Secrets of a Powerful Man. Chantelle Shaw

Salvatore’s voice stopped her.

      ‘Can your conscience allow you to abandon Rosa?’

      ‘Me abandon her?’ She spun round and glared at him. ‘That’s rich, coming from her father—who can’t be bothered to spend time with her and expects the staff to care for her. My conscience has nothing to worry about.’

      As she uttered the words Darcey discovered that her conscience was far from happy. The image of Rosa’s trusting expression when she had tucked her into bed tugged on her heart. She remembered how the little girl had signed that she was afraid of the dark. Many young children shared the same fear, but for a deaf child that feeling of isolation must be worse.

      ‘I have left notes of my assessment on Rosa which you can pass to another speech therapist when you find one who is prepared to go to Sicily.’

      ‘My daughter has already bonded with you.’

      She tried to ignore the pull his words had on her emotions. ‘I suppose your butler told you that?’ she said sarcastically.

      ‘No, I saw for myself that Rosa likes you.’

      Salvatore hesitated and to Darcey’s surprise a hint of emotion flickered across his face.

      ‘I came to see her while she was eating her dinner. The two of you were laughing together...’

      She gave him a puzzled look. ‘Why didn’t you join us?’

      ‘Rosa looked like she was having fun, and I did not want to interrupt.’

      The truth was he had felt jealous as he had watched his daughter interacting with Darcey, Salvatore acknowledged to himself. Rosa did not laugh very often—not with him, anyway. The only time she seemed truly happy was when she was playing with her cousin, Nico.

      He wished he could breach the distance that existed between them. A distance he felt was widening as she grew older. Even though Rosa could now hear with the cochlear implants, he did not know how to reach his little girl. Deep in his heart he admitted that he found her deafness difficult to accept. In his darkest thoughts he wondered if he was to blame for her loss of hearing.

      Why was he allowing his mind to dwell on the blackness within him? Salvatore asked himself. He was sure that Darcey’s expertise would enable her to help Rosa learn to talk and, more than that, he felt instinctively that she would be able to connect with his daughter in a way he could not. When he had stood outside the dining room and watched her with Rosa he had been struck by her genuine kindness to his daughter. Somehow he had to persuade her to come to Sicily.

      ‘Rosa needs you.’

      Darcey hesitated, her indecision apparent on her expressive face. Salvatore sensed that she was close to giving in. He glanced towards the butler, who had stepped into the hall.

      ‘The chef has prepared dinner for you and your guest, sir.’

      The timing was perfect. ‘Thank you, Melton. Ms Rivers and I will make our way to the dining room,’ Salvatore said smoothly.