CHAPTER EIGHT

      SADIE STOOD AND looked at the view of the blue ocean lapping idyllically onto the white sand. The long and tedious flight with a fractious Leo now seemed nothing more than a bad dream. Even Antonio’s insistence that she take advantage of the nanny he’d hired for Leo now seemed like a good idea. She’d had breakfast with Leo this morning and he had really taken to the soft-natured local girl, leaving her free to spend time by herself. A luxury she hadn’t known since becoming a single parent unless Leo had been with her mother.

      But she wasn’t a single parent any longer. She was married to Leo’s father. A fact she still found impossible to completely believe, but more especially that he intended to be in his son’s life every day. How was she ever going to hide the way she felt for him, the way just one desire-laden look could melt her inside and make her want to be in his arms?

      ‘Buon giorno, mia bella.’ Antonio’s voice rocked her from her thoughts and she turned, looking back into the villa. The image he created as he strode across the lavish living area, dressed in casual clothes, took her breath away. The white chinos hugged his long legs and the designer T-shirt emphasised his muscled body to perfection. She wanted to look away but couldn’t help a moment of indulgence. He was her husband.

      ‘This is a beautiful place.’ Her voice, barely more than a whisper, trembled and she hated that it gave away the frantic lurch in her emotions the moment he’d spoken.

      ‘You and Leo will be safe here,’ he responded, command ringing in every word.

      He walked towards her and she couldn’t move, couldn’t step away from him or even break eye contact, her dilemma of moments ago still prominent. He moved closer, the darkness of his eyes holding hers, captivating her in a way only he had ever done.

      The need to fight the attraction reared up like a stallion protecting his herd. She couldn’t fall for this man again. She just couldn’t go through all that heartache once more. Then what he’d just said registered in her desire-clouded mind.

      ‘When are you leaving?’ Hurt speared into each word despite the fact she wanted to sound unconcerned and unaffected by the knowledge they were now surplus to requirements.

      He frowned. ‘Why would I leave?’

      ‘I just thought...’ She stumbled over her words, the perplexity of his expression too much.

      ‘That I would leave you and Leo here—alone?’

      Her usual spirit resurfaced. ‘Why wouldn’t you? It’s not a real marriage, after all.’

      He looked at her, his eyes searching her face as if seeking answers. But to what? Then, to her surprise, he took her hands in his, the warmth of his skin against hers so intense she dragged in a ragged breath.

      ‘In what way is it not real?’

      His gaze held hers intently as his thumb caressed the back of her left hand, then he raised it between them, the diamond of her engagement ring sparkling and the band of gold next to it suddenly feeling heavy on her finger.

      She swallowed down the need to tell him that it meant nothing, but with the dangerous darkness of desire lurking in the depths of his eyes she didn’t trust herself to speak. Behind her she could hear the ocean lapping gently at the white sand and the warm breeze playing with the palm trees fringing the beach and surrounding the villa, giving it total seclusion.

      ‘You are my wife, Sadie, and that is very real and I intend our marriage to be as real as this ring.’ He raised her hand a little further, but still she couldn’t break the eye contact. It was as if he were hypnotising her.

      ‘We married because of Leo and because you gave me no other choice. Nothing more.’ She dragged her hand from his and turned away from him, moving outside, her feet sinking in the softness of the sand.

      ‘I want to be a proper father to my son.’ He joined her on the sand, the romantic view as she looked out to the blue horizon in complete contrast to the discussion she was having.

      She wanted to turn to him, to tell him that she wanted so much more than that for Leo. She wanted him to see how people laughed and loved. She wanted him to see what she could now never hope for—a loving relationship.

      ‘I also want to be a proper husband. I want the kind of normal life I glimpsed at the garage in those two weeks.’

      * * *

      Sadie turned to look at him, her eyes full of caution, her delicate brow furrowed into a frown. The wind played teasingly with her hair, blowing it across her face, which was almost bare of make-up except for mascara and lip gloss. She looked beautiful. Beautiful and vulnerable.

      The bikini top she wore with white shorts made looking at the view beyond their open-to-the-beach villa impossible. His eyes traced the fullness of her breasts and her slender waist, partly concealed by the shorts, but, as his gaze drank her in, Antonio could sense her mistrust. Had he hurt her that much?

      Her glossed lips parted and he fought the urge to pull her to him and kiss her in a way that would make the marriage real. Very real. As desire crashed over him like a stormy sea seeking to claim the sand of the beach she turned from him and laughed.

      Her light laughter reminded him of champagne and surprised him so much he couldn’t say anything. All he could do was watch her as she brought her fingers to her lips and tried to control the laughter.

      ‘You could never live a normal life, Antonio.’ Her voice was light and playful, the heady attraction which had been escalating between them since arriving on this paradise island defused by her very real amusement. ‘The house you grew up in made me realise...’

      She paused, holding back her words and refocusing her attention on the blue water of the ocean. He waited, but she said nothing more, the lightness of moments ago lost.

      ‘Realise what, Sadie?’ he demanded, annoyed at the loss of fun from their discussion.

      She turned to look up at him, her green eyes swimming with not only desire but emotions he didn’t want to encounter, emotions he just couldn’t have in his life. Not when they weakened him and left him exposed. He couldn’t allow himself to be swayed by anything other than desire for the woman he’d made his wife. Only passion and desire had a place in his life.

      ‘I realised that we were so far apart in life—even before that was made very clear to me by your parents.’ Sadie’s voice dragged him back and he knew that, whatever had happened, he and Sadie had to move forward for Leo’s sake—together.

      He was determined to bring Sadie emotionally closer to him, just as they had been during those few days when his son had been conceived. ‘Leo is my heir and that house and everything which goes with the Di Marcello name will one day be his. My parents need to accept that as much as you do.’

      ‘I will do anything for Leo. I already have—marrying you.’ The spark of fire and indignation in her voice was clear. He was losing that closeness, that powerful awareness of each other. It drew them together in a way nothing else could.

      He took her hand again in his, feeling the band of gold on her finger that now joined them in a way he’d never wanted to be joined with a woman again. Not after the disaster of his first marriage. But at least he knew he and Sadie could be truly man and wife, if only she’d let him past the wall she’d erected around herself.

      She didn’t pull away and he looked into the softness of her eyes and saw the confusion in them. He reached up and brushed her hair back from her face, his fingers touching her skin, sending a jolt of awareness through him. Her lashes lowered slowly, as if she wanted to give in to the sensation of his touch and close her eyes but was fighting it. As her eyes closed he lowered his lips to hers, lightly teasing the plumpness, tasting the lip gloss which made them look so kissable.

      A