Page 13 of Unveiled As The Italian's Bride
Kate’s smile widened and she laughed.
‘I think it’s safe to say that you could never be my Prince Charming and, while I’m married to you, I won’t be looking for one either. As for you...’ She shrugged and, for a few heart-stopping seconds, their eyes met and held and the breath left her in a sudden, inexplicable whoosh.
But when she blinked that unsettling feeling was gone and her voice was amused and neutral. ‘You’re free to do as you please, and I know you’ll be discreet.’
‘Well.’ He raised his cup of coffee to her. ‘Here’s to the perfect arrangement. Tomorrow, we can take step one...’
CHAPTER THREE
STEPONE,in actual fact, came several days later when Dante informed her that they would be going to meet Antonio, staying there a couple of days.
In that time, life had moved at warp speed. Documents had been signed. Kate’s hand had hovered over the final page, and she had reminded herself that this was simply a two-year contract during which she would still have duties, but of a different kind.
Although, in actual fact, her time with Angelina would remain the same. She had insisted on that. She might assume the mantle of wife, but she had no intention of assuming a change of lifestyle to the extent that she packed in the thing she loved doing and replaced it with the sort of thing she imagined wives and partners of very rich men did: shopped; lunched; spent crazy amounts of time having bits of their bodies tinkered with...
When she had explained that to Dante, he had burst out laughing and told her that she could do as she liked. Indeed, he’d said, he liked the idea that there would be continuity with his daughter, that she wouldn’t have to endure the inconvenience of having a replacement nanny foisted onto her.
Kate had taken that to mean the less disruption to his daily routine, the better. She would also have ample time off to go and see her parents. That had been something else upon which she had insisted without going into any details about why it was so important to her.
‘As you wish.’ Dante had shrugged and she’d gathered that, when it came to the lives of rich, powerful, Italian nobility, evenings of bonding around the telly and walks together at the weekend throwing sticks for the dogs weren’t things that were particularly valued. Or maybe they weren’t of valueto him.He had not batted an eyelid at the prospect of her being away from a couple of weeks at a time. She expected his ex-wife was the one he had cherished and, when she had died, so had the importance of the family values she had always taken as a given.
Things were in place. And so was her new, improved wardrobe. She had been handed several credit cards and instructed to spend as much as she wanted, wherever she wanted.
‘I could accompany you,’ he had said, glancing up from his computer as she had stood in front of the massive desk in the suite of rooms he occasionally used as his offices, when he wanted uninterrupted time to work. ‘If you feel you may need input.’
Horrified by the thought of having Dante traipse from boutique to boutique with her, giving his verdict on the clothes she would be wearing, she’d shaken her head vigorously and told him that she was perfectly capable of doing a little clothes shopping on her own. It wasn’t rocket science. She would take Angelina with her, which had made him smile—a smile that knocked years off him.
There would be a shared diary of events, updated by email daily so that she would know what was planned from one week to the next.
‘Although,’ he had told her, ‘most of my time will be spent working. If there are any invitations you feel a particular interest in attending, then naturally I’d be more than happy to oblige. But, like I said, I try and avoid those meet-and-greet social affairs.’
‘Why?’ Kate had asked and the look he’d thrown her had been part-surprise, part-disapproval.
Had she breached a boundary line? She was getting the feeling that he had a great deal of those in place, but he had said noncommittally, ‘I usually can’t quite see the point of them. I’m generous in my charity donations, so fundraising galas are an unnecessary indulgence, and if I want to mix with the elite, I can do so in my own time and at my own convenience.’
End of conversation.
Angelina had no idea that anything was remiss although, as Kate now paused to glance at her reflection in the floor-to-ceiling mirror in her sitting room, she could see the eight-year-old gazing at her with some surprise. They had had their shopping expedition, with Kate tactfully avoiding most of her little charge’s outlandish suggestions of fur and sequins. Afterwards, Dante had unexpectedly surprised them both by taking his daughter off for some tea, a gesture which had been greeted with breathless excitement and yelps of pleasure.
But had she extrapolated anything from that shopping trip? Judging from the surprised expression on her face now, Kate wryly thought maybe not.
The casual, non-working uniform of jeans and a jumper had been replaced by pale-grey cashmere culottes, a grey cashmere jumper and some flat, black ankle boots. The outfit had cost the earth. The soft black coat which would accompany the outfit had also been eye-wateringly expensive. Her initial hesitation about buying stuff she would never have dreamt of buying, because frugality was part and parcel of her DNA, had been firmly squashed by reminding herself thatthis was a job.
Dante was as remote as he had been before, and would remain that way. It would be up to her to play the game as coolly as he did. He would be irritated if she made a big deal every time she bought anything new, because money was no object to him and so henceforth should be no object to her. Indeed, she suspected that her off-the-peg clothes and second-hand vintage stuff she found in charity shops would have filled him with quiet horror and embarrassment, had she paraded them in front of his exclusive friends and family.
‘We’re going to see stay with your Uncle Antonio for a few days.’
‘Is that some of the stuff we bought?’
‘Er...yes.’
‘You look pretty.’
‘Thank you.’ She caught Angelina’s gaze in the mirror and smiled. ‘Not too much grey?’
‘I have that nice yellow and red scarf you could borrow.’
‘If it’s the one I’m thinking of, with the sequins and the sparkles and the ponies, then I’ll say no.’ She grinned. ‘Much more suited to you than to me, I think.’ She hesitated, then said in a rush, ‘And your dad is going to be there as well.’
