The Wedding Charade Page 8

  ‘You’re very kind,’ Jade said, warming to the young woman all the more.

  ‘I didn’t get to know Salvatore very long, as you know,’ Bronte said, ‘but I knew enough about him to know he was no fool. If he thought the best course of action was to tie you and Nic in a marriage of convenience, then it would have been done out of love, not malice. He adored you. Luca has told me so many times of how he never had a bad word to say about you in spite of what the press reported over the years.’

  Jade looked at the contents of her glass, swirling them around, just like the thoughts in her brain. ‘How do you handle it?’ she asked, looking up at Bronte again. ‘The press, I mean. I’m pretty used to it but every now and again it gets to me. Do you find it hard after your life in Melbourne where you were anonymous for so long? ‘

  Bronte’s eyes went to her husband’s and a smile spread over her features. ‘After a while you forget about the press,’ she said. ‘It’s about you and your husband. It’s about building a family unit that is so strong it can withstand the intrusion of other forces.’

  She turned her gaze back to Jade’s. ‘I understand how people are fascinated with celebrities. I was too to some degree, but now I realise we are all just normal people trying to do our best with the limited time we’ve got on this earth. You have to make the most of it. But I can tell you from experience that marrying into the Sabbatini family is a wonderful thing. I have never felt so loved and accepted, even though I still haven’t quite mastered the language. Do you speak Italian?’

  ‘I can understand it more than I can speak it. I’m pretty hopeless at languages,’ she said and added wryly, ‘I still have trouble with English.’

  ‘It will be expected of you,’ Bronte warned. ‘Maya’s been giving me lessons. I’m much better than I expected but, to tell you the truth, it’s really rather embarrassing to be outdone by my little daughter.’

  Nic came over at that point and slung a casual arm around Jade’s shoulders. ‘How are you holding up, tesore mio?’ he asked.

  ‘My face is aching from smiling so much,’ she said truthfully.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘The party is almost over.

  Luca and Bronte’s wedding went on for hours and hours, but then just as well, eh, Bronte?’

  Bronte grinned as she looked to where Giorgio and Maya were cuddling up, no doubt remembering how they had come together for a stolen night of passion at Luca and Bronte’s wedding whilst in the throes of an acrimonious divorce. ‘You’re not wrong there, Nic,’ she said and discreetly slipped away when she heard Marco crying in the distance.

  ‘Bronte thinks you would make a fabulous father,’ Jade said, testing the waters with a bravado that had come from a few sips from a champagne glass.

  Nic gave her a frowning look. ‘Not me, baby girl. I like kids, I love them in fact, but I don’t want any for myself. Children are hard work. They tie you down. I like my freedom too much.’

  Jade felt an inexplicable ache deep inside her chest at his adamant statement. Surely she wasn’t getting too attached to the loving wife role, not so soon? It was a role, an act. It wasn’t for real. ‘A lot of people would view that as a rather selfish stance to take,’ she said, twirling her glass again for something to do with her hands.

  His eyes narrowed as they centred on hers. ‘Do you want children?’ he asked.

  Jade couldn’t hold his gaze much longer than a second or two. ‘Of course not,’ she said, putting her glass down on the nearest surface. ‘Having a child would totally cramp my lifestyle. You can’t go clubbing with a baby, and just think what it would do to my figure.’

  ‘So now who’s the one who is being selfish?’ he asked, hooking one brow upwards.

  She looked up at him with a cool smile. ‘I didn’t say I thought it was a selfish decision; I just said a lot of people would take that view.’

  He continued to look at her with unwavering intensity, as if he was measuring her words with her expression and finding something lacking. ‘So no kids for both of us,’ he said, rocking back on his heels as he thrust his hands in his trouser pockets. ‘At least we both know the rules from the outset. I take it you’re on the Pill? ‘

  Jade raised her brows at him. ‘That is hardly any of your business, considering this is not going to be a normal marriage.’

  He smiled an indolent smile that crinkled up the corners of his hazel eyes. ‘Still insisting on a hands-off arrangement, cara?’ he said. He leaned in closer, right up against the shell of her ear, his warm breath skating over her flesh, making every nerve stand to attention. ‘You might want to rethink that once all these guests leave. We will be all alone. Just you and me and a document saying we are legally married.’

  Jade couldn’t quite suppress the whole body shiver that consumed her. She stepped backwards and, scooping up her previously abandoned glass, took a hefty sip but, as far as boosting her courage, it did nothing but remind her of how terribly vulnerable she was and had always been when it came to Nic Sabbatini and his lethally sensual charm.

  Finally it was over.

  Jade stood with the band of Nic’s strong arm around her waist as they farewelled their guests. It was a long, slow process as everyone wanted to express their congratulations and best wishes for a happy future. Jade felt at times that her smile was so forced it would crack her face in two.

  It was far easier when it was just the family taking their leave before they were flown back to Milan. They, at least, all knew the terms of Salvatore’s will, but even so Jade wondered if any of them, particularly Maya and Bronte, had any idea of the way she was feeling. The ambiguity of her feelings worried her. She had been determined to get Nic to marry her so she could have the financial security she longed for, but she hadn’t factored in how being with him for extended periods would affect her. She felt it now, a slight tug in her insides every time he looked at her. A twist inside her stomach, a flutter inside her heart, a breathlessness in her chest, an ache deep in her core.

  Giovanna, her new mother-in-law, was tearful, but Jade knew that was more to do with having come back to the villa for the first time since baby Chiara had died all those years ago. Giovanna kissed Jade on both cheeks and welcomed her again to the family. ‘I know this is not what either of you want, but do try and make the best of it, Jade. Our marriage had a rough start but I had many happy years with my Giancarlo.’

  ‘I am sure we will make the best of things,’ Jade assured her with zero confidence.

  ‘Of all my boys, Nic is most like his father,’ Giovanna said. ‘He is restless, a free spirit—is that how you say it in English?’

  ‘Sì, that is exactly how you say it,’ Jade said.

  Giovanna gave her another tight hug. ‘You and Nic are more alike than you are different,’ she said. ‘Salvatore always said you were an angel underneath. That is just like my Nic. He has a soft core; you just have to know how to find it.’

  Jade smiled wanly as the family escorted Giovanna to the waiting limousine. She was surprised at her new mother-in-law’s attitude towards her. There were not many mothers who would welcome someone with Jade’s reputation into the family, but then perhaps Giovanna was as eager as Salvatore had been for her youngest son to settle down, even if it wasn’t to the most suitable of brides.

  Nic came over to where Jade was standing, watching as the car disappeared into the distance. She felt her skin lift even though the air was still warm. She turned and faced him, forcing a stiff smile to her face. ‘That seemed to go off rather well, don’t you think? ‘

  His eyes gleamed as he looked down at her. ‘Everyone said the same thing: you were the most beautiful bride they have ever seen,’ he said. ‘I didn’t tell you earlier, but you took my breath away when you stepped into the church on your father’s arm.’

  Jade didn’t allow herself to believe he was being genuine. She knew what he wanted. He wanted to end the day in bed. He was a master at seduction and what better way than to butter her up with compliments
that would melt her resolve to keep this marriage in name only. ‘I think you went a little too far on the kiss in the church,’ she said in a prim tone. ‘A simple kiss on the lips would have sufficed. You should have shown a little more respect.’

  His mouth tilted in a knowing smile. ‘Feeling guilty about wanting me, Jade? ‘

  She folded her arms across her middle. ‘I do not want you. I just want the money this marriage will bring.’

  ‘So you keep reminding me, but your eyes tell me something else again,’ he said. ‘And not just your eyes but your mouth as well. I’ve had trouble getting our first kiss out of my mind. You really are a little firecracker, aren’t you?’

  She gave a scathing little snort.

  He studied her for a moment. ‘Have you had anything to eat?’

  She looked at him in irritation. ‘Oh, please don’t start on about that. I had enough from my father. Not that he was any great example, getting drunk like that and having to be practically poured into the car with his new girlfriend fussing over him as if she really gives a fig about him. She’s after his money, any fool can see it, but then there’s no fool like an old fool, is there?’

  Nic pursed his lips for a moment. ‘You don’t really hate him, do you? ‘

  She sent him a look that would have cut through marble. ‘I feel nothing for him or for anyone.’

  ‘I am quite sure that’s not true,’ he said. ‘I saw you playing with Ella earlier. You don’t hate her, do you? ‘

  Her eyes flashed angrily. ‘You seem to think you know me, Nic, but you don’t. I’m not the naive, foolish, pampered little girl who hung off your every word like a lovesick puppy in the past. I’ve grown up. I know how to protect myself from people like you. You think you can throw a few compliments around and entice me into your bed, but I’m not that easy.’

  ‘The press would have it otherwise,’ he said with a wry look.

  ‘The press don’t always get it right,’ she said. ‘They interpret what they see to sell the most papers. It suits them to portray me as a home-wrecker. It fits their image of me as a tart who will bed anything in trousers. But I do have some standards. I am not interested in other people’s husbands. I think that is the ultimate betrayal, to sleep with a close friend’s husband.’

  Nic studied her for another long moment, his thoughts flying around his head like insects trying to avoid the spurt of a poisonous spray. ‘Are you saying the stuff about your affair with Richard McCormack was not true?’

  She met his gaze with a challenge in her own. ‘What do you think? Do you really think I am the sort of person to sleep with my best friend’s husband while she was in the early stages of carrying his baby, which she subsequently lost? ‘

  Nic raised his brows in surprise. There had been no mention of a baby in the press. He didn’t know McCormack all that well personally, but they occasionally moved in the same circles. Nic had seen Richard at various functions, playing the role of the urbane businessman with consummate ease. He hadn’t seemed the type to cheat on his wife, but then Jade was a temptation that would test any man’s resolve. Nic felt it himself, the sensual power she had over him. Those sea-green eyes that promised so much, that lured and enticed, only to flash with hatred at the last minute. It was a cat and mouse game she was an expert at performing. But if she was innocent, then why not defend herself? She had access to top-notch lawyers. She wasn’t exactly destitute, even if she had been a little overly dependent on her father’s largesse up until now.

  ‘So if you weren’t McCormack’s bit on the side, then who was?’ he asked.

  She gave him a stony-faced look. ‘I have no idea.’

  Nic wondered if she was lying to protect herself or someone else or whether she truly didn’t know. It seemed the more time he spent with her, the less he knew about her. She had carried herself throughout the day so convincingly even he had to remind himself this was a temporary marriage, not the real thing at all. The way she had responded to his kiss, both in the church and the other day back at his villa in Rome, had revealed what a passionate woman she was under the surface of that cool don’t-mess-with-me façade she customarily wore when around him. She wasn’t immune to him any more than he was to her, although she insisted on denying it. Was it pride or part of the chase? He couldn’t quite decide, but he was determined that he would make this marriage real, even if it took him the best part of the year to do it.

  He smiled to himself as he thought of her soft full-lipped mouth around him, sucking on him, no doubt doing what she had done so many times with so many men. Oh, yes, she would come to him and come willingly. It was only a matter of time. He felt his body stirring to life, the blood rocketing through his veins as he thought of her writhing and twisting beneath him as he worked them both to the pinnacle of pleasure. A deep pool of longing started at the base of his spine and moved forwards, making him hard and ready for action.

  ‘How about a drink to celebrate our temporary marriage?’ he said, stretching an arm towards the villa.

  She brushed past him with a glacial look. ‘I have had my fill of celebratory drinks,’ she said. ‘I am going to bed.’

  Nic paced the salone an hour or so later, wondering why he felt so restless and on edge. Actually, he did know why, it was just he didn’t want to admit it. He had planned to have Jade in his bed by now and yet she had eluded him with a curt dismissal. He tossed back the contents of his glass, knowing it was probably unwise to overdo it but overdoing it anyway. What the hell was he doing spending his first night of married life—temporary as it was—alone with a brandy bottle?

  He dragged a hand through his hair. This was ridiculous. He had to get a grip. Jade was not the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. He didn’t want to spend the rest of his life with any one woman. He wasn’t like his brothers, who had settled down with their wives and children, content with their lot. He had always wanted more. More money, more excitement, more challenges.

  He was unscrewing the bottle of brandy one more time when he heard a footfall on the stairs. He put the bottle back on the drinks counter and moved out to the hall. Jade was walking slowly down the stairs, step by step, her green eyes staring straight ahead, one of her hands sliding down the banister as if she was wary of falling head first.

  ‘Jade?’

  She totally ignored him. She continued on, step by soft step, her face expressionless. He blinked a couple of times, wondering if it was the brandy that had conjured her up, but no, she was still there, taking those ever so softly treading steps until she came to the base of the staircase. The nightgown she was wearing was sheer enough for him to see her slim naked form beneath it. His eyes feasted on those high perfect breasts, so full and round with those rosy-red nipples that he knew would be heaven to suckle on. He lowered his hungry gaze to the feminine cleft between her thighs and he imagined touching her there, filling her with his presence, making her feel him move inside her. It was all he could do not to go to her and pull her into his arms. He was about to take a step towards her when she looked around her with sightless eyes and sighed deeply before retracing her steps, all the way up the stairs again.

  Nic watched, his throat rising and falling over a swallow as he realised she was sleepwalking. He considered waking her but then he recalled how he had read somewhere it was not the thing to do. You supposedly had to lead the person gently back to bed, to make sure they were safe.

  He followed her up the stairs, keeping a few paces behind so as not to startle her. She padded back to the room she had chosen as her own. It was well away from the master suite, one of the spare rooms that in the past had been used for visitors. Half of her things were still waiting to be unpacked, in boxes and cases that littered the room. He made a mental note to get the housekeeper to sort it all out for her tomorrow. He watched as Jade moved across the room and climbed back into the bed, pulling the sheet over her body and closing her eyes as her head came to rest on the pillow.

  He stood watching her in
the soft glow of the landing light for so long he lost track of time. After a while she made a murmuring sound and her lips fluttered over a deep sigh as she settled down even farther onto the pillow.

  Nic took a scratchy breath and stepped closer to the bed. He reached out and gently brushed a strand of her dark, silky hair back off her face. She gave another soft little murmur, something unintelligible, but somehow it made him feel as if she instinctively trusted him. It gave him a strange feeling deep inside. He was the last person she should be trusting. ‘Sweet dreams, cara,’ he said and, before he could stop himself, he bent down and pressed a light as air kiss to her creamy, velvety cheek. Her lips twitched as if she was smiling in her sleep at the light caress.

  Nic moved away from the bed and, with one last long look, he turned and walked out of the room and gently closed the door behind him.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  JADE woke to the sound of a knock on the door. She scrambled upright and, hauling the sheets over herself, asked who was there. ‘It’s me, Nic.’

  She felt her heart give a funny little start. ‘Um …I’m not dressed.’

  ‘I’ve seen it all, Jade,’ he said with amusement colouring his tone. ‘You’ve done nothing but flaunt it at me for the last week or so.’

  She glowered at the door and then stiffened when it opened and Nic stepped in as if he owned the place. The fact that he did—or at least his family did—was beside the point. ‘What do you think you are doing?’ she said.

  He came over carrying a tray with steaming hot tea and fresh rolls and a selection of home-made preserves. ‘I thought you might like breakfast in bed,’ he said. ‘After all, you had a pretty restless night.’