by Maggie Cox
‘You didn’t have to be so snooty or condescending to Jason. We’ve done nothing wrong.’
She had to practically run to keep up with Dante’s annoyed stride as she followed him out into the hotel car park. Reaching a gleaming silver Jaguar, she heard an electronic key open the doors. He stopped dead, and she could see he was struggling with his temper.
‘So you fling your arms round every male you work with, do you?’
‘That’s ridiculous. Of course I don’t! He’d just told me some good news and I was pleased for him…that’s all.’
The resentment in Dante’s mercurial eyes receded only slightly.
‘He likes you,’ he said flatly.
Was he jealous? Anna let the thought swirl around for a bit, then mentally filed it to look at later. But she couldn’t help her lips curving into a smile.
‘And I like him. But not in the way you’re insinuating.’
He would have liked to have quizzed her more, she saw, but instead he glanced down at the linked gold watch glinting on his wrist beneath his cuff and opened the passenger door for her.
‘We’d better get going if we’re not going to be late collecting Tia.’
‘Where are we going for tea? ‘ she asked lightly, before climbing into her seat.
‘The Ritz Hotel.’
Dismay washed over her.
‘You might have told me that earlier… I would have worn something smarter than this dress.’
It was a plain white linen dress that she’d teamed with a businesslike black jacket, and the ensemble had had many outings in the past. It was perfect for a mild spring day like today, when there was just a gentle breeze blowing, but, knowing where they were heading, she was suddenly seized by the idea that it was nowhere near presentable enough for such a notoriously swish hotel.
His appreciative glance on the slender length of leg she unwittingly flashed as she sat down in her seat in a huff, Dante grinned and disarmed her completely.
‘There is nothing wrong with what you are wearing, so there’s no need to fret…le guarda piu di bene a caro prezzo.’
‘And that means?’
‘It means that you look more than fine.’
Dipping his head to survey Anna before closing her door, he let his light-filled gaze linger teasingly on her lips for a moment. Then it intensified. Suddenly there didn’t seem to be enough air for her to breathe.
‘Let’s go and collect our little one, shall we?’ Closing the passenger door, he moved with his usual fluid graceful stride round the Jaguar’s bonnet to the driver’s seat.
Tia wanted another scone and jam, and with Anna’s agreement Dante leaned forward to spread the strawberry jam for her. He’d never felt so proud. Not one of his achievements had elicited the euphoria that poured through him now, when he surveyed this beautiful golden-haired child and knew he’d played an important part in her being.
Moving his glance across to Anna, he discovered her sherry-brown eyes were furtively studying him. With her river of auburn hair spilling unfettered down her back, and her quiet understated beauty, it was inevitable that she drew many admiring glances from the other guests taking afternoon tea. Mentally, Dante puffed out his chest. She was the mother of his child, and one day soon…very soon if he had his way…she would be his wife too. Yet, because of what she’d revealed about her cruel and controlling father, he needed to curb any inclination to manipulate her—even if waiting for her to say yes to marriage frustrated the hell out of him.
Her distressing childhood with such a despicable bully genuinely pained him. If Anna had been anything like their daughter, then she must have been the most exquisite, engaging little girl, and had surely deserved a man far more worthy to take care of her than the poor excuse for a father she’d had?
‘This is a golden room,’ Tia announced, licking strawberry jam off her lips as she chewed her second mouthwatering scone. ‘There’s a golden arch and golden tables and golden—what did you say those sparkly lamps on the ceiling were?’
‘Chandeliers.’
‘Yes—and golden chairs too! A king or a queen could live here. The people that own this place should call it the golden room—don’t you think, Mummy?’
Reaching out to clean away some of the jam stains on her cherubic face with a linen napkin, Anna smiled. ‘This is a very famous room, Tia, and it already has a name. It’s called the Palm Court.’
‘But,’ Dante said softly, his voice lowering conspiratorially, ‘from now on the three of us will always call it the golden room…deal?’
He held out his hand and Tia shook it enthusiastically, clearly delighted that the man who had brought them to such a magical place thought it was a good idea too.
‘You have to shake Mummy’s hand as well, Dante.’
‘Of course…how silly of me to forget to do such an important thing.’
As soon as he took Anna’s slim cool palm into his, the rest of the room faded away. The only thing Dante knew for sure was that his heart beat faster and heavier than it had before he’d touched her, and that if they had been alone he would have shown her in no uncertain terms that he desired her… desired her beyond belief. Immediately recognising the flare of heat suddenly laid bare in the liquid brown depths of her beautiful eyes, he inwardly rejoiced.
‘You’re meant to just shake her hand, not hold it for ages and ages!’ his daughter protested huffily, pulling his hand away from her mother’s with a distinctly old-fashioned look.
‘Mind your manners, Tia, that was very rude.’ Anna admonished her, looking embarrassed.
‘I’m sorry.’ The tips of the dark blond lashes that were so like Dante’s own briefly swept her cheeks in contrition, but a scant moment later her eyes shone with unrepentant mischief again. ‘You’re not cross with me, are you? ‘ She dimpled up at him.
That knock-out smile could melt his heart at a hundred paces, her father silently acknowledged. Tenderly he grazed his knuckles over her velvet cheekbone. ‘No, mia bambina…I don’t think I could be cross with you if I tried…you are far too charming and lovely for that.’
‘She certainly has her moments.’ Taking a sip of her Earl Grey tea in its exquisite porcelain cup, Anna replaced the delicate vessel back in its saucer before grimacing at Dante.
‘Meaning?’
‘Meaning that occasionally she can be a bit wild.’
‘I wonder where she gets that from? ‘ His tone was silky smooth and playful.
Surprising him with a grin, Anna tipped her head to the side.
‘I can’t imagine you ever doing anything that wasn’t measured and considered, Dante. You just seem so organised and in charge to me—as if nothing life can throw at you could ever give you a moment’s doubt about your place in the scheme of things.’
‘You are wrong about that.’ Feeling the need to put her right about her assumption, Dante was suddenly serious. ‘Being part-Italian, passion is in my blood. Neither can I admit to never having a moment’s doubt. Do you know a human being who can?’
‘No,’ she answered thoughtfully, ‘I don’t think I do.’
‘What are you talking about, Mummy? It doesn’t sound very interesting.’
Tia was clearly miffed at not being privy to the grown-ups’ conversation. Turning her gaze to her daughter, Anna appeared to be thinking hard.
‘Tia? There’s something important I want to tell you.’ Glancing over at Dante, she lowered her gaze meaningfully with his.
His heart pounded hard. He hadn’t expected her to raise the subject on this outing, but now, realising that she was going to, he mentally began to arrange his armour—so that if Tia should protest the idea in any way the blow wouldn’t wound him irreparably. Logically he knew it would take time for his daughter to learn to love him, but Dante craved her love and acceptance of him more than he could say.
‘Mummy? I know you want to tell me something important, but I want to ask Dante something.’ The child put her elbows on top of the white tablecloth and
then, with her chin resting in her hand, studied him intently.
‘What is it, sweetheart?’
‘Are you married? ‘
Resisting the urge to laugh out loud at the uncanny aptness of the question, he endeavoured to keep his face expressionless so that Tia wouldn’t think he wasn’t giving her question the proper consideration.
‘No, my sweet little girl…I’m not married.’
‘My mummy’s not married either. I wish she was. I wish she was so that I could have a daddy, like my friend Madison at school. Not all the children in my class have daddies, but she does, and I think she’s very lucky—don’t you? ‘
Powerful emotion struck Dante silent. As if in slow motion—as if time had ground to a dreamlike halt—he saw Anna’s pale slim hand reach out to pull Tia’s hand away from her chin and tenderly hold it.
‘Darling, I want you to listen very carefully to what I need to tell you. Will you do that? ‘
Her blue-grey eyes widening like twin compact disks, Tia nodded gravely.
‘Dante and I knew each other a long time ago—remember I told you that? Anyway, we liked each other very much. But unfortunately…because something very sad happened in Italy, where he came from…he had to go away.’ Sighing softly, Anna gave him a brief heartfelt glance. ‘When he left. When he left, I found out that I was expecting a baby.’
‘A baby? That must have been me! ‘ ‘Yes, darling…it was you.’
Her innocent brow puckering, Tia swung her gaze round to alight firmly on Dante.
‘Does that mean that you’re my daddy, then?’
‘Yes, my angel.’ His throat feeling as if it had been branded with an iron, Dante attempted a smile. ‘It does.’
‘You mean my real daddy? Real like Madison’s daddy is her real daddy? ‘
‘Yes.’
‘Then we must be a real family.’
Never had anyone looked clear down to his soul as his daughter did at that breathtaking moment, and he knew…knew beyond any shadow of doubt…that she saw him for who he really was. It was the most unsettling yet exhilarating feeling Dante had ever experienced.
‘And if we’re a real family then you have to come and live with us—because that’s what real families do, you know. Mummy, can I have a chocolate éclair now?’ Tia turned pleadingly towards her mother. ‘If you don’t want me to eat a whole one, in case I’m sick, can I share it with you and have just half?’
‘Okay, but I think after that you should call it a day on the cake front, don’t you? ‘
As Anna glanced at Dante with a tremulous smile, he silently formed the words thank you. Then, reaching towards the multi-tiered cake stand, he plucked a chocolate éclair from it and with the small silver knife by his plate proceeded to cut it in half.
It had been a day of truth-telling. Along with the relief that had followed it, an incredible fatigue rolled over Anna, dragging at her limbs and making her eyelids so heavy that she could hardly stay awake.
Having left Dante in the bedroom, watching Tia as she drifted off to sleep after the story he’d read her, she kicked off her shoes and stretched out on the couch.
She’d told him that children quickly adapted to new situations and she’d been right. Already Tia was calling him Daddy—as if by voicing her acknowledgement of who he was gave her even more right to claim him as her own. It touched Anna almost unbearably to see father and child together, bonding as naturally as if there had never at any time been a separation. It was wonderful…a dream come true. But where did that leave her?
She’d been a single parent for so long. It wouldn’t be easy to let go of that role, even when she knew it was probably best for Tia that her father was in her life at last. Was it wrong of her to feel so afraid? To live in fear that her autonomy over their lives would be taken away? And would it be wise to contemplate letting her loneliness be soothed by this rugged and virile urbane man to whom she’d relinquished her innocence one night five years ago, knowing that because of the wall she’d glimpsed behind his eyes more than once he’d probably never be able to love her the wholehearted way that he loved his daughter?
‘How are you doing? ‘
Anna’s eyes had been drifting closed, and suddenly Dante was there in front of her, staring down at her with his soulful light eyes in a way that would have made her knees knock together if she’d been standing.
‘I’m fine, thanks. Just a bit tired, to tell you the truth.’ She started to sit up, but he gestured that she stay just as she was and then dropped down to sit on the edge of the couch beside her.
The strong, long-fingered hands that she’d noticed when they first met and had privately thought poetic and artistic were linked loosely in front of him, and a lock of dark blond hair flopped sexily down in front of his forehead. His sculpted lean profile and long luxuriant lashes made him look like a movie star, and for a distressing moment Anna wondered what an outstanding male specimen like him could possibly see in someone as ordinary as her.
‘It’s been quite an incredible day, huh?
‘And as Dante smiled at her with surprising warmth her suddenly wobbly self-esteem was completely banished beneath the breathtaking gaze that was directed straight at her.
CHAPTER NINE
‘TIA loved the Ritz. She’ll probably look round the Mirabelle now and think it quite shabby after being there.’
‘That will be the last thing this hotel will be when we get through with all the improvements I have in mind. Did I tell you I’ve hired a team of designers from Milan to oversee the refurbishment?’
‘Milan? Gosh.’
‘This place is already in a league of its own as a Georgian building with a fascinating history. With modernisation and refurbishment it’s going to be one of the most stylish and sophisticated establishments in London.’
‘Anita and Grant deserve it to be. They’ve unstintingly lavished their love on it ever since Grant inherited it from his parents. Can I ask you something?’
He nodded.
‘Talking about Milan…I was wondering…’
‘Yes?’
‘Does that mean you’ve made your peace with Italy? It’s just that you seemed reluctant to discuss it. You told me you left a long time ago, and I sensed that you had deliberately distanced yourself from it.’
‘I had. But when I went back for my mother’s funeral I remembered things about the place that I loved and missed. Gradually over the years I’ve grown to love it again. That’s why I bought a house there…the house we will stay in when you and Tia return with me. Does that reply satisfy your question?’
Touching the tips of his fingers to her cheek, Dante studied her intently. Anna fell silent, hardly knowing what to say. He’d admitted that he’d distanced himself from his homeland but he hadn’t said why. Would he ever trust her enough to disclose some of the secrets from his past? she wondered. But Lake Como was the other subject she needed to address.
‘It’s a big step for me to go with you to Italy. To tell you the truth, I feel a little vulnerable going there with you, Dante. I don’t know the language, and I know you won’t like this but I’m also wary of being pushed into something I’m not really ready for. Do you understand that?’
‘It is not my intention to push you into anything or to make you feel vulnerable,’ he replied thoughtfully. ‘I simply want us to have a holiday together, for us to get to know one another and for Tia to get to know me. When you are ready, and only when you are ready, will we talk about marriage.’
‘Do you mean it?’
He studied her gravely. ‘My word is my bond.’
‘I suppose I could do with a holiday. And, like you say…it will give you and Tia a chance to get to know each other a bit more.’
‘And as for not speaking the language…I will make it my personal mission to teach you,’ Dante promised. ‘I will have you speaking like a native Italian before you know it! Tia too.’
‘It’s getting dark.’ Nervously Anna glanced up at the sw
iftly fading evening light, evident through the room’s high windows. At the same time she heard the lilting song of a lone blackbird. For some reason it made her feel a little melancholy. ‘I ought to turn on the lamps.’
‘Don’t.’ The command in Dante’s tone gave her a jolt.
‘It’s gloomy…I’d like some light in here.’
‘You’re uncomfortable with the dark? There’s no need when I am right here beside you, Anna. I would never let anything or anyone hurt you.’
His heated glance was in earnest, she saw. Instantly a swarm of butterflies fluttered wildly inside her.
‘Yes, but I still want to… I still need some…some light.’
As she made to move, Dante slid his hand round to the back of her head, to bring her face slowly but inexorably towards his. The last thing she registered was his hot, languorous gaze before his mouth fell on hers to ravish it without restraint, his warm velvet tongue gliding and coiling sensually with hers, his breathing a grated rasp as the shadow of his beard scraped her chin.
A sea of honey lapped inside Anna. It was as though she’d been left languishing in a cold dark cave for five long years and now at last she was wildly, deliriously free again—free to breathe in pure heady oxygen and be deluged in light. The pleasure and joy that soared inside her was untrammelled as her hands pushed through the silky strands of Dante’s fair hair to anchor his head as he anchored hers, all the better for their lips to meld and sup as though their hunger would never be assuaged. Not in this lifetime…
‘No… Not—not here.’ She gulped down a shaky breath as his hands tugged at the zip fastener on her dress. ‘My bedroom.’
They didn’t let each other go as they entered the dim, cool enclave of Anna’s room. It seemed essential to keep touching, to keep holding on in case some nightmare schism should cut through their longing and keep them apart for ever.
With the heel of his Italian loafer Dante shut the door behind them. He shucked off his footwear just before falling onto the bed with her, somehow manoeuvring her on top of him as he kissed her senseless. The zipper on her linen dress was skilfully undone, the sleeves tugged urgently down over her shoulders. With dreamlike effort Anna helped Dante remove it completely, then she was astride his hard lean hips again, bending her head to give and receive drugging, passionate kisses that made her head spin and her heart gallop. Her long waving hair was a protective shield that kept the world from intruding as it drifted sensually over them both.