Love, she thought, but could not say it, as her throat ached with the effort to hold back the tears that threatened for her lost dreams. 'Nothing, you're right,' she agreed, not believing him for a second. His concept of marriage horrified her. It was nothing more than a business deal: he paid the money and got the wife and child. But what were her options?
She couldn't think and the pressure of trying to retain her composure instead of bawling her eyes out stopped her from arguing with him. She lifted a hand and rubbed her temple in an attempt to ease the dull throbbing there.
'Here, let me do that.' Jake reached out and cupped her head in his hands.
For a moment Charlie stiffened, but only for a moment as his thumbs gently massaged her temples, soothing and unthreatening. Charlie's eyelids drifted shut in helpless response to the incredible sensitivity of his touch. The pressure in her temple eased and she breathed in deeply and sighed.
'Better?' Jake asked.
'Much,' she murmured, slowly opening her eyes. His face was only inches from her own, and the hands that had been holding her head dropped to her shoulders as his wide, sensual mouth closed over hers. Taking advantage of her open- mouthed surprise, he slid his tongue between her parted lips.
She raised her hands to push him away, but they met with the hard, hot wall of his chest and lingered as he deepened the kiss with a skilful, persuasive expertise. Her passionate response was humiliating but undeniable, and when his mouth moved from her lips to suck the sensitive hollow at the base of her throat, a low moan escaped her.
I want you,' Jake rasped. His dark eyes, black with barely controlled desire, seared into hers as his hands on her shoulders eased her back against the pillows, his body following her down. 'You're mine, Charlotte. Forget the rest and let our marriage start here.'
The intensity of his gaze thrilled even as it threatened her, and she willed herself not to respond, but it was hopeless. The husky sound of his voice alone seduced her even as his sensual mouth claimed hers once more. His teeth nipped at her lower lip, and then soothed with a lick of his tongue, before probing the soft inner tissue of her mouth.
A low moan escaped her as he broke the kiss and reared up over her. Shrugging off his robe, Jake grasped the straps of blue satin at her shoulders and stripped the nightgown from her. His hot dark eyes studied her naked body with hungry pleasure. 'You are so beautiful.' His gaze lingered on her full breasts before lifting to her flushed face.
Charlie felt her whole body blush, heat racing through her. Her eyes skated helplessly over his handsome face, noting the sensuous curve to his full lips, and on down to the broad expanse of his muscular chest, the curling black body hair, down past his navel, and back to his face. She was totally mesmerized by the sheer masculine perfection of him, as she had always been.
Jake lifted one long finger and, with a feather-light touch, traced the curve of her cheek, her lips, her throat, and lower to her breast. 'Exquisite,' he said huskily. 'I want to taste you.'
His dark head lowered, his firm lips following the trailhis finger had taken, lingering on her lips, more tempting than demanding, and then lower, to draw the aching peak of her breast into the heat of his mouth.
Her slender body arched involuntarily to the source of its pleasure, even as his fingers slid tantalizingly between her
thighs. The musky male scent of him, his exquisite touch, had ignited a fire inside her only his full possession could douse.
'Dio, I need you, Charlotte,' he groaned, his sensuous mouth claiming hers once more. She felt it in the hunger of his kiss, and the pressure of his fiercely aroused flesh against her thigh. The fact he had said need rather than want somehow inflamed her senses to fever pitch. Her fingers tangled in the silken hair of his head as he broke the kiss to trail a tongue of flame down her throat and lave the rigid peaks of her breast with tongue and teeth. And all the while his hands continued to caress her quivering flesh.
'You want me, Charlotte.' His dark head lifted from her breast, his glittering gaze seeking hers. 'And, Dio, I want you. I always have,' he groaned.
He was right. There was no point in denial. She loved him and her body ached for his, while he only lusted after hers, she knew. But she no longer cared as, driven by an unstoppable passion, she pressed her mouth to his throat. She bit his satin-smooth skin, felt his body tighten, and exulted in his husky groan. Her hands roamed feverishly over his powerful muscled body. She caressed and teased with mouth and teeth, using all the skills he had taught her, and he returned the favour. Pacing her pleasure with his own, he led her with a skilful, erotic ease to the very brink of ecstasy over and over again, until she almost wept from the sheer wonder of it.
He raised himself away from her, his night-black eyes molten with desire burning down into hers as he lifted herhips and surged into her, and the cry that rose in her throat was stilled as his mouth closed over hers.
She felt the quivering tension in his great frame as he thrust deeper and faster, her body instinctively picking up his rhythm. Her fingers dug into his bronzed skin and she was conscious only of Jake and the incredible joy of his possession, until the pleasure was almost too exquisite to bear. The fusion of their two bodies was mystical in its intensity, and she bit her lip to stop from screaming his name even as her body convulsed in a shattering climax that met and absorbed Jake's pulsating release.
His head fell to her shoulder, his harsh groan of masculine satisfaction echoing in her ears. She felt the heavy pounding of his heart against her own, their sweat-slicked bodies still shuddering in the aftershock of passion. She let her hands rove possessively over his damp skin, knowing that Jake had proved once again on a physical level they were in perfect accord.
Had it ever been that profound before? she thought dazedly. Her own aggression had sparked a fierce reaction in Jake, raw in its intensity, but with a phenomenal control he had excited her almost to the edge of oblivion and the final incredible climax had been the deepest, most potent fulfillment of all.
Maybe their marriage could work after all...
'Now you are truly my wife, mia amore,'' Jake said huskily, burying his face in her mass of hair. But his last words struck a jarring note in her mind.
'Don't call me that,' Charlotte said sharply.
'Why not? You are my wife.' Jake raised his head, his dark eyes smiling lazily down at her. 'I seem to remember we got married yesterday.'
She saw the amusement in his gaze and the sense of betrayal came flooding back. 'As if I could forget.' She turned her head away. It was not the wife she was objecting to, but the mia amore—my love. But she had no intention of telling him so. That he should use the term of endearment now, when he never had before, was like a knife to the heart. Their lovemaking had been so perfect, but remembering what he had revealed earlier made her want to weep.
She was not his love, never had been, and never would be. She meant no more to Jake than any of the other women who had shared his bed. Less! Because he had as good as admitted he thought she was a greedy bitch, and he had only taken her out to get revenge.
'Charlotte.' He lifted up on one elbow, and looked down at her, his dark eyes gleaming with gentle amusement. 'I know what is the matter. You never ate your breakfast.' He reached out and smoothed the tangled mass of blonde hair from her brow in a gentle gesture. 'My fault again. In your condition you need food at regular intervals.'
'And who made you a doctor?' Charlie sniped back, his tenderness more than she could bear right now. But his reaction stunned her.