Czytaj książkę: «The Salvatore Marriage Deal»
Summer’s here, and to get you in the mood we’ve got some sizzling reads for you this month!
So relax and enjoy…a scandalous proposal in Bought for Revenge, Bedded for Pleasure by Emma Darcy; a virgin bride in Virgin: Wedded at the Italian’s Convenience by Diana Hamilton; a billionaire’s bargain in The Billionaire’s Blackmailed Bride by Jacqueline Baird; a sexy Spaniard in Spanish Billionaire, Innocent Wife by Kate Walker; and an Italian’s marriage ultimatum in The Salvatore Marriage Deal by Natalie Rivers. And be sure to read The Greek Tycoon’s Baby Bargain, the first book in Sharon Kendrick’s brilliant new duet, GREEK BILLIONAIRES’ BRIDES.
Plus, two new authors bring you their dazzling debuts—Natalie Anderson with His Mistress by Arrangement, and Anne Oliver with Marriage at the Millionaire’s Command. Don’t miss out!
We’d love to hear what you think about Presents. E-mail us at Presents@hmb.co.uk or join in the discussions at www.iheartpresents.com and www.sensationalromance.blogspot.com, where you’ll also find more information about books and authors!
MILLS & BOON
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Relax and enjoy our fabulous series about
couples whose passion ends in pregnancies…
sometimes unexpected!
Share the surprises, emotions, drama and
suspense as our parents-to-be come to terms
with the prospect of bringing a new baby into the world. All will discover that the business of making babies brings with it
the most special love of all….
Delivered only by Harlequin Presents®
Natalie Rivers
THE SALVATORE MARRIAGE DEAL
TORONTO • NEW YORK • LONDON
AMSTERDAM • PARIS • SYDNEY • HAMBURG
STOCKHOLM • ATHENS • TOKYO • MILAN • MADRID
PRAGUE • WARSAW • BUDAPEST • AUCKLAND
All about the author…
Natalie Rivers
NATALIE RIVERS grew up in the Sussex countryside. As a child, she always loved to lose herself in a good book, or in games that gave free rein to her imagination. She went to Sheffield University, where she met her husband in the first week of term. It was love at first sight, and they have been together ever since—moving to London after graduating, then getting married and having two wonderful children.
After university Natalie worked in a lab at a medical-research charity, and later retrained to be a primary-school teacher. Now she is lucky enough to be able to combine her two favorite occupations—being a full-time mum and writing passionate romances.
For my editor, Sally Williamson
CONTENTS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
EPILOGUE
CHAPTER ONE
LILY shivered in the back of the water taxi as it travelled carefully along the foggy Venetian canal. The cold and damp seeped through her suede jacket, chilling her to the bone, but she was grateful for the fresh air. It was warmer inside the polished wooden cabin of the taxi, but it was stuffy, and the movement of the boat made her feel queasy. These days everything made her feel queasy, but at least now she knew why.
She was pregnant.
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Pregnant.
How was she going to tell Vito?
She’d been living with him for five months, and during that time he’d been the most amazing, attentive lover she could have imagined. But she’d always known that as far as he was concerned it was only a temporary arrangement.
From the start Vito had promised her complete exclusivity and, in return for his fidelity, he’d demanded the same from her. But he’d always made it plain that there was no future for the relationship. There would be no long-term commitment, and categorically no children.
But now she was eight weeks pregnant. The stomach bug that she’d thought was taking a long time to clear up was actually morning sickness. And presumably the same stomach bug was responsible for the failure of the Pill.
She shivered again and looked at her watch. Vito would be waiting at the palazzo for her, wanting to know what the doctor had said. She glanced up as the taxi passed under a familiar arched bridge. In only a few minutes she’d be home.
Suddenly, despite her apprehension about telling Vito her news, she couldn’t wait to be with him. A baby might not have been his plan right now, but she hadn’t got pregnant deliberately. Vito would understand. He was a rich and powerful man, used to things going exactly the way he wanted, but he wasn’t unreasonable. He might be surprised, shocked even, but after he had time to absorb her news she was sure that everything would be all right.
She’d always wanted a family, and now that she thought about it she couldn’t think of anyone she’d rather have as the father of her children. He was a successful and influential businessman, but she’d also seen the loving, tender side of him. He wouldn’t reject his own baby just because it was unplanned.
It was eerily quiet as the taxi stopped at the water-gate entrance of the palazzo. The fog muffled the sounds of the city, and all Lily could hear was the lap of the water against the marble steps. She paid the driver and gratefully accepted his hand as she climbed unsteadily out of the boat. Then she made her way upstairs, where Vito was coming out of his study to greet her.
Her breath caught in her throat, and she hesitated on the top stair, just staring at him—soaking up the absolute masculine perfection of Vito Salvatore, her lover.
Over six-feet tall and broad shouldered, he carried himself with the physical grace and power of an athlete. His black hair was slightly wavy, and it was brushed back from his strong forehead to reveal his breathtakingly handsome face.
She’d often wondered if she’d ever get over how amazing he was. It didn’t matter whether he’d been away on business for a few days or whether they’d just been in different rooms for a few minutes—whenever she laid eyes on him after they’d been apart, her heart fluttered and excitement coiled through her. After knowing him for ten months and living with him for the past five months, she was still overwhelmed by the pure thrill of being with him.
‘You have returned at last.’ Vito caught her with his blue eyes as he closed the distance between them and swept her into his embrace.
‘Hmm.’ Lily snuggled against his strong chest, pressing her face against his velvety-soft black cashmere sweater. She breathed deeply, drawing his scent into her lungs. Safe in his arms, she felt so much better. The nausea she’d suffered in the water taxi was already a distant memory.
‘I tried to call you,’ Vito said, lifting her face gently for a lingering kiss. ‘But then I found your phone in the bedroom.’
‘Sorry.’ Lily looked up into his gorgeous face. As always his kiss had the power to make all thoughts fly out of her mind. ‘I forgot to charge it.’
‘Are you all right?’ Vito asked, catching her hands in his. ‘You’re so pale and cold. Come and sit down. Would you like a warm drink?’
‘I’m fine,’ Lily replied, letting Vito lead her into his study. ‘A glass of cold water would be lovely.’ She smoothed her fingers over her hair, suddenly apprehensive again. Now she knew why she’d gone off tea and coffee—and in a minute she’d have to tell Vito.
‘I thought Carlo was taking you to your appointment,’ Vito said, looking over his shoulder at her as he dropped ice cubes into a glass and poured mineral water from a frosted bottle. ‘I don’t like you taking public taxis, especially when you aren’t feeling well.’
‘I was all right,’ Lily reassured him. ‘I thought I might want to walk a while—the fresh air makes me feel better.’
‘Still, if I’d known you were going to dismiss Carlo I would have accompanied you myself,’ Vito said, slipping his arm around her waist and guiding her over to a sofa by the window. ‘I don’t know how you persuaded me not to cancel my meeting.’
Lily ran her hand over her long blonde hair again as she sat down. The humidity of the fog had made it frizz. It was absurd to worry about what she looked like at a time like this, but somehow the enormity of the situation suddenly made it easier to focus on smaller things.
‘What did the doctor say?’ Vito asked, looking at Lily with concern. Her heart-shaped face really was incredibly pale, and there were dark smudges of fatigue under her expressive hazel eyes. ‘Do you need antibiotics?’
‘No,’ Lily said.
She was smoothing her hands over her hair. Vito recognised the nervous gesture. Since they’d been together he’d grown used to her body language, but he couldn’t imagine why she was anxious now.
‘Then what is it?’
Fear that there might be something seriously wrong suddenly sliced through him like the blade of a knife. He dropped to his knee beside her, and took her chilly hands in his. The thought of Lily ill was unbearable. ‘What did the doctor say?’ he pressed. ‘Do you have to go back for tests?’
‘No.’ Lily hesitated, looking at his expression. His black brows were drawn down with concern, creating two vertical creases between his eyes. She was close enough to wonder at their amazing colour—the incredible vibrancy of sky-blue that made her feel like summer had come, rather than the cold and damp of early spring that still felt like winter.
But she’d worried him—something she’d never meant to do. She should tell him the truth at once.
‘I’m pregnant.’
Lily could not have prepared for what happened next. She’d anticipated surprise, maybe even displeasure. But she’d never expected the sudden dramatic change in his expression—as if cold steel-shutters had dropped down over his features. Nor the brutal finality of his words.
‘Pack your things.’ He jerked abruptly to his feet, letting her hand fall from his fingers as if he could no longer bear to touch her. ‘And get out of my house.’
CHAPTER TWO
LILY opened her eyes and looked groggily at the clock. Damn! She was late.
‘Aren’t you up yet?’ Anna said, already smartly dressed for work, walking across the open-plan lounge to the kitchen area of her flat. ‘I thought you had that presentation this morning. You know—the big make-or-break one.’
‘Yes, it’s at nine o’clock.’ Lily pushed herself up into a sitting position on the sofa. She was so grateful to her friend for letting her stay since Vito had thrown her out, but this sofa wasn’t exactly the most comfortable place she’d ever slept.
‘Oh dear, you look awful,’ Anna said. ‘I thought morning sickness was only supposed to last the first few months.’
‘So did I.’ Lily moved and breathed slowly in an attempt to keep her stomach calm.
‘Here,’ Anna said, placing a glass of milk on the coffee table. ‘Good luck this morning,’ she added, already halfway to the front door.
Lily picked up the milk and took a careful sip. It was cool and comforting, and within a couple of minutes she felt her stomach start to settle enough for her to manage a quick shower and get ready for work. Thank goodness for Anna, who’d remembered one of her colleagues talking about how milk had worked wonders for the nausea she’d suffered from during pregnancy.
Forty-five minutes later Lily climbed out of a black cab she could ill afford, and hesitated on the wide London pavement, staring up at the imposing steel-and-glass building that was the home of L&G Enterprises. It was a subsidiary of the Salvatore empire, and a menacing shiver ran down her spine at the thought that Vito might be inside. But if she’d really thought, even for a moment, that there was any chance of him being anywhere near, she would never have agreed to make the presentation today.
She took a deep breath, gripped her heavy briefcase tightly, and walked into the building. A long blonde coil of her curly hair was bouncing in front of her eyes, so she tucked it back forcefully behind her ear. She’d been so late that there hadn’t been time to straighten and style her hair properly. She’d settled for pulling it back tightly into a twist at the nape of her neck, but it was already showing signs of breaking free.
It was important she did well this morning. So far she hadn’t managed to find the permanent job she desperately needed. But, if luck was on her side today, this could be the break she needed. She’d approached her old boss at the computer-software company she’d been working for when she’d met Vito, and as a personal favour he’d been prepared to offer her a chance. If she could sell his company’s web-conferencing system to L&G Enterprises, he’d give her a commission and find her a permanent job.
‘But didn’t Suzy Smith set up the pitch?’ Lily had asked, thinking of the flamboyant brunette who’d willingly stepped into her shoes when she’d handed in her notice so that she could move to Venice to be with Vito.
‘She did,’ Mike, her old boss, had conceded. ‘But honestly, Lily, she won’t be able to cut it. L&G are a notoriously hard sell. Trust me, Suzy will be glad to hand this one over to you—she even tried to persuade me to take it on.’
‘Why don’t you?’ Lily had smiled wryly, realising she was halfway to talking herself out of this job opportunity.
‘Because you’re better,’ Mike had said truthfully. He might be a computer genius, and was making a success of his small business, but sales spiel was not his greatest strength. ‘You know your stuff,’ he’d continued, pulling out all the necessary files and information for the presentation. ‘And you won’t let those stuck-up executives throw you off your stride.’
And now here she was, walking into a company owned by Vito Salvatore—the man who had thrown her out onto the streets of Venice like a piece of trash because she’d made the mistake of accidentally getting pregnant.
Six long weeks had passed since that awful day in March, but Lily was still in shock over the way he had treated her. Although at the time she’d hardly dared to believe her luck at being with such a wonderful man, she really had thought everything was going well with him. Until she’d discovered in the most appalling way that he wasn’t really so wonderful—otherwise how could he have tossed her aside right when she’d needed his support?
With a determined effort she pushed memories of Vito and the way he had treated her to the back of her mind. Focussing her thoughts on the task in hand, she walked briskly up to Reception, and gave her name and the name of the company she represented. That was the only way she’d got through the last six weeks—by refusing to think about the brutal way Vito had betrayed her and their unborn child
She had no choice. She had to keep it together because she needed to find a job. Then she could make a home for herself and the baby.
‘We’ve been expecting you.’ The receptionist spoke without smiling, and handed Lily a visitor’s badge. ‘Samuel will escort you up to the meeting room.’
‘Thank you.’ Lily smiled brightly and pinned the badge onto the jacket of her ivory linen-suit. Then she glanced round to see a sullen-faced young man she presumed was Samuel walking across the lobby towards her.
He gave no sign of wanting to engage in small talk, so she followed him silently to the elevator and up to the executive floor, where he showed her to the room that had been booked for her presentation.
Vito had described L&G Enterprises to her as one of his smaller business interests, but there was nothing small about the glass-walled executive meeting-room that she found herself in. This certainly wasn’t going to be a cosy pitch, she thought, looking at a vast smoked-glass table surrounded by black-leather chairs.
She had just finished setting up when she heard a voice behind her.
‘Ms Smith, I assume?’
Lily plastered a bright smile on her face and spun round to see a short, balding man dressed in a dark suit. She recognised him from his photograph on the company website—he was the head of Corporate Communications.
‘It’s Lily Chase, actually,’ she said, holding out her hand to him. ‘I’m very pleased to meet you, Mr D’Ambrosio.’
‘Decided to send in the big guns, did they?’ D’Ambrosio asked. He let his beady eyes slide over her in assessment, and held onto her hand for far too long.
‘You could say that.’ Lily smiled. One of the most important rules in sales was always to appear bursting with confidence, even if it sometimes went against the grain. She retrieved her hand and resisted the urge to rub it vigorously on her straight skirt. ‘L&G Enterprises is potentially a very important customer, and it was felt that I have the necessary experience to explain our product fully.’
‘Hmm.’ D’Ambrosio looked unimpressed. ‘Let’s get started,’ he said, sitting down at the immense glass table as another group of suited people came in. One of them, a woman wearing scarily high heels, was talking on her mobile phone in a loud, insistent voice. Another, a young man in his twenties, sat down, opened his laptop and started scrolling through his emails.
Lily looked at the assembled executives, wondering if she should let the woman finish her phone call before she started. They were an arrogant bunch, and she’d long since learned not to expect much common courtesy from this type of person—if she didn’t catch their attention quickly, it wouldn’t be long before they were all talking on their mobile phones or looking at their laptops.
‘What are you waiting for?’ D’Ambrosio barked. ‘We haven’t got all day.’
Lily straightened her shoulders, smiled brightly, and started her pitch.
Vito Salvatore strode through the building in a thunderous mood. He couldn’t get his recent visit to his grandfather out of his mind.
Giovanni Salvatore had always been such a force in his life—a formidable head of the family, an important role model and, most importantly, a dependable father figure when Vito’s parents had died in an accident.
But now he was a sick old man, clinging tenaciously to the last months of his life.
‘Make me happy before I die, Vito,’ Giovanni had said.
‘Nonno, you know I would do anything for you.’ Vito had sat beside him and had taken his grandfather’s frail hand in his own. It shocked him to feel the weakness of his grip, feel the constant tremor in his fingers.
‘Let me know my name will continue.’
Vito had squeezed his grandfather’s hand in reassurance, but he hadn’t been able to speak. He’d known what was being asked of him—but how could he promise something that was never going to happen?
‘You’re thirty-two years old. It’s time to settle down,’ Giovanni had urged, fixing him with a surprisingly sharp stare. ‘You run through women like there’s no tomorrow, but you need to stop and think about the future. My days are numbered. Before I die I want to know my great-grandchild is on the way.’
Vito had stood up and turned to look down out of the high-arched window at the many boats on the Grand Canal below. His grandfather was a stubborn old dog. Even as his health declined he’d refused to leave the baroque palazzo in one of the busiest parts of Venice.
It had been his home for more than seventy-five years, and he’d declared the constant noise of tourist and business traffic beneath his windows didn’t bother him—what would finish him off would be putting him out to pasture in one of the family’s rural estates on the Veneto plain. And in truth Vito liked having him in the city where he could oversee the care he was receiving.
He only hoped that he would be able to live out his days at home. Certainly his fortune would cover the necessary costs of medical professionals to attend him.
‘Everything will be all right, Nonno,’ he’d said, turning to place an affectionate kiss on the old man’s cheek. How could Vito break his heart by telling him that the Salvatore line would stop with him?
He pushed the memory aside and continued to stride along the carpeted corridors of the executive floor, unaware of how his expression was scattering employees in front of him. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with the directors of L&G Enterprises, but nevertheless he would attend the board meeting.
Suddenly he stopped in his tracks and stared through the glass wall of the meeting room. He could not believe his eyes.
Lily Chase.
Seeing her standing there felt like a sledgehammer blow to the guts. Her betrayal was still a fresh wound and, as he looked at her, he could almost feel her twisting the knife. His heart started to thud furiously beneath his ribs, and he clenched his fists at his sides.
No one betrayed Vito Salvatore and got away with it—but that was exactly what Lily Chase had managed to do. The night he’d discovered what she had done, he’d been so shocked that he had simply thrown her out. It was so much less than she’d deserved.
And now, as if to rub further salt into his wounds, it was obvious that she’d fallen on her feet. Because here she was, bold as brass, coolly making a presentation to his communications team—as if she didn’t have a care in the world. And as if she had nothing to fear from him.
He looked her up and down, automatically checking for signs of pregnancy, but there was no evidence of her condition yet. If anything she’d lost weight, making her look incredibly thin. The linen suit she was wearing was unflatteringly loose and baggy, and her hair was tied back in an uncompromisingly severe style.
But, even though she wasn’t looking her best, he simply couldn’t take his eyes off her. With her light-blonde hair and her pale clothing she stood out like a beacon against the dark-suited executives in their dark and gloomy conference room.
Why had she done it?
The question thrust itself forcefully into his mind.
He gritted his teeth, trying not to let his thoughts continue down that path. He was always in control. He was the one who called the shots, in his private life as well as in business.
All the women in his life understood how it was. Nothing permanent. No strings attached. But always absolute fidelity on both sides while it lasted. Up until the blow Lily had dealt him, that had never been an issue. He was man enough for any woman. Or so he’d thought.
He stared at her through dangerously narrowed eyes, watching her behind the glass. It only took a moment to figure out she’d gone back to her old job, selling web-conferencing software.
Although she looked pale and tired, she appeared calm and in control of the meeting, but he knew she was punching above her weight with this lot. He didn’t like the head of Corporate Communications at L&G, and he knew he’d never invest in a new system, even though it was exactly what was needed to bring the company into the twenty-first century.
Why had Lily been unfaithful to him?
The question hammered persistently in his head.
Things had been good between them, both in and out of the bedroom. The time they’d spent together had been a wonderful counterpoint to the cut and thrust of his business life. And the sex…The sex had been nothing short of incredible.
She’d given him her virginity—something he’d considered a truly special gift. But that just made it all the more shocking that she’d fallen into another man’s bed so quickly.
The thought of Lily with another man was unbearable. A vein throbbed in his temple and he surged forward, opening the door into the meeting room with a crash.
Lily looked up in shock.
Suddenly she couldn’t breathe.
Her worst nightmare had come true—Vito was here.
‘What…?’ D’Ambrosio started to bluster at the interruption, but the second he realised it was his Venetian boss he fell silent.
Lily dragged a shallow breath into her lungs and felt her heart jolt back into life after the shock of seeing Vito. It began to beat painfully hard as she stared at him.
She’d missed him so much—but he’d hurt her so badly. Looking at him produced a physical ache in her chest. She longed to dash across the room and lose herself in the warm strength of his embrace—but she knew there was no warmth there any more. He’d made that clear when he’d thrown her away.
Despite the pain of seeing him, her eyes roamed urgently over his body as he stood in the doorway. He looked absolutely magnificent. His hand-tailored suit fit him to perfection, but did nothing to conceal his raw, masculine power. She recalled the athletic strength of his lean body only too well. Remembered exactly how it felt to be held close to his hard-muscled form.
But now she shuddered as she saw how intense his expression was. His bronzed skin was pulled taut across his high, slashing cheekbones, and a muscle was pulsing on his strong angular jawline.
And his blue eyes were fixed on her, in a way that made her blood run cold. She looked straight back, matching his gaze with her own. An icy shiver skittered down her spine as she recognised the steely anger in his eyes. Apart from her final day in Venice, he had never looked at her like that. It was a nasty reminder of how brutally he had ended things between them.
‘Tell me why L&G Enterprises should invest in your product.’ Vito spoke suddenly.
Lily gripped her shaking hands together tightly and stared at Vito in surprise. She hadn’t expected that. She’d thought he would throw her out, or perhaps call Security to do his dirty work for him. She didn’t know what game he was playing, but she had no choice but to play along. She certainly wasn’t going to turn tail and run from him.
Suddenly a strong smell of coffee assailed her nostrils and a wave of nausea washed over her. She looked down to see a steaming lake of black coffee spreading across the smoked-glass table from D’Ambrosio towards her laptop computer. Vito’s dramatic arrival had obviously startled him into spilling his drink, but he was making no move to clean it up.
He looked at her, and with a shock Lily realised he was expecting her to do it. God, he was arrogant! But now, with Vito standing there staring at her, she had more to worry about than D’Ambrosio’s spilt coffee.
She took a deep breath, inadvertently pulling the sickening smell of coffee deep into her lungs, and moved her laptop to one side. Then, looking straight at Vito, she began to speak.
Her voice rang out amazingly clear and steady in the ominous silence of the meeting room as she concentrated on delivering the presentation she had previously prepared.
‘…and so this new system will give you the very best in web conferencing, saving your business both time and money, not to mention freeing you from the annoyance of using an outdated system that frequently fails to perform according to basic requirements.’
Lily finished her spiel and continued to match Vito’s gaze. She knew it was pointless. Mike had been right—L&G was a hard sell. But now Vito had arrived it was more than hard—it was impossible.
The room was deathly silent as everyone waited for Vito to speak and, out of nowhere, her thoughts suddenly turned to her unborn baby. Vito’s child. It still hardly seemed real. Some of the time she almost forgot she was pregnant for a few minutes. But then, even if the nagging nausea wasn’t enough to remind her, the constant worry over getting a job so that she could provide for her baby slammed the reality home.
She remembered all the warnings her mother had given her about men, and now she was in exactly the same situation as her mother had once been—ruthlessly cast aside because she’d made the mistake of getting pregnant.
Lily’s father had refused to acknowledge her, and had even threatened her mother if she ever revealed their relationship. He had his own ‘real’ family to protect—a wife and two daughters living in a lovely suburban home.
Lily and her mother hadn’t been good enough. They’d been a potential embarrassment, always to remain hidden far away in the countryside where they couldn’t do any damage to his impeccable reputation.
Lily knew her father was a first-class hypocrite and, as she’d grown older, she’d told herself she’d been better off without him. But it had been tough growing up without a father. Her mother had found it hard to cope, and that had made life difficult and unsettled for Lily.
‘We will take your web-conferencing system on three-months-trial basis.’ Vito broke the silence abruptly. ‘D’Ambrosio, clean up here. Then take Ms Chase’s equipment up to my office.’
‘But…’ For a second D’Ambrosio looked annoyed by his boss’s snap decision, but then he recovered himself and jumped to his feet. ‘Of course, it would be a pleasure to do business with you,’ he said, holding out his hand to Lily almost desperately. ‘Your company’s system really does sound very impressive. We’ll get it all arranged—my people will meet your people, and…’
In other circumstances, witnessing D’Ambrosio’s turnaround from obnoxious to obsequious might have been amusing, but at that moment Vito turned his eyes onto Lily with a penetrating look that made the breath catch in her throat.
‘Ms Chase, you will accompany me to my suite.’ His voice rolled down her spine like thunder, setting her insides quaking. He’d never spoken to her like that before.
‘I…I should make arrangements with Mr D’Ambrosio,’ Lily prevaricated. Part of her longed to go with Vito, but the sensible part of her mind told her to keep well away from him.
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