‘No, you don’t,’ he said, sweeping his tongue over the trembling bow of her lips. ‘You want me even though you hate me, but I do not care. I would rather have you hating me than not have you at all.’
I don’t hate you, Scarlett mentally chanted as his mouth came down like a burst of flame upon hers.
‘You’re getting married to him?’ Roxanne asked incredulously. ‘Wow, that man sure can sure charm the birds from the bees.’
‘Trees,’ Scarlett said, mentally rolling her eyes.
‘Have you told your mum?’ Roxanne asked.
‘I called her this morning after Alessandro left.’
‘And?’
‘And she’s happy for me.’
‘Are you happy for you?’ Roxanne asked with a penetrating look.
Scarlett let out a little sigh. ‘I’m so frightened for Matthew. We both are. We have to wait a few days for the test results. I feel like an axe is hanging over our heads. It could drop at any moment.’
‘But he might not have it,’ Roxanne said, echoing what Scarlett’s mother had said earlier. ‘You might be worrying for nothing.’
Scarlett looked at the screen saver and wondered how many years of photographs she would have of her son if it turned out he was a sufferer. ‘I just can’t imagine what life would be like without him,’ she said, biting her lip.
Roxanne bent down and gave her a big hug. ‘You’re not going to lose him, Scarlett,’ she said. ‘Don’t even think about it.’
Scarlett was working on some of the layouts for the Marciano Palazzo Hotel when Alessandro arrived with his lawyer. She forced a smile to her lips as she greeted the older man, who after exchanging a few cursory words placed the papers in front of her to sign.
She picked up a pen and, sending Alessandro a brittle little glare, bent her head to the documents, reading through each one with studious deliberation. She was conscious of the minutes ticking by as she turned each page, but finally she came to the end and signed the highlighted spaces.
Once the lawyer had left Alessandro turned to Scarlett. ‘Do you have time for a coffee, cara?’ he asked.
Scarlett considered refusing, but Roxanne was within earshot. ‘All right,’ she said, removing her glasses. ‘But I haven’t got long.’
‘You are not working too hard, are you?’ he asked as he held the door open for her.
‘It’s what I’m being paid to do, isn’t it?’ she returned.
He took her elbow as he led her across to where his car was parked. ‘The hotel refurbishment is not high on my list of priorities right now,’ he said heavily. ‘All I can think about is Matthew.’
Scarlett felt her defenses take a tumble. ‘Me too,’ she said, glancing up at him, her expression full of fear.
He gave her elbow a gentle squeeze, his eyes softening as they met hers. ‘We will not know anything for at least a week. I know it is hard, but at least we have the wedding to distract us.’
They sat in a café a short time later with steaming coffees in front of them. Scarlett poked at the foam on hers with a teaspoon, her brow still wrinkled with worry.
‘Here is the number of the dress designer.’ He handed her a card across the table. ‘She will fit you with whatever you need for the day at my expense.’
Scarlett looked down at the bridal designer’s name on the card before returning her surprised gaze to his. ‘You want me to be a real bride?’ she asked.
‘But of course,’ he said. ‘Is that not every young woman’s dream?’
She pressed her lips together as she tucked the card into her purse. ‘I was expecting a quick civil service,’ she said. ‘I’m surprised you want to go to so much trouble, especially given the limited time.’
‘I am trying to right the wrongs of the past,’ he said. ‘You said you wanted marriage and babies. I cannot agree to another child, but the least I can do is give you a wedding day to remember.’
Scarlett concentrated on pushing at the foam on her coffee again rather than meet his eyes.
‘I am going to have the surgery redone tomorrow,’ he said after a protracted silence.
She looked up at him again. ‘Would you like me to come with you?’
‘That will not be necessary,’ he said. ‘It is a simple procedure.’
‘But it still requires a general anaesthetic, right?’
He gave her a lopsided smile. ‘Do not concern yourself with my welfare, Scarlett. I know you would prefer it if I met with a dastardly end, but as you see I am in excellent health.’
She frowned at his tone. ‘I don’t wish any such thing on you or anyone,’ she said. ‘I just thought you might like some support. It’s scary going into hospital on your own.’
‘Are you offering to accompany me just to make me feel even guiltier about the support I refused to give you four years ago?’ he asked with a flinty look.
‘No, of course not,’ she said, still frowning.
He shifted his gaze and pushed his barely touched coffee away. ‘I am suffering enough as it is without you heaping burning coals upon my head.’
Scarlett felt tears burning at the back of her throat. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry.’
He reached for her hand and brought it up to his mouth, kissing it softly as his eyes met hers. ‘I am being a brute, tesore mio,’ he said in a gruff tone. ‘It must be pre-wedding jitters, no?’
She tried to smile but couldn’t quite pull it off. ‘We’re both on edge,’ she said, suppressing a tiny shiver as his lips pressed against her fingertips once more. ‘We both stand to lose the one person we love more than any other.’
His fingers tightened momentarily around hers. ‘We are not going to lose him, cara,’ he said. ‘Not if I can help it.’
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
‘ARE YOU sure about this?’ Scarlett asked Roxanne the following evening. ‘I mean, Alessandro’s not really expecting me to drop in, so if you want to cancel…’
‘Stop fussing, Scarlett,’ Roxanne said. ‘Besides, I think it would be a nice gesture to turn up with some flowers. Alessandro would be feeling pretty sore and sorry for himself, I would imagine.’
Not that he would ever let on, Scarlett thought as she drove to Alessandro’s house a few minutes later. The lights were on downstairs, which signalled he was still up, but it seemed an age before he answered the doorbell.
‘Hi,’ she said, thrusting the flowers forwards. ‘Umm…I thought you might like these.’
He took the flowers from her after a small hesitation and, raking his fingers through his tousled hair, stepped back from the doorway. ‘I wasn’t expecting visitors.’
‘I know, but I just thought…’ She shuffled from foot to foot. ‘You know…that you might not want to be alone right now.’
She heard him pull in a breath as he put the flowers to one side, the sound of the cellophane wrapping as it crinkled under his fingers sounding like gunshots in the silence.
‘How are you feeling?’ she asked.
He turned to face her. ‘I am fine. A bit sleepy, but that is to be expected.’
There was another short silence.
‘Have you eaten?’ she asked.
‘I am not hungry.’
‘I could make you something,’ she offered. ‘An omelette or a boiled egg, or—’
‘Why are you here?’
Scarlett flinched at his sharp tone. ‘I’m here because you shouldn’t be alone right now.’
‘What if I want to be alone right now?’
She waited for two or three seconds to ask, ‘Do you want me to leave?’
He held her gaze for a moment before turning away to stare at the flowers she had brought. ‘That was my mistake four years ago,’ he said. ‘I should never have sent you away. I should have checked and double checked before I did that.’
‘You weren’t to know,’ she said in a creaky voice. ‘You didn’t do it on purpose, it was just the way things turned out.’
He swung around to look at her. ‘How ca
n you stand there and be so damned charitable about this?’
She moistened her paper-dry lips. ‘Because you are my son’s father.’
He sucked in a harsh breath and swung away again. ‘But what sort of father am I?’ he rasped. ‘I have given him a legacy that is going to be with him and his offspring for God knows how many generations.’
‘I don’t see it that way,’ she said. ‘You can give him so much. And I don’t mean in terms of money. You have so much that is good in you, Alessandro. You are a wonderful person. You could have turned your back on him, but you didn’t once you knew for sure he was yours. He loves you. He told me so this evening when I tucked him into bed before Roxanne came around to babysit. He loves you.’
She saw his knuckles whiten where he was gripping the small marble table where he had laid the flowers down. ‘I should not have doubted you, Scarlett,’ he said. ‘I have robbed myself of the first three years of my son’s life. How can I ever repair that damage?’
‘Children are not like adults,’ she said, fighting back tears. ‘They don’t hold grudges and they don’t judge. I am sure by the time Matthew is of school age he will not even remember that you weren’t there for the first three years of his life. You are his father now—that is all that matters.’
He turned back to face her, his expression so tortured she felt an answering pain deep inside her chest. ‘I want to be a father to him,’ he said in a tone raw and deep with emotion. ‘I want to do the things with him that my father could not do because of Marco’s illness.’
‘You will do that, and more,’ she said softly. ‘I know you will.’
He let out a sigh and took the three steps that separated them, his arms enfolding her into his rock-hard embrace. ‘I do not understand how you can be so gracious. I would not be the same in your place. I would never have been able to forgive what you have forgiven. You are a much better person than me.’
‘That is not true,’ she said. ‘I haven’t had to face the issues you’ve had to face.’
‘But you have to face them now.’
‘I know, but I still don’t think Matthew’s—’
He put her from him abruptly. ‘Wishing and hoping does not cut it I am afraid, Scarlett,’ he said. ‘Do you not think my parents did not do the very same? They prayed and wished and hoped and begged, but it did nothing to change what happened in the end.’
‘I know. It’s just I want to keep positive for as long as I can for Matthew’s sake.’
He let out a sigh and sent his hand through his hair again. ‘Go home, Scarlett,’ he said. ‘You do not have to be a devoted wife until Friday. These are your last days of freedom—do not waste them on me.’
Scarlett reached up on tiptoe and pressed a kiss to his cheek. ‘I hope you’re feeling better soon,’ she said softly.
He brushed the side of her face with the back of his knuckles in a caress so gentle she felt tears start to well in her eyes. ‘I will see you in church,’ he said. ‘I have to go back to Melbourne for a couple of days. If there is anything you need in the meantime, do not hesitate to call me.’
She moistened her lips and stepped back to leave, but he caught her arm and brought her up close, his mouth pressing down on hers in a brief but possessive kiss that sent flames of need to every sensual spot in her body.
It was over as quickly as it began.
She stood blinking up at him when he released her, her heart going like a misfiring engine, and her stomach coiling with need.
‘Go home, Scarlett,’ he repeated.
Scarlett let out a shaky sigh and left.
The day of the wedding arrived with brilliant sunshine and humid heat, but Scarlett barely noticed as she and Matthew arrived at the cathedral in the car Alessandro had sent for them.
Clutching the bouquet of fragrant gardenias he’d had delivered to her flat that morning, Scarlett gave her little son a smile as they walked past the flashing cameras of the press to where Alessandro was waiting at the end of the aisle for them both.
The vows were exchanged before the public kiss that seemed to Scarlett to contain such a private promise of passion.
She looked into Alessandro’s eyes as he lifted his mouth from hers and felt her belly quiver with anticipation. She could see the desire shining in his eyes, and her heart began to clip-clop erratically at the thought of being his wife in every sense of the word.
‘Mummy?’
Scarlett was jerked out of her eye-lock with Alessandro to the little figure standing between them. ‘Yes, darling?’
‘Are we a family now?’ Matthew asked, his stage whisper echoing throughout the cavernous cathedral.
She felt her heart contract when Alessandro bent down and lifted him into his arms. ‘Yes, Matthew,’ he said, the mist of emotion unmistakable in the hazel depths of his eyes as they met hers. ‘We are a proper family now.’
After Scarlett had introduced Alessandro to her mother and sister there was barely time for photographs before he said it was time to leave. She could sense his impatience to get away from the persistent press, but she realised it was because he was trying to protect Matthew more than anything else.
Matthew chattered non-stop in the car on the journey back to Alessandro’s house, which relieved Scarlett of the task of thinking of something to say. She still found it hard to believe she was now legally married to him. Four years ago she would have given anything to have his ring on her finger and yet, looking down at the simple white-gold band now, she couldn’t help wondering how long it was going to stay there.
‘You are savaging that lip of yours again, cara,’ Alessandro said as he carried a now fast-asleep Matthew into the house a short time later. ‘Do I make you so nervous?’
She let her lip go, feeling a blush steal into her cheeks. ‘No…It’s just that it’s a big change, you know, being married instead of single.’
‘I enjoyed meeting your mother,’ he said as he handed her the keys to unlock the front door. ‘She reminds me of you.’
Scarlett concentrated on fitting the key into the lock. ‘Yes, we’re very alike,’ she said, thinking of how hurt her mother had been by her father. She only hoped history wasn’t going to repeat itself in her life with Alessandro.
Matthew opened his eyes and blinked a couple of times. ‘Papa? Is this your house?’ he asked looking around the huge foyer with wonder.
‘Yes, my son, it is,’ Alessandro answered. ‘But now it is also yours and your mother’s home too.’
Scarlett turned away from his glinting look to address her son. ‘Matthew, it’s time you were in bed. It’s been a long day.’
‘But I’m not tired,’ Matthew protested. ‘And I want to look around my new house.’
‘You can do that tomorrow, but for now—’
‘I will show you around for a few minutes before I tuck you in,’ Alessandro said to Matthew. ‘You should at least know where everything is the first night in a new place.’
Scarlett glared at him silently.
‘Your things have been placed in my room,’ he said to her with an inscrutable expression on his face. ‘Matthew will be in the room closest to ours. My housekeeper has already unpacked everything, so you will be able to get changed.’
She turned away without responding, her arms going across her body in an attempt to control her emotions. She felt like she was already losing her son. Alessandro was taking command of everything, leaving her with no authority where Matthew was concerned. She could see how within weeks she would have no place in her son’s life. She would be shunted to one side while Alessandro took control, indulging Matthew, giving him the things she had never been able to afford to provide.
‘Mummy, are you going to come up and kiss me goodnight?’ Matthew asked a few minutes later as he and Alessandro returned from a tour of the lower floor and garden.
Scarlett met Alessandro’s gaze with an arch look. ‘Am I allowed to?’ she asked.
His brows moved together slightly. ‘He is you
r son as well as mine, Scarlett,’ he said. ‘You do not have to change your routines with him on account of me.’
‘Don’t I?’
His frown deepened. ‘We will talk about this later. Come, Matthew, we will do your teeth and get you into your pyjamas so that Mummy can tuck you in.’
‘But I want you to tuck me in,’ Matthew said with a little pout. ‘Mummy’s done it heaps of times, but I want you to do it now.’
Scarlett gave Alessandro a ‘see what you’ve done now?’ glare.
He held her look for a tense moment before addressing Matthew with quiet authority. ‘We will both tuck you in on the nights we are here together.’
Matthew’s little brow wrinkled. ‘But aren’t you going to be here every night from now on?’ he asked.
‘I sometimes have to travel,’ Alessandro said after a small pause. ‘I also sometimes have to work long hours, but I will try to be here as much as possible.’
‘I don’t want you to go away without me,’ Matthew said, and with a beseeching look added, ‘Can’t Mummy and I come with you everywhere you go?’
‘That might not always be possible, Matthew,’ he said, briefly meeting Scarlett’s gaze. ‘I have a business to run in Italy, and your mother has her business to see to here.’
‘I know! Mummy can sell her business to Roxanne, and then we can be with you all the time,’ Matthew said, clearly proud of his solution.
‘We will see about that,’ Alessandro said with another inscrutable look at Scarlett, and led the way upstairs.
Scarlett had barely closed the door on her son’s sleeping figure a few minutes later when she rounded on Alessandro. ‘How dare you override my authority like that?’
He fixed her with a level stare. ‘Keep your voice down,’ he commanded quietly.
She glared at him, her hands in fists at her sides. ‘Don’t tell me what to do. If I want to shout at you, I will shout.’
His eyes became hard as they clashed with hers. ‘You will not raise your voice to me, and certainly not within the hearing distance of Matthew,’ he said, still in the same quiet but steely tone.
The Marciano Love-Child Page 15