âLast night we had a good time.â
Lara struggled to fight her way out of the images that flickered relentlessly through her head.
âI made you forget.â
Where she began and he ended.
âAnd you returned the favour.â
The glitter in Raoulâs eyes was mesmerising as with his elbows on the table he leaned in, his dark stare mesmerising. The butterfly kicks had been a struggle to handle, but now her stomach dissolved.
âSo what do you think?â
She blinked like someone waking up and choked out, âIt was sex and it was one night.â She shook her head and loosed a shocked, incredulous laugh. âWhat youâre suggesting ⦠beyond being certifiably insaneââ
âCould work. Iâm not asking for you to sign over your life.â
âIsnât that what marriage usually entails?â
Wedlocked!
Conveniently wedded, passionately bedded!
Whether thereâs a debt to be paid, a will to be obeyed or a business to be saved â¦
Sheâs got no choice but to say, âI doâ!
But these billionaire bridegrooms have got another think coming if they think marriage will be easy â¦
Soon their convenient brides become the object of an inconvenient desire!
Find out what happens after the vows in
Untouched Until Marriage by Chantelle Shaw
The Billionaireâs Defiant Acquisition by Sharon Kendrick
One Night to Wedding Vows by Kim Lawrence
Look for more stories coming soon!
KIM LAWRENCE lives on a farm in Anglesey with her university lecturer husband, assorted pets who arrived as strays and never left, and sometimes one or both of her boomerang sons. When sheâs not writing she loves to be outdoors gardening, or walking on one of the beaches for which the island is famousâalong with being the place where Prince William and Catherine made their first home!
CHAPTER ONE
THE PLACE DIDNâT fall silent as Sergio Di Vittorio walked through the casino but there was a discernible hush in the room, an air of expectancy as the elderly aristocrat walked in ahead of two tall, dark, suited figures. The heavier set of the two stayed by the entrance while the other followed his employer, remaining a respectful pace behind the older man as he continued his regal progress.
From where he was standing, one shoulder propped against a marble pillar, Raoulâs sensually designed lips curved in a cynical smile from which affection was not totally absent as he watched his grandfatherâs stately arrival. In the periphery of his vision he remained aware of the middle-aged guy, eyes glazed with febrile excitement, who continued to throw good money after bad on the roulette wheel. It had been like watching a car crash, now only a matter of how many innocent victims heâd take with him...a wife, a kid...?
The reckless gleam in Raoulâs own deep-set dark eyes owed more to the brandy in his hand than the spin of a wheel. Each to his own drug of choice, Raoul thought, with a lazy tolerance. He turned, a faint ironic smile of self-mockery curving his lips as he found himself automatically straightening his spine as his grandfather got closer. Old habits die hard, he thought to himself, and his grandfather had strong views on good posture.
The autocratic head of the diverse family businesses and guardian of the family name had strong views on most things. Gambling, for one. Not really surprising considering his only son, Raoul and Jamieâs father, had blown his brains out when the full extent of his gambling debts became public.
Sergio could have hushed up the scandal and covered his sonâs debtsâthe amount involved was small change to himâbut instead he had chosen to tell his son to stand on his own two feet and be a man.
Did he regret it?
Did he blame himself?
Raoul doubted it. Sergioâs self-belief did not allow for doubts. Raoulâs youthful anger had been reserved for the father who had taken the easy way out and left them. It was hard for a kid to comprehend that level of self-destructive desperation, or to get his head around the fact that addicts were inherently selfish. Even the years of adult understanding did not take away the bitterness or the memories of a lonely child, but Jamie had always been there for him, the older brother who had fought his battles until Raoul had got big and tough enough to hold his own.
The long fingers of the hand Raoul dug into the pocket of his tailored dark trousers flexed as his mind drifted back. He could almost feel his brotherâs warm fingers tightening around his own as their grandfather broke the news. The moment was etched in his memory: the single tear rolling, in what had seemed like slow motion, down his older brotherâs face; the metronomic tick of a clock on the wall; his grandfatherâs deep voice explaining that they would be living with him now.