Miranda Lee -The Blackmailed Bridegroom Read online

  'You have no idea how much more, darling Paige,' he murmured, those sexy black eyes of his flicking over her once more.

  Her eyes widened while her heart flip-flopped.

  Well, how could she have any idea? All this was as unexpected as it was beguiling.

  Wednesday suddenly seemed an eternity away.

  'Do...do you still want to take me to dinner tonight?' she asked breathlessly.

  He didn't answer for a few seconds. Perhaps it was the tricky intersection they were going through at the time, but Paige suspected it wasn't traffic on his mind.

  'I think,' he said finally, 'since you're so worried about your father's reaction...we might give dinner tonight a miss.'

  'Oh...' She could not keep the disappointment out of her voice, or her face.

  'Yes, I feel the same, believe me. But the waiting will make our time together all the better. Be ready for me at nine Wednesday morning.'

  His words evoked the perturbingly erode thought that she would always be ready for him.

  'Don't forget,' she said thickly, 'I...I don't have much in the way of clothes.

  'You won't need much. Those casual things you mentioned you had at home should do. The weather forecast is for warm sunny weather for the next few days, but bring your jeans and jacket just in case it turns nasty. What you're wearing would be perfect if we stop off for dinner any night at some riverside restaurant.'

  Paige's mind went to that gold lamœ dress Antonio seemed to remember so well. Would she dare wear that for him one night? And if she did...what would he do?

  Exactly the same as he's planning on doing to you every night, darling, came a decidedly cynical voice. That's what this little boat trip is basically all about. Sex. Sex. And more sex. That line about his reaching an age where he's looking for commitment is probably nothing more than exactly that. A line.

  And you fell for it, didn't you, you fool.

  But it was too late now. She'd said yes. And, if she were honest, wild horses would not stop her going off with Antonio this Wednesday. Her earlier resolve not to ever be alone with him again had been swept away by

  the slimmest of hopes, and the strongest of desires. The truth was the thought of having him all to herself for ten days in the privacy of a houseboat was just too exciting to resist.

  And, who knew? Maybe something would come of it.

  Maybe.

  CHAPTER TEN

  ANTONIO'S bedside phone rang at seven the following morning. It persisted, despite his attempts to ignore it. Only one person, he finally accepted, would be so rude, or so persistent.

  He snatched up the receiver and put it to his ear. 'Conrad,' he said firmly, 'I'm on holiday.'

  'Only in a manner of speaking,' his boss replied wryly. 'So what happened last night? Evelyn tells me Paige got in very late.'

  Antonio bristled. 'Is that one of your housekeeper's duties? Spying for you?'

  'She's an employee.'

  'Which means she's expected to do your bidding, regardless,' he said sarcastically.

  'She's a naturally observant woman."

  Antonio thought of the atmosphere between Paige and the housekeeper last night and found himself very much on Paige's side.

  'Was it Evelyn who told Lew about the incident with Paige by the pool all those years ago?' he asked.

  'I would imagine so. But what in hell has that got to do with anything?' Conrad snapped. 'I rang up to find out about here and now, not past history. Did you or did you not make love to my daughter last night? Is she or is she not going to marry you?'

  'I have no intention of answering either of those questions, Conrad. Do you ask for a blow by blow description of how I go about getting you the best deals for your programmes?'

  'Of course not. I know how competent you are at everything you do. I trust you implicitly.'

  "Then trust me in this regard. Believe me, when Paige actually agrees to marry me you'll be the first to know.'

  'You sound pretty confident she will.'

  Antonio was hopeful, but not arrogantly smug. It would be dangerous to presume she was a sure thing. Paige was a far more complex creature than he'd ever imagined.

  And far more intriguing.

  Frankly, he could not wait for Wednesday to come.

  'She's coming away with me tomorrow for a holiday together,' he said a little testily. 'Is that good enough for you?'

  'Good God, but you're a fast worker! A holiday together, eh? Where?'

  'That's my secret.'

  'You like to play a close hand, don't you, Antonio?'

  'I like to run my own race, Conrad. And I don't like being blackmailed.' :

  I'll bet you liked it well enough last night,' his boss chuckled, and suddenly Antonio hated the man.

  'That's my private and personal business,' he ,said frostily. 'Which reminds me. I don't want you making any leading remarks about last night to Paige. Or asking her any awkward questions about me. Ironically, your daughter is worried for my career if we become involved. After your disapproving father act last night, she thought you wouldn't like the idea of our having a relationship.'

  'I told you my opposition would work in your favor. Obviously it did.'

  'I have no idea if it did or it didn't. I only know that I don't want Paige upset.'

  'My God, you really care about her, don't you?'

  Antonio almost laughed. Men like Conrad had no conception of what real caring was all about. Real caring was not what he was doing with Paige. Though, to be honest, he liked her a darned sight more than her father.

  'I'm simply looking after my best interests, Conrad,' he refuted. 'A distressed Paige is not going to make for an amenable companion.'

  'Mum's the word, then, my boy.'

  'I'm not your boy, Conrad.'

  'You're right. You're not. You've always been your own man, Antonio, and I admire that about you. That's why you were my first choice for a son-in-law.'

  'Really? Well, with Brock Masters as my understudy, you'd better damned well hope I'm successful!'

  'I'm confident you will be.'

  'Whether I am or not is entirely in Paige's hands.'

  'I doubt that, Antonio. I would think it's very much in your hands.' And he hung up.

  Antonio felt a moment of sheer fury and frustration before slamming the receiver down as well.

  Only then did Evelyn quietly replace her extension, a nasty little smile on her face.

  Paige was still sound asleep at eight, when Evelyn went into her room with a breakfast tray. The housekeeper looked down at the girl's exquisitely beautiful profile and felt a jab of jealousy so violent that she was momentarily consumed with the urge to tip the whole tray over her lovely face.

  But she kept her temper, and lowered the tray carefully onto the dressing table.

  She'd always hated the girl. Hated the beauty she took for granted and the inherited wealth she scorned. Evelyn especially hated the fact Paige didn't seem to care about either of those things.

  But the girl cared about Antonio.

  Oh, yes...she cared about Antonio very much indeed.

  She would be devastated when she learnt Antonio had

  married her not out of love but out of ambition. '.

  And the silly little fool would agree to marry him. It was as sure as night followed day. She wouldn't be able to resist her handsome hero. Antonio would be slipping a wedding ring on her finger in no time flat, and walking away as the CEO of Fortune Productions.

  And Evelyn would be there, waiting in the wings, waiting for just the right moment to let the beautiful bride know exactly why her sexy Italian husband had married her.

  It would be after the wedding, of course. No way would she be telling Paige before the big event. Evelyn wanted Antonio to get what he deserved before she set her cat among the pigeons. He was one of her kind, was Antonio. Born poor, and having to struggle to get somewhere in life, having to work hard and put up with bastards like Conrad blackmailing him.

 
Not like Madam Muck, who'd been born with everything. Looks. Money. Sex appeal.

  But none of that was going to bring the bitch any happiness. Oh, what pleasure she would savour at the look in those big blue eyes once Paige knew the truth! It would be almost as good as the day she'd come home from boarding school and found out that mongrel dog was dead.

  Evelyn wasn't concerned for her own fate after she'd dropped her bombshell. She was getting tired of being at the beck and call of people she despised. She'd squirrelled away a nice little nest-egg over the years she'd been at Fortune Hall. She didn't need Conrad and his money any more.

  Oh, yes...her day would come. And when it did, her satisfaction would last for a long, long time.

  Evelyn's presence in the room woke Paige with a jolt, her eyes flying open to find the woman glaring down at her with so much hatred a shudder of terror ran all through Paige.

  'Oh!' she cried out, before she could gather herself. But once she did Paige hid her involuntary reaction behind a covering smile, pushing her hair casually, back from her face as she propped herself up on one elbow.

  'You startled me, Evelyn,' she said, determined never to give the other woman the satisfaction of seeing her rattled.

  Paige was taken aback by the speed the housekeeper masked her true feelings as well, the hard gleam in her gaze giving way to a bland expression.

  'Sorry,' she said. 'Just following orders about your meals.-I knocked, but you didn't answer.'

  Paige doubted the other woman had knocked at all. 'I could just have easily come downstairs and made my own breakfast,' she pointed out politely. 'You know I don't expect to be waited on like this.'

  Evelyn's pale, thin lips tightened. 'But I don't take my orders from you, dear, do I? Your father's the boss of Fortune Hall. And he told me you were to be made to eat up.'

  Her pinched lips unexpectedly loosened into the travesty of a smile. 'Can't have you getting too skinny and unappealing, can we? Italian men actually like women

  with a bit of meat on their bones, you know,' she added as she turned and walked from the room, this time banging the door shut after her.

  Paige just lay there for a moment, trying to get a grip on her galloping heart. That crack about Italian men had been pointed and nasty, but she couldn't really know anything. The woman was just trying to get a rise out of her. And to make her feel lousy and unattractive.

  But she refused to rise to the bait. ,

  She might have lost of a couple of pounds these last few days out of stress, but she felt confident she wasn't too skinny. Antonio certainly hadn't found anything unattractive in her body last night.

  Sighing, Paige lay back and thought of Antonio, her beautiful, handsome Antonio. She hoped and prayed he wasn't playing her for a fool, like Jed had.

  There again, he was nothing like Jed, was he? Except superficially. Ironically, it was his superficial likenesses to Antonio which had attracted her to Jed in the first place. Jed too was tall and darkly good-looking. He was sophisticated and successful, intelligent and charming.

  But, when all was said and done, he didn't have Antonio's depth. Or his honesty. Or his sense of honour.

  Paige frowned. Those last two thoughts were at total odds with her doubts about Antonio, weren't they? If he were so honest and honourable, then he would not lie to get her into bed with him, would he? To be fair, she had no evidence that he had ever lied to any woman in his life, not even the ones he'd bedded and swiftly abandoned. If he said he was now interested in commitment, then he probably was, wasn't he? If he claimed he'd always been attracted to her, then he had A huge smile blossomed on Paige's face. What a silly girl she was, worrying about Antonio's intentions.

  Antonio wasn't a creep. Or a conman. He was a gentleman through and through.

  Maybe he wasn't in love with her...yet. But that didn't mean he wasn't open to the experience.

  Optimism burst through her like a thousand firecrackers and she sat up. She would make him fall in love with her. She would show him that life with her by his side would be so wonderful he would wonder how he'd coped without her. By the time those ten days were up, she was going to have him begging her to stay with him. He might even ask her to marry him!

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  ANTONIO had barely brought the Jag to a halt outside the high security wall which hid Fortune Hall from the main road when Paige came running through a side gate, dressed in blue jeans and a black jacket, a large colourful sports bag clutched in her right hand and a roomy black handbag slung over her left shoulder.

  His stomach tightened at the glorious sight of her long fair hah" flying out behind her, glowing in the morning sun. Her lovely face looked young and fresh and free of make-up. But that was possibly an illusion, since the bruise on her cheek was almost invisible-no doubt the result of some clever concealer.

  Still, she looked about sixteen, the image enhanced by the white shirt beneath the black jacket, a garment not dissimilar to the school blouse she'd been wearing the first day he'd seen her, getting off that train at Central.

  Even then, Antonio recalled wryly, he hadn't been able to take his eyes off her. Nothing had changed, it seemed. The desires she evoked in him were just as dark, and just as distracting. What was it about her which could disarm him so, and deflect him from the mission at hand? Why did she make him feel so guilty all the time when all he was doing was giving her what she said she wanted? Great sex. And commitment.

  Hell, he'd already changed his mind about divorcing her later on. Now that was real commitment, wasn't it? And if she wanted to have children, well, that was all right by him too. What more could she ask of a husband?

  Antonio supposed the guilt came from that four-letter word which simply wasn't going to come into the equation.

  Love.

  He didn't love her, and be damned if he was going to tell her he did!

  Plastering a welcoming smile on his face, he opened the car door and began to climb out

  Oh, God, he was just so gorgeous, Paige thought as Antonio climbed out from behind the wheel and walked round the front of the car, smiling at her.

  Antonio didn't smile a lot He wasn't that type of man. But when he did, and his almost forbidding seriousness was momentarily lightened, he looked even more handsome, if that were possible.

  I'll take that,' he said, and reached for her bag.

  Paige mumbled a thank-you and did her best not to ogle.

  For he was wearing jeans. She'd never seen him in jeans before. Never seen him looking so...accessible.

  Up top, he was wearing a casual blue T-shirt beneath an equally casual navy jacket, the kind with a band around the hips and a zipper up the front The zipper was undone and the sides flapped open as he walked, showing the broad muscles in his chest and the hip-hugging style of the jeans. His still damp hair looked extra black and glossy in the sunlight, and not slicked back as severely as usual. It looked as if he'd run an impatient hand through it instead of combing it properly. There were kinks and waves all over the place, which made her want to run her hands through it as well.

  "This is pretty heavy,' Antonio commented as he slung her bag into the boot. 'I told you you wouldn't need much.'

  She flushed a little at the thought of some of the things she'd brought with her. That gold lame" dress was there, as well as that provocative little pink bikini she'd been wearing the day she'd thrown herself at Antonio. It had anchoring ties on the hips and between the breasts. With Antonio admitting his fascination for undoing ties on her, one could imagine what would happen if she dared wear it..

  Paige had spent a couple of breathless hours last night fantasising over that little scenario!

  'Oh, you know what girls are like,' she tossed back as they both climbed in the car and belted up. "They can never make up their minds about what to wear, or what to pack. Or anything, really,', she added in a rather silly fashion.

  When Antonio threw her a sharp glance, she knew she'd said the wrong thing. Lord, she must have so
unded like some empty-headed twit!

  'I hope you don't change your mind about being with me when we're miles up the river,' he said drily, and started up the engine.

  Paige took a deep breath and set about redeeming herself. 'I won't, Antonio,' she said, in a far more serious tone, her eyes seeking out his and holding them. 'You have no idea how much I've been looking forward to seeing you again. And being with you again...'

  His eyes warmed at her words. 'If you've been feeling anything like I've been feeling, my darling Paige,' he said wryly, 'then I would say I do have a very good idea.' His head swung back to the road and the car accelerated away from the curb.