Page 29 of A Baby Scandal in Italy

CHAPTER NINE

‘HAVEYOUFLOWNin a helicopter before?’ Rafa watched Ivy grip the arm rests on her seat as the chopper took off and felt guilty that it hadn’t occurred to him she might be nervous.

‘Only once.’ She smiled. ‘It was so exciting. The cruise ship had stopped in Hawaii, and I took a helicopter sightseeing flight over the island. The scenery was so beautiful. I’d planned to visit Hawaii again...but things changed,’ she said with a soft sigh.

Ivy’s life had been blown apart by her sister’s tragic death, when she’d become Bertie’s guardian. But her love and devotion for the baby were genuine, Rafa brooded. He believed her when she’d insisted that she did not care about his wealth and that her only reason for agreeing to marry him was to secure Bertie’s rightful place in the Vieri family.

That was one of the motives behind his decision to make her his wife, he reminded himself. The other was his determination to protect his mother from discovering the truth about Bertie’s paternity. The reporter from a national newspaper was still digging for a scandal, but Rafa was certain that, once he had married Ivy and claimed the child everyone believed was his, public interest would fade.

But he could not forget that Ivy had been responsible for the story which had been published in the newspaper. Every time he dropped his guard with her, he remembered that she had lied when she’d said she hadn’t spoken to the journalist.

His third motive for proposing to Ivy was less altruistic. He wanted her in his bed—beneath him, on top of him, every which way he could have her. It should bother him that he was so desperate for her. Itdidbother him, but he told himself he was in control, although how he’d held back from possessing her fully in the pool house three nights ago he did not know.

She had been so delightfully responsive, and her soft cries of pleasure when she’d come against his hand had sharpened his hunger. But instinctively he felt it was right to wait so that he could make love to her on their wedding night, and he only needed to be patient for a few more hours.

The helicopter was taking them to their wedding destination. Following the civil ceremony, they would return to the Castello Dei Sogni for an evening reception for two hundred guests. The reception was due to finish before midnight and then, finally, he could claim his virgin bride.

‘I don’t know anything about San Alinara except that it is an independent microstate, famous for its nickname “Island of Love”,’ Ivy said.

‘The island off the east coast of Italy is an ancient principality that has been ruled by the Pellegrini family for centuries. It has become a popular wedding destination because its laws allow couples to marry easily. But so many people choose to hold their wedding on San Alinara that there is a long waiting list.’

‘How did you arrange for us to marry with only three days’ notice?’

‘The current ruler, Prince Stefano, is an old school friend of mine.’

‘Of course he is.’ Ivy gnawed her bottom lip with her teeth, making Rafa long to press his mouth to hers and kiss her until she stopped frowning and melted against him. ‘I don’t belong in your world,’ she said in a low voice. ‘I grew up on a rough housing estate, and I certainly didn’t meet royalty at the local secondary school. I’m not glamorous and sophisticated.’

He shrugged. ‘It doesn’t matter where you went to school. We are marrying so that Bertie will grow up in my world, as you call it.’ He studied her pale grey dress and matching jacket and wondered why he was disappointed that she had chosen a distinctly un-bridal outfit for their wedding.

A limousine with the royal standard flying from the bonnet met them at the airport to drive them to the registry office in San Alinara. ‘Unfortunately I will be away on state business on your wedding day,’ Prince Stefano had told Rafa when they had spoken on the phone two days ago. ‘I hope I will meet your new wife and baby son soon.’

The curiosity in his friend’s voice had almost tempted Rafa to explain the reason for his hasty marriage. He hated the web of deceit, but he would not risk the truth being exposed that would shatter his mother. He knew how that felt. He remembered the taste of bile in his throat when Tiffany had told him she’d been sleeping with another man. Maybe it had hurt his pride more than his heart, he acknowledged. Love, if it had ever existed between them, had left the building by then. But his ex-wife’s betrayal over Lola had broken him, and when he’d put himself back together trust was a missing component in the colder, harder man he’d become.

The registry office was part of a grand old building that provided a charming backdrop for wedding photographs. Inside they were greeted by an official and, once the paperwork had been checked, they were shown to a private suite where they could relax before the civil ceremony. Ivy disappeared into the bathroom with the travel bag she’d carried off the helicopter.

Rafa fiddled with his tie and tried to ignore the inexplicable jangle of his nerves. He checked his watch for the fifth time and wondered when Ivy was going to reappear—or if. It occurred to him that she might have changed her mind. As he was digesting that unwelcome thought, the bathroom door opened and she stepped into the room.

His jaw dropped and his blood heated to boiling point and surged south to his groin. ‘You look...’ He was lost for words. Beautiful didn’t come close.

Ivy was wearing a pure white column dress, utterly simple, yet the flowing lines could only have been created by an expert couturier. The shimmering silk moulded her slender figure, and the halter-neck top exposed her back, shoulders and elegant neck. Her feathery blonde hair framed her delicate face, and subtle make-up enhanced her big brown eyes, flecked with gold.

She looked ethereal and innocent but, when she moved, the dress clung to her sweet curves and hinted at her sensuality that Rafa longed to explore. She was quite simply his every erotic fantasy in one exquisite package. The erratic thud of his heart warned him that the situation was spinning out of his control. He was not meant to feel like this. He did not want to feel anything. But the anxious expression in her Bambi eyes, the need for his approval in her hopeful smile, unfroze a little of the ice inside him.

He returned her smile, letting her see the genuine admiration in his eyes. ‘You are perfect,’ he assured her. And that could be a problem if he did not remain on his guard.

‘These are for you.’ Rafa presented Ivy with an exquisite bouquet of pink roses and delicate white gypsophila, commonly known as baby’s breath. ‘I remembered that pink is your favourite colour. I’m not likely to forget your pink hair when we first met,’ he said drily.

Ivy did not want to think about how furious he had been when she’d turned up at Vieri Azioni’s offices with Bertie and accused him of being the baby’s father. ‘Thank you. They’re beautiful.’ Lowering her face to the flowers to breathe in their scent gave her a few minutes to try to steady her racing pulse caused by the stark hunger in Rafa’s eyes when he’d seen her in her dress.

She had been worried he might be annoyed by her decision to wear a bridal gown. But she was only ever going to have one wedding and, even though their marriage was a sensible arrangement, she wanted to look like a proper bride.

With hardly any time to prepare for the wedding after Rafa’s shock announcement that they would marry in three days, Ivy had called the personal stylist in Rome. Sophia had duly arrived at the castle with a selection of dresses, and Ivy had fallen in love with the simplicity of the white silk gown.

As long as the dress was the only thing she fell in love with, she warned herself. Rafa offered her his arm, and her heart missed a beat when she studied his grey three-piece suit that had been expertly tailored to mould his athletic build. The trimmed stubble on his jaw gave him an edgy sexiness that was reflected in his glittering eyes, and the sensual curve of his mouth promised heaven.

When they entered the room where the wedding was to take place, they were greeted by the registrar, who explained that the civil ceremony was legal and binding. The vows they were about to make were a formal and public pledge of their love and a promise of a lifelong commitment to each other.

Ivy felt Rafa stiffen, and fear clutched her heart. She had agreed to the marriage for Bertie’s sake, but was she doing the right thing? If only she had some guidance, but the person she would have confided in and sought advice from had gone for ever.

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