The Italian Proposal: His Virgin Acquisition / Her Little White Lie

“They can’t. It’s one way glass. But I’ll make a mental note that you intend to do things in my living room that require privacy.” He gave her a look that was so hot it nearly melted the soles of her ridiculous shoes. “I’ll make it a point to work from my home office more often.”

It was at times like this that she really wished she could come up with some witty, off-the-cuff remark, but his casual innuendos always left her a mess.

She cleared her throat and tried to salvage some dignity. “Where is my room?” Anything to escape.

“Down the hall, last door. You have your very own en suite bathroom, so you’ll have all the privacy you need. I’ll be in my office; I have some work to do.” She didn’t watch to see which direction he went—didn’t even try to. She just headed down the hall, the promise of a hot bath keeping her going.

Her bedroom was white, like the rest of the house, and she was pleased to see that she had a view of the city skyline out of her window as well. It certainly beat the view from her own apartment, which consisted of a brick wall and her neighbor’s bedroom window.

All of her worldly possessions, except for her furniture, had been brought over by movers earlier today, and most everything was still packed away in boxes and stacked neatly in the corner. She wrinkled her nose. She wasn’t going to be unpacking tonight. All she wanted tonight was her bath and then bed. An image of Marco, his chest bare, his skin tan against her white sheets, flashed in her mind.

Alone. She would be going to bed alone.

She padded into the bathroom and her heart nearly stopped. There was a separate shower and jet tub, all tiled with caramel-colored Italian marble. The tub was so deep it looked as if she could sink in up to her neck and lose herself completely.

She went back into her bedroom and rummaged around until she found her iPod, then gave a casual scan for the bag she’d packed her clothes in. She didn’t see it, and decided to forego searching for pajamas until after she’d had a chance to let the warm water work the knots out of her muscles.

It took a while to fill up the massive tub, but it was worth the wait. Elaine submerged herself in the warm water and felt the tension slowly recede from her tightened muscles. She laid her head back and closed her eyes, letting the events of the day slip from her cluttered mind.

Her quiet moment was shattered by a rush of cold air. She jerked her head up and scrambled to cover anything that might be showing when she saw Marco standing in the doorway.

“Good—glad to see you’re making yourself at home.”

“Get out!” She had never been naked in front of a man before. She very likely hadn’t been naked in front of anyone since she’d been in diapers. She was the type to avoid public locker rooms and showers.

“Spare me your maidenly modesty.”

He had no idea how apt a description that was.

“It’s nothing I haven’t seen before, and often.”

Her ears burned at his casual reference to his love-life.

“I had hoped that we could put this off for a day or two, but I’m needed in Hawaii to close a very important deal,” he went on.

“Can we have this conversation when I’m not naked and dripping wet, please?”

Marco clenched his teeth. The images that statement evoked were so erotic he nearly hauled her slippery body out of the tub so he could show her just what he could accomplish while she was naked and dripping wet.

He had thought that by walking in on her bath he could remove the mystery, and in so doing remove some of her allure. But far from it. The hints of peachy skin he could see beneath the water had him hard and wanting her with a ferocity that shocked him.

Her attempts to cover herself had pushed her cleavage higher above the surface of the water, and he was having trouble tearing his eyes away so that he could look at her face when she talked. He’d seen plenty of naked women—plenty of beautiful, naked women. Why should this one be special? She shouldn’t be. But she was.

“Fine, I’ll wait for you in the living room.”

As soon as he left the room, Elaine scrabbled out of the tub. She wrapped a towel around herself and cautiously peeked into her room. After she’d verified that a certain arrogant, pain-in-the-butt hunk wasn’t in there she set about looking for something more substantial than the towel that was currently the only thing separating her from total exposure.

Privacy? Ha! They were apparently using different dictionaries.

She opened the closet for the first time, and almost choked on her tongue. There wasn’t a black or navy blue suit in sight. The closet was filled with clothes that she was certain bore designer labels, and every last one of them was as far removed from her general uniform as possible. This whole arrangement just got better and better. He was still playing dress-up with her.

She rifled through the clothes. Cashmeres, silks and cottons. Reds, golds and blues. The small girlish part of her that generally lay dormant was delighted by the selection. It was like shopping in her own home.

It’s like being bought.

And she wasn’t going to accept that. But she wasn’t going out to talk to him in a towel either.

She heard Marco pacing the hardwood floor in the living room. She fingered a beautiful silk dress that hung on one of the hangers. It bothered her immensely that she was thinking about wearing it, thinking about what Marco’s reaction might be to it.

She shoved the dress and the clothes next to it aside fiercely, banishing the thought of Marco’s touch burning her through thin silk.

Everything in the closet was extremely feminine, and extremely flimsy. She selected a dress made of a stretch cotton, by far the sturdiest piece of clothing available, and folded it over her arm as she went to look in the dresser for underwear. It wasn’t a big surprise that the same man who’d most likely hidden her sensible wardrobe approved of her lingerie.

Her face heated at the thought of his hands on her lacy bras and panties. It seemed so intimate, so unbearably sensual. She picked a pair of red underwear and a matching lace bra. She let her fingers glide over the material. Had Marco touched them like this? Imagined her wearing them? She clenched her thighs together to try and quell the rapid pulse that was beating at their apex. Her nipples beaded shamelessly against the rough terrycloth of the towel that was still wrapped tightly around her.

Elaine put a fierce stop to her runaway imagination. She put the offending underwear on hurriedly, before slipping the wrap dress on and tying the sash around her waist as tightly as possible. The neckline dipped low, and she was tempted to look for a safety pin to bring the edges of the v-neck together.

“Elaine?” Marco’s rich voice floated down the hall and she hurriedly left the room. The prospect of him coming into her bedroom was a bit more than her abnormally alert hormones could bear.

Marco turned when he heard Elaine enter the room. He’d hoped that he would have managed to get his rampaging lust under control by the time his new wife had dressed and come out to meet him. And he might have, had she not appeared in the living room looking like every man’s fantasy.

The red wrap dress was held onto her luscious body with a bow, making her look like a present that had been wrapped up just for him. A present he wanted very much to unwrap.

His fingers itched to pull the end of the bow and reveal the pearly skin that lay beneath the dress. He ached to see each gorgeous inch of her delectable body laid bare before his eyes, to touch her silken skin, to taste the hollow beneath her throat.

The seam on his pants bit into his growing erection and he shifted, trying to disguise his reaction to her.

“So, now that I’m decent, you were saying…?” She sat on the couch. Her breasts moved with her, their gentle bounce drawing his attention. If she was wearing a bra it was a flimsy lingerie piece, meant to showcase a woman’s breasts rather than conceal anything. He could see the perky outline of her nipples through the thin cotton. Would they be pale and pink like the rest of her? He gritted his teeth. She had to be doing this on purpose. No one could look that provocative by accident.

She was even better than he’d given her credit for. The guise of straitlaced businesswoman had put him at ease, but she was slowly dropping the charade and showing glimpses of the real Elaine. She had acted embarrassed when he’d walked in on her during her bath, but he sincerely doubted that a woman so seductive would be put off by something like that.

She’d done a wonderful job concealing the provocative, sexual part of her nature. Despite her reputation she’d nearly managed to convince him that she was an uptight prude. He could see now what a good little actress she was.

The woman sitting in front of him was a woman who knew the effect she had on men. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were bright, giving her the look of a woman who had recently indulged in hedonistic passions. There was simply no way she could be unaware of the sheer sex appeal that she exuded.

It might be fun to play her game, to take what she was offering for a while, as long as they were both sharing the same home. It was definitely tempting. He knew she had an agenda, but it was of little concern to him. He would be more than able to enjoy her physically and not get snared in her trap.

Later, when the deal with James Preston was ironed out, he would consider taking her up on the offer to use her delectable body.

He cleared his throat and sat in the chair opposite her. He looked to Elaine as if he was readying for a board meeting. Still, looking as formidable as he did, he was the sexiest man she had ever seen.

“What did you do with my clothes?” she asked, one eyebrow quirked.

“They’re still in a box somewhere,” he said, waving his hand dismissively.

“You didn’t think you should consult me before giving my wardrobe a complete overhaul?”

“It needed one. You can trust me on that.”

“I don’t relish feeling like you’re buying me.”

He chuckled. “But that’s basically what I’ve done. I’m paying you with Chapman Electronics to be my wife. And if you’re going to be playing the part of Mrs. De Luca you need to look the part. Actors are provided with costumes. If it makes you feel better, then look at it that way.”

She opened her mouth as if she was going to offer up one of her tart one-liners, then closed it again as if she’d thought better of it.

“You already know that I’ve been eyeing one of James Preston’s resort properties in Hawaii, and that he’s reluctant to sell to me because of my reputation?”

“Yes, I remember. The Hanalei Bay Resort.”

James Preston was a legendary hotelier. His resort property on the island of Kauai was the “it” spot for corporate retreats, celebrity weddings, and romantic getaways for the über-wealthy.

He gave her a wry smile. “That’s the one.”

“Is he still unsure about you?”

“He’s getting there, but he wants to meet with me personally before he agrees to anything.”

“Naturally.”

He nodded. “And of course I’ll need to do a thorough sweep of the property before I make a final decision.”

“How long will you be gone?”

“We shouldn’t be gone for more than a couple weeks.”

“We?”

“Yes. We.”

“What about my job? You just expect me to pick up and go gallivanting off to paradise and leave them in the lurch?”

“Yes, Elaine, I do. Think of this as an extended job interview. If you do things to my satisfaction, in the end you’ll get the company. However, if my goals are compromised so are yours. Remember that.”

Marco could see the war that was being waged behind her eyes. The fierce light that had glinted in their blue depths when she’d thought about arguing, the anger when she’d realized she had no choice but to accompany him, to hold to her end of the contract. Then, finally, he’d seen acceptance.

“When do we leave?”

CHAPTER SIX

THE VIBRANT COLOUR of the island rushed up into Elaine’s vision as the plane began to move closer to the viridian land. The trees were so dense she could hardly see the runway, and it felt as though the plane was going to crash into the thick palms and kukuis that lined the coast.

“It’s so beautiful,” she said.

Marco barely looked up from his laptop. He was sitting across from her in a captain’s chair that was adjacent to the small loveseat she was perched on.

His private plane was the size of her apartment, and was lavishly furnished. She’d probably looked completely gauche when she’d boarded the plane back in New York, her mouth hanging open as she took in the absolute indulgence and luxury of her surroundings.

“Yes. It is. Which is why it’s such valuable real estate.”

Even the matter-of-fact statement sent a shiver of wanting through her. He could recite baseball statistics and still sound unbearably sexy. She’d had her own bedroom and en suite bathroom for the duration of the thirteen-hour flight, but not even that little bit of privacy had been enough to keep her from feeling horribly, embarrassingly aware of the man.

It bordered on being infuriating. Where was her focus? She was so close—twelve months away—to reaching the ultimate prize, and half of her mind, and all of her body, were homed in on Marco.

Maybe it was the natural order. Maybe hormones and normal adult desires could only be ignored and suppressed for so long. Maybe they’d spent the last ten years building up in her system, only to be unleashed on the first desirable male to come within five feet of her.

It wasn’t as though she’d never had the opportunity. There had been plenty of men who’d showed interest in her, especially in college. And she’d even liked some of them, dated some of them. But in the end their lack of ambition had made her crazy, while her driving need for success had driven them away. There had been kisses—none of them overly passionate, all of them ending at the front door. There had never seemed to be the time or the adequate desire for a physical relationship.

And then there had been Daniel. Whom she’d liked a lot. Whom she’d been attracted to—whom she’d very nearly said yes to when he’d asked that all-important question at the door. But in the end she’d turned down his request to come in, nerves or maybe even morals stopping her from accepting.

That moment of refusal had changed everything. The next day Daniel had started spreading the rumors, and by the end of the day everyone knew why she’d been getting promoted. At least they’d thought they did. Nobody would believe that she’d gotten the promotions on her own merit, and her coworkers had been more than willing to believe that she’d slept with the boss rather than believing she might actually be good—better than they were—at what she did. And just like that her career had been killed before it had started.

Which brought her full circle to where she was now. On a private plane that had just landed in Hawaii, with her mercenary husband, whom she was appallingly attracted to, and twelve months of marriage to a man who threw her thoroughly off kilter looming ahead of her.

Marco stood when the plane came to a halt, his laptop secured in its travel case. “We will go straight to the Hanalei Bay Resort and get settled into our accommodations. Later we will be having dinner with James and his wife.”

“Our accommodations? As in, we’re sharing?”

Marco watched as hectic color flooded Elaine’s face. It was a source of amazement to him that a woman of her age could blush so easily. He preferred a more sophisticated type of woman, the kind of woman who didn’t expect anything from a man but a few nights of mutual satisfaction. The only sort of pink any of those women got in their cheeks came from their make-up bag. He found it an interesting sort of challenge, making her blush.

“No, actually I was planning to have you installed down the hall, so that I could use your services by day and entertain my mistress by night.”

Color reddened her neck and slowly climbed into her face, staining her cheeks a deep crimson. “Well, the stipulations of the prenup would certainly allow it,” she said stiffly.

He chuckled. “You’re not getting rid of me so easily, cara mia.” He strode across the cabin of the plane and leaned down, cupping her chin and tilting her face up so that she was forced to meet his eyes. “I’m here to play devoted husband.” He smoothed his thumb along her lush bottom lip. Lust attacked him, hot and hard. “And we’re on our honeymoon. That means you will be staying very, very close to me.”

Her tongue darted out to moisten her lips and the pink tip slicked across his thumb. Electricity shot from his hand to his groin. Her eyes widened, her pupils dilated. She wanted him. She probably wanted his money even more, but there was no denying that she wanted him physically.

And he ached to take her. To pull her to the floor and have his way with her, pound into her while those gorgeous, endless legs were wrapped high around his waist, as she whispered soft, feminine sounds of pleasure in his ear.

He was so hard it hurt.

But he didn’t have any protection with him—and not by accident. He wasn’t taking any chances with this mercenary woman he’d married. His own parents had given him an early crash course in the essence of human nature. Greed and self-satisfaction were at the core of every human being. Even the most honest and good could be corrupted for the right amount. With enough incentive a father could throw his family out onto the streets to fend for themselves. A mother could leave her children when she got a better offer than sleeping in alleyways. Yes, the right incentive could entice people to commit all kinds of sins.

He didn’t trust the woman. Her motives were anything but pure. He was certain of that. She had lied to her own father and married a stranger, all for her personal gain. He had no intention of falling prey to her. She was a fabulous manipulator. She was a calculating businesswoman, the embodiment of sex appeal, a ruthless competitor…and a blushing innocent?

Until he was able to ascertain exactly what her true motives were, exactly which of the characters she portrayed reflected the real woman, he would have to keep his distance.

His erection pulsed in protest.

She turned her face away and picked up her purse. When she faced him again her composure was intact. The face of the flustered girl covered by the mask of a perfectly collected, icy businesswoman.

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