She sat on the terrace as the heat of early summer was cooling a little in the evening. Throughout the meal she and Antonio had shared, he hadn’t made any reference to the article. It was up to her to say something. At the very least she wanted reassurance that he’d had nothing to do with it, but doubt assailed her the more she thought about it.
‘I bought a copy of a magazine yesterday,’ she began as he joined her on the terrace. ‘Our photograph was in it.’
She looked directly at him, watching for any hint that he knew. Instead he frowned. ‘Which photograph would that be?’
‘Of us all together at the Colosseum.’
‘And Leo?’ Doubt and suspicion filled his voice, making her question if he really had instigated it. She wanted to believe that he hadn’t. He had much to gain from it and, from the way he’d brokered a deal with her, as if in a boardroom, he had scores to settle. Scores with her for shutting him out of Leo’s life.
‘Yes,’ she snapped, unable to calm her panic or soothe her humiliation that he was prepared to use his own son. ‘And now it is being used to name him as the love child who destroyed your marriage, and I am the gold digger who has snared a billionaire.’
She got up and went to the corner of the terrace to stand looking out over the rooftops of Rome. She couldn’t look at Antonio; it hurt too much. What she felt for him was coming back stronger than ever and her resistance was weakening. She wanted him to hold her, tell her it was all okay, but how could she trust him? He’d abandoned his billionaire lifestyle, lied to her for two weeks, pretending to be another man, just to satisfy himself that Leo was his child.
He approached her. She briefly closed her eyes as he lifted her chin with his fingers, forcing her to look at him, the intention in his gaze clear. ‘Don’t do this, Antonio.’
‘Do what, Sadie? Kiss you?’ His words were a husky whisper and, before she could do anything, say anything, he pulled her against him and his lips claimed hers.
Sadie’s body was on fire. The firmness of Antonio’s chest was against her and she couldn’t decide if it was his heartbeat she could feel or hers. She shouldn’t want this, shouldn’t be kissing him like this, but she couldn’t help herself. She was drowning in desire and all the emotions she’d worked hard to bury when he’d walked away from her rushed to the surface again.
She wanted to lose herself in his kisses, sink into his embrace, but she couldn’t. This was no longer about just the two of them. This was about Leo and, thanks to the deal Antonio had felt compelled to make, it was about her parents too.
These sobering thoughts dimmed the desire within her and she pushed against him. ‘This isn’t what I want.’
‘Isn’t it, mia bella?’
‘No. I’m here for Leo’s sake. He likes you. He wants you.’
‘And you? Do you want me too, like I want you?’
‘No. I don’t want you—or any of this. All I want is for Leo to be happy.’
She stumbled back a step as he let her go, the closed-off expression on his face only confirming what she’d suspected since the moment he’d walked into her apartment in Milan. He wasn’t here with her because of any feelings for her. He was here out of duty or honour to Leo.
‘What is it that you do not want, mia bella? Marriage to me or my kiss?’ The hint of huskiness in his voice didn’t quite disguise his contempt for the idea of marriage and a shiver of doubt slipped down her spine. This version of Antonio was so very different from the man she’d loved in such a carefree way four years ago. If he was here now, so much would be different.
‘I don’t want either, Antonio.’ She folded her arms across herself, hugging against the chill which suddenly hung in the evening air.
‘Then you are as calculating as I am, Sadie. Our marriage will be a perfect match.’ Antonio moved towards her with fierce intent, but she refused to move, refused to be intimidated.
She looked at him as below them the city of Rome bustled, but the air on the terrace was drenched in tension, not only from his commanding words but from the kiss which had just added heady sexual tension to the mix.
‘I am not, unless you consider doing what is best for me and my child as calculating. It wasn’t me who brought my parents into this—you did, Antonio.’
‘I thought you’d want your parents at the wedding, even if it is only a civil ceremony.’ The anger in his voice only irritated her further.
‘I don’t want my parents to know anything until we are married.’
‘And why would that be?’
‘So that they can’t talk me out of it.’ She hurled the slashing retort at him and turned to walk away. Then she stopped. What good would that do? Surely it was better to sort it all out now.
‘Why would they do that, when such a lovely, happy photo of the three of us has been published?’
Shock slipped over her like icy water. He’d known. This was just what he’d wanted.
* * *
Calmly Antonio opened the magazine, making a show of looking at the image, thankful that his PA had thought to warn him about it. Obviously, speculation over the demise of his first marriage was still rife. He placed it on the table, the happy shot staring out at him, and he watched as Sadie looked at it, questions racing over her face—the same questions he’d asked himself. Who had taken it? When? How?
She moved back, away from him, anger and hurt glittering in her eyes.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said and walked across the terrace to her, his steps firm and decisive. Sadie tensed as he drew nearer. ‘I have no idea who took it or why.’
He watched as Sadie turned to pace across the terrace. She folded her arms and stood with her back to him, looking out over the city. Waves of hurt and betrayal radiated from her, but he couldn’t do anything about it. He couldn’t tell her how he’d thought about her even after he’d married Eloisa. His family had emotionally blackmailed him into marrying her, the marriage based purely on his mother’s need for Eloisa to be the daughter she’d never had, as well as the considerable financial gain of their union. He couldn’t soothe Sadie’s pain because the promise he’d made to Eloisa bound him. He was a man of honour and he would keep his word.
‘I’m sorry, Sadie.’ His voice sounded harsh and insincere even to his ears. Sadie turned as he drew nearer. He saw her shoulders stiffen and he stopped.
‘He’s just a child, Antonio.’ She turned to look at him, protective passion filling her voice, and he couldn’t help but recall another time when her words had been full of passion. A time when it had all been for him. He wanted that again. How the hell Sebastien had known he still wanted her, after all this time, he didn’t know, but he’d been right—as usual.
‘And if I had known, I would have stopped it. You can be sure of that.’ He meant it and not just out of a need to protect his son. He had no wish to see Sadie so upset.
What he couldn’t tell her was that his first marriage was the root cause of the press interest. He couldn’t say a word to her because of the promise he’d made to his ex-wife, who had willingly sacrificed her single status by marrying him. Very soon her real motives had become clear, and that had set him free, but now he could make the marriage he needed to keep his son and heir in his life. All he needed to do was find the woman who’d allowed him to be truly himself, even if it had been for only a weekend four years ago, but she was buried beneath so much hurt and, like him, she had her defences raised higher than ever.
‘It all seems very convenient to me. Are you using us as a way of explaining why such a dynastic marriage failed within months instead of shouldering the