The Heat Of Passion

Dear heaven, what was she thinking? That it was all true... that Carlo was cold-bloodedly using her? She re-

membered their wedding-night and could not believe that that had all been pretence. But Jessica reminded herself that Carlo had openly admitted that he had brought her here to keep Sunny at bay. That did not suggest that Carlo was one hundred per cent sure of his ability to withstand the lure of what he already knew was blatantly on offer to him.., should he choose to extend a welcoming hand.

She could hardly believe it when Carlo actually made it to bed as he had promised. She sat up, watching him undress with helplessly hungry eyes, but she felt cold inside, resentful that it took the dark of night and his highly sexed nature to bring Carlo to her.

'Is it true that Sunny's staying?' she asked finally because she bad to ask, she had to know.

The silence stretched; her heartbeat accelerated.

'For the moment, yes,' Carlo murmured.

Jessica took a deep breath. 'Naturally I'm not suggesting you throw her out.. .but your father owned other houses,’

Carlo sent her a narrowed shrewd glance, his beautifully cut mouth compressing. Tor the moment, she stays here.'

r /> Jessica swallowed hard and then said, "So you expect me to live with a woman who says she's in love with you and who doesn't seem to give a damn who knows it? Don't you think that's asking a little too much.. .or is there some special reason why I have to put up with her?'

lDioV Carlo ground out with sudden savage im

patience. 'My father is barely in his grave '

'Where Sunny wanted him to be,’ The interruption leapt recklessly from Jessica's tongue.

Golden eyes blazed over her. 'Like all of us, she says things in distress which she does not mean,’

'She's a damned good actress, I'll give her that!' Jessica snapped back. 'And she's playing you like a fish on a line!'

Pure outrage darkened and hardened Carlo's strong features. 'At this moment, Sunny is my responsibility. She is my father's widow. If I threw her out, where would she go and to whom? I wouldn't do it. She has as much right to be here as you have. She's scared of the future. That is why she is clinging to me.'

'And maybe you enjoy that,' Jessica condemned shakily. 'Macho man and the poor fragile little woman who hangs on his every word. With Sunny beside you, you could turn into a megalomaniac overnight!'

•I'll tell you what I don't enjoy now. Your jealousy,’ Carlo returned with blistering derision. 'At least Sunny knows when to shut up and be feminine and warm...'

Jessica went white, lowering her lashes over shocked and wounded eyes. Carlo had turned on her with a biting cruelty unfamiliar to her.

'All I wanted tonight was the sweet oblivion of your

body '

'Sex,' Jessica countered with a shudder of mingled rage and pain.

'Why not? You're my wife,' Carlo slung back at her harshly.

Dear God, was that all their marriage meant to him? Was she just an available body? Or was she merely a temporary substitute for Sunny until such time as he deemed it acceptable for him to bed his father's widow? Jessica was devastated by the suspicion but when Carlo compared her unfavourably to Sunny suspicion found foundation in fact. It was not as though Carlo loved his wife, not as though they had married for any of the more usual reasons... She was in agony.

'I don't want you,' she mumbled.

'Then you won't object if I find someone who does, will you?' Carlo delivered with cut-glass precision but he slammed the door so hard that she wouldn't have been surprised if it fell off its hinges.

He doesn't mean it... he's being dramatic... he can't stand it when you say you don't want him, she told herself. Then she burst into tears but that made her feel worse. She propped her chin on her hand and reflected for a long time. Where were her wits? Why had she thrown a scene like that?

Carlo might not be showing it but he was under immense strain. He hadn't even had twelve hours' breathing space to grieve for Lukas and he had been flung in at the deep end of his father's vast business empire and forced to take charge. She shouldn't have attacked him about Sunny. He had wanted warmth and why not? Right now, the bedroom was the only place they were alone, the only place he could relax, and she had driven him away!

Sunny didn't give up the chase easily. She knew Carlo was not in love with his wife and that encouraged her. She was just trying to cause trouble by playing on Jessica's insecurity and Carlo's infuriating sense of what was due to his father's widow. What a fool she would be to allow a bimbo like Sunny to come between her and Carlo!

Jessica slid out of bed and pulled on a lacy peignoir. He had said that she didn't trust him, that she didn't have faith, and she was about to prove him wrong for a change. When life was calmer, she would tell him what she was having to take from Sunny and then he might understand just how offensive she found the situation. She was a big girl, wasn't she? She could deal with Sunny herself.

The house was silent but the corridors fully lit. Wryly, it occurred to her that she couldn't go barging into all