Untamed Italians: Innocent in the Italian's Possession / Italian Tycoon, Secret Son / Italian Marriage: In Name Only

The reason was clear to her. He didn’t trust her to stay away as he’d asked. He’d brought her here last night to ensure she’d not be able to get to land until he decreed it so. The yacht was so far at sea she couldn’t even see land!

Gemma stormed back to her stateroom and slammed the door. If he’d lied about this, could she trust him to keep his promise regarding the inn?

A cold emptiness expanded in her, freezing any pleasure she’d felt in his arms. The suite where she’d made such passionate love with Stefano now felt like a silken prison.

You are mine now, he’d said.

But he hadn’t meant it in the sense of them being closer as a couple. No, it had been a possessive comment and nothing more.

He had her under his thumb. Or so he thought.

She was a fisherman’s daughter. She knew the sea and these people. Somehow she’d find a way to get back to Italy.

Gemma had to return today to see Cesare, if only to assure herself he was healing after his surgery. Then she must travel to Milan for there was a little girl waiting impatiently for her visit. And what would she tell her about Cesare’s absence?

The truth.

It’d been hidden long enough.

CHAPTER EIGHT (#ulink_7e666bfe-7a90-5c6b-9989-8a41c3ed39ea)

STEFANO paced the near empty waiting room and damned the time that seemed to crawl by—unlike this morning which had flown by in a rush. He’d not wanted to leave Gemma’s side. He’d wanted to get lost in her lush body again.

She’d been a virgin. Virgin!

If not for his strong will, he’d have shaken her awake at dawn and demanded to know what the hell she and his papa had been doing all those weekends in Milan. But he didn’t have the time to delve into it now.

And he didn’t trust her to do as he ordered once they reached land. He didn’t want to hear any more of her lies. No, he wanted to hear his papa’s side of this now.

But he’d gotten to the hospital too late thanks to his reluctance at tearing himself from Gemma and then a traffic snarl after he landed in Viareggio.

Now he would have to wait for his papa to recover before he could get answers. That wasn’t something he was even marginally good at doing.

“Stefano, please sit,” his aunt had said, her usually radiant face looking haggard. “You are making me nervous with your endless pacing.”

Maledizione! He certainly didn’t wish to cause anyone any more grief.

He plopped on the stiff chair beside her and stretched his long legs out. “My apologies. You know patience isn’t one of my strong suits.”

“Sì, I know. But I also know my nephew and recognize when something is deeply troubling him.”

“It has been a long morning without word how Papa is doing.”

She clamped a hand on his arm and her tension vibrated into him. “Did you expect them to stop the surgery and deliver a report?”

“No, nothing like that.”

“What is troubling you, Stefano?” his aunt asked.

Gemma. She invaded his thoughts. Sweet, beguiling Gemma. Sweet, innocent Gemma.

But he couldn’t tell his papa’s sister that. Not now when her stress was palpable for she would ask questions that he didn’t wish to address, either. He sure as hell couldn’t tell her he’d blackmailed his papa’s secretary into his bed!

“There are things at Marinetti that require my attention today,” he said.

She stared at him through narrowed eyes. “What about the secretary? Have you dismissed her yet?”

He heaved a sigh, wishing his mamma hadn’t told her sister-in-law about Cesare’s infidelity. Wishing to hell his mamma hadn’t told him her suspicions at all.

“No. It is more complicated than I thought.”

The color drained from her face as she pressed a hand to her generous bosom. “Addio! Please tell me this woman is not with child.”

“Nothing of the sort,” he said, and hoped to hell that proved true.

Maledizione! He hadn’t used protection.

He hadn’t thought it was necessary since she was his father’s mistress.

Except she wasn’t. He only hoped she was on the pill or used some type of birth control. But how likely was a virgin to do that?

Stefano drove his fingers through his hair and called himself ten kinds of an ass. Taking Gemma’s virginity had robbed him of the vengeance he’d sought. It changed everything that he’d planned to do with her.

It forced him to reassess her role in his life and his future. He wanted to blame her for lying to him, except in this she’d told the truth. She wasn’t his father’s mistress—she was his by coercion.

Imbecile!

He’d never bedded a virgin before. Never wanted to.

He didn’t want to think that he could have fathered a child with Gemma. He didn’t want to think of her at all.

But as the day wore on and his worry for his papa increased, his thoughts continued to turn to Gemma. In his bed. Loving her and knowing that he was the first man to introduce her to sex.

Her sweet scent filled his head. He hungered for another taste of her honeyed mouth. To suckle the pert breasts until the rosy nipples budded on his tongue. To settle between her soft thighs and sup at the erotic essence of her, to drive her wild with ecstasy before covering her and making them one.

Unbidden came an overwhelming swell of possessiveness. She was his now. His.

Up until the time he took her virginity, he’d not been tied to her. He could have sent her on her way without repercussions.

He should never have set out to ruin her for in doing so he’d only tangled their lives together.

There was no going back.

He couldn’t walk away. He wouldn’t desert her until he knew if she carried his child.

What was done was done. If his seed grew in her, he’d accept his responsibility. He’d marry her without hesitation.

And if there was no child?