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‘That was generous of you,’ Raffaele remarked in surprise as the nurse accompanying Aldo wheeled the elderly man away again.

‘As you reminded me,’ Maya murmured stiffly, ‘I picked this option.’

‘We will both adapt to this, tousas a couple,’ Raffaele pronounced with assurance. ‘That you want me as much as I want you gives us a solid foundation.’

‘Your idea of a foundation and mine are as far apart as the polar ice caps,’ Maya fielded tightly, wishing that she could deny what he said but remembering that kiss with an inner shudder, that kiss that had taught her that she was utterly naïve when it came to sensual temptation. But what was the point in beating herself up about it when she should be grateful for that attraction with a wedding night lying ahead of them?

Her stomach began churning again and the first thing she did when they arrived back at the house, where a reception was being staged, was reach for a glass of champagne being proffered by a uniformed waiter.

Why was she so nervous about sex? Was it only that she didn’t love Raffaele? Was it that she knew the first time might very likely hurt to some degree? Or was it simply that Raffaele wasalreadymaking her feel far more than she was comfortable feeling for him? Her emotions were getting involved: he fascinated her.

The truth of that admission slivered through her like a threat because his attraction for her wasn’t solely physical. No, the source of that deeper attraction lay in the seeming conflicts she sensed within him. On the surface, Raffaele was cool, logical and ruthless but deep down, where it didn’t show to the outside world, Raffaele was actually intense and volatile and highly intelligent, capable of being unexpectedly sensitive to her wants and needs.

That was the man who had searched out her dream wedding gown and who had invited her long-lost Italian grandparents to attend their wedding to foster a family reunion for her benefit. There had also been the jewellery he had given her to replace items he had admitted would only resurrect bad memories for him. All those actions were very personal and specific and the very opposite of what she had expected from him.

‘I thought you didn’t touch alcohol,’ Raffaele commented.

‘A wedding should be an exception to any rule like that,’ Maya fibbed, determined not to admit that she was so feeble that the alcohol was easing her nervous tension and relaxing her. Dutch courage, she had heard it called—well, today she needed it, lest somewhere in her mind she found that dangerous sexual attraction combining with deeper feelings of a more personalised nature. No, she wasn’t foolish enough to make that mistake with the bridegroom.

She had noticed the effect Raffaele had on women, even in the church. Eyes trailing acquisitively over him and lingering before looking enviously at her, a feminine hunger that she recognised now that she had experienced it for herself. But Raffaele wasn’t hers and never would be. He wanted the right to buy a giant technology company and she, as well as the child she might conceive, were the price. And that wasallhe wanted. Maya wasn’t going to be the idiot who forgot that salient fact for a second.

In the aftermath of the luxury buffet, Raffaele swept her out onto the dance floor and she thought once again about how shockingly fast her life had changed. She had married a man who owned a home large enough to provide a fancy pillared party room with a dance floor. How weird was that?

His hand splayed across her hip as he steered her round the floor and she could feel him, lean and powerful, fingers lifting to her spine to feather against bare skin that had never felt more naked. It was a revelation that that little keyhole of unadorned skin above her waist could be that sensitive and she shivered, still fighting that response to a man she barely knew.

Raffaele tensed as once again his bride moved out of contact. It was as if she didn’t want him when he knew she did. That desire was there in her eyes whenever she looked at him. Why did she then back away? His hand lifted from her shoulder and his fingers splayed to lace into the wondrous fall of her pale fair hair, tipping her head back, lifting her face to his. He collided with distrustful green eyes fresh as ferns and before he had even thought about it he was crushing that ripe pink mouth under his, plundering it with raw fervour.

Maya reacted to the burn of his sensual mouth on hers, setting her on fire in places she didn’t want to think about but, even so, she was achingly aware of the tautness of her nipples and the yawning ache between her slender thighs. Closing him out didn’t work—he burned through her defences like a blowtorch, she conceded grudgingly. Embrace that, her brain urged her;fightit, her instincts protested.

‘I want a drink,’ she told him, angling her head back, stepping away.

‘You’re driving me crazy. Is that the point?’ Raffaele pressed with a ragged edge to his dark deep accented drawl, dark caramel eyes shimmering like gold lighting the shadows.

Maya was feeling dizzy, hazy.

Raffaele stared down at her dilated pupils and murmured, ‘I think a drink is the last thing you need. Time for us to leave.’

‘Leave?’she exclaimed in astonishment.

‘We’re leaving on my yacht,Manzini One.’

Manzini One?Self-important, much? Her tummy shimmied at the prospect of the sea and she breathed in deep and slow. ‘I feel dizzy.’

‘Of course, you do. You’re drunk,’ Raffaele pronounced, suddenly cool and judgemental in tone.

‘I’mnot!’ Maya protested fiercely.

And she was still arguing the toss all the way through the polite goodbyes to their guests and into the helicopter, when silence fell because it demanded too much effort to talk over the noise of the rotor blades and, besides, she was beginning to feel a little bit queasy.

Unasked, Raffaele scooped her out of the helicopter and carried her down a wooden dock in silence.

‘What are you doing?’ she demanded sharply.

‘What I have to do,’ Raffaele parried grimly.

Maya groaned. ‘I didn’t intend to drink so much.’

‘It’s our wedding night,’ Raffaele reminded her unnecessarily. ‘This is not a good start. But when you said you didn’t drink, was that a warning that youshouldn’tdrink?’

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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