Cold snakes through my post-orgasmic haze. I…think I did, yes. She cried out and tensed, and of course she would, because she’s a good, virginal daughter of the families.
I’ve hurt a good many people in my time, and not felt one flicker of regret, yet the thought of hurting her…
I look down at her dark head resting against my shoulder. She’s shivering.
‘Caterina.’ I cup her chin, tilting her head back so I can look into her eyes. ‘Are you all right?’
Her gaze is dark, the brilliant green muted, yet her cheeks are flushed and her mouth looks full and swollen from my kiss. She’s so beautifully wrecked by me, I want to growl with satisfaction.
‘Yes,’ she says, sounding dazed.
‘I hurt you.’
‘Only for a moment.’ She winces. ‘My back is sore, though.’
I tug her forward and that’s when I see the scrapes down her spine from where I pressed her against the stone side of the pool. And a curiously sharp burst of anger goes through me, at myself and my fucking lack of control. Because I know what happens when I lose it; people tend to die.
You also had sex with her without a condom.
That should make the situation a thousand times worse, yet even as my anger smoulders, a part of me, the wolf, is pleased that I’ve claimed her for himself. Pleased at the prospect of a child.
It’s a primitive thought and one I shouldn’t embrace, yet everything in me embraces it all the same. She’s mine now. Mine ineveryway, and there can be no letting her go. She’ll remain my wife, rule at my side, and bear my children. This will be a marriage in every way there is.
But will that be what she wants?
I don’t like the murmurs of my conscience and ignore it as I get us both out of the pool. There are towels on all the sun loungers, so I sit her down on one and start drying her, being careful with the scratches on her back.
She shivers deliciously as I touch her, gazing at me from beneath thick black lashes. ‘You look very serious all of a sudden,’ she murmurs. ‘Was it that bad?’
I’m kneeling on the stone pavers in front of her and the instant after she says the words I grip her chin firmly in my hand and force her to look at me. ‘That wasn’t bad,’ I say, suddenly ferocious. ‘That was fucking poetry.’
She blinks, searching my face as if she doesn’t quite believe me. ‘Oh…’ Colour flushes her cheeks. ‘Oh…well. I have nothing to compare it to and I thought that look on your face meant—’
‘That look on my face means I’ve decided you’re my wife in every way there is,’ I interrupt, forceful now. ‘You’ll be in my bed every night and once all the families are united, we’ll rule over them together. You’ll be the mother of my children and—’
‘Absolutely the fuck not.’ Her ready temper ignites, green and gold sparks glittering in her eyes. ‘Are you insane?’
I grip her tighter. I will not be denied, not on this. ‘I’m not. Why do you think I married you?’
But her gaze doesn’t even flicker. ‘To get my father’s loyalty. At least that’s what you told me.’
‘Gattina.’ I struggle to keep a grip on my temper, since getting angry with her will only make things worse. ‘It was always going to be a real marriage at some point, surely you must know that?’
She has no such qualms. ‘How would I know?’ she demands. ‘You didn’t tell me what else you were intending beyond having sex with your mistress tonight.’
Ah,Dio.She’s not going to let me get away with anything, is she?
‘Well, I’m telling you now,’ I say, refusing to feel any shame about the fact that I wasn’t exactly clear when I kidnapped her. ‘That’s what I intend.’
‘In that case, no.’ She jerks her chin from my fingers. ‘I want freedom, Vincenzo Argenti, not another cage.’
My grip on my temper slips and it flares in response to hers. This isn’t going the way I want it to, and I have a feeling that it’s my fault.
Of course it’s your fault. You’re treating her like an object again. The way your father treated your mother.
This time I can’t ignore the thought, or the shame that comes with it. I swore to be a better man than that bastard Stefano, and yet here I am, doing exactly what he did to my mother, railroading her, ignoring her wishes in favour of my own. I’m a man who learns from his mistakes and I should be learning from this one.
So I don’t move, still looking into her face as I force my temper into submission. ‘You think marriage to me would be a cage? Why?’
