However, Luciano had no intention of distressing Kerry with his belief that her beloved stepbrother might well have been high on drugs at their wedding. Luciano had known enough addicts in prison to recognise the likely cause of Miles’s excitable state. That suspicion had given Luciano an even greater aversion to the younger man and he had found it intolerable to see Kerry in Miles’s company. But even though he had a security man dogging Miles’s footsteps, Bailey had not been seen to do anything he shouldn’t. Without concrete proof, Luciano knew better than to accuse Miles of wrongdoing.
Shedding those unpleasant thoughts, Luciano accompanied his breathless bride up to the house above the beach. Leaving wet, sandy footprints everywhere, Kerry breezed through the interior of the house, oohing and aahing with unhidden delight at all that she saw. Simple tiled floors, subtle drapes and stylish beech furniture played down the outright luxury of the comfort level on offer.
‘When did you buy this place?’
‘While I was still in prison. Just seeing the photos was enough to lift my spirits and give me the hope that some day I would walk across that beach—’
‘Oh, no…I paddled through your historic moment!’ Kerry cut in, her dismay palpable.
Luciano loosed a long, extravagant sigh. ‘And now, even worse, you’re about to get sand on my handstitched silk sheets…’
Her lush mouth opened on a soundless ooh of surprise.
‘Brides have been dumped for lesser sins, bella mia.’ His gorgeous golden eyes glittered with amusement.
‘Are you planning to dump me?’
Luciano reached behind her and ran down the zip on her wedding gown. ‘Not before I’ve ravished you within an inch of your life—’
‘Not funny—’
‘—for at least fifty years!’ He tipped the gown off her shoulders and watched it fall to expose the ivory silk bra and briefs she wore underneath.
‘OK…I’ll go wash the sand off—’
‘Too late…I can’t wait that long.’ Luciano laid her down on the wide, luxurious divan and began to strip off his suit with impatient hands.
Her heart was racing inside her, her mouth running dry. She lay there feeling weighted to the mattress, face burning, for she was wildly conscious of the embarrassing dampness between her thighs. It seemed almost wicked to want any man as much as she wanted him, and even more shameless to watch him undress and conceal just how magnificent she found him.
Familiarity did not make him one bit less gorgeous, and nine days of deprivation had only made her all the more aware of his potent masculinity. Her eyes lingered on his wide shoulders, the cluster of black curling hair outlining his strong pectorals and the sleek muscularity of his flat stomach. As he stepped out of his trousers, her breathing fractured. His black silk boxers moulded the impressive bulge of his aroused manhood. Then the boxers fell to the tiles and he bent down to unclip her bra and remove her panties with scant appreciation for the decorative qualities of either garment.
‘When I said I couldn’t wait, I wasn’t joking, cara mia.’ With molten male appreciation in his gaze, Luciano scrutinised the straining peaks crowning her small breasts and let his attention drop to the auburn curls at the apex of her thighs.
Without hesitation, he parted her legs. Unaccustomed to being fully exposed to him like this, Kerry reddened and would have attempted to cover herself had he not uttered an earthy sound of appreciation at the visible evidence of her excitement.
‘Luciano…’
‘I know this is a very last-moment request…but can I make love to you without using protection? I’d like to spend our honeymoon trying to make you pregnant,’ Luciano confided with a ragged edge to his dark, deep drawl.
Disconcerted, she looked up at him and the hungry urgency and longing she met in his bold appraisal turned her inside out and melted her. ‘Hmm…’
‘Is that a…yes?’
Unable to find her voice, Kerry nodded vehemently. She was overwhelmed, for once it had been her who was eager to start a family. He had wanted children too but he had also been frank about his desire to wait for a few years. Now she was touched to the heart that he should want a baby with her so soon. Having a family was something that she had tried not to think about because she had assumed that it would be a long time before he was ready to even consider the possibility.
‘You don’t think that maybe you ought to consider the concept in a little more depth?’ Luciano prompted.
‘No. I’ve always wanted your baby,’ Kerry confided a little unsteadily.
‘Why is a confession that once would have struck terror into my bones now so deeply, dangerously erotic?’ Luciano groaned earthily.
He plundered the sweetness of her mouth just once before he shifted his attention to the
stiff pink buds of her pouting breasts. She got lost in sensation fast, because, although until that moment she had not really acknowledged it, in recent weeks her breasts had felt more than usually sensitive. Luciano had only to stroke her tender nipples with his tongue to make her spine arch and provoke her into moaning out loud.
‘Don’t be so shy,’ he scolded gently when she gazed up at him afterwards in frank mortification. ‘When you respond to me like that it’s very exciting for me.’
He pulled her into his arms and with sure fingers explored the slick, responsive flesh between her slender thighs, lingering on the tiny swollen nub of her desire. With a gasp, she raised her hips off the bed in helpless, eager encouragement. In no time at all she was writhing, begging, heedless of all but her own tormented need for him.