His Virgin Bride: The Fiorenza Forced Marriage / Bought: For His Convenience or Pleasure? / A Night With Consequences

Emma chewed at her bottom lip in agitation. This was going to be much harder than she had expected. Somehow she had thought a quick civil service would make her feel less married. That was vitally important to her. She didn’t want to feel married to him.

‘I will get my mother’s rings out of the safe for you,’ he said. ‘But of course they must be returned to me once our marriage ends.’

‘Yes, of course…’ she said. ‘I wouldn’t dream of keeping them.’

‘The wedding will take place tomorrow.’

Emma’s heart gave a sickening lurch. ‘T-tomorrow?’

‘Yes,’ he said. ‘The legalities will be seen to this afternoon. The ceremony will take place tomorrow at the Basilica of Saint Abbondio, the ancient cathedral in the town. Have you by any chance been there?’

‘I haven’t done a lot of sightseeing yet,’ she said. ‘I was too busy looking after your father.’

He paused for a moment, his eyes still holding hers before he continued. ‘We will have a small reception at a function centre afterwards, but there will of course be no honeymoon.’

‘I wasn’t expecting one, I can assure you,’ she said. ‘Besides, I need to contact the agency in regards to finding a local placement.’

‘You will not be returning to the agency while you are married to me,’ he said.

Emma blinked once or twice. ‘What did you say?’

His dark eyes challenged hers. ‘I said you will not be returning to work. I have already contacted the agency and terminated your contract.’

Emma gaped at him. ‘You did what?’

‘You are now employed by me to act as my wife. I do not want people speculating on whether this marriage is the real deal or not. What if a client needed you to live in for weeks on end? No one would expect any wife of mine to be employed and certainly not as a carer.’

‘Well, no husband of mine would ever expect me to give up the job I love to pander to his needs,’ Emma tossed back.

‘I am not asking you to pander to my needs, but if you feel the need to do so I will not stop you.’

She gave him a blistering glare. ‘What am I supposed to do all day? Laze about the pool and paint my nails? I’ll go stark staring mad.’

‘Think of it as a holiday, Emma,’ he said. ‘You can explore a hobby or two. Most of the women I know would give anything for a year to indulge themselves at a rich man’s expense.’

‘You really need to widen your circle of women friends,’ Emma said in a crisp tone. ‘Most of the women I know value their self-respect and independence too much to be indulged like a spoilt child.’

‘I am sure you will adapt very quickly,’ he said. ‘After all, you have had plenty of practice while living with my father as your sugar daddy. Money is your motive and always has been, has it not? Why else would you be marrying me if it was not for the money?’

Emma ground her teeth. ‘I don’t want the money for myself,’ she said. ‘Otherwise I wouldn’t dream of agreeing to any of this. Do you think I want to be married to someone as loathsome as you?’

A muscle leapt in his jaw. ‘Careful, Emma,’ he warned. ‘I will not tolerate insults from you once we are married.’

Her chin came up at a defiant angle. ‘If you insult me I will insult you straight back.’

His eyes glinted. ‘I will enjoy taming you, Emma March,’ he said. ‘You are a little wildcat under that demure façade, are you not? I can see the passion in your eyes; they flash with it like twin flames of grey and blue.’

Emma felt her stomach go hollow at the sensual threat behind his statement. Her heart was suddenly racing, her skin prickling all over and her face hot with colour. If it weren’t for Simone and Chelsea, she would tell him right here and now where he could put his money and his villa. But then how many times had her sister stood in the line of fire for her? Simone had taken many a slap intended for Emma; she had even had her arm broken once when she had blocked their father from lashing out at her in a fit of rage. It was not going to be easy, but surely Emma owed her sister this chance. Rafaele might not be Emma’s choice of husband material, but at least it was only a temporary arrangement.

She gave him a flinty look and moved past him to pour a cup of coffee. It annoyed her to see her hand shaking as she did so, but she comforted herself that her back was turned towards him so he couldn’t see.

‘The lawyer will be here at three p. m.,’ Rafaele said. ‘In the meantime I have some work to see to in my study. If there is anything else you need for tomorrow let me know and I will see to it that you have it.’

She cradled her coffee-cup in both of her hands as she looked at him. ‘Thank you but, no, there’s nothing I need.’

‘What about your friends?’ he asked. ‘Is there anyone you would like to attend the ceremony?’

‘No,’ she said. ‘Most of my friends are in Australia. I have a couple of new acquaintances I made while I was living in Milan but no one here.’

‘What about your family?’ he asked. ‘Obviously it is too short a notice to get them here for the wedding, but have you told them?’

She shook her head. ‘There’s only my sister and my niece, but I didn’t want to worry them.’

He frowned at her. ‘What do you mean?’

She gave him a level stare. ‘My sister has always been very protective of me,’ she said. ‘If I told her I was marrying a virtual stranger she would have a blue fit.’

Rafaele rubbed at his jaw for a moment. ‘What if she finds out some other way? An announcement or photo in the press, for instance?’

She sank her teeth into her bottom lip as she put her coffee-cup back on the counter. ‘I hadn’t thought about that…’

‘I have been doing some thinking,’ he said. ‘To give our marriage some sort of credibility we shall have to tell anyone who asks we met when you first began to look after my father and up until now we have conducted a long-distance relationship.’

‘Do you think that will work?’ she asked.

‘It will have to work. I do not want the world to know I have been manipulated into a loveless marriage by my father’s machinations from the grave.’

‘I’m not going to lie to my sister,’ she said with a spark of defiance in her eyes.

‘As far as I see it you have already done so by omission,’ he pointed out. ‘Concealing the truth is the same as lying in my book.’

She gave him an arch look. ‘And yet you are prepared to lie to the world about your relationship with me.’

‘I am prepared to compromise quite a few of my standards in order to secure what is rightly mine, including sleeping with the enemy if she so desires.’

Her eyes flashed at him again. ‘This particular enemy has no such desire.’

He smiled and stepped closer, close enough to take her chin between his index finger and thumb. ‘Are you prepared to lay some money down on that, Emma?’ he asked in a silky tone.

He felt her tremble under his touch and his groin leapt in response. Her mouth was like a soft, plump cushion of pink flesh just begging to be kissed. The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to do it. He lowered his head, slowly, watching as her eyes widened before her lashes began to come down, her lips parting slightly, her sweet breath mingling with his, giving him all the invitation he needed.

Emma came to her senses just in time. She slipped out of his light hold, her heart hammering, her breath catching and her senses on fire. ‘What the hell do you think you’re doing?’ she said, rubbing at her chin as if he had burnt her.

‘I was doing what you were all but begging me to do,’ he answered smoothly.

She glared at him. ‘I was doing nothing of the sort. You touched me. I didn’t touch you.’

‘You will have to touch me tomorrow. In fact you will have to kiss me in front of the congregation, so perhaps we should rehearse it a couple of times now.’