Page 9 of Unveiled As The Italian's Bride
Dante flushed darkly.
All the fire and passion that had been conspicuously absent on the many occasions when they had had their debriefings was in evidence now. Her eyes flashed and there was vivid colour staining her cheeks. That electric spark that had sizzled burst into life again, turning his preconceived notions about her on their head. It was disturbing and he didn’t like it. He frowned and dragged his thoughts to heel.
She was...Was she criticising him?
For the first time in his life, Dante found himself on the back foot with no response readily available.
‘Like I said, I respected your privacy.’
‘But now you’ve decided to use what I said at that interview against me.’
‘Kate, what I am offering is not exactly water torture. As my wife, you’ll have a life in which everything you could possibly need or want will be at your disposal. In addition to that, you’ll walk away from it a young woman with the world at her feet, able to do anything you want, no expense spared.
‘Of course, a pre-nup will be necessary to avoid the possibility of greed trumping common sense but, that notwithstanding, you’ll find me an exceptionally generous man. If you’ve been saving to buy your own house, pay off debts—hell, if you want to treat yourself to a yacht or a lifetime of holidays on exotic islands—then you’ll be able to afford to do so! In return, I ask for two years of your life, during which we will share space as friends. This may not be the sort of marriage you dreamt of but you’ll have nothing but my greatest respect for its duration.’
Kate opened her mouth to object, then she thought of her parents. When she had sat them down and laid bare the groundwork for the life they would lead, the one she would do her best to subsidise, her father had cried. She had never seen him cry before and it had stuck in her head, a permanent reminder of what they had gone and were still going through, and the hardships, tough times and pitfalls that still lay along the way.
Their place was tiny and cramped with belongings they had accumulated in their many travels, none of which they had been willing to dispose of. The therapist steadily continued to eat away at her salary and the farming her dad had insisted on—because he couldn’t envisage himself ever doing anything that wasn’t to do with the land—ate money and gave very little back in return. He had to have someone to help with the heavy stuff, and the equipment was astonishing, considering the small acreage being cultivated.
But would he stop? Absolutely not. He’d given up his beloved travelling, with each day an adventure, and there was no way he was going to suffocate doing something in front of a computer indoors. He needed to be outside, to feel the air on his face and breathe in nature.
Nature and fresh air didn’t come cheap, especially when he was still in the floundering stages of small-time farming. But there was no way she would do anything to deter him because his mental health was the most important thing in the world to her.
As Dante’s uncle’s was to him—not to mention Angelina. As he had said, her well-being would be integral to the peculiar arrangement he was suggesting. The two people in the world he cared for the most were the beating heart of this deal...
‘And what happens after two years?’ she heard herself ask. ‘Even though,’ she hastened to add, ‘it’s all academic.’
‘We part company.’
‘And your uncle will be upset all over again,’ she said quietly. ‘Not to mention Angelina.’
‘My uncle will be in a better place, and he will finally accept that marriage and I...no longer see eye to eye.’ He smiled grimly. ‘And Angelina will be nearly eleven. She will be maturing and will be able to handle the eventual break-up. And, of course, you will doubtless have a bond with her and so might wish to continue to communicate and visit...provide continuity. I would never prevent you from doing that. In truth, would it be so very different from what happens in very many families when a marriage breaks down?’
He leant towards her and she could breathe him in, a woody, clean smell that filled her nostrils and made her feel a little heady. ‘Will you think about it at the very least?’
‘And if I say no? What happens next? Do you cast me out?’
Dante’s eyebrows shot up and he burst out laughing.
‘Cast you out?’He was still amused when he finally looked at her. ‘That’s very melodramatic, isn’t it? Where do you imagine I would cast you—into the dark wilderness? On the first ship back to England with just a crust of dry bread for the journey? To the local train station with no time for you to pack your bags?’
‘Very funny,’ Kate mutteredsotto vocebut, when she looked at him, something inside her did a little inexplicable flip because he suddenly lookedyoung, temporarily shorn of the cold self-assurance that made him so intimidating.
‘Of course I won’t cast you out,’ he said with wry amusement. ‘I have proposed something to you, something no more or less than a business deal of sorts. I did it because I care deeply about my uncle and want to make him happy. Antonio is a good man—the best. He deserves it. But...’
He shrugged and looked at her levelly. ‘If it’s too much for you to consider, then so be it. Naturally your job here will not be affected in any way, shape or form and this matter will never be discussed again.’
‘And you’ll, I guess, find someone else suitable for the—er—role?’
‘No.’
‘No?’
‘You are really the only one who fits the bill.’ He looked at her pensively. ‘I would never risk any woman getting the wrong message and that would be something very easy to do. I would also never risk anyone my daughter might not get along with, and she gets along with you. The stories she tells me... Her face lights up when she talks about you. No, you are the only one who would do—for this.’
He stood up, stretched and then rubbed the back of his neck. ‘My apologies for interrupting your evening...’
‘Signor D’Agostino... Dante...um, I’ll think about it, about your proposal.’ Their eyes collided but Kate didn’t look away. ‘I’m very fond of your uncle.’ She smiled awkwardly. ‘And the money would come in very handy. I’m just being honest.’
