Deserving of His Diamonds (8 page)

into the small privately owned gallery she had met Emilio‘s gaze from

across the room. She could still recall the way her heart had fluttered in her

chest as he moved through the knot of people to get to her. He had been head

and shoulders above all the other men, not just in stature, but also in looks

and in his proud, almost aristocratic bearing. She had thought he must be

Italian royalty at the very least, and why he should single her out was

beyond her

comprehension. But single her out he had, and within a week she had been

swept off her feet and totally, blissfully in love. ‗I have a new housekeeper,‘

Emilio said into the silence that had fallen. ‗Her name is Marietta.‘ ‗What

happened to Concetta?‘ Gisele asked with a frown. His mouth tightened

briefly. ‗I fired her the day after you left.‘ ‗Why?‘ she asked. ‗I thought you

said she was the best housekeeper you‘d ever had.‘ ‗She was.‘ ‗So why‘d

you fire her?‘ ‗She overstepped the mark in telling me I was a fool for

throwing you out,‘ he said. ‗I fired her on the spot.‘ ‗Way to go, Concetta,‘

Gisele said. She pushed her tongue against the inside of her bottom lip as she

studied his brooding expression. ‗You didn‘t think to ask her to come back

to you along with me?‘ His brows moved together over his eyes as he looked

at her. ‗She wouldn‘t come back,‘ he said. Gisele gave him a saccharine-

sweet smile. ‗Maybe you should‘ve offered her two million dollars.‘ He

didn‘t answer but she saw his jaw flex just before he turned and looked out

of the window. The driver pulled up in front of Emilio‘s villa in the

exclusive area near the Villa Borghese parklands. Gisele felt another pang as

Emilio helped her from the car. She

had been totally blown away by the magnificent building two years ago and

she felt exactly the same way now. Built on four levels with gorgeous formal

gardens and a huge fountain set in the middle of the circular driveway, it

looked every inch the private residence of a person who had very much

made their way in the world. Emilio gave the driver instructions about their

luggage before leading Gisele to the front door, which magically opened,

revealing a neatly dressed Italian woman in her fifties with a welcoming but

deferential smile on her face. ‗Bentornati, Signorina Carter,‘ she said.

‗Welcome back. Congratulations on renewing your engagement.‘

‗Grazie,‘ Gisele said, taking the housekeeper‘s hand and returning her smile

with an effort. Engagement? What engagement? Anger bubbled up inside

her. What on

earth did Emilio think he was doing? She could hardly have it out with him

in front of the housekeeper. She stood with a frozen smile on her face,

furious with him for putting her in such an invidious position. Emilio spoke

to Marietta in Italian before turning to Gisele. ‗Marietta will unpack your

things while you have a rest,‘ he said. Gisele faltered as she thought of

Lily‘s blanket inside her case. ‗Um … Do you mind if I do it myself? I

haven‘t brought much with me anyway. I feel … urn … embarrassed. I need

some new clothes. There hasn‘t been much money for extras just lately …‘

He studied her flushed features for a pulsing moment, his eyes dark and

unreadable. ‗You have no need to be embarrassed,‘ he said. ‗I will see to it

that you have all the clothes you need.‘ ‗I‘d still like to unpack my own

things,‘ she said. ‗I‘ve got

out of the habit of having people waiting on me.‘ He held her look for

another beat or two. ‗As you wish.‘ Gisele let out a breath of relief as he

turned and issued Marietta another set of instructions. She didn‘t want

anyone handling Lily‘s blanket. No one had touched it but her. She didn‘t

want to lose that last trace of her baby‘s scent … Emilio turned back and

took Gisele‘s hand and toyed with the knuckle of her ring finger as he held

her gaze. ‗We have a little job to do, sì?‘ he said. ‗I have your engagement

ring in the safe in my study.‘ ‗So you managed to fish it out of the fountain,

then?‘ she asked with an arch look. ‗It took three plumbers, but yes,‘ he said.

‗I finally managed to locate it.‘ Gisele waited until they were alone in the

study where his safe was before she let fly. ‗How could you lead your

housekeeper to believe that we‘re engaged? I haven‘t agreed to that! I‘ve

only agreed to come here for a month but not as your fiancée.‘ Emilio‘s

expression remained calm, as if he were dealing with a small, wilful child.

‗Relax, cara,‘ he said. ‗There is no need for such hysterics.‘ ‗I am not

hysterical!‘ Gisele shrieked with a stamp of her foot for good measure. His

brows snapped together. ‗Keep your voice down.‘ She clenched her hands

into fists and spoke through tight lips. ‗You‘ve done this deliberately,

haven‘t you? You‘re making it impossible for me to deny we have a formal

relationship by making me wear your stupid ring.‘ ‗Cara, you‘re tired and

overwrought,‘ he said. ‗You‘re not making sense. Of course you will have to

wear my ring while you are here. People will not accept our reconciliation as

the real thing if we don‘t appear to pick up where we left off.‘ She glowered

at him. ‗You think by putting that ring on my finger it gives you automatic

licence to sleep with me, don‘t you?‘ ‗You will sleep with me, ring or no

ring,‘ he said. ‗We will be sharing my room. I will not have it any other way.

I don‘t want the servants to suspect anything is amiss.‘ Gisele‘s heart tripped

in her chest like a pony‘s hoof in a pothole. ‗I‘d rather sleep on the floor than share a bed with you.‘ ‗It seems to me you don‘t sleep anywhere,‘ he

returned wryly. ‗Your little closed-eye routine didn‘t fool me on the flight,

cara. That‘s obviously why you‘re being so obstreperous now. You‘re acting

like a little child who has been kept up way past her bedtime.‘ She swung

away from him in fury, flustered because he saw too damn much. She was

worried because she didn‘t trust herself not to turn to him during the night. If

her nightmares about Lily hadn‘t been enough to deal with, so many times

over the past two years she had found herself reaching for him during that

half-awake, halfasleep phase of fitful rest. Her need for him had not

automatically switched off just because he had thrown her out of his life. If

anything, it had smouldered under the surface, building in intensity as each

lonely month had passed. Gisele heard the sound of the safe being opened

and

drew in a breath for composure. This would be another emotional hurdle for

her to negotiate. How different would this be from when he had slid that ring

onto her finger after he had asked her to marry him? She didn‘t want to think

about how eagerly and excitedly she had accepted his proposal. She had

gushed in enthusiasm and he had looked down at her with the sort of

indulgent amusement that made her cringe now. How gauche she had been,

how foolishly romantic to think he had adored her even a fraction as much

as she had adored him. He hadn‘t loved her at all. She had simply ticked all

the boxes for him under the compartment in his life marked: Find Suitable

Wife. ‗Give me your hand,‘ Emilio commanded. Gisele turned around like a

statue on a plinth, her body tense from head to foot. ‗I don‘t suppose you‘re

going to do a rerun of your proposal?‘ she said. His eyes glinted as he took

her hand in his. ‗I had thought of it but decided against it.‘ ‗Why?‘ she

asked. ‗Because you were worried I‘d say no?‘ He slid the ring onto her

finger, holding it there with the warmth of his finger and thumb, his eyes

still meshed with hers. ‗Ah, but would you say no?‘ he asked. ‗Why don‘t

you give it a shot and see?‘ she challenged him. He gave a little chuckle that

was spine-tinglingly deep. ‗I‘m sure if the price was right you would agree

to marry me,‘ he said, bringing her hand up to his mouth and pressing his

lips against her bent fingers. Gisele felt a butterfly wing–like flutter pass

over the floor

of her belly. She disguised a swallow as she felt his lips move to the

sensitive skin of the underside of her wrist. She wanted to close her eyes and

lose herself in his magical touch. The sensation of his warm velvet lips made

her skin shiver in reaction. ‗Stop it,‘ she said, not really meaning it and

pretty sure he knew it. He slid his tongue over her leaping pulse, a sexy lick

that sent a dart of pleasure straight to her core. She suppressed a tiny

whimper, determined not to show him how much he affected her by his

proximity, by his touch, by his astonishing ability to dismantle her defences.

Her legs felt like dampened paper, barely strong enough to hold her upright.

Her spine was loosening, vertebra by vertebra, until she felt sure she would

melt into a pool at his feet. Where was her resolve? Where was her anger

when she needed it? They were like cowardly soldiers retreating from the

frontline of battle. ‗You taste like summer,‘ Emilio said against her wrist.

‗Like frangipani and honeysuckle.‘ Gisele shivered as his teeth gave her a

playful but gentle bite. Her breasts peaked with longing, her insides

contracting with need. How was she going to resist him if he kept this up? It

was torture to be so near him and not respond the way she wanted to. ‗I need

a shower …‘ she said. ‗Have one with me.‘ The images those words

conjured up! She had to fight with everything within her to keep them from

flooding her mind. But it was impossible to eradicate every single one. She

felt the heat build inside her at the memory of his hard body driving into her

as the water cascaded over them: the memory of his hot, clever mouth

feasting on her intimately and the memory of her doing exactly the

same to him. Just thinking about the earthy rawness of it made her cheeks

grow warm. ‗I don‘t think so,‘ she said, trying to pull away. His eyes came

back to hers as he held her firm. ‗It won‘t be long before you change your

mind, cara. We both know that, don‘t we?‘ She glared at him, spitting out

the words one by one. ‗Let. Me. Go.‘ He pulled her up against him, pressing

a brief hard kiss to her mouth before he released her. ‗Go and have your

rest,‘ he said. ‗I‘ll see you at dinner.‘ Gisele felt unsettled and disoriented

when he stepped away from her. It was a feeling almost like being cast

adrift. She felt strangely empty without his hands holding her against him.

That too-brief kiss had made her feel hungry for more. She swept the tip of

her tongue over the tingling surface of her lips, the tantalising taste of him

making her insides clench with longing. She didn‘t realise she was still

standing there in a zombie-like daze until she heard the soft click of the

study door, signalling Emilio had left. Walking back into Emilio‘s bedroom

suite was something Gisele had been silently dreading for all the memories

being there would stir up, but when she pushed open the door she was

surprised to see everything had changed. The decor was completely

different, even the bed ensemble and the light fittings and soft furnishings.

She wondered if he had done it deliberately, somehow purging his room of

her presence after he had sent her from his life. The master suite now had a

Venetian theme to it with the boldest of gold and black in the fabric of the

curtains and bed linen. Crystal lamps encrusted with onyx and gold

were stationed either side of the massive bed, and the priceless thick carpet

on the floor continued the theme. The en suite bathroom was fitted out in

highly polished black marble with gold tap wear and golden-framed mirrors.

There was a large shower with two showerheads and a deep marble-

surrounded bath and a heated towel rack with several snowy-white towels

with a black-andgold trim neatly folded there. It was decadent and rich and

luxurious, the perfect setting for seduction, Gisele thought as she came back

to the windows that led out onto a balcony that overlooked the gardens. She

opened the French windows and went out to breathe in the warm spring air,

the clovelike scent of roses drifting towards her from below. The rear

gardens were much the same as before, lots of clipped hedges and

herbaceous borders and roses everywhere. A lavender pathway led to

another fountain, larger than the one at the front. The sound of the water

splashing had always had a soporific effect on her. She had spent many

nights lying in Emilio‘s arms listening to that wonderfully relaxing sound as

she drifted off to sleep, dreaming of their future together … She stepped out

of her reverie by leaving the balcony and closing the doors, turning the key

as a reminder to herself that the past was no longer accessible. She found

another room farther down the hall. It was decorated in tones of milky coffee

and white, with large windows overlooking the gardens. Once she unpacked

her things from her suitcase and stored them in the wardrobe, she found a

drawer to put Lily‘s blanket and photos in and gently closed it.

The aching tiredness she felt was suddenly so overwhelming she was barely

aware of kicking off her shoes before she curled up like a comma on the

feathersoft bed and closed her eyes … Emilio searched through several