Delucca's Marriage Contract

He took her hand and opened the door and then stopped dead. Keelin couldn’t see past him because his big frame blocked the doorway, and then he rounded on her so fast her head spun. If she’d thought he’d looked livid before then, now his rage was infinitely worse.

‘And who the hell invited my father’s old cronies?’

Keelin’s blood drained south and she swallowed. It had felt like a risky thing to do when she’d thought of it but she’d ignored her conscience when she’d decided to make contact with Gianni’s mother before the wedding.

‘I, er, mentioned something to your mother about being sure to welcome anyone she wanted to invite.’

Gianni’s eyes were so black now they looked like cold obsidian, and all that heat had been replaced by ice. Keelin suppressed a shiver. She really didn’t know this man or what he was capable of, although she did trust implicitly that he wouldn’t hurt her. Not physically anyway. Even if he did look as though he wanted to throttle her right now.

‘Don’t you ever use my mother like that again, got it? You leave her out of this vendetta against me, Keelin.’

The clear warning ringing in his voice rendered her a little mute as something went tight in her belly, to recognise his protective streak and know that the last person it would ever be directed towards would be her.

* * *

A few interminable hours later as guests finally began to depart—his mother being one of the first as she hated leaving her home unless it was vitally necessary— Gianni was still seething with a mix of anger and mounting sexual frustration.

How dared Keelin use his mother just to score a point off him?

When he’d properly registered who the extra guests were, his blood had almost boiled over to see those familiar old faces from his father’s past, battered and bruised, hardened by the lives they’d lived and the things they’d seen.

Silly to think he’d felt a measure of complacency in believing he was far enough removed from them by now, but no. It had been like getting a cold blast of water in his face. He’d almost heard his father’s mocking laugh and rough voice in his ear: ‘So you’re too good for us now, heh?’

He could also see the headlines undoubtedly being run up at that very moment: Delucca’s Wedding Brings Out Familiar Faces... Like Father Like Son After All?

Gianni was mildly relieved to note that thankfully most of his father’s friends had left by now.

But the person who had subjected him to this very unwelcome scrutiny was still very much here and on the other side of the room, talking very energetically to a group of rapt-looking guests.

Keelin had studiously avoided him from the moment they’d emerged from the anteroom. Even while eating, she’d been practically sitting in the lap of the person beside her, rather than talk to him.

Wherever he’d moved, she’d gone in the opposite direction as if they were made of opposing magnets, when Gianni knew that was anyth

ing but the case. Just before she’d bitten his lip earlier, he’d felt her body tipping over the edge, softening, curving into his. She wanted him.

And he wanted her with a hunger made more intense by that edge of anger. It might have concerned him at any other time, but he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her sleek curves in that ridiculous dress. His hands itched to take it off and devour her until something of this ravenous beast inside him was slayed. He felt rough and raw, the reminder of the past far too close for comfort.

Making his excuses to the people around him, Gianni strode across the room to his wife. Her back was to him but he saw her stiffen minutely just as he came alongside her and took her hand in his with a firm grip.

Predictably she tried to break free but his grip tightened. He smiled urbanely even as he battled to keep his libido and body under control, just for a while longer. Until he could be alone with this biting gattino and tame her once and for all.

The guests melted away with knowing looks and smiles. Keelin turned to Gianni. She still wore the veil even though it was slightly askew. She held a glass of wine in her hand and her cheeks looked suspiciously flushed.

He took the drink and put it down, saying stringently, ‘I don’t like women who drink excessively in public.’

Keelin hissed, ‘Well, then maybe you shouldn’t have married me. It’s never too early to start divorce proceedings, you know.’

Gianni straightened up and looked at her and something in his chest tightened. She wasn’t drunk, he could see that. She looked beautiful. Angry, but stunning. Green eyes huge and mossy. Mouth ripe for kissing. And he intended to. But not here.

He curbed his libido. Soon—within a matter of hours—she would be under him and finally giving him the first sense of satisfaction and peace he’d had since he’d agreed to this whole thing. With the anticipation of that carnal satisfaction snaking through his blood and taking some of the edge off his anger, he said, ‘There will be no more talk of divorce. It’s time to go, mia amata.’

Immediately she tensed. ‘Where?’

Lust tightened his body in spite of his best efforts and fired up his blood. He smiled. ‘On our honeymoon, of course. I can’t wait to get you all to myself.’

CHAPTER SIX

WITHOUT EVEN GIVING her time to change, Gianni bundled Keelin, veil and all, into a waiting limousine outside the Chatsfield Hotel, accompanied by the inevitable flashes of the paparazzi cameras. They pulled out smoothly into the Rome evening traffic after Gianni had taken his seat in the back.