Dante's Unexpected Legacy(78)

                ‘Just look at him,’ murmured Charlotte as he went off to check on his daughter. ‘He’s besotted with her.’

                Mirella watched her brother laughing among the group of clamouring children. ‘He is such good uncle, but now he can be wonderful father at last.’ She smiled ruefully at Rose. ‘My English is not like Dante’s.’

                ‘But very good, just the same,’ said Rose huskily. ‘I must try to learn Italian as quickly as I can.’

                ‘My wife can give you lessons,’ suggested Leo Fortinari to her surprise.

                ‘Brilliant idea, darling!’ Harriet smiled at Rose. ‘Don’t worry; I’m a qualified teacher—and you’ll be a much easier prospect than a classroom of teenage girls.’

                * * *

                ‘You have enjoyed the day?’ asked Dante on the drive back. ‘It was so good to watch you eating and laughing with my family—and with Charlotte. I did not tell you she would be there. I wished to give you a happy surprise.’

                ‘Which you certainly did. Thank you. It was good to see a familiar face, though heaven knows your family’s welcome couldn’t have been warmer.’

                ‘I am glad you were pleased. Our little one played very happily with her cousins, yes?’

                ‘Bea had such a great time,’ Rose assured him, and laughed softly as she glanced over into the back seat. ‘She’s fast asleep, but still clutching the string of her balloon.’

                ‘It is a pity we must wake her to put her to bed.’ He shot her a commanding look. ‘I am impatient to have you both with me permanently.’

                She nodded. ‘I know, Dante.’ She hesitated, but couldn’t quite make herself take the plunge. ‘Thank you for being patient with me.’

                ‘Then I am a good actor.’ He turned smouldering eyes on her. ‘Inside, I am not patient at all. Sleep with me tonight, Rose.’ He touched a slim warm hand to her knee. ‘If not your husband yet, you want me as a lover, yes?’

                Not much point in denying it. Rose nodded silently.

                Dante let out a deep, unsteady breath. ‘Then tonight we’ll make up for all the nights after you leave me alone.’

                Why not? thought Rose. If making love with her would make Dante miss her all the more she was all for it. And for her it would make up for the times she’d cried herself to sleep over him in the past. Besides, she wanted him physically in a way she would never experience with any other man, so why fight it?

                The silence between them was thick with sensual tension as Dante carried his daughter into his house. Bea never stirred as Rose sponged her face and hands and put her in her pyjamas, nor when Dante laid her gently in her bed and kissed the sleeping face. Then he led Rose outside onto the gallery and seized her in his arms.

                ‘Now I take you to my bed,’ he said huskily.

                ‘I should shower—’ she began, but he shook his head and picked her up.

                ‘We shower together—afterwards.’

                To Rose it seemed so natural, so right to slide naked into Dante’s arms in bed she almost said yes then and there to the prospect of doing so for the rest of her life as he rubbed his cheek against hers.

                ‘This is where you are meant to be,’ he said as though reading her mind. His arms tightened. ‘Where you should have been all these years.’