The Blackmail Baby
Wanted: one wedding night! Once Lorenzo Valente sets his sights on something – or someone – he will not be deterred! His estranged wife Chloe might profess to hate him now, yet only weeks earlier she was claiming adoration…proving Lorenzo’s belief that love is fickle. But now the stakes have got higher…Chloe has become guardian to her friend’s baby and wants a fresh start – plus a marriage annulment. Seeing Chloe as a mother, Lorenzo is more determined than ever to keep her…and claim the wedding night from which she fled!
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‘What do you get out of it?’ Chloe asked, refusing to accept what she was hearing. It just did not make sense.
She looked up at him, biting her lower lip in consternation, desperately trying to find a rational explanation for his demand. His blue eyes caught hers and bored down into her, chasing all rational thoughts out of her head. She sensed her body responding to him again. Her heart was racing and her skin felt hot and sensitive.
‘Finally a bit of colour in that face,’ Lorenzo said, lifting his hand to cup her blazing cheek.
Chloe gasped as his fingers made contact, releasing another torrent of desire to storm through her body.
‘Sex?’ Her voice was no more than a startled whisper, and her eyes were wide with shock. ‘You want sex?’
Lorenzo raised his brows, and his full sensual lips twitched into a smile that was mocking and knowing at the same time.
‘Are you offering me sex?’ he asked, sliding his fingers deep into her hair and pulling her close to his hard body.
Natalie Rivers grew up in the Sussex countryside. As a child she always loved to lose herself in a good book, or in games that gave free rein to her imagination. She went to Sheffield University, where she met her husband in the first week of term. It was love at first sight and they have been together ever since, moving to London after graduating, getting married and having two wonderful children.
After university Natalie worked in a lab at a medical research charity, and later retrained to be a primary school teacher. Now she is lucky enough to be able to combine her two favourite occupations—being a fulltime mum and writing passionate romances.
The Blackmail
Baby
by
Table of Contents
Chapter One
‘CHLOE VALENTE, you are the most amazingly beautiful and sexy woman.’
The words were a deep, sensual purr in Chloe’s ear, and a hot tingle of anticipation rippled through her body. She’d never thought of herself in that way—but as she felt Lorenzo standing close behind her, the heat of his strong body burning through her fine silk wedding gown, she knew that everything in her life had changed beyond her wildest dreams.
‘Thank you for making this day so special.’ She drew in a shaky breath and clung to the ornate stonework of the balcony, looking down into the fabulous ballroom, which was still buzzing with guests sipping vintage champagne. It was hard to believe that this palazzo, owned by Lorenzo’s proud Venetian family for generations, was now her home. ‘It’s been truly wonderful. I can’t imagine a more perfect wedding day.’
Venice was a magical place to be married, and a silvery dusting of snow falling from the February sky had made it seem even more enchanting and romantic. As she’d travelled back to the palazzo after the ceremony, reclining on velvet cushions in a sleek black gondola beside her breathtakingly handsome groom, she’d known that this was the happiest day of her life.
‘The best is yet to come,’ Lorenzo promised, his Italian accent purring in her ear as he traced his fingertips lightly along her collarbone. ‘Let me take you to the bedroom and show you.’
Chloe closed her eyes for a moment and leant her head back against his shoulder, letting herself drift on a wave of pure pleasure. Simply knowing how much Lorenzo wanted her sent her heart racing and made butterflies of excitement flutter deep inside her.
Then the hum of conversation mixed with the clink of crystal glasses and angelic harp music floated up from the wedding reception below.
‘We can’t leave now.’ She pushed his hands away weakly as she felt his sensual lips nuzzling her neck beneath the sleek blonde bob of her hair. ‘What about all the people?’
‘You always do the right thing,’ Lorenzo said, sliding his hands down to her waist and turning her to face him. ‘You were the perfect PA, always anticipating my needs and those of my associates. And even now you are thinking of our guests—of being the gracious hostess.’
She gazed up into his vibrant blue eyes and a familiar frisson of elation whispered through her. Just looking at him always made her feel like that. With his smouldering good looks and superb physique he was the most gorgeous man she had ever seen. It was almost impossible to believe that he was now her husband—that she was married to Lorenzo Valente.
She’d spent two years as his PA loving him from a distance, knowing that her feelings for her incredible Venetian boss could never be reciprocated. She was an ordinary English girl, and he was from one of Venice’s oldest, most noble families, in addition to being an internationally respected billionaire businessman. They’d belonged to different worlds and Chloe had known they could never be together.
But then Lorenzo had asked her out on a date.
At first it had been hard to believe. Since the day Chloe had starting working in Lorenzo’s London headquarters she’d seen an endless succession of highly polished society women draped on his arm—all tall, slender beauties with smoky come-to-bed eyes and flowing manes of dark, glossy hair.
