The Wedding Charade Read online

  He smiled at her in that seductive way of his that made her blood bubble with excitement in her veins. ‘Do you really think you won’t be begging me to bed you by the time we are married, or is this all just an act to whet my appetite?’

  She tightened her mouth. ‘It’s no act, Nic. This is a hands-off deal.’

  He cocked his handsome head at her. ‘Why do I get the feeling you are saying that for your benefit not mine? ‘

  Jade felt a blush steal over her cheeks. ‘I am saying it because I know what you are like. You are used to women falling over themselves to occupy your bed.’

  He leaned forward, his forearms resting across the table, his eyes dark and challenging as they held hers. ‘How about we make a little deal, Jade?’ he suggested. ‘In public I will have to touch you as any husband would touch his wife, but in private I won’t lay a finger on you unless you give me the go-ahead with those seductive green eyes of yours. Not one finger, OK?’

  Jade eyed him suspiciously for a long moment, her heart beating like a drum that was being played by someone not quite sure of the correct rhythm. Could she trust him to keep his word? More to the point: could

  she trust herself? ‘O …K,’ she said at last, her breath coming out a little shakily.

  ‘Good.’ He sat back and picked up the bottle of champagne and topped up both of their glasses. ‘It looks like we have a deal.’

  CHAPTER FOUR

  THE press had gone by the time they left the restaurant. Jade quietly blew out a breath of relief as Nic walked with her back to his hotel. She worked the press when she needed to but there were times when she wished she could disappear into anonymity. The news of their impending marriage would be splashed over every paper by morning. That was well and good, for it would make Nic less likely to pull out of the arrangement. He wouldn’t want to draw any attention to the terms of his grandfather’s will. He had his fair share of the notorious Sabbatini pride. For a playboy such as him to be dragged kicking and screaming to the altar would be the epitome of having one’s pride bludgeoned.

  Nic placed a protective arm around her waist as they weaved their way through the tourist crowd. Feeling that band of muscle against her was creating enough heat to start a wildfire. She could feel the way her body responded to his closeness, the way her thighs trembled when he stood in the hotel lift beside her, not quite touching, but close enough for her to feel the hot, hard male heat of his long strong legs.

  He took out his mobile and began to fiddle with the keypad. ‘For some reason I don’t have your mobile number in my phone,’ he said, glancing sideways at her. ‘I’ve only got your landline. What’s your number?’

  Jade pressed her lips together for a moment. ‘Um …I don’t have a mobile phone.’

  His dark brows met over his eyes. ‘What—did you lose it or something?’

  She hesitated before answering. ‘I …I had one once but then I lost it and I didn’t get around to replacing it.’

  He was still looking at her as if she had just landed out of time from a couple of centuries back. ‘Are you serious?’ he said. ‘You really don’t have a mobile?’

  She shook her head as the doors of the lift opened.

  ‘I will get you one tomorrow,’ he said and pocketed his phone as he held the door back with the barrier of his arm.

  Jade felt as if a butter churn had started to work on overdrive in her stomach. ‘Please don’t,’ she said, biting her lip when he looked at her quizzically. ‘I’m embarrassed to admit it but I’m really a bit of a technophobe. I only just worked out how to use the phone I had when I lost it. I don’t want to have to go through all of that again.’

  ‘Jade.’ He gave her that look—the look that made her feel as if she were just about to walk in on the first day of kindergarten. ‘The newer models are extremely simple to use. I will talk you through it and you’ll be amazed at how easy it is. It’s the same as using a computer. A little kid can do it. My niece Ella is already great at playing one of the games on my phone and she’s not even three.’

  She gave a vague nod of acquiescence and stepped out past him.

  ‘What’s your email address, then?’ he asked once they were inside the penthouse.

  Jade felt her stomach tilt in alarm. She racked her brain to think of an excuse for why she didn’t have an email address. How could she possibly read an email when she couldn’t even write her own name and address? ‘Um …I can’t tell you offhand—I’ve just had it changed. I was having some trouble with loads of … er… spam. The technician thought it best to change my network server. I haven’t quite memorised the new address. It’s a little more complicated than my last one.’

  ‘Just shoot me an email when you get a chance and I’ll add you to my contacts,’ he said and handed her a business card with his contact details on it.

  Jade looked down at the card. It was like Nic: distinctive and bold. The card was embossed and she ran her fingertip over it, feeling each letter through her skin, her brow furrowed in intense concentration.

  ‘Are you learning my numbers off by heart?’ he asked.

  She tucked the card away in her purse, keeping her expression blank. ‘I have no interest in learning anything but how to navigate myself through life to my advantage,’ she said. ‘Marrying you is, unfortunately, the only way of my achieving self-sufficiency.’

  Nic’s eyes studied her with increasing intensity and disdain. ‘You are as shallow and self-serving as the press makes out, aren’t you?’ he said. ‘You don’t even bother disguising it. All you want is money and plenty of it.’

  Jade gave him a fabricated smile, the sort that any hard-nosed gold-digger would use with ease. ‘We are on the same mission then, aren’t we, Italian boy? We both want a fortune to land into our hands and we are both prepared to sacrifice our souls to get it.’

  His mouth tightened into a hard, flat line. ‘Let’s just hope it’s worth it in the end,’ he said.

  ‘I am sure it will be,’ she said, but inside she was already trembling with doubt. ‘You will get your inheritance and I will finally get my independence. What more could we both want?’

  His eyes seared a fire trail into hers. ‘That remains to be seen, doesn’t it?’ he asked. He nodded towards the big bed. ‘Which side do you want? ‘

  Jade felt her eyes flicker in alarm but quickly controlled it before he could notice. ‘Call housekeeping for a roll-out bed. I’ll sleep on that.’

  ‘You’re joking, surely?’ he said. ‘We have just announced our engagement. What do you think the hotel staff will think if we insist on sleeping in separate beds?’

  Jade put on her sassy face. ‘They’ll think we’re saving ourselves for our wedding night.’

  He gave an amused snort. ‘You really are a chameleon, aren’t you, cara? One minute you’re the hot-blooded harlot and the next you turn into a shy virgin.’

  She turned for the bathroom but he caught her by the back of her dress, pulling her into the rock-hard wall of his body, his hands coming to rest on the top of her shoulders, his chest against her shoulder blades, his pelvis pressing into her buttocks, stirring every nerve into a frenzy of awareness, making her breath stall like a faulty engine.

  This was the closest she had been to him in years.

  She could feel the hardened probe of his growing erection. She could feel the hammering of his heart against her right shoulder.

  Oh, dear God, she could feel her resistance crumbling. The brick wall of determination she had set up to resist him was being dismantled second by second. She was not used to feeling this out of control. She was usually the one who had all the power over men. They didn’t have it over her. Not one of them.

  Except this one.

  Jade wondered what would happen if she turned around and pushed her mouth up to meet his. To slip her tongue in between those mocking lips of his, to show him how hard she could drive him to the very edge of control.

  She wanted to.

  But she didn’t dare.


  ‘You know, you really should have thought this through a little more carefully, Jade,’ he said in a smouldering voice, his mouth far too close to her neck.

  She felt the fine hairs on her body stand to attention, her skin lifting in a shiver. She felt the warm dancing breeze of his breath as he leaned in closer; it feathered over her skin like a fine sable brush over a canvas.

  ‘You rushed here to Venice without thinking about how this would end tonight, didn’t you, mio piccolo?’

  Jade bit down on her lip as she felt him move against her buttocks. He was practically parting them with his swollen length. It was the most tantalising feeling, deliciously erotic and sexy. Her body felt on fire. Flames licked along her flesh. Her belly was quivering with a whirlpool of need. Her inner core was throbbing like a heavy pulse that came from deep inside her body, a place she had not even been properly aware of before.

  Her breasts were prickling with sensation, her nipples tight and aching as they pushed against the fragile lace of her bra. ‘You said you wouldn’t touch me unless we were in public,’ she said, sucking in her breath as his teeth nipped just below her earlobe.

  ‘I said I wouldn’t touch you if you didn’t give me the come on,’ he said. ‘But you just can’t help yourself, can you, cara?’

  Jade turned and stepped away from him, sending him a defiant look. ‘If you are going to break the rules from day one, then so can I. I have my contacts. I will tell them everything. I will even tell them about some of your brothers’ stuff. That will go down a treat with your family, don’t you think?’

  He looked down at her, his jaw tight to the point of whiteness at the edges of his mouth. ‘One false move, Jade, do you hear me? One false move and you’ll be begging for a living off the streets, right where someone with your guttersnipe morals and behaviour belongs.’

  Jade met him stare for stare, anger ballooning in her chest at his cruelly taunting words. ‘You think you can control me, don’t you, Italian boy?’ she goaded him right on back.

  His nostrils flared as he fought to control his temper. ‘You can’t even control yourself,’ he said with a look of disgust. ‘You’re a spoilt brat who should have grown up a long time ago. No wonder your father cut you off without a penny. You’re nothing but a prima donna who doesn’t know how to behave like a woman of class and breeding.’

  Jade swung her hand up towards his face but he caught it mid-swipe, holding it in a cruel grip that made tears spring to her eyes. She suddenly had the most unexpected urge to cry. She hadn’t cried in years, not since Jon’s funeral. She wasn’t going to break down in front of Nic. She was not going to let him see how much he had hurt her. No one could hurt her. She always made sure of that. No one. She blinked her eyes, gritted her teeth and wrenched her arm out of his. ‘I have to use the bathroom,’ she bit out and stalked from the room.

  When she came out after repairing the damage to her make-up, Nic was standing with a brooding expression on his face. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I shouldn’t have spoken to you like that.’

  She gave a careless shrug. She had been called far worse in the press but somehow coming from Nic the words had been so much more devastating to hear. She hoped he hadn’t heard her snivelling like a baby in the bathroom. She had turned on the taps to drown out the sound, but she saw the way his hazel eyes had softened in remorse. ‘Do you want me to leave?’ she asked. ‘I can go and stay in another hotel. No one will probably even notice.’

  ‘No, don’t do that,’ he said, rubbing the back of his neck. ‘You have the bed. I’ll sleep on one of the sofas. There are spare pillows and blankets in the wardrobe.’

  She chewed at her lip as she watched him prepare the sofa. He was going to have a terrible night’s sleep on that because, as luxurious as it was, he was just too tall for it.

  He was right, of course. She hadn’t thought much past getting him to agree to marry her. She hadn’t thought of what would come next. Her impulsive nature had got her into trouble too many times to count. When would she ever learn?

  ‘Would you like a nightcap or something?’ Nic asked once the sofa was made up.

  Jade shook her head. ‘No, I’ll just go to bed. I’m really tired. I feel like I’ve been travelling all day.’

  ‘I’ll leave you to prepare for bed in peace,’ he said. ‘I’m going to go downstairs to use the business centre.’

  Jade could see his slim laptop on the antique desk over near the window, which could mean only one thing: he wanted to avoid her. She could hardly blame him. ‘Well, goodnight, then,’ she said.

  His eyes met hers briefly. ‘Goodnight, Jade.’

  She sank to the bed once he had closed the door. Her body felt so tired from her crying jag in the bathroom. She would give anything to just curl up in amongst those soft, smooth sheets and forget the world for eight hours. She looked at her half-unpacked suitcase. She looked at it for a long moment, chewing at her lip as she planned her next course of action.

  She sprang off the bed and quickly gathered her things, packing them haphazardly back in the case and snapping it shut.

  Nic could have his bed. She would be miles away by the time he got back to his suite. She wasn’t going to spend even one night more than necessary with him.

  It was far too dangerous.

  Nic came back to the suite after midnight. He had a headache and a neck ache and he was still feeling a brute for the way he had spoken to Jade. She had covered it well but he knew she had gone to the bathroom to compose herself. She had been on the verge of tears. Tears he had provoked.

  He couldn’t remember ever seeing her cry, or at least not since her brother’s funeral and even then she had kept it in until the last moment, when Jonathan’s coffin was lowered into the ground. She had been hysterical and had to be sedated once they got back to the Sommerville estate. Nic had tried to offer comfort but, if anything, his presence had seemed to upset her all the more. In the end he had left early and had stayed away from her for over a year. He wasn’t proud of that. He often wondered if her decline back into an eating disorder could have been averted by a little more support from those best known to her.

  The suite was in darkness and he reached for the nearest lamp switch, not wanting to disturb her with a bright light suddenly coming on. The muted glow of the lamp illuminated the huge bed but it was empty. He swung his gaze to the made-up sofa but it was empty too. He drew in a sharp hiss of a breath and strode through to the bathroom but there was nothing there except a faint trace of her perfume. He came back out to the suite and raked his fingers through his hair when he saw her suitcase had gone. He checked all over the suite but she hadn’t even had the decency to leave him a note. He swore in three languages and paced the floor, frustrated beyond description.

  The scheming little minx had tricked him into agreeing to marry her. There was no way he could pull out of it now and she damn well knew it. The press were running with it. It had already been broadcast online and on the radio. He had already had a call from his brothers saying how pleased they were that he was doing what their grandfather had wanted. Her little staged you-hurt-my-feelings act had been convincing, so convincing he had fallen for it hook, line and sinker and outboard motor to boot. Damn the little witch!

  Jade had been back at her flat twenty-four hours when Nic arrived. She winced when he put his finger on the buzzer, holding it down relentlessly, knowing she would have to answer before one of the neighbours complained about the noise. She opened the outer door for him and waited with a pounding heart for him to make his way to her flat.

  His short hard knock on her door sounded like a firearm being discharged.

  She opened the door with a breezy smile of greeting. ‘Hi, Nic.’

  He strode past her, his mouth set in a rigid line. ‘Have you seen the papers?’ he asked, thrusting a bundle at her.

  ‘I don’t read the papers,’ Jade said, wondering if he would pick up on the irony in her tone.

  ‘We are officiall
y engaged,’ he bit out.

  She gave him a bright smile. ‘Yes, I know. Isn’t it exciting?’

  He glowered at her darkly. ‘And, since we are officially engaged,’ he went on as if she hadn’t spoken, ‘you will at all times act like a fiancée should act. That means you will not leave my hotel or apartment or villa or wherever we might be staying without telling me where you are going. Do you hear me? ‘

  Jade raised her chin. ‘I left because I didn’t want you to have a bad night’s sleep. You wouldn’t have slept a wink on that sofa.’

  He narrowed his eyes at her. ‘Don’t go pretending you did anything charitable back there in Venice. You

  got what you wanted and left. You didn’t even leave a note. What sort of disgraceful show of manners is that? I was worried sick about you.’

  Jade tossed her head. ‘I bet you weren’t. I bet you were furious I slipped out without you knowing.’

  ‘You’re damn right I was,’ he said. ‘I had the press on my tail all the way back to London. I had to think of some sort of reasonable excuse for why you weren’t still with me.’

  ‘How terribly taxing for you,’ she said with a roll of her eyes.

  This time she actually heard him grinding his teeth. ‘You really are the most uncontrollable brat I have ever met.’

  ‘And you are the most undesirable fiancé a girl could ever want,’ she threw back.

  His hazel eyes flashed with green and brown flecks of hatred. ‘I have organised a lawyer to come around this evening to go through the legal documents with you,’ he said. ‘I expect and demand your full cooperation in reading and signing them.’

  Jade controlled her instinctive panic with an effort. ‘I will do what is necessary to secure my inheritance but I will do nothing extra.’