Innocent Wife, Baby of Shame

He took her hand and pulled her to her feet before she could protest and led her to the dance floor, his arms going around her, bringing her in close to his pelvis as the band switched numbers to play a romantic ballad.

Keira had been prepared to dance a modern number with plenty of room between them, but having his body move in time with hers in a slow seductive dance was almost too much to bear. Her body betrayed her totally, her breasts tightened and peaked against the silk of her gown, her inner thighs moistened with the humid dew of desire and her lips began to tingle with the urge to feel his mouth pressing hard on hers.

‘Relax, cara,’ he said against her hair. ‘You are like a broomstick.’

‘Sorry…’ She gave a little stumble but he steadied her by cupping her bottom with his hands.

‘I had forgotten how well we fit together,’ he said as they circled the dance floor. ‘The top of your head fits just beneath my chin.’

‘Only because I’m wearing heels.’

‘We shall make a move to leave soon,’ he said after they had weaved through the other couples who had joined them. ‘I do not want you to have too late a night. We have another engagement tomorrow evening.’

She looked up at him in alarm. ‘We do?’

‘Take that worried look off your face,’ he said in an undertone. ‘Yes, I have organised to take the boys out for a meal. I have already cleared it with the headmaster.’

Keira felt her stomach go hollow. Jamie, of all people, would surely see through her thin façade. ‘Won’t your nephew object to being forced to spend the evening with Jamie, not to mention me?’ she asked.

His hands fell away from her body to ensnare one of her hands as he led her from the dance floor. ‘Bruno knows I expect him to behave with propriety, no matter what his feelings towards you or your brother are.’

‘What about you?’ she asked as they made their way to the waiting limousine. ‘Will you behave with propriety or do you have a different set of rules for yourself?’

His black diamond gaze clashed with hers as he opened the door for her. ‘Do not speak to me of rules, Keira,’ he said in a clipped tone. ‘After all, you are the one who doesn’t know how to play by the rules.’

Keira bit back her retort when she heard other people spilling out of the hotel. Instead she got in the car, swishing her gown out of the way as he joined her on the seat.

She clenched her hands around her purse until her knuckles ached. She had to get control of her emotions. She knew it did her no favours where Patrizio was concerned. Losing her temper and sniping at him would only reinforce his opinion of her as a willful, unruly, unprincipled child. But it had hurt so much to see him huddled so companionably with that woman. Tears burned in her eyes but she blinked them back, focusing her attention on the strangled purse in her lap.

‘The driver will take you home but I have to go back to my office to see to something urgent,’ he said into the brittle silence a few minutes later. ‘I am not sure what time I will be back.’

Keira swung her glittering blue gaze to his. ‘I saw you talking to her,’ she said. ‘She’s still your mistress, isn’t she?’

He didn’t bat an eyelid, she noticed, her resentment towards him burning deep and uncontrollably inside her.

‘As of a few days ago she was—yes,’ he responded smoothly. ‘But in the interests of the boys I have temporarily suspended our involvement.’

Pain sliced through her, sharp unbearable pain that made her feel as if she were being taken apart piece by piece. No part of her was unaffected. She struggled to contain her reaction, every scrap of pride insisting she keep her voice even and controlled as if she didn’t give a toss what he did or who he did it with.

‘So after these six weeks are up you’re going back to her?’ she asked, forcing herself to meet that dark enigmatic gaze.

‘That is the plan,’ he said as the car drew to a halt outside his office tower.

Keira watched as he exited the car, his long strides taking him out of sight within a few seconds.

She sat back on the seat and laid her head back against the soft leather, her eyes tightly closed to keep back the bitter tears.

You have no right to be feeling so jealous, she reminded herself. You brought this on yourself and have no one else to blame.

No one but yourself…

CHAPTER EIGHT

KEIRA woke the next morning to find the bed had not been slept in on Patrizio’s side. Her heart sank in despair as visions of him intimately entwined with Gisela Hunter filled her brain.

She threw off the bed covers and headed for the shower but even the scalding hot spray did nothing to ease the deep ache in her soul.

Marietta was bustling about the kitchen when Keira dragged herself downstairs with her art school backpack, which had arrived with the rest of her things the day before.