once we are married—’
‘I most certainly will not!’ she answered defiantly. ‘My father needs me to remain close just now, Cesare.’ She tried reasoning with him as he looked totally implacable.
‘Marco and I will need you to remain close also,’ he insisted.
‘You and Marco have got along quite well without me so far. I’m sure you can continue to do so after we’re married,’ Robin dismissed.
She was so stubborn, this woman Cesare intended to make his wife. Beautiful, but stubborn. Desirable, but stubborn. Loyal to her family, but oh so stubborn!
‘We will discuss this subject further once we are married,’ he compromised tightly.
‘We’ll discuss it now!’ Robin persisted. ‘I’ve never been a stay-at-home wife. I wouldn’t know how to be one.’
‘You have your charity work—’ ‘It isn’t enough, Cesare,’ she said. ‘You will have Marco—’
‘Who, as you’ve already informed me, will continue to be cared for by the very capable Catriona!’
‘Then I will find Catriona employment elsewhere!’ Cesare told her exasperatedly, absolutely determined that Robin would not continue to work at Ingram Publishing after they were married.
He travelled extensively on business, and he intended that she and Marco would travel with him whenever he had to go away—something Robin would not be able to do if she were still working with her father.
As far as Cesare was concerned it was not even a subject for discussion.
Robin looked at him from beneath lowered lashes, wondering if Cesare had any idea that he had just given her exactly what she wanted—and that was to be able to care for Marco herself.
Of course Cesare had no idea—he wouldn’t have made the suggestion if he had.
‘Is that decision non-negotiable?’ she prompted with false impatience.
‘Absolutely,’ he assured with certainty.
‘Then it seems this is yet something else I have no choice about,’ she conceded. ‘Now, I really do have to go,’ she finished, before turning to walk down the hallway to her bedroom to collect her things.
Robin was smiling as she closed the bedroom door behind her—a dreamy, ecstatic smile at the thought of taking care of her beloved Marco herself, all day every day.
In fact, she could almost love Cesare at that moment for being the one to give her what she so wanted!
Love Cesare …?
No, she couldn’t possibly feel love for such an arrogantly autocratic man, she told herself firmly. Physical desire, yes. But not love …
CHAPTER EIGHT
‘CATRIONA HAS INFORMED me that she desires to return to Sicily once we return from our honeymoon.’
Robin frowned at Cesare later that evening, as he was shown into the sitting room of the home she had shared with her father for the last year. ‘You’ve spoken to her already?’
‘Actually … no,’ he conceded ruefully. ‘She was the one who spoke to me. Apparently her sister recently had a child, and she wishes to return to Sicily in order to care for her niece.’
‘Did you say honeymoon?’ Robin questioned, as part of his earlier comment registered. ‘Who said anything about the two of us going away on a honeymoon?’
‘It is traditional after a wedding, is it not?’ he came back haughtily.
It might be, but theirs was hardly going to be a traditional wedding, was it?
She shook her head. ‘I really don’t think there’s any need to carry the fiasco that far, Cesare—’
‘Need or not, it will be expected,’ Cesare maintained firmly.
Robin grimaced. ‘By whom?’
‘By your father, for one. I thought he would be here this evening.’ Cesare frowned at the fact that her father was noticeably absent from the room.
It had been a long and trying day for Cesare so far, his business meetings having been more protracted than he would have wished. His thoughts had turned to Robin more often than he would have wished, too.
She looked wonderful again this evening, her cream dress perfect against the honey tones of her skin and the thick sheen of the long hair she wore loose about her shoulders. Her arms were bare, her legs long and silky in the stockings that Cesare now knew she favoured, instead of those unattractive tights most women wore, that he personally found so lacking in sensual allure.
Several times today he had found his mind wandering to thoughts of those long, long legs in their silk stockings, of the softness of her bare thighs above those sexy stocking-tops, of the silky triangle between her legs that he had so enjoyed caressing, of the taste of her as he’d suckled her nipples into the warmth of his mouth and brought her to shuddering release.
Thoughts that even now made his body harden with need!
So, yes, he intended taking Robin away on a honeymoon. He wanted to be alone with her somewhere for at least a week, so that they could explore every sensual pleasure together!
‘Daddy had to go and take a telephone call in his study, but he should be back in a few minutes,’ Robin excused. ‘Would you care for a drink while we’re waiting?’ She indicated the array of spirits in cut-glass decanters on the side dresser.
What he would care for would be to put an end to all of this and just be alone with Robin so that he could make love to her!
‘A whisky will be fine,’ he accepted instead, moving to sit down in one of the armchairs and watch Robin from between hooded lids as she deftly poured a measure of spirit for him.
Such long, sensual hands—hands that Cesare knew he wanted on his body with a need that made him impatient with everything and everyone else.
Once he got this necessary social meeting with her father out of the way, he intended taking Robin back to his hotel suite and taking her. And to hell with what the departing Catriona or anyone else thought!
Cesare seemed very distracted this evening, Robin noted, as she handed him the glass of whisky, finding his brooding silence unnerving.
‘It was your idea to come here this evening, Cesare,’ she reminded him dryly.
Those dark eyes glinted with impatience. ‘I am not in the least concerned about your father’s possible reaction to our plans for a hasty marriage, if that is what you are thinking, Robin.’
No, she wasn’t thinking that at all. The shares that Cesare held in Ingram Publishing apart, he—with all his wealth and power—was not a man many people said no to.
Including herself, it seemed …
‘I wouldn’t feel too relaxed
