Under the Italian's Command (20 page)

‘Yes, well, let’s hope so,’
Carly’s
father commented. ‘Are you coming, Lorenzo? Your study, didn’t you say? I think we can safely leave the ladies in peace now.’

Lorenzo shot a look at
Carly
as if to say this division of the sexes wasn’t their way, but for a day, if it made her parents happy, it would be worth it.

Carly
put her arm around
Livvie’s
shoulders as they watched their mother with Adriana. ‘Your turn next,’ she whispered. ‘That’s if you want a baby.’

‘Perhaps I’d better find a man first?’
Livvie
suggested.

‘Good idea,’
Carly
agreed, sharing a smile with her sister.

Later that night Lorenzo suggested they leave everyone to it. Adriana had so many nursemaids her parents were superfluous for once. He didn’t wait for an answer before drawing his beloved wife out of the room.

‘You worked a miracle today,’ he told
Carly
, ‘and I’m proud of you.’

‘You worked the miracle,’ she argued.

‘Can we agree just this once to reach a compromise?’ Lorenzo suggested, starting to unbutton her blouse. ‘I think the miracle is Adriana…’

‘Well, I’m not going to argue with you about that…’

Easing her head back to give Lorenzo better access to her neck,
Carly
knew that arguing was the last thing on her mind now, though there was definitely a storm brewing—of the most tempestuous and physical kind.

‘Your breasts are enormous,’ Lorenzo approved as if he’d never seen them before. ‘I adore them…’ Casting her bra aside, he swung her into his arms. ‘Shall we?’ he invited, moving towards the bed.

‘Only if you take your socks off.’

‘I’m not sure I can wait that long.’

But they did take his socks off—they took every single piece of clothing off.

‘We don’t always make it this far,’
Carly
said, laughing as Lorenzo lowered her down onto the bed. ‘Do you think the fire is dying down?’

Taking hold of her hand, he placed it over the throbbing proof of his continued interest. ‘I’m not sure,’ he said. ‘What do you think?’

‘I think I need regular reminders,’ she told him wickedly.

He raked his stubble against her neck in the way he knew she liked, but when she reached for him he told her, ‘Be patient…Haven’t I taught you anything?’

‘So much, I hardly know where to start.’

‘Fortunately, I do,’ he said, muffling her cries with kisses until she grew frantic underneath him.
Carly’s
appetite was a source of constant pleasure to him, and he never tired of giving her the satisfaction she craved. Watching pleasure unfold on her face was one of his greatest joys in life. She was fierce in bed, demanding and passionate, and she was the mother of his child, sweet, kind and loving. She was the lynchpin of his family around which everything else revolved. ‘I love you,
Carly
Tate.’

‘
Carly
Domenico
,’ she corrected him in the scant few seconds he allowed her before finding another way to silence her.

Later, when she had
quietened
, he told her about the plans he’d made. ‘I’ve taken an island for a month—’

‘Of course you have,’ she said, stroking his face.

‘No, really, I have…’

‘Are you serious?’

‘Never more so. I’m going to fly the wife I adore and our baby, along with Adriana’s nurse, to a tiny Caribbean island where my beautiful wife can lie in the sun all day and dream about…me.’

Carly
laughed. ‘You’re impossible.’

‘We’ve already established that,’ Lorenzo said, kissing her into submission. ‘And, of course, for this trip my wife will need some new clothes…’ He reached beneath the bed for the parcel he’d put there earlier. ‘For instance, she will need some new bikinis…’ Reaching into the parcel, he showered some vivid scraps of fabric down on her. ‘And, of course, she will require this season’s must-have, ridiculously impractical underwear—’

‘But, Lorenzo, I’m fat—’

‘
Carly
, you have never been more beautiful in your life.’ Bringing her hand to his lips, he planted a lingering kiss on her palm, staring into her eyes until she believed him.

‘You are the most wonderful man in the world,’ she whispered, ‘and so generous. But, Lorenzo, I must buy something for you. What would you like?’

Her earnest expression made his lips curve in a smile. ‘Isn’t it obvious?’

‘No…’

‘How about socks?’ he said wryly.

ISBN: 978-1-4268-1902-5

UNDER THE ITALIAN’S COMMAND

First North American Publication 2008.

Previously published in the U.K. as LAYING DOWN THE LAW.

Copyright © 2008 by Susan Stephens.

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