The Wedding Charade (12 page)

‘Why do you love this place so much if you were too young to even remember it?’ she asked.

His expression was still shuttered. ‘I am not as sentimental about it as my brothers are but I still don’t think it should be left empty for most of the year.’

‘How do you think your mother coped with coming back here after all this time?’ she asked.

His broad shoulders rose and fell in a shrug. ‘She was emotional, as you saw, but then my mother has always been that way. She coped pretty well, I think. She came up here to the nursery with Maya. Maya said she thought it was a major turning point for
Mamma.
She needed to come back, to say a proper goodbye. She didn’t get the chance at the time. It all happened so suddenly. It was so different back then. There wasn’t much information on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. For years my mother blamed herself. I think she thought everyone else blamed her too.’

‘Is that why you don’t want to have children?’ Jade asked.

His expression tightened, as if pulled inward by invisible strings. ‘No, Jade, I am just selfish, like you said. I value my freedom too much. This marriage is a means
to an end. Don’t get any ideas of making it anything it was never meant to be.’

Jade opened her mouth to respond but, before a single word could come out, he had turned and left her with the silent ghosts of the past.

When Jade came downstairs later that evening she found Nic in the
salone,
pouring himself a drink. He turned when he heard her come in and held up the bottle he was holding. ‘Would you care to join me in a drink?’ he asked.

Jade agreed to have a very weak white wine spritzer and sat on the edge of one of the sumptuous sofas, holding the frosted glass in her hands once he had fixed it for her.

‘SO,’ he said, looking down at her with a mocking smile lurking about his mouth. ‘Here we are then. Our second day of marriage is almost over. Only three hundred and sixty-three to go.’

She returned his look with a little hoist of her chin. ‘You’re not the only one counting the days, Nic.’

‘I know of a very good way to pass the time,’ he said with a dark glint in his eyes.

Jade felt a frisson of excitement rush through her in spite of her determination to keep things cool and impersonal between them. All day long she had lived with the expectation of running into him while she moved about the villa and its grounds. Every corner she turned, every door she opened and every corridor she traversed, she had felt a flicker of heady expectation that at some point Nic would track her down. Why he hadn’t both intrigued and irritated her. ‘I am sure you are very practised in spending time in pointless liaisons,’ she said.

‘How is your mistress taking the news of your marriage, by the way?’

He took a deep sip of his drink before he answered. ‘She was coming up to her use-by date, in any case. I have no time for clingy, needy women. They bore me senseless.’

Jade felt as if a dagger had just pinned her heart to her backbone. She would stand no chance with him if he knew even half of the needs and insecurities she had. That she even wanted a chance with him showed how vulnerable she had become. A few days ago she had hated him with a vengeance … Now she was not so sure. ‘I hope you’re not expecting me to take over where she left off,’ she said, keeping her voice steady and controlled with an effort.

His cynical smile said it all. ‘I think you know what I want, Jade. You want it too, but for some reason you are holding out on me. What do you want? More money than you are already getting? ‘

Her mouth tensed as she threw him a cutting look. ‘Is that how you charmed all those women into your bed, by dangling huge sums of money in front of them?’

He came up close, taking her glass out of her trembling hand before she could do anything to stop him. He drew her to her feet, her body so close to his she could feel his warmth. ‘Why don’t I show you how I do it?’ he asked as he pressed a soft feather of a kiss to the side of her mouth.

Jade could feel her body swaying towards him. She tried to counteract the urge but it was as if her body was operating independently of her reason. A shiver fluttered like soft wings beating all the way down her spine, and her breasts tightened in heightened awareness
of his warm hard chest pressed against them. She felt the stirring of his erection and for a moment had to fight not to pull away. This was not some faceless man she had been flirting with, teasing and acting out to show the world how tough she was. This was Nic; this was the one man she had always wanted.

It was Nic Sabbatini, her husband for the next twelve months.

He put a hand to the small of her back and pressed her against him, his breath a caress over her lips, which were aching for his kiss. ‘You are driving me crazy with those looks you keep giving me. Are you doing it deliberately to make me beg? ‘

Jade ran the tip of her tongue out over her lips, her eyes going to his mouth—so close, so temptingly close. ‘I’m trying to be sensible about this … ‘

‘Forget being sensible,’ he growled just above her mouth. ‘Nothing about this arrangement is sensible, in any case.’

Jade wasn’t sure if he came down or she rose up to meet his mouth in an explosively hot kiss. She didn’t really care. All she knew was her body was on fire for him as soon as their lips came into full contact. His tongue probed for entry and she gave a little gasp of longing, a space inside her stomach hollowing out as he stroked and teased her tongue into seductive play with his. His kiss was slow and sensual one minute and determined and daring the next. Jade felt the simmering of her blood as his teeth gently nipped at her bottom lip in little tease and tug bites that triggered something deeply primal inside her.

His mouth moved from hers to burn across the sensitive skin of her neck and décolletage in a slow-moving
journey that made every cell of her body cry out for more. She felt the liquid honey of desire between her thighs and the aching of her tight nipples where they were pressed so firmly up against his chest. The hand that had rested in the small of her back had now moved to boldly cup her bottom; the other hand was already seeking the soft swell of her right breast. She could scarcely believe the way her body responded to his touch, even though it was through the barrier of her clothes. Tremors of reaction ricocheted through her, making her ache to be naked with him, to feel him skin on skin, hot flesh on hot flesh. She placed her arms around his neck, letting her fingers delve into the thickness of his hair, relishing in the way he felt to her touch.

‘Dio,
I want you so badly,’ Nic said against her mouth. ‘But then you are a witch at making men want you, are you not? A seductive little witch with a mouth of fire.’

Jade ignored his comment to concentrate on the magical feeling of being so aware of her body, so in touch with its every need. Like how wonderful it felt to have his hand move under her top to cup her through the lace of her bra. The possessive press of his palm was mind-blowing; so too was the slow but sure stroke of his thumb against her engorged nipple. For all his intentions to get her into his bed, he was certainly taking his time about it, she thought as his mouth sucked on her nipple right through the lace of her bra. If anything, it intensified the sensation of his lips and tongue, making her almost mad with longing.

She arched her head back to give him better access, her body quivering inside and out as he kissed his way back up from her breast to her mouth. His masterful
tongue this time was even more determined to conquer hers. He swept every corner of her mouth, exploring her, tasting her, tempting her into a dance of desire that she suspected could only end one way. She felt the ripples of it beginning deep and low in her body, the stirring of her senses so intense she was unable to think of anything but how he made her feel.

He tore his mouth off hers, his breathing hectic and his hazel eyes dark as they meshed with hers. ‘Not here. Not like this,’ he said, scooping her up into his arms and carrying her out of the
salone
towards the stairs. ‘I want you in bed with me where you belong.’

Jade knew she should have called a halt right there and then. It was a chance to break the spell, a moment to reorient herself, to remind herself of his motives and her shameful secret. But somehow she couldn’t do it. She wanted to feel his arms around her, to feel all that it was possible to feel when you truly wanted someone and they wanted you because they felt so in tune with you physically.

The master bedroom was a suite of massive proportions but Jade was barely aware of her surroundings once Nic placed her on the big bed and came down beside her. He kissed her again, a slow searing kiss that made the blood race all over again in her veins. He had such a beautiful mouth, so firm and yet so sensually soft, as if she was the most precious fragile person he had ever kissed. He tasted so nice too, not of stale smoke and alcohol but a taste she would forever associate with him: essential maleness in its prime.

While his mouth continued to cast its spellbinding magic on hers, she felt his hands start to work on her clothes. She lifted her arms above her head as he peeled
her top away. And then she raised her hips when he eased her out of her jeans, barely registering the soft thud of her shoes as they landed on the floor. She had been naked with a few men but she had never wanted to look at them the way she wanted to look at Nic. Her fingers set to work on his shirt and then, when that was cast aside, she worked on the waistband of his trousers, sliding down the zip, her breath stalling in her throat as she saw the way he had tented his underwear. She ran an experimental finger down the length of him through the fabric and watched as he quivered in response.

‘Careful, cara,’ he said in a gravelly tone. ‘I want to last long enough to pleasure you.’

Her own pleasure had never been a priority before now. She had always pretended, giving her few past partners what she thought they had wanted. It had been easy and she had felt no guilt or remorse about it. But now she felt as if everything had changed. She wanted to give and receive pleasure because with Nic she knew it would be something completely different, something special, something to remember for the rest of her life once he moved on, as she was certain he would do.

Jade peeled back his underwear and stroked him again, her belly tightening in anticipation. She circled him with her fingers and saw his stomach muscles clench as she began moving up and down.

He pulled her hand away and pushed her back down on the bed. ‘Later,’ he said and reached for the nearest bedside drawer for a condom.

She watched as he put it on, her breath hitching in her throat as she thought of him filling her. A flicker of nervousness passed through her. What if she wasn’t able to please him? That had never been an issue with
anyone else. She had given them what they wanted while her mind went elsewhere. But what if Nic saw through her pretence?

It seemed ridiculous to admit it, but this felt as if she was starting all over again. Each touch of his fingers was a new experience; it had nothing to do with her wretched, sordid past—it was as if that had happened to someone else, not her. His gentle caressing of her with his clever fingers was like an act of worship; it was not in any way exploitative or crude. He was stroking her into a whirlpool of sensation she had never experienced. She could feel her body climbing a mountain so high and spectacular it took her breath away.

‘You’re so beautiful and feminine I want to taste you,’ he said in a husky voice.

No one had ever touched her quite like this, with such reverence, such tenderness and concern for her needs. She felt the movement of his lips against her and then the soft brush stroke of his tongue, once, twice, three times and then with an increase in pace. It was so raw, so intimate and so deeply erotic she felt her body gather all its energy at one point. A delicious tension began to pull at her, making her rise on a wave that felt so precipitous she wondered if she was going to crash and burn if—or when—she fell off.

‘Come for me, cara,’ he said in between caresses. ‘I want to watch you lose yourself totally in what I am doing to you.’

Jade felt a bubble of emotion come up in her chest. She was unprepared for the way she was feeling, for how her body was reacting. But then, before she could examine her emotional response any further, the pinnacle of pleasure sneaked up on her, catching her totally
off guard, making her spiral into a vortex of intensely pleasurable sensations that made her mind empty of everything but what she was feeling physically.

When the waves of pleasure finally subsided she felt hot, stinging tears come to her eyes. She put a hand up to hide them, to force them back, to do anything to stop them from betraying her, but it was too late.

Nic had already propped himself up on his arms, his frowning gaze going straight to hers. ‘What’s going on?’ he asked.

Jade bit her lip to try and stop herself from bawling like a child. ‘Nothing—sorry about this … ‘ She swiped at her streaming eyes with the back of her hand. ‘I’m not used to being so emotional when …I mean during … sex … ‘

He blotted another trail of tears with the pad of his thumb. ‘Do you want to tell me what’s so different about this time?’ he asked gently.

Jade pressed her trembling lips together but she had no control over the sobs that seemed to be coming up from deep inside her. There was nothing she could do to hold the rushing, gushing emotions back. She shook her head and covered her eyes with both of her hands, a choked sob escaping as she gulped, ‘Sorry about this … I’ll be OK in a minute…just give me a minute … ‘

Nic peeled her hands away from her face, his gaze serious and concerned as he looked into her eyes. ‘Cara, did I do something you didn’t like? Did I hurt you in some way? ‘

She shook her head and bit down on her bottom lip, fighting to rein in her runaway emotions. ‘No, of course you didn’t hurt me—it’s just that …that I’ve never …it’s just that it’s never been like that before … ‘

His frown made a map of lines come up on his forehead. ‘Are you saying you’ve never had an orgasm through oral sex before?’