“She did know.” She expected an immediate reaction and she got it.
He grabbed her arms then pulled her so close that she breathed the same charged air as he. “I don’t believe you. Mamma would have told me if she’d known about Rachel.”
“I’m sure she would have if she’d had time,” she said, and rested a hand over his heart. “Cesare told her everything.”
He shook off her gesture of comfort and prowled the room with long, angry strides. “When?”
“He unburdened his soul to her in the car on the way to their favorite restaurant in Tuscany.” She crossed her arms over herself when he simply stared holes in her naked body. “He said they fought bitterly, that she flew into a rage the likes of which he’d never seen before.”
He slammed the flat of his hand against the wall. “How could he think she would not react violently to such news?”
She shook her head, certain that Cesare hadn’t thought his confession through. But then he hadn’t known that his health would suddenly fail him, either.
“That’s when the blinding pain hit him and he lost control of the car.” She met his furious gaze and hoped he’d one day understand this. “When he woke, he learned he’d suffered a heart attack.”
“He phoned you,” Stefano said, his voice flat and hard.
She nodded. “From the hospital. He told me everything and begged me to protect Rachel.”
“As well as guard his secrets?”
“Yes. He was afraid you would react worse than his wife if you knew.”
“It’s no wonder he is not improving,” Stefano said. “He is mired in deep guilt over her death.”
She wrung her hands together, wanting to reach out to him, wanting to offer him comfort, but she knew he’d not take it. Not now when his emotions were scraped raw again.
“He’ll never forgive himself for what happened,” she said. “So you will have to.”
“And I would do this because?”
“Because he’s your father. Because only a selfish bastard could be that indifferent toward his family.”
He frowned, a fierce drawing of his brows that signaled he was far from accepting the truth. “What if I am, bella?”
It was a question Stefano had asked himself many times the past ten years. There had been many occasions when his mamma had phoned him, begging him to return to Marinetti.
He’d ignored her pleas just as he had avoided her repeated attempts to get him married.
Stefano had no desire for a wife or children at this point in his life. Perhaps one day when this inner drive for success abated.
Women were like water in his hands. His affairs never lasted long, for they all wanted more from him than he was willing to give.
Which made this tête-à-tête with Gemma short-lived at best.
Already they were clashing over how he should live his life! But he was also looking forward to the explosion of passion when they made peace.
But how could he think of that now? Gemma was tied neatly up in his father’s lies. Yes, she’d done so out of loyalty to Cesare and his sister. But they were still lies!
“I don’t believe you are as self-centered as you imagine yourself to be,” she said at last.
He merely offered a wan smile. “Think what you will. I always put business first.”
She shook her head. “You returned to tend to your father’s business while he is recovering.”
“Bella, my father will never manage Marinetti again,” he said.
“Yes, I realize that now, but when you first agreed to lend him a hand—”
He placed a finger over her mouth to shush her. “I am not the prodigal son welcomed back into the family fold. My father suffered a heart attack and knew the situation was dire. He knew he couldn’t continue and perhaps didn’t have the heart to try after Mamma’s death. That’s why he called me, for he knew if I ever returned I’d assume control of Marinetti Shipyard.”
Her face leached of color, but there was a glint in her eyes that hinted of lofty hopes. “You still have the obligation of family. Your father. Your sister.”
“Do not imbue me with your character traits,” he said. “I would see that both are well cared for to the best of my ability, and if that means bringing my sister and her bambinaia into my father’s house, then so be it. But I won’t sacrifice my life to do so.”
“I haven’t sacrificed to see that my family was cared for,” she said.
“Haven’t you?”
The question hung between them like an icy sheet. “If I did make some concessions, it was expected of me to care for my nonna and my younger brother.”
He glared at her, angry she wasn’t seeing herself in the same martyr’s light as he. “What will you give the next time your family needs you? An arm? Perhaps an eye or kidney?”
“Stop it! I didn’t sell my bone marrow,” she said.
“No, but the end result was the same.”
She let out a weary sigh. “Please, don’t just move Rachel into your house and feel you’ve done the right thing. Make her part of your life. You won’t regret it.”
He wasn’t so sure. How the hell would a sister and a young one at that fit into his hectic life? She wouldn’t.
In fact his bachelor life was ill-suited for an impressionable young lady. But Gemma didn’t see that part of the problem.
She likely saw herself still having a hand in his sister’s life, carrying on as his papa had bade her to do. It was a pattern she fell into too easily. She took other peoples’ lives to heart at the expense of her own.
“When did you give up on yourself?” he asked her, and before she could reply, added, “Was it when you blamed herself for your mamma’s death?”
“I’ve not given up,” she said. “I have dreams and aspirations.”
“Tell me.”
“I want to see the inn prosper again.”
He made a cutting motion with his hand. “That’s business. I’m talking about your personal life. What do you want to have two years from now?”
Their eyes met, and he read the love in hers before she looked away. “My own family.”
Just as he’d thought.
Stefano couldn’t expect her to remain his mistress forever.
She deserved marriage. Family.
She could be the one.
It’d been years since he’d let anyone get close to him. Especially a lover.
Gemma wasn’t like his sister-in-law.
She was sweet. Amorous. Generous to a fault.
His sister adored her. His papa trusted her.
Could Stefano do no less?
He crossed to the en suite bathroom and paused at the door, glancing back at her and feeling his body stir with hunger. “We make port within the hour. Care to join me in the shower?”
That brought color blooming in her cheeks again. “I’ll pass in favor of a few more minutes’ sleep.”
He smiled at the cause of her weariness and proceeded to enjoy a hot shower alone. Perhaps that was for the best. He was moving quickly with Gemma, but then he saw no reason to dawdle.
The sooner he got her ensconced in his home, the sooner he could get down to managing the two businesses. He certainly had a surfeit of that to attend to today.
Yet as the hot water pounded the tension from his shoulders and back, he found himself dreaming of the night to come with Gemma snuggled in his arms.
No woman had ever captivated him so. He’d been wrong to force her to be his mistress. She deserved more than that and he would damn well see that she got it.
CHAPTER TWELVE
GEMMA stepped into the salon and froze at the sight of Stefano giving rapid-fire orders over the phone. He’d dressed for the office, and with the copy machine and facsimile machines spitting out pages and his computer screen lit up, it was clear he’d started work before the sun rose.
The precision-fitted lines of his Armani suit could have served as armor, for he looked unapproachable. Invincible.
It was like stepping back to that first day he had taken over Marinetti Shipyard. The change in him from her passionate lover of the night to this ruthless businessman was dramatic.
The mesmerizing eyes that had glowed with passion were hard and calculating. The mouth that had moved over her body with erotic abandon was pulled into a tense line. Instead of greeting her with a smile or word, he simply nodded.
She had no idea if he was negotiating a major deal or grappling fast to stave off a catastrophe. Or an emergency?
Her heart stuttered as the most obvious reason for his anxiety crossed her mind. His father’s tenuous condition. Mio Dio, please not that!
“What’s wrong?” she asked when he finally ended the call, fearing his father had taken a turn for the worse. “Is Cesare all right?”
“Papa’s condition hasn’t changed.”
She breathed a bit easier but not for long. Stefano’s austere mood left her wary.
Whatever business deal he was engaged in had his full attention. She certainly pitied his opponent for it was clear Stefano was out to win.
“When will we make port?” she asked as she helped herself to cappuccino.
“In thirty minutes.”
That still gave her over an hour to visit her flat and collect her mail, something she hadn’t been able to do in days. “Can you spare me this morning? I have some business I need to attend to.”
“Take all the time you want.” He held his coffee cup in a punishing grip and scanned a paper, seeming distracted and harried. “I won’t be needing you as my assistant after all.”
“Excuse me?” She set her cup down with a clatter though her insides shattered in a million pieces. “What are you talking about?”
“I have given our situation much thought and decided you are right,” he said. “Rachel needs a solid home environment. Since you have a close rapport with her, it seems fitting that we make a suitable home life together.”
Had he gone mad? They’d just spent another night in each other’s arms. He’d been more relaxed and playful than she’d ever seen him before. And now…
Now he was someone she didn’t know.
“You can’t expect for us to conduct an affair with a child in the house,” she said.
“Of course not. We’ll be married.”
Married? Just like that he’d decided they should marry?
“Please start from the beginning and tell me what the hell is going on,” she said, desperate to know how the man who had made such passionate love with her had come to such a cold, unemotional decision in the light of day.
He gave her a negligent shrug and got to his feet with masculine grace, his expression devoid of anger or passion. “Forgive me for not explaining better. I’ve decided we will marry, by the week’s end if it can be arranged. As we speak, my attorney is finalizing the wording on a prenuptial agreement that he’ll fax over for you to sign.”
Her mouth had dropped open, and for the life of her she couldn’t seem to close it. Of all the scenarios she’d imagined regarding a marriage proposal, she’d never dreamed she’d be offered this cold business arrangement.
And that’s exactly what this was! A business arrangement.
There was no tenderness. No concern for her feelings. No mention of love. Because his heart wasn’t in this.
Like everything Stefano Marinetti did, this was business. This had been thought out to serve his purposes. Not theirs.
“You can’t seriously think that I’ll agree to this business arrangement,” she said.
He looked up at her then and his brow snapped into a dark frown of annoyance. “Why not? You have said this is what Rachel needs. It’s not like you don’t love me.”
The assured arrogance in that remark got her blood boiling and not in a good way. “What of you? What are your feelings toward me?”
He gave an impatient shrug. “I enjoy you more than I’ve ever enjoyed another woman.”
Enjoyed. Not loved. Not the words she’d longed to hear. Not even a profession of affection like he’d shown when he’d asked her to be his mistress.
Mio Dio! Had his sister-in-law’s deceit and his brother’s betrayal scarred him for life? Or had she been so blinded by her own desire and love for this man that she failed to see that he was incapable of such feelings?
She didn’t know, but she couldn’t accept this fate. Not even for Rachel. She’d given enough. And wasn’t it Stefano who’d just upbraided her for letting her family use her?
A fax machine hummed to life and began spitting out pages. The prenuptial agreement, she assumed, as he snatched the papers from the tray and gave them an exacting read.
He grunted his approval, fanned the pages on his desk and laid a pen atop them. “You’ll note that I’ve given you a generous settlement up-front. Just sign it so we can move on to the next step.”
“And that would be?” she asked, making no move to even glance at the marriage contract.
“Obtaining the marriage license. If I can move quickly enough, we can hold the wedding in two weeks when I return.”
“Stop!” she said, hating the panic that made her voice tremble. “Just stop and look at me.”
He rocked back in his chair and stared at her with undisguised impatience. “Okay, I am looking at you.”
But was he seeing her? Did he have any idea that he was ripping her heart out with this unemotional proposal?
“Do you honestly think I’ll agree to this?” she asked.
“In my circle marriages are still often tied to business.” His eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. “You object to the contract?”
She tossed both hands in the air. “I object to the fact you are showing absolutely no emotion to what should be the most wonderful day of our lives.”
“Ah, you want, as they say, hearts and flowers and professions of the heart.”
“Only if you mean it,” she said. “I want to know what is in your heart, Stefano. I want you to ask me to marry you, not tell me that is what we’re to do.”
“What difference does that make?” he asked.
It was a good question. A week ago she would’ve accepted this as her due. But not anymore.
She wanted to be romanced. Loved. She couldn’t imagine marrying a man who didn’t feel the same toward her.
“The difference is me saying yes to your outrageous proposal, or holding out for true love and walking out the door.”
His mouth stretched into a flat, disagreeable line. “Is that a threat?”
“It’s a fact,” she said. “I deserve more than this. You are suddenly playing a tyrant here and I’ve no idea why.”
A muscle worked frantically along his lean jaw, but it was the only sign that her impassioned words registered with him. Mio Dio, did what they’d shared mean nothing to him?
“I had hoped to finalize these arrangements before I flew to London today,” he said, surprising her with that news as well.
That angered her all over again that he’d expected her to be ready at a moment’s notice. “Why didn’t you tell me we were going to England?”
“I am going, not you.” He pushed to his feet and rounded the desk. “I chose you as my wife, bella. Your job will be to provide this good home environment for my sister, as well as for any children we’ll have.”
His words were frozen daggers piercing her heart. He’d not mentioned a loving marriage. He hadn’t given the slightest indication she’d be anything more than the mother to his children and companion to his sister.
That was because this wasn’t a marriage. It was a business deal.
Yet she wanted to be his wife. She wanted to be the mother to his children. She wanted to love him till the day she died.
But not like this. Not a one-sided affair where she’d soon be forgotten. Where he’d take a mistress to dote on. Love.
“What made you think I’d agree to this? That I’d be content to let you decide on everything regarding our future?” she asked, choking bac
k tears for she wasn’t about to cry in front of him.
“It is what you want,” he said. “It is all I have to give. You know that, bella. I’ll never hurt you.”
“You’re hurting me now with this.”
“The marriage will be real.”
“Will it?” she asked. “Do you love me?”
Silence exploded in the room, rocking her to her very soul. She felt the frisson streak through her, marbling her like an eggshell that could shatter at any second.
“I care for you more than I’ve ever cared for another woman.”
But that wasn’t love.
She couldn’t fault him for his honesty now. He’d never professed to love her.
What they’d shared was perfectly fine for lovers. But not for a marriage. Not her marriage.
A bell chimed to signal they had reached the port. This was the end. She saw it in the hard sheen of his eyes and the stiffening of his body. She heard it in the frantic hammering of her heart.
What she had to do now was going to hurt more than words could say, but she refused to be used so coldly. “No! I can’t do this. I can’t be the convenient wife.”
She turned and walked across the salon, her legs trembling so badly she feared she’d fall. Only pride and the urge to run and never look back kept her upright.
“What about Rachel?” he asked.
She faltered at that, for she’d promised Cesare she’d care for her. But how could she stay under these circumstances?
“Cesare hired a nanny to see to her needs. I’m sure she’ll be able to remain in your employ.” If not, his money would easily secure another.
“If you walk out now, it is over between us,” he said. “Do you understand me?”
Oh, she understood him all right. She understood that he’d just broken her heart in two.
She hurried up the stairs and waited for the men to ready a dinghy to row her to shore. Waited for Stefano to appear and stop her, to take her in his arms and tell her he loved her, that he wanted to marry her, that he couldn’t live his life without her.
But he didn’t show his face as she was helped into the dinghy. She didn’t see him at all as the small craft took to sea and she was rowed toward the jetty.
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