Untouched Until Marriage (10 page)

‘No.'
She shook her head fiercely, horrified by his accusation.

‘Yes, he insisted grimly. ‘But you knew you only had the right to live here while Gino was growing up. No wonder you jumped at my suggestion that we should marry. As my wife you would be financially secure for life.'

‘That's not true,' Libby denied urgently. ‘I didn't have any ulterior motive for accepting your proposal—any more than you did for marrying me. We both did it for Gino's sake, so that he would grow up with two parents.'

Raul speared her with a look of savage contempt. ‘Do you really expect me to believe that the lure of money had nothing to do with your decision? You were presented with the opportunity to marry a billionaire and you seized it.'

He ignored the look of hurt in her eyes and pushed past her, unable to bear breathing the same air as her. History had a funny way of repeating itself, he thought bitterly. It was a pity he didn't feel like laughing. He had a reputation as a ruthless adversary in the boardroom, so how had he allowed himself to be taken in by a gold-digger—not once, but twice? Dana and Libby were two of a kind, and he was the biggest fool on the planet.

He pulled on his shirt and turned to find Libby watching him, her eyes huge in her white face. ‘I thought my first marriage was short when it ended after a year, but twelve hours must be a record,' he said brutally.

Libby hugged her arms around herself, shivering despite the warmth of the night, and stared at Raul's hard face. ‘Wh…what do you mean? And where are you going?' she asked shakily when he strode over to the door and pulled it open.

‘I mean that I will see you in court when I divorce you,
cara
.' The sarcasm in the endearment made her shrivel. ‘As to where I am going—hell seems pretty inviting at the moment, compared to being in the same room as you.'

Panic swept through Libby and she shook her head desperately. ‘No, you can't mean that—you can't want a divorce. What about Gino? We married for him, remember? To give him a stable childhood…'

‘And that is exactly what I intend to give him. It will be better for him if I bring him up on my own than with a callous liar like
you
as his mother. There's not a court in the land that would award you custody of him after the stunt you've pulled,' Raul told her savagely.

Libby gasped and closed her eyes for a few seconds, willing the room to stop swaying. He couldn't mean it. Her mind whispered the reassurance over and over, but the cold fury in his eyes warned her that he would never forgive her for deceiving him. She needed to make him understand how much she loved Gino, and that everything she had done had been for the baby's sake. But he was walking out of the door. She took a jerky step forward and stretched out her hand. He
couldn't
leave her. ‘Raul…please…'

He gave her one last bitter look that ripped her heart in two, and slammed the door before she could reach him. She stood trembling, willing him to walk back in, but the sound of his footsteps along the corridor told her he had gone. Suddenly the dam burst and she crumpled to her knees, tears coursing down her face. This was her wedding night, but thanks to her stupidity the honeymoon was over before their marriage had even begun.

 

Raul walked swiftly through the silent house and out of the front door, his feet automatically taking him to the place he always went when he needed to be alone. The lake gleamed silver in the moonlight, reflecting the dark shadows of the trees that lined the shore. An owl hooted somewhere, and his footfall thudded on the wooden jetty. It took him mere seconds to untie the mooring rope that secured his sailing boat and he leapt on board and cast off.

A breeze rippled the surface of the water and sent the boat scudding across the little waves. He focused on adjusting the rigging and headed far out onto the lake, the gentle flap of the sail and the lap of the water against the hull soothing his ragged emotions.

Libby was not Gino's mother. She had deceived him and made a fool of him. His nostrils flared as he sought to control his anger, and he sailed on through the velvet darkness, his way lit by the moon and the myriad stars that studded the heavens.

She had done it for money, of course. She had lied to him just as Dana had lied when she had assured him that she wanted children. Dana had been an avaricious bitch who had married him to get her hands on the Carducci fortune, and Libby was no better.

But that was not quite true, he brooded. Libby had shown none of his ex-wife's tendencies to max out his credit card or fill her days shopping for more clothes to cram into her overcrowded wardrobes. Nor had she shown any enthusiasm to visit nightclubs when he had suggested it on the two occasions before their wedding when they had stayed at his apartment in Rome. She would prefer to be at the villa with Gino, she had assured him.

Her dedication to the baby was indisputable; her love for him was absolutely genuine—Raul was convinced of that. He frowned as he recalled the grim, damp flat in Cornwall where he had found her. She must have made huge sacrifices—both materially and personally—for her little half-brother. He was under no illusions about the difficulties she must have faced as a single mother, trying to work and keep a roof over their heads while she cared for the baby. She was a beautiful young woman who should have been able to enjoy all the things that her peers took for granted: fashionable clothes, parties, socialising with friends—dating. But she had given all that up for Gino.

Could any woman love a child who was not her own with such generosity of spirit? he wondered sceptically. Dana would certainly not have done. But he knew of one woman who had. His adoptive mother had taken a feral, emotionally damaged seven-year-old boy into her home, and into her heart. Eleanora Carducci had loved him unconditionally, and he had adored her. But after his acrimonious divorce from Dana he had cynically assumed that all women had a hidden agenda. When he had discovered how Libby had tricked him his first reaction had been utter fury, but now his anger was cooling and he wondered if he had judged her too harshly.

‘I didn't have any ulterior motive for accepting your proposal—any more than you did for marrying me. We both did it for Gino's sake.'

Her words hammered in Raul's brain, and guilt reared its ugly head—because he
had
had an ulterior motive, he acknowledged uncomfortably. He had married her
to gain control of Carducci Cosmetics, and in truth had been just as guilty of deceit because he had not made her aware of that clause in Pietro's will.

Another thought slipped insidiously into his head. Libby had not been Pietro's mistress. She and his father had never slept together—in fact he had irrefutable proof that she had never given herself to any other man but him. For some inexplicable reason that fact filled him with a heady sense of triumph. He had always thought of himself as a modern guy, and he had absolutely no problem with a woman's right to enjoy a varied sex life with a number of partners—but Libby was his, and he was shocked by the primitive feeling of possessiveness that swept through him, the feeling that he wanted to keep her locked up in the high tower of the villa, away from the gaze of any other man.

There was a glimmer of pale light in the sky when at last he headed back to shore, feeling calmer and in control of his emotions once more, but still unable to answer the question of what the hell he was going to do now.

Shock jolted through him when he caught sight of a figure standing on the jetty. The fiery red hair was instantly recognizable, and as he took the boat closer he saw Libby was wearing jeans and a soft, silvery grey sweater. She looked very young and achingly vulnerable, and he felt a gentle tug on his heart.

‘Catch this, will you?' he called to her, and threw a rope onto the jetty. After a moment's hesitation she picked it up. ‘Tie it around that post,' he instructed as he brought the boat alongside and jumped out. She sur
veyed him warily, and he saw that her eyes were red-rimmed, her face so pale that she looked as ethereal as a ghost.

He glanced at his watch. ‘It's four a.m. I wasn't expecting you to be up.'

She shrugged, and said dully, ‘I haven't slept.'

Her tension was tangible, reminding him of a nervous colt poised to bolt if he came too close. But that was hardly surprising after he had subjected her to the full force of his hot temper.

She looked past him to the soft mist that was drifting across the lake. ‘It must be so peaceful out on the water as the sun rises,' she murmured wistfully.

‘To my mind it's the closest place to heaven.' He paused, and then said quietly, ‘Maybe I'll take you with me some time.'

Her eyes flew to his face and her voice shook as she said desperately, ‘Please don't send me away from Gino. I love him, and he loves me. It would be too cruel…'

‘I know.' He exhaled heavily. ‘I am not an ogre. I am fully aware of your devotion to him, and that in his eyes you are his mother.'

For the first time since he had slammed out of the bedroom Libby felt the terrible tension that gripped her muscles ease a little. ‘I know what I did was unforgivable, but after Mum died I was so scared Social Services would take him. I had been in care myself. I know what it's like to feel that you don't belong anywhere or with anyone, and I was prepared to do anything to keep Gino with me.'

‘Including sacrificing your virginity,' Raul said harshly. ‘Did you really think you could hide your innocence from me?'

Colour flared in Libby's pale face. ‘I hadn't expected the experience to be so traumatic,' she admitted ruefully.

Guilt kicked Raul in his gut. ‘It should not have been. If I'd had any idea that it was your first time I would have been more patient.' He had probably terrified the life out of her, he acknowledged, looking away from her as he recalled how his hunger for her had made him plunder her untutored body with a savagery that now filled him with shame.

‘I assure you I will be much gentler next time,' he promised tautly.

Next time! Libby bit her lip. ‘Does that mean you intend for our marriage to continue? Even though I…?' She stumbled to a halt, and Raul's dark brows lifted sardonically.

‘Even though you deceived me and married me under false pretences?' he queried coolly. ‘I admit my first thought was to send you back to England, but apart from the fact that Gino needs you, it is also possible that you have already conceived my child. I realise that when we made love it was not a great experience for you, but it certainly worked for me,' he said self-derisively. ‘I did not use contraception, and it is perfectly feasible that you are pregnant.'

Libby's heart clenched at the idea that she might be carrying Raul's baby. She seemed to be on an emotional roller-coaster, and she hugged her arms around her body as a little tremor of excitement ran through her.

Raul frowned. ‘You're cold. Let's go back to the house.'

He walked beside her along the jetty, but Libby was so intensely aware of him that she stumbled, and
would have fallen into the water if it had not been for his lightning reactions. He caught hold of her shoulder to steady her, stared at her white face for a second, and then scooped her into his arms, ignoring her protest as he strode towards the house.

‘You can barely stand. You're wasting your energy fighting me,
cara
, because I'm not going to let you go,' he warned her, and he knew as he said the words that he meant them. Somehow Libby had crept under his guard, and to his surprise he was in no hurry to evict her.

T
HE
steady thud of Raul's heart beneath her ear soothed Libby's ragged emotions, and the strength of his arms holding her felt comfortingly safe. Wasn't that what she had longed for when she was a child? she thought ruefully. To feel safe and protected? She had never doubted that her mother had loved her, but she had disliked most of Liz's hippy boyfriends, and had yearned for the security of a proper home and a family. Had she been drawn to Raul from the moment she had met him because her instincts had told her that he was a strong and powerful man whom she could trust?

He strode through the house, and her heart skittered when, instead of heading for his study or the sitting room, he carried her up the wide staircase to the master bedroom.

‘We need to talk,' he growled as he lowered her onto the bed.

To her consternation he sat down next to her—so close that she could feel the warmth of his body and breathe in the intoxicating scent of his cologne, mixed with another scent that was intensely male.

She twisted her fingers together in her lap and said quietly, ‘I don't suppose you'll believe me, but I felt really guilty about lying to you. You have every right to be angry.'

She sounded so convincing that Raul found it impossible to believe she was a clever actress. And even if she was, what difference did it make? He had married her to gain control of Carducci Cosmetics, and his other reasons were still valid: Gino, the desire for a child of his own, and his overwhelming desire for her that still burned with a white-hot flame.

He reached out and idly wrapped a flame-coloured curl around his finger. ‘I suppose I understand why you did it,' he said heavily, and realised that it was true. He was still angry with her for her deception, but he could not help feeling a begrudging admiration that she had fought so hard to keep Gino. ‘If I had been in the same situation I too would have done anything to prevent Gino from being taken into care. The memories I have of living in the orphanage are not happy ones.'

‘How old were you when you were adopted?'

‘Seven.'

‘I was that age when I was allowed to leave my foster home and live with Mum again. We went to Ibiza soon after. Do you know anything about your real parents?' Libby asked him curiously.

‘Only that they lived in dire poverty in the backstreets of Naples. My mother died shortly after giving birth to me, and for the first few years of my life I lived with my father.' Raul grimaced. ‘My memories of him are of a big, brutal man—and the feel of his belt across the backs of my legs. He was an alcoholic, although of course I did not understand that then. All I knew was
that he had an unpredictable and violent temper. He died when I was five. I don't know what happened to him, although I suspect he was a member of a criminal gang. One night he went out, leaving me alone as he often did, and later police officers broke down the door of our flat and took me to an orphanage.

‘I was a difficult child, and the nuns who ran the orphanage struggled to control me. No one wanted to foster me, and it seemed likely I would spend the rest of my childhood in care. But Pietro and Eleanora Carducci were prepared to give me a chance. I don't know why they chose to adopt a feral street boy,' Raul said, his hard features softening as he remembered his adoptive parents, ‘but I am thankful that they did. My life changed for ever because of them, and I will be eternally grateful for all they did for me.'

Libby nodded, her heart aching as she imagined Raul as the brutalised and unhappy little boy he must have been before he had been adopted. ‘Life can be so precarious,' she murmured, ‘and children are so vulnerable. All I want is for Gino to grow up feeling safe and secure and confident that he is loved.'

‘Together we will do everything possible to give him a happy childhood,' Raul assured her. ‘But is that really all you want, Libby? Was Gino's welfare truly the only reason you married me?'

She tensed as he slid his hand beneath her chin and tilted her face. He had moved along the mattress and was now so close that she could see the tiny lines that fanned out around his eyes. Last night those eyes had glittered with icy fury, but now, incredibly, there was a
warmth in his gaze that gave her hope. ‘I didn't marry you for financial gain, I swear,' she said urgently. ‘I don't want your money.'

His sensual smile stole her breath. ‘Then what
do
you want,
cara
?'

The atmosphere shifted subtly, and Libby's heart-rate quickened when he brought his other hand up and smoothed her hair back from her face. Suddenly shy, she dropped her gaze, but staring at his lap made her heart beat faster still. She had a vivid recall of what was hidden beneath his trousers: long, muscular legs, and strong thighs covered with wiry dark hair that grew thicker at the base of his masculinity. Hot-cheeked, she dragged her gaze away from that pertinent area of his body. But she could not forget his promise that the next time they had sex he would be gentler, and as she lifted her eyes to his mouth she couldn't help wondering when that next time might be.

The stinging sensation when he had taken her virginity had caused her to cry out more from shock than actual pain, but now she was aware of a restless ache low in her pelvis that grew stronger when she remembered how he had caressed her with his wickedly inventive tongue.

‘I regret that losing your virginity was not the special experience it should have been. But I think you found some aspects of lovemaking enjoyable—am I right, Libby?' he queried softly.

‘I…' Libby was transfixed by the sultry heat in his eyes that made her skin prickle and her nipples tingle.

Raul did not love her, and had never given her any reason to hope that he ever would. But he wanted them to remain married, and that was better than nothing,
she told herself. He was going to be a wonderful father for Gino, and for any children they might have. She gave a tiny shiver of excitement at the thought that she might already have conceived his baby. A marriage of convenience might not be perfect, but she was a realist and accepted that few things in life were. After all, she had never expected to have a husband and children after she had vowed to devote herself to Gino. Raul was an unexpected bonus, and as long as she kept the fact that she loved him to herself, their marriage stood every chance of being a success.

‘You don't seem very sure,' he murmured, his deep, gravelly voice whispering across Libby's skin so that she gave another shiver. ‘I think it's time I showed you how pleasurable sex can be.'

Libby swallowed, her heart thudding so hard beneath her ribs that she snatched a shallow breath. He mistook the sudden tension that gripped her, and ran his fingertips lightly up and down her spine, as if he were soothing a nervous colt.

‘Don't be afraid,
cara
. I will be gentle this time.'

And as if to prove his words the first brush of his lips across hers was as soft as gossamer, a delicate tasting that was sweetly beguiling and instantly left her aching for more.

When he kissed her again she opened her mouth and kissed him back. He framed her face with his hands, grazing his lips over hers until she gave a frustrated moan and curled her arms around his neck in a clumsy attempt to make him kiss her with all the wild, pent-up passion she sensed he was trying to control.

Libby's eagerness was irresistible, but Raul also found it strangely touching now that he knew how
inexperienced she was. When she dipped her tongue tentatively into his mouth he groaned, his restraint pushed to its limits, and without lifting his lips from hers he tumbled them both backwards, so that they were lying on the bed.

He could not rationalise what was happening to him, he acknowledged as he drew her jumper over her head, startled to find that his hands were shaking. He had been furious when he'd realised that it had not been necessary for him to marry her, but since then he had been coming up with reasons why she should remain his wife.

He was not prepared to let her go—at least not yet. Maybe not for a very long time… The fact that she had not been Pietro's mistress made him happier than it had any right to, because of course it was only desire that pumped through his veins, nothing more. He had fallen in lust the moment he had laid eyes on her, and now that she was his wife he could enjoy the single most important benefit of being married as far as he was concerned: regular sex with a woman who could decimate his self-control with a single look from her blue-green eyes.

He stared down at her pale, slender body. Her breasts were surprisingly full and rounded, her pink nipples already puckering, inviting him to close his mouth around them. She was watching him warily, and he knew he must control his impatience and indulge in leisurely foreplay until she was fully aroused and ready for him to possess her. He kissed her again—a long, slow tasting that left them both breathing hard—and then deftly removed her jeans.

He stood up to strip off his trousers, and saw the doubtful glance she cast at the solid length of his
erection. ‘Trust me,
cara
, it will be good for you this time,' he assured her, and he stretched out on the bed and claimed her mouth with hungry passion. Her unrestrained response stirred his soul, and his hand shook again as he cupped her breast and gently stroked his thumb pad over its dusky crest.

Heat unfurled in the pit of Libby's stomach when Raul lowered his head to her breast and flicked his tongue back and forth across her nipple until it felt tight and swollen. The sensation was exquisite, and she arched her back, a sigh of pleasure escaping her when he transferred his mouth to her other breast and meted out the same delicious torture. The restless longing he had evoked the first time he had made love to her returned, and was even fiercer in its intensity. The slight soreness between her legs had faded, and she ached for him to touch her there, but he continued to caress her breasts, now sucking hard on one nipple while he rolled its twin between his fingers until the pleasure was unbearable.

Only when she made a guttural plea did he trail his hand lightly over her stomach and thighs, and she caught her breath when at last he threaded his fingers through the cluster of tight curls and slowly, oh, so slowly parted her, stretching her with infinite care so that he could slide one digit fully into her. She lifted her hips as he withdrew his finger a little way and then pushed deeper, in and out, with pumping little movements that caused a curious fluttering sensation deep in her pelvis.

Something was happening to her that she had no control over—a wondrous coiling sensation that grew tighter and tighter as his hand moved rhythmically, caressing her with delicate little strokes so that molten
heat flooded between her legs. Frantically she curled her fingers into the sheet and closed her eyes, so that she could focus on the tiny spasms that were now rippling across her belly. Her breathing quickened and became sharp little gasps as he took her higher and higher to some unknown place that she was desperate to reach, and she gave a sob of protest when he suddenly withdrew his finger, leaving her bereft and empty.

‘Please…' She could barely articulate the word, her limbs trembling, needing him to touch her again and take her to the end of the journey he had started. She felt him move, and her lashes flew open to see him position himself over her. The feel of the solid length of his erection pushing against her thigh made her heart pound.

‘Try to relax,
cara
,' he said deeply, his voice shaking with his desire to sink his throbbing shaft into her, but recognising the importance to take it slow so that he did not hurt her. ‘You are ready for me,' he assured her, but still he hesitated and rubbed his finger against the moist, swollen lips of her vagina.

Libby gasped when he found the tiny, ultra-sensitive nub of her clitoris, and she jerked suddenly, her eyes widening with stunned disbelief as the coiling inside her snapped. The spasms grew stronger, making her muscles convulse in wave after wave of indescribable pleasure, but she soon realised that this was just the beginning, for Raul was easing forward, and she instinctively bent her knees to allow him to penetrate her with one slow, careful thrust, sliding deeper, inch by inch, until he filled her to the hilt.

‘Oh!'
The feel of him inside her was so incredible that she could not restrain a soft moan, but he stilled instantly and rested his sweat-beaded brow against hers, his eyes dark with regret.

‘Does it hurt? I'll stop…'

‘No!' She clutched his shoulders as he withdrew a little, and urged him down so that he sank deeper once more. ‘Don't stop.'

The first waves of pleasure were receding, but when he drew back again and then thrust forward, gentle at first, but then faster and harder, she sensed a new wave building, sweeping her inexorably higher and higher, so that she groaned and twisted her head on the pillows. Raul gripped her hips and held her while he continued to drive into her, each stroke more powerful and intense than the last. She was so nearly there. He paused, and she sobbed his name until he relented and stroked again, and then the world exploded in a series of exquisite spasms that racked her body so that she raked her nails down his back, utterly blown away by her first orgasm.

She knew from the harsh sound of his breathing that he was nearing his own nirvana, and her generous heart yearned for him to experience the same bliss that he had gifted her. Instinctively she lifted her legs higher and wrapped them around his hips, so that he could thrust deeper still. Now the feeling of him pumping inside her was even more intense, and impossible to withstand—for either of them. Raul threw his head back, his face a rigid mask as he teetered on the brink for as long as he could hold on to his self-control before it shattered
spectacularly and he crashed over the edge, taking Libby with him and revelling in her cries of pleasure as she climaxed for a second time.