Page 119 of A Diamond Deal
Amelia’s acquiescence had been swift and rational, her requests minimal. And her grandparents had been so thrilled at the prospect of a reunion with the granddaughter they’d thought lost to them for ever that they didn’t show even a hint of despair at the idea of her marrying a Moretti.
He’d told them his love affair with Amelia had been brief and intense, and that they couldn’t imagine living without being married. It had been strange, saying those words, for Massimiliano knew he would never feel that way in reality. But he hadn’t needed to feign his pleasure at the prospect of their marriage. Just hearing the joy in his grandfather’s voice had made it worthwhile.
He rode the elevator to Amelia’s suite with unwavering commitment to this. Even her insistence on a wedding night was nothing more than a minor inconvenience. Sex was definitely not something he wanted to complicate the easy, professional nature of their transactional marriage, but it wasn’t as though he had a track record of letting sex complicate anything. As for Amelia, he had to take her at her word that she could have one night with him and not let it turn into more.
He pressed the buzzer to her suite, hand brushing over the ring box in his pocket. It had been the last piece to collect, something he couldn’t simply buy from a jeweller in London. This ring had been in the family safe, and he’d needed to go to Rome to collect it.
He pressed the buzzer again, glancing at his watch. He was right on time, which gave them a small window in the hotel before leaving for dinner. Just long enough to present her with the ring, answer any last questions she had, and then leave.
All according to plan, just as he liked it.
Except, when Amelia opened the door a second later, not only was she far from ready—dressed in a hotel-issue robe with her long blonde hair loose around her face—she looked as though she’d been hurt. Fallen? Her cheek was bright red and there was the beginning of a bruise near her eye.
‘Amelia?’ He didn’t wait to be invited in, but rather, stepped straight through the doors so he could look down at her more closely. ‘What happened?’
Her lower lip wobbled as she glanced away from him, towards the lounge suite. What colour there had been in her face dropped, turning her ashen and white, except for the injury.
‘You’re hurt. Did you fall?’
She glanced up at him again, shaking her head. She lifted a trembling hand to touch her cheek and winced.
‘Come, sit down,’ he muttered, putting an arm around her waist simply to provide support, guiding her to the leather lounge suite. She didn’t argue with him, perching on the edge of the sofa and staring at her knees. She didn’t speak, and frustration had him crouching in front of her, so they were at eye height. ‘What happened?’ he asked again.
When she blinked across at him, her eyes were wet with unshed tears. ‘I got mugged.’
The words were whispered. It took him a second to hear them, much less process them. Let alone accept that this woman he’d brought to Rome, and left to fend for herself, had been abused on the street.
‘I’m so sorry,’ she said as a tear rolled down one cheek. ‘It was my handbag. They wanted it and I—I couldn’t just give it to them. You’d bought it for me and I’d never had anything quite so nice. It wasstupid. Stupid. My dad always said to hand over anything thieves ask for. Property is just property. But I was so angry they wanted to take it from me, and when I didn’t give them the bag, they—’
‘Hit you,’ he supplied, anger bursting through him. He stood swiftly, looking around the room. There was a minibar, but it wouldn’t have what he needed. He picked up the phone and dialled down to Reception, ordering a bucket of ice, before returning to her. ‘Did you call the police?’
‘I was going to, but a shopkeeper told me there wasn’t much point. It all happened so quickly, I wouldn’t even be able to give a clear description of them.’
‘The shopkeeper was wrong,’ he said, nostrils flaring. Later, he would ask her for the details of where it happened, and pass it on to his own security team, but this was not the time.
‘I feel so violated,’ she said. ‘And stupid. I wasn’t paying attention to anyone, I was looking around, totally lost in my own world.’
‘And you should have been able to lose yourself,’ he said. ‘This is not your fault.’
‘But my bag,’ she said, lip wobbling again.
He swore under his breath. ‘I’ll get you another damn bag, Amelia.’
‘You already did,’ she said, a watery smile breaking through. ‘You bought me four, in fact.’
‘I’m glad. And if muggers should want each and every one, I expect you to hand them over.’
But guilt was washing over him, because he should have expected at least the possibility of this. While it was impossible for anyone to yet know that she was a Rossi, he’d turned her, unmistakably, into thecontessinashe was.She looked expensive, and he’d left her to wander these unfamiliar streets, not knowing which she should avoid, what to look out for.
The buzzer rang and he strode through the suite, pulling the door inwards. A hotel staff member stood on the other side, but Massimiliano took the ice bucket with a swift nod of thanks then closed the door, stalking into the kitchenette and tipping half of the ice into a tea towel, which he wrapped into a sort of pillow before carrying it back to Amelia. He lifted it to her cheek, watching her face as she winced again.
‘Hold this,’ he commanded. ‘I’ll call your grandparents to reschedule dinner.’
‘No,’ she said, eyes lancing him now, so powder blue and pretty that he found himself just staring at them for a beat. ‘I want to meet them. I just need a few minutes.’
‘You can’t go out like this.’
‘You also bought me like a professional-grade make-up kit. I’m pretty sure something in there will be able to deal with this.’
