CHAPTER ELEVEN

GIANNA must have fallen asleep, for the next thing she remembered was being drawn into a deliciously evocative dream where her skin burgeoned into exquisite life with the erotic drift of a mouth bent on seduction.

A soft, throaty purr escaped her throat, and she instinctively arched her body in languorous acceptance, like a moth to flame, exulting as tantalising lips sought sensitive hollows and caressed vulnerable curves.

If this is a dream, please don’t let me wake up just yet.

Except a small shaft of pain penetrated her subconscious, removing the veil of sleep and bringing with it an awareness of the dimly lit bedroom, the large bed…and the man sharing it with her.

‘Raúl.’ His name emerged from her lips as a soft sigh.

‘Tired, amante?’ His mouth shaped her own in a persuasive prelude as he sought the sweet moist cavern and began teasing her response. ‘I can…’

‘If you think I’m going to lie here…’ she trailed off huskily, angling her mouth so it took possession of his own with wicked sorcery. ‘Besides,’ she managed when she broke contact to look deep into dark eyes heavy with sensual intent, ‘you’ve already done most of the prep work…’ Her mouth curved into a seductive smile. ‘Unless I was lost in a beautiful erotic dream?’

He shifted her to sit astride him, then cradled her head and brought it down to his own. ‘What do you think?’

Real, very real, Gianna acknowledged as he reclaimed her mouth. And she used her body to tantalise his arousal…until he groaned, positioned her to accept him, then took her. Primitive, momentous…exhilarating. And so much more as he held her gaze with smouldering intensity. Sensation spiralled high, and he caught the moment she reached the peak…held her there as he joined her, tumbling them over the brink in a glorious sensual free-fall.

For what seemed an age she just drank him in, loving the feel of him deep inside her…the hard, fast beat of his heart against her hand, and knew it matched her own.

‘Beautiful,’ Raúl said gently as he drew her down to rest against him, and she felt the light drift of his fingers as they traced her spine.

It was this post-coital aftermath that caused every bone in her body to melt…a special time where the true meaning of intimacy held them bound together in sensual thrall, too enervated to move, yet so in tune with each other they were one…mind, body, and soul.

With care, he framed her face and took her mouth in a lingering kiss, then he nestled her head beneath his chin. ‘Sleep, querida.’

Gianna murmured something indistinct as she closed a hand over his shoulder and slid into blissful oblivion.

 

The early-morning sun edged towards the horizon, turning the night’s darkness to a shade of grey where shadows loomed and there was little definition in the landscape.

Gianna stirred, contemplated going back to sleep, only to discard the notion as she slid naked from the bed and crossed to the en suite bathroom, where she activated the shower and stood beneath the hot pulsing water.

Delicate rose-scented soap filled the air as she distributed it over her skin, and she winced a little as she encountered the swelling at the rear of her pelvis where Sierra had slammed her against the marble vanity.

Any day soon she’d be sporting a sizable bruise there.

Not to mention the midriff area, where she’d taken a killer punch from the vicious out-of-control woman.

Would Sierra retreat now, or would she scheme to instigate another ploy? Who could know?

Gianna was about to rinse off when the glass door slid open and Raúl stepped in. It was easy to smile, for she adored his early-morning look of rumpled hair, unshaven and dangerous.

Unclothed, he was something else. Broad shoulders, honed musculature chiselled to perfection. It was his arresting facial features, the wide-set dark eyes, wide cheekbones, and the faint grooves slashing each cheek that deepened when he smiled, laughed.

Tight butt, she added…and met the amused gleam in his slumbrous eyes.

‘Are you done?’

Looking at him? She wanted to laugh, go to him and wind her arms up around his neck, then tease… Just admiring the merchandise. And invite his kiss, as she had many times.

Except this was now…not then, and she felt a degree of reservation, which was crazy given the intimacy they’d recently shared.

‘I’ll leave you to it.’ Calm words that belied the way her insides began to curl at the lazy appreciation evident in his gaze.

‘Stay.’ He scooped up the soap and began smoothing it over her shoulders with gentle strokes, despite her faint protest. ‘You’d deny me this?’

No. It felt so good, so incredibly intimate, she almost closed her eyes as her body swayed slightly beneath his touch.

He cupped her breast, shaped it, then skimmed his knuckles over the tender peak…and felt the faint tremor skim her body.

He moved to her midriff, saw her flinch, and his hand stilled. ‘You’re hurt?’ When she didn’t answer, he caught hold of her chin between thumb and forefinger and tilted it so she had to look at him. ‘Tell me.’

‘I bumped into something. It’s nothing.’

His eyes narrowed slightly and became dark. ‘Who, Gianna?’ When she didn’t answer, his voice assumed a silky drawl. ‘Or shall I make a calculated guess?’

‘Sierra was among the guests at the fashion show for charity I attended on Teresa’s behalf yesterday afternoon,’ she admitted, and glimpsed a muscle clench at the edge of his jaw.

‘And?’

‘We had a verbal altercation.’

She became conscious of the steady water flow as it beat down on their bodies. The delicate rose scent…

‘Sierra hit you?’

Punched me, actually. ‘Sort of.’

‘What else?’ Raúl dispensed with the soap and ran his hands over her ribs, stomach then he moved to her back, caught her indrawn breath as he touched her hip and uttered a vicious oath as he examined the slightly swollen area beginning to show the first tinges of a nasty bruise. ‘Gianna?’

‘I came into contact with a vanity unit in the powder room.’

His eyes hardened.

‘She didn’t like what I had to say.’

‘And that was?’

Gianna gave him a condensed version, watching as his expression assumed pitiless disregard for the woman who’d sought to destroy his marriage.

‘You would have carried through with your threat?’

Her eyes never wavered from his own. ‘Not without informing you of my intention. But, yes,’ she indicated firmly. ‘Sierra’s lies and manipulative behaviour have caused enough damage.’

So they had. Damage he’d attempted to repair, with little success.

To believe Gianna had sought to discover the truth for herself and confronted Sierra with a litany of fact almost undid him.

To have gone to such lengths meant she cared, and with care there was the hope he’d regain her trust.

Relief lightened his heart as he closed the water dial, picked up a towel and dried the moisture from her body before tending to his own.

He removed two towelling robes, helped her into one before selecting another for himself.

With considerable care he took hold of her hand and lifted it to his lips, his eyes dark and unfathomable. ‘You should never have allowed yourself to be alone with her.’

‘Sierra is an adult, not a child who throws a tantrum because she can’t have what she wants. What were her parents thinking, indulging her by allowing such behaviour?’

‘I imagine she fooled them as successfully as she managed to fool me.’

A hard act to maintain for three months, Gianna admitted, only to reveal her true nature when the idealistic bubble burst. She could imagine how it had gone down…the tears, the pleading, the machinations.

There was never going to be a better time to reach him.

‘I owe you an apology.’

His eyes sharpened and became incredibly dark. ‘For?’

‘Not believing in you,’ she said simply.

For a long moment he simply looked at her, seeing the shadows, the ethereal quality she strove to hide beneath the surface…and his heart twisted a little at the pain she’d suffered as a result of one woman’s vindictive psychosis.

Without a word he swept an arm beneath her knees and carried her into the bedroom, where he sank down into a comfortable chair and settled her on his lap.

‘Sierra played her cards a little too well by initiating a game she could never win. At least not with me.’ He captured her face and his eyes seared her own. ‘I failed to see through the façade she presented until she mentioned she should move in with me. It didn’t go down well when I chose to end the relationship. Polite refusals to take her calls resulted in a false claim of pregnancy which I personally ensured was negative by insisting on independent testing. When I threatened legal action, she promised she’d never contact me again.’

Facts Gianna hadn’t known. But then why should she have? It had happened before she’d met Raúl, and formed part of his past.

‘Except Sierra turned up at the same events,’ Gianna said quietly, and felt his hand smooth gently over her head.

‘Yes. It was awkward in that her father is a colleague and mixes in the same social circles.’

How could she forget the number of times Sierra had accompanied her widowed father, always perfectly groomed, a new designer gown shaping her slender curves, showcasing her generous cleavage? There, a visible personage designed to silently taunt the one man she coveted…a man who had, in her eyes, wilfully discarded her.

‘Sierra saw a chink in your armour when you miscarried, and she sought to drive a wedge between us in the only way she knew how…by contriving a situation that would attack you at your most vulnerable.’

And she’d succeeded.

‘You think it didn’t hurt me to lie next to you each night and know you wept silent tears and couldn’t sleep?’

Pain was evident, and regret. ‘It killed me,’ he revealed quietly, ‘to witness your miscarriage. To know there was nothing I could do to help other than be there. And after you left, nothing I could say would ease the hurt Sierra had inflicted. I was unable to reach you on any level, and you shunned any comfort I offered. You even refused to believe the truth.’

She had failed, she reflected, caught up in her own grief, wanting so much to confide, to believe, but unable to summon the right words. So she’d chosen silence, attempting to adopt a normal façade at a time when life itself had been the antithesis of normal.

Would the tragedy have righted itself, given time?

Perhaps, she admitted silently. If it hadn’t been for Sierra’s meddling. If her belief in Raúl’s fidelity hadn’t been shaken.

Instead she’d allowed doubt and confusion to reign, influenced by what? The innuendo and lies of a bitterly disappointed woman who hadn’t won what she considered to be the prize: Raúl Velez-Saldaña.

A shiver shook Gianna’s slender frame. The fact Sierra had almost succeeded acted as a fist crashing into her heart.

If it hadn’t been for Teresa’s illness…

Would Raúl have used his persuasive power not to mention a degree of emotional blackmail to bring Gianna to fulfil Teresa’s wish?

Gianna had refused once, too hurt and too stubborn to consider Raúl’s avowal of truth. If…if she’d filed for divorce, as she had thought to be the logical step to gain closure, would he have sought to dissuade her? Suggested a reconciliation? Maybe not.

The realisation of how close she’d come to losing him almost crushed her.

Tears welled up in her eyes and threatened to spill.

‘Don’t.’ It was a despairing groan dredged up from his soul, and he touched a gentle finger to her trembling lips. ‘Don’t…please.’

Oh, God. Where did they go from here?

Her eyes met his, and locked, silently begging him to understand. How did one compensate for the loss of three years? So many days…more than a thousand nights.

Had he lain awake aching for her as she had for him, only him? Examining every word, every action, in vivid detail…and longing to go back and change some of those words.

She should have fought for him…fought for what they’d shared. What she’d believed they had together.

Instead she’d run, escaping to the other side of the world, convinced it was the right move, the only move she could make.

Refusing, in mindless agony, to listen to or condone his truth, because…why? There had seemed so many legitimate reasons at the time. And she’d been so emotionally distraught she hadn’t listened to reason or thought it through…just acted in anger.

Had a similar degree of anger kept him away after he’d flown in to the Gold Coast to explain and attempt a reconciliation?

She had vivid recall of the words she’d flung at him in accusation.

‘I tried so hard to believe you.’ Her voice sounded husky, almost desperate.

‘Not an easy ask, given Sierra’s deliberate machinations.’

They’d come so far. Did she have the courage to take the next step and help bridge the gap?

It would mean baring her soul. Vulnerable, when she’d shored up her shattered heart and papered over the cracks.

Love was a four-letter word, but one of the hardest to say.

Yet hadn’t she shown him with her body, with every touch, each caress…dammit, everything…how much he meant to her?

It wasn’t merely intimacy, or just sex. Each time they made love it was lovemaking…the gift of body, heart, soul.

Tell him, an inner voice prompted.

Except she balked at voicing the words. For once she did the rest of her life, as she knew it, would change.

And she’d already made a new life for herself. One to which she’d sworn to return. Was committed to return. How could she renege on arrangements already in place?

Almost as if Raúl knew the passage of her thoughts, he cradled her head and closed his mouth over hers in a kiss that took hold of her heart and bound it to his own.

When at last he lifted his head, he traced light fingers over her full lips and smiled slightly as they trembled beneath his touch.

‘You’re not going anywhere, mi hermosa.’

She was willing to swear her heart tripped a beat. ‘What are you saying?’

‘I want you with me always. I believe it’s what you want, too.’

Gianna wanted to give an unequivocal yes, for that was how she felt with her heart.

‘I love you. I don’t want to let you out of my sight. What ever you need to tie up in Australia can be done from here.’

‘I can’t do that,’ she said slowly. ‘There’s Bellissima…’

‘Which is operating successfully without you. Appoint Annaliese as permanent manager. Assign her a percentage of the profits as an enticement.’

‘My apartment…’

‘Lease it out.’

‘Jazz,’ she offered in a strangled voice, and saw his eyes darken. ‘My cat. He’s currently in a boarding cattery.’

‘We’ll arrange to fly him here.’

Gianna sat upright. ‘Raúl…’ Whatever else she might have said trailed to a halt as she viewed him in silence. ‘What exactly are you proposing?’

‘Do you need to ask?’

‘Yes. Yes, I do.’

‘Our marriage resumed and reinstated. I want you with me every day, every night, for the rest of my life. As my wife. If Bellissima is so important to you, we’ll source out a suitable boutique here.’

Stay? Remain here permanently? To be with him was what she wanted more than anything in the world…but she had obligations, responsibilities she needed to attend to, which meant a return to Australia.

She had to think with her head.

‘A week. Just one week,’ Gianna pleaded. ‘I’ll contact Annaliese, call my lawyer, a leasing agent. Set everything in motion so it can be tied up as quickly as possible.’ She placed a hand over her heart. ‘I give you my word.’

‘All of which can be achieved from here.’

‘I have clothes, effects at the apartment I should take care of in person.’

‘I can arrange for the entire contents of your apartment to be transported here, for cleaners to ready it for leasing.’

‘Can’t you see?’ she begged. ‘I have to go back.’

Her independence was something he admired. Together with her strength of purpose. Even in this instance, when it worked against him. If he could conceivably take a week and accompany her he would, but he had important meetings in Madrid all week, and in truth he was reluctant to be too far away from Teresa.

A week. It wasn’t a lifetime. Capitulation at this point, given the big picture, their future together, wasn’t an issue. Even if he’d merely exist without her.

‘When do you want to leave?’

What was the time? Gianna checked the bedside clock. ‘I can put a few calls through now. Follow them up with e-mails. I could probably take a flight within twenty-four hours.’

‘I’ll call my pilot and arrange to have the Lear jet on standby.’

‘You don’t need to do that.’

His eyes pierced hers. ‘Yes, I do.’

Any further protest she might have voiced became lost as he stood easily to his feet, discarded his robe, then her own, and drew her down onto the bed and into his arms.

 

Telling Teresa of her plans wasn’t the easiest thing Gianna had to do, but Teresa listened, nodded her head in silent agreement, and offered sagely, ‘If you feel it’s something you must attend to personally, then, my dear, you should follow your instinct.’

‘A week. Then I’ll be back.’ She reached out and clasped Teresa’s hands within her own. ‘I give you my word.’

‘I know,’ she said gently. ‘Raúl has made the necessary arrangements for you?’

‘Yes.’

‘When do you leave?’

‘Late this afternoon.’

‘Will you walk with me in the garden?’

‘Of course.’

They talked only of the flowers, and how Miguel planned new borders for the spring, how splendid the colours would be…different shades of pink, lilac, dispersed among the white blooms. The brilliant yellows, creams…the reds in all their glory.

‘I can visualise them now,’ Teresa said wistfully. ‘A glorious floral pathway. All my favourites.’ She paused to offer a light laugh. ‘I have so many.’

‘You love it here.’

‘Yes. My beloved husband brought me here not long after Raúl was born. He wanted to gift me something very special for the son we had made together. He thought this villa worthy of my attention,’ Teresa revealed. ‘I fell in love with it at first sight. The view was amazing, the interior perfect. It did need a little tender loving care, and that was given. I had carte blanche, and when it was finished we came here often. I designed the gardens, and now Miguel keeps them much the same. I am sure his hands itch at times to plan something different, but he never argues with me. Occasionally I feel inclined to surprise him, but that would mean change, and I prefer to keep things the way they were. It helps me remember the good times. The tree which Raúl loved to climb, until he fell and broke his arm. I wanted the tree cut down, but my husband insisted it should stand as a reminder.’ She lifted a hand and indicated the tree. ‘It beckons children, don’t you think?’

Something caught in Gianna’s throat, and she swallowed it down. ‘Yes, it does.’ In fact, its branches seemed to curve inwards, almost in a protective embrace.

‘This place represents so much to me. Above all, it lends itself to peace. It’s where I want to be…among so many wonderful memories.’

They had walked almost full circle, and as they reentered the villa Teresa drew her close in a gentle hug. Gianna extracted the gift she’d bought and placed it in Teresa’s hand.

‘For you, with my love.’

‘May I open it now?’

‘Please.’

Teresa carefully undid the decorative bow, removed the ribbon, opened the jeweller’s box, and her eyes shone with pleasure. ‘Oh, my dear. It’s exquisite. I shall treasure it. Thank you.’ She lifted a hand and cradled Gianna’s cheek.

‘Soon you must ready yourself to leave. And I must rest. Travel carefully, my dear, and God speed. Above all, thank you for spending time with me.’

Any second now she was going to cry. ‘I adore you.’ They were the only words she could summon, and Teresa smiled gently.

‘And I you.’

Gianna made it to the staircase, then her eyes blurred as the tears welled.

In an hour Miguel would drive her to the airport, where the Velez-Saldaña helicopter would transport her to Madrid, and then she’d board the Lear jet en route to the Gold Coast.

She was doing the right thing—tying up loose ends, ensuring everything she’d worked for over the past three years was settled to her personal satisfaction.

One week…what was one week in comparison to a lifetime?

Gianna sent Raúl a text message just prior to climbing into the helicopter. Another in Madrid, during the taxi ride to Barajas Airport.

It was as the driver entered the carriageway leading to the international terminal that doubt settled like a shroud and an inner voice cautioned, What the hell do you think you’re doing? Are you insane?

She was almost there, for heaven’s sake. Any minute soon the taxi would pull into the departures terminal, the driver would remove her bag, she’d pay him and head inside.

Except suddenly it seemed all wrong.

The taxi slid into its allotted bay, and the driver killed the engine.

OK, it was now or never. ‘I’m sorry, I’ve changed my mind. Please take me back to the city.’

English, she could almost hear him think. Never know what they’re doing.

‘You are sure, señora?’

She was never more sure of anything in her life.

‘Yes.’ She gave him the address of the Velez-Saldaña conglomerate’s headquarters, then sank back in her seat.