The silence was overwhelming. Before he had to answer, his mother wrapped her arms around him from behind. He turned toward her and got a big kiss on his cheek.
“It’s nice to see my son home in the middle of the day for a change.” With a twinkle in her eye and a wicked laugh, she added, “I suspect with Abby back, you’ll be home more often.”
He watched color flood Abby’s pale features. He deliberately ran his eyes over her body, resting on herbreasts and the tops of her long slender legs. Her color deepened and he felt the rush of desire she always provoked in him.
“Absolutely, Mamma. What man wouldn’t want to come home to such an attractive and welcoming wife?”
Katarina looked at her watch and then began waving her arms and making shooing noises at them. “Go, you two. I can still remember the first flush of love. You have three-quarters of an hour before lunch is served. I’ll send Rachele to get you.” She looked around. “Go—before the children spot you and drag you into the pool to play.”
The last thing he wanted was to be alone in a bedroom with Abby. He’d promised to give her time, but he didn’t know if he could resist her. He pictured stripping her clothing from her delectable body, slowly, until every inch of pale skin was exposed to his sight and touch. He felt himself harden. His mother had given him the perfect excuse to be alone with Abby. It wouldn’t look as if he’d instigated any intimacy. Abby would never know that he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about having her since she had entered his den the other night.
Before he could speak, Abby slipped her hand in his. “Yes, let’s.” She tugged him inside, dragging him behind her. “Thank you, Katarina. What a perfectly wonderful idea. I would like a moment alone with your son.”
Dante watched her sweet bottom sway as he followed in her wake. It sent his hunger supersonic. The plump globes beckoned and he couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and pinching gently.
She glowered at him over her shoulder, but he saw the tinge of color sweep up her neck and into her glorious cap of honey curls. She was as on edge as he was, he realized, taking in her contradictory signals. Anticipation was the best aphrodisiac. He was getting to the point where his plan of keeping their arrangement impersonal could be damned.
He liked this new assertive Abby. Her take-charge attitudeonly served to heighten his desire. In their year of marriage, while Abby had been an enthusiastic bed partner, she had never shown any inclination to take the lead. She’d never denied him whatever he craved, but she’d never instigated their intimate pleasures either.
Right now she seemed so assertive. Her effectively ordering him to be her sexual slave for the afternoon was unbearably arousing, and by the time she’d pulled him into the bedroom and he’d kicked the door closed behind them, his self-control was in peril. But when she turned to face him, she far from demanded that he undress. “I want the truth. Do you need a child because you’re dying?”
Talk about a mood killer.
Images of his father, lying wasted and broken in the hospital days before he died, displaced the tantalizing images of seconds earlier. His body still burned but now in anger. She had no right to waltz back into his life and bring up bad memories. Why could she not remain the compliant young woman who’d never questioned him and who’d always been eager to do anything to please him?
“I’m waiting.” She looked at him levelly.
He had to admire her composure. It made him want her even more. Yet he wanted the compliant Abby he remembered, too. He wanted her beneath his hands and mouth so he could hear her moans of pleasure. The need to regain control asserted itself. There was only one way to take her mind off her question. Attack.
He flashed Abby a sinful grin and began to unbutton his shirt.
Her arms, which had been folded over her chest, fell to her sides. “What do you think you’re doing?” She took a step back as he shrugged out of the garment. She waggled a finger at him. “I didn’t bring you in here for some, some...”
“Some what? Some heart-stopping, mind-blowing sensual pleasure?” He grinned while he unbuttonedhis trousers.
“Stop it.” But her words were husky and there was no real censure behind them.
He watched her eyes consume his naked chest. She licked her lips.
“I’m merely going to prove to you that I am not dying.” That much was true—not yet anyway. His upcoming test results might make him a liar. He kicked off his shoes and stepped out of his trousers. “Why don’t you turn around and let me unzip your dress?”
Her eyes devoured him. Desire shafted through him, making him rock hard. When she saw his groin, her eyes widened.
“You did want to know if I was ill or sick.” He strode toward her retreating figure. “Let me prove exactly how healthy I am.”
She put her hands up to stop him. “There is no need. I believe you.”
“Oh, but there is. I won’t have you doubting that I’m fit enough to pleasure my wife.”
Hell, seeing her taut nipples beneath the thin linen dress she wore, and the slight tint of arousal on her skin, sent his reason fleeing. Taking Abby now had nothing to do with getting her with child.
He wanted Abby with a need verging on desperation.
Chapter 7
Abby couldn’t think with a near-naked Dante towering over her. Her heart thundered in her chest. She throbbed with an overpowering need to touch the rippling expanse of tanned flesh so nearly within her reach.
She had to admit she’d never seen a more physically fit specimen. This body didn’t belong to a sick man. It was a body made to entice her into sin. But Dante had taught her that looks could be deceiving. Four years ago she’d deceived him into thinking they were trying for a baby, something she deeply regretted and would take back if she could. She’d lost his trust, and whatever regard he had felt for her was lost the day he’d found her contraceptive pills. It had been easy to hide that lie, betrayed only by carelessness.
