Mistress Bought and Paid For Page 6

  Without even thinking about it Cristiano strode on to the floor and claimed her lean brown hands closing to the elegant curve of her hips to urge her momentarily close. Her head fell back, her full pink lips parting, excruciating tension gripping her. She wanted him to kiss her. Never in her whole life had she wanted anything as badly as she wanted that kiss. He flashed her a dangerous smile and freed her again in an effortless dance move that took her by surprise. Taut with disappointment she mirrored his steps, but such precision demanded real effort from her and she soon learned that her limbs were slow to do her bidding.

  In fact it was a relief when Cristiano finally closed a hand over hers to walk her off the floor.

  ‘Time for us to leave, bella mia’ he murmured thickly, and her tummy gave a wild little flip of anticipation that destroyed her pride.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  STEPPING out into the cool night air made Lydia feel dizzy-and concealing that reality was a challenge. The barrage of cameras on the pavement outside the club provided a welcome distraction, and Cristiano’s security team cleared a path to the limo.

  Subsiding breathlessly into the opulent vehicle, Lydia focused on Cristiano. His lean, darkly handsome features were achingly familiar. He was still so gorgeous ! A lump formed in her throat because, for the space of a heartbeat, she was the dreaming teenager who had fallen madly in love with his champagne was responsible but her reasoning processes were too muzzy to think it through.

  ‘l’m sorry about tonight… Socially, it was a washout,’ Cristiano sighed, dense black lashes screening his gaze and then flicking up to add sizzle to his charismatic smile. But 1 now own a controlling percentage of IFS and l’m in the mood to celebrate.’

  |IFS…how thrilling’ Lydia told him, without a clue what IFS was.

  ‘You are more of a thrill.’

  Burnished golden eyes connected with hers. His aura of power had never been more in the ascendant, and the delicious tension she had experienced earlier that evening gripped her all over again. He closed a hand over hers and tugged her closer, turning her round to face him so that she was half-kneeling on the seat. Her heart felt as if it was beating at the base of her throat, and she was on such a high of expectation she could barely breathe.

  He rested a fingertip on the pulse going crazy below her collarbone, moved on to smooth it over the pale alabaster expanse of her skin beneath. She quivered, her breasts lifting and stirring, the sensitive crowns pinching into painfully taut buds.

  ‘I want you so much, cara mia’ he murmured in a dark deep voice |of intimate intent.

  ‘But you know that. You’ve always known that.’

  Her lashes dipped, her lovely face betraying no change of expression. She was accustomed to hiding her thoughts from others, fitting in for the sake of peace, soothing more demanding personalities. Briefly pain broke through the numbing effect of too much champagne. She had once naively believed that she meant more to him than her predecessors, and had soon discovered how very wrong she was.

  Lydia snatched in a desperate breath to swell her lungs, loving his voice, revelling in his proximity, her mind controlled utterly by her physical senses. He cupped her cheekbone to hold her steady while he tasted her | pink mouth, using his tongue to dart a more erotic exploration between her readily parted lips.

  Primitive excitement roared through her. Her hands swept up to his shoulders to steady herself, and a split second later he tumbled her down into his lap to kiss her. Her eyes were starting to feel very heavy, and she left them closed.

  ‘l’m so sleepy’ she shared when he pulled her back up into a sitting position as the limo had come to a halt.

  Cristiano laughed huskily. ‘Not tonight’ he teased, urging her to climb out of the car, for the door beside her had been opened without her noticing.

  The combination of sudden movement and fresh air was too much for Lydia in the state she was in. Her legs crumpled and she had to seize the car door to stay upright. ‘oops! ‘ she gasped.

  Cristiano observed her across the roof of the car. ‘oops,’ he said, very drily.

  Mortification almost swallowed her alive, for, by the sound of it, he had guessed what was wrong with her. Inspiration struck her, however, when she glanced down and saw that the strap on her shoe had broken as she stumbled. Flipping off the high-heeled sandal, she dangled it by the busted strap and fought to speak with clarity.

  ‘Lucky 1 didn’t break an ankle! ‘ Cristiano ditched his icy demeanour and instead came to her assistance. ‘Are you hurt’?’ ‘1‘11 live’ she told him bravely, hobbling pitifully in the direction of the lift.

  ‘l’m sorry…for a moment 1 thought you’d had too much to drinks’ Cristiano admitted. ‘Drunkenness offends me… ‘ Clutching the bar on the wall to stay steady, Lydia ducked her head down and nodded in vigorous agreement even while guilt assailed her. But it was true. She totally agreed with him.

  After all, she was not in the habit of over-indulging in alcohol, and there was no reason why he should ever find out if she was careful. It was a question of mind over matter, she told herself feverishly as they entered the huge hall of his apartment.

  ‘Stop here.’ Cristiano turned her round in the circle of his arms.

  Lydia almost rested her swimming head down on his shoulder. It took a mighty effort to resist the urge. ‘I‘11 just go and…er…freshen ups’ she framed carefully, plotting a line in the direction of the bedroom.

  Freshen up into what? she wondered, striving to enter femmefatale mode while smothering a huge yawn and swaying.

  Discarding her clothes, she trudged into the bathroom to remove her make-up. Every step was a terrible effort. She pulled down the white cotton wrap hanging on the back of the door and dug her arms clumsily into it. By that stage she was feeling so light-headed she was afraid she was going to faint.

  Absolutely miserable, and ashamed of her condition, she sank down on the floor, struggling to breathe in deep and get back in control of her own body again. She closed her eyes-just for a moment, she promised herself heavily…

  Someone was talking in a foreign language. Reluctant to be dragged from sleep. Had that same someone shaken her shoulder? Or had that been part of a dream? Her head was aching. Her lashes lifted on a sunlit room that made her blink. Even as her pupils adapted to the brightness she recognised that the huge contemporary bedroom was entirely strange to her. She jerked taut. Her head turned on the pillow to widen her field of vision and zeroed in on the male back view silhouetted against the window. Tall, broad of shoulder, narrow of hip, long powerful legs braced slightly apart in a typically masculine stance.

  Shock grabbed her by the throat and shook her inside out, provoking a slight gasp from her lips. Cristiano, effortlessly stylish in a beautifully cut dark beige business suit, swung round to look at her. Still talking in liquid Italian on his phone, he strolled over to the bed and sank down beside her. With a disturbingly confident hand, he gently pushed her tumbled hair back from her cheekbone. She stopped breathing altogether, wildly aware that she was naked beneath the sheet.

  This had to be his bedroom-the one room that had not been included on her official tour the day before, Lydia registered in a panic. She had slept with him and she didn’t remember it! Shame and embarrassment and disorientation seized her all at once.

  Flipping shut his phone, Cristiano surveyed her with steady incisive golden eyes.

  ‘Buon giorno, gioia mia, ‘ he drawled softly.

  Her cheeks hot, Lydia made a strangled attempt to return the greeting.

  She pronounced the unfamiliar syllables to his satisfaction.

  ‘Excellent’ he pronounced with approval. ‘1 would like you to acquire the basics of my language, so l’ve arranged for you to have lessons in ltalian.’

  Although she was utterly taken aback by that announcement, she said nothing while her strained gaze sidled uneasily to the dented pillow beside her own, and her heartbeat raced at that confirmation of fact. She had definitely been
with Cristiano all night, and she did not even recall getting into his bed, never mind what they had done there! She was appalled at the blankness of her memory, and deeply ashamed.

  Even this early in the day, you look enchanting.’ Seemingly impervious to the tense atmosphere, Cristiano skimmed a lean brown forefinger along the soft rosy fullness of her lower lip with a devastating familiarity that sent little nervous tingles of heat zinging through Lydia’s quivering length. ‘Iwould very much like to get back into bed with you, but 1 have a meeting.’

  Lydia nodded with as much natural cool as a robot. Wild horses could not have forced her to meet his gaze.

  Cristiano pushed up her chin with his thumb, enforcing the eye contact that she would have denied him. A razor-edged smile tilted his beautifully shaped mouth. ‘You were amazingly affectionate last night.’

  Absorbing that assurance, Lydia flinched, her mind running riot on what she might have said or done. Oh, goodness, was it possible that she had told him she loved him, or something stupid like that? How could she tell what she might have said under the influence of too much alcohol? Suddenly she wanted to die a thousand deaths.

  His stunning dark eyes looked down into hers.

  ‘I enjoyed the exotic dance you performed-‘

  Hauling herself up against the pillows, her shadowed blue eyes luminous as sapphires, Lydia gasped in horror. ‘Exotic dance?’ Cristiano shook his handsome dark head slowly and sighed with regret.

  ‘You don’t remember anything, do you?’

  She shook her head in stricken acknowledgement.

  ‘So 1 could tell you whatever 1 liked and you would know no difference’. Cristiano pointed out without pity.

  ‘That is why a woman should never get that drunk and out of control.’

  Her slender hands knotted into fierce fists and she swallowed convulsively. Her pride was stung almost beyond bearing, but logic made it impossible for her to argue with that statement.

  ‘I was concerned about you last night. 1 ended up smashing down the bathroom door in your suite. There 1 found you passed out on the floors’ he revealed drily.

  ‘1 brought you back into my room only so that 1 could take care of you. Nothing of a sexual nature occurred between us. It offends me that you could have assumed otherwise. 1 like my partners fully awake and aware, not in an inebriated stupor.’

  Pale as death, Lydia compressed her lips and focused on the bedspread with hot prickly eyes. She hated him for owning the moral high ground, for having done the right and decent thing.

  Even though she knew that it was irrational, that was how she felt. Even so, she knew that in the circumstances he had the right to criticise her behaviour.

  ‘Today…1 was in the wrong. But 1 don’t do stuff like that normally-‘

  ‘It was dangerous. Some guys may take advantage of it’

  ‘I get the messages’ she said tightly.

  ‘You have a wilful streak’

  Cristiano told her huskily.

  ‘lt infuriates me, but it also gives me a kick.’

  Lydia shot him a startled glance and hugged the sheet to her breasts, for there was a light in his gleaming gaze that made her staggeringly conscious of her lack of clothing.

  ‘You said you had a meeting’ she reminded him in desperation.

  Checking his Rolex, Cristiano frowned and vaulted upright.

  ‘Don’t worry about it.Your staff will keep you on target.’

  ‘My staff’?’ she whispered incredulously.

  ‘Arnaldo, your stylist…You’ve met some of your support staff already. You also have a very efficient PA to organist your appointments and remind you of them. l don’t want you so busy that you can’t devote your time to me’ Cristiano confided silkily. ‘You’re flying to Tuscany at ten. We’ll be staying at my palazzo for a few days. 1’ll meet you there.’

  ‘oh… ‘ was all she could say, belatedly grasping why he might wish her to acquire a working knowledge of Italian. Support staff? He had actually hired people on a day-to-day basis to look after her? She could hardly get her head round the idea.

  ‘I have a small gift for you… ‘ He set a slim shallow jewel case down on her lap.

  Dry-mouthed she flipped up the lid on a breathtaking sapphire and diamond pendant. ‘I can’t accept something this valuable from you… ‘

  ‘of course you can.’ Cristiano removed the necklace from the case turned her round and pushed her hair gently out of his way so that he could attach the clasp.

  The superb jewel was cold against the tender skin in the shallow valley between her breasts. She was maddeningly conscious of his appraisal.

  ‘Yes I like it…don’t take it off ‘gioia mia’.

  He bent down and captured her mouth with a hungry masculine brevity that made her tremble then he strode to the door.

  ‘ By the way, 1 want you to see a dietician in ltaly.’

  Her head flew up, blue eyes bright. ‘Will you stop ordering me around’?’ she launched furiously at him.

  ‘Don’t hold your breath. l’m a bossy guy. ‘ In the face of her anger, Cristiano lifted and dropped a broad shoulder in a studied gesture of untarnished cool.

  ‘1 promised to take care of you and l will. You look too thin to be healthy so at my request you will take professional advice.’

  Ten minutes later with a lump of impotent rage still sitting like a rock inside her Lydia surveyed herself in the mirror in his magnificent bathroom. Too thin to be healthy? She had always been skinny as a rake. Perhaps he meant she was too thin to be tempting? She squinted down at her very small breasts and reddened. Was he hoping to fatten her up like a Christmas turkey? She touched the sapphire and diamond pendant gleaming at her throat with an unsteady hand. It was so beautiful but he had made it feel like the luxury equivalent of a ball and chain. Wasn’t owning her body and soul by contract enough for him? Perhaps he was scared she might forget the fact? It was time that she showed him that she could not be controlled in every way.

  Later that morning, Lydia boarded Cristiano’ s private jet. To Arnaldo’ s dismay, his charge had attracted a most unwelcome degree of attention on their passage through the airport. The perilously high red stiletto boots were out of season and extraordinarily conspicuous on Lydia’ s long stunning legs. Her low-slung denim skirt was so short and tight it was a challenge to walk in it and her lime-green top exposed a slender midriff adorned with a colourful fake tattoo above her navel. The make-up artist had revelled in fulfilling that special request.

  During the flight Lydia ate a meal and tried to watch a film but she couldn’t concentrate on anything. She couldn’t wait for the moment when Cristiano would see her. In fact she just couldn’t wait to see Cristiano again.

  Although she had visited Rome twice before when she was modelling, she had never moved beyond the city limits or had the chance to go sightseeing. As she was driven through the Tuscan countryside she was enchanted by the scenery. In the somnolent heat of afternoon the rolling landscape of verdant hills studded with ancient earth-coloured buildings and olive groves was ravishingly beautiful.

  The limousine turned into a drive shaded by a long procession of splendid arrow-shaped cypresses. She sat forward to get a better look at the house ahead. The palazzo was very grand and very large, and the sweep of gravelled carriageway up to the front doors was adorned by formal topiary and playing fountains. The building looked as though it had sat there for centuries.

  Nerves formed a tight little knot in Lydia’s tummy and she climbed out into the hot sunlight to walk towards the imposing entrance. She could already see Cristiano pacing in the shadowed hall and she found herself smiling. Then she saw that he was talking on the phone again and sudden fury ripped through her. She wanted to race up to him snatch the phone and stamp on it until it smashed into a hundred broken pieces. Bemused and dismayed as she was by that strange prompting she slowed her steps.

  As she approached Cristiano fell still and stared his frown induced by the particu
larly frustrating discussion that was unfolding into his ear. His scorching golden eyes locked to her slender figure like a heat-seeking missile and raked over her fabulous face and the glorious curtain of her platinum fair hair. He inhaled before letting his deeply appreciative scrutiny travel further south to absorb her tiny waist and her spectacular legs accentuated by the ridiculously sexy scarlet boots. It did briefly occur to him on some inattentive level that the outfit was a touch off the wall but what she was wearing was a great deal less.

  ‘I like to look at a woman in high heels and a short skirt-especially when she is my woman. ‘

  Laughter curled along the edges of every syllable Cristiano voiced in his rich dark drawl.

  ‘Yes I know. It’s tacky, predictable even sexist. But at least I’ m honest about what I enjoy-‘

  ‘I don’t want to hear any more! ‘

  Lydia sliced back at him between gritted teeth. It had been bad enough that he had not been discomfited by the challenging message writ large in her attire but to suggest that her appearance was something in the nature of a sexual treat outraged her even more.

  ‘At the same time I should mention that while I’m happy for you to dress in this manner within the privacy of my home I would prefer you not to be seen out in public in such provocative apparel.’

  Lydia dealt him a seething glance. ‘Why? Are you scared it might give the wrong impression?’

  ‘No. I don’t want anyone else enjoying the same view! ‘

  ‘Watch out…you sound possessive! It doesn’t go with the Cool image! ‘ Lydia slung, furious that he was refusing to take her seriously.

  ‘I don’t think so… ‘ Glittering golden eyes assailed hers with an almost physical force that shook her.

  ‘You might let someone else enjoy more than the view. You were quick enough to play the slut with Stevens!’

  The silence hummed like a buzz saw. Lydia flinched back in consternation and hurt at that derisive crack and then swung up her hand. He caught her wrist before the slap could connect and held on fast to her when she tried to pull violently free of his hold.