Untouched Until Marriage (4 page)

Libby opened her mouth to argue, but thought better of it when she noticed Raul's steely expression. When
he opened the door and ushered her into the adjoining room she stalked past him, and as soon as they were out of earshot of Silvana she rounded on him.

‘I can't stop you employing a nanny, but you're wasting your money—because
I
am Gino's mother and
I
will be his full-time carer, just as I have always been.'

Raul was surprised by her fierceness. He had convinced himself that Libby had deliberately conceived Pietro's child in the hope of claiming a huge maintenance allowance, and had assumed that she would be more than happy to hand over responsibility for her baby. But during the flight to Italy he had been struck by her devotion to Gino and her obvious love for him. ‘You can't have cared for him entirely on your own in England when you had the shop to run,' he pointed out. ‘You say you are an artist, but looking after a baby can't have given you much time to paint.'

Libby shrugged. ‘I used to take him down to the shop with me. And I painted whenever Gino had a nap. But I've pretty much given up my artwork since…' She had been about to say since
Mum had Gino
, but quickly changed that to, ‘Since Gino was born.'

Raul thought of the bold, beautiful paintings he had seen at her flat. ‘That must have been hard—to give up something you love?'

Libby slipped off her coat and brushed her tangled red curls back from her face. ‘Not really. Gino comes first. I love him more than anything,' she said fiercely.

Raul compressed his lips and walked over to the window, needing to look anywhere but at Libby. Now that she had removed her coat his eyes once again seemed to have a magnetic attraction to her breasts. He was bitterly aware that his body had been in a state
of arousal ever since her soft curves had squashed up against him in the car. She was so intense; he brooded, so colourful and fizzing with energy. Had it been her energy and her fiery passion that had attracted his father to her? He pushed the thought away. He could not bear to think about her and Pietro as lovers… Not when he wanted her himself, whispered a sly little voice in his head.

Incensed by his own weakness, he swung round to face her. ‘Like it or not, there will be occasions when you will have to leave Gino with Silvana. You cannot take him to board meetings,' he pointed out when she looked mutinous.

Libby frowned. ‘I won't be going to any board meetings…will I?' she asked uncertainly.

‘As I have explained, my father has left a fifty percent share of Carducci Cosmetics to Gino. But until he is eighteen
you
have control of his share of the company, and it will be necessary for you to attend meetings with the board of directors.'

‘I see.' Libby chewed on her bottom lip, horrified at the prospect of discussing business matters with the board members of Carducci Cosmetics, who would no doubt look down their noses at her just as Raul was doing now. ‘I don't really know a lot about running a company,' she admitted.

‘That much was obvious from the precarious financial state of your shop,' Raul said scathingly. ‘Do not fear. You won't have to do anything apart from sign your name where I tell you to.'

Libby glared at him resentfully, infuriated by his implication that she had mismanaged the shop when she had worked so hard to make Nature's Way a success.
‘I suppose I'll have to leave Gino with the nanny while I attend meetings,' she conceded grudgingly. ‘At least Silvana seems pleasant—unlike your aunt.' She grimaced as she recalled Raul's aunt's haughty disdain. Her careless tongue ran away with her and she added, ‘She's a miserable old bat.'

Privately, Raul shared Libby's opinion of his aunt. But Carmina was a member of his family, his beloved mother's sister, while Libby had been his father's mistress—a cheap little gold-digger. ‘I will not tolerate you speaking about any member of my family so disrespectfully,' he snapped. ‘You are here because my father wished it, but I suggest you remember your place.'

His arrogance ignited Libby's temper like a match to dry tinder. ‘What exactly
is
my place?' she demanded, throwing back her head so that her flame-coloured curls danced around her face. ‘Your precious aunt looked at me as if I had crawled out of the gutter. And what does
puttana
mean, by the way? Maybe I'll ask Silvana to translate for me.'

Raul glared at her furiously. Never in his life had anyone challenged his authority or spoken to him in such a way as Libby had. He was tempted to grab hold of her and bring his mouth down on hers in a punishing kiss that would shut her up. His nostrils flared as he struggled to control his temper, but his eyes were as cold as chips of granite as he met her gaze. ‘It means whore,' he said grimly.

‘Oh.' Libby's temper deflated like a popped balloon and she felt sick inside. She had been under no illusion that she would be welcomed at the Villa Giulietta. Raul must have been shocked to learn that he was not his father's sole heir, and he clearly resented her, believing
as he did that she had been Pietro's mistress. He had accused her of being a gold-digger who had targeted a much older, wealthy man—but a whore! ‘That's horrible,' she muttered, tears filling her eyes.

Dio!
Libby was a brilliant actress, Raul brooded, infuriated by the pang of guilt that gripped him when he saw her lower lip tremble. She looked so hurt and so achingly vulnerable, but in his experience most women were manipulative, and he was convinced that she was no different. ‘
Zia
Carmina was my mother's sister. After Eleanora's death she remained close to my father,' he explained harshly. ‘You must understand that my aunt was deeply shocked to learn that her brother-in-law, whom she loved and respected, had had a secret mistress and a child.' He frowned. ‘You are so young.
Dio
, Pietro was old enough to have been your grandfather. It is not surprising that Carmina finds your presence here difficult when she is still grieving for my father.'

‘Grief doesn't give a person licence to be nasty,' Libby said, rounding on him. ‘I'm grieving too.' The pain of losing her mum was still raw. During the day she had to be strong for Gino, but most nights she still cried for Liz. ‘These past few months have been the worst of my life,' she told Raul thickly.

Surely Libby was faking the emotion that throbbed in her voice? She could not really be as devastated by his father's death as she appeared? Raul stared at her in frustration, not knowing what to make of her. Before he had met her he had pigeonholed her as a brash tart devoid of any scruples. But Libby was nothing like he had imagined. If she were to be believed, it seemed that she had genuinely cared for Pietro. But why had such a
beautiful young woman been attracted to a man forty years older than her if it hadn't been for his money? he asked himself angrily.

Raul tore his gaze from Libby, feeling a sudden need to get away from her. It would have been so much easier if she had been a hard-as-nails bimbo, he thought savagely. He wanted to despise her, but every time he looked at her he was consumed with a burning sexual hunger that shamed him.

He crossed the room and flipped open a briefcase sitting on the coffee table. ‘It has been a long day, and I am sure you want to settle in. Your bag has been brought up from the car and the rest of your things at the flat will be packed up and sent on in a few days.' He lifted a sheaf of documents from the case and glanced at her. ‘I need you to sign a few papers.'

‘What are they?' Libby stared warily at the pile of printed documents, her heart sinking when she realised that Raul intended to wait while she read them.

‘They relate to various decisions I have made regarding Carducci Cosmetics.' Raul flicked casually through the papers. ‘This file gives details of a merger with a Swedish skincare company that I want to proceed with as soon as possible, and this document is to authorise the transfer of funds to one of CC's subsidiary companies in the US. I simply require you to sign your name—you don't have to read them.'

Libby frowned. ‘How can I sign them when I don't know what I'm signing?

Irritation swept through Raul when she sat down, switched on the table-lamp, and picked up the first document from the pile. ‘This is pointless,' he said grittily, noting how the lamplight turned her hair to spun gold.
‘You said yourself you know nothing about running a company. I have no idea why my father stipulated that
you
should have control of Gino's shares,' he burst out, his frustration tangible. ‘When Pietro died I expected to take full control of Carducci Cosmetics, but for the past eight months CC has been in a state of limbo. I couldn't find you, and because you control fifty percent of the company I have been unable to do more than keep the company ticking over.' He took a deep breath, calming himself. ‘I'm not asking you to take a crash course in business management,' he informed Libby curtly. ‘You can save us both a lot of time if you just add your signature to the bottom of each document.'

Libby stared at him, watching how the lamplight flickered over the hard planes of his face. A hard knot of anger was slowly forming inside her at the realisation that he hadn't insisted on rushing her and Gino to Italy because he was concerned about the baby living in the damp flat in Pennmar. No, all Raul cared about was Carducci Cosmetics—which, to his obvious anger, he now had to share control of with her until Gino was eighteen.

‘I wonder why Pietro didn't give
you
control of Gino's shares?' she said slowly. ‘Maybe he didn't trust that you would look after Gino's interests properly?'

Rage coursed through Raul's veins like red-hot lava flow, obliterating every other thought but the burning need to force an apology from Libby for her outrageous statement. ‘You
dare
suggest my father did not trust me?' he snarled, hating her at that moment for echoing the doubts he had secretly harboured since he had read Pietro's will. Maybe she was right; maybe his adoptive father
hadn't
trusted him enough to award him control
of Gino's share of the company. The thought tore at his heart, and anger was the only way he could deal with the pain. His nostrils flared with the effort of containing his fury—not just with Libby, but with himself and his shameful, shocking desire for her.

She had gone too far, Libby realised when she risked a glance at Raul's face and saw that his dark eyes were as cold and hard as polished jet. But she wanted the truth. ‘Pietro must have had his reasons for stipulating that Gino's mother should control his share of Carducci Cosmetics,' she insisted. And if Pietro had had his doubts about his adopted son's trustworthiness, then so did she.

Raul jerked his head back as if she had slapped him. ‘
Dio
, someone needs to teach you to control your insolent tongue,' he growled, goaded beyond bearing.

He moved towards her with the speed of a panther homing in for the kill. Too late Libby realised that he intended the ‘someone' to be him, but he had already tangled his fingers in her hair and tugged her head back, and her startled cry was lost beneath the pressure of his mouth as he captured her lips in a savage kiss.

L
IBBY
stiffened; her body taut with rejection as Raul gripped her shoulder and dragged her against him. Shock quickly turned to outrage, and she pressed her lips tightly together and tried to turn her head away. But his strength easily outmatched hers and he tugged her hair, forcing her head back so that he could continue his sensual assault.

For the slide of his lips over hers
was
wickedly sensual, she acknowledged dazedly. It did not matter that she disliked him, or that he clearly despised her. She had fantasised about him kissing her from the moment he had strode into Nature's Way, and the reality of his hot, hungry mouth moving erotically over hers was so intoxicating that she was powerless to deny her response. His tongue probed the firm line of her lips, demanding access, until with a little gasp she opened her mouth and felt a thrill of wild excitement when he slid deep into her moist warmth and explored her with a thoroughness that made her tremble.

Each of her senses was acutely alive, and the taste of him, the scent of him—a tantalising mixture of his cologne and male pheromones—sent fire coursing through her veins. The urge to flee from him was replaced by
another instinct: to submit to his superior strength and respond to his hungry demands with a passion she had not known herself capable of. She had never felt like this before—not even with Miles, whom she'd had such a crush on. With one kiss Raul had awoken her sensuality, and now she was eager to experience everything he offered.

She had placed her palms flat on his chest in an effort to push him away, but now she slid her hands up to his shoulders, allowing him to draw her closer. She could feel every sinew and muscle of his thighs and abdomen, and heat pooled between her legs when she felt the hard ridge of his arousal nudge against her pelvis.

His free hand roamed up and down her back, slid over her shoulder and traced the fragile line of her collarbone before moving lower to cup her breast. A quiver of pleasure shot through Libby. Her breasts felt heavy, and her nipples were taut and tingling, straining against the restriction of her lacy bra. She wished he would push his hand beneath the material and stroke her naked flesh. Colour scorched her cheeks at the wantonness of her thoughts, but he was still kissing her with the mastery of a sorcerer, evoking a need in her that caused her to move her body sinuously against his in a blatant invitation.

And then, with shocking abruptness, he ended the kiss and lifted his head to stare down at her for several taut seconds before he jerked away from her, breathing hard. Libby swayed slightly, shaking with reaction and feeling bereft now that his big, hard body was no longer melded to her softer curves. ‘That should
not
have happened,' he said harshly.

His voice was laced with self-loathing, and Libby was sure she would see contempt for her in his midnight-dark
gaze. Instead his eyes glittered with a feverish hunger that stunned her with its intensity. Raul wanted her. He might hate himself, but for a few unguarded seconds he had been unable to disguise his desire for her.

He had gathered up the sheaf of documents and shoved them back in the briefcase, and was now striding across the room. If he moved any faster he would be running out of the door, she thought, staring in astonishment at the dull colour that highlighted his magnificent cheekbones. She blushed as she recalled how eagerly she had responded to him. Maybe he was afraid she was going to jump on him and drag him back? She remembered the hungry gleam she had seen in his eyes before his thick black lashes had swept down and concealed his thoughts, and it struck her that maybe he was afraid of himself.

Raul grabbed the door handle and jerked the door open with such force that it groaned on its hinges. He was furious with himself—disgusted.
Inferno!
Libby had been his father's mistress and he did not understand how he could want her. He had kissed her in anger, wanting to punish her for suggesting that Pietro had not trusted him. But the punishment had backfired, because from the moment his mouth had claimed her soft, moist lips he had been consumed with a burning need to possess her.

He halted on his way out of the door and glanced back at her, heat searing his insides when he saw that her lips were red and swollen and unutterably tempting. She was a witch, he thought broodingly. A beautiful milky-skinned, doe-eyed sorceress who had ensnared his father—but from now on he would guard himself against her magic.

‘I have a prior engagement tonight,' he said coldly, ‘and as my aunt has informed me that she is feeling unwell and will not be joining you for dinner I have arranged for your evening meal to be served to you up here in your suite.' He paused, and when she made no reply continued, ‘I have called a meeting of all Carducci Cosmetics' senior executives for midday tomorrow. We'll leave for Rome soon after breakfast as I have a number of things to attend to in the office before the meeting. Silvana will look after Gino.'

Libby bit her lip. ‘How long will we be away? I don't want to leave him for too long.'

‘I imagine the meeting will last for most of the afternoon. There are numerous urgent matters to discuss,' Raul told her with barely concealed impatience, thinking of the months that CC had stagnated while he had searched for his father's mistress. ‘We have also been invited to a business dinner in the evening.' He shrugged when Libby frowned. ‘Attending these sorts of events is a necessary part of running a company. Social networking is a vital avenue of business.'

He paused and then said smoothly, ‘Of course there
is
a way that you could devote all your time to Gino, and perhaps have time to take up your painting again.'

Libby gave him a puzzled look. ‘How?'

‘You could sign over control of Gino's shares to me.' Raul spoke savagely when Libby immediately shook her head. ‘
Dio!
I have spent most of my life preparing to take my father's place as head of CC. Pietro erred on the side of caution, but I have plans for the company that will make it a world leader in the twenty-first century.'

‘Maybe your father wished you were
more
cautious,' Libby said slowly. ‘Maybe he was worried that you would take too many risks with Carducci Cosmetics, and that's why he stipulated that Gino's mother should have control of his shares until he is an adult. I might not know much about running a company,' she admitted, ‘but I'm not stupid. I understand that high risk can mean high returns, but I'm not prepared to gamble with Gino's birthright, and I won't agree to any business ventures that I feel are too risky.'

Black rage swept through Raul. So the battle lines were drawn, he thought bitterly. The only subject he and his father had ever disagreed on was the future of Carducci Cosmetics. Pietro had been content for the company to follow a path of safe investments and carefully considered proposals, while he, Raul, had seen the potential for expansion and diversification. Admittedly they came with risks—but hadn't he proved, by amassing his own personal fortune on the stock market, that his gambles always paid off?

It was clear that his father had not trusted him. By awarding his mistress Gino's shares Pietro had found a way to control Raul from beyond the grave. The only possible solution, Raul realised, lay in the clause Pietro had added to his will stating that if Libby were to marry control of Gino's shares would pass to him. A clause that she was unaware of, because back at her flat in Pennmar she had not bothered to read the will in its entirety, pointed out a little voice in his head.

Madre di Dio!
It was such an obvious solution and it would give him what he desired most in the world—complete control of the company he had been groomed to run since he was a boy. But marry his father's mistress?
It was absolutely out of the question, he assured himself firmly. The idea was inconceivable. He had experienced the delights of holy matrimony once, Raul thought sardonically, and had no intention of repeating the worst mistake of his life.

Not even if the prize was the thing he desired most in the world? his mind taunted. Not even if it would give him full control of CC and the opportunity to bed a woman who sent his libido into orbit every time he set eyes on her?

He did not envisage any difficulties in persuading Libby to be his wife. She had been willing to have an affair with an elderly billionaire and was not likely to turn down marriage to Pietro's other heir. And of course he would instruct his lawyers to draw up a pre-nup as watertight as a submarine, so that he could divorce her when he tired of her.

He stared across the room at Libby and desire jack-knifed in his gut when he remembered how firm and yet deliciously soft her breast had felt in his hand. He wanted to rip off her clingy top, and the bra he could see outlined beneath it, and cup her naked flesh in his palms, stroke his fingers across her nipples and feel them harden. The chemistry between them was almost tangible. He knew with a primitive instinct that she would not stop him if he carried her into the bedroom and made love to her.

He was unbearably tempted, and it took all his will-power to force himself to step out of her room and close the door behind him. If he married her he could enjoy her delectable body
and
take control of CC. The idea was certainly worth serious consideration.

 

For several moments after Raul had gone Libby stood with her fingers pressed against her bruised mouth, still reeling from his kiss. How
could
she have responded to him so shamelessly? she berated herself disgustedly. His aunt had accused her of being a whore, and after her wanton behaviour Raul must surely agree with Carmina.

Sudden tears filled her eyes and she sank down onto the sofa and buried her head in her hands. For weeks Gino had woken her every few hours during the night with his cough, and she was so tired she could barely think straight. Today so much had happened in the space of a few short hours that her life seemed scarily out of her control. Raul had stormed into her life with the force of a tornado, but she had agreed to bring Gino to Italy because more than anything she wanted him to have the stability and security that had been lacking in her own childhood.

She had been unprepared for the violent sexual attraction between her and Raul. She knew she was ridiculously inexperienced for a woman of twenty-two—witnessing her mother's disastrous love-life had put her off dating and Miles had been her only serious relationship. But Miles had never made her feel the way Raul had done when he had kissed her.

She could still taste him. She traced her mouth with her fingertips and heat flooded through her when she remembered how he had ground his lips against hers and demanded a response that she had been powerless to deny. For a few seconds she indulged in the fantasy of him kissing her and caressing her, stripping her clothes from her body and pulling her down onto a bed…

Her eyes flew wide-open. That was never going to happen. She could never allow the fantasy to become reality, because Raul believed she was Gino's mother and she could not risk him discovering that she was a virgin. From now on she must ignore the sexual chemistry between them and hope that in the vastness of the Villa Giulietta their paths would not cross very often.

She glanced around the elegant sitting room which, like the bedroom beyond it, was decorated in muted shades and simply begged for splashes of colour to make it feel more homely. The prospect of eating dinner here alone was not inviting, but it was preferable to dining with Raul's unpleasant aunt.

She wondered where Raul would be spending the evening. With his mistress, perhaps? With his stunning looks and potent virility it was likely that he had numerous lovers. But his personal life was none of her business, she reminded herself, irritated because she could not get the image of him making love to some gorgeous woman out of her mind. Forget about Raul Carducci, she told herself. The only person who mattered to her was Gino who was asleep in his airy,
dry
nursery. She had done the right thing by bringing him to live in this beautiful house, and with her mind settled she went to check on him.

 

The following morning Raul's Lamborghini sped along the roads so fast that the fields and olive groves flashed past in a blur. Libby lifted her eyes from his tanned hands on the steering wheel to his hard profile, and sighed. He had not spoken to her since she had emerged
from her bedroom dressed for their trip to Rome, but his silence as he had studied her appearance had thrummed with disapproval.

She did not know what he had expected her to wear, she thought irritably. She didn't own designer suits, or anything remotely suitable for a business meeting. Okay, so her denim mini-skirt was short, but it was perfectly respectable when she was wearing cropped leggings beneath it. Her cerise and purple top was admittedly pretty eye-catching, but the pink matched the colour of her flip-flops, and in an effort to look more elegant she had piled her hair on top of her head and tied the knot with a purple scarf.

But in comparison to Raul's superbly tailored charcoal-grey suit, navy blue silk shirt and grey tie she probably looked a mess, Libby conceded. He looked every inch a suave, billionaire businessman, and he was so drop-dead sexy her stomach lurched every time he changed gear and his hand brushed against her thigh.

Desperate to do something to break her intense awareness of him, she rooted around in her denim haversack for the tube of mint sweets she usually carried with her, and eventually unearthed an old packet of chewing gum. ‘Would you like some?' She offered the packet to Raul. ‘You chew
gum
?'

His expression of distaste was almost comical, but Libby flushed, acutely aware of the gaping chasm that separated their two worlds. Presumably the glamorous women he socialised with did not chew gum.

‘It's not like I take heroin,' she muttered, stuffing the packet back in her bag. ‘It's just sugar-free gum.' She shook her head disgustedly. ‘Do you ever lighten up?'