His Reluctant Bride. Sara Craven

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СКАЧАТЬ the largely silent meal was finally over, Polly found her next ordeal was accompanying Sandro up to the penthouse to inspect her temporary home.

      She’d hoped she would find some insoluble problem with the accommodation, but the bright, airy rooms with their masses of fresh flowers seemed just about perfect.

      To her unspoken relief, the bedrooms were well apart, facing each other from opposite sides of the large and luxurious drawing room. And each had its own bathroom, so she could hardly complain about a lack of privacy.

      ‘Will you be comfortable here?’ he asked, watching her prowl around. ‘I hope it has everything you want.’

      ‘Everything,’ she said. ‘Except the freedom to make decisions, and live my own life.’

      ‘A trifle, surely.’ Sandro’s tone was solemn, but his eyes were glinting in sudden amusement. ‘When the cage you occupy is so beautifully gilded. Also unlocked.’ He produced a key from his pocket. ‘For your bedroom door,’ he said. ‘In case I walk in my sleep.’

      Her heart missed a beat, but she spoke lightly. ‘You’d soon wake up when Charlie started yelling.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘When are we picking him up from your friends? Time’s moving on, and I still have to go back to the flat and pack our things.’

      ‘I have arranged for two of the girls from Administration here to do that for you,’ Sandro said calmly, meeting her fulminating gaze head-on. ‘I told them to bring the minimum. I will have the remainder suitably disposed of.’

      ‘My God,’ she said furiously. ‘You take a lot upon yourself. Is this part of your campaign to force me to buy new clothes?’

      He smiled at her. ‘No, I am relying on Teresa to do that,’ he said. ‘She cannot wait to take you shopping.’

      ‘I can buy my own damned things,’ Polly threw at him. ‘And I don’t need a minder.’

      ‘I hope she will be much more than that,’ he told her with a trace of chill. ‘Her husband is one of my greatest friends, and I was best man at their wedding. They have been—good to me in return.’

      He paused. ‘You are going to a new life, Paola, with its own demands. As my wife, you will be expected to patronise Italian designers. How many do you know? What formal clothes will you need? How many dinner dresses—how many ballgowns?

      ‘This is a world Teresa knows, and you can trust her advice.’ He paused. ‘She can also help you in another way. Before she married Ernesto, she worked as a linguist. So you may practice speaking Italian to her. Start to regain your former fluency.’

      Her face warmed suddenly as she recalled precisely how that proficiency had been acquired during those long, hot afternoons a lifetime ago. The things he had whispered to her as she lay in his arms—and taught her to say to him in return.

      She was suddenly aware that he was watching her, observing the play of embarrassed colour on her skin, before he added softly and cynically, ‘But with a rather different vocabulary, carissima.’

      She said with deliberate coldness, ‘Do you have any other orders for me?’

      He was unfazed. ‘If I think of any, I will let you know.’

      ‘How nice it must be,’ she said, ‘to always get your own way. Think about it.’ She ticked off on her fingers. ‘You need an heir—you have one ready-made. You require somewhere convenient to keep us—and you own a hotel with a vacant suite. You don’t wish to be married—and you find a wife who doesn’t want to be anywhere near you either. You’re ahead on all points.’

      ‘Am I, bella mia?’ His tone was cordial. ‘How interesting that you should think so. But perhaps you should refrain from mentioning my good fortune to Teresa and Ernesto. They might not agree with you.’

      He paused. ‘One more thing before we go to meet them.’ He reached into the inside pocket of his jacket and extracted a small velvet box.

      As he opened it, Polly drew an unsteady breath at the coruscating fire from the enormous diamond it contained.

      ‘Give me you hand.’ It was a command, not a request, but she still hesitated.

      ‘Surely—this isn’t necessary …’

      ‘On the contrary, it is essential,’ Sandro contradicted her. ‘So—per favore …’

      Mutely, reluctantly, she allowed him to slide the ring onto her finger. A moment, she thought in anguish, that she’d imagined so many times during the summer of their love. But not like this. Never like this.

      Her voice shook slightly. ‘It’s—beautiful.’

      At the same time its dazzling brilliance seemed almost alien on her workaday hand, she thought, making her feel like some latter-day Cinderella.

      But Sandro was no Prince Charming, she reminded herself soberly. And his diamond was altogether too magnificent a symbol of the cold, sterile bargain they had made with each other.

      As if Sandro had read her thoughts, he said quietly, ‘You will soon accustom yourself to wearing it.’

      She bent her head. ‘Along with everything else, it seems.’

      ‘There will be compensations,’ he told her. ‘Tomorrow I shall open a bank account for you.’

      She shook her head almost violently. ‘I don’t want that.’

      ‘Dio mio.’ His voice was weary. ‘Paola, do you have to fight me each step of the way? Do you wish our child to be brought up in a battlefield?’

      She looked away. ‘No, of course not.’

      ‘Then please try and accept the arrangements that must be made.’

      ‘I can—try,’ she said unsteadily. ‘But it’s not easy when your whole world has suddenly been—turned upside down.’

      ‘You think you are alone in that?’ There was a note of harsh derision in his voice. ‘I too am obliged to make—adjustments.’

      ‘But you don’t have to.’ She faced him with new determination, hands clenched at her sides. ‘I—I understand that you need to see Charlie, to spend time with him, and I swear I’ll co-operate in any way over this. But why tie yourself to an unwanted marriage when you could meet someone to love—someone who knows how to be a marchesa?’ She paused. ‘Someone the contessa might even approve of.’

      ‘You think that is an essential quality in my bride?’ His mouth twisted.

      ‘I think that, otherwise, there’ll be problems,’ Polly said flatly. ‘You must see that. After all, she runs your home—and she’ll see me as an interloper. A poor substitute for the girl she loved.’

      ‘Then she too will have to adjust.’ His voice hardened. ‘Believe this, Paola. My son will grow up in my home with the knowledge that his mother is my wife. Nothing else will do—either for him, or for the world at large.’

      He walked to the door, and СКАЧАТЬ