‘Your own family are all aware now of Toby’s paternity?’
Bella was glad she was wearing sunglasses to hide the sudden tears that had welled up in her eyes at the emotional breakfast she had shared earlier with her parents and siblings.
There had been no words of rebuke or disapproval from her parents, only their gentle understanding as she explained the situation of five years ago to them—and Claudia’s demand, as the two sisters had returned to their hotel suite once the meal was over, that Bella ‘tell all’ about the night she had spent in Gabriel’s bed. A curiosity Bella had chosen not to satisfy.
She didn’t even want to think about that night, let alone relive, even verbally, how completely she had been infatuated with the darkly seductive Gabriel Danti five years ago!
‘Yes,’ she confirmed huskily.
Gabriel nodded in satisfaction as he accelerated the black sports car down the driveway to the house that was just as grand as Bella would have expected of this prestigious area of San Francisco. It was large and gabled, slightly Victorian in style, with its redbrick structure and the white frames to the stained-glass windows.
‘You’re sure this…visit…isn’t going to give your father a relapse?’ Bella hung back reluctantly on the gravelled driveway once they were all out of the car.
Gabriel had removed his sunglasses and left them in the car, his expression mocking as he glanced down at her. ‘On the contrary, I believe its possibilities will achieve the opposite.’
Bella looked up at him, a little confused by the cryptic comment. ‘Sorry?’
His mouth tightened. ‘Later, Isabella,’ he said curtly. ‘You and I are going to talk again later.’
Bella didn’t much like the sound of that.
And she was really starting to dislike the way Gabriel kept calling her Isabella in that coldly contemptuous way!
Once Gabriel had left the previous night Bella had thought long and hard about his claim that he hadn’t made love with her five years ago, or spent the night with her, in an effort to make Janine Childe jealous. After hours and hours of going over the situation in her head, Bella had finally come to the conclusion that it really didn’t matter what Gabriel’s reasons had been.
They had spent only that single night together. Admittedly it had been an intensely passionate, even erotic night, but nevertheless that was all it had been. On Gabriel’s side, anyway. That Bella had experienced strong feelings for him after that night didn’t change the fact that Gabriel hadn’t felt that way about her.
As the last five years of silence on Gabriel’s part showed…
He had never made any attempt to contact her again after that night although that had been his promise. Admittedly Gabriel had been involved in the car crash later that day, but he hadn’t suffered memory loss. Once he had recovered enough to be able to talk, to receive visitors, that needn’t have stopped him from getting in touch. Not too much to ask if Gabriel really had been interested in seeing her again. Which he obviously hadn’t…That was not the kind of man she wanted as a father for her child!
She shook her head. ‘I don’t think we have anything left to talk about, Gabriel,’ she told him firmly.
Gabriel gave a brief, humourless smile. ‘We have not even begun to talk yet, Isabella!’
His father was waiting for them in the warmth of the plant-filled conservatory at the back of the house, Gabriel appreciating that the informality of such surroundings was exactly what was needed to put a four-year-old boy at his ease.
That his father found the meeting highly emotional Gabriel had no doubts, Cristo’s voice husky with suppressed tears as Toby joined him and he allowed the little boy to water the orchids for him.
‘I am neglecting your mother, Toby,’ Cristo apologised some minutes later as he straightened. ‘You may continue to water if you wish, Toby, or you may come and sit with us while your mother and I talk.’
Bella knew exactly which choice her young son would make; like most small boys, Toby had absolutely no interest in the conversation of adults!
‘Bella.’ Cristo Danti’s voice was deep with emotion as he crossed the room to where she had sat in one of the half a dozen cane chairs watching him and Toby together. He took her hand in his to raise it to his lips as she stood up. ‘Thank you for bringing Toby to see me,’ he told her, his eyes slightly moist as he looked at her.
Bella felt her own tears clogging her throat as she looked at Gabriel’s father, not able to discern any reproach in the directness of that brown gaze, only the slight sheen of the tears that he made no effort to hide from her.
Bella was very aware of the menacingly silent Gabriel standing beside her. ‘I—’ she moistened her lips nervously ‘—I really don’t know what to say,’ she stuttered, aware that statement was painfully inadequate and yet totally true.
‘Gabriel has already explained all that needs to be explained.’ Cristo Danti smiled at her reassuringly. ‘All that really matters is that you and Toby are here now.’
Bella, besides feeling the heavy weight of guilt at Cristo Danti’s complete acceptance of a situation that yesterday evening had caused his collapse, also wondered exactly what Gabriel had explained…
‘You’re very kind,’ she told the older man as she squeezed his hand before releasing it.
‘Obviously Isabella and I have much to talk about yet, Papa,’ Gabriel spoke abruptly beside her. ‘If you and Toby will excuse us for a few minutes…?’
Bella felt a sense of rising panic at the suggestion, not sure she was up to another confrontation with Gabriel at the moment. She hadn’t slept much during what had been left of the previous night, and the morning had already been traumatic enough with the conversation with her family, followed by Gabriel’s arrival at the hotel and their explanation to Toby, and now this meeting with Cristo Danti.
But a single glance at the grim determination of Gabriel’s set expression was enough to tell Bella that she didn’t have any choice in the matter!
‘Toby…?’ she prompted lightly to gain her young son’s attention from watering the plants. ‘Will you be okay while I just go and have a little chat with—with—your father?’ That didn’t get any easier with actually saying out loud!
‘Of course.’Toby beamed across at her unconcernedly.
Bella wished at that moment that her young son weren’t quite so gregarious; obviously she wasn’t going to get any help at all from Toby in avoiding another confrontation with Gabriel.
To Toby, Bella knew, this was obviously all just a big adventure; he had absolutely no idea of the underlying tensions—or the possible repercussions!—of Gabriel Danti being his father and Cristo Danti being his grandfather.
Bella wanted to make sure it remained that way…
‘I am sure Toby and I will be able to keep each other amused, Bella,’ Cristo assured her.
She gave him a grateful smile, that smile fading as Gabriel stood back politely to allow her to precede him into the main house. Polite, even coldly polite, Bella could deal with—she just didn’t think that politeness was going to last for very long once she and Gabriel were alone together!
‘He’ll probably drown your poor father’s orchids for him,’ Bella murmured ruefully as Gabriel moved ahead to open a door further down the hallway.
Gabriel glanced back at her, his gaze hooded. ‘I doubt my father will mind, do you?’ he said pointedly as he pushed open the door to the room before standing back to allow her to enter.
It was a book-lined room, Bella noted with dismay, much like the study in the Danti’s English home in Surrey where she and Gabriel had first met.
Gabriel was also aware of the irony of their surroundings as he quietly closed the door behind them before moving to sit behind the green leather-topped desk, his gaze narrowed on Bella as she chose not to sit in the chair facing that desk—and him!—but instead moved to look out of the huge picture-window, her back firmly turned towards him.
She had pulled her hair back today an
d secured it up in a loose knot at her crown, her exposed neck appearing fragile in its slenderness, her shoulders narrow beneath the soft material of the cream blouse she wore with black fitted trousers.
She appeared slight, even delicate, but Gabriel knew that appearance to be deceptive—Isabella Scott was more than capable of defending both herself and Toby if the need should arise. In Toby’s case, as far as Gabriel was concerned, it didn’t. Bella herself was a different matter, however…
His mouth firmed in exasperation. ‘Ignoring me will not make me go away, Isabella!’
She turned, her smile rueful. ‘If only!’
Gabriel regarded her coldly. ‘You have had things completely your own way for the last five years—’
‘What things?’ she came back tartly, her body tense. ‘I was twenty-one years old at the time, Gabriel. Only twenty-one!’ she emphasised. ‘Having a baby wasn’t in my immediate plans back then, let alone one whose father wasn’t even living in the same country as me when that baby was born!’
‘It does no good to get angry, Isabella—’
‘It does me good, Gabriel!’ she contradicted him vehemently. ‘You have made it clear you disapprove of my actions five years ago, so I’m just trying to explain to you that I did what I thought was best—’
‘For whom?’ Gabriel sat back in his chair to look at her intently.
‘For everyone!’
Gabriel’s jaw clenched. ‘In what way was it best for Toby that he was not even aware of his father or his father’s family? In what way was it best for him that he did not have the comforts that being a Danti could have given him—?’
‘Toby hasn’t gone without a single thing—’
‘He has gone without a father!’ Gabriel’s voice was icy cold, his accusation indisputable.
Bella drew in a controlling breath, very aware that letting this conversation dissolve into another slanging match would settle none of the things that stood between herself and Gabriel. The main one, of course, being Toby…
She shook her head. ‘I assure you that my own parents have been wonderful,’ she told him huskily. ‘Claudia and Liam, too. And once I was able to work I made sure that Toby wanted for nothing.’
‘At what did you work?’ Gabriel asked.
Bella gave a grimace. ‘I was completely at a loss as to what job I could do once I discovered I was pregnant. But I had written my thesis at university on the life of Leonardo da Vinci. My tutor thought it might be good enough for publishing, so during the months of my pregnancy I approached a publishing company to see if they were interested. With a lot more hard work, and another fifty thousand words, they accepted it. I was fortunate in that its publication coincided with a fiction book on a similar theme that was very popular at the time.’ She gave a rueful shrug. ‘I’ve had two books at the top of the non-fiction bestseller list in the last three years,’ she added quietly.
Gabriel realised now where Bella’s self-assurance and that air of quiet self-containment came from. In spite of her unexpected pregnancy, and the difficulty involved with being a single mother, Bella had still managed to achieve success in her chosen career.
‘That is—commendable.’
Bella gave a tight smile. ‘But unexpected?’
Gabriel couldn’t deny that Bella’s obvious financial independence was something he hadn’t taken into consideration when contemplating a solution to their present problem.
Although perhaps he should have done?
Her suite at the hotel would have been costly, and Bella’s clothes were obviously designer-label, as were the T-shirt and shorts Toby was wearing today.
‘Perhaps,’ he allowed after a pause. ‘But ultimately it changes nothing,’ he pointed out.
Bella gave a puzzled frown. ‘I’m sorry…I don’t understand?’
‘Toby is my son—’
‘I believe I’ve already acknowledged that fact,’ she snapped.
Gabriel eyed her mockingly. ‘Undeniable, is it not?’ he murmured with satisfaction, Toby’s likeness to both himself and his father so obvious it had caused his father to collapse with the shock of it. Gabriel’s mouth tightened. ‘The only solution open to us is that we will be married as soon as I am able to make the arrangements—’
‘No!’ Bella protested forcefully, her expression one of horror. ‘No, Gabriel,’ she repeated determinedly, her chin once again raised in the familiar air of challenge. ‘I have no intention of marrying you, either now or in the future.’
Bella was absolutely astounded that Gabriel should have suggested marriage to her. Suggested it? Gabriel hadn’t suggested anything—he had stated it as a foregone conclusion!
Five years ago Bella had considered all of the options, despite the complication of Gabriel’s feelings for Janine Childe, if she were to go to Gabriel and tell him of her pregnancy.
The offer of his financial help was obviously one of them, and Bella had rejected that on principle; no matter how hard a struggle it might be for her to manage on her own, she did not want to be beholden to Gabriel Danti in that way.
That he might want to marry her, for the sake of the baby, had been a less likely option considering they had only had a one-night stand, and one that Bella had rejected even more vehemently than she had the idea of Gabriel’s financial help.
She didn’t want to marry anyone just because they had made a child together.
‘Do you not want to marry me because you lied when you said you are not repulsed by my scars?’ Gabriel rasped harshly, his eyes narrowed to dangerous slits, a nerve pulsing in his tightly clenched jaw.
Bella shook her head. ‘I’m not in the least repulsed by them,’ she insisted quietly.
His gaze was glacial. ‘Most women would be.’
‘Well I’m not “most women”,’ Bella said, furiously. ‘Gabriel, acknowledge Toby as your son, by all means, but please leave me out of the equation,’ she pleaded.
Gabriel’s mouth twisted. ‘That might be a little difficult when you are Toby’s mother.’
She shook her head. ‘I’m sure we can work out some sort of visiting—’ She broke off as Gabriel stood up abruptly.
‘Is that what you want for Toby?’ he asked harshly, the scar on his cheek seeming to stand out more severely. ‘You want him to become nothing more than a human parcel that passes between the two of us?’
‘It doesn’t have to be like that,’ she protested emotionally.
‘If the two of us do not marry that is exactly what it will be like,’ Gabriel insisted impatiently.
Bella swallowed hard, her expression pained. ‘You think Toby will fare any better as the only lynchpin between two people who don’t love each other but are married to each other?’
‘You have said you do not find my more obvious scars—unacceptable.’ Gabriel moved close enough now to see the slight flush that slowly crept into her cheeks, and the rapid rise and fall of her breasts beneath the cream blouse.
‘I don’t.’ She frowned. ‘But that doesn’t mean I like the idea of marrying you!’
Bella couldn’t think straight when Gabriel was standing so close to her. Couldn’t concentrate on anything with the heat of his dark gaze moving slowly over her body to linger on the firm thrust of her breasts, breasts that responded in tingling awareness, the nipples suddenly hard against the soft material of her bra and blouse. A warm, aching surge between her thighs made her shift uncomfortably.
She moistened lips that had gone suddenly dry. ‘Physical attraction is not a basis for marriage, either.’ Even as she said the words Bella was aware that her denial lacked any force.
‘Surely you will agree it is a start?’ Gabriel murmured huskily, a look of deep satisfaction in his eyes.
She could barely breathe as Gabriel easily held her gaze with his, allowing her to see the warmth burning deep within those dark brown eyes. Then he stepped close enough for her to be aware of the hard press of his arousal against her and his head lowered with the obvious intention of claimi
ng her mouth with his own…
It was like a dam bursting as their mouths fused hotly together. Bella’s fingers became entangled in the dark thickness of Gabriel’s hair as their bodies pressed demandingly against each other. Their kiss deepened fiercely, spiralling out of control when Gabriel’s tongue moved to duel with hers as he enticed her to claim him as he was claiming her.
Bella was so hungry for this. The aching emptiness inside her was completely filled when Gabriel pushed the soft material of her blouse aside to cup and hold her breast, the soft pad of his thumb moving urgently, arousingly, over the hardened nub.
Bella almost ripped Gabriel’s shirt undone as she satisfied her own need to touch his naked flesh. The hard ripple of muscle. The dark silkiness of the hair that covered his chest. Fingers tracing the fine lines of the scars he still bore from his accident five years ago, Gabriel responding to those caresses with a low groan in his throat.
She offered no resistance as Gabriel snapped the back fastening to her bra to release her breasts to his questing hands, her throat arching, breath gasping as Gabriel’s lips parted from hers to draw one hardened nipple into the hot, moist cavern of his mouth, and his tongue flickered and rasped over that sensitive nub as his hand cupped and caressed her other breast.
The ache between Bella’s thighs became hot and damp, an aching void needing to be filled as she felt the hardness of Gabriel’s arousal, rubbing herself against him as the hardness of his thighs pulsed with the same need. She offered no resistance when Gabriel’s hands moved to cup her bottom and he lifted her so that she was sitting on the front of the desk, parting her legs so that he could move inside them, his hardness now centred on the throbbing nub that nestled there.
Bella groaned with satisfaction as Gabriel lay her back on the desktop so that he could suckle the nakedness of her breasts with the same heated rhythm as his erection thrust against the hardened nub between her thighs. Bella’s breathing became shallow, a husky rasp, as her release began to burn, to explode, taking her over the edge of reason—
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