Trapped By Vialli's Vows. Chantelle Shaw

left her jewellery to her daughters. Mum had Grandma’s pearl necklace and Aunt Susan was left a ruby ring. Mum didn’t make a will before she took the overdose.’ Marnie sighed. ‘I’ve often wondered if she meant to take her life or if it was a cry for help. But now the necklace belongs to Mum’s surviving children. I wore it recently to a party, but I want you to have it. I think it’s worth quite a bit, and if you sell it you’ll have some money to last until you get your first pay cheque at your new job.’

      ‘Marnie, you don’t have to give me the necklace,’ Jake protested.

      But Marnie had already entered Leandro’s study and slid back a panel in the wall to reveal the safe. When she’d moved in with Leandro he had told her to put any valuable items she owned into the safe. The pearl necklace was the only piece of jewellery she possessed, and she had often wondered why her mother had refused to sell it when they had needed money.

      She remembered the safe’s combination and it took her only a few seconds to open the door.

      ‘Do all those boxes contain jewellery?’ Jake asked, staring at the numerous velvet boxes stored within the safe.

      Marnie nodded, busy searching for the box containing her grandmother’s pearls. ‘Here it is.’ She handed the box to Jake and reset the combination to lock the safe. ‘Now, I’m going to cook you dinner. You’re so thin—I bet you haven’t eaten a proper meal for ages.’

      Throughout the evening she tried to call Leandro, but his phone was still switched off. The photograph she had seen in the newspaper of Leandro and Stephanie played on her mind, but she reminded herself that her mother’s obsessive love for her father had driven him into the arms of another woman.

      As she undressed for bed she caught sight of her naked body in the mirror and vowed to go on a strict diet. It wasn’t just her breasts that had grown bigger as a result of her gaining a few extra pounds. Her hips and bottom looked rounder and—horror of horrors—her stomach was no longer flat but had a distinct curve.

      Marnie glanced guiltily at the plate of cheese and crackers she’d planned on eating for a bedtime snack. She remembered what Uncle Brian had said about her aunt developing a craving for cheese during her pregnancy. But there was no way she could be pregnant, she assured herself. She just needed to work on her willpower. Leandro had always said he found her hourglass figure sexy, and she wished he was with her now to reassure her that her concerns about their relationship were groundless.

      * * *

      ‘Marnie?’

      The gravelly voice infiltrated Marnie’s dream and she opened her eyes, blinking in the bright sunlight streaming through the open curtains. ‘Leandro?’

      ‘You sound surprised to see me, cara. Didn’t you get my message that I was on my way home?’

      ‘No, I’ve been asleep.’

      She glanced at the bedside clock and wondered why she was in bed at three-thirty in the afternoon, before the mist clouding her mind cleared and she remembered. Last night her brother had stayed at the house, but this morning when she had got up for work she’d discovered that Jake had left without saying goodbye.

      Leandro threw his jacket carelessly onto a chair before he sat down on the edge of the bed. Marnie’s pulse quickened as she inhaled the familiar musk of his aftershave mixed with his unique male scent. She could see the shadow of his black chest hair through his white shirt, and the dark stubble on his jaw added to his raw sex appeal.

      ‘Why were you sleeping in the daytime? Are you ill?’

      ‘I fainted at work.’

      She recalled that she’d felt nauseous while she had been serving coffee to some customers, and when she’d returned to the kitchen she’d had the weird sensation that the floor was rushing up to meet her and suck her down into a black hole.

      ‘The head chef thought I might be suffering from heatstroke. Maybe it’s a good thing that the weather is supposed to break and a storm is forecast.’

      Leandro frowned. ‘I think you should see a doctor. It seems unlikely that the heat would cause you to faint. Maybe you have a vitamin deficiency.’

      ‘Nonsense, I’ve got the constitution of an ox.’

      She was also becoming the size of an ox, Marnie thought dismally, conscious of Leandro’s gaze roaming over her body. One of the waiters at the cocktail bar had driven her home and she’d felt so tired that she’d taken off her dress and lain down on the bed wearing only her bra and knickers.

      ‘You’ve got colour in your cheeks,’ Leandro noted, watching a rosy blush spread across her face and neck and stain the upper slopes of her breasts. ‘But why are you wearing a bra that is at least two sizes too small? It’s no wonder you felt faint when your breathing is restricted.’

      He reached behind her and unsnapped her bra. His grey eyes gleamed like molten silver as he stared at Marnie’s lush breasts, as inviting as firm, ripe peaches that he longed to taste.

      Leandro traced his finger over the red line on her skin where her bra had cut into her flesh. ‘Buy some new underwear with the credit card I gave you. I enjoy seeing you wearing sexy lingerie, cara.’

      ‘I don’t expect you to pay for my clothes,’ Marnie muttered.

      She was finding it hard to concentrate on their conversation when all she could think about was the insistent ache between her legs. She felt embarrassed that Leandro only had to look at her and she was on fire for him. Her nipples hardened and she drew a sharp breath of longing when he stroked his thumbs over the swollen tips.

      Desire swept through her with the force of a tidal wave, consuming her and obliterating her uncertainty about the state of their relationship. It was more than two weeks since they had last made love and it seemed like a lifetime. She held her breath as he lowered his face closer to hers.

      ‘Do you really feel okay?’

      There was genuine concern in his voice, but also a husky sensuality that made every nerve ending on Marnie’s body quiver.

      ‘I could get you something to eat. Are you hungry?’

      ‘Hungry for you.’ She gave up trying to fight her weakness and gave in to her yearning to touch him, to trace the slashing lines of his hard cheekbones and run her fingers through the springy softness of his hair. ‘Kiss me,’ she begged.