‘You said earlier you intended to marry within two weeks. Why the hurry?’
‘My father is terminally ill. He wishes to see his only grandchild before he dies. There is not much time.’
‘A fortnight isn’t very long.’ She gave her bottom lip a surreptitious nibble.
‘I will see to all the details. You do not have to do anything but turn up at the registry office.’
Nina knew it was pathetic of her to be feeling disappointed, but if by some quirk of fate she had to go through with this, her lifelong dream of a beautiful white wedding in a city cathedral was going to have to be shelved indefinitely.
‘But what about a dress?’ she asked, trying not to think of Marc Marcello’s motives for marrying her.
‘I have no real interest in what sort of outfit you wear,’ he said. ‘However, I do think it would be highly inappropriate of you to wear white.’ His eyes flicked to the pram and back again. ‘Don’t you?’
She held his gaze for as long as she dared. ‘I happen to like wearing white. It suits my colouring.’
Marc was certain she’d still look stunning even if she was covered from head to foot in a nun’s habit. Her come-to-bed eyes had tugged far too many men into their seductive orbit and he had to make sure he didn’t join their number.
‘Wear what you like; the ceremony will be over within minutes anyway. I will make an appointment with my lawyer to draw up the necessary paperwork.’ He made a move towards the door, slanting a warning look her way. ‘I should remind you at this point that if you wish to pull out of the deal I will have no choice but to activate proceedings to remove Georgia permanently from your custody. And do not think I cannot do it, for I assure you I can and will if I need to.’
Nina wished she could throw his threat back at him but the thought of losing her niece was just too wrenching. She knew he only had to see those fading but still present bruises on Georgia’s tiny chest for the fight to be over right here and now.
She only hoped that maybe in time Marc would see how much she too loved the baby and wanted the best for her. But what would he do if or when he found out the truth?
‘I won’t pull out of the deal,’ she said, wishing her voice hadn’t sounded quite so hollow.
‘No, I imagine not.’ His eyes held hers with a caution reflected in their glittering depths ‘I will, of course, be providing you with an allowance for the duration of our marriage.’
Nina instantly stiffened, but for some reason couldn’t find her voice.
‘What will you do with all that money to spend, I wonder?’ he mused insultingly.
She gave him one of her sister’s casual shrugs. ‘Shop and shop and shop, probably.’
Marc’s lip curled distastefully. ‘You are a complete and utter sybarite. Have you ever done a decent day’s work in your life?’
‘Work?’ She wrinkled her nose in repugnance. ‘Why work when you can have fun instead?’
‘I must be out of my mind,’ he muttered under his breath. ‘You sicken me. I can hardly believe you lured my brother away from Daniela. She postponed the wedding because of you. If you hadn’t come along when you did, Andre—’
‘How typical to blame the woman in the middle,’ she shot back furiously on her sister’s behalf. ‘He didn’t have to sleep with me; he could always have said no.’
‘You hounded him for months,’ he tossed back. ‘He told me how determined you were, how it became impossible to keep you at arm’s length.’
‘I think I can safely say he enjoyed it while it lasted. And I bet you would too. I can guarantee it.’
‘Sorry to disappoint you, but that will not be happening. You know the score and if you put one foot out of place I will use all the weapons at my disposal.’
Nina could well believe it. He quite possibly had cards up his sleeve that could prove to be a little too tactical for her liking. She had two weeks to think of a way out and she was going to do her best to find one, for it was becoming increasingly clear she was seriously outmatched in her opponent.
‘Will any of your relatives be attending the ceremony?’ she asked in an effort to hide her disquiet.
‘No, my father is unable to travel and my mother is…’He hesitated slightly before continuing. ‘She died a couple of years ago.’
Nina couldn’t help feeling a wave of sympathy for his father, who had been dealt a double blow of grief in losing his son so close to the death of his wife. She imagined Marc was dealing with overwhelming grief too and it made her anger towards his treatment of her soften around the edges.
‘It must be a very difficult time for you all,’ she said gently.
Marc threw her a look of disgust. ‘How dare you offer sympathy when if it had not been for you, my brother would still be alive?’
Nina stared at him in shock. This was getting even worse than a nightmare. What did he mean?
‘That’s a heavy accusation,’ she managed to get out. ‘Exactly what evidence do you have to substantiate it?’
‘You were the last person to see Andre before he went to pick up Daniela from the airport.’
Nina hadn’t known that little detail and wondered why her sister hadn’t mentioned it.
‘So?’ She made her voice sound as unconcerned as possible even though her stomach was rolling in consternation.
‘Daniela was understandably upset at what had gone on whilst she had been in Milan visiting her family the first time,’ he said. ‘She was threatening to call off the wedding altogether but Andre was adamant that his involvement with you had ceased. She knew about the baby and it caused a great deal of trouble between them, as she was concerned about him having further contact with you. She lived long enough after the accident to tell me that Andre had been on edge when he arrived to pick her up, as you had visited him the night before making your usual outrageous demands. He had not slept well after you left and his concentration was all over the place. A truck ran a red light and he did not have the necessary reaction time to avoid the collision.’
‘And you think that’s my fault?’ Nina asked tightly. ‘I wasn’t driving the truck!’
‘You might as well have been, as far as I am concerned. Andre was deeply ashamed of himself for getting involved with you. It almost destroyed his relationship with Daniela.’
‘He should have thought about the consequences before he gave me the come-on,’ she threw back.
‘Have you not got that the wrong way around?’ he asked with a flash of black eyes. ‘It was not Andre who was lying naked in the hotel bed that first night—it was you.’
Nina did her best to hide her shock at his statement. There was so much she didn’t know and the further she became embroiled in this farce the harder it was to maintain her cover. Nadia had told her virtually nothing, which meant she now had to lie her way through this emotional minefield.
Lie after lie after lie.
She’d read somewhere that if a person were to tell one lie they then had to go on and tell thousands to keep that single one in place. Now she could well believe it.
‘So?’ She tried the casual tone again. ‘He could have said no.’
‘There are very few men who could say no when such temptation is dangled in front of them,’ he said, raking his gaze over her once more.
Nina tilted her head at him provocatively. ‘So you admit to being a little tempted yourself?’
His hand left the doorknob as he strode back across the room to stand in front