Captive in His Castle (13 page)

‘How can you be sure it is normal to be so sick?’ he demanded when she tried to reassure him. She almost let slip that this was not her first experience of morning sickness. But the idea of talking about her first pregnancy was too painful to contemplate when the wound in her heart was so deep and raw.

Even when Drago was abroad she still felt stifled by him, Jess brooded, three days before their wedding was
due to take place. He had explained that his business trip to Germany was unavoidable. She had refrained from admitting that she would be glad to have a few days to herself. But her hopes of having some time alone, so that she could come to terms with the dramatic changes in her life and especially her feelings about her pregnancy, had been dashed by Drago’s constant phone calls.

‘Yes, I ate breakfast,’ she told him patiently. ‘No, I haven’t been sick this morning.’

‘Why not?’ His voice sounded sharp over the phone. ‘Why would the sickness suddenly stop?’

‘I don’t know. I’m just glad to have kept my food down for once,’ Jess muttered. Really, there was no pleasing him, she thought irritably. According to Drago, she was either too sick or not sick enough.

‘Yes—that’s good, of course. Perhaps you’ll start to put on weight rather than lose it. But I’ll call Eduardo Marellis and arrange for him to come to the
palazzo
and check that your pregnancy is progressing as it should.’

‘There’s no need. I only saw him four days ago.’

‘It’s better to be safe,’ Drago said in the uncompromising voice Jess knew so well. ‘I don’t want you to do too much today. In fact why don’t you spend the morning in bed?’

It was on the tip of Jess’s tongue to tell him that being in bed on her own wasn’t much fun, but pride kept her quiet. Drago had slept in his dressing room every night since he had announced their engagement to his family, and she was determined to hide how hurt she felt and how much she missed him. It wasn’t just the sex; it was the feeling of closeness to him that she longed for—because then she could fool herself that he cared for her a little.

When he ended the phone call she wandered over
to the window and stared out at the view of the Grand Canal, which was busy with the boats and water taxis that provided the main mode of transport through the city. Venice attracted thousands of tourists in the summer, but Jess had lived her whole life in London and was used to busy streets. She was also used to being independent and going out when and where she pleased, but Drago had insisted that she did not leave the
palazzo
without being accompanied by his bodyguard Fico.

She felt as if she was imprisoned in a gilded cage, she thought heavily. She missed her freedom, and with her wedding only days away she felt trapped. Marrying Drago was undoubtedly the best thing she could do for the baby. Their child would enjoy a privileged lifestyle that she could not possibly give if she was a single mother. But she was struggling to come to terms emotionally with being pregnant for a second time, and the guilt she had buried for so long was a permanent ache in her heart.

If only she could just have a few hours to herself to think—without Fico or the other household staff hovering around her. She grimaced as she remembered her crazy attempt to climb down from the balcony the first night Drago had brought her to the
palazzo
. She was not going to do anything as stupid as that again, but there was no reason why she shouldn’t slip away by herself for a couple of hours. Drago need never find out.

‘What do you mean, she’s not here?’
Drago roared, venting his fury on the hapless maid who had hurried downstairs to tell him that Signorina Harper was not anywhere in the
palazzo
or the garden.

Dropping his briefcase on the marble floor of the entrance hall, he thrust his fingers through his hair and
discovered that his hand was shaking. Fear was rapidly replacing the anger that had blazed in him when he had received a phone call from Fico to tell him that Jess had apparently disappeared.

Thank God he had decided to cut his trip to Germany short and had already been at Marco Polo airport when he had spoken to Fico. Drago glared at the bodyguard, who had just returned from St Mark’s Square, which was one of Jess’s favourite haunts.

‘No sign of her,’ Fico said gruffly. ‘But the place is packed with tourists and I could have missed her if she’s in a café. I’ve left three members of the security team to continue searching—’

Puzzled by the bodyguard’s abrupt silence, Drago followed his gaze and spun round to see Jess walking up the front steps of the
palazzo
. Relief caused his knees to sag, but incensed by the effect she had on him, and the unpalatable fact that she weakened and unmanned him, he strode forward to meet her.

‘Where the
hell
have you been?’ he demanded, his voice taut with fury. ‘Why did you go out without Fico when I expressly forbade you to? Why did you disobey me?’

Several hours of walking about in the hot sunshine had left Jess feeling exhausted, but as she was subjected to Drago’s verbal attack she forgot her tiredness and her temper simmered.

‘You
forbade
me! I
disobeyed
you! Listen to yourself, Drago. They are not the words of a husband to his wife—at least not in any marriage I want to be part of. Why shouldn’t I go out on my own? I only went to Murano to visit the glassblowers’ workshops. What harm is there in that?’

She suddenly became aware that they were not alone.
Several of the staff had been drawn to the hall by the sound of raised voices, and Fico was shifting from foot to foot, looking as though he would rather be anywhere but witnessing her argument with Drago.

‘I am
not
going to stand here and allow you to
harangue
me in front of the staff,’ she muttered, and she raced towards the staircase.

‘Come back here.’ Drago was beside her in an instant, and kept pace with her as she marched up the stairs.

When they reached the landing he scooped her into his arms and, ignoring her furious protest, strode into the suite of rooms they had shared since she had arrived at the
palazzo
.

‘I’ll tell you what harm there is in you jaunting off alone,’ he growled, as he carried her through to the bedroom and dropped her onto the bed so hard that she bounced on the mattress. Before she could even think of trying to get up he leaned over her, imprisoning her against the satin bed cover. ‘I am one of the wealthiest men in Italy. I attract a lot of media attention. And now that you are my fiancée, so do you,’ he told her bitingly. ‘Ever since a photo of us leaving Trattoria Marisa was published on the front page of several newspapers you have been at risk of being kidnapped by criminal gangs who would demand a huge ransom for your release.
That
is why Fico sticks to your side like glue.’

Jess swallowed, shaken not just by his words but by the intensity in his black eyes that told her the threat of kidnap was a very real and frightening possibility. ‘I didn’t think,’ she whispered.

‘It seems to be a persistent theme with you,’ he said sardonically. He jerked away from her as if he could not bear to be near her. ‘And I see you’re not wearing your engagement ring again.’

Anger burned like acid in Drago’s gut as he stared at her, sprawled on the bed, with her glorious hair spread across the satin bedspread. Wearing a simple white sundress that had rucked up to reveal her slim thighs, she was a beguiling mixture of innocence and earthy sensuality, and the idea that she would have attracted much male interest while she wandered around Venice filled him with rage.

‘Did you go out without your ring so that you could flirt with other men?’ he demanded savagely. ‘Do I need to remind you that you are carrying
my
child?’

Stunned to see streaks of colour run along Drago’s cheekbones, Jess shook her head. That could
not
be jealousy she had heard in his voice, she told herself. ‘Of course I didn’t go out to meet other men. And being sick constantly is enough of a reminder that I’m pregnant,’ she said drily. ‘I’m not used to wearing jewellery, and I find my ring a bit cumbersome for everyday wear, so I thought I would just put it on for social events.’

Realising the effort Jess was making to be tactful about the engagement ring that he had already guessed she did not like, Drago felt his anger fade. Most women he knew would love to own a diamond the size of a rock, but Jess was different from any other woman he’d ever met, he acknowledged wryly.

‘Have you any idea how worried I was when Fico told me you had disappeared?’ he asked raggedly. ‘Dio, I was scared. you had had an accident, or been taken ill.’ He closed his eyes as memories of rushing to the hospital with Vittoria flooded his mind. ‘Why did you go off like that?’

Jess bit her lip, overcome with guilt that her irresponsible behaviour had caused Drago to look so haggard. She knew how concerned he was for the baby.

‘I needed some space. I’m used to being independent,’ she mumbled. ‘It has struck me in the last couple of days that Italy is going to be my home once we are married. I love Venice, but I miss London,’ she admitted. ‘You probably find it hard to understand, but I
like
running T&J Decorators, and I miss Mike and Gaz and the other guys I used to work with. I don’t have a life of my own or friends in Venice. I especially miss my workshop and being able to do my wood-carving. You’re smothering me,’ she said in low tone. ‘I understand that your interest—obsession, even—with my pregnancy is because you are concerned for the baby. But I’m not an invalid. Pregnancy is a perfectly natural state.’

‘Unless something goes wrong,’ Drago said harshly. ‘I have witnessed how devastating the consequences can be if there is a problem during pregnancy. If I have been obsessive, it is because I want to do everything possible to take care of you and the baby.’

His jaw clenched and his voice roughened with emotion as he stated flatly, ‘It is something that I bitterly regret I did not do for my first child.’

S
HOCK RAN THROUGH
Jess as she absorbed Drago’s statement. ‘What do you mean?’ she said unsteadily. ‘What child?’

He exhaled slowly. ‘While I was engaged to Vittoria she fell pregnant, but she did not tell anyone—including me.’ Noticing Jess’s confused expression, he said heavily, ‘I’d better start from the beginning. I first met Vittoria when we were children. Our families were friends, and as we grew up we often used to meet at social events. My ill-fated love affair with Natalia, the exotic Russian woman who conned me and Cassa di Cassari out of a fortune, was humiliating, and I vowed that in future I would use my head and not my heart in relationships,’ he explained grimly. ‘I felt it was my duty to marry and produce an heir. Vittoria was beautiful and charming, and her family connections to Italian nobility made me decide that she would be the perfect wife.’

‘It sounds a coldly clinical way to choose a wife,’ Jess said, taken aback by his lack of emotion. ‘Didn’t you love her?’

‘I cared for her and respected her.’ Drago hesitated. ‘But I did not love her as I should have done. A few years before I had been crazily in love with Natalia,’
he admitted roughly. ‘I met her while I was still grieving for my father, and I completely lost my heart to her.’

Jess nodded. ‘I can understand that. I fell desperately in love with Seb when I was very vulnerable after my friend Daniel died.’

‘Discovering how Natalia had betrayed me hurt like hell,’ Drago continued. ‘I never wanted to feel pain like that again. So it seemed eminently sensible to marry a woman I liked who shared my goals. Vittoria seemed to accept that I needed to devote time to running Cassa di Cassari.’ He grimaced. ‘It shames me to say that I did not devote the same amount of time to my relationship with her. I was unaware that she suffered badly from nerves and illogical fears and had, among other things, a phobia of hospitals.’

Drago strode restlessly around the room, his mind bombarded by memories that still haunted him. ‘I had no idea that Vittoria had conceived my child. She showed no signs, and she said nothing until she started to bleed heavily. Only then did she admit that she was four months pregnant. Poor Vittoria was petrified,’ he said raggedly. ‘Initially it was thought that she was suffering a miscarriage, but she haemorrhaged severely and was rushed to hospital—where she was found to have a condition called placenta preavia. It is a complication during pregnancy, but in extreme cases it can lead to the death of the mother and the baby. Because Vittoria had not been for any prenatal checks her condition went undetected until she started to bleed. She almost lost her life.’ His throat moved as he swallowed hard. ‘And tragically she lost the baby.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Jess whispered, her heart aching for him and his ex-fiancée. ‘To lose a child during pregnancy must be agonising.’

‘I blamed myself.’

She shook her head. ‘You could not have prevented what happened to Vittoria. You said yourself she suffered a rare complication with her pregnancy.’

‘If I had paid her more attention she might have told me sooner that she was pregnant and I would have persuaded her to see a doctor,’ Drago said, his voice raw with guilt. ‘If I had taken better care of her then her condition would have been detected and her pregnancy would have been closely monitored. I did not realise how much I wanted a child until my baby died,’ he confessed huskily. ‘Vittoria was heartbroken, and I certainly did not blame her when she decided that she no longer wished to marry me. I felt I had failed her
and
our unborn child.’

He looked at Jess, his eyes blazing with emotion. ‘That is why I am determined to do everything I can to ensure that the child you are carrying is born safely. I want this baby very much, but I don’t know how you feel, Jess.’ He frowned. ‘You seem…distant. I get the feeling that you are unhappy about being pregnant and that maybe you do not want our baby.’

It was his words “our baby” that wrecked Jess. Unlike during her first pregnancy, she was not alone this time. This baby had a father who clearly would be devoted to his child. The knowledge made her glad, but also desperately sad that she had been unable to be a mother to her first child.

‘Of course I want our baby,’ she told Drago thickly. Tears blinded her and she felt a pain inside as though her heart had cracked.
‘You have no idea how much I want to be a mother.’

The storm had been building for a long time, and
now it broke. She buried her face in her hands and her shoulders shook as sobs tore through her slender frame.

‘Jess?’ Shaken to the core to see her sobbing so uncontrollably, Drago strode over to the bed and lifted her into his arms. ‘Cara, don’t cry. I’m sorry I upset you. I just wasn’t sure how you felt about being pregnant.’

Once again he had misjudged her, he thought grimly. There was so much about this woman he was about to marry that he did not understand—so many secrets that she kept from him. He could only hope that one day she would learn to trust him. For now all he could do was cradle her in his lap and wrap his arms tightly around her while she wept.

It was a long time before Jess regained a fragile hold on her emotions. She had never allowed herself to cry like that before, and now she felt drained. Glancing at Drago from beneath her lashes, she felt her heart clench when she saw the bleak expression in his eyes. She wondered if he was thinking about the baby he and his fiancée had lost. He was clearly still haunted by the tragedy, and he must have found it hard to talk about the circumstances that had led to the ending of his engagement to Vittoria.

Jess was touched that he obviously trusted her enough to confide in her about his painful memories. Trust was an important element in a relationship. She knew Drago was curious about the dreams that troubled her and caused her to cry out in her sleep. He had asked her several times who Katie was, and lately she had been tempted to tell him. But something held her back. Her troubled childhood and teenage years had left her wary of revealing her feelings, and deep down she was afraid that Drago would judge her badly for what she had done. She could not bear to see disgust or condemnation
in his eyes. No one could understand the utter devastation she had felt when she had given her child away, and it was just too agonising for her to talk about.

She closed her eyes, as if she could banish the heartbreaking memories of her past, and slowly became aware of how comforting it felt to be held close to Drago’s chest, listening to the steady beat of his heart beneath her ear. She could feel the warmth of his body through his silk shirt, and the scent of his aftershave teased her senses.

He was stroking her hair, threading his fingers through its length in a rhythmic motion that was soothing but also sensual. A tremor ran through her as he cupped her chin and tilted her face to his dark gaze. Jess’s heart missed a beat when he gently brushed away the tears from her cheeks. Something was unfurling inside her, and she knew from the sultry gleam in his eyes that he felt it too. Desire beat a slow but insistent drum in her veins.

‘Cara?’
His breath whispered across her lips before he covered them with his own and kissed her long and sweet and with increasing passion until she trembled. ‘Do you want this?’ he asked in a voice roughened with need as he trailed his mouth down her throat.

‘Yes,’ she said honestly. ‘But do you?’ She gave him a troubled look. ‘You haven’t touched me since you found out I’m pregnant. I thought…I assumed you no longer found me attractive.’

Drago lay back on the bed, still holding her in his arms, and rolled over so that she was beneath him. ‘Does this feel like I’m not turned on by you?’ he said wryly as the solid ridge of his arousal straining beneath his trousers pushed against her pelvis. ‘I have not dared sleep in the same bed as you because I knew I wouldn’t be
able to resist making love to you.’ He frowned. ‘I read that sex in the early days of pregnancy carries a small risk of causing a miscarriage.’

‘Well, Dr Marellis told me that it was perfectly safe to make love while I’m pregnant,’ Jess murmured. She caught her breath when Drago slid his hand beneath her tee shirt and skimmed it over her ribcage to curl his fingers possessively around one breast.

‘In that case, do you think it’s okay for me to do this…?’ he said softly, smiling at her reaction when he stroked his thumb-pad across her nipple and it immediately hardened.

‘Perfectly okay,’ she gasped as he whipped her tee shirt over her head and closed his mouth around the taut peaks he had exposed. Pregnancy had made her breasts incredibly sensitive, and starbursts of pleasure shot through her as he flicked his tongue across one nipple and then its twin. After weeks of being denied him she was instantly aroused, and she gave a tiny embarrassed laugh when he tugged off her skirt and panties and dipped his finger into her honeyed sweetness.

Eagerly she helped him strip, and when he stretched his bronzed, naked body next to her she clung to him and tried to pull him on top of her.

‘Not yet,
tesoro,’
he said softly and, moving down the bed, he eased her legs apart and lowered his head so that his mouth found the sensitive heart of her femininity.

Jess whimpered with delight at his skilled foreplay and the dedication with which he used his tongue to bring her to the edge of heaven. After her emotional breakdown she needed him to restore her, and she trembled with desire when the fierce glitter in his eyes told her the moment had come. But instead of entering her
he rolled onto his back, taking her with him, and lifted her above him.

‘This way you’re in control,’ he murmured, and groaned as she slowly took his swollen length inside her. ‘I always knew that with those amazing green eyes you had to be a sorceress,’ he said thickly.

And then there were no more words—just the sound of their quickening breaths and moans of pleasure as together they set a driving rhythm that quickly took them higher and higher, until with a sharp cry Jess shuddered with the sweet ecstasy of her climax. Seconds later Drago lost his battle to hold back the tidal wave of his need for this one unique woman, and he buried his face in Jess’s fragrant hair as his big body shook with the force of his release.

She was the mother of his child, and soon she would be his wife. Those two things brought Drago a level of contentment he had not expected, and he felt a curious tug on his heart as he placed his hand possessively on Jess’s flat stomach. Her pregnancy was unplanned but he had no regrets. He wanted his baby, and he wanted to marry his flame-haired firebrand.

He tensed as the realisation hit him. But after a moment he relaxed, and his mouth curved into a smile when he saw that Jess had fallen asleep with her head resting on his shoulder. She was so beautiful she made his insides ache. But as he watched a tear seeped from beneath her lashes and slid down her cheek, and she whispered a name.
Katie
.

They married in a small, pretty church tucked away down a narrow side street that few tourists had discovered. Jess was surprised, for she had expected the wedding to take place in a register office, and she was
even more surprised when Drago’s mother met her at the door of the church and handed her an exquisite bouquet of cream roses.

‘I had no idea that my son is such an incurable romantic,’ Luisa said drily. ‘He said to tell you that he chose these to complement your dress.’

Jess swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. ‘They’re perfect.’ Her ivory silk wedding dress was a fairy-tale creation that had been made for her by the designer Torre Umberto. The fluid lines of the gown suited her slender figure, and the crystal-covered bodice sparkled in the sunshine of a Venetian summer’s day.

But the biggest surprise came when she walked into the church with Fico, who was to give her away, and saw Mike, Gaz and the rest of her workforce from T&J Decorators gathered in the pews.

‘Drago arrange for your friends to come,’ Fico told her in a gruff whisper. ‘He say it make you happy.’

As she reached the altar and lifted her eyes to Drago’s handsome face Jess knew she was happier than she had ever been in her life—and the thought terrified her. In all the bleak years of her childhood she had not imagined happiness like this, and she felt she did not deserve it.

Drago did not love her, she reminded herself. He was only marrying her because she was expecting his baby. But the gentle expression in his eyes as he took her hand and the marriage service began filled her with hope that they could make their marriage work.

Remember how Seb betrayed you
, she told herself sternly. She had fooled herself into believing that he cared for her, and the legacy of that mistake would haunt her for ever. But she could not prevent the frantic leap of her heart when Drago slid a gold wedding band onto
her finger and followed it with an exquisite emerald and diamond ring in the shape of a flower.

‘The solitaire ring was too big and showy for you,’ he murmured. ‘This suits your small hand much better, and the emeralds match the colour of your eyes.’

Emerging from the church as man and wife, they boarded a gondola decorated with roses, and as Drago kissed her and the wedding guests cheered Jess decided that fairy tales could come true after all.

The reception at the Palazzo d’Inverno was an informal affair, and she was able to spend time chatting with the guys from T&J Decorators. Mike, who had acted as foreman in her absence, had now taken over running the business.

‘I’m glad things have worked out for you, Jess,’ he told her. ‘But me and the lads miss you. If you ever get bored of swanning around in a palace I’ll always find you some work. You’re one of the best chippies in the trade.’

‘Thanks, but being a mother is the only job I’m going to want for a long time,’ Jess replied, her eyes softening as she imagined holding her baby in her arms.

‘I enjoyed meeting your friends,’ Drago said later, as they drove across the bridge linking Venice to the mainland. They were on their way to his house in the Italian Alps, where they were to spend their honeymoon. ‘Remind me of the name of the guy covered in tattoos?’