Page 32 of A Baby Scandal in Italy

But she remembered the speculative look in his eyes when he’d joined their bodies and, although her experience was limited, she sensed that he had always been in control. He would not want her to cling, and for her self-preservation she must hide the effect he had on her emotions.

That shouldn’t have happened. Sure, the sex should have happened, but not the way his control had shattered when he’d been thrown into a mind-blowing orgasm. Rafa was amazed that he’d kept his hands off Ivy for as long as he had. But he hadn’t expected it to be so spectacularly good, especially as she had been a virgin. Part of him, the cold and bitter part, had not entirely believed her until, with a gut-wrenching sense of shock, he’d discovered that she had told him the truth.

Rafa rolled onto his back and stared up at the canopy above the bed. His heart was still thundering in his chest, yet incredibly his shaft was already semi-aroused. He wasn’t done with Ivy. Not nearly. Something inside him warned he would never have enough of her.

Possessiveness was an unfamiliar emotion for him. Before he’d met her, he had enjoyed a healthy sex life and had had countless lovers. Frankly, he had preferred women who were experienced and willing to accept his no-strings rule.

But when Ivy had tensed beneath him, and he’d realised how innocent she was, he’d felt a knife blade slice through his insides at the idea he might have hurt her. She was his. It should not make him feel like a king. He wondered why she had chosen to have her first sexual experience with him. His conscience pricked that he might not like her answer if he asked her. Those Bambi eyes of hers were so expressive. When he’d slipped the wedding ring onto her finger, he had read defencelessness and, more worryingly, hope in their velvet-brown depths.

He would provide Bertie and her with a comfortable life and every privilege that his fortune could easily afford to buy, Rafa assured himself. Ivy would want for nothing—except for his love, taunted a voice inside him. He couldn’t give her his heart for the good reason that he kept it behind an impenetrable wall.

He turned his head on the pillow and watched her long eyelashes flutter against her cheeks. She was so tiny and perfect, like a delicate porcelain figurine. Her fragility made something tighten inside him, knowing that she had survived a life-threatening illness. The world would have been a greyer place without Ivy’s golden laughter and the way she found joy in simple things.

He ran the back of his hand lightly down her peach-soft cheek. But, when he tried to draw her into his arms, she rolled away from him to the other side of the mattress. Rafa told himself he was relieved that she wasn’t all over him, wanting to be cuddled and petted, but her rejection stung.

CHAPTER TEN

‘THISISTHEmost amazing birthday present,’ Ivy told Rafa happily. She stretched luxuriously on the sun lounger and stared up at the cobalt blue sky through the fronds of the palm trees.

She’d fallen in love with Hawaii on her brief visit a few years ago, and had been stunned when Rafa had told her he had booked a holiday on the tropical island to celebrate her birthday and their honeymoon. She had been persuaded to leave Bertie with Anna at the castle, as the trip was only for four days.

‘You deserve some time to yourself.’ Rafa was lying next to her on the double lounger. He propped himself up on his elbow and leaned over her to brush a few strands of hair off her face. ‘And I selfishly wanted you all to myself, Signora Vieri.’

He lowered his head and claimed her mouth in a slow kiss that made Ivy’s heart race. She had not expected being married to Rafa to feel so real. He was charming and attentive, and since their wedding they had barely been apart. They had been on some wonderful sightseeing trips around Hawaii and had walked hand in hand along the white, sandy beaches beside the glistening Pacific Ocean.

He broke the kiss when a waiter arrived to serve them exotic fruit cocktail drinks decorated with slices of watermelon and a little paper parasol. Rafa disappeared briefly and returned with a garland of vibrant pink flowers, known in Hawaiian culture as alei, which he draped around Ivy’s neck. She breathed in the exquisite fragrance of the exotic flowers and gave him a dazzling smile.

The fizzing sensation inside her was happiness, she realised. She had believed she would never be happy again after her sister’s death, but the past few days which she had spent exclusively with Rafa had been wonderful. Ivy ignored the voice in her head that reminded her she did not believe in fairy-tale happy endings.

She touched the flowers. ‘Thank you for these, and for bringing me to Hawaii. It has been memorable.’

Something indefinable moved in his grey eyes. ‘I have enjoyed our trip too,cara. What would you like to do on our last night here? We could try the fine dining experience or watch a show in the nightclub.’

‘Mmm...or we could swim in our private pool and order room service before we have an early night.’

‘How early?’ Rafa growled, and Ivy giggled when he scooped her into his arms and carried her across the manicured lawn to their luxury suite.

‘It’s only afternoon,’ she reminded him. He gave her a wicked smile as he laid her on the bed and pulled off his swim shorts. The sight of his burgeoning arousal evoked a flood of warmth between her legs, and she shivered in anticipation when he tugged the strings of her bikini. ‘You are insatiable, Signor Vieri.’

‘That makes two of us.’ He groaned as he bared her breasts and closed his mouth around one nipple, sucking on the tender peak until Ivy moaned with pleasure, and he transferred his mouth to her other breast. ‘Do you have any idea how much you turn me on?’ His voice was rough with desire.

‘Some idea,’ Ivy whispered as she curled her fingers around his erection. She loved this teasing side to Rafa. She loved his fierce passion and his hunger for her that made her feel as beautiful as he always told her she was.

She was falling in love with him. The thought crept into her head, and she realised that it had already put down roots in her heart. Sometimes she thought that Rafa was as surprised as she was by the intensity of their relationship. It wasn’t meant to be like this, and she did not know how she was going to survive when his passion for her waned, as it surely would. She was just ordinary Ivy Bennett, not a glamourous socialite. What did she have that would captivate a billionaire tycoon?

She pushed her doubts to the back of her mind and twined her arms around his neck to pull his mouth down onto hers. He made a muffled sound in his throat when she initiated a kiss that was wild and fierce. Ivy had a desperate need to know that this at least was real, this urgent passion that held them both in its grip.

‘Cara?’He lifted his head and stared into her eyes, frowning when he saw the shimmer of her tears.

‘I want you to make love to me now,’ she told him. ‘Please, Rafa.’

‘Oh, I will please you,cara.’ To Ivy’s surprise, he stood up and held out his hand. When she got to her feet he turned her so that she was facing the bed and he bent her forward with her hands resting on the mattress.

His mouth was hot on the back of her neck as he feathered kisses down her spine, and at the same time he curved his hands over her bottom and spread her so that he could enter her with a smooth thrust that drove the breath from her body.

She was glad of his almost savage possession. The terrifying truth was beginning to dawn on her that he was the only man she would ever love. But love had no place in their sensible marriage. She could never tell Rafa that she was emotionally invested in their relationship. Instead she sobbed her surrender, urging him to take her harder, faster.

He held her hips and drove deep, filling her and completing her, driving them both towards the stars. It couldn’t last, the crazy ride of their lives. Rafa groaned her name as he plunged into her, and the planets collided in a white-hot explosion that ripped through them and made them reborn.

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