Page 14 of A Baby Scandal in Italy

Ivy stared at him. ‘Didn’t you explain that Bertie is my sister’s baby and I had thought that you were his father?’

‘No,’ Rafa said bluntly. ‘My mother can never find out that her husband of thirty-seven years of happy marriage had a casual fling that resulted in a child. It would destroy her.’ His frustration was apparent in the dark scowl he sent Ivy. ‘If you hadn’t sold out to the newspapers, I would have been able to manage the situation differently. But, as it stands, my mother thinks she has a grandson who she is desperate to meet, and some members of Vieri Azioni’s board are citing moral turpitude as a reason to try to kick me out of the company.’

Ivy glared back at him, infuriated by his unfairness. ‘You refuse to believe that I didn’t talk to a journalist, but I am supposed to accept your crazy theory that Bertie is your father’s child?’

‘It had to have been you who spoke to the press. I’m confident my theory will be proved right by the extended test.’

‘I don’t care about the test. You say you have proof that you were on a business trip and couldn’t have been on the cruise ship, so I accept that Bertie is not your son. Why can’t we just leave it at that? Give me the passports, I’ll take Bertie and you will never hear from either of us again.’

Rafa shook his head. ‘Unfortunately it is not as easy as that. For a start, I don’t trust you.’ He ignored her gasp of outrage. ‘Vieri Azioni was entrusted to me by my father, and I will do whatever it takes to save my position as joint chairman and CEO of my family’s company.’ His grey eyes held her gaze. ‘I have had an idea. I think we should announce that we are engaged.’

Once again, Ivy assumed that she had misheard or misunderstood him. ‘Engaged...to who?’

His brows lifted. ‘To each other, obviously.’

‘You’ve got to be kidding! I don’t want to get engaged to anyone, least of all you.’

‘It will not be a real engagement.’ Rafa roved his gaze over Ivy, and she was conscious that the stretchy material of her top moulded her breasts. She wished she had persevered through the pain in her shoulder and worn a bra.

Rafa’s eyes had narrowed to glittering slits. Perhaps he was thinking that he would have expected his fiancée to be a lot more glamorous and sophisticated than her. Ivy did not understand why a tiny part of her was excited at the idea of being engaged to him. But it would be a fake engagement, she reminded herself.

She shook her head. ‘What will be achieved by us pretending to be engaged?’

‘If I am seen to have accepted responsibility for Bertie, and am prepared to marry the mother of the child who everyone believes is mine, it will make my mother happy and appease the board members and shareholders.’ Rafa shrugged. ‘Everyone loves a happy ending. We will pose for photos for the newspapers looking suitably enamoured with one another. Without a scandal to fuel the story, it will quickly fade from public interest, and in a month or two we will quietly break up.’

‘What will you tell your mother when we end our engagement?’

‘I’ll make the excuse that you want to bring the baby up in England to be near your family.’ He frowned. ‘Do you have family who can help you care for your sister’s child?’

She shook her head. ‘My dad has many children from his various relationships and my mum is living in Cyprus with her latest Mr Right. At least she has stopped marrying men who promise to love her but always let her down. Gemma was not her daughter, and Mum isn’t interested in Bertie.’

Ivy wondered how Rafa had moved closer without her realising. She was standing behind the desk, and he was blocking her escape route to the door. ‘I’m going to take Bertie back to England,’ she said with more confidence than she felt. ‘I think you should tell your mother the truth. Lies always get found out in the end.’

‘You don’t have to tell me.’ His harsh and oddly humourless laugh stirred her curiosity. ‘I have explained why I can’t be honest with my mother and must allow her to believe that you and I are Bertie’s parents. Mentioning your sister will only complicate things further. I won’t risk her discovering a possible link between my father and Gemma. We must protect my mother’s feelings.’

‘With a fake engagement.’ Ivy backed away when he took a step towards her. But, while her mind was trying to focus on the surreal conversation with Rafa, her body was communicating with him on a different level. Her heart was racing and her breathing was uneven. She folded her arms across her chest to hide the betraying thrust of her nipples through her clingy top, but the gleam in his eyes told her that he was aware of the effect he was having on her. ‘Why should I care about your mother’s feelings?’ she muttered.

‘She’s dying. Eighteen months to two years at most, the specialist has advised.’

Ivy bit her lip. Rafa had recently lost his father and his mother was terminally ill. She wasn’t close to either of her parents, but she had adored her big sister, and she missed Gemma every day. ‘I’m sorry.’

He looked at her intently. ‘I think you are. Beneath your belligerence lies a soft heart, Ivy Bennett.’ His voice had deepened and it felt like rough velvet caressing her skin. The atmosphere between them had altered subtly and prickled with mutual awareness. Ivy’s heart gave a jolt as her eyes crashed into Rafa’s searing gaze.

‘I want to go home.’ It was imperative to her self-preservation that she distanced herself from this man who had such a powerful impact on her. ‘You can’t make me stay.’

‘I have been honest with you about the reasons I’d like you to remain in Italy.’ Rafa moved closer. He wasn’t touching her, but Ivy was aware of him with every cell in her body. With a jolt, she recognised the gleam of desire in his eyes when he lowered his face towards hers. Memories of the passion that had blazed between them when he had kissed her in the kitchen made her blood pound in her veins, and her lips parted in anticipation for him to claim them. Her brain saidno, but her body saidyesto the question in his eyes.

CHAPTER FIVE

RAFASLIDHIShand round to Ivy’s nape and angled his mouth over hers. She hesitated while her common sense battled the confusing feelings that only this man aroused in her. She wanted to dislike him, but he had surprised her with his determination to protect his mother from being hurt, if it was true that Rafa’s father had been the man Gemma had had an affair with. Rafa had made his astounding suggestion of a fake engagement to spare his mother’s feelings. It showed that he was honourable and had integrity, and Ivy felt a begrudging respect for him.

She placed her hands on his chest, still torn between wanting to push him away or succumb to her attraction to him. The heat of his body through his shirt transferred to her palms, ran like quicksilver up her arms and flooded her breasts. Perhaps if he had pulled her towards him she would have panicked but, other than his hand behind her head, he wasn’t touching her, and she felt reassured that she was in control and could end the kiss whenever she wanted.

Except that she did not want it to end. Rafa brushed his mouth over hers and, with a soft sigh, Ivy parted her lips. He kept the kiss light at first, teasing the tip of his tongue between her lips and tantalising her with the promise of sweeter delights. With a low moan, Ivy curled her fingers into his shirt and sank into him, intensely aware of how hard his body felt against her softness, and how big and powerful he was.

He filled her senses. The taste of him was on her lips and she breathed in his sensual male scent. She heard the frantic thud of her heartbeat in her ears, and beneath her fingertips she felt the thunder of his heart. His free hand settled on her waist and, when he drew her towards him so that his thigh brushed against hers, she felt a jolt of purely feminine response to the unmistakeable hardness of his arousal.

When at last Rafa lifted his mouth to allow them to snatch a breath, Ivy stared into his eyes that gleamed like molten silver. He sat on the edge of the desk so that his face was almost level with hers and pulled her unresisting body between his thighs. ‘That’s better,’ he murmured, making her wonder if his neck ached given he was so much taller than she was. But her thoughts scattered as he claimed her lips again and kissed her with a mastery that made her shake.

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