‘You think you know everything, don’t you, Santino? I suppose you knew I was a virgin too.’
Mentally he reeled, but what Kate had told him made him even angrier. ‘And you thought so much of your precious virginity you couldn’t wait to be rid of it—to the extent that you threw it away on a stranger!’
‘I certainly threw it away on you!’
‘Is that what you’ll tell Francesca when she’s older?’ Santino demanded in a scathing reminder of Kate’s earlier accusation. He waited until he had the satisfaction of seeing the blood drain from her face and then informed her coldly, ‘I have arranged for lunch to be served on the terrace overlooking the lake. Your presence there will be solely to reassure Francesca.’ His voice was as cold as the ice around his heart. He showed Kate no mercy since she deserved none. ‘I suggest you pull yourself together before then. You must be calm when Francesca sees you.’
‘I’ll be calm, Santino,’ Kate assured him, grim-faced.
She would never back down. He knew that from the challenge flaring in her eyes. It made him rail against fate for wanting a woman like Kate Mulhoon, and made him rail against fate a second time because he couldn’t trust her or any woman on earth to be the mother of his child.
She couldn’t weaken now. The next few hours were crucial to Francesca’s future.
Kate had accepted that Santino was part of their lives, but she was equally determined he would not have everything his own way. When she met with his lawyer it was vital she made the right choices and said the right things. Under normal circumstances this wouldn’t have been a problem—cool, analytical and determined was a fair description of her working manner. But this was a situation where emotion and love met head-on with a deep-seated need to protect her child and that might cloud her mind. She couldn’t risk it, she couldn’t allow herself to become exhausted or cowed by Santino and his legal team. She had to remain strong and keep her wits about her as she prepared for the battle of her life.
CHAPTER TWELVE
SOUND was cocooned in the panelled library, reducing the precise, sibilant tones of Santino’s lawyer to a disembodied stream of information. Kate sat across from him at a highly polished table to one side of the window, and it was taking all her strength of mind not to turn her head to look out to follow Francesca’s progress across the lawn, because Francesca was skipping along at Santino’s side holding onto his hand as if she had known him all her life.
‘Miss Mulhoon …’
Kate refocused, angling her head to show that she was listening. The lawyer spoke perfect English with only the trace of an Italian accent, and she could hardly accuse him of being unreasonable. He was being as gentle with her as if he had been her own advisor offering counsel following a bereavement, which in some ways this was. A part of her life had been lost for ever.
‘As you have requested, Miss Mulhoon, I have prepared a full set of papers for you. You must show them to your advisors on your return to England.’
Kate felt a quiver of apprehension and hesitated before accepting the envelope. In a moment of blind panic she had lied to Santino about knowing a good solicitor. She had never had occasion to use a lawyer before except at work, and they were contract lawyers, specialising in media work.
It was hard to believe things had come to this.
‘Thank you,’ she said with a flat smile, taking the papers she realised could only have been prepared so quickly if Santino had rung his lawyer the previous night.
That was so typical of Santino. He made a decision and acted immediately. He left nothing to chance—no loose ends, no second thoughts. It chilled Kate to think that a plan had been in place before Santino had even announced his intention to stay at the hotel. That was just another part of his strategy, she realised now, and was a reminder of the incisive mind behind the devastatingly handsome face. He made sure he was always the innocent party, the considerate party, the only one who always put Francesca first.
He must have rung the lawyer at home, Kate realised as the meeting drew to a close. Like everything else in his life, Santino Rossi had lawyers at his beck and call twenty-four hours a day. Such was the power of the man who had ranged himself against her, and she would do well to remember it. As far as Santino was concerned Francesca was the ultimate prize and even this meeting was just one more example to a sympathetic judge of his willingness to compromise and support the wayward single mother of his child.
The moment the meeting ended Kate went to find a quiet place where she could study in private the documents the lawyer had given her. She had been left with the nagging suspicion that by doing what she thought was best for Francesca she had compromised her position. She wasn’t weak and she wasn’t foolish, and she would fight for Francesca’s right to know both her parents, but Santino was ruthless and made a formidable enemy, one she didn’t possess the weapons to fight. Today’s meeting was about compromise, the lawyer had told her, but compromise was a tool Santino only ever wielded for his own benefit. He looked further than today’s battle and saw victory in a succession of cleverly constructed moves. She was just a pawn on his chessboard and unless she found a way to touch him before they reached a court of law she wouldn’t stand a chance.
Finding a door partially open off the hallway, Kate slipped inside. Sitting tensely on the edge of a sofa, she scanned each page trying to make sense of the legalese. The dates were clear enough, and as she made a quick calculation of the days when each of them would have Francesca she thought the visitation rights seemed quite reasonable. Pausing a moment, she mulled it over. Maybe Santino was right and she was overreacting … She wanted to believe that. She wanted to believe that things wouldn’t turn out to be as bad as she had feared.
Her gaze wandered to the window and her heart gave a ragged thump as she saw Francesca and Santino. They were just coming back to shore in a small rowing boat, the light wind ruffling Francesca’s curls and doing the same to her father’s thick black hair.
Kate looked away squeezing her eyes shut. She still loved him. She loved him so much that whatever Santino did to her she would always love him. Francesca was her life, but so was Santino … while in his life, she was nothing.
But she wouldn’t hide in the house. Was that what he expected? That she would leave her meeting with the lawyer with her head bowed and her spirit broken. Standing up, Kate firmed her jaw. Her little girl was laughing in the sunshine and that was where she wanted to be … outside in the fresh air with Francesca. Picking up her bag, Kate stuffed the documents inside. She would have to look at them more closely another time.
By the time Kate reached the lakeside Santino was just lifting Francesca from the boat and setting her down on the wooden pier that jutted out in the lake. The moment she saw Kate, Francesca came flying across the grass to greet her. Capturing Francesca’s momentum, Kate swung her high into the air. Francesca was bursting with excitement from everything she’d seen, including the island where she would be able to play pirates once she was older and had learned to sail.
Santino would be able to teach Francesca so many things, Kate reflected, smiling as she listened to the endless list of discoveries Francesca had made. If her daughter was happy she was happy—wasn’t that how it had always worked in the past?
Kate had to stamp on the longing that threatened to overwhelm her when Santino walked up to them. She couldn’t bear to look at him. She couldn’t bear to see the expression of loathing on his face when he stared back at her. Her heart was so badly bruised she wasn’t ready for another knock yet.
‘Did your meeting go well?’ His voice was clipped, but, as always, cleverly pitched in front of Francesca.
‘Very well, thank you.’ A glance at Francesca reassured Kate that they were both successful in keeping their true feelings from her.
‘Good,’