Untouched Until Marriage by Chantelle Shaw Read Free Book Online Page A

to argue, but thought better of it when she noticed Raul’s steely expression. Whenhe opened the door and ushered her into the adjoining room she stalked past him, and as soon as they were out of earshot of Silvana she rounded on him.
    â€˜I can’t stop you employing a nanny, but you’re wasting your money—because I am Gino’s mother and I will be his full-time carer, just as I have always been.’
    Raul was surprised by her fierceness. He had convinced himself that Libby had deliberately conceived Pietro’s child in the hope of claiming a huge maintenance allowance, and had assumed that she would be more than happy to hand over responsibility for her baby. But during the flight to Italy he had been struck by her devotion to Gino and her obvious love for him. ‘You can’t have cared for him entirely on your own in England when you had the shop to run,’ he pointed out. ‘You say you are an artist, but looking after a baby can’t have given you much time to paint.’
    Libby shrugged. ‘I used to take him down to the shop with me. And I painted whenever Gino had a nap. But I’ve pretty much given up my artwork since…’ She had been about to say since Mum had Gino , but quickly changed that to, ‘Since Gino was born.’
    Raul thought of the bold, beautiful paintings he had seen at her flat. ‘That must have been hard—to give up something you love?’
    Libby slipped off her coat and brushed her tangled red curls back from her face. ‘Not really. Gino comes first. I love him more than anything,’ she said fiercely.
    Raul compressed his lips and walked over to the window, needing to look anywhere but at Libby. Now that she had removed her coat his eyes once again seemed to have a magnetic attraction to her breasts. He was bitterly aware that his body had been in a stateof arousal ever since her soft curves had squashed up against him in the car. She was so intense; he brooded, so colourful and fizzing with energy. Had it been her energy and her fiery passion that had attracted his father to her? He pushed the thought away. He could not bear to think about her and Pietro as lovers… Not when he wanted her himself, whispered a sly little voice in his head.
    Incensed by his own weakness, he swung round to face her. ‘Like it or not, there will be occasions when you will have to leave Gino with Silvana. You cannot take him to board meetings,’ he pointed out when she looked mutinous.
    Libby frowned. ‘I won’t be going to any board meetings…will I?’ she asked uncertainly.
    â€˜As I have explained, my father has left a fifty percent share of Carducci Cosmetics to Gino. But until he is eighteen you have control of his share of the company, and it will be necessary for you to attend meetings with the board of directors.’
    â€˜I see.’ Libby chewed on her bottom lip, horrified at the prospect of discussing business matters with the board members of Carducci Cosmetics, who would no doubt look down their noses at her just as Raul was doing now. ‘I don’t really know a lot about running a company,’ she admitted.
    â€˜That much was obvious from the precarious financial state of your shop,’ Raul said scathingly. ‘Do not fear. You won’t have to do anything apart from sign your name where I tell you to.’
    Libby glared at him resentfully, infuriated by his implication that she had mismanaged the shop when she had worked so hard to make Nature’s Way a success.‘I suppose I’ll have to leave Gino with the nanny while I attend meetings,’ she conceded grudgingly. ‘At least Silvana seems pleasant—unlike your aunt.’ She grimaced as she recalled Raul’s aunt’s haughty disdain. Her careless tongue ran away with her and she added, ‘She’s a miserable old bat.’
    Privately, Raul shared Libby’s opinion of his aunt. But Carmina