Gino’s Arranged Bride

CHAPTER NINE

‘JUST what do you think you’re doing?’ Laura demanded crossly as they emerged into the street. She was struggling to free herself but Gino’s arm across her back was immovable.

‘What I should have done earlier,’ he said.

‘There’s no need for you to act like a caveman. Will you please put me down?’

‘Sure. We’re here now.’

He’d reached the car. Opening the rear door he set her down, keeping hold of her and silently indicating for her to get in. It would have given Laura great pleasure to refuse but she couldn’t risk a scene in the street, especially dressed as she was. So she climbed into the back of the car and sat, seething in silence, as they drove home.

To her relief the house was dark and empty.

‘I think we should go upstairs,’ she said grimly when the front door had closed behind them. ‘There are things to be said.’

‘There certainly are,’ he agreed, indicating the stairs with an ironic gesture. ‘After you, my lady.’

The events of the evening must have affected her, for she was uncomfortably aware that her scantily clad behind was right in his sights as they climbed the stairs. Or perhaps it was something new about Gino himself that made her intensely conscious of her own body.

When they were safely in the bedroom she rounded on him. ‘You’ve got a nerve, Gino, acting like that, showing me up-’

‘You were making a pretty good job of that yourself.’

‘I told you what would happen-’

‘You told me you could cope.’

‘So I could.’

‘Rufford was trying to grope you up,’ he shouted.

‘I could have handled him.’

‘That’s what he wanted,’ Gino said crudely.

‘To think I used to believe you were a civilised man.’

‘No, I’m an Italian. It’s not the same. I have my own notions of “civilised”, and they don’t include standing by while my wife strips for other men. And don’t hand me that line about how innocent it is because I saw their eyes.’

He was breathing hard. ‘Every man there wanted to tear the last piece of clothing off you, and it wouldn’t have been difficult.’

‘It would have been impossible because I wouldn’t have allowed it,’ she said hotly.

‘You think you’d have had any say? It would be easy to pull open that bow at the front-like this.’

With one swift movement he proved his point. Just one little tug at the satin strings that tied the basque in the front, and the knot slid undone. Another tug at the strings and the whole lace-up down the front was loosened.

Laura stared down at herself, then up at him. Her heart beat faster at something she saw in his eyes. He was watching her, trying to read her expression.

‘You see how easy it is?’ he asked softly. ‘You were never as safe as you thought in this flimsy thing. It only needs one man without any manners.’

As he spoke he was twining his fingers in the strings, easing them open, widening the gap so that the two sides fell further apart, revealing her waist and her breasts.

A pulse in her throat was making it hard to speak, but she managed to say, ‘I’ve never before met a man without any manners.’

‘You have now,’ he said, his eyes on her breasts.

Now he was pulling the string out, letting it slither through the holes, so that the basque fell further and further apart until it was completely released, and he tossed it aside.

His next act took her by surprise. Placing his hands on her waist he lifted her up high, as easily as if she weighed nothing.

As he lowered her gently he drew her closer, so that his face fitted naturally between her breasts. At once Laura forgot all notion of quarrelling with him. Who needed it? Overwhelmed, she took his head between her hands, pressing his face against her, feeling his mouth against her flesh.

The sensation was so good that she let out a long sigh of satisfaction. This felt right and she was ready to give herself over to it totally.

She could feel Gino shaking as he lowered her slowly to the ground and began raining fierce kisses on her neck, her throat. He kissed like a man who’d restrained himself for too long and wouldn’t be denied now. His mouth moved over hers with purpose, coaxing and demanding at the same time, in a way that deeply excited her.

She pressed closer to him, offering her own mouth to his, answering his desire with ardour of her own. She’d thought passion was dead in her. Instead it had been banked down, waiting for the touch that would ignite it and bring it to new heights.

He lowered her quickly onto the bed and began to strip the clothes from his tall, lean body. Seeing him naked, Laura realised that his shoulders were broader than she had thought, the thighs more powerful, deepening her impression that this was a man she’d never really known.

He was ready for her, his urgency unmistakeable. The sight made her heart thump faster as she thought of what must happen soon.

But at that moment Gino stopped as though an arresting hand had been put on his shoulder. Instead of lying on the bed beside her he sat down, breathing hard but in control of himself. Laura saw the sudden question in his eyes, and understood it.

She answered it silently, reaching up her hand, grasping his and pulling him closer to her. His face relaxed.

‘Are you sure?’ he whispered.

‘Quite, quite sure.’

She was on fire, half wild from the need to have him touch her, and when he did so, just lightly with his fingertips, she reacted so swiftly that she startled herself.

The heat seemed to stream through her, bringing a pink flush to her skin, making her breasts grow firm and peaked. She was embarrassed to have revealed so much about her own need. She’d been wanting exactly this for some time, and now he would suspect.

But such practical thoughts were swallowed up in the rising tide of sensuality that was blotting out the rest of the world. All her perception was narrowing down to this one moment, this one man, who was caressing her with skilled hands.

He’d drawn back, wanting to be certain she was willing, but now nothing could have held him. His body pressed her down against the bed while his mouth covered hers. His tongue flickered against the inside, causing a sigh of pleasure to break from her.

She pressed back against him, her arms wrapped around his neck, while she could feel him trying to touch her everywhere, rousing her until she was impatient for him. The moment when he plunged into her felt like the culmination of her entire life.

She seized him, drawing him in, driving against him, relishing his power and her own, inciting him on to claim her more and more completely.

This answered all questions. How long had she secretly wanted Gino in her bed? Since that first day on the park bench when she’d admired him as a healthy, beautiful animal?

What had really prompted her to propose to him? She’d hidden the truth from herself, but now it was fighting its way to the surface. She was seized up in the fierce rhythm of desire, moving faster with him until there was nowhere else to go but into the glittering void.

In the moments when reality returned they discovered that they were still clinging on to each other, as though for safety. As they drew apart she could read her own astonishment reflected in his face.

‘I had no idea,’ she murmured.

‘Nor had I until recently.’

He threw himself onto his back, gasping, but still holding onto her hand while he recovered. Then he propped himself up and looked at her naked body, pale and mysterious in the dim light.

‘You’ve been holding out on me,’ he said wryly.

‘I have? How?’

‘Those prim and proper clothes you wear-’

‘Plain and dowdy, you mean?’

‘Some of them, almost like you were doing it on purpose.’

‘That’s how I saw my life,’ she admitted, breathing slowly to steady herself against the turmoil that was only gradually subsiding. ‘I suppose I dressed for the part.’

‘You fooled me-for a while. There were a few hints, like when you brightened up for Steve. Then nothing-until tonight.’

He looked down at her and ran one hand over the length of her body. ‘I should have remembered that you’d been a dancer,’ he said. ‘You move like a dancer, graceful in everything. And tonight, you knew just what to do and how to do it. And those few extra pounds you told me about.’ He laid a hand on her hip. ‘Just there, enough to make you nicely curved. And here-’ His fingers drifted over her breasts, sending a little shiver through her.

‘I suspected,’ he mused, ‘but I didn’t know for sure until I saw you putting it on display for other men. And-I minded.’

Gino knew his words didn’t express one tenth of what had been happening inside him, but he couldn’t have found the right words. If there were any. He wasn’t an analytical man. He lived through feelings, not thoughts, and he’d been shying away from feelings, which added to his confusion.

Since he’d left Italy he’d lived like a monk, from choice. The passing fancies he might once have enjoyed were barred to him by his sense of despair and isolation. At times he’d wondered if he would ever seriously desire a woman again.

His friendship with Laura had been sweet to him, but things had happened that had taken him by surprise. After her first date with Steve she’d returned home, radiant. He’d held her in his arms and wanted to kiss her, and known that he must not. He’d seen her safely and chastely to bed, but nothing had been quite the same after that.

There was something else, to do with the time when he was delirious, but that mystery had yet to be explained. What was no longer a mystery was his own reaction to Mark’s telephone call: furious physical jealousy, that had grown worse every moment as he’d stood in the crowd watching her remove her clothes.

It was, as she’d claimed, a fairly modest strip. But it hadn’t seemed so to a man whose desire for her had caught him suddenly, almost unaware, and was rising by the minute. Every flash of those long, lovely legs, every wriggle of her hips had tortured him, until he snapped.

‘Yes,’ he repeated. ‘I minded, more than you’ll ever know.’

She gave a chuckle that sent a frisson of pleasure up his spine. ‘I reckon I do know now,’ she mused.

‘Just don’t forget it.’

‘I didn’t recognise you, the way you’ve been acting.’

‘I didn’t recognise myself.’

‘Poor Mark. He thought you were a gangster.’

‘Let him go on thinking it. He’ll be safer that way.’

‘Gino, you don’t really mean that.’

He looked at her in an odd way, and did not answer directly. ‘Let’s just say that I’m naturally possessive,’ he said. ‘You’re mine. No argument.’

‘Who’s arguing?’

He was silent for a moment, his face clouded.

‘Maybe I have no right to ask,’ he said at last, ‘but-you and Steve-?’

‘No,’ she said at once. ‘I never slept with Steve.’

Compared to this wild, physical craving, how restrained had been her feelings for Steve; not love or passion so much as the need to ease her loneliness and have some kind of future.

‘I’m glad,’ Gino said. He began to run his hands over her again.

To Laura it was thrilling and satisfying to know that she could rouse him to powerful sexual jealousy. It was only a fraction of what she wanted from him, but she couldn’t think of that now that his touch was causing the tide of excitement to rise in her again. For a while there would be nothing else but desire, and craving for the satisfaction that only he could give her.

He let his fingers drift down over her breasts to where the nipples were peaked.

‘Mine,’ he murmured again. ‘And here-’ his hand moved down to her waist ‘-and here-’ his fingers found the tops of her thighs, then eased their way gently in to the place that was now home. ‘Mine.’

‘If that’s what you want,’ she murmured, trying to think through the forks of pleasure that were invading her where he touched.

‘Yes,’ he whispered against her mouth. ‘That’s what I want.’

One easy movement brought him over her and then he was inside her again, moving more slowly than before, prolonging the pleasure, bringing skill to the service of strength. Now she discovered him as a subtle, generous lover, as well as a powerful one, seeking to learn the caresses that brought her delight, and offering them gladly.

She tried to hold back on her climax, wanting to prolong everything until the final moment, but at last she yielded to it and felt again the joy and profound fulfilment she’d known before.

When he rolled onto his back she propped herself up and, watching him, wondering why he was grinning.

‘What is it?’ she asked, giving him a gentle poke.

‘I was remembering some thoughts I had recently, about heading for middle age. I even planned to buy a pipe and slippers.’

She gave a crack of laughter and buried her face in the pillow to muffle the sound.

‘Middle-aged,’ she gasped. ‘There’s nothing middle-aged about you, signore.’

‘I’m glad you think so, signora.’ He added wickedly, ‘Of course it’s different for you, so many years older than me-’

‘Ah, yes,’ she said with a melancholy sigh. ‘That’s going to be a big problem soon, isn’t it? I should have remembered.’

‘Hey, don’t be like that,’ he said, instantly concerned. ‘I was only joking.’

‘I know,’ she said sadly, ‘but it’s just that-oh, well, I’ll get used to it.’

‘But I didn’t mean it that way,’ he said desperately. ‘Laura, please don’t be hurt-’

She raised her head to look at him, her face brimful of laughter. ‘I’m not,’ she chuckled. ‘Ever been had?’

‘Why you-!’ He pulled her into his arms, laughing. ‘You wait,’ he threatened. ‘I’ll get my own back.’

‘Is that a promise?’

‘That’s a promise?’

‘Now?’

‘Think I can’t?’

‘Well, you’ve done all right so far-for a middle-aged man. But three times in one night is a bit much to-’

Her words were cut off by his mouth on hers. Gino had never been a man to duck a challenge and he threw himself into this one with all his heart and all his considerable strength. Their two previous encounters had only taken the edge off his desire, not satisfied it completely.

This mating was vigorous, unsubtle and joyful, leaving them both gasping and drained, clasping each other until the last moment, unwilling to let it go. But when it had finally slipped away, Gino fell asleep at once, and Laura found herself mysteriously alone again.

It shouldn’t have happened after their closeness, she thought with a little ache. For a while they had been as united as any two people ever were on earth. And yet, as she watched his sleeping face, she saw that he was still, in many essential respects, a stranger.

She had never really known him, except for the glimpse of the truth she’d had in the hospital, when he’d held her hands and poured out his heart to another woman. Tonight one part of him had reached out to her, but she knew the essential part was as far away as ever.

They had lived in the same house for months, shared jokes, confided troubles-or at least, she had confided hers. But in all that time she’d known only what he wanted her to know. Tonight the mask had slipped, or he’d chosen to discard it, and she’d met a man who was moody, unpredictable and dangerously sexy. She could hardly believe that she’d ever thought of him as a brother.

She leaned over and kissed him so gently that he didn’t wake. Snuggling down to sleep, she reflected that this was only the beginning. He wouldn’t always turn away from her. Now that they had started to find each other there was much more to hope for.

On the surface nothing had changed. To the world they presented the appearance of a sedate married couple, working hard at their jobs and their stolid, virtuous family life.

But behind their closed door life had changed completely, being neither sedate nor stolid. And if they were virtuous, it was only in the sense that, as a married couple, their fevered couplings were, as Gino hilariously put it, sanctioned by law.

There was almost as much humour as sensuality in their lovemaking. Laura would cherish for ever the moment when the two single beds slid apart, causing Gino to fall off her and down the gap. He had climbed out, cursing horribly, and resumed his occupation almost without a pause.

After that they bought a double bed.

Nikki was still their priority. Gino was the father Laura had hoped he would be, and if she had any doubt that he made the child happy those doubts were set to rest one evening in an unexpected way.

It was a Saturday, they had the house to themselves, and Nikki was allowed to stay up an extra hour. They were watching television, channel hopping, when suddenly Laura heard a voice she had thought she would never hear again.

‘Of course the people have changed, but the audiences-’

It was like listening to a ghost to hear Jack Gray’s voice again. Since the day he’d left her they’d talked only twice, on the telephone. The divorce had been conducted through letters and lawyers.

Now there he was on the screen, still handsome in a lardy way, a few years older and more bloated. His teeth were too large, white and even, as though he’d had them ‘done’.

It was too late to switch channels. Nikki, sitting on the floor, had already seen him and was watching the screen intently. When the commentator gave his name Gino looked at Nikki, then at Laura, who nodded in despair.

Since the night Nikki had passionately insisted that her father was dead, there had been no more mention of him. She seemed to have forgotten all about it, and Laura hadn’t dared to raise the subject, fearing to upset her again.

But the programme made it clear that he was alive now. Laura snatched up the television guide and discovered that this was a programme about theatrical agents, especially those who were becoming well known.

Now they were talking about Jack’s new wife and toddler. He was sitting there with a little girl on his knees, a perfect, beautiful child.

Laura held her breath as Nikki watched the pictures flashing across the screen, underlying the full scope of her father’s betrayal. It was almost eerie the way Nikki didn’t react.

But then she did react, so subtly that it would have been easy to miss. It was the slightest movement, shifting across the floor in Gino’s direction, so that she was leaning against him. He reached down, she clasped his hand in hers, and they sat like that for a moment, until Nikki looked up.

‘Can I have some toast before I go to bed?’

‘Want me to make it for you?’

‘Yes, please, Daddy.’

That was all it took, and all it needed.

Laura would have been happy now if only she could have felt free to tell Gino that she loved him. At night they lay in each other’s arms, exchanging warmth and pleasure. By day he treated her with affection.

But he never told her that he loved her.

She reasoned with herself that his behaviour implied love, but she knew better. He was a warm-hearted man whose sweet temper and sensual gifts would have won over any woman. He gave her what he could of himself, and if he could not give more, she knew the reason.

She tried not to brood, knowing how quickly that could destroy her and everything she’d won. But at night she listened jealously to hear if he talked in his sleep, and which name he spoke. He never did utter the name she feared, but neither did he utter hers.

He would never really be hers, she thought wistfully, not in the way that she had become his. She must try to be content with what she had.

One evening he went out, saying that he was taking a walk, although it was raining heavily. He was gone for many hours, returning, very wet, when Laura had already gone to bed, past one in the morning.

‘I’m sorry if I disturbed you,’ he told her, sitting on the edge of the bed and rubbing his hair.

She didn’t tell him that she’d been lying anxiously awake. She didn’t want him to feel spied on.

‘Shall I get you a hot drink?’ she asked pleasantly.

‘No, thanks. I never catch cold. Laura, I want you to leave the pub. You do too much.’

‘But the money’s so useful.’

‘There’s another way to get money, enough for you to stop being a barmaid, and hire people to help with this place.’

‘That sounds expensive. Where can we get enough to do that?’

‘I’m going to sell my half of Belluna.’

She sat up. ‘Your farm in Tuscany?’

‘Half mine. Rinaldo owns the other half and I think he’ll be glad to buy my share from me. It’ll make all the difference to us.’

‘Do you think you’ll get very much for it?’

He told her how much Belluna was worth.

‘How much?’ she gasped. ‘But I never dreamed-I always thought you were as poor as a church mouse.’

‘So I am, until I sell up.’

‘But can he raise that kind of money? Don’t farmers have it all ploughed into the earth?’

‘True, but Alex can raise it. She had a London apartment that she must have sold by now. If they buy me out that’ll put a line under everything, and I need not go back there ever again.’

‘Is that what you want Gino-to be cut off from your home for ever?’

He hesitated for the briefest moment before saying, ‘This is my home now.’

‘That’s a nice thing to say, but I don’t think it’s completely true. Tuscany is where you were born and raised, your language, your culture, everything. Part of you is always going to belong there.’

He sighed and didn’t deny it. ‘Just the same,’ he said, ‘it’s best if I don’t go back.’

She knew she should stop here. She could feel him withdrawing from her as she grew dangerously close to his secret self. But she couldn’t make herself stop.

‘Why?’ she persisted. ‘What is it back there that you can’t face?’

‘Does it matter?’

‘It matters to me. Oh, Gino, you’ll never know how much it matters. Tell me.’

‘I can’t,’ he said sharply. ‘I don’t know the answer myself.’

‘I think you do.’

Gino looked at her, and for the first time his face was completely closed against her.

‘I’d rather we left this,’ he said in a hard voice that contained a warning.

‘But I can’t leave it. It’s too important.’

When he didn’t speak she persisted, ‘Why Gino? Why can’t you go back? What are you afraid of?’