Phantom Marriage

‘I had something a little better than that in mind.’

‘Such as?’

‘Such as marriage,’ James t

old her softly.

For a moment Tara was silent, and then the pain began.

‘You’re prepared to go to those lengths to get two children you didn’t even know you’d fathered until a matter of days ago?’ She injected as much scorn as she could into the words, but James ignored it.

‘Them,’ he agreed, ‘and their mother. Tara, have you any idea what I endured when I returned from the States and discovered you’d gone?’ he demanded urgently. ‘Oh, I told myself it was all for the best, that I was too old for you, but none of it helped. I tortured myself night after night, imagining you confessing our lovemaking to your husband, dismissing it as just one of those things, when for me the memory of how it had felt to hold you in my arms and taste your first sweet cries of desire was something I could never forget. I loved you then and I love you now,’ he said slowly.

‘You love me?’ Still she couldn’t believe it, although hope trembled and grew again, her own love reflected in her eyes as she lifted them to his face. And then as though suddenly words could no longer convey how he felt, James reached for her murmuring against her mouth, ‘Perhaps this will convince you,’ as he possessed it with all the raw hunger she had dreamed of and which he had kept concealed from her on the other occasions when he had kissed her.

They were completely alone in the garden and she had neither the desire nor the will to resist when he lowered her on to the grass, removing the brief scraps of her bikini, the sun stroking moltenly over her body, before he covered it with his.

Their lovemaking was a white-hot need consuming them both, her body electrically responsive to his touch, his possession a shattering climax to their need for one another.

Later, as long shadows crept across the garden and their voices were drowsy with content, James reached for her again. This time there was tenderness and sensitivity in the drift of his hands over her body; as though both knew and acknowledged that there would be many many times like this when they could give and take pleasure from one another. Tara, revelling in her freedom to touch and draw from him a response he no longer made any attempt to hide, marvelled that she had not seen before that it was more than simply a desire to humiliate her that had driven him to touch her, but she had been held fast in her own despair.

‘The twins,’ she murmured drowsily, as his fingers cupped her breast, stroking the pale flesh. ‘What are we going to tell them?’

James bent his head to place sensuously warm lips against the swelling flesh before answering.

‘The truth—when they’re old enough to understand,’ he said firmly, ‘For now let it simply be enough for them that we’re going to be married. It’s my opinion that fatherhood is something that has to be earned. They like me, and I think will accept me in their lives. It’s the man who shows his Jove by being there during their childhood who merits the term father, not the one who gives them life!’

Tara knew he was right. Mandy would be ecstatic to have James as her father, and so would Simon in his quieter way, and as James had said, there was time enough to tell them the truth when they were old enough to accept it. She looked down at the dark head pillowed against her breast, and love stirred inside her, her fingertips moved sensitively over a bronzed shoulder, pleasure curling through her as she felt James’s warm breath against her skin.

‘Love me?’

James raised his head and smiled teasingly, ‘Is that a question or an invitation? Either way the answer is yes. Do you love me?’

Happiness flowed through her veins like wine, making her lightheaded. ‘More than words can say,’ she told him. ‘Shall I show you?’

His answer was in the kiss they shared, the rising need she felt in his body, the urgency of his hands as they caressed her willing flesh. She remembered how she had fantasised about making love with him on the beach such a short time ago, believing the reality impossible. She grinned inwardly. Not tomorrow but perhaps tomorrow night she might suggest a walk along that moon-drenched sand.

‘Why are you smiling?’ James demanded against her lips.

‘Because I’m so happy,’ she told him simply, and responded joyously to his murmured, ‘Show me.’

* * * * *

She resisted him once…

But this billionaire is playing to win!

A luxury villa on Capri will be the latest jewel in playboy Leonardo Fabrizzi’s crown—until he discovers Veronica Hanson stands to inherit it. She’s the only woman to ever resist his charms, but he’s determined to tempt her into sensual surrender! He seduces her cleverly and slowly, and their explosive chemistry is spectacular. But so are the consequences when Veronica reveals she’s pregnant!

Enjoy this entertaining story of pregnancy and passion!

The Italian’s Unexpected Love-Child

Miranda Lee

CONTENTS

Prologue