Coercion to Love (22 page)

'No,' she sighed. 'Just trying to understand, because it doesn't make any sense for her to lie to you like that.'

'I still have the letter if you wish to see it,' he said, and sat up and away from her, his movements tense and bitter. "Though I have to warn you that it does not make pleasant reading. She had, apparently, won a fantastic two-year contract advertising Pierre LeMonde's latest perfume and body-care range. It meant world-wide TV coverage and all the glitter that went along with it.'

Cass sat up too. 'Which does not explain why she told you she had terminated her pregnancy when it wasn't true.'

 ‘Yes, it does,' Carlo contradicted. 'You said it yourself sometime ago, caro—I am a bully.' He grimaced on the confession. 'Your sister told me that lie because she didn’t want me racing back to London to stop her—which I would have done,' he acknowledged. 'Even if it had meant by taking her to court to do it, I would have stopped her from killing our child. But even I had no choice but to accept a choice accompli,' he pointed out.

'I can only assume,' he went on after a heavy moment, "that, when it came to it, Elizabeth found she could not go through with her plan. But, by then hurt and angry enough to want to kill her, I took my revenge by sending her that cheque—for services rendered was its implication,' he admitted heavily. 'And, as you know, I did not hold back on the insults in the accompanying letter. Elizabeth must have decided that a man who could write such ugly words was not fit to be a father at all, and so became determined not to tell me of her change of heart.'

He was being very kind, sharing half the blame with Elizabeth, but really Cass was aware of how unfair her sister had been in not telling him the truth when she must have known how much Carlo had wanted Teresa.

'All in all,' Cass sighed, 'We Marlows have not been very kind to you, have we?'

'You have,' he argued gruffly. 'You have been more than kind, more than fair. Without knowing the reasons for my sending Elizabeth that cheque and letter, you were prepared to give me a chance to prove myself a fit father for Teresa. Your open mind and fresh, clean honesty has made me admire you. And,' he added quietly, 'it has also taught me to forgive Elizabeth for keeping Teresa from me all these years.'

Carlo reached for her then, turning her body into his. 'I love you,' he murmured huskily, and brought his mouth down on to hers, kissing her with a gentle urgency which slowly gained a response from her. Her fingers tangled in his hair, her body beginning to pulse to a rhythm he personally set, and she sighed softly in weak surrender.

Almost immediately they were lost in each other, straining against the frustrating barrier of clothes, wanting to join, be one, immerse themselves in the hot flare of ungoverned passion.

'How could you leave me alone to face all those knowing faces the other morning?' she flared at him right  out of the blaze of passion.

Rueful at her sudden outburst, Carlo grinned, and suddenly he was all lazy macho arrogance and lethal Italian charm, pushing her back against the dry, springy turf so that his body could press provocatively against her own.

'The emergency was real,' he defended himself, 'and, as we were both asleep when Maria brought the message to me, what did you expect me to do—pretend I had no idea how you happened to be in my bed instead of your own?' He gave a typically Latin shrug.

'And the marriage bit?' she demanded, giving an involuntary gasp as he moved against her, his thighs thrusting enticingly against the sensitive hollow of her own. 'How do you explain that away?'

'Easily,' he said, exciting her with the teasing light in his eyes. "The one thing automatically pre-empts the other. We were caught red-handed, mi amore,' he murmured drily. "Though next time I make love to you, I shall ensure beforehand that we cannot be disturbed.'

'Who said there was going to be a next time?' She put up this one last stand of defiance against his overbearing confidence.

'I could take you now, and the only cries you would make would be those of exquisite pleasure,' he derided her challenge. 'You have no idea, mi amore,' he then added gruffly, 'how frighteningly passionate you are.'

'Well,' she gasped as his mouth came to taste her  throat, 'I won't be labelled any man's mistress, that's for sure.'

'You will never be anyone's mistress but mine!' he decreed, and smothered any more arguments she might have with his mouth.

As the passion in the kiss deepened, she curved closer to him, her arms winding around his shoulders to hold him close, gasping as the cold rush of air to her breasts told her he had freed them from their lacy cups, hearing his low groan of pleasure with a heightening of her own desire, feeling the throbbing push of his arousal when his hand curved her hips to press her against him.

'It is time, amore,' he murmured against her hungry mouth, 'to murmur those sweet little words which sent me spinning over the edge the last time I held you like this.'

She smiled, knowing exactly what he was referring to. It was one of those memories from the other night which had horrified her the most, and had kept her in a state of high tension ever since, waiting for him to come back and taunt her with them.

'I love you,' she whispered, the relief in actually confessing it bringing the tears flooding into her eyes. 'I do so love you, Carlo.'

His kiss spiralled them away again while the mountainside soothed them with its sun-drenched sense of peace. His shirt came apart in her impatient hands, and, on a satisfied sigh, she pressed her breasts against the hard warmth of him, smiling when he shuddered in response.

'We cannot make love here,' he groaned out painfully, lowering his dark head to the sweet-scented hollow between her breasts, 'not in full view of the whole valley!'

"Then take me back to the house,' she urged, revelling in the sweet taste of his muscled shoulder.

'I can't make love to you there, either, dammit!' he sighed, sucking in a deep breath of air before sliding off her. 'My mother has banned our sharing a bed until after our wedding,' he informed her drily, and Cass closed her eyes in pained chagrin.

He turned his head to look at her, 'All right, caro’ he murmured gently. 'It is going to be difficult, I know. But I think my mother is right that we should wait until we have given our full commitment to each other.'

'And to think-----' Cass managed to find a light note among the emotions pummelling inside her '—I wanted to hit you for arrogantly arranging our marriage to take place in two short weeks!' She rolled on to her stomach to lean over him, her green eyes rueful.

Carlo smiled, and threaded his fingers into her free-flowing hair. 'So, you will marry me?' he questioned. 'I am half out of my mind with need for you, amante,' he went on huskily before she had a chance to say a word. 'But I do not want to push you into something you are not yet ready for.'

'Of course I want to marry you,' she assured him, her expression softening into gentle love.

'You refused me the night you had your nightmare,' he reminded her grimly.

'I refused to marry a man who didn't love me,' she corrected, then smiled a little wanly. 'I thought you were asking me for Terri's sake. And it just wasn't enough for me. I wanted all of you or nothing—selfish and greedy though it sounds.'

'So you offered me the gift of your precious innocence with the intention, I think, of leaving this valley for good.'

She nodded. 'I wanted that one night in your arms to take with me when I left here,' she confessed. 'It didn't seem too much to take at the time, but...' A soft sigh whispered from her.

'But one night was not enough, was it?' he concluded for her. 'Even without Maria finding us in bed and giving me the excuse to force your hand, you could not have gone away.'

'I woke up wanting you.'

'And I you.' He drew her down against him, his mouth brushing against her hair. 'I lied to you before when I told you Maria found us sleeping,' he told her. 'She found me wide awake just watching you sleep. I had plenty of time to carry you back to your own bed so nobody would have been any the wiser about how we spent our night. But I had already decided, you see, that I wanted her to find you there, wanted the excuse to trap you.'

'You actually planned my embarrassment?' Cass gasped.

'I am in love with you,' Carlo excused his methods. "It was a God-given opportunity to tie you to me, and I was going to take it, no matter how angry it made you.'

'Then you ran away and left me to face them all alone!' she exclaimed, accusing him of cowardice.

'I ran away and left Teresa to face you with it,' he amended, smiling unrepentantly. 'I knew you would not have the cold-hearted cruelty to take away the child's happiness at our news—no matter how much it made you hate me.'

'But I don't hate you. I love you,' she reminded him softly, and lowered her mouth on to his.

                                                End