The Sicilian's Surprise Love-Child / Claiming My Bride Of Convenience: The Sicilian's Surprise Love-Child / Claiming My Bride of Convenience (Mills & Boon Modern)

by Carol Marinelli

  Which begged the question—‘What are you doing here, Daisy?’

  Her eyes flashed. ‘Don’t you mean what the hell am I doing here?’

  ‘I was surprised.’

  I wasn’t normally in the habit of justifying myself, and I didn’t know what it was about her that caught me on the raw, made me defensive. That had to stop.

  ‘Annoyed, you mean? Or perhaps furious?’ One eyebrow arched as her golden-brown eyes glittered like bits of topaz. She was unremarkable, I told myself as I scanned her in cold assessment. Brown hair and eyes, a slight, unprepossessing figure. Completely forgettable.

  So why did I keep staring at her?

  ‘We had an arrangement,’ I stated, yet again. She seemed to need the reminder.

  ‘Which suited you—’

  ‘And you—to the tune of nearly two million euros.’ I was not going to feel guilty. ‘You knew the score all along. You said you were happy with it.’

  Her lower lip—a surprisingly lush and rosy-red lip—jutted out, and she folded her arms across her slight bosom, which for some reason I was having the most exasperating trouble looking away from, considering how unimpressive it was. B cup at best, and yet…

  ‘Well, now I want to change it,’ she said.

  I let out a short, sharp laugh. ‘I don’t negotiate.’

  ‘Are you sure about that?’ she challenged. ‘It’s hardly a binding contract.’

  I stared at her, shocked. Where was all this brazen confidence coming from? And what could she possibly want from me?

  ‘Not binding, no,’ I agreed silkily, ‘but you know the terms. If you wish the marriage to be annulled without my agreement, then you’ll have to hand back every single euro you’ve received from me over the last three years.’

  Which amounted to nearly two million—one million to start, and then two hundred and fifty thousand for every year she stayed married to me, until my grandfather died. Then we wouldn’t have to have anything more to do with each other—something I had thought suited us both.

  But of course Daisy knew the rules as well as I did. I’d outlined them all very clearly when I’d proposed to her after she’d been fired from a rundown dive of a diner in a less than salubrious neighbourhood in Manhattan and she’d accepted. With alacrity.

  So what had changed?

  I folded my arms and eyed her in consideration. She was sitting as prim as you please in a vamp’s red dress, looking entirely incongruous and making me feel as if I didn’t know her at all—which, of course, I didn’t. I didn’t need or want to know her. But I needed to know what she wanted.

  ‘What is this really about, Daisy?’

  For a second that confidence faltered. Her lips trembled and her gaze slid away. ‘What do you think it’s about?’

  ‘Why are you here? What is it you want? Because I really don’t think you want to repay the two million euros I’ve already given you.’

  ‘One million, seven hundred and fifty thousand,’ she flashed back, recovering her spirit, assembling it like armour. ‘And, according to our agreement, we were to be married for a maximum of two years. It’s now been three.’

  ‘And you’ve been paid accordingly.’

  And she’d spent it all, judging by the amount in the bank account I’d set up for her. Last time I checked, its balance was hovering just above zero. Heaven only knew what she spent the money on.

  ‘So what do you want?’ I shook my head slowly, my lip starting to curl. ‘More money?’

  Her eyes widened, her lush lips parting. In that red dress she looked as ripe as an apple, ready to be plucked, and it disconcerted me. The last time I’d seen her she’d been in a drab waitress uniform, her hair scraped back into a ponytail, her face shiny with grease from the fried food she served. Hardly someone I’d ever think of plucking.

  ‘Would you give me more money?’ she asked, seeming more curious than greedy.

  ‘No.’

  I took a step back, away from temptation. As surprisingly luscious as Daisy seemed right now, she was most definitely off limits. The last thing I wanted to do was consummate—and thus complicate—my marriage. I had plenty of women to choose from. I didn’t need this one.

  ‘That’s good, because I have enough money as it is.’

  ‘You seem to spend it as fast as I can transfer it to your bank account,’ I remarked sardonically. ‘Although I can’t imagine what you spend it on, living on an island with a population of about three hundred.’

  ‘That’s none of your business, is it?’ Daisy countered.

  She had a rather guilty look about her now, with a flushed face and sliding gaze. What did she spend the money on? Perhaps she’d redecorated my villa ten times over, or bought a boat, or a helicopter, or a closet full of designer clothes… Although, judging by that dress, it was probably not the last possibility.

  ‘So what is it that you want, then?’

  Impatience edged my voice and I made a point of glancing at my watch. Daisy Campbell—no, Dias—had taken up fifteen minutes of my valuable time, and that was fifteen minutes too many.

  She cocked her head, her thick, darkly golden lashes lowered as she surveyed me, her lips slightly pursed. Was she trying to be coy? It was a surprising move, and one that unfortunately had the power to affect me.

  Desire surged through my body in a white-hot rush, and although I was tempted to take another step back, to safety, I stood my ground. I would not be cowed by my unremarkable wife. Nor would I be affected.

  ‘Well?’

  ‘I’ll tell you what I want.’

  She stood up, as striking as a flame in that ridiculous red dress, her light brown hair tumbling about her shoulders, her face flushed, her chin angled at a determined tilt—the embodiment of both defiance and desire.

  ‘I want an annulment. I want out of this sham of a marriage. And I’ll give you all your money back to prove it.’

  CHAPTER TWO

  I WATCHED AS shock blazed across Matteo’s features and stiffened his powerful body. Clearly he hadn’t been expecting that. No doubt he thought I’d spent all the money he’d given me. If only he knew the truth…

  ‘Why on earth would you want an annulment?’ he blustered. ‘What’s the point?’

  ‘That’s none of your business,’ I shot back.

  The last thing I wanted was to expose my vulnerability to this man. I wanted out of this marriage because I wanted a chance at a real life, a real love, and I knew I wouldn’t get it with Matteo Dias. That was a fact that sent a stupid pang through me, because even now, when he was being so irritatingly arrogant, part of me wished he’d notice me the way a man was meant to notice a woman.

  Even in this tight red dress, I could see he was regarding me like something unfortunate he’d stepped in.

  ‘It certainly is my business,’ Matteo retorted. ‘We’re married, Daisy.’

  ‘It’s not a real marriage.’

  ‘It is on paper.’

  ‘I’m willing to pay back the money, Matteo. What objection can you possibly have?’

  Except I’d known instinctively that he would object—that he was not the kind of man to let a woman dictate his terms. To let me be the first to walk away. And now, feeling the full force of Matteo Dias’s ire was enough to have me trembling where I stood. Still, I was determined to stand my ground.

  ‘I assure you I’ve thought this through very carefully. I would not be giving back one million, seven hundred fifty thousand euros lightly.’

  ‘How on earth do you still have all that money?’

  ‘What would I have spent it on?’ I countered, which was not quite the truth.

  ‘Seriously, Daisy…’

  ‘I invested it,’ I told him. ‘And the profits will allow me to repay you and keep some for myself.’

  He shook his head slowly, as if he c
ouldn’t believe I was clever enough to have done such a thing, or courageous enough to ask him for an annulment. But I was both, and I was proud of it.

  His jaw hardened and he folded his arms. ‘I don’t wish to have an annulment.’

  ‘That’s too bad for you, then, isn’t it?’

  His eyes flashed dangerously. I knew I shouldn’t have provoked him like that, but I wasn’t having this high-handed manner now.

  ‘Our agreement was clear, Matteo. I could have the marriage annulled at any time, as long as I gave the money back. You just never thought I would.’

  His lips tightened. ‘It is exceedingly inconvenient for me to have our marriage annulled.’

  ‘Oh, dear,’ I mocked. ‘I’m so sorry.’

  ‘Don’t, Daisy.’

  ‘How about you don’t—don’t stand in my way? I’m the one abiding by our agreement, Matteo, not you.’

  Matteo shook his head slowly from side to side, as if trying to clear it. Then he shook it more forcefully.

  ‘This is ridiculous. What on earth are you going to do once our marriage is annulled? Where will you go?’

  ‘Actually, I intend to stay on Amanos.’

  ‘What?’ He stared at me in scathing disbelief. ‘Not in my house.’

  ‘No, of course not. I’ll rent a place in the village.’ I’d already seen one—a small, whitewashed one-bedroom cottage that was reasonable.

  ‘Why, if you intend to stay on Amanos, can’t you stay married to me?’

  I didn’t reply, and Matteo’s eyes narrowed.

  ‘Have you met someone else? Are you having an affair?’

  ‘That’s rich, coming from you.’

  Matteo’s affairs were plastered all over the tabloids, which was the whole reason I was meant to be invisible.

  ‘Are you, Daisy?’

  He looked furious, which was entirely unfair.

  ‘As it happens, no, I am not.’

  Something in my tone must have given me away because understanding flashed in his eyes like lightning.

  ‘But you wish to?’

  ‘No, actually. I have no desire to have seedy, sordid affairs the way you do,’ I retorted.

  ‘What, then?’

  I shook my head, regretting having said anything about it. ‘Let’s focus on the annulment.’

  ‘I need to know why.’

  ‘No, you don’t.’

  ‘Yes, I do.’

  I threw up my hands, exasperated. ‘Matteo, you don’t—’

  ‘Not an affair…’ he mused out loud. ‘But something else. What could it be?’

  Was he really so dense? Had the concept of true love really never occurred to him? Was it so off his radar that he couldn’t imagine me or anyone else wanting it? Or was it that I was so unappealing to him he couldn’t imagine anyone wanting me?

  I shook my head, deciding to end his misery. ‘I’m twenty-six years old, Matteo. I want a real marriage one day. A real family.’

  I heard the ache of longing in my voice, and I knew he heard it too. A baby…that was what I really wanted. A family of my own—something I’d never had. I’d take the husband too, of course, but his image was a lot hazier.

  ‘A family?’ He looked surprised. ‘You want children?’

  ‘Yes—children, a husband, the lot. Most people do. Don’t you?’

  He was silent for a moment. ‘I will need an heir eventually,’ he said at last.

  I spread my hands. ‘There you go. We both need something other than a convenient marriage in name only. So this annulment works for both of us.’

  ‘I already told you it doesn’t for me.’

  ‘Because of your grandfather?’

  ‘Yes, because of him. As long as he is alive I must stay married—which you know.’

  ‘You said it would no longer be an issue after two years.’

  ‘Because I thought he would be dead.’

  I flinched at that, because it sounded so horribly cold. Matteo swore under his breath and then whirled around on his heel, driving one hand through his ink-dark hair, making it ruffled in a way that would have been cute—except nothing about Matteo Dias was cute. He was dark, deadly, powerful, and incredibly charismatic. I felt drawn to him like a moth to dangerous flame, and unlike that hapless insect I knew I’d get burned.

  Which was one of the reasons I wanted an annulment. Without Matteo Dias even on the periphery of my life there was far less danger of being singed. I’d already spent too much time poring over those magazine articles, wondering about the man I’d married and wishing he’d show a little interest in me. But I should have known someone as potently male, as powerful and autocratic as Matteo Dias, would balk at the idea of an annulment. He was a man who called the shots, who needed to be in control. And here I was, trying to take the reins.

  Matteo turned around to face me, and that rush of incredulous rage had been replaced by something icily composed, leaving the angles of his beautiful face hard and unforgiving.

  ‘I am not giving you an annulment.’

  ‘You don’t have any choice,’ I shot back.

  But inside I quailed. Matteo Dias had a lot more money and power than I did. Giving back his money was going to have me living on pennies, no matter what I’d told him. But I had to be free. I had to have a chance to pursue my dream of love and family—otherwise what point was there in anything?

  But of course Matteo didn’t understand that, and I had no desire to spell it out for him.

  Looking at him now, I saw a new hardness in his eyes, felt the unrelenting iron in his soul, and I wondered what had caused him to be so ruthlessly unyielding. It reminded me that I knew nothing about this man beyond what I’d read in the tabloids and what he’d chosen to tell me when we’d first met.

  I’d been at my lowest point then: six months in the city, out of cash and—in the last few seconds before we met—out of a job for slapping a man’s hand away when he tried to grope me. But more than that, I’d been out of hope—and that was what had led me to consider Matteo’s outrageous offer even for a second and then to accept it.

  ‘I have a deal for you.’

  Those were his first words to me. I was standing on the street in the lashing rain, hugging my bag to my chest and waiting for the bus, when he came out of the diner from where I’d just been fired and walked straight towards me.

  I glanced at him uncertainly, because he wasn’t the sort of customer the rundown diner catered to. He was a dark beacon of privilege there on the grimy street, standing tall and proud and determined. I had no idea what he was doing there, much less what he wanted with me.

  ‘A deal?’ I eyed him warily, pretty sure that any deal he offered would be one I’d want to refuse.

  ‘Yes, a deal. I saw what happened back in the diner. You were fired for doing nothing but defending yourself. That was wrong.’

  The quietly spoken statement, the certainty of it, reached me in a way nothing else had. Ever since I’d arrived in New York I’d been fending off people who wanted something for nothing, who were far too quick to swindle or lie or cheat. Or attack…

  A simply spoken truth delivered by a stranger meant a lot…more than it should have.

  ‘Thank you,’ I managed, with as much as dignity as I could muster. ‘Unfortunately it doesn’t change anything.’

  I had enough money for my bus fare and not much else, and I was already a month behind on my rent. I had no family, no friends, nowhere to go—and, worst of all, I wasn’t sure I had the capacity to care about any of it any more.

  ‘Actually, it could,’ Matteo said quietly, his voice carrying a subtle, silky power. ‘I could. If you will but give me a few moments of your time.’

  I eyed him suspiciously. I’d arrived in this city full of wide-eyed optimism, ready and even eager to believe the best of everyone, but
I’d wised up since then. At least I’d been trying to.

  ‘I don’t think so, mister.’ I hunched my shoulder against the rain and peered down the street in the vain hope that a bus would lumber by soon.

  Matteo gave a little reassuring smile. ‘It’s not that kind of deal, trust me.’

  The way he said it made me flush, because of course it wasn’t that kind of deal. He was way, way out of my league and we both knew it.

  ‘This is perfectly respectable and legal—entirely above board.’

  I eyed him warily. ‘What, then?’

  ‘I want you to marry me.’

  I gaped. I couldn’t process those six words; they bounced off my brain, refusing to make sense. Then, when the shock wore off, I looked around for the spectators, the punchline. Surely he was making fun of me?

  Matteo must have seen something of that in my eyes, for he said quietly, ‘No joke. I’m completely serious.’

  He nodded towards a café a few doors down from the diner—a far nicer establishment than the one of my previous employment.

  ‘Why don’t we get out of the rain and talk through it for a few minutes?’

  I hesitated, because my instinct was to say absolutely not. Only a few weeks ago I’d believed what a man had said and I’d paid for it—sorely. Surely I wasn’t going to do it again? Especially when this man’s so-called deal was obviously nonsensical?

  ‘At least have a coffee on me,’ he said.

  And that was what sealed it. I was hungry and tired and wet, and I didn’t even have the money for a cup of coffee.

  ‘All right,’ I said. ‘One coffee.’

  A few minutes later we were seated at a quiet table in the back of the café, and I had my hands around the comforting warmth of a large latte—an extravagance I hadn’t had in for ever.

  Matteo sat opposite me, sipping a double espresso, the shoulders of his suit coat damp from the rain. When I breathed in, I caught the cedar-scented aroma of his aftershave.

  ‘So what is this deal, really?’ I asked.

  ‘What I said. I need to be married.’ He gave me the flicker of a smile. ‘Need being the operative word. I’m not looking for a wife.’