Lynne Graham's Brides of L'Amour Bundle

‘So amazing,’ Andreo continued thoughtfully, ‘That it is time to come clean—’

She tensed. ‘About what?’

‘Last night you said that you made plans to come to France after we met and never wavered from that goal,’ he reminded her. ‘That must have been a lie.’

Of course it had been a lie. But in the space of a heartbeat she could picture how trapped he might feel if she were to reveal that she loved him and follow that up with an announcement that she was pregnant. He would feel trapped and she would feel humiliated. Why should she sacrifice her pride to that extent? A baby that was the result of an accident in birth control during a casual affair would be rather less disturbing for him than one conceived with a woman who burdened his conscience with the additional news of her undying devotion.

‘You only said it because you weren’t ready to admit that all that fierce and very flattering jealousy of yours over Lili was quite unnecessary,’ Andreo breathed with lethal conviction. ‘I am a straightforward guy in relationships—’

‘Perhaps you are, but I was only being honest,’ Pippa swore in an uneasy undertone against his shoulder. ‘We had a fantastic time in London but these things don’t last…’

Long fingers speared into her riotous curls and lifted her head. Burnished golden eyes struck hers in a sparking collision course that made the breath catch in her throat. ‘And how would a woman who has never known any other lover know that for a fact?’ he intoned very soft and low and his accent thick on every syllable.

Her gaze veiled to hide her pain and her colour receded. ‘I just knew—’

Andreo tumbled her off him and moved with disconcerting speed and dexterity to pin her under him instead. ‘So I give you great sex and nothing else?’

Her face flamed and shamed embarrassment at the depths that pretence had reduced her to made her steal an unwise upward glance. She was ensnared by hot golden eyes as aggressive as an invasion force. ‘Well…er—’

Andreo flashed her a scorching smile that was extremely unsettling. ‘To think I wasted all that effort on soppy flowers and sentimental cards—’

‘No, I really liked—’

‘No need to pretend, cara.’ Lithe as a jungle cat, Andreo shifted and settled between her thighs with an erotic expertise that made her heart jump inside her.

He kissed her with passionate force. She quivered, fought to concentrate, knowing she should argue in her own defence. He kissed her again and her thoughts blurred while she burned and she ached all over again for a satisfaction he had given her only minutes earlier. She blushed fierily for her own weakness. ‘Andreo—?’

‘Want me?’ he prompted thickly, an irresistible gleam of sexy challenge in his molten gaze.

And she did, oh, how she wanted him: more than pride or common sense or reason. On every level all that was feminine in her responded to his raw masculinity and she could not fight her own nature. And on that liberating reflection, she surrendered to his passion.

Five glorious days later Pippa woke up to find herself alone, but there was nothing new in that for Andreo always got up first.

Her tummy felt queasy and, with a rueful grimace over the awareness that only Andreo’s preference for rising with the dawn had protected her from having her secret exposed, she rolled off the bed and headed into the bathroom. But, as had happened the morning before, that initial nausea slowly receded again. Perhaps the worst of her sickness was already over, she thought cheerfully and, pulling on a light cotton wrap, she went downstairs in search of Andreo. Both he and the Mercedes were nowhere to be found, however, and a note left on the hall table informed her that he had gone out to buy chocolate croissants for her.

An ear to ear smile curved her lips. He was spoiling her again and she had already discovered that she absolutely adored every moment of being spoilt. She had never been a self-indulgent woman or a woman who had ever imagined that any male might put himself out on her behalf. Indeed her father’s unfortunate example had persuaded her that all men were instinctively selfish. So for that reason the sheer amount of effort that Andreo was prepared to expend on any gesture likely to please her continually shook her.

‘I like surprising you…I enjoy seeing you smile, amore,’ he had confided with the charismatic grin that made her heart spin inside her.

Eyes dreamy and soft over that memory, Pippa went for a shower and tried to work out without success how five whole days had passed at such speed. Why was it that happy times seemed to shoot past faster than the speed of light and unhappier times dragged? Brow furrowing on that conundrum, she was on far too much of an emotional high to linger on it.

While she was in the act of shampooing her hair, her attention fell on the sunken bath that was set in a glorious multi-coloured mosaic surround and her skin warmed and her smile grew abstracted: when they shared the bath they fooled around like kids. He had taught her how to relax and overcome her innate fear of making a fool of herself. He had made her laugh and, over and over again, he had given her the kind of joy she had never dreamt she might experience in a hundred years.

She loved the long evenings the most. When the shadows had begun to lengthen and the heat of the day had ebbed, they would dine at the stone table overlooking the river and sit talking far into the night. Even the food they were eating was wonderful. Berthe, Andreo’s friendly housekeeper, who worked as an

occasional chef in her son-in-law’s restaurant, performed gastronomic miracles in the kitchen.

Pippa was combing her hair when she thought that she heard the Mercedes return. However, when she ran to the window she could only see Berthe’s husband, Guillaume, who farmed Andreo’s land, driving a tractor into a field next to the lane. The phone by the bed rang and she answered it.

‘It’s Tabby,’ her friend said cheerfully. ‘I’ve been trying to raise you on your mobile—’

‘It’s dead,’ Pippa admitted apologetically. ‘I forgot to charge it—’

‘Luckily, Christien asked Andreo for his number,’ Tabby explained. ‘I was really surprised when you didn’t phone me—’

‘I know,’ Pippa groaned, full of squirming guilt. ‘I know I should have phoned you—’

Tabby was not slow to take advantage of her friend’s discomfiture. ‘So stop holding out on me and tell me what’s happening between you two.’