Baby By Accident: International Billionaires III: The Italians Page 4

  He’d prowled through his entire home, yet he’d known. Known in his gut as soon as he’d awakened.

  She’d left.

  Left him as if discarding a used toy. Left him before he could witness her defeat, witness her embarrassed realization she’d slept with a peasant.

  Not only slept. Seduced.

  Lise Helton had not only treated him like puttana maschio, she’d also deprived him of his victory. His rightful victory over her aristocratic disdain.

  Now, in this silent boardroom, rage blinded him in a scarlet haze. It choked in his throat, burned in his gut exactly as it had at that moment two mornings ago. The rage cut into him like one of the many knife blades he’d used in his youth. It sliced and ripped at his pride.

  She’d left him because she had her well-bred fiancé to go back to. She had no use for a dirty savage, no need for him other than the basic one of sex.

  The woman was a lying cheat. No lady. No one a person could trust.

  Not someone a man should obsess over.

  Vico’s jaw tightened into a knot.

  She didn’t know what she’d unleashed. The Princesse thought she dealt with a raw barbarian, a smiling gigolo. A man not fit to kiss her shoes, much less her mouth.

  That. That of all the talons digging into his pride was the worst. The woman hadn’t even kissed him, had she? She’d taken him, used him, let him slake her thirst for sex, but not once had she touched his mouth with hers. Not once had he tasted the essence of her.

  Because she thought he wasn’t worthy.

  Vico grabbed the pen lying by his laptop. His fingers tightened around it until they went white. He sucked in another breath and tried to wrap his anger into his fist and forget everything else.

  One thing, however, he could not forget or ignore. Beyond the rage billowing inside him lurked an agonizing guilt. He hated the feeling, rejected the shame. Except the guilt still beat, deep down. He’d taken her without protection; something he’d never done in his life. Plus, he’d taken her when she’d been semi-drunk. Had she known what she really wanted?

  A bitter taste of self-disgust filled his mouth.

  He’d thought himself so clever, so damnably in control of himself. He’d put her in his bed never thinking he’d act on the lust. Never contemplating that the perfect lady, the Princesse, would reach over and actually initiate the act herself. He’d thought he was playing a game, winning the war.

  Instead, he’d been acting impulsively. Not thinking through the potential consequences. Only listening to his ego instead of his logic. Exactly as he had fifteen years ago.

  You are an uncontrollable savage.

  The memory of his brother, Giorgio’s, words bit deep. Exactly as they had fifteen long years ago.

  Vico closed his eyes and closed his mind to the memories.

  Focus on the present. Focus on your rage.

  To hell with her. The woman could take care of herself. The cold-as-ice female surely had birth control handled and covered. Her rigid, organized brain would not have missed that important detail. He couldn’t imagine she’d want the messy task of raising children.

  The chances of repercussions were slim to non-existent.

  No way would he tamp down his temper and give her a pass because of his simmering guilt. No, no. His plans were already in place. Lise Helton would finally find out who she’d really been playing with these last two months. What kind of man she’d dallied with Friday night. What it meant to confront a ruthless man intent on bringing her to her knees.

  The image of her, on her knees in front of him, flashed like a blinding arc across his mind. Just as quickly, the lust he’d banked behind his temper and guilt flared to potent life. His whole body broke out in a sweat. His tongue cleaved to the roof of his mouth in need. His cock shot to attention as if her breath actually whispered over its length.

  “Maledizione,” he cursed under his breath.

  The door swept open. He glanced to the side.

  Lise Helton’s icy, cool eyes met his straight on and then, they looked straight through him. As if he didn’t even exist. The flare of fury blasted back into his soul.

  Sweeping by where he sat at the head of the table, she moved down the length of the boardroom toward the other end, ignoring him. So. That was how she meant to play it. He shouldn’t be surprised.

  Why was he surprised?

  The fury built, blurring the edges of his sight.

  Dressed in one of her formidable power suits, a navy steel suit of armor, her whole presence screamed her distance and disdain. The temptation to rear up and throw her on the table, rip off the suit of armor while she protested, plunge into her until she pleaded, fired through Vico’s blood.

  Too bad he was foiled by the stream of people who followed her entry.

  The rustling and low murmurs as the stockholders took their seats around the long oblong table did not diminish the pulsing, pounding connection he felt toward the woman who’d calmly sat down at the other end. She ignored him, opening her laptop in front of her. But he could not, would not, believe she didn’t also feel the pull, the chain of tortured bonding tugging between them.

  His pride demanded she must feel the same. She must.

  Mr. Smithton, the nominal head of the stockholders, cleared his throat.

  After picking him to deliver the news to the entire board, Vico had, at first, planned on merely standing back and lending his gravitas to the proceedings. Now, though, now after what had happened Friday night, everything was entirely different. Smithton would be allowed to make the initial announcement if only so Vico could watch her face. However, after the short speech, he himself would explain the changes coming to this company he’d purchased. A company he now would finally begin taking control of, imprinting it with his own personality over her worthless objections.

  He wanted his voice, stating all the changes, echoing in her mind for a long, long time.

  Smithton coughed. The man knew what lay ahead. The building tension in the room was a whispering harbinger of the fight to follow. The old man’s face flushed as he mopped his forehead.

  Lise Helton raised one brow. Scenting trouble for the first time, no doubt.

  “Get on with it,” Vico growled low.

  Her other female blonde brow rose to meet its twin. He watched as her mouth firmed. Si, this was going to be far more pleasurable than what he'd dreamed of during the last few days.

  Smithton cleared his throat once more and began to speak.

  Dead silence stilled the air when he completed his short announcement.

  Vico stared down the long table, watching her. Watching as her face paled, her eyes iced. Her mouth, the lush mouth she had withheld from him, tightened into a white line.

  “You have got to be kidding.” Her quiet words bounced off the walls and then rained down on his head.

  Her past supporters, the ones who'd never accepted him until he'd started his charm offensive, stared down at the papers in front of them. All of them knew, with one or two exceptions. All of them had been at the lunch meeting he'd held on Friday. Without notifying her of its timing and without notifying her of its agenda. All of them were traitors to their…

  “Princesse.” The nickname came from his mouth, shooting across the table like a stiletto. “The time for kidding has long since passed.”

  She managed to ignore his provocation, his pointed label. Her eyes flashed with frozen fire, and still, she kept her composure and pride. Pressing her hands on the table, she rose like an offended royal. She stared at the bowed heads before her, then challenged him using a commanding glare. “This company will not descend into the unsound practices you propose.”

  “No?” He twirled the pen in his long fingers. “Except I believe your subjects no longer agree with you.”

  A low murmur came from the surrounding group. But it didn't penetrate the wall of conflict burning between him and her. Neither of them broke the contact of their eyes, the combat of their pride. Neither of
them backed down. Vico gave her his begrudging admiration. The woman was a worthy opponent. Had been for two months. Also, damn her, she'd been a worthy bedmate. More than worthy.

  But she did not accord him, had not accorded him, the same respect.

  “Time to take the vote, Mr. Smithton.” His words were soft, yet confident.

  She sensed his confidence immediately. Her eyes widened in dawning horror. “What have you done?”

  Vico smiled. A smile he'd never given her. This was the smile he'd used as a kid when confronted with a challenge from another gang member. The smile he'd given questioning cops. The smile he gave those he hated. “I have won.”

  She stiffened. He knew she believed him, believed his claim to victory. Like a blade, the realization pierced her through. He wasn't sure what it pierced.

  Her heart? No. More likely, her pride.

  The comprehension of her loss did pierce her, though. He sensed this in his gut. In his soul. This strange connection between them told him this had cut her right to the bone. He might have felt sorry for her if it had cut her heart.

  But a woman like Lise Helton didn't have a heart. Of that, he was sure.

  * * *

  Vico Mattare wouldn’t win. He couldn’t win.

  Lise marched into her office and slammed the door.

  Hannah, her PA, glanced away from her computer screen, giving her a sharp look. “The meeting didn’t go well?”

  “Ha!” Frustration and fury stormed inside her.

  “I’ll take that as a no.” Pushing back from her desk, the older woman stood and walked to her side. Her PA had been assigned to Lise by her father the moment she’d strode through the front doors of HSF seven years ago. Initially, she had objected. She’d wanted to pick out her own staff. But Hannah had proven to be a stalwart ally through many a fight.

  “You have to help me.”

  “You don’t need to ask. You know that.” Hannah gently patted her shoulder. Twenty years older and twenty years wiser, the woman had become Lise’s keenest eyes and smartest advisor.

  “He went behind my back.” Taking in a deep breath, she tried to calm down so she could think. “He talked to all the other stockholders and sold them his smarmy plans.”

  “He being Mr. Mattare, I take it.” The older woman strode to small refrigerator they kept in the corner and pulled out two bottles. “Here.” She handed over one and twisted the top off the other. “Drink first. Then talk.”

  She gulped down the cool water. “I can’t believe he did it.”

  “Really?” Her PA leaned on her desk, her face quizzical. “Why would you think he wouldn’t?”

  Because he had sex with me.

  “I’m an idiot.” She held the bottle to her hot forehead. “Of course he’d do this. I should have seen this coming.”

  Hannah took a swig of her water. “So they voted with him.”

  “Yes.” The bottle of water squeaked as her hand squeezed. “I have to reverse this somehow.”

  The older woman gave her a look. A look she’d seen several times before. Most of the time, her PA agreed with her on just about everything. But she wasn’t shy when she didn’t and Lise had come to value these disbelieving, discouraging looks when she got them.

  “What?” She straightened her spine. “You don’t think I should?”

  Hannah sighed. “You are both so smart.”

  “Being sneaky isn’t smart.”

  “You are both so smart and so savvy,” the older woman doggedly continued. “If you joined forces instead of fighting each other—”

  “Join forces? With him?” She didn’t know why, but somehow the words made her heated in an entirely different way than the anger chugging in her system. The words brought back images of joinings that had nothing to do with work and everything to do with what she’d done with him a few nights ago.

  “Don’t be so angry.” Hannah sighed again. “Goodness, Lise, you’re completely red with fury.”

  “I’m not…” Well. She wasn’t going to tell her assistant why she was really blushing.

  “Hear me out.”

  Stomping over to the elegant settee they'd put in the corner of the room for the endless line of employees always waiting to have a word, she slumped into its comforting arms. “Okay. Fine. I’m listening.”

  Her PA drank the last of her water. “I know you don’t like him and I know you don’t trust him, but I’ve been watching him for several months now.”

  Gritting her teeth, she managed not to sneer. “Don’t tell me he’s gotten to you, too.”

  “I’m not a google-eyed girl batting my eyes at him. Come on and give me some credit.”

  “I give you all the credit in the world, Hannah. What would I do without you?”

  “You’d be fine without me.” The older woman dropped the empty water bottle into the wastebasket and crossed her arms in front of her. “You’re the best boss I’ve ever had. You are intelligent, you’re a wonderful leader, and you’re excellent at building good teamwork with your employees. I believe you could do anything you set your mind too.”

  A warm pool of affection welled inside her. “Oh, Hann—”

  “Which is why I can’t help wondering at this inexplicable hatred you immediately developed for Mr. Mattare.”

  Warmth fled, replaced with a harsh sense of betrayal. If her PA was for him, who could she count on in this fight? “Inexplicable? You’re the one who showed me those tabloids the first few weeks he was here.”

  “Yes, I know. I regret that.”

  “What?” Lise’s spine went rigid. “How can you say that? You were right to show me what you’d found.”

  “I took some gossip from the company grapevine and jumped to conclusions when I saw those photos of Mr. Mattare.” The older woman’s mouth firmed. “That was wrong of me.”

  “I can’t believe—”

  “I shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions.”

  “You have every right—”

  “And you shouldn’t either, Lise.”

  Silence fell between them, the only sound being the low burr of the computer. Restlessly, Hannah began to pace. “We should have taken our time in evaluating Mr. Mattare before making decisions.”

  “I’m stunned.”

  “You shouldn’t be.” Her assistant stopped in front of her. “You pay me to cover the bases you can’t.”

  “I know, but—”

  “Or won’t.”

  The blunt words landed with a solid thud in Lise’s head. “You can’t think Vico Mattare is good for this company.”

  “I can.” Hannah’s gaze was steady. “And I do.”

  Folding her head into her hands, she avoided what she didn’t want to see. “I can’t believe this.”

  “There was lots of gossip rolling around this company before he took over.” The older woman’s voice came soft, but sure. “A lot of it negative. I think we both took all of that in and when he finally bought the company and arrived, we’d already made up our minds.”

  “No, that’s not—”

  “Wrongly.” Hannah didn’t give in. “I’ve looked over his plans for the company.”

  “How could you?”

  “Again, you pay me to do this.” The woman clucked in exasperation. “And because you wouldn’t have anything to do with them.”

  “Because they are sleazy—”

  “No, the plans are smart.”

  She couldn’t accept the words or the conclusion. Yes, this was Hannah, and yes, usually she was right when she questioned Lise’s decisions. But in this area, with this man, her PA was wrong. “You’re wrong.”

  Her PA sucked in her breath. “Really.”

  “Yes.” She rose, a sick feeling in her stomach at rejecting Hannah’s wisdom. However, she couldn’t agree. Not with this. Not even if it meant hurting her assistant. “Vico Mattare is not good for this company. My company.”

  The older woman stepped back, but her face still radiated determination. “This isn’t yo
ur company to run anymore.”

  Now it was her turn to suck a breath in. “How could you—?”

  “It’s his.” Hannah’s gaze was tender, even if her words were tough. “You have to work with him.”

  “Never.”

  “If you work with him than maybe the company can become both of yours. Wouldn’t that be the best for everyone?”

  “I’m not going to work with him on anything.” The sick feeling mixed into the residual anger, making her feel queasy and inflamed all at the same time. “I’m going to work against him.”

  Her PA sighed. “Eventually, you’ll change your mind.”

  “No.” She walked toward her office, ready to get away from this conversation and away from the feeling of betrayal.

  “You’re too smart not to finally figure this out,” Hannah called after her. “I know you’re capable of changing your mind, and you will.”

  Lise slammed the office door behind her.

  Chapter 4

  “I don’t believe it.” Lise stared down at the test strip in her hand.

  “This is not the time to do your usual and stick your head in the sand,” her best friend, Suz, said from the other side of the bathroom.

  “This can’t be.” She jerked around in a panic and threw the offending object into the wastebasket. “This must be a mistake.”

  Suz sat on the edge of the bath, her hands clasped before her, long, shiny red nails tapping against each other. “This is the fifth test, Lise. Taking one right after the other is a bit obsessive even for you. So I think we can safely move on from the mistake comment to the what are you going to do question.”

  “God.” She turned back to the mirror and stared into her horrified eyes. How could she have done this? How could she find herself in such a predicament? She was Lise Helton. CFO. Confident. Intelligent. “I am a complete and utter idiot.”

  “We’ve always known that.” Her other friend, Tracy, lounged back on the bathroom’s door. “It’s one of the reasons we love you, kiddo.”

  Leaning her forehead on the cool glass, she groaned. One night. Only one tiny night she’d let herself go. Let herself take a man she wanted. Other girls, hell even Tracy and Suz themselves, had gone wild several times with no tragic results. How could fate be so utterly unfair and malicious? “What am I going to do?”