Deserving of His Diamonds (11 page)

nothing but sleep most days as well as the nights. She had slid into an abyss

of depression that had made every little task an impossible feat. Having a

shower hurt her skin. Brushing her hair felt like torture. Getting dressed in

street clothes made her muscles ache. Walking to the front door had seemed

like a marathon. Getting through each day felt like a lifetime. The warm,

secure nest of her bed had been a reprieve from a life she didn‘t think she

could live without him in it. And then she had discovered she was pregnant.

The news had pulled her out of her depression. She had started to look

forward to life again with hope and a tentative happiness that had all too

soon been torn away from her. Was Emilio to blame that Lily had died? For

a while she had felt as if he was, but over time she had come to realise no

one was to blame. It was just one of those things, or so the doctors had

said—a genetic abnormality, a mistake of nature. ‗No …‘ Gisele said in a

voice so soft it was more of a whisper. ‗No, it‘s not because of you.‘ It was

the sound of Lily crying that haunted her sleepless nights. The only way to

escape the torture of hearing that tiny mewling cry was to numb herself to

sleep. Not that it always worked. Emilio looked deeply into her eyes as if he

wanted to see into the very heart of her. His eyes were pitch-black, still

etched with concern as he cupped her face. ‗Is it because of the business?

Your father‘s death? Finding out about Sienna?‘ Gisele put her hand on his

to peel it off her face and stepped backwards, wrapping her arms about her

body. Should she tell him about Lily? She could feel guilt nipping at the

heels of her conscience. Didn‘t he have the right to know he had been a

father, even for such a short time? She would have to tell him one day. What

if he somehow found out by some other means? The thought was terrifying.

Wouldn‘t it be better to hear it from her rather than someone else? But how

could she drop that sort of bombshell into the conversation? Her chance to

tell him had been right at the start. She couldn‘t talk about it now. Not like

this, with no preparation. ‗I … I‘ve just been under a lot of stress,‘ she said.

‗It‘s no one thing but everything, I guess.‘ ‗You should wean yourself off

them,‘ he said, still frowning. ‗I don‘t like the thought of you drugging

yourself to sleep. You never used to have any problem sleeping.‘ She gave

him a wry look before she could stop herself. ‗As I recall, we didn‘t always

do a lot of sleeping.‘ The words seemed to hang in the air for a moment, the

erotic images they conjured up gathering around like ghosts from the past.

Gisele saw the flare of heat in Emilio‘s eyes as he took in her scantily clad

body. She had slipped off her wrap just before he had come in and her

creamy satin nightgown left very little to the imagination. She felt the tight

buds of her nipples pressing against the soft fabric and knew he could see

them too. Her belly gave an excited flutter as his eyes skimmed her lower

body, the heat in her core liquefying as if he had touched her there. His body

responded to her as if she had stroked her fingers along his length. She saw

him swell and rise, the sheer power and potency of him taking her breath

away. ‗No, we didn‘t, did we?‘ Emilio asked with a smouldering look as his

eyes slowly came back to mesh with hers. Gisele drew in a quick breath, her

chest feeling prickly and tight. The heat from his body radiated out and

touched her like a caress. Her skin felt tingly and supersensitive, as if all the nerves had repositioned themselves on the outside of her body. ‗Don‘t do

this, Emilio,‘ she said in a hoarse whisper. ‗Don‘t do what, cara?‘ he asked

as he shrank the gap between their bodies by taking half a step. ‗This?‘ He

touched his lips to the skin of her neck just below her ear, not a kiss, not a

bite, but something sinfully and sexily in between. She shivered as his

tongue grazed her skin as he moved down to the fragile scaffold of her

collarbone. ‗Or this?‘ he asked as his breath moved over her like a sultry

summer breeze. Gisele‘s lower body ached to move forwards to find his. It

was like a magnetic field she had inadvertently stepped inside. It was pulling

her inexorably towards him. She could sense him there, thick and hard,

pulsing with the same longing that was making her heart race and her

breathing become shallow and uneven. His feet touched hers, a sexy bump

of toes that sent a shockwave of forbidden pleasure right through her body.

She felt him then against her belly, the blunt head of him as scorching as a

naked flame against her skin. He worked his way back up towards her

mouth, slowly, each brush of his lips setting her skin alight. ‗This is what

used to keep us both awake, remember?‘ he said just

above her quivering mouth. Gisele moistened her dry lips, her heart

hammering as he slipped a hand beneath the curtain of her hair. The

sensations shimmering down her spine made her dizzy with need. She

remembered it all. It had never left her. How he made her feel. How he

could set her aflame with just a look.

How much she still wanted him.

Time stood still for a heart-stopping pause. She prepared herself for the press

of his mouth; her eyelashes came down, her lips were softly parted, her

breath had stilled … But Emilio suddenly broke the spell by stepping

backwards and moving to where he had dropped his bathrobe. Gisele

blinked a couple of times in bewilderment as she watched him shrug himself

into it and tie the cord around his waist, seemingly untouched by what had

just transpired between them. How could he leave her like this? Was he

doing it deliberately to prove how little he needed her? That she was just

another woman he could have sex with if he could be bothered? He was the

only person she wanted to be intimate with. She couldn‘t imagine wanting

anyone else the way she wanted him. Her body felt as if it belonged to him.

It had belonged to him for more than two years. ‗I‘ll give you the rest of the

week to settle in,‘ he said. ‗I‘ll make up some excuse for Marietta for why

we‘re not sharing a room.‘ ‗And after that?‘ she asked.

His eyes pulsated as they locked with hers. ‗I think you know what happens

after that,‘ he said in a gravel-rough, oh-so-sexy tone. Gisele felt her belly

do another crazy little tumble turn but she hid behind her increasingly fragile

armour of pride and haughtiness. ‗You think two million dollars is going to

be enough to make me enjoy being back in your bed?‘ she asked. His mouth

curled up at the corners in a confident smile as he opened the door to leave.

‗I‘ll make sure of it,‘ he said and, with a soft click of the lock falling in

place, he was gone. Gisele spent the night in a fitful state of tossing and

turning. Emilio‘s promise had made her so edgy and agitated she hadn‘t had

a hope of sleeping a wink in spite of her pills. Her body had been so uptight

with longing she had felt like a tightly coiled spring. She hadn‘t been able to

rid her mind of his aroused naked body so close to hers, touching hers. How

dared he entice her like that with his mouth and hands, only to step back

from her as if she was nothing to him? It made her so angry she had been so

close to giving herself to him. It made her absolutely furious to think he

knew how weak she still was. He was playing with her, toying with her like

an angler with a fish on his line. He was biding his time before he reeled her

right in.

She would show him.

She deliberately lingered in her room, taking an extralong shower, dawdling

over her hair and light make-up, determined to keep her distance for as long

as she could, hoping he would have long ago eaten breakfast and headed off

to work.

She walked down the stairs with an assured smile hovering about her mouth.

She would show him how little she needed him. She would keep herself

busy all day, sending him the clear message she wasn‘t waiting around for

him to crook his finger and summon her back to his bed. Marietta was on her

way out to the terrace with a tray of fresh rolls and fruit. ‗Signor Andreoni is

waiting for you,‘ she said. ‗You like tea, sì?‘

‗Grazie,‘ Gisele said, forcing a smile. It looked as if she

wasn‘t going to be able to escape Emilio‘s disturbing presence after all. It

was almost eleven in the morning. He was not one to linger about the villa.

He had never taken a day off in the past. He had even worked most

weekends, leaving her for long periods on her own. He was sipping a cup of

coffee when Gisele stepped out onto the sun-drenched terrace. He looked

fabulously rested, his skin glowing from good health and his eyes clear. He

was dressed in black trousers and a white business shirt but it was rolled

back over his tanned forearms in a casual manner, making him look even

more arrestingly handsome. He put down his cup and rose to his feet, pulling

out a chair for her. ‗Cara, you look like you had a rough night,‘ he said.

‗Your little pills not working, hmm?‘ She gave him a gimlet glare as she

plonked herself down on the chair. ‗Why aren‘t you at work?‘ she asked. ‗I

took the day off to spend it with you,‘ he said. ‗That‘s what a newly

reconciled couple would do, is it not?‘ ‗You shouldn‘t have bothered,‘

Gisele said crossly, flicking her napkin across her lap. ‗I don‘t feel like being around you or anyone.‘

‗Too bad,‘ he said, picking up his coffee cup again. ‗We will be expected to

be seen out and about together.‘ He took a sip of his coffee, looked at the

contents frowningly for a moment before looking at her again. ‗I have a

business function to attend this evening. I thought we could go shopping for

you to find something suitable to wear.‘ ‗I can go shopping by myself,‘ she

said, shooting him a look across the table. ‗I don‘t need you to carry my

bags.‘ Emilio placed his cup back down on its saucer with unnerving

precision. ‗Gisele,‘ he addressed her sternly, ‗you are walking a very fine

line. I am trying to be patient with you but there is only so much leeway I‘m

prepared to give.‘ Gisele saw the steely determination in his dark eyes and

had to look away. ‗What did you tell Marietta about me sleeping in the other

room?‘ she asked to fill the heavy silence. ‗I told her you have a snoring

problem.‘ Her eyes flew back to his. ‗You what?‘ He gave a little shrug as

he brought his cup towards his mouth. ‗It‘s OK, cara,‘ he said. ‗Lots of

people snore.‘ ‗I don‘t!‘ she said, bristling with outrage. ‗Why didn‘t you tell

her it was you with the problem?‘ ‗Because I‘m not the one with cold feet

about sharing a bed, that‘s why,‘ he said smoothly. Gisele scowled as she

took a roll and tore it into little pieces. ‗You could‘ve thought of something a

little less demeaning,‘ she said. ‗Snoring sounds so … so unsexy.‘

‗Are you going to eat any of that roll or just play with it?‘ Emilio asked. She

pushed the plate with the decimated roll to one side. ‗I‘m not hungry.‘ He

challenged her with his narrowed coal-black gaze. ‗Are you doing this

deliberately to annoy me?‘ he asked. ‗Because, if so, it‘s working.‘ Gisele

felt a little frisson race down her spine. She liked the sense of power it gave

her to get under his skin. He was still in control but she could see the leash

on it was straining. There was a muscle pulsing at the corner of his flattened

mouth and his eyes had hardened to chips of black ice. The air between them

seemed to crackle like electricity along a wire. ‗You are not leaving this

table until you‘ve had something to eat,‘ he ground out. ‗Do you hear me?‘

She glared back at him. ‗If you want me to eat, then why don‘t you stop

deliberately upsetting me?‘ The sound of Marietta‘s footsteps sounding on

the flagstones broke the tense moment. Emilio sat back and visibly forced

himself to relax and Gisele did the same. She sensed the housekeeper‘s

intrigue and wondered how much she had overheard of their heated

exchange. How well did Emilio know this new housekeeper? Concetta had

been the soul of discretion. Was that why Emilio was so determined that

Gisele should occupy his room? Journalists on the hunt for a story paid well

for leaks and for photo opportunities. Marietta could exploit the situation if

she sensed a lack of harmony between them, and clearly Emilio was fully

aware of it. ‗Here is your tea, signorina,‘ Marietta said as she placed a teapot

beside Gisele, her gaze watchful. ‗Grazie, Marietta,‘ Gisele said, trying to

smile but not quite managing to pull it off. ‗Is everything all right?‘ Marietta

asked, hovering about the table. ‗Everything is fine,‘ Emilio said firmly.

Once the housekeeper had left he raked a hand through his hair. ‗I don‘t

mean to upset you, Gisele,‘ he said. ‗This is a difficult time for both of us.

There are adjustments and compromises to be made. I want this to work. I

really do.‘ ‗Why?‘ she asked. He frowned as if she was suddenly speaking a

different language, one he couldn‘t understand. ‗Because what we had was

good,‘ he said. ‗You can‘t deny that.‘ ‗I do deny it,‘ Gisele said. ‗What was

good about me having to sign a prenuptial agreement? Where was the trust