Passion's Mistress (21 page)

added gently.

Carly swallowed the lump that had suddenly risen in her throat. 'The way

Angelica told it,' she informed him shakily, 'you were unofficially betrothed

when you met me. If our engagement surprised her, our wedding threw her

into a rage,' she continued, unwilling to expound too graphically on just how

much she'd been hurt by a woman who refused to face reality. 'It appeared I

was merely a temporary diversion, and there was little doubt she intended to

be there to pick up the pieces.' She effected a deprecatory shrug that hid a

measure of pain.

'Angelica,' Stefano declared hardly, 'possesses a vivid imagination. After

today,' he grained out with chilling inflexibility, 'she has no doubt whom I

love, or why.' His expression softened as he watched the expressive play of

emotions chasing each other across her features.
'You,
Carly,' he elaborated

gently. 'Always. Only you.'

Stefano shifted his hold, catching both her hands together in one of his,

feeling her body quiver slightly as he traced a gentle pattern over the slim

curve of her stomach before resting possessively at her trim waist. When his

gaze met hers, she nearly died at the lambent warmth revealed in those dark

depths.

'There is nothing else you want to tell me?'

Carly stood hesitantly unsure, and at the last moment courage failed her.

Slowly she shook her head.

Tomorrow, she'd visit the doctor and undergo a pregnancy test. Then she'd

tell him.

THE morning began the same as any other week day. Stefano rose early,

swam several lengths of the pool, ate breakfast with his wife, then showered,

dressed and left for the city.

At nine Carly checked with Sylvana, then changed into a smart

lemon-yellow button-through linen dress, applied make-up with care, slid

her feet into elegant shoes, and went downstairs to the car.

The pregnancy test was performed with ease, and pronounced positive.

Carly drove on to the hospital in a state of suspended euphoria.

Ann-Marie looked really we//, her eyes bright and shining as Carly walked

into her room, and her beautiful hair was beginning to show signs of growth.

A consultation with the specialist revealed that Ann-Marie could be

discharged the following day.

Carly almost floated down the carpeted corridor, and on impulse she crossed

to the pay-phone, checked the directory, slotted in coins and keyed in the

appropriate series of digits, then relayed specific instructions to the voice on

the other end of the phone.

A small secretive smile tugged the edges of her mouth as she drove into the

city, and twenty minutes later she stood completing formalities in Reception

at one of the inner city's most elegant hotels.

The lift whisked her with swift precision to the eleventh floor, and inside the

luxurious suite she swiftly crossed the room, lifted the handset and dialled a

memorised number.

She was mad, absolutely crazy, she derided as the line engaged after a

number of electronic beeps. What if Stefano wasn't in the office? Worse,

what if he was in an important meeting, and couldn't leave? she agonised as

the number connected with his personal mobile net.

'Alessi.' His voice sounded brisk and impersonal, and her stomach flipped,

then executed a number of painful somersaults.

'Stefano.'

'Carly. Is something wrong?'

'No--'
Hell
, she was faltering, stammering like a schoolgirl. Taking a deep

breath, she clenched the receiver and forced herself to speak calmly. 'I'm

fine.' Dammit, this was proving more difficult than she'd envisaged.

'Ann-Marie?'

'She's coming home tomorrow.' The joy in her voice was a palpable entity

that was reciprocated in his.

Do it,
tell
him, a tiny voice prompted. 'I wanted to ring and say...' She

hesitated slightly, then uttered the words with slow emphasis. 7
love you'

A few seconds of silence followed, then his voice sounded incredibly husky

close to her ear. 'Where are you?'

'In a hotel room, in the city.'

His soft laughter sent spirals of sensation shooting through her body. 'Which

hotel,
cara?'

She named it. 'It's Sylvana's day to vacuum,' she explained a trifle

breathlessly.

'Ensuring that total privacy is out of the question,' he drawled with a tinge of

humour.

'Totally,' she agreed, and a tiny smile teased the edges of her mouth. 'Is this a

terribly inconvenient time for you?'

'It wouldn't make any difference.'

Her heart leapt, then began thudding to a quickened beat. 'No?'

His husky chuckle did strange things to her equilibrium. 'I'll be with you in

twenty minutes.'

Carly relayed the room number, then softly replaced the receiver.

Twenty minutes, she mused as she eased off her shoes. How could she fill

them? Make a cup of coffee, perhaps, or select a chilled mineral water from

the variety stocked in the bar-fridge.

Her eyes travelled idly round the large room, noting the customary prints,

the wall-lights, before settling on the bed.

If she turned down the covers, it would look too blatant, and she didn't quite

possess the courage to remove all her clothes. What if she opened the door to

find a maid or steward on the other side? she thought wildly.

Dammit.
Waiting was agony, and she crossed to the sealed window and

stood watching the traffic on the busy street below.

Everyone appeared to be hurrying, and when the southbound traffic ground

to a halt a clutch of people surged across the road to the opposite side. The

lights turned green, and the northbound traffic gathered momentum, moving

in a seemingly endless river of vehicles until green changed to amber and

then to red, when the process began all over again.

From this height everything seemed lilliputian, and she watched the cars,

searching for the sleek lines of Stefano's top-of-the-range Mercedes,

although the likelihood of catching sight of it when she wasn't even sure

from which direction he'd be travelling seemed remote.

It was a beautiful day, she perceived idly. There was a cloudless sky of

azure-blue, the sun filtering in shafts of brilliant light between the tall city

buildings.

Time became a suspended entity, and it seemed an age before she heard the

quiet double knock at the door.

Her stomach reacted at once, leaping almost into her throat, and she

smoothed suddenly damp hands down the seams of her dress as she crossed

the suite to open the door.

Stefano stood at ease, his tall frame filling the aperture, and she simply

looked at him in silence. There was a vital, almost electric energy apparent,

an inherent vitality that was compelling, and her pulse accelerated into a

rapid beat.

A faint smile teased his generous mouth, and his eyes were so incredibly

warm that she almost melted beneath their gaze.

'Do you intend to keep me standing here?'

Pale pink tinged her cheeks as she stood to one side. Fool, she berated

herself silently, feeling about as composed as a lovestruck teenager as she

followed him into the centre of the room.

When he turned she was within touching distance, yet he made no attempt to

draw her into his arms.

'I gather there was a degree of urgency in the need to book in to a hotel

room?'

There was no mistaking his soft teasing drawl, nor the expression evident in

his eyes. It gave her the confidence to resort to humour.

The sparkle in the depths of her eyes flared into brilliant life, and she

laughed softly. Tonight we're supposed to dine out with Sarah and James to

celebrate Sarah's birthday. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't hesitate to

cancel.' A devilish gleam emerged, dancing in the light of her smile. 'I did

consider a confrontation in your office, but the thought of Renate or any one

of the staff catching sight of their exalted boss deep in an erotic clinch might

prove too embarrassing to be condoned.'

His lips twitched, then settled into a sensual curve. 'Erotic?'

'There's champagne in the bar-fridge,' Carly announced inconsequentially.

'Would you like some?'

'I'd like you to repeat what you said to me on the phone,' he commanded

gently, and her eyes were remarkably clear as they held his.

'I love you. I always have,' she stressed.

'Grazie amore
.' He reached out and pulled her close in against him. His lips

brushed her forehead, then began a slow, tantalising trail down to the edge of

her mouth.

'You're my life,' he said huskily. 'My love.'

There was such a wealth of emotion in his voice; she felt a delicious warmth

begin deep within her as a thousand tiny nerve-endings leapt into pulsating

life.

'So many wasted years,' she offered with deep regret. 'Nights,' she elaborated

huskily. 'Dear heaven, I
missed
you.'

Her eyes widened as she glimpsed the expression in those dark depths mere

inches above her own, then she gasped as his mouth moved to cover hers in

a kiss that left her feeling shaken with a depth of emotion so intoxicating that

it was as if she was soaring high on to a sensual pinnacle of such incredible

magnitude that she felt weightless, and totally malleable.

'Don't,' Stefano chastised softly. 'We have today, and all the tomorrows. A

lifetime.'

Her eyes were wondrously expressive as she lifted her hands and wound

them round his neck. 'What time do you have to be back at the office?'

'I told Renate to reschedule the remainder of the day's appointments,' he

revealed solemnly.

A delightfully bewitching smile lit her features, and her lips curved to form a

teasing smile. 'We have until two, when I visit Ann-Marie in hospital.'

His hands slid down over her hips, and she gloried in the feel of him as he

drew her close and brushed his lips close to her ear. 'We'll go together.' The

tip of his tongue traced the sensitive whorls, and she shivered as sensation

shafted through her body.

A soft laugh bubbled up from her throat to emerge as an exultant sound of

delicious anticipation. 'Meantime, I have a few plans for the next few hours.'

Leaning away from him, she murmured her pleasure as he loosened his hold

so that she could slip the jacket from his shoulders.

His eyes gleamed with humour, and a wealth of latent passion. 'Do you,

indeed?'

'Uh-huh.' Her fingers set to work on his tie, then the buttons of his shut. The

belt buckle came next, and she hesitated fractionally as she undid the

fastener at his waist and freed the zip. 'Something wildly imaginative with

champagne and strawberries.' A bubble of laughter emerged from her throat.

'It's rather decadent.'

His shoes followed, his socks, until all he wore was a pair of silk briefs.

'My turn, I think.'

With unhurried movements he removed every last vestige of her clothing,

then he leaned down and tugged back the covers from the large bed before

gently pulling her down to lie beside him.

His kiss melted her bones, and she gasped as his mouth began a treacherous

path of discovery that encompassed every inch, every vulnerable hollow of

her body.

By the time his lips returned to caress hers, there wasn't one coherent word

she was capable of uttering, and she clung to him, eager, wanting,
needing

the sweet savagery of his lovemaking.

A long time afterwards she lay catching her breathes she attempted to

control the waywardness of her emotions, then slowly she moved, affording

him a similar pleasuring until he groaned and pulled her to lie on top of him.

'Minx,' he growled softly, curving a hand round her nape and urging her

mouth down to his. 'Keep doing that, and I won't be answerable for the

consequences.'

'Promises, promises,' Carly taunted gently as she initiated a kiss that he

allowed her to control. Then she rose up and arched her back, stretching like

a kitten that had just had its fill of cream.

The soft sigh of contentment changed to a faint gasp as he positioned her to

accept his length, and now it was he who was in command, watching her

fleeting emotions with musing indulgence as he led her towards a climactic

orgasmic explosion that had her crying out his name as wave after wave of

sensation exploded from deep within her feminine core, radiating to the

furthest reaches of her body in an all-consuming pleasurable ache that

gradually ebbed to a warm afterglow, lasting long after they'd shared a

leisurely shower and slipped into the complimentary towelling robes.

'Hmm,' Carly murmured as Stefano came to stand behind her and drew her

back into the circle of his arms. 'I'm hungry.' She felt his lips caress her nape,

and she turned slightly towards him. 'For food, you insatiable man!'