A soft knock on the study door sounded before Cristo Danti informed them, ‘Toby and I will be outside in the garden when you have finished talking.’
Gabriel had moved sharply away from Bella the moment the knock sounded on the door, his mouth tightening now as he saw Bella’s horrified expression before she pushed up from the desk and moved away from him to turn her back and rearrange her clothes. ‘Isabella and I will join you shortly,’ he answered his father distractedly as he pulled his shirt together.
‘There is no rush,’ his father assured pleasantly before he could be heard walking back down the hallway.
Gabriel frowned at Bella’s back as she tried, and failed, to refasten her bra with fingers that were obviously shaking too badly to complete the task. ‘Here, let me,’ he rasped before moving to snap the hook back into place.
‘Thank you,’ she said stiffly, making no effort to turn as she quickly buttoned her blouse. ‘I—I don’t know what to say! That was—I’m not sure what happened…’
‘Oh, I think you are well aware of what almost happened, Bella,’ he drawled. ‘It pleases me that you did not lie concerning my scars,’ he added huskily.
Bella hadn’t lied about Gabriel’s physical scars; his inner ones were another matter, however…
She shook her head. ‘I don’t usually behave in that—in that way!’
‘It is perhaps some time since you last had a man,’ Gabriel pointed out dryly.
Bella turned sharply, a frown between her eyes as she glared at him. Exactly what sort of woman did Gabriel think she was?
The sort of woman who allowed herself to almost be made love to on a desktop, apparently!
The sort of woman who had almost ripped Gabriel’s shirt from his back in her need to touch his naked flesh!
Bella closed her eyes in self-disgust as she tried to reassemble her thoughts. She most certainly was not that sort of woman! Gabriel probably wouldn’t believe her even if she were to tell him—which she had no intention of doing; it was bad enough that she knew how out of character her response to Gabriel had been without him knowing it, too!—that there hadn’t been a man in her life on an intimate level since that single night she had spent with Gabriel five years ago.
How could there have been? For nine months of that time she had been pregnant with Toby. And since Toby’s birth Bella had centred all of her attention on him. She certainly hadn’t wanted to add any more confusion to his young life by giving him a succession of ‘uncles’!
She drew in a deep controlling breath before opening her eyes to glare at Gabriel. He had pulled his shirt back onto his shoulders, but hadn’t bothered to refasten it, and Bella could now see the fine pattern of scars that marred the smoothness of the olive-coloured skin. With his dark hair in disarray from her recently entangled fingers, and that unbuttoned shirt revealing his scarred chest, Gabriel looked more piratical than ever. Certainly more rakishly attractive than Bella felt comfortable with!
She raised dark, mocking brows. ‘I’m sure it’s been much longer for me than the last time you “had” a woman!’
Gabriel continued to look at her levelly for several tense seconds, and then a humourless smile curved those sculptured lips. ‘Not all women are as—understanding, about physical imperfection, as you appear to be,’ he said dryly.
Bella couldn’t believe that. If Gabriel were any more perfect she would be a gibbering wreck!
‘I believe that what took place just now proved that we would not lack physical gratification in our marriage,’ he commented wickedly.
Bella’s mouth tightened. ‘We are not getting married,’ she repeated firmly.
Gabriel looked unconcerned by her vehemence. ‘Oh, I think that we are.’
‘Really?’ She frowned her uncertainty, not liking the assurance in Gabriel’s tone at all.
Any more than she liked the smile that he now gave her. ‘Really,’ he drawled confidently. ‘I am sure you must be aware of the benefits to you in such a marriage—’
‘If you’re referring to what happened between us just now, then forget it!’ Bella glared at him. ‘I can find that sort of “benefit” with any number of men!’
Gabriel’s mouth compressed. ‘There will be no other men in your life once we are married, Isabella. Now I am assured of your response, we will be married in the fullest sense of the word. As an only child myself, I am hoping it will be a marriage that will result in us having more children together. Lots of brothers and sisters for Toby.’
Bella was thrown momentarily off balance by that last claim as she easily imagined having more sons and daughters that looked exactly like Gabriel.
She gave a fierce shake of her head. ‘You can’t seriously want to spend the rest of your life married to a woman who doesn’t love you—’
‘Any more than you would wish to be married to a man who does not love you,’ he acknowledged curtly. ‘But the alternative is even less palatable. A long—and no doubt very public—legal battle for custody of Toby,’ Gabriel said grimly.
Bella gasped as her greatest fear was made a possibility. ‘You would do that to Toby?’
Gabriel gave a shrug. ‘If you leave me with no other choice, yes.’
Bella looked at him searchingly, knowing by the utter implacability of Gabriel’s expression that he meant every word he had just said. Marriage to him, or Gabriel would involve them all in a very messy legal battle.
She breathed in deeply. ‘All right, Gabriel, I’ll think about marrying you—’
‘Thinking about it is not enough, Isabella,’ he cut in harshly. ‘Especially,’ he added more softly, that dark gaze narrowed on her speculatively, ‘when I suspect you are only delaying the inevitable in order that you and Toby might return to England tomorrow, as originally planned, with your family, yes?’
That was exactly the reason Bella was delaying giving Gabriel a definite answer!
She chewed on her bottom lip. ‘I don’t believe it’s inevitable that the two of us will marry—’
‘I beg to differ, Isabella.’
Her eyes flashed deeply purple. ‘You’ve never begged in the whole of your privileged life!’
He lifted an autocratic eyebrow. ‘And I am not about to do so now, either,’ he said. ‘I want your answer before you leave here today.’
‘You’ll have my answer when I’m damned well ready to give it!’ she flashed back heatedly.
Although Bella already had a feeling she knew what that answer was going to be.
What it had to be…
CHAPTER SIX
‘WILL I see you in the morning, Daddy?’
Bella’s breath caught in her throat as she waited for Gabriel to answer Toby. She was standing at the bottom of her son’s bed watching the two of them as Toby lay tucked snugly beneath the duvet, Gabriel sitting at his side.
She had absolutely no doubts that Toby had enjoyed his day with his father and grandfather. The three of them had spent most of the morning out in the garden, Gabriel keeping Toby occupied with a number of ball games while Bella sat on a lounger watching them, dark sunglasses perched on the end of her nose as she allowed her thoughts to wander. The problem was, they kept coming back to the same place—Gabriel’s insistence that she marry him…
As the day had progressed—a drive out to look at the Danti vineyard, and lunch eaten outside on the terrace at the magnificent villa there, and then dinner later that evening at a wonderful fish restaurant at Pier 39—it was impossible for Bella to deny that Gabriel was wonderful with Toby.
That he already loved Toby with the same fierceness that Bella did…
And that Toby loved Gabriel right back!
Looking at the two of them sitting together now on Toby’s bed, so alike with their dark curling hair and chocolate-brown eyes, and that cleft in the centre of their chins, Bella couldn’t help feeling that she was fighting a losing battle. That even attempting to fight this harder, more arrogant Gabriel was a waste of her time and emotions.
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nbsp; Gabriel glanced down at her now, the expression in his eyes unreadable. ‘I think that depends on Mummy, don’t you?’ he murmured.
‘Mummy?’ Toby prompted eagerly.
Bella drew in a ragged breath before answering. ‘We’ll see,’ she finally said non-committally.
‘That usually means yes,’ Toby confided as he looked up at Gabriel conspiratorially.
‘It does?’ The darkness of Gabriel’s gaze was mocking as he glanced across at Bella.
‘It means we’ll see,’ she insisted. ‘Now it’s time for you to go to sleep, young man,’ she told her son firmly as she moved to tuck him more comfortably beneath the covers. ‘G—Daddy and I will just be in the other room if you should need us, Toby,’ she added reassuringly before bending down to kiss him.
Toby reached up to wrap his arms about her neck as he hugged her. ‘It was a lovely day, wasn’t it, Mummy?’
Emotion caught in Bella’s throat as she looked down into her son’s happily beaming face.
Could she endanger that unclouded happiness by subjecting Toby to the trauma that a legal battle with Gabriel was sure to cause? Could she really put Toby into a position where he would almost be forced to choose between the mother he had lived with all of his young life and the father he had only just met? Could she do that to him?
Surely the answer to all of those questions was no…
‘Lovely,’ she answered Toby brightly before kissing him again.
‘I’ll see you in the morning, darling.’ She ruffled his dark curls before stepping away from the bed.
‘We will both see you in the morning, Toby,’ Gabriel added pointedly as he moved to receive Toby’s hug goodnight.
Gabriel’s arms were gentle, but his emotions were not. Toby, his son, now represented everything to him, the past, the present, and most definitely the future.
‘Sleep now, little one,’ he said huskily as he released Toby to step back.
‘You promise you’ll come back in the morning?’ Toby’s eyes were anxious.
Gabriel doubted that Toby heard the sob in his mother’s throat as she stood just behind him, but Gabriel certainly did. ‘I will come back in the morning,’ he assured the little boy. Whatever it took, Gabriel was determined to be in Toby’s life every morning!
‘What would you have done about this situation if you had already been married to someone else when you learnt of Toby’s existence?’ Bella challenged once the two of them had returned to the sitting-room.
Gabriel’s mouth tightened. ‘Fortunately, that problem does not arise.’
‘But if it had?’ she insisted.
He shrugged. ‘I refuse to answer a “what if” question, Isabella.’
She gave a little huff of frustration. ‘Doesn’t it bother you that I don’t want to marry you?’
It should, and it did. But Gabriel knew from Bella’s response to him earlier today that on one level, at least, she did want to be with him…
Other marriages, he was sure, had begun with less.
‘Not particularly,’ Gabriel dismissed curtly.
Bella continued to glare at him for several more seconds before she gave a sigh of defeat. ‘All right, Gabriel, I will agree to marry you—’
‘I thought that you would,’ Gabriel murmured as he moved to sit in one of the armchairs.
‘If you will allow me to finish…?’ She raised dark, expressive brows as she stood across the room from him.
‘By all means.’ Gabriel relaxed back in the armchair. He had won the first battle—and the most difficult, he hoped—and so could now afford to be gracious in victory.
‘Thank you,’ she accepted dryly. ‘I will agree to marry you,’ she repeated, then went on more firmly, ‘but only on certain conditions.’
Gabriel’s gaze narrowed as he easily guessed, from the calmness of Bella’s expression, that he wasn’t going to like those conditions. ‘Which are?’
‘Firstly, if we married I would like to continue living in England—’
‘I am sure that can be arranged.’ He nodded, having already considered this problem earlier today when he had decided that marriage between himself and Isabella was the only real solution to Toby’s continued welfare.
It would be a simple enough process to put a manager in charge of the vineyards here, with the occasional visit from him to make sure they were being run properly.
‘The Danti business interests are international, Isabella,’ he informed her. ‘I will simply take over the running of our London office.Your second condition…?’
‘Toby will attend schools of my choice—’
‘As long as that choice eventually includes Eton and then Cambridge, I do not foresee that as being a problem,’ Gabriel drawled.
‘Eton and Cambridge?’ Bella echoed disbelievingly.
‘The Dantis have been educated at Eton and Cambridge for several generations.’
Bella shook her head. ‘Toby will begin attending the local school in September. Following that he will be a day-pupil at another local school.’
Gabriel quirked one dark brow. ‘Then I suggest we ensure that we have already moved into a house close enough so that he can attend Eton school as a daypupil.’
He looked so damned smug, Bella fumed inwardly. So sure of himself.
As he had no doubt been sure of what her answer to his marriage proposal would be. Proposal? Hah! Gabriel didn’t ask, he ordered; he was arrogance personified!
But, while Toby had been enjoying himself as the centre of Cristo Danti and Gabriel’s attention, Bella had spent most of the day considering her options. Her limited options, she had very quickly realised, considering there was no way now of denying that Toby was Gabriel’s son—even if Bella did attempt to deny it, a simple blood test would prove her a liar!
Just as there was no denying that the Dantis were a very rich and powerful family, both here and in Europe. In reality, what possible chance did she have of ensuring that she and Toby—especially Toby!—came out of a legal battle unscathed? The answer to that was only too clear. Against Gabriel Danti she had no chance.
But if she was forced to agree to this marriage, then Bella was determined to have at least some say in what she would and would not agree to!
‘Thirdly,’ she snapped, ‘the marriage will be in name only.’ She looked across at him challengingly, her eyes widening in alarm as he suddenly stood up.
Gabriel slowly shook his head. ‘I am sure that you are already well aware that will not be possible.’
Because of their response to each other earlier today!
A response that still made Bella cringe whenever she thought about it—which she had tried very hard not to do all day. She never responded to men in that totally wild and wanton way. At least…she never had until Gabriel. Both five years ago and then again today…
Which was why Bella was making this the last condition to their marriage. She could imagine nothing worse than becoming a slave to the desire that Gabriel seemed to ignite in her so easily.
Even now, feeling angry and trapped, Bella was still totally aware of Gabriel in the black shirt and faded jeans. Clearly remembered pushing that shirt from his shoulders earlier so that she might touch the warm, muscled flesh beneath it. Unfortunately, she remembered even more distinctly the way that Gabriel had touched her…
She would not, could not allow her emotions, her life, to be ruled by the desire Gabriel made her feel!
She straightened her shoulders. ‘Without your agreement to that last condition I couldn’t even contemplate the idea of the two of us marrying each other.’
Gabriel looked at her from under hooded lids, knowing by the steadiness of Bella’s gaze, the sheer determination in her expression, that she thought she meant every word she was saying, at least. Considering their response to each other in his study earlier today, Gabriel found that very hard to believe. Or accept.
Bella had come alive in his arms. Wildly. Fiercely. Demandingly. How could she possibly imagine th
ey could live together, day after day—night after night!—and not take that lovemaking to its inevitable conclusion?
His mouth tightened. ‘You wish for Toby to be an only child?’
She shrugged. ‘He was going to be that, anyway.’
Gabriel studied her closely. ‘You are a beautiful woman, Isabella; if we had not met again you would no doubt have married one day and had other children.’
‘No,’ she answered flatly. ‘I decided long ago that I would never subject Toby to a stepfather who may or may not have accepted him as his own,’ she explained simply as Gabriel frowned at her.
The mere thought of Toby or Bella ever belonging to another man filled Gabriel with uncontrollable fury. Toby was his. Bella was his!
His hands clenched at his sides. ‘I agree to your last condition, Bella—’
‘I thought that you would,’ she dryly echoed his earlier comment.
‘Like you, Bella, I have not finished,’ Gabriel replied. ‘I agree to your last condition on the basis that it can be nullified, by you, at any time.’
Bella eyed him warily. ‘What exactly does that mean?’
His smile was mocking. ‘It means that I reserve the right to—persuade you, shall we say, into changing your mind.’
Bella had no doubt that what Gabriel meant by that remark was that he reserved the right to try and seduce her into changing her mind any time he felt like it!
Would she be able to resist him? Living with Gabriel twenty-four hours a day, every day, would she be able to withstand a Gabriel bent on seduction?
Did she have any real choice other than to try?
‘You took me by surprise earlier, Gabriel,’ she stated bravely. ‘In future I will be on my guard against—well, against any attempt on your part to renew such attentions!’
She sounded so serious, so firm in her resolve, Gabriel acknowledged with a grudging admiration. ‘I will allow no other men in your life, Isabella,’ he warned her seriously.
‘And will that rule apply to you, too?’ she snapped.
Gabriel eyed her mockingly. ‘My own tastes do not run in that particular direction—’
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