Blackmailed Into The Marriage Bed

Letting the family down.

Failure.

With his father already the Gagliardi family’s big failure, those words haunted Vinn. They stalked him in quiet moments. It reminded him of how close to losing everything he had been when his father had jeopardised everything with his fraudulent behaviour. Vinn couldn’t allow himself to fail at anything. Being an only child had never really bothered him before then, but with his father acting like a born-again teenager at that time and his grandfather rapidly ageing, it had made Vinn think more and more about the future. Who would he leave his vast wealth to? What was the point of working so hard if you had no one to pass on your legacy to when you left this mortal coil?

But no, practically as soon as he’d brought up the topic, Ailsa had stormed out of his life like a petulant child, refusing to communicate with him except through their respective lawyers. She had dropped another failure on him—their marriage. He would give her the divorce when it suited him and not a moment before. He had far more pressing priorities and top of that list was getting his grandfather through this surgery.

Vinn was banking on Ailsa’s love for her younger brother Isaac to get her to agree to his plan for the next three months. But her turning up unannounced at his office was a reminder of how careful he had to be around her.

Careful. Guarded. Controlled.

He’d assumed she would call and make an appointment, but the one thing he knew he should never do with Ailsa was assume anything. She had an unnerving ability to catch him off guard. Like when she’d point blank refused to sign his agreement even though he’d dangled ten million pounds in front of her. He hadn’t expected her to ask for time to think about it. He’d expected her to sign it then and there. But with the pressure of getting to the hospital in time to see his grandfather before the surgery, Vinn had allowed her to get away without signing. He had never allowed anyone to do that to him before. Push him around. Manipulate him. He had always put measures in place to avoid being exploited or fooled or thwarted.

All through his life he had aced everything he had ever set out to do, but his marriage to Ailsa was a failure. A big fat failure. How he hated that word—failure. Hated. Hated. Hated it. It made him feel out of control, incompetent.

But it wasn’t just him who had been affected by Ailsa walking out on him. The breakup of their marriage had shattered his grandfather and it was no surprise the old man’s health had gone into a steep decline shortly after Ailsa had left. The death of Vinn’s father so soon after her leaving certainly hadn’t helped. But in some ways his grandfather had coped better with Vinn’s father’s death than the breakup of Vinn’s marriage. His marriage to Ailsa had been the hope his grandfather had clung to for the future—a future ripe with promise of a new generation, new beginnings and new success. But that hope had been snatched away when Ailsa left.

But just lately, as the two-year mark of the separation crept closer, he’d noticed his grandfather becoming more and more stressed and his health suffering as a result. His grandfather had always been a devoted family man and had stayed faithful and true to Vinn’s grandmother, Maria, until her death five years ago. If Vinn could do this one thing—make his grandfather believe he and Ailsa were back together—then at least the old man’s recovery wouldn’t be compromised by the stress and worry about their imminent divorce.

Besides, this time around, Vinn would be the one in control of their relationship and he would stay in control. He wouldn’t allow Ailsa to throw him over again. He had put a time limit on their ‘reunion’ and he’d mentioned the no-sex rule just to be on the safe side. When he’d seen her walk into his office unannounced, his loins had pulsed with a drumbeat of primal lust so powerful it nearly knocked him off his feet. And if he hadn’t been talking to one of his senior staff on the phone about a tricky problem in one of his workshops, he might well have taken Ailsa into his arms then and there and challenged her to deny the spark that arced between them. The spark that had always arced between them from the first time they’d met at a furniture exhibition in Paris. He was attracted to her natural beauty—her long silky curtain of ash-blonde hair and creamy complexion and coltish model-like figure, and the way her bewitching grey-blue eyes seemed to change with her mood.

The other thing he’d liked about her back then was she hadn’t been easy to pick up. With his sort of wealth and profile it had been a new experience meeting a woman who didn’t dive head first into bed with him. She had taken playing hard to get to a whole new level. The thrill of the chase had been the biggest turn-on of his adult life. He had seen it as a challenge to get her to finally capitulate and, if he were honest, he would have to admit it was one of the reasons he’d married her instead of offering her an affair like anyone else. Maybe even the major reason. Because nothing shouted I won more than getting that wedding ring on her finger.

But that iron-strong determination of hers that had so attracted him in the first place was the same thing that had ultimately destroyed their marriage. She refused to back down over a position she adopted. It was her way or the highway and to hell with you if you didn’t agree.

But Vinn was equally determined, and this next three months would prove it.

* * *

Ailsa followed Vinn into the private room where Domenico was being monitored prior to the transplant. Strict sterilisation procedures were being conducted and, according to the nurse, they would be a hundred times more stringent once the surgery was over.

The old man was lying in a bed with medical apparatus tethering him seemingly from every limb. He opened his eyes when Vinn approached the bed and gave a weak smile. ‘You made it in time.’

Vinn gently took his grandfather’s hand in his and Ailsa was touched to see the warmth and tenderness in Vinn’s gaze. Had he ever looked at her like that? As if she mattered more than anything at that moment? She felt guilty for thinking such thoughts at such a time with his grandfather so desperately ill, but how could she not wish Vinn had felt something more than just earthy lust for her?

‘I made it,’ Vinn said. ‘And I brought someone with me to see you.’

Domenico looked to where Ailsa was standing and his weary bloodshot eyes lit up like stadium lights. ‘Ailsa? Is it really you?’

She stepped forward and put her hand on the old man’s forearm, so close to where Vinn’s hand was resting she felt a little electric tingle shoot up her arm. ‘Hello, Dom.’

Dom’s eyes began to water and he blinked a few times as if trying to control his emotions. ‘My dear girl... You have no idea how much it thrills me to see you back with Vinn. I’ve prayed for this day. Prayed and prayed and prayed.’

Back with Vinn.

Those three words sent a wave of heat through her body and two hot pools of it firing in her cheeks. Had Vinn already told his grandfather they were back together? Had he been so arrogantly confident she would sign the agreement? She was glad now she hadn’t signed it. Fervently glad. He had given her ten million very good reasons to sign it, but still, it rankled that he thought he could so easily buy her acquiescence by waving indecent amounts of money in front of her.

‘But I’m not really—’ Ailsa stopped mid-sentence. How could she tell Dom the opposite of what he clearly wanted to hear? She might not have signed Vinn’s agreement, but his poor old grandfather was being wheeled into surgery within a matter of minutes for an operation, which he might not survive. What harm would it do to allow Dom this one moment?

She wasn’t back with Vinn as in Back With Vinn. She was playing a game of charades to keep an old man happy. Standing here by this old man’s bedside with the prospect of his life with a clock ticking on it made her want to do everything in her power to make Dom feel settled and peaceful before his life-saving or, God forbid, life-ending surgery.

‘I’m here,’ she said and moved her hand so it was on top of Vinn’s on Dom’s hand. ‘We’re both here. Together.’

Tears dripped down from Dom’s eyes and Ailsa leaned over to pluck a tissue from the box beside the bed and gently mopped them away, her eyes feeling suspiciously moist and her chest so tight it felt like she was having her own medical crisis.

‘If I don’t make it through this operation then at least I have the assurance you two have patched things up,’ Dom said, his voice choked with emotion. ‘You’re meant to be together. I knew that the first time Vinn introduced me to you. You’re a strong woman, Ailsa. And my grandson is a strong man and needs someone with enough backbone to handle him.’

Ailsa was going to handle Vinn all right. She was going to grab him by the front of the shirt and tell him what she thought of him manipulating her into this crazy charade by default. Even though she hadn’t committed herself on paper, he must have known she wouldn’t be able to help herself once she saw his desperately ill grandfather. No wonder he hadn’t made a fuss back in his office when she’d refused to sign the wretched agreement. He had simply bided his time so he could play on her emotions because he knew it was her weak spot. Just like he was using her love and affection for her brother as a bargaining tool, forcing her to bend to his will.

‘Time to go to Theatre,’ a hospital orderly announced from the door.

Vinn leaned down to kiss his grandfather on both cheeks European style, his voice husky and deep. ‘Good luck, Nonno. We’ll be waiting for you once you come out of Recovery.’

If you come out of Recovery...

Ailsa could hear the unspoken words like a haunting echo inside her head. Vinn had lost his mother when he was a small child barely old enough to remember her. He had lost his grandmother—who had effectively raised him—five years ago, and lost his father during the last two years. Now he was facing the prospect of losing his grandfather. The grandfather who, in many ways, had been more of a father to him than his own father.

She hadn’t expected to feel anything other than hate towards Vinn because of the way he had married her because he wanted a wife and she had somehow measured up to his standards. Little did he know how far below those standards she actually fell. But now she felt an enormous wave of sympathy for what he must be going through. She wasn’t supposed to feel anything where Vinn was concerned. She was in the process of divorcing him.

But who wouldn’t feel sorry for someone saying goodbye to a grandfather who had been there for them all of their life? Dom and his wife Maria had stepped in when Vinn’s mother died when he was so young and again when his father had caused so much financial and emotional mayhem. Dom had been there for Vinn in every way possible and now he was facing the very real prospect of losing him. Not that she had found out any of that information about his grandparents’ role in his life from Vinn. She had found out most of it from his previous secretary Rosa, who had filled her in on some of the Gagliardi family dynamics.

Ailsa leaned down to kiss Dom’s cheeks and wish him well and, when she straightened, Vinn’s arm encircled her waist and drew her close to his body. In spite of the layers of her clothes, his touch set off fireworks through her flesh. He was so much taller than she was and even in her high heels she barely came up to his shoulder. She had never been more aware of her femininity than when standing next to him. It was as if his body had secret radar that was finely tuned to hers, signalling to it, making it ping back responses she had little or no control over. She could feel them now. Ping. Ping. Ping. Tingle. Tingle. Tingle. The warm press of his hand on her left hip was sending a message straight to her core, like a network of fiery hot wires fizzing and whizzing. Her breasts began to stir, as if remembering the slightly calloused glide of his hands caressing them, his thumbs rolling over her nipples...

Ailsa gave herself a mental slap and eased out of Vinn’s hold once Dom had been wheeled away, accompanied by the nurse and three other clinicians. She waited until they were alone before she turned to face Vinn with a skewering glare. ‘Did you tell him we were back together before you’d even spoken to me?’

His expression showed faint signs of irritation. ‘No. But he must’ve put two and two together when he saw you come in with me.’ He rubbed a hand over his face, the sound of his stubble catching against his skin making something in her belly turn over. ‘Thanks, by the way. You’ve made a frail old man very happy.’

Ailsa shifted her lips from side to side—a habit she’d had since childhood. She did it when she was stressed and she did it when she was thinking. ‘But what about when he wakes up? He’ll know there’s something not right between us. He might be desperately sick but he’s not a fool.’

His dark-as-pitch eyes moved between each of hers in a back and forth motion, as if looking for a gap in her firewall. ‘You’ll have to work a little harder on convincing him you’re in love with me.’

Ailsa gave him an arch look. ‘Maybe you could show me how to do it by example.’

His hooded gaze went to her mouth and something dropped off a shelf in her stomach. That was the look that had started their crazy lust-driven relationship. The I-want-to-have-jungle-sex-with-you look. The look that melted her self-control like a scorching flame on sorbet. But then, as if he remembered they were still in a hospital room and likely to be interrupted, he brought his gaze back to hers. ‘I’m sure you’ll do a great job once you see ten million pounds in your bank account.’ He took out his phone and started pressing the keys, adding, ‘I’ll transfer a quarter of the funds now and the rest on signing.’

Ailsa bristled again at the suggestion she could be bought. ‘I don’t care if you put twenty million in my account, it won’t change the fact that I hate you. And I told you, I’m not signing it until I’ve had time to think about it.’

He looked up from his phone with an unreadable look. ‘Hate me all you like in private, cara, but in public—signed agreement or not—you will act like a blissfully happy bride or answer for the consequences.’

She ground her teeth together. ‘Don’t go all macho man on me, Vinn. It won’t work.’

One side of his mouth lifted in an indolent smile as if he was enjoying her strong will colliding with his. He stepped closer and lifted her chin with the tip of his finger. She knew she should have jerked away from him but for some reason her body was locked in a mesmerised stasis. His eyes were so dark she couldn’t make out his pupils and they pulsed with little flashes of heat that could have been anger or red-hot desire or a combination of the two.

‘You really are spoiling for a fight, aren’t you, tesoro mio? But you know where our fights end up, hmm? In bed with you raking your fingernails down my back as I make you come again and again and again.’

Ailsa could feel her cheeks blushing like an industrial furnace. How dare he remind her of how wanton she had been in his arms? He made her turn into an animal in his bed. A wild animal with needs and desires and hungers that had never been awakened, much less satisfied, by anyone but him.

The need to get away from him so she could think straight was suddenly paramount. She didn’t care what agreement he wanted her to sign or for how much, but right then and there she had to put some space between them.

‘Dream on, Vinn. I need the bathroom. Will you excuse me for a minute?’

‘There’s a bathroom in here.’ He pointed to the signed door in his grandfather’s room. ‘I’ll wait for you.’

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