Chapter 30

There was no goddamn way I was sending her back to her father.

And there was only one way to make certain no one—not her father, not Dante, no one—took her from me.

Stalking forward, I pushed her back until her legs brushed against the bed. "Get on the bed."

"Why? What are you going to do?"

"I told you. What I should have done that night in the gazebo. I'm going to fuck you."

There would be no disputing my claim to become her husband once her father learned she was no longer a virgin. While it would not have mattered in my eyes, I knew her father would consider her ruined.

With a cry, she turned to run.

I caught up with her in two strides. With my arm around her waist, I lifted her off the floor.

She kicked out with those ridiculous boots she was wearing. "No! No!"

With a twist of my torso, I flung her onto the bed. "I guess we're doing this the hard way."

With her natural submissive nature and dangerous impulse to please the people in her life, it was not surprising she would feel an overwhelming sense of guilt over what we were about to do.

And I had just the way to break her out of that mentality.

Like an adorable Catholic penitent, I'd already learned my sweet little dove needed pain before her mind would let her enjoy the pleasure. Punishment burned away the guilt.

Before reaching for my belt, I pulled my knife out of my back pocket and flicked it open.

Her eyes widened as she tried to shimmy back on her hips. "Oh, my God!"

The corner of my mouth lifted. "Save the praise for when I'm licking your pussy."

Her cheeks blossomed with bright pink color.

Fuck, I loved her innocent blushes.

My fingers twisted into the woven fabric of her sweater dress. I lifted the hem as I prepared to shove the tip of the knife into it.

Her hand grasped the edge as she tried to wrench it from my fingers. "No! My sister will be furious if I ruin this dress."

Blinking in disbelief, I shook my head. After all her sister had forced on her this past week, she was still worried about making her angry? It was my girl who should be in a rage, not the other way around, and definitely not over a stupid fucking dress.

"Good," I growled as the sharp metal point slid into the wool fibers, tearing them. "I look forward to telling your dear sister where she can shove the torn remains of it."

Tossing the knife aside, I twisted the torn edges of her hem in my hands and yanked upward, severing the dress in two.

Although I didn't think it was possible, my anger only rose as I stared down at her sweet body on display. Instead of a cute pair of modest silk panties, like before, today she was wearing a trashy scrap of lace that ended in a thin string over her hips, no doubt a thong.

Under her breasts and across her ribcage were harsh red marks where the too tight bra had dug into her sensitive skin. Leave it to her sister to be the type to torture herself with a lower size bra just to push her breasts up high.

"Dammit, woman."

Retrieving the knife, I placed a restraining hand on her abdomen as I slid the sharp edge through the string over her hip. Then, ignoring her cry of protest, I gripped the strip of fabric between her breasts. "Hold still."

She held her breath as the cold, dull edge of the knife slid along her skin to slip under the bra. I had to saw it back and forth a few times to cut through the wire and thick elastic, but finally the fabric snapped. The black lace extra-padded cups fell away, exposing her sweet flesh… and more marks.

I dropped the knife and placed a knee on the bed as I leaned over her. With utmost care, I ran the tips of my fingers over the thin scratches. I swallowed past the tightness in my throat. "Never do this to yourself again. Do you hear me?"

"It doesn't hurt, and Toni says…"

With my hand cupping her jaw, I placed my thumb over her lips. "And definitely never quote your sister's advice to me."

She sniffed. "She's not a bad person. Not really. You have to understand that she just chose to… cope… with our father's difficult ways differently than me."

My lips pressed to her forehead. "I know, baby. And I love that your sweet soul still gives her the benefit of the doubt. You have my word. I will do everything in my power to still try to save her. But right now, saving you is my only concern."

It was the wrong thing to say.

Her dark eyes hardened as she rolled away from me and leaned up on her knees, grasping the edges of the torn dress over her naked breasts. "Saving my sister is my job, not yours. And I've told you before, I'm not your concern, and I don't need saving! I'm perfectly capable of figuring out this mess for myself once I'm back in Sicily."

She was just being stubborn. There was no way she hadn't noticed telling me that her safety and well-being were not my concern was like waving a red flag in front of a bull.

I couldn't help it.

I was a Cavalieri man.

It was bred into our DNA to be attracted to damsels in distress who needed our help and protection. Hell, I was surprised our family shield wasn't a dragon instead of two horses with the Latin motto Interfector Draconum, Slayer of Dragons.

With my gaze trained on her, I rose off the bed and reached for my belt. "We seem to be at cross-purposes. Care to guess which one of us is going to win?"

Her gaze trained on the thick strip of leather I was slowly wrapping around my fist. "This is insane. My sister never wanted to marry you. Whatever plan you and my father and Dante concocted for her is clearly over. There is no point in threatening to keep me here."

My head tilted to the side. "First of all, it's not a threat. Second, where else would my wife be, but at my side?"

Her cute lips dropped open. "You're serious about that?"

I raised one eyebrow. "If you got the impression I was joking, then I need to work on my persuasion skills."

She shifted backward, dangling her feet off the edge of the mattress. "I won't marry you. I can't marry you. My father and sister would?—"

"Enough," I ground out. My arm snapped out to grasp the forearm holding her dress in place.

Her knees slid along the silky bedcovers as I yanked her toward me until she collided with my chest. My torso twisted so I could swing her around and over my lap while I sat on the bed.

I restrained her with my right hand holding the back of her neck, leaving a faint dark smudge on her skin. Then I flipped up the torn shreds of her dress to expose her naked ass. "If you are going to insist on acting like a petulant child, then I will treat you like one."

Her head twisted to stare at my raised arm with my belt firmly grasped in my hand. "Matteo Cavalieri, don't you dare spank me with that belt!"

"If you didn't want a spanking, then you should have been a good girl and done as you were told."

"You can't force me to marry you with a spanking!"

I winked. "Watch me. And it won't just be a spanking."

My arm came down with swift determination. The leather end of my belt slapped across her cheeks with a satisfying smack.

Ella's back arched as she let out a howl of indignation.

The belt smacked across her ass a second and third time, raising a pretty pink blush.

She swept her arm back and tried to cover her ass with her hand. "Stop! It hurts."

My fingers wrapped around her wrist and anchored her arm at her lower back. "Stubborn little girls get sore bottoms."

Her flesh jiggled with the next strike as she kicked her feet. The ridiculously high heels of the boots struck the bed's footboard, making a matching thwack sound in rhythm with the belt.

If the only way to move her past her guilt and sense of family loyalty was to punish her ass, then so be it. For good measure, I slapped the leather tongue of the belt across the tops of her thighs and just under the curve of her ass several times.

Only when her skin was a warm, bright red and hot to the touch did I set the belt aside. She was so small and delicate, I needed to be careful not to raise welts on her sensitive skin.

With the palm of my left hand, I rubbed slow, sweeping circles over her punishment-warmed skin and loosened my grip on her neck.

She whimpered and squirmed on my lap. The movement only making my already aching cock harder. "Shhh, little one. Your punishment is over."

Ella knuckled her tear-filled eyes as she sniffed. "I hate you."

God, she was adorable. "No, you don't. And I'll prove it. Raise this pretty ass of yours up."

"No," she grumbled.

"Did you want me to get my belt again?"

"Fine," she huffed as she shifted her knees closer to my left thigh, raising her hips.

"Good girl."

I continued to caress her ass in soothing circles as my left hand moved closer and closer to the juncture of her thighs. "Spread open your knees, baby."

"What are you?—"

"Do as you're told."

Her knees spread open slightly.

I slipped my hand between her legs. Her pussy was wet and ready for me.

She whimpered again. "Don't say anything, please."

Another time I would enjoy the embarrassed blush on her cheeks as I regaled her with all sorts of filthy, dirty talk about her sweet, wet cunt. But for now, I remained silent.

I slipped my two middle fingers along the seam of her lips, teasing her clit.

Ella gasped and arched her back, trying to shift her hips forward.

Reaching under her, I cupped her breast and gave her nipple a hard pinch. "Back into position."

"Ow!" Her hips moved back.

I increased the pressure of my fingers as I rubbed between her legs harder and faster. After every few strokes, I would move my hand over her ass and tease her puckered hole with my thumb. Her body would jerk and stiffen in response before I swept my hand once more between her legs. This time pushing first one, then two fingers inside her tight pussy.

Unlike before, I pushed in deeper with each pulsing thrust, until her body's resistance pressed against my fingertips.

So she was still a virgin.

No, not just a virgin.

Mine and only mine.

My soon-to-be wife and the mother of my future children would belong only to me.

I was a twisted, misogynistic bastard for even thinking it, but I didn't give a damn. My cock lengthened to the point of almost pain at the idea of being the only man to possess her.

Especially after reconciling myself to the idea of her sister, a woman who had spread her legs for more men than I could count. Reconciling myself to the knowledge that I would never be fully certain any children she bore in the marriage would be of my blood. It had been a tough pill to swallow.

But now a change in fate had brought this sweet creature into my life instead and although I sure as fuck didn't deserve her, I was going to hold on to her with both hands.

My fingers thrust in and out of her pussy. "Now you're going to be a good girl and come for me."

She moaned as she fisted the bedcovers. Her thighs clamped around my wrist. "This isn't right."

"This is exactly right. I need you to come so your pretty cunt is nice and slick for when I push my cock inside."

She leaned up on her forearms. "No! You can't. Can't you just… do what you did before?"

I wrapped my right hand around the back of her neck to push her head down and arch her back, which pushed her hips against my hand as her knees spread open.

The perfect submission position.

If I had my way, she'd start and end each day sprawled over my lap just like this.

"No, babygirl. There is no turning back now."