Beth glanced up to find Dante bristling with anger, staring down at her. Her own temper rose at the injustice of it all. ‘I love my cat, whereas you I could not give a damn about. And whichever way you get the news delivered the answer is the same—and it is your fault. If you hadn’t tracked me down to tell me I might be pregnant I wouldn’t have realised for ages, and when I did I definitely would not have told
you,’ she spat, her pent-up emotions finally boiling over. ‘It seems to be your goal in life to try to destroy mine. First you are instrumental in sending me to prison, then you try to chase me out of my apartment with your threats and finally you seduce me. A hat-trick is the term in football, I believe. But as I am pregnant it seems you have scored an own goal.’
Beth spoke derisively, but inside she was falling apart. This morning she had got out of bed, happily looking forward to the day ahead. Then Dante had turned her life upside down yet again.
* * *
Dante, like most Italian males, was mad about football, and his lips twitched at her last comment. She was sitting down, her arms folded across her middle—which pushed her perfect breasts upwards. Not that they needed any help. His blood heated at the thought.
Damn it, how could one redheaded woman have such an instant effect on his libido? This was serious.
‘Look on me as the villain if you must,’ he said curtly. ‘But it does not alter the fact that you are expecting a baby, and as the father I intend to be fully involved with my child, with or without you...understand?’
Beth looked up at Dante, towering over her, and let her eyes trace the hard bones of his tanned face, the cool, determined eyes, the powerful jaw and tight mouth.
‘Yes.’ She understood all right. It was what she had feared when he had dropped the bombshell on her a few hours ago. But this time she was ready for him. It was amazing how knowing she was having a baby gave her strength, and she determined to fight him anyway she could. ‘That is easy for you to say, but have you really thought this through, Dante?’
Beth deliberately drawled his name, looking up at him through the veil of her long lashes.
‘After all, you are an extremely powerful and extremely wealthy man, according to Tony. What will your friends think when they discover the mother of your child is a convicted drug dealer you sent to prison? You threatened me with the press. I can do the same.’ She saw his dark brows shoot up in surprise. ‘Not so nice, is it, when a threat goes against you?’ she opined. ‘When you demanded I kept out of Tony’s life you labelled me as some kind of femme fatale. So maybe I decided you were a better bet and deliberately allowed you to seduce me in the hope of getting pregnant and getting your money. Can you live with that?’
Dante felt a muscle begin to beat in his temple. It was anger, but it was something else as well. Her spirited attempt to defy him and the sultry look from her green eyes shouldn’t have anywhere near the sensual impact it did. The cynic in him had had the fleeting thought that Beth might have got pregnant deliberately for money, but he had quickly dismissed the notion as he’d recalled every moment in her bed: the silken caress of her hands against his flesh, the taste and the scent of her. He hadn’t been able to get enough of her. And it was making him want to repeat the experience with an urgency that was growing painful.
With that in mind, he lowered his long length on the sofa and slid his arm along the back of the sofa behind her. He noted her flinch. ‘An interesting scenario, Beth, but I don’t believe you would reveal to the world your criminal past to thwart me, knowing your child would eventually suffer from the knowledge. As for money—it is not something that bothers me. Right now I want to get acquainted with our baby.’
He was right, damn him, and Beth’s breath caught in her throat at our baby—and at the gleam she saw in his dark eyes as they moved down her body.
‘May I?’
He placed his hand on her still-flat stomach and for a long moment a strange quivering trance held them both as the enormity of what they had created finally sank in.
Dante raised his head, his dark eyes meeting hers, and she was vaguely aware that his other hand was resting on her shoulder. His long fingers stroked her midriff, tenderly edging higher, and suddenly a trance of a different nature shimmered between them.
His arm tightened around her shoulders. His mouth brushed gently across her lips. His hand moved to cup her breast. Beth caught her breath and his mouth covered hers, his tongue stroking along the curve of her lips to seek entry. Her eyes fluttered closed as he kissed her long and deeply, with a seductive tenderness she had never felt before.
Dante raised his head and Beth stared dazedly into his molten eyes as his long fingers circled her neck to trail down her throat, their touch caressing and arousing. Then with a groan his sensuous mouth found hers again, to kiss her with a deepening passion, and his tactile fingers reached the swift rise and fall of her breasts to pluck at one tight nipple. Her lips parted on a low moan as his mouth caught its partner to lick and suckle, and a shaft of sensual pleasure shot through her slender body. Her mind demanded she tell him to stop, but her body was brought vibrantly alive by his touch.
He raised his head and she saw the passionate intent in his dark eyes as she heard his voice. ‘You want this, Beth?’
The question and the sound of his deep, husky voice broke the trance she was in and made Beth realise what she was inviting. ‘No!’ she cried, and scrambled along the sofa, fighting to catch her breath and still her frantically racing heart. Suddenly she realised the straps of her dress were halfway down her arms, baring her breasts to his avid gaze. How or when it had happened she had no idea....
She could not look at him. She was mortified at how easily she had succumbed to his skilful caress. She pulled the straps of her dress back over her shoulders. The fabric hurt her sensitized breasts, but nowhere near as much as she hurt inside.
Finally she glanced sideways at Dante. He had straightened up, his head resting on the back of the sofa, and she could see the pulse beating in his strong throat, the rise and fall of his muscular chest and the unmistakable bulge in his jeans....
Swallowing hard, she looked away. Knowing she was not the only one suffering was some consolation, and she hoped it hurt. She could not believe she had almost made the same mistake again....
Was she destined to be fatally attracted to this man for the rest of her life? Had his fiancée, Ellen, felt the same? The thought came out of nowhere and made Beth feel worse. Their engagement had been broken the weekend of the barbecue, she knew. But they could be back together by now. They had to love each other if they had been arranging the wedding.
A large hand cupped her chin and turned her head, so she was forced to look up at Dante. ‘Given your initial response, I don’t believe “once was enough” after all,’ he drawled, a hint of humour in the dark eyes that held hers. ‘I know you, Beth, and I was right. You are a tease, but you also have a natural talent for sex. It is only your stubborn determination to hold a grudge against me that is stopping you. But I can wait.’ And he grinned.
It was the grin that got her. She knocked his hand away and leapt off the sofa to stare down at him for a change. ‘And you would know because you are such an expert. Tell me, what is Ellen going to say when she discovers you’ve made me pregnant? Weren’t you two supposed to be getting married this month? Or maybe you are not my baby’s father? Have you thought of that? I could have had another man since you.’ Mentally she kicked herself for not thinking of that sooner.
‘No, you haven’t. You are as transparent as glass in some respects, and the idea of another man has only just occurred to you—too late to be believed, I’m afraid.’ There was no humour in his eyes now, she noted, as he added, ‘As for Ellen—she is none of your concern or mine any more. We broke up and the wedding was cancelled, remember?’
‘So just like that you dismiss the woman who loved you?’ Beth said, dropping the ‘other man’ plan as pointless. Even if he believed her a DNA test would prove otherwise, and Dante was nothing if not thorough.
‘Grow up, Beth. Love had nothing to do with my relationship with Ellen. I decided it was time I got married and Ellen and I are in the same profession, with the same background. She seemed the perfect candidate. We were compatible. I wanted a child, an heir, and she said she wanted the same—until she got emotional and told me I didn’t love her enough, threw the engagement ring back at me. I realised she wanted a lot more than I was able to give.’