JACQUELINE BAIRD - Mediterranean Tycoons - Tempting & Taken - The Italian's Runaway Bride / His Inherited Bride / Pregnancy of Revenge

‘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 stared at him blankly, unable to believe her ears, and, leaning over her, his breath fanning her cheek, he slipped a hand under her legs and suddenly she was stretched out on the sofa.

‘Wait.’ She tried to object, but the word ‘marriage’ had shocked her rigid.

Gianfranco lifted his head, a wide, confident smile parting his lips. ‘We have both waited long enough, Kelly.’ And then he kissed her again.

She wanted to resist, and she did try—she lifted her hands to his chest to push him away, but feeling the firm beat of his heart beneath her fingertips had the opposite effect, and of their own volition her hands snaked up to clasp around his neck. Her lips parted, her tongue duelling with his instinctively in a desperate hunger of passion too long denied.

His hand slipped under her sweater to curve over the full mound of her breast, and she quivered, heat surging through her veins. Pressed against the awesome male body, she forgot everything but the feel, the scent of him. She ached for him.

Gianfranco groaned, raised his head, and with one deft movement pushed her jumper up so her lush, unfettered breasts were open to his gaze. ‘Dio, I love your breasts.’ Black eyes glittering, he ran an exploring finger over the pouting rosy tips, and her whole body arched in shivering delight. His dark head lowered and his mouth closed over a rigid peak.

‘Gianfranco.’ Kelly moaned his name in a pleasure that was almost pain.

His head jerked up, eyes clashing with hers. ‘Did I hurt you? The baby, is it safe?’

THE baby! It was like a douche of cold water on her over-heated flesh. Struggling to sit up, she pushed at his mighty chest. ‘Get off me.’

Gianfranco reared back and, lifting her into a sitting position, smoothed her sweater down over her breasts. ‘I promised myself I would not jump on you, Kelly, but I only have to look at you to want you,’ he said huskily. ‘Even with this glorious bump.’ One large hand spread out over her stomach, and right at that moment the baby kicked. ‘It moved,’ he declared, his dark eyes fixed on her stomach in rapt fascination. ‘I can’t wait till we are married and I can look after you both properly.’ He lifted his head. ‘I didn’t hurt you or the baby?’ His gleaming eyes sought hers for reassurance.

‘No, no, you didn’t,’ Kelly said stiltedly. She could not lie to him, but neither was she going to let him walk all over her. It was the sheer conceit of the man that angered Kelly. She hadn’t seen him for almost five months, and he strolled back into her life and offered marriage as if he was doing her a favour. ‘As for marriage—that will not be necessary,’ she told him bluntly.

He did not want her; it was only the child he was interested in. And, getting to her feet, she glanced down at where he sat, the look of puzzled outrage in his dark eyes enough to make her want to laugh. ‘I can do without your noble gesture—I am perfectly capable of looking after my own child,’ she said sweetly. ‘Now, would you like a coffee before you leave?’ she offered.

Before she could move, Gianfranco leapt to his feet, his hands grasping her shoulders.

‘What the hell are you talking about, Kelly? Noble? I am not noble—I haven’t a noble bone in my body.’

‘I thought all “counts” were noblemen, or supposed to be,’ she prompted mockingly.

He paused, his hard mouth curving in a bitter, cynical smile. ‘So that is what is bothering you—the fact I have a title. I should have guessed you would be the opposite of most women of my acquaintance, who love the idea.’ His hands tightened on her shoulders, his brown eyes clashing with her blue ones, and her heart gave a curious lurch at the glittering intensity of his gaze.

‘I never wanted nor ever expected to have a title—that was my brother’s birthright. But three years ago he was killed in a yachting accident and the title was thrust upon me. Do you really think I enjoyed giving up my freewheeling lifestyle working in the financial markets of the world to take on the burden of the family estates as well, to have to work twice as hard with twice as much responsibility?’ he spelt out grimly. ‘The day I met you was the first time in three years I had taken a weekend off, and the first time I had been back to Desenzano since my brother’s death.’

‘Why are you telling me all this now?’ she asked, intensely aware of his hard male body towering over her, his long fingers kneading her slender shoulders, as if he would force her to listen.

‘Because the minute I saw you, so beautiful, so carefree, I decided to forget about everything and give myself a holiday and try to get to know you. So, yes, you are right in a way, I should have told you who I was, but for once I simply wanted to enjoy myself; is that so hard to understand?’

Kelly had never coveted wealth. She enjoyed her life, and as long as she had enough to get by on she was quite happy, but she could understand great wealth must bring with it great responsibilities. ‘Yes, I suppose so.’ The thought that he thought she was beautiful was balm to her bruised heart, and slowly she was recovering from the shock of seeing him again. ‘But marriage?’ That was something else again, she thought, unaware she had voiced that thought out loud.

‘Yes, Kelly,’ Gianfranco cut in, pulling her closer to the hard heat of his body. ‘You will marry me, and have my child. I have not spent the last few months going crazy over a blonde-haired little spitfire to be turned down now.’

He smoothed a possessive hand over her quivering length, lingering on her stomach. ‘You are mine, and this baby is mine,’ he husked quietly, and smiled.

How did he do that? One minute he was all outraged predatory male and moments later he was smiling tenderly into her guarded blue eyes. ‘Yes,’ she murmured, thinking, in her confused state, he was asking if the baby was his.

His dark head lowered and he let his tongue trace the fullness of her lips before delving into the moist depths. His hand slid down her back to the base of her spine, moving against her in a way that made her blatantly aware of his arousal.

Kelly tried to remain rigid in his embrace, but her body softened against the hard heat of Gianfranco’s massive frame.