Mediterranean Tycoons: Tempting & Taken. Jacqueline Baird
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Gianfranco was not the sort of man to do anything without a reason, and she could think of no valid reason for his being here. He had made his opinion of unwanted pregnancy abundantly clear the one time they had made love. In her secret dreams she had sometimes thought of him turning up on her doorstep and declaring his undying love. But harsh reality told her he was much more likely to take one look at her, perhaps give her a cheque and definitely run.
‘I was at a New Year’s Eve party in Rome. Judy Bertoni was there and naturally I asked after you. She took great delight in telling me you had succumbed to the charms of some local man in Desenzano and that you are pregnant,’ he told her simply. He saw no need to elaborate on the bare facts.
‘You didn’t tell her it was you?’ Kelly asked hastily. The fewer people who knew what an idiot she had been the better, was her reasoning.
One dark brow arched sardonically. ‘I am not a complete fool, Kelly, I knew I had to check with you first. But it took all my considerable will-power not to ask her for your address,’ Gianfranco said with a grim smile. ‘Instead I hired a private detective to discover where you lived.’ He gave a very Latin shrug of his shoulders. ‘And here I am.’ He squeezed her hand in his.
Kelly’s blue eyes involuntarily followed the movement of his broad shoulders, and swallowed hard. He really was a magnificent male animal, and very much here… Not for her, she tried to tell herself, but her raging hormones thought otherwise.
‘You tracked me down?’ She latched on to the detective bit, amazed at the nerve of the man. ‘Do you do that with all your dates?’ she demanded curtly, not sure she liked the idea but helplessly flustered by the sensual warmth of his hand holding hers. Was it only she who felt the electric tension in the air? she wondered, chewing nervously on her bottom lip. Though, on second thoughts, she couldn’t help feeling flattered that he had hired a detective to find her, but she was also wary—she didn’t trust him an inch.
‘So why are you here?’ she demanded bravely, tilting her head to look up at him, and the gleam of triumph in his dark eyes sent a shiver down her spine. Suddenly she had a horrible suspicion she knew the answer to her own question, and she immediately voiced her fear. ‘If you think I am going to have an abortion, forget it!’ she declared, her blue eyes flashing flames. ‘This is my child, my responsibility, and you can get lost.’
‘Dio! Jumping to conclusions as usual.’ Gianfranco leapt to his feet and stormed across the small living room. Tearing off his topcoat, he flung it on a chair and flipped open his jacket; he was boiling with rage. He had been ever since, after months of fighting his desire for Kelly, he had succumbed to the temptation to seek out Judy Bertoni and ask after her. With relish Judy had told him Kelly was pregnant by some local Italian youth. Of course, he had known immediately he was the father, and when he had got over the initial shock he had been furious that Kelly had not told him herself.
‘How dare you say that to me?’ he demanded arrogantly. She saw the naked anger flare in his eyes, and something more she did not recognise. ‘To suggest I would wish to kill my own child? What kind of monster do you take me for? What did I ever do to you to give you such a low opinion of me?’
‘Pretend to be someone else,’ Kelly slipped in snidely.
He stilled in the middle of the floor, his broad shoulders tensing, and said, ‘So I am to pay for that one silly mistake for the rest of my life. Is that why you never saw fit to inform me you were having my child?’ he asked hardly, his hooded eyes half-closed, masking his expression. ‘Is that why you never turned up for our date on the Friday evening?’ With each question he moved a step closer. ‘Is that why you now accuse me of wanting to murder my child?’ Gianfranco asked bitterly, his dark eyes flaring with contempt. ‘Pay-back time on your part? My God, I thought better of you than that, Kelly.’
‘You actually kept our date?’ She was staggered by his revelation, her brief burst of anger draining away as she accepted the thought; it pleased her enormously, and restored some of her battered pride. She had spent the last few months in abject misery because of this man. At the lowest point, when her pregnancy had been confirmed, she had been tempted to call him, but she only had to recall his horror the one time they had made love and he’d discovered she was not protected to know it would be a waste of time. But he was obviously not the complete bastard she had thought him.
Gianfranco focused on her seated figure with a blistering fury that seemed to increase with each word he spoke. ‘Kept it? I waited all night and drank myself into oblivion. And where were you? Marta the housekeeper told me the next day. Back home in England after refusing a free holiday. That’s how much you cared.’
As the meaning of his outburst hit her Kelly could only stare at him open-mouthed. He actually had cared about her. The notion was as startling as it was seductive.
‘Nothing to say? I am not surprised,’ Gianfranco drawled with savage derision. ‘You used me, got yourself pregnant and came scurrying back to England without the least intention of ever telling me.’
‘No. It wasn’t like that,’ Kelly burst out impulsively. ‘I was going to meet you on the Friday, but…’ She trailed off, nervously moistening her dry lips with the tip of her tongue.
Gianfranco’s black brows arched in surprise. The Kelly he remembered had been bluntly honest, to the point of indiscretion. He drew a steadying breath, banking down his anger, and his eyes narrowing on her lovely face, he took a step towards her. ‘But what, Kelly…?’ he prompted silkily, and in another stride he had crossed the space dividing them and settled on the sofa next to her. He reached out and caught her by the shoulders, gently urged her back against the soft cushions. ‘Tell me…’ Anger would get him nowhere with Kelly, she had too much spirit, but a little judicious questioning should do the trick.
Gianfranco’s brilliant eyes clashed with hers and her breath caught in her throat, his proximity doing unimaginable things to her nervous system. ‘I…I…’ Kelly stammered to a halt, embarrassed by what she had almost revealed.
‘Go on,’ he encouraged, his dark eyes burning into hers with mesmerising effect.
Why not tell him? She was no good at dissembling anyway. ‘On the Wednesday I saw a picture of you and your latest girlfriend—a very beautiful redhead—taken two nights before in New York, in the newspaper,’ she confessed bluntly. ‘There did not seem much point after that.’
Her response stunned him. He drew back slightly, and looked down at her with incredulous eyes for a long moment. ‘You were jealous…’ he declared, and for the first time in months his firm lips parted over gleaming white teeth in a broad self-satisfied smile.
‘I was not,’ she denied adamantly, but the scarlet blush that enveloped her face told its own story.
Gianfranco’s hand slipped from her shoulder to encircle her waist and pull her towards him, his night-dark eyes never leaving hers for a second. ‘No matter,’ he murmured in a low-pitched undertone, and covered her lips with his own in a long, slow, sensual kiss that drove every sensible thought from Kelly’s mind, and ignited the familiar electrifying sensations in every part of her body.
Dazed and breathless when he finally lifted his head, she could only stare at him in bemusement. ‘Why did you do that?’ she murmured.
Gianfranco eased her back against the cushions, lifted a large hand, and rested the tip of a finger against the pulse beating madly in her throat. ‘To prove you still want me,’ he drawled huskily. ‘An essential prerequisite in a wife.’ Cupping her chin, he added, ‘And we are going to be married, Kelly.’
On seeking out Kelly, Gianfranco had told himself he simply wanted to check up on her and make sure she was financially provided for. He was as surprised as Kelly looked to hear the offer of marriage come out of his mouth. But the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. His mother would be delighted—she was always nagging him to marry, and produce an heir. With Kelly already pregnant there could be no doubt of the girl’s fertility, unlike poor Olivia. Yes, it was the right decision.
Kelly