smile and picked up her fork. 'Of course I do...It's lovely...'
'If you would prefer Carla to return that can be arranged,' he said. 'I am inclined to agree with you that this place is too much for Lucia.'
'I'm not sure Lucia would like to think she has reached her use by date,' Emma said. 'She loves it here. In any case I don't mind helping her with the heavier tasks.'
He frowned at her. 'Cara, there is no need for you to scrub the floors and do the dishes. I pay other people to do those things. You are my wife.'
Emma gave him a weak smile. They had been married nearly seven weeks and she still didn't know if she would wake up tomorrow to find he had found someone else. It was like living with the sword of Damocles hanging over her head. She had even stopped saying she loved him. What was the point? He never said anything in return.
He reached for her hand and stroked his long fingers over the back of hers. 'You look pale, tesore mio,' he said. 'Have I been keeping you up too late at night, hmm?'
Emma suppressed a tiny shiver as his dark eyes speared hers meaningfully. The passion that flared so easily between them felt like another presence in the room; she could feel it circling the table, coming closer and closer until her body was quaking in reaction. Her legs felt shaky, her palms moist and her inner core melted as she thought of him pinning her with his hardness as he had done so earth-shatteringly earlier that evening. The experience of having him take her from behind had sent shock waves of delight rippling through her; the rough, almost primal coupling had sent shivers racing up and down her spine. He was a demanding and energetic lover, but a sensitive and considerate one. Just looking at him made her body tremble all over with desire, the skin on the back of her neck prickling as she thought of him driving into her warmth, taking her to the highest pinnacle of pleasure time and time again. Over the last few weeks together she had grown in sexual confidence, she knew how to pleasure him and delighted in doing so at every opportunity.
She didn't like thinking of him pleasuring other women in the past; instead she took what comfort she could in the fact he had been with her every night, his desire for her knowing no bounds.
Rafaele lifted her hand to his mouth, holding her gaze as he pressed her bent fingers to his lips. 'I would take you with me to London except I will be tied up in meetings the whole time,' he said. 'But I promise to take you somewhere else for a short break next month. Where would you like to go? Paris? Monaco perhaps?'
'Anywhere would be lovely,' Emma said softly. 'I just want to be with you.'
His fingers tightened momentarily on her hand. 'You are very sweet, Emma,' he said with a slight rasp in his voice. 'You deserve someone much nicer than me.'
'I don't want anyone else but you,' she insisted.
He released her hand and picked up his wineglass, his expression locking her out. 'I leave first thing in the morning,' he said. 'I will be back on Sunday or maybe even Monday, I am not sure.'
'You have meetings on a weekend?' Emma asked, not quite able to remove the air of suspicion in her tone.
His eyes became hard as they held hers. 'I hope this is not leading where I think it is leading.'
'Tell me something, Rafaele,' she said with an embittered look. 'Do you wake up each morning and tick another day off the calendar?'
'It's not like that at all,' he said with a frown.
She glared at him. 'Isn't it?'
'No, of course not,' he said. 'I enjoy having you around, Emma. You are good company.'
'Why don't you say what you really think?' she asked. 'It's not about the company and scintillating conversation I offer you, is it?'
His mouth was pulled tight. 'Don't do this, Emma.'
'It's the on-tap sex, isn't it, Rafaele?' she continued bitterly. 'Anywhere, any time, any position. That's what you want from me, isn't it? That's all you'll ever want from me, isn't it?'
'You are becoming hysterical,' he said with ice-cold calm.
'You called me a whore from the very first day,' she bit out resentfully, 'but what I didn't realise then was how quickly you would turn me into one.'
His brows