Untouched Until Marriage Read Free Page B

have come to take Gino to Italy.’

CHAPTER TWO
    F OR a few seconds Libby was too stunned to speak. Her friend Alice’s warning reverberated in her head. ‘Your mother didn’t appoint you as Gino’s guardian, and although you are his half-sister, legally you have no rights regarding his upbringing.’
    If Liz had known she was going to die, of course she would have appointed her daughter as Gino’s guardian, Libby thought desperately. But, as Alice had pointed out, she had no proof of her mother’s wishes. It was ironic that Pietro Carducci, who had not even acknowledged his son’s birth, should have made provision for Gino in his will. If the matter went to court, it seemed likely that Pietro’s wishes would be taken into account, and possible that Raul would be granted custody of Gino and be allowed to take him to Italy.
    Her heart was pounding with panic but one crucial thought stood out in Libby’s mind. Raul believed that Gino was her baby. Clearly he had no idea that there had been two Elizabeth Maynards, or that the woman who had conceived Pietro Carducci’s child as a result of their brief affair had died only a month after Pietro had passed away. She recalled the expression of disgust on Raul’s face when he had asked her what had attractedher to his older, wealthy father. He believed she was a gold-digger, but it was better he thought that than discovered that she was Gino’s half-sister and had no legal claim on him, she thought wildly.
    She frowned, suddenly remembering something Raul had said. ‘Why did you accuse me of owing rent on the flat where we—I,’ she hastily amended, knowing she must hide the fact that she had lived in London with her mother, ‘lived before I moved to Cornwall? Of course I paid the rent.’
    Raul’s eyes narrowed at Libby’s belligerent tone. He was not used to being spoken to in that manner by anyone, and certainly not by a woman. His staff, both at the Villa Giulietta and at Carducci Cosmetics, treated him with the utmost respect, and the women he mixed with socially tended to hang on his every word. To his mind, a woman’s role was to make light conversation, to provide soothing company after a day of hard bargaining in the boardroom and to grace his bed so that he could enjoy mutually satisfying sex without the complications of emotional involvement.
    Elizabeth Maynard—or Libby, as she called herself, would be a far from soothing companion, he thought as he stared at her mass of wild red curls and stormy eyes. Her mouth was set in an angry line that challenged him to kiss her until her lips softened and parted and allowed him to slide his tongue between them. He inhaled sharply, and it took all of his formidable will-power to ignore the dictates of his body and listen to the cool logic of his brain. She was Pietro’s tart, who had had no compunction about seducing a much older man withher nubile young body, and no way was the son going to repeat the mistakes of his father, Raul assured himself grimly.
    â€˜Your landlord said that you were frequently behind with the rent, and when you moved away suddenly you left owing him several thousand pounds,’ he said coldly. ‘Why would he lie?’
    â€˜To get back at me because I refused to sleep with him, most likely,’ Libby muttered bitterly. ‘He was a horrible old man. I used to take him the rent money regularly every month and he never missed an opportunity to try and grope me. He made it clear that he would reduce the rent if I “paid” him in another way.’
    â€˜Are you saying you weren’t tempted?’ Raul queried derisively. ‘I assume you make a habit of sleeping with older men for financial gain. You certainly struck gold with my father,’ he continued, ignoring her furious gasp. ‘Having his child was a clever move, which I guess you thought would ensure you a meal ticket for life.