Dante's Unexpected Legacy(71)

                ‘I begged Charlotte to keep my baby secret. So she did.’

                ‘You were ashamed of Bea?’

                She glared at him. ‘No, I was not! I was merely afraid that if any of your friends saw you anywhere near my child they would know exactly who her father was. And because you were married, it would have been disaster all round.’

                ‘But Bea resembles you, not me,’ said Dante, surprised.

                ‘Not the smile and those eyes of yours. They’re a dead giveaway. My mother took one look at you two together and knew straight away.’

                ‘Va bene, now the whole world will know,’ he said with satisfaction, and slid out of bed. ‘No. Stay there, cara. I have a present for you.’ He licked his lips as he leaned over her. ‘So I will get kisses, yes?’

                Rose laughed. ‘Very probably!’

                ‘I have dreamed of this so often, yet now you are really here at last. Where you belong, yes?’ Dante gave her a look that curled her toes then turned away to open a drawer and took out a small box before sliding back into bed.

                ‘You don’t have to give me presents to get a kiss,’ she remarked, eyeing the box.

                ‘Then I will kiss you first,’ he said and did so with such lingering pleasure that Rose kissed him back in kind and melted against him, breathing in the scent of his skin as he nuzzled his lips against her neck. ‘Open the box, tesoro,’ he whispered.

                Rose obeyed, and breathed in sharply at the sight of a gold ring set with a baguette emerald between two rose-cut diamonds. ‘Oh, Dante,’ she breathed, tears welling in her eyes.

                He sat upright, pulling her up with him. ‘You do not like it?’

                ‘Of course I like it,’ she said hoarsely, and knuckled the tears from her eyes. ‘It’s just that I can’t accept it just yet.’

                ‘Why not?’ he demanded, eyes suddenly cold.

                She eyed him in appeal. ‘Don’t look at me like that! I’m just asking you to wait a little longer.’

                Dante closed the ring box with a snap and tossed it on the bedside table. ‘Va bene,’ he said shortly. ‘But I will wait only until I take you back to England. Tomorrow, you will have a taste of what life could be for us here in Fortino. After that, if you still say no to me it will be the last time. It is against my nature to beg and I will do so no more—but then I will make legal arrangements to share our daughter.’

                Rose stared at him in horror. ‘Dante, listen—’

                ‘No, Rose. It is you who must listen. It is best we are clear on this. Say yes and we live a normal married life. If not, you know what will happen. Allora,’ he added silkily, ‘since I have you here and now in my bed, I will enjoy the privilege while I can.’ And he pulled her closer and made love to her all over again. But in the throes of the climax that engulfed her she waited in vain for the words which would have ended all argument, whichever language he chose. ‘Ti amo’ was one bit of Italian she would have understood perfectly well.





                                      CHAPTER TEN

                ROSE WOKE TO bright sunshine and found her daughter at the foot of the guest room bed with Dante, shaking her head at her mother in disapproval.