of looking out for themselves. And there was no reason to suppose that this woman was any different, he reminded himself.
‘Surely you must realise it is important to take care of your health for Sophie’s sake? You insist that you are devoted to her, but what would happen to her if you became seriously ill? If it is proved that she is my child how could you think I would allow you to take her back to England when you plainly cannot look after yourself properly, let alone a baby.’ His eyes narrowed. ‘But perhaps you were expecting me to hand over a big maintenance settlement so that you could pay for childcare and not have to be bothered with her yourself?’
‘I didn’t expect anything from someone who thinks it’s okay to have unprotected sex with a stranger,’ Beth retaliated. It was so out of character for her to lose her temper, but Cesario’s arrogance and his implication that she regarded Sophie as a means to getting her hands on his fortune goaded her beyond endurance. ‘If you want my opinion, I think you’re despicable,’ she told him, her voice shaking with emotion. ‘You must have known there was a risk Mel could fall pregnant. I suppose that’s why you had already disappeared from the hotel room when she woke up in the morning? You didn’t want to take responsibility for the possible outcome of your night of fun and so you didn’t stick around long enough to find out her name or give her details of how to contact you if she needed to.’
Cesario’s jaw hardened at her accusations, but to his shame he could not refute them. ‘I’ve explained that I have no memory of that night.’
‘That doesn’t excuse what you did.’
‘Or didn’t do,’ he said tightly. ‘Until the results of a DNA test are known we only have your friend’s word that I was the man she slept with.’
‘Mel was absolutely certain when she saw your picture in the newspaper that you are Sophie’s father.’
Beth felt intimidated by Cesario as he towered over her. She slid off the bed, but still had to tilt her head to look at him. She studied him covertly from beneath her lashes and felt a peculiar coiling sensation in the pit of her stomach as her eyes roamed over his naked chest. Seconds ago she had been furious with him, but now it was not anger that was making her heart beat uncomfortably fast.
His body had the sculpted perfection of a work of art, with the powerful muscles of his chest and abdomen clearly delineated beneath his satiny golden skin. Beth had never touched a man’s unclothed torso before, and she was shocked by her urgent longing to skim her hands over Cesario’s rippling muscles and follow the path of dark hairs that disappeared beneath the waistband of his trousers.
He was a callous womaniser, she reminded herself. Either he was lying when he said he did not remember the night he had spent with Mel, or he really had been so drunk that his mind was blank. Neither scenario earned respect. He was not the sort of man she could ever have imagined she would be attracted to, but it seemed that the mysterious alchemy of sexual desire paid no heed to the things she believed were important. Respect and admiration counted for nothing, she discovered, compared with the fierce yearning she felt for him to crush her against his bare chest and plunder her mouth with hungry passion.
The silence in the room was so intense that Beth was conscious of each breath she took. Part of her brain registered that the crashing noise from outside had stopped. She should return to her room and try to sleep before Sophie woke for her next feed, but she seemed to be trapped by invisible bonds and she could not prevent her eyes from straying to Cesario’s face.
Her heart gave a jolt when she discovered him staring at her with a burning intensity that sent molten heat coursing through her veins. Slowly and deliberately he trailed his gaze over her. Glancing down, Beth was embarrassed to realise that her nightdress was so thin from age and frequent washing that he could probably see right through it.
If only she had pulled on her dressing gown before she had rushed out of the nursery. Her breasts felt heavy, and to her horror she saw that her nipples had hardened and were jutting against the almost sheer fabric of her nightdress. Mortified by her body’s betrayal, and confused by the reaction to him that she seemed powerless to control, she stared rigidly at the carpet, sure that he would make a mocking comment.
He exhaled heavily, as if, like hers, his breath had been trapped in his lungs. A hand cupped her chin and forced her head up, and a tremor ran through Beth when she saw the hard glitter in his steel-grey eyes.
‘I would not have forgotten if you had shared my bed,’ he said harshly.
She flushed, recalling that he had made the same statement when she had first spoken to him in the castle’s great hall. The disparaging look he had given her then had revealed what he thought of her.
‘I’m quite aware that I am plain,’ she told him, her voice stiff with hurt pride.
He gave a rough laugh, as if he was surprised by her words. ‘You cannot believe that.’ Almost as if he could not help himself, he traced the delicate line of her jaw with his fingertips, his touch as light as if she were made of fragile porcelain. ‘Sei bella,’ he said huskily. ‘I find you very lovely, Beth Granger.’
His face was so close to hers that she could feel his warm breath whisper across her lips. Time, her heartbeat—both seemed to be suspended. Was he going to kiss her? Did she want him to?
Dear heaven, he was a sorcerer and she was falling under his spell, Beth thought wildly. Was this how he had seduced Mel? Had he murmured sweet lies in his gravelly, sexy accent and mesmerised her with the sultry gleam in his eyes that promised untold delights?
Luckily the sound of her name restored her sanity. Boring, insipid Beth Granger was certainly not beautiful, she thought dully. If she was, she might have been fostered as a child instead of spending all her teenage years in care. She bit her lip as memories surfaced of having her photograph taken at the children’s home. Photos of the kids in care had been kept with their files and shown to prospective foster families, but it had seemed that only the pretty girls got picked.
Mel had been fostered a few times, but none of her foster parents had been able to cope with her challenging behaviour and after a few months she’d been sent back to the care home. Like an unwanted Christmas present, she’d joked. But at least Mel had been given the chance to be part of a family, Beth thought. It had been a salutary lesson to realise that she was being judged by her appearance—and found wanting.
She had reached adulthood firmly believing that she was unattractive. It was just another of life’s disappointments, she’d told herself. Her best attribute was her common sense. But she was ashamed to admit that for a few breathless moments she had been fooled by the look of desire in Cesario’s eyes. A handsome playboy like him was not going to be interested in an unremarkable office cleaner like her, her prosaic mind pointed out.
But maybe he did not care what she looked like. Maybe he just wanted sex with any woman he believed was available—like he had with Mel. Feeling sick at the idea that he might think she was an easy lay, she jerked away from him and folded her arms across her chest to hide her body’s shameful response to his potent masculinity.
‘There is no chance of me ever sharing your bed, so you won’t have to worry about your memory lapses,’ she informed him, with an icy dignity that was somewhat spoiled by the tremor in her voice. ‘I think you should concentrate on trying to remember the night you spent with Mel—the night I believe your daughter was conceived.’
His eyes gleamed dangerously. She sensed she had angered him, and steeled herself for his caustic retaliation, but the simmering silence was broken by the sound of a baby’s cries.
Her brow wrinkled. ‘How can I hear Sophie when she is in the nursery?’
‘I switched on the baby monitor.’ Cesario nodded towards the device plugged into a wall socket. ‘I always used it when Nicolo was…here.’ He had been about to say alive, but the stark reminder that his son was no longer alive caused a shaft of pain inside him. ‘I knew you were tired and I thought if you were deeply asleep you might not hear Sophie if she stirred.’
‘I