The Italian's Wife

the past. I've started a new life with you and Timothy.'

Denying herself closer contact with the heat and strength of that hard,

muscular frame of his, Holly drew in a slow, sustaining breath. 'I can

only accept that if you promise me that you won't have anything more to

do with her.'

'No problem...' Appraising her with smouldering golden eyes, sculpted

mouth in a sensual curve, Rio backed her over to the bed with predatory

determination and an innate sense of good timing. 'Why would I want

another woman when I've got everything I want and need at home?'

Holly wondered why, if that was true, he still wouldn't talk about why

he had broken off his engagement. But then, perhaps from Rio's point of

view there had been no great

152

drama involved and he genuinely had nothing more to say on the subject.

Possibly he had known for some time that the relationship wasn't working

out and giving up on it had not been a sudden decision on his part. Why

hadn't that possibility occurred to her before?

Having dealt with her own anxiety and triumphed, Holly concentrated

instead on the hammering acceleration of her own heartbeat and the knot

of enervating anticipation tightening low in her pelvis. She only had to

look at Rio to want him.

Rio laughed with vibrant amusement when she practically tore his shirt

getting it off him. 'You missed me,' he told her with immense satisfaction.

'Maybe...'

'I want to hear you admit it...' He took her readily parted lips in a

passionate demonstration of hunger and her senses leapt and her wanton

body flowed and surged under the powerful masculine demand of his. 'Well?'

'Can't talk right now...better things to do,' she confided, running a

provocative hand down over a taut, muscular male thigh, feeling him jerk

with a satisfaction as old as time itself and a knowledge of her own

feminine power.

'Who taught you to do that?' Rio groaned, straining against her with

unconcealed sexual need and extracting her from her dress with more

haste than cool.

'You did...'

Hours later, in the dawn light, she watched him sleep. Jet lag had

felled him where nothing else could. Jet lag, added to a couple hours of

insatiable lovemaking. Yes, he had definitely missed her. In bed. She

squashed the snipey little voice that came up with that unnecessary

addition. Instead she contemplated Rio, lying with one long bronzed,

hair-roughened thigh clear of the crumpled sheet, six feet four inches

of golden masculinity so gorgeous that she still could not quite credit

that he was her husband. She kissed a smooth brown shoulder, rubbed her

cheek there with sensuous pleasure, revelling in the familiar musky

scent and

feel of his skin.

Her own body ached and she smiled with sleepy pride in that reality.

Christabel was history. He had convinced her. If seeing his ex-fiancée

after so long had not upset him, what was she worrying about? He might

not love her but he certainly seemed happy with her, and in the early

hours he had still been demanding to know what she had been doing at the

airport to get back to the house so late. He had been worried about her,

worried that she had seen him with Christabel, worried that she, Holly,

might be upset. He always liked to know exactly where she was. Why

hadn't she noticed how possessive he could be, how protective?

When she woke up again Timothy was nestled up against her, fast asleep.

Fully dressed in tight-fitting black jeans and a husky sweater, Rio

absorbed her surprise at her son's presence from his stance at the foot

of the bed.

'I heard him crying and he stopped the minute he saw me. Sarah had

already fed him, so I brought him in here. I played with him for a while

and then I took him into the bathroom while I went for a shower. Never

again,' Rio groaned feelingly.

'What happened?'

'First, he yanked a towel down over himself and screamed the place down,

then he pulled a drawer out and got his hand stuck in it...and, when I

took a peek out of the shower because I thought he was being too quiet,

he was trying to eat the box of plasters he must've sneaked out of the

drawer!'

Unconcerned by the furore he had caused, Timothy slept on, looking angelic.

154

Rio came down on the side of the bed, lean, powerful face taut. 'He

really scared me. Suppose he had got his hands on something dangerous or

choked on the plasters?'

'But he didn't,' Holly soothed, touched that he had missed Timothy

enough after a week's absence to bring her son back to their room to

play with him. 'He's just at an age where he needs a lot of watching.'

'I'll be a lot more cautious in the future, cara mia,' Rio swore. 'But

it's just as well for him that nature made him cute and appealing

because I almost shouted at him.'

Holly killed a guilty smile at that assurance. She definitely would have

shouted out of sheer relief that Timothy had not got hold of anything

more dangerous.

Five days later, an hour after Rio had left for a meeting in the City,

Holly received a call from one of the recruitment agencies she had

signed up with. An insurance company was willing to interview her for a

receptionist's position. As the first agency Holly had approached had

pointed out the paucity of her qualifications, the implication being

that she was aspiring too high, Holly was thrilled just to be in line

for consideration.

The interview was set up for noon that day. But at a quarter to eleven

when Holly was coming downstairs, elegant in a fitted black suit, Rio

breezed through the door. 'How do you fancy going to the races, bella

mia?' he enquired.

Holly sighed. 'If you mean right now, I've got an appointment.'

'Reschedule it,' Rio told her carelessly.

'I can't-'

'Oh, yes, you can. You haven't learned how to be a Lombardi wife yet.'

Rio gave her a breathtaking smile of amusement that made her heart skip

a beat. 'With the sole

exception of Timothy, I expect you to drop everything to be with me when

I'm free.'

_ Holly worried at her lower lip for a second or two and hardened her

heart to the sheer vibrant appeal of him. 'So what was all that about me

r />

needing to lead my own life when you're away on business?'

'I don't always practise what I preach. And you may not have noticed,

Mrs Lombardi, but I am not away. What are you fussing about?' Rio

mocked. 'A hair appointment?'

'I wasn't going to mention it yet but I have a job interview...that's

not something I can rearrange.' Holly gave him an apologetic smile.

Rio stilled. In fact, not only did he still, he also stared, dark golden

eyes fixing to her as if she had announced an intention of going

bungee-jumping with a frayed rope. 'An interview for a.. .job! If this

is a joke, where's the punchline?'

Holly stiffened. 'Why would it be a joke?' Rio regarded her levelly. 'I

don't want you to work. Why would you look for a job? It's not just a

question of what I want either. What about Timothy?'

'Most women work,' Holly replied defensively. 'Anyway, the position is

only part-time.'

'"Most women" are not my wife. What is this job?' 'Receptionist.'

'Are you even remotely aware of how wealthy we are?' Rio prompted in a

charged and incredulous undertone. 'I'm not wealthy...you are.'

'It would be quite inappropriate for you to take an employment

opportunity from someone else who really needs it, and that's my last

word on the subject.'