Miranda Lee -The Blackmailed Bridegroom Page 4

  'Paige, for pity's sake!' her father protested.

  'Pity, Father?' she scoffed as she swept the bottle of champagne from the ice bucket and poured herself a glass. Suddenly, drinking on an empty stomach was not only desirable but imperative!

  'Now that's a word I've not heard often in this house, ' she muttered, and turned back round, the crystal flute cupped firmly in her hands, her knuckles white in the effort to stop them from shaking. 'So what have you been drinking to with this very expensive champagne? I can't imagine its your health. You'll both still be taking the television world by storm when I'm six foot under. '

  Her gaze swept over the two men, who stared back at her with perfect poker faces, telling her nothing, and everything. 'Oh, I see, ' she said drily. 'It's a secret, is it? Something to do with business. Something silly little girls like me couldn't possibly understand, or shouldn't know. '

  Paige was surprised to see her spiked sarcasm brought a wry smile to Antonio's beautifully shaped mouth. 'Not at all, ' he said. I'm sure your father wouldn't mind your knowing. '

  Did Antonio see the warning glance her father shot him? If he did, he ignored it.

  'We're celebrating a forthcoming and hopefully desirable merger, ' he went on smoothly, his black eyes glittering with some secret amusement. Or was it suppressed anger? One could never quite tell with Antonio. 'Unfortunately, negotiations are at too early and too delicate a stage to supply you with more details right now. '

  'How delightfully vague!' she exclaimed, rolling her eyes at him. She should have known Antonio wouldn't cross her father. He knew what side his bread was buttered on.

  Not that Antonio was easily cast in the role of flunkey. He was far too strong-willed and opinionated to be a mindless yes-man. She'd heard him disagree with her father more than once when it came to business.

  But she was still piqued that he felt he could play with words around her. It was so patronizing. And so like the treatment she'd always received around Fortune Hall. If she'd been born a boy she would have been drawn into their world of negotiations and deals, not excluded, then cynically condescended to!

  Her eyes flashed as she lifted her glass in a mock toast. 'To the forthcoming and hopefully... what kind of merger did you say it was, Antonio?'

  'Desirable, ' he said quietly, and that inscrutable black gaze of his ran slowly over her from head to toe.

  Paige's heart tripped, then stopped altogether when those eyes began to travel back up her body even more slowly, lingering on the swells and dips of her female form, leaving them burning in his wake. He inspected her mouth for what felt like an interminable length of time, forcing her lips to fall apart and drag in some much needed air for her starving lungs.

  Now his eyes lifted to hers, holding them in a hard and merciless gaze which was as blatantly sexual as it was chillingly cold.

  She quivered. All over. Inside and out.

  It was the most erotic thing which had ever happened to her.

  Her heart began to race, an uncomfortable heat suffusing her skin.

  Paige did the only thing she could think of to survive the moment. She quaffed back the chilled champagne she was holding. The whole lot.

  Unfortunately, her ragged breathing sent some down the wrong way and she began to choke.

  Antonio was beside her in a flash, slapping her firmly between the shoulders. The champagne came flying back up and sprayed out from her mouth, most of it falling to the carpet but some dribbling down her front.

  'Try to breathe slowly and evenly, ' Antonio advised, once she'd stopped choking to death.

  She tried, but it 'was almost impossible with him standing so close to her, then perfectly impossible when Antonio drew a snow-white handkerchief from his trou-ser pocket and started wiping down her top where the champagne had stained it, stroking the handkerchief down over the swell of her right breast, working his way closer and closer to her hardening nipple. As he drew dangerously close she felt her flesh tighten even further

  in anticipation of his touch, craving the contact, practically begging for it.

  Paige sucked in sharply when the handkerchief finally slid over the tautened peak, her head spinning wildly. He did it again. Then again.

  Confusion flung her eyes wide to search his. Was he being deliberately cruel? Did he have any idea what he was doing to her? She dared not believe this was real, but when their eyes met Paige was stunned to see he was as enthralled as she was by what he was doing.

  The handkerchief came to rest over the traitorous peak, hiding it from sight. 'Do you want to go upstairs and change?' he asked her in a low, thickened voice.

  'I... I don't have anything to change into, ' came her shaky reply, and Antonio frowned.

  'There's no time to change, ' Conrad snapped irritably, from where he'd risen and was moving towards the now open dining room door. 'Dinner's ready to be served. '

  'Why don't you have anything to change into?' Antonio asked in a disconcertingly gentle tone as he led her still shaken self to her place at the table. 'Or don't you want to tell me?'

  Suddenly, she did want to tell him. Suddenly, he wasn't the disapproving, remote, unattainable man he'd become over the years. He was more like that other Antonio Scarlatti, the one who'd kindly met her train that day, and started her obsession with him.

  Was one of her futile dreams in danger of coming true? Had Antonio finally seen her tonight as a grownup woman, and not a silly little girl?

  'Later, ' she whispered to him when he pulled her seat out for her.

  His breath was warm against her ear as he scooped

  her chair under her. I'll look forward to it, ' he murmured, and she quivered helplessly.

  Dinner was agony. And ecstasy. One minute she would be smiling and sparkling, at him, then doubts would besiege her and she'd fall worriedly silent. Why now? she agonized. Why tonight? Did her father have anything to do with this? Had he ordered Antonio to be nice to her?

  No, no, that couldn't be it, she decided at long last. If Antonio's ambitions lay in that direction, he would not have waited this long to pursue her. No, he was genuinely attracted to her tonight. She could feel it. There was a predatory glitter in his eyes, eyes which didn't stop looking at her. Paige knew what it was like to be the object of a man's sexual interest, and she could feel Antonio's desire hitting her in waves.

  He wanted to make love to her.

  The thought was breathtaking. And compellingly exciting.

  It was only a sexual thing, of course. Paige was not naive enough to think anything else. Antonio was a man of the world, a confirmed bachelor type whose commitment was to the company. His bed-partners were transitory, and replaceable, like her father's. According to the staff at Fortune Hall, Antonio hadn't brought the same woman to dinner, or a party there, in all the years of his employ. If Paige let him seduce her, he would promise her nothing but passing pleasures, followed by the ultimate in pains.

  But, oh... those passing pleasures...

  Paige could barely begin to imagine them.

  The ultimate in pains, however, she could imagine.

  She groaned a silent groan. She'd have to be crazy to set herself up for that!

  'Paige!' her father snapped. 'Evelyn's asking you if you want some dessert. What's the matter with you tonight, girl? One minute chattering away sixty to the dozen, the next off in some dream world!'

  Her blue eyes cleared to see the hated housekeeper smirking at her from her position at her father's shoulder.

  'No dessert, thank you, ' Paige said stiffly, while she struggled to suppress the overwhelmingly negative feelings the woman always evoked in her.

  'You're not becoming anorexic again, are you?' her father demanded, exasperation in his voice.

  'I was never anorexic!' she defended hotly. 'I have no idea where you ever got such an idea, ' she finished, whilst looking daggers at Evelyn.

  The housekeeper's beady eyes didn't move an inch.

  "Then prove it by having some apple crum
ble!' her father insisted. 'Bring Paige a large helping, Evelyn. With plenty of cream. '

  A helpless fury flooded Paige as the housekeeper swarmed off with a triumphant expression on her face. If Antonio hadn't been at the table she would have left the room. Instead, she was stuck there, feeling belittled and foolish. She could not bear to look over at Antonio, afraid to see his earlier attraction for her had faded because she was being treated like a difficult and wayward child.

  'The reason Paige probably turned dessert down, Conrad, ' Antonio said, and Paige's eyes snapped up to stare across the table at him, 'is because she promised to have supper with me later. I should have said no to dessert as well.

  Paige was as amazed as her father by this announcement. She'd only agreed to talk to Antonio later. Nothing more. But she wasn't about to say anything. Not now.

  'You and Paige are having supper together?' her father challenged. 'Tonight?'

  Antonio didn't look at all concerned by his employer's tone of disapproval. 'I trust you have no objection to that?' he returned, an icy counter-challenge in his voice.

  Paige was mesmerized by the exchange.

  'No, no, I suppose not. It's just that... well... I'm surprised, that's all. '

  No more than herself, Paige thought dazedly.

  'You only flew into town this morning, ' her father went on a little testily. 'I would have thought you'd be too tired to go out. '

  'I slept on the plane, ' Antonio explained coolly. I'm only home for two weeks, as you know. Terrible to waste my holiday sleeping it away, don't you think? There are much better ways to spend one's leisure time. What say you, Paige? Should we make our escape now, before Evelyn returns and force-feeds us both?'

  Paige didn't need any encouragement. She was on her feet in a flash. Too late, however. Evelyn was already coming into the room, carrying a tray of desserts towards the table.

  Paige hesitated. Not so Antonio, who strode around the table towards her.

  'Our apologies, Evelyn, ' he said smoothly as he took Paige's elbow and steered her towards the doorway. 'Paige and I are going out and haven't time for dessert right now. '

  Paige expected the woman to look put out. Instead, she smiled oh, so sweetly at them both as they passed.

  'That's quite all right, Antonio. Dessert will keep. It's nice to see you and Paige are friends at long last. '

  Paige's mouth dropped open at Evelyn's hypocrisy. There was no level to which that woman would not stoop!

  'Don't wait up, Conrad, ' Antonio called back, with a nonchalant glance over his shoulder. 'And don't worry. Your daughter will be perfectly safe in my hands. '

  CHAPTER FOUR

  ANTONIO almost laughed at the expression on Conrad's face. It seemed it was one thing to callously blackmail an employee into bedding and wedding your wayward daughter, quite another to witness the process first hand.

  Antonio suspected his employer might be having second thoughts.

  But it was too late now. The wheels had been set in motion, and Antonio meant to see the journey through to the bitter end.

  'My car's outside, ' he told Paige as he urged her across the living room floor towards the foyer.

  She nodded, but said nothing, which was fine by him. He wanted to get her out of the house as quickly as possible. No way did he want Conrad trying to stop things now, just because he'd had a momentary flutter of conscience, or because the reality of an illegitimate Italian peasant seducing his daughter stuck in his throat.

  Actually, Antonio found this evening's events perverse in the extreme. He'd fumed all day over being backed into such a corner, arriving for drinks and dinner tonight in a smouldering state of black fury. Only the thought of Brock Masters being handed the job which he'd worked so darned hard for had stopped Antonio from throwing the cold-blooded bargain back in Conrad's face.

  But the moment he'd set eyes on Paige this evening, looking surprisingly elegant and incredibly sexy, his male hormones had kicked in, and Antonio had decided

  a man's fate could be worse than having such a delectable creature as his wife for a while.

  But only for a while.

  Antonio had no intention of staying married to the girl. Which was one little loophole his employer hadn't thought of. Nowhere did the promissory letter in Antonio's pocket say he would lose his job as CEO if he divorced Paige. He would make sure that the contract he signed on his wedding day was irretrievable and unbreakable, no matter what!

  Of course, that still left the problem of getting Paige to marry him in the first place. Antonio had no doubt he could get the girl into bed with him in no time. Dear Lord, she was a push-over where the opposite sex was concerned. He'd only had to make eye contact with her a few times tonight, and she'd been his for the taking.

  Admittedly, she exuded a pretty powerful chemistry of her own. Once those big blue eyes had clamped on to his, he'd found it difficult to keep his mind-and his body-on track. When he'd been wiping down that top of hers he'd almost forgotten who was seducing whom.

  But getting the man-mad Paige into bed was a far cry from getting her to agree to marry him. She hadn't married any of her other lovers, had she? Why should he be any different? It was naive of Conrad to think a schoolgirl crush was the same as being seriously in love. Antonio doubted Paige had ever been seriously in love in her life.

  Get her pregnant had been Conrad's ruthless sugges-tion. Antonio wondered if his boss was still so keen on that idea.

  Antonio didn't fancy it at all, though he could see it might become his final option. He would certainly try the whirlwind romance bit first. And plenty of sex. Oh, yes, definitely plenty of sex. Hell, he hadn't been this turned on in years!

  But the bottom line was Paige had a mind of her own, a stubborn, rebellious, changeable mind, and she obviously had a low boredom threshold when it came to the men in her life. She'd promised him undying love and devotion once, a promise which had lasted all of a week or two. Loyal wife material she was not.

  But marry her he would, by hook or by crook!

  His hand tightened on her arm and she threw him a look which almost stopped him in his tracks.

  For never had Antonio seen such vulnerability in a woman's eyes. Or such sweet gratitude.

  His gaze dropped to the ugly bruise on her cheek, and that sometimes awkward conscience of his raised its infernal interfering head. How could he ruthlessly seduce her later tonight when she was looking at him as though he were a hero, rescuing her from the villains of this world? Couldn't she see that he was the villain this time?

  But, damn it all, what was the alternative? Leave her to Brock 'Marquis de Sade' Masters? Compared to Masters, he war a hero.

  Besides, it wasn't as though he was going to hurt the girl. He was going to be very nice to her, make beautiful love to her, tell her he loved her.

  Lie to her, you mean, came the brutal voice of honesty.

  'Antonio?' Conrad called from the dining room, his voice gruff. 'Antonio! Are you still there by any chance?'

  Antonio hesitated, but Paige left him to run over to the security panel behind the front door. 'Hurry, ' she urged as she punched in the gate code.

  His black Jaguar was waiting, like Lochinvar's trusty steed. They dashed down the steps and dived into their respective seats as one, slamming the car doors behind them and tugging on their seat belts.

  'Don't stop for anything, ' his breathtakingly beautiful and stunningly sexy passenger advised as he gunned the engine.

  'Don't worry, ' Antonio muttered, his body making his decision for him. 'I won't. '

  The car screeched off, gravel spraying out behind them. The die was cast. There was no going back.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Paige's heart accelerated with the car as it sped around the circular drive and shot through the gates. The tires squealed when they hit the road at an angle, but Antonio corrected the small skid and pointed the Jaguar towards the city centre.

  'You can let go of the seat belt now, ' he said, with d
ry amusement in his voice, and Paige saw she was indeed gripping it across her chest, as a child might grip the security bar on one of those wild fairground rides.

  But in truth that was how she felt, as though she'd jumped onto a runaway rollercoaster which was in danger of hurtling out of control.

  'What do you think Father wanted you for?' she asked breathlessly.

  'Probably something to do with business. It can wait, ' he pronounced, with a confidence Paige could not help but admire.

  There again, there was so much to admire about Antonio. And she wasn't just talking about his looks, although he was still one of the handsomest men she'd ever met. Antonio was an enigma, in a way. A man of contradictions. Privately passionate, Paige had no doubt. But with a public and professional self-possession she could only envy. If only she had half as much control over her own emotions. And her life.