CHAPTER SIX
The Billionaire’s Bridal Bargain
Lynne Graham
Cesare turned to look at Lizzie only when she reached the altar.
Eyes the colour of melted bronze assailed her and she stopped breathing, gripped by the ferocious force of will in that appraisal. He had no doubts, she interpreted. He knew exactly what he was doing, had come to terms with the drawbacks, and was concentrating on the endgame.
She had to do the same, Lizzie told herself urgently. She had to stop trying to personalise their relationship and stop wondering whether or not he would kiss her after they had been pronounced man and wife. Such treacherous thoughts were far removed from businesslike behaviour and utterly inappropriate, she scolded herself in exasperation.
‘You look fantastic,’ Cesare murmured softly as he threaded the wedding band on to her finger, and she followed suit, copying his manoeuvre with less cool and more nerves.
Indeed, Cesare was taken aback by just how fabulous she looked. The effect she had on him was ever so slightly unnerving. It was his libido, he told himself impatiently. As long as he stuck to his rules of never getting tangled in anything that smacked of an emotional connection he would be fine and perfectly happy.
BOUND BY GOLD
Captivated by passion
Lizzie and Chrissie Whitaker: two ordinary girls until they meet two extraordinary men!
But these men are renowned for getting what they want… whatever the cost!
Explosive passion and powerful men astound in Lynne Graham’s fabulous new duet!
Read Lizzie’s story in:
The Billionaire’s Bridal Bargain
April 2015
Lizzie refuses to marry Cesare Sabatino so he can get his hands on her Mediterranean island inheritance.
But no one says ‘no’ to the formidable tycoon and soon Lizzie is going from ‘I don’t’, to ‘I do!’
Read Chrissie’s story in:
The Sheikh’s Secret Babies
May 2015
Chrissie never told her sister who the father of her twin babies was. When the Prince of Marwan storms back into her life determined to claim his heirs, Chrissie is forced to recognise him… as her husband!
LYNNE GRAHAM was born in Northern Ireland and has been a keen romance reader since her teens. She is very happily married, with an understanding husband who has learned to cook since she started to write! Her five children keep her on her toes. She has a very large dog, which knocks everything over, a very small terrier, which barks a lot, and two cats. When time allows, Lynne is a keen gardener.
CESARE SABATINO FLIPPED open the file sent by special delivery and groaned out loud, his darkly handsome features betraying his disbelief.
There were two photos included in the file, one of a nubile blonde teenager called Cristina and the other of her older sister Elisabetta. Was this familial insanity to visit yet another generation? Cesare raked long brown fingers through his luxuriant black hair, frustration pumping through every long lean line of his powerful body. He really didn’t have time for such nonsense in the middle of his working day. What was his father, Goffredo, playing at?
‘What’s up?’ Jonathan, his friend and a director of the Sabatino pharmaceutical empire, asked.
In answer, Cesare tossed the file to the other man. ‘Look at it and weep at the madness that can afflict even one’s seemingly sane relatives,’ he urged.
Frowning, Jonathan glanced through the sparse file and studied the photos. ‘The blonde’s not bad but a bit on the young side. The other one with the woolly hat on looks like a scarecrow. What on earth is the connection between you and some Yorkshire farming family?’
‘It’s a long story,’ Cesare warned him.
Jonathan hitched his well-cut trousers and took a seat. ‘Interesting?’
Cesare grimaced. ‘Only moderately. In the nineteen thirties my family owned a small island called Lionos in the Aegean Sea. Most of my ancestors on my father’s side are buried there. My grandmother, Athene, was born and raised there. But when her father went bust, Lionos was sold to an Italian called Geraldo Luccini.’
Jonathan shrugged. ‘Fortunes rise and fall.’
‘Matters, however, took a turn for the worse when Athene’s brother decided to get the island back into family hands by marrying Luccini’s daughter and then chose to jilt her at the altar.’
The other man raised his brows. ‘Nice...’
‘Her father was so enraged by the slight to his daughter and his family that Lionos was eternally tied up in Geraldo’s exceedingly complex will.’
‘In what way?’
‘The
