In that moment the careful logic that dictated his decision to marry faded. This was no longer about simple logic. The force that drove him was purely visceral.
She would be his. He would accept no other alternative.
He would have Carys and his son. A wave of hot pleasure suffused him.
‘Of course he’s not a commodity. He’s Leonardo.’ Alessandro inclined his head, savouring the name. ‘Leo Mattani.’
An image of intelligent jade eyes, handsome dark hair and a small determined chin surfaced. His son.
His son!
Satisfaction and pride welled in his chest and—
‘No! Leo Wells, not Leo Mattani. And that won’t change. Marriage is a preposterous idea, so you can forget it.’ Carys took a step closer, her chin rising.
Once more a blast of white-hot hunger shot through him.
What a woman she was! So fiercely protective and proud.
And as a lover…? Alessandro inhaled sharply, breathing in her skin’s warm cinnamon scent. He looked forward to rediscovering the passion they’d shared. It must have been spectacular for him to take the unprecedented step of inviting her to live with him.
But first, most important, he would secure his son.
A twist of deep-seated memory skewered Alessandro, ripping a familiar hole through his belly. Of the feckless way his own mother had abandoned her ‘caro Sandro’ without a backward glance. How selfish greed had triumphed over the supposedly unbreakable bonds of maternal love. She’d put her own salacious desires and hunger for wealth above her son.
Despite Carys’ fiery attitude and her protectiveness, Alessandro knew the frailty of maternal love. The fickleness of women.
He would safeguard his son. Shield him and ensure he never wanted for anything.
The terms of the prenuptial agreement, with its hefty allowance for Carys while she stayed with him and his son, would ensure stability in Leo’s life.
Alessandro’s legal team had worked night and day to make it watertight. The obscene amount of money Alessandro had allocated to buy his wife would keep her just where he wanted her. Where Leo needed her.
With Alessandro.
‘My son will grow up as Leo Mattani. That is not open to debate.’ Alessandro waved his hand dismissively, his expression remote. ‘Any other alternative is unthinkable.’
‘Unthinkable?’ Carys planted her hands on her hips as she stared into the proud, arrogant face of the man she’d once loved. ‘He’s been Leo Wells since he was born and he’s been just fine, thank you very much.’
‘Just fine?’ Alessandro shook his head abruptly, voice deepening and nostrils flaring with disapproval, the epitome of masculine scorn. ‘You think it fine that my son is born illegitimate?’
For a moment Carys stared helplessly into his dark, heated gaze, reading indignation and outrage.
In a perfect world Leo would have been born into a loving family with parents who were permanently committed to each other. But that hadn’t been an option.
‘There are worse things in the world,’ she said quietly, wrapping her arms round her torso as old pain tore through her. The pain of lacerated dreams.
She’d done everything she could to ensure Alessandro had known about her pregnancy. But even if he’d known, even if he’d proposed marriage, nothing could change the fact that he wasn’t a man she could trust with her heart. Or that she’d never fit into his world.
Silence hung between them as he stared down at her.
‘And you think my son will continue to be just fine growing up in a run-down tenement among thieves and pimps?’ One haughty eyebrow rose to a lofty height and Carys felt the weight of his disapproval push down on her.
‘You’re exaggerating,’ she countered, ignoring a twinge of guilt that she hadn’t been able to find somewhere better. ‘It’s not that bad. Besides, I’m planning to move.’
‘Really? And how will you find better premises on your wage?’
His supercilious tone made Carys bite her lip in frustration. It didn’t matter that her salary was the best she could get with her qualifications or that she worked hard for the money she earned. In the long term her prospects were good for promotion. But in the meantime…
‘I will provide for Leo. I always have.’
For a moment Alessandro’s gaze seemed to soften. ‘It must have been difficult, managing on your own.’
Carys shrugged. She didn’t dwell on that. On the fact that her siblings and father, scattered as they were around the globe, hadn’t found time to visit when Leo was born, or afterwards. They’d sent gifts instead. A money box from her advertising executive sister in Perth. A set of children’s books Leo couldn’t read for years from her physicist brother in New Zealand. An oversized fluffy rabbit from her brother at a medical outpost in New Guinea. And from her dad in Canada money to secure the bond on her flat.
They meant well and they cared in their distant, uninvolved way. But how she’d longed for one of them to make the effort to be with her when she’d felt so alone. When depression had vied with excitement and determination as she struggled on her own.
Defiantly Carys met the eyes of the one person who’d had the right to be at her side when Leo came into the world.
But that time was past.
‘I’m used to managing alone.’ Years younger than her siblings, the late child of parents engrossed in demanding careers, she’d virtually brought herself up. ‘Leo and I are OK.’
‘OK isn’t enough for my son. He deserves more.’
Carys compressed her lips, fighting the urge to agree. The doting mother in her wanted Leo to have the best opportunities. The sort of opportunities a working single mum couldn’t provide.
‘What Leo needs is love and a secure, nurturing environment. I give him that.’ She defied him to disagree.
‘Of course he does. And we’ll provide it. Together.’
Had Alessandro stepped closer? His eyes mesmerised and his persuasive dark coffee tone made the impossible sound almost sensible.
Carys gave herself a mental shake.
‘There’s no question of together. What we had is over.’
It died two years ago, when you betrayed me with another woman then accused me of being unfaithful. She didn’t say it out loud. There was no point in revisiting the past. Carys had to focus on the future, on what was best for Leo.
‘It will never be over, Carys.’ His voice dropped to a caress, like the stroke of velvet on bare, shivery skin. ‘We have a child together.’
She clasped her hands before her, horrified to find them shaking. His words conjured images that were too vivid, too enticing, of what it had been like when they’d been lovers.
‘But that’s no reason for marriage! You’ll have access to him, see him as he grows.’ It was a father’s right. Besides, despite the emotional turmoil it would cause her to see Alessandro regularly, it was a relief that Leo would grow up knowing his father. Every boy deserved—
‘Access?’ The word shot out like bullet. ‘You think that’s what I want? What my son needs?’
This time it wasn’t her imagination. Alessandro obliterated the space between them with a single stride. He loomed above her like an impregnable mountain citadel. Unmoving and unforgiving. Utterly forbidding.
She