The Platinum Collection. Maisey Yates

trembled, more affected than she was prepared to admit by his proximity and words of understanding. He’d called her ‘my wife’ and instantly everything seemed lighter and brighter. She wrapped her arms round his neck and within seconds he was kissing her with a hot, driving hunger that left her dizzy with its intensity. Her body quickened, desire rising embarrassingly fast so that she pushed against his hard, muscular frame, her breath ragged in her throat, her nipples tight and throbbing.

      ‘Bed,’ Cesario muttered thickly, grasping her hand and urging her out of the room and up the stairs.

      ‘It’s time for dinner,’ she muttered.

      ‘Non c’è problema! Tommaso won’t let us starve, bellezza mia.’

      And the hunger he roused in her with his second kiss was fierce and relentless, every plunge of his tongue sending a responsive quiver through her slight body. It was as if there were a flame desperate for fuel burning at the heart of her as she hauled off his jacket and pulled open his shirt. He laughed softly and then crushed her mouth almost savagely beneath his. As he removed her clothes with impatient hands she knew that, somehow, the same overwhelming urgency and need for fulfilment was driving him.

      He sank into her hot, wet sheath hard and fast and released a groan of pleasure that acted like an aphrodisiac on her. She felt wild as she craved every thrust of his lean, muscular hips, her body jolting and straining towards a climax even while he paused to savour the moment. She came apart in the circle of his arms, ravished by the exquisite pleasure that washed through her in a sweet drowning tide, so that even afterwards all she was conscious of was the race of his heartbeat against her breast and the damp, reassuring solidity of his big powerful body against hers.

      ‘I’ve never needed anyone the way I just needed you, cara mia,’ Cesario framed heavily, both arms wrapped round her as though he was still reluctant to let her go.

      And in the fading light she smiled and touched a loving hand to his shadowed jaw line, admiring his fabulous bone structure and the inky darkness of the long lashes that framed his bronzed eyes. She loved to be needed, lived to be needed by him, and his passion for her made her feel special. It would have been the perfect moment to tell him that she was pregnant but she was quick to discard the idea, preferring to concentrate on their togetherness rather than on an announcement that might well bring their current living arrangements to an end. She would share her news in the morning instead, she decided, and she stayed silent, even though they later got out of bed to enjoy a late dinner.

      What remained of the night was long, since they made love until dawn. Cesario was tireless and his hunger for her seemed both ravenous and unquenchable. When exhaustion finally overcame her, she slept deeply and wakened to find that she was alone. She had planned to make her announcement over breakfast with Cesario but the morning was already well advanced.

      Clad in cropped trousers and a silk top, she hurried across the imposing landing of the mansion that was now her home and sped downstairs. She found Cesario in his office talking in Italian on the phone. Weed and Magic were curled up together below his desk. Eyes tender with love, she watched Cesario unnoticed from the doorway for the space of minute, revelling in the memory of the closeness they had shared and proud of the intimate ache that was the penalty for such passion…

CHAPTER NINE

      ‘JESSICA…’ Cesario perceptibly tensed the instant he saw her there, his lean strong face pulling taut and shuttering. ‘I’ll be with you in a moment.’

      A little hurt by the reserve she sensed in him, Jess asked Tommaso to bring them coffee and took a seat. ‘I’ve got something to tell you,’ she said as soon as Cesario had finished his phone call.

      Tommaso created a welcome hiatus with his return with a tray and Cesario wandered over to the window with his cup cradled in one lean hand, sunshine glinting over his black hair and adding reflected light to his charismatic dark eyes. ‘What is it?’ he asked casually.

      Jess lifted her head high. ‘I’m pregnant,’ she told him quietly.

      Cesario looked revealingly stunned, as though that was the last piece of news he had expected to hear. His ebony brows pleated in a questioning frown. ‘You can’t be.’

      ‘I am.’ A confident smile of achievement illuminated her face. ‘I saw the doctor yesterday and had it confirmed, so there’s no mistake.’

      ‘But so soon, so, er, quickly?’ Cesario breathed in stilted English, his surprise still lingering in spite of her explanation. ‘We’re both in our thirties and I believed it might take months.’

      ‘No. We’ll be parents by the end of January next year,’ Jess told him excitedly, wanting to infect him with some of her enthusiasm because he was standing there so still and quiet.

      ‘January next year,’ Cesario repeated slowly.

      She thought he looked pale beneath his bronzed skin and more like a man who had been dealt a severe shock than a man given news he should have been eager to hear. His strong facial bones were clearly defined, his brilliant eyes hooded so that she had not the slightest idea what he might be thinking. It was the most complete non-reaction that she had ever experienced and very far from what she had hoped to receive.

      ‘You’re not pleased,’ she breathed unevenly.

      Cesario unfroze and took a hasty step towards her, only to come to a halt again and then hover with uncharacteristic uncertainty. ‘Of course, I’m pleased!’

      Jess could feel herself turning stiff and defensive, for any hint of the warm intimacy of the night hours had been well and truly scuppered by his attitude. ‘No, you’re not pleased and I don’t understand why you’re not. Isn’t this what you wanted? Didn’t you marry me so that I could give you a child?’ she prompted, her voice getting more shrill without her meaning it to, and for a horror-stricken instant she was afraid she sounded whiny.

      ‘Che cosa hai…what’s the matter with you?’ Cesario chided, pulling her resistant body to him with firm hands. ‘Does falling pregnant make a woman shockingly cross, bellezza mia?’

      ‘No, of course, it doesn’t!’ she rebutted tightly, gazing up into his breathtakingly handsome features with bewildered eyes. ‘It’s the way you’re behaving that’s making me feel like this. You’ve changed your mind, haven’t you? You don’t want a baby any more! ‘

      Cesario closed his larger hands firmly over hers. ‘I have never heard such nonsense. If you are having my baby—’

      ‘I am,’ Jess slotted in truculently.

      ‘Then naturally I am overjoyed, piccola mia,’ Cesario insisted, his beautiful dark eyes intent on her troubled face as if he was willing her to believe what he was telling her. ‘But I am very concerned that I should hear this wonderful news and then have to tell you that, owing to a business emergency, I have to fly to Milan this afternoon and leave you alone here.’

      Although her heart sank at the prospect of him leaving and she could barely credit that he should already be returning to Italy when they had only left the country the day before, she was relieved by his clarification. Her cherished announcement had clearly suffered from bad timing when he was already preoccupied with business problems and his imminent departure.

      ‘I’ll be absolutely fine here. My family are within reach if I need company. But, to be frank, I have a good number of hours to catch up at work and I’ll be very busy as well.’

      His hold on her hands tightened. ‘Now that you’re carrying a baby you’ll have to rest more.’

      ‘I’ll be sensible. I am only contracted to work part-time now,’ she reminded him. ‘I also need to get the accommodation here and staffing sorted out for my rescue animals. I’ve got plenty to do while you’re away.’

      And she maintained that upbeat outlook until