he kept his attention firmly fixed on Charles Ingram. ‘As I am sure you appreciate, we still have much to discuss,’ he added, with a slightest softening of his tone.

‘Of course,’ Charles acknowledged heavily. ‘I—Will you be back tonight, Robin?’ he asked politely.

‘I—’

‘No, she will not,’ Cesare replied firmly.

‘I see.’ Charles’s face only sagged further at this news. ‘In that case I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Robin,’ he told her gently.

It did not take two guesses on Cesare’s part to know exactly what the other man wished to talk to Robin about.

‘Did you have to be so … so bloody-minded?’ Robin attacked as soon as the two of them were seated in Cesare’s car—a sleek black sports car of a make Robin had only previously seen in exclusive showrooms.

Cesare shrugged unconcernedly. ‘I saw little point in giving your father the impression there was any room for uncertainty about the timing of our forthcoming marriage.’

No, he wouldn’t, Robin realised resentfully. Her poor father, on the other hand, had still looked totally bewildered when they’d left, obviously completely dazed by the speed with which they had decided to spend the rest of their lives together.

Oh, God …

Her heart sank, and the palms of her hands were suddenly damp just at the thought of marrying Cesare, let alone spending the rest of her life with him. He was so completely unlike Giles, whose manners and consideration for others had been impeccable—to the point that he had even asked her permission before they made love. Quite an annoying trait, actually, but a little less arrogance on Cesare’s part might be nice.

Nice?

What a ridiculous word to even think of in connection with Cesare!

She sighed heavily, relaxing back in her seat, knowing there was no point in even pursuing the subject of his behaviour towards her father. ‘Exactly what is this previous engagement you mentioned to my father?’ she prompted irritably.

Cesare didn’t answer, merely gave her a glance from eyes that gleamed black in the semi-darkness of the lamp-lit street. But it was the sort of glance that brought warm colour to Robin’s cheeks and set her pulse racing erratically.

She swallowed hard. The intent in his dark eyes was unmistakable. ‘I thought you considered it inappropriate for us to share a bedroom while we’re unmarried and Marco’s nursemaid is still in residence?’ she reminded him, slightly breathless.

Cesare seemed unperturbed. ‘I have decided that I no longer care about Catriona’s sensibilities,’ he responded levelly, his hands tightly gripping the steering wheel.

‘And if I do?’

‘You will have to overcome them!’ Cesare rasped. His time of self-denial was at an end. He wanted Robin—wanted her with a need that made his body scream.

She gave him a scathing glance. ‘And what if I’m not in the mood to play the acquiescent woman?’

She was deliberately trying to bring about an argument between them again, Cesare knew. Unfortunately, she had chosen completely the wrong way in which to do it.

He gave a humourless smile. ‘Acquiescence is the last thing I want from you, Robin. In fact, I would much rather that you kicked and yelled—the latter in ecstasy, of course,’ he added dryly.

‘Surely that depends on where I decide to kick you?’ she came back, undaunted.

Cesare’s smile deepened into appreciation. Acquiescent woman, hah! That was one thing Robin would never be—and the last thing that he wanted her to be.

‘There are many ways for a man and woman to find pleasure together, Robin,’ he reminded her, knowing he had made his point when, after a resentful glare in his direction, she turned her face to look firmly out of the passenger window.

Her efforts to ignore him were spoilt slightly, however, by the rapid rise and fall of those pert breasts, and the less than steady sound of her breathing.

Cesare continued to smile as he put his foot down on the accelerator, his anticipation growing by the second, and increasing rapidly once he had parked his car in the underground car park beneath the Gambrelli Hotel. The sexual tension between them was so intense by the time he moved round the car to open Robin’s door for her that Cesare knew he could wait no longer—that he had to at least taste her now.

His mouth claimed hers.

It was no gentle kiss, but Robin’s lips instantly parted beneath the onslaught of his, her body pressed hard against him as her fingers became entangled in his hair and she returned his kiss with a hunger that made his control slip dangerously low.

Cesare pressed her back against the car as he deepened the kiss. Tongues battled briefly before he plundered the moist cavern of her mouth in the same rhythm as his hips thrust against hers, slowly, surely, until he felt he would burst with his need to be inside her.

He continued to kiss her as he pushed her dress up about her waist, pushed her panties aside, his fingers seeking to caress her, touching her moisture, feeling her readiness for him even as he found the centre of her pleasure and began to stroke her, driving his body against her as he felt the spasms that began to shake her body.

Robin wrenched her mouth from his. ‘Not here, Cesare!’ she breathed, her body trembling with arousal. ‘We can’t make love here,’ she protested weakly.

Cesare looked down at her, his eyes black, a sensual flush to his high cheekbones. ‘I want you now, Robin. I am not sure I can wait until we reach my suite!’ he told her shakily, the hardness of his thighs still pressed throbbingly against her.

Robin could feel Cesare’s urgency, knew that same throbbing need herself, wanting to tear the clothes from his body and have him take her—right here, right now.

‘Don’t you understand? I want to make love to you too, Cesare!’ she groaned. This was so much more intense than the last time they had made love; Robin was being driven wild with wanting him. ‘I want to touch and caress you in the same way you’re touching and caressing me. I want—I want it all, Cesare!’ she told him passionately.

His hands—subtle, sensuous hands that knew how to caress her to wild abandon—moved up to cradle each side of her face and he looked down at her searchingly. ‘Then you shall, Robin,’ he finally murmured gruffly, before taking her hand firmly in his as he marched over to key in his personal code for the private lift.

The two of them stepped inside. Robin was aware of their sexual tension heightening to an impossible level as they waited impatiently for the lift to stop at the penthouse suite, their earlier discord totally forgotten in that need.

‘I am yours,’ Cesare promised, as they stepped out of the lift, maintaining that hold on her hand as he strode forcefully down the hallway to his bedroom and closed the door behind them, raising dark brows as Robin switched on the light.

‘I want to look at you,’ she explained huskily, her fingers shaking in anticipation as she slipped his jacket from his shoulders and unbuttoned his shirt, to strip that from his body too and throw it down on the carpet beside his jacket. ‘All of you,’ she added intensely, as she unzipped his trousers and drew them down the long length of his legs.

She had never undressed a man before, and never delighted in each new discovery. Cesare’s legs were long and muscled, covered with the same dark hair that lay on his bared chest and then went down in a vee into his fitted underpants. These she also drew down and discarded, releasing his manhood to her caressing gaze as she knelt in front of him.

A caress that her hands quickly followed, touching him there, and she watched the way his body leapt in reponse before she moved to trail her tongue moistly down that hard shaft, encouraged to deeper intimacies as Cesare gasped breathlessly and his hands became entangled in her hair.

Robin relished the feel and taste of him, relished the way Cesare couldn’t hide his response to her caresses. His breathing was ragged as he reached down suddenly to draw her to her feet.

‘I want to be inside you!’ Cesare groaned, even as he deftly dealt with the zip on her dress, dropping the garment to the carpet, his eyes darkening to jet as he looked at the firm thrust of her bared breasts. Her creamy lacy panties and those oh-so-delectable stockings were her only clothing now.

He lowered his head to capture one of those pouting nipples with the heated warmth of his mouth, his tongue a rasp as he suckled, knowing by the way Robin trembled that she was as aroused as he was.

‘You are so beautiful, Robin,’ he breathed as he raised his head to look down at her, his body pulsating with the need to be inside her. ‘I am afraid I cannot be gentle this first time!’ He shook his head as he stripped the cream lace from her body. ‘Next time I will go slower,’ he promised, even as he laid her down on the bed and moved between her parted thighs. ‘Next time we will both go slower!’ he groaned, as her thighs moved up to meet his, and with a single thrust Robin took him deep inside her.

Even as Cesare fiercely claimed her mouth with his, he knew he had never experienced pleasure like this, never wanted a woman in the way that he did Robin.

She took him deeper inside her with each thrust. Minutes later he could feel the release building inside him, knew it was too urgent to be controlled. Robin’s back was arching in the same need as he wrenched his mouth from hers to suckle hungrily on her breast and draw it deep inside his mouth, and her nails were digging into his back as her cries of release matched his. Their pleasure exploded into a kaleidescope of feelings and emotions, of pleasure that seemed never-ending.

Robin felt dazed and wondrous as she lay beneath him, her hands moving caressingly across the damp width of his back even as she acknowledged that this lovemaking with Cesare was beyond anything she had ever known before—that never in her years of marriage had she ever reached a wild and uncontrollable climax like the one she and Cesare had just shared together.

She didn’t understand what it meant …

Did it mean that she was a more physical person than she had ever dreamt possible?

Or had this been so different because she had feelings for Cesare?

Because she might even have fallen in love with him …?

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