Married for the Italian's Heir

by Rachael Thomas

  ‘I have not yet secured that deal.’

  ‘You don’t own me, Dante.’

  Her voice quivered with passion mixed with frustration and he knew she was right.

  ‘And I won’t let you change me.’

  The floodgates of emotion had opened and she couldn’t hold back any longer. All the hurt and humiliation she’d bottled up rushed out before Dante could say anything.

  ‘I can’t be what you want, Dante. I’m not a puppet you can shape to fit your circumstances—and, more to the point, neither is our baby.’

  ‘Are you trying to say you have nothing to gain from our agreed deal? What about all the clothes and jewels you have?’

  ‘None of them matter.’ Her stomach turned over again and she thought for one minute she would have to rush away to the bathroom. Would he even care?

  ‘So what does matter, mia cara? What is it you really want to gain?’

  There was an undertone of controlled annoyance in his tone, and she just didn’t feel well enough to deal with it right now.

  ‘If we are going to be married for the sake of the baby then I want my baby to know its grandmothers—especially as he or she won’t have any grandfathers.’ She stood boldly, pushing home her point, and for a moment she thought he was going to disagree, to give her a justifiable reason for not involving his or her mother in the baby’s life.

  ‘I can’t have this conversation—not now, not ever.’ He put on his jacket and picked up his briefcase. ‘We made a deal. Let’s just stick to it, no?’

  ‘No,’ she said firmly, and saw his eyes widen in surprise. Had nobody ever said no to the all-powerful Dante Mancini?

  He marched to the door, yanked it open and turned to face her. ‘We made a deal, Piper, and nothing changes—not a thing. But right now I’m late.’

  ‘Just go, Dante. I never want to see you again. I made a big mistake coming here—one I intend to rectify.’

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  DANTE LOOKED BRIEFLY at his phone as Bettino D’Antonio disconnected the call. He should be punching the air for joy. He’d got the contract, but somehow with Piper gone he didn’t care. None of it mattered if he didn’t have her to share it with. His elation at having secured his most lucrative deal yet was swamped by misgivings.

  He cursed under his breath and slid his phone back into his jacket pocket.

  ‘Problems?’ His mother’s question couldn’t quite drag him from the low he’d been in since he’d arrived back at his apartment two days ago to find Piper had actually gone against their contract and left. Just as she’d told him she would.

  She’d taken nothing other than what she’d arrived with—not even the engagement ring she’d selected. She’d left it on his desk, next to her copy of the contract, making it clear what she thought of both. He’d never felt more adrift in life as he did now.

  ‘No.’ He tried for an enthusiastic approach, but fell way short of it if the expression on his mother’s face was anything to go by. ‘That was about the deal I’ve been chasing. I’ve got it. I now own one of the biggest solar energy companies.’

  His mother frowned and for a moment he saw Alessio in the reproach that filled her eyes. He’d always thought Alessio took after their mother. They had the same nutmeg eyes, and she would often look at him the way his younger brother had. It was another constant reminder of his guilt, as if Alessio was still there, reprimanding him for not looking after him.

  ‘Was the deal worth it?’

  ‘Of course.’ He tried not to think about the deal he’d made with Piper, the deal for his child, just to secure a contract to make his renewable energies company one of the biggest in the world.

  ‘Are you certain about that?’

  What was his mother trying to do? Make him feel even worse than he already did?

  Stifled by emotions he just couldn’t analyse now, he grabbed his car keys. ‘I need to get back to Rome—put things in motion with D’Antonio.’

  ‘You need to go to London first.’

  His mother’s voice was gentle, as always, but beneath that softness he heard steely determination.

  ‘You have things to sort out there, Dante.’

  It was as if he’d slammed into a wall, and exactly the reason he’d wanted to keep Piper and his mother apart. His mother had never met her, didn’t know about the baby, but already she was on Piper’s side. Even though he’d explained about the cold and calculated deal Piper had agreed to—leaving out one important detail—his mother was looking for more. What was it with women wanting happy-ever-afters that could never exist?

  ‘I will not be chasing after that particular contract. It has fallen through, but at least it appears to have achieved what I wanted.’ As he finished speaking he gritted his teeth against his anger that Piper had walked out on him—again. Anger that was mixed with hurt. He missed her. He wanted her. In a way he’d never thought possible. And she’d walked away.

  ‘Is a contract for a solar energy company worth more than your happiness?’ his mother asked quietly, but the firmness of the question let him know just what she thought of that. She’d always told him he worked too hard.

  He was proud of his company, but he never stopped working—never stopped making it bigger and better, as if he was still searching for something to make things right. Because so far nothing was right. Why should now be any different from when his father had left or Alessio had gone missing? He was getting what he deserved once more. He’d messed up again. He’d driven Piper away, and with her his child.

  ‘Business is my happiness. Now I have to go.’

  He couldn’t discuss this now. Not when he knew his mother spoke the truth. A truth he wasn’t yet ready to admit.

  Dante turned to go.

  ‘You have to stop punishing yourself, Dante. Alessio’s death wasn’t your fault.’

  His mother’s words made another step too difficult. His mind raced back in time to the day he’d last seen his father and the words he’d said before he left. ‘Look after them.’

  It might have been just something to say for a man so selfish he had walked out on his young family but Dante, at almost eight, had assumed the role of protector and, even before he’d finished school, provider. His need to succeed had come from that moment.

  ‘You were a child when your father left...’

  His mother’s words snagged his attention and he turned to look at her, unaware that he was clenching his fists so tightly the car keys dug into his palm.

  ‘I never wanted you to take his place. I wanted you to be a child, to grow up in your own time.’

  ‘I couldn’t watch you struggle.’ He growled the words as pain engulfed him. ‘He left me in charge. He made me the man of the house when I was still a boy.’

  ‘And I blame myself for what it’s done to you.’

  The raw emotion in his mother’s voice only intensified the anger he felt towards his father and his guilt at letting Alessio down.

  ‘You shouldn’t shut love out of your life, Dante. Live for yourself—not your father.’

  As the words sluiced round in his mind images of Piper—of her smile as they’d enjoyed their time in Tuscany, of the passion in her eyes as he’d made her his once more and the pain in her voice as she’d told him she couldn’t do it any more—collided with the past. Had love played any part in that for her?

  ‘I don’t need love.’

  He’d spoken more to himself than his mother, but as the harsh words left him he knew it was a lie. With Piper he’d seen what love and happiness could be like, had glimpsed a life he had no right to want.

  ‘I’ve seen the photos, Dante, and the television coverage. That woman loves you.’

  ‘No,’ he snapped quickly. ‘It’s all part of the deal to make the world think we are in love.’

  ‘Just as you love her.’ She walked towards him, her eyes pleading with him. ‘Go to her, Dante, and make this right—for you and for her, but most of all for the baby.’

 
; The air around him snapped, and shock snatched his ability to speak. How did his mother know what he’d tried so hard to keep from her? Maledizione. He’d only told Elizabeth Young out of necessity.

  ‘I’m right, aren’t I? A woman knows these things.’

  He knew then it was pointless denying anything.

  ‘About the baby? Yes.’ Resignation filled him. The one thing he hadn’t wanted to do was give his mother hope of being a grandmother, hope that he’d settle down and have a family. He’d never wanted that—until he’d met Piper. Now he would have to break his mother’s heart too.

  ‘No, I’m right that you love her.’

  The insistent tone wrenched him from his despondent thoughts. ‘You’ve got it wrong.’ He flung the words at his mother as he left her villa, needing the solitude of his car and the drive back to Rome.

  He needed to think, to process everything, to sort his emotions out—emotions he’d banished from his life years ago. Emotions he shouldn’t want, but did. So why did he want them back now?

  He was in love with Piper.

  * * *

  Piper’s morning sickness had become much worse since her arrival back in London. She had spilled the whole story to her mother, who’d held her as she’d cried. As the tears had dried Piper had felt guilty, sure her mother would blame herself for dragging her away from Sydney and all she’d grown up with.

  Her friends, Katie and Jo, had rallied round with emails and calls, giving her support, but there wasn’t much else they could do so far away in Sydney, and Piper had never felt so alone. She wished her father was there to tell her it would be all right in the end. She could almost hear him now. ‘There’s a happy-ever-after out there for you, Piper, don’t ever forget that.’

  He’d said it many times to her as she’d grown up, and she’d always teased him about it, but right now a happy-ever-after with Dante was all she wanted. But that was a futile wish, and leaving Rome—leaving the man she loved—certainly hadn’t felt right.

  For the first few days in London Piper had been angry with Dante, but now she had reached a stage of acceptance. The man she loved didn’t and couldn’t love her. It had been four days since she’d left Rome and she’d heard nothing from him. She didn’t even know if he’d got his deal with Bettino D’Antonio. All she knew was that her heart was breaking and she didn’t know how to mend it.

  A firm knock on the front door of the house her mother rented startled her from her misery and a little light of hope sparked in her heart. Had he come for her? Then it faded as quickly as it had flared. Dante wouldn’t come after her—not when he was incapable of any kind of emotion. He wouldn’t let it into his life. He was completely closed off to it. He’d probably already moved on to the next woman in his life, while she would remain in love with him for ever, with their child a legacy and constant reminder of him.

  With a heavy heart she opened the door, the blast of cold from England’s winter weather momentarily taking her breath away. Then she saw Dante, and her knees weakened and her stomach somersaulted.

  He looked devastatingly handsome. The warm coat he wore over his suit gave him an air of distinction, and she remembered how she’d thought the same that night of the party. The night he’d kissed her, right there in front of everyone, as they’d stood on the red carpet, cameras flashing, recording the moment. That kiss had been so full of passion and desire, as if he’d really meant it, had really wanted to kiss her. It had given her hope—but false hope, and she’d had to accept it was all part of the act.

  ‘Piper?’

  The question in his voice as he said her name unsettled her nerves, and the firm and determined expression on his face warned her not to expect things she knew he couldn’t give. Not when she’d run out on their deal.

  She’d had to leave. For her sanity. Each day her love had grown, and the pain of knowing he’d never love her had increased until it had become unbearable.

  ‘What do you want, Dante? I thought we’d said all we needed to say.’ She folded her arms and stood on the doorstep, the partially open door behind her. All she wanted to do was protect herself, hide her love, her elation at seeing him, but the embers of something dark smouldered in his eyes, increasing her nerves tenfold.

  ‘We have things to settle—about the baby.’

  He took a step towards her and instinctively she held her ground. She couldn’t let him over the threshold of her new life. It was still such a painful choice, and she was scared he’d make her fragile strength evaporate, make her change her mind.

  ‘I suggest we leave all that to the legal experts.’

  She wasn’t going to force him to be a father, to be part of her baby’s life, and she certainly wasn’t going to sort out the final details with him now. She’d taken her mother’s advice and arranged to seek legal help, determined to find a way out of their contract.

  ‘Is that what you want?’

  His voice was icy-cold, his eyes so dark she couldn’t decipher what emotion was in them.

  ‘I didn’t want any of this.’

  The pain of it all—of holding back her emotions—made those words a strangled cry and she turned, fleeing into the house. She heard the front door close behind her, heard the noise of the street subside, and knew there was no getting away from him. She stood in the living room of the small terraced house, looking at her reflection in the mirror above the fireplace, wondering how her life had become so wildly complicated.

  Because you love him.

  The words rushed around her mind. When had it happened? How had she fallen in love with a man such as Dante? She didn’t really need to ask those silent questions. She already knew. She’d fallen in love with him the night they’d first met—the night he’d made her his for evermore.

  As she looked into the mirror Dante entered the small room, his gaze meeting hers, and the intensity of it sent a shiver of awareness all over her. For a moment she wished he loved her too, that he was here because he couldn’t imagine life without her in it.

  ‘What was it you came to Rome for?’

  Dante’s question was fired at her, but she held his gaze in the mirror, trying to read those dark eyes which hid every hint of emotion.

  Finally she turned to face him, but the firm set of his jaw, shadowed with stubble as it had been that first morning in Rome, made her nerves desert her.

  ‘We’ve gone over this, Dante. All I wanted to do was let you know you were going to be a father. Nothing more. You were the one who turned it all into something else. You made it into a deal—something sordid and soul-destroying—just to win a business deal.’

  ‘Then why did you sign the contract?’

  His accent had become more pronounced and that shiver of awareness notched up a level. How could he affect her so much after all he’d done?

  ‘I wanted my baby to have what I had—a father who cared, one who would spend time with it, and most importantly one who would be there, no matter what. But you can’t be that—can you, Dante?’

  She knew she was pushing him, forcing him to face all he’d hidden from since Alessio’s death. But what else did she have to lose? Nothing.

  A flicker of pain crossed his face, showing itself in the darkness of his eyes so very briefly she wondered if she’d imagined it.

  ‘No, I can’t be that man.’

  His abrupt admission sliced at her heart and she closed her eyes against the raw emotion in his voice.

  ‘That man isn’t inside me, Piper. I can’t be what you need.’

  Her eyes flew open and she saw he stood closer to her now...so close that if she chose to she could step into his embrace. But would that make things right?

  ‘Just as I can’t be the woman you need, Dante. But I could live in your world, be all the things you need, if only...’

  Her words faltered and she lowered her gaze, unable to look into those eyes any longer. How had she been so stupid? She’d nearly admitted that his love was all she needed to make everything right. That
if she could love him too then nothing else would matter.

  ‘If only what, Piper?’

  He stepped closer and reached out, pushed her hair from her face so gently she was sure he had been anxious about startling her. She looked up at him, shyness engulfing her at the sight of the desire which burned in his eyes. But she wouldn’t be swayed by lust—not again.

  ‘It doesn’t matter,’ she said slowly, and stepped away from him, not able to bear being so close without being in his arms. ‘I guess if you’d got the deal it would have been worth it.’

  ‘I did get the deal.’

  * * *

  Dante had to clench his hands in an attempt not to reach for her again, not to touch the softness of her flame hair, or feel the warmth of her skin. Everything she’d said suggested their deal had been all about mutually beneficial arrangements, that every moment they’d shared in Tuscany had been just part of the deal.

  He was shocked at how much it mattered, but it did. As he’d sat on the flight to London he’d played his mother’s words over and over in his mind. Each word had confirmed what he’d known all along, what he’d been running from since he’d seen her again in his office. He wanted Piper. He loved her. And that terrified him.

  ‘So everything you set out to achieve has happened?’

  She prickled with indignation and injustice, and he’d done that to her.

  ‘Sì, it has—but I still have my part of our deal to keep.’ He watched her pretty face frown in disbelief at his words, and knew if he’d been on the receiving end of the way he’d treated her he wouldn’t trust a word he said.

  ‘I don’t expect anything from you, Dante. In fact I don’t want anything except for you to go back to your life and let me live mine. Go, Dante—just go.’

  How could he go back to his life and leave her here? ‘No, that’s not possible.’

  She glared at him, the angry sparkle in her eyes, reminding him of fireworks. For the second time in his life he was far from in control of a situation. The fear that had swamped him when Alessio had left was nothing compared to the way he felt right now.

  ‘No, I’m not going back—not until I’ve made things right with you.’