Italian Marriage: In Name Only. Kathryn Ross

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СКАЧАТЬ cool words whirled around like a cyclone inside of her. ‘You don’t have much respect for the institution of marriage, do you, Mr Cavelli?’

      ‘As I said before, this is business.’ Antonio looked over at her with a raised eyebrow. ‘But if the deal isn’t for you, then I’ll get someone else.’

      Victoria nodded in relief. She really wasn’t comfortable with any of this. ‘I think that might be best.’

      Antonio frowned and leaned back in his chair. He really hadn’t anticipated that! Most people would have snatched his hand off for this kind of money! ‘Best for whom—certainly not your son?’ His eyes drifted to the child on her knee. The little boy was playing with a button on her jacket, a look of absorbed concentration on his young face. Antonio couldn’t help noticing that the material of the jacket was rather worn, whilst the child’s clothes seemed new by comparison. ‘You do realize that this will make all the difference to his life, don’t you? It will mean private education and a nice home. And what’s your alternative? I’ve looked at your accounts, Victoria, and even by the most optimistic of calculations you only have two to three weeks left before your business folds and the bailiffs turn up at your door.’

      She’d been in the process of gathering the child up and getting to her feet but she sank back down again now. ‘You mean the deal is off completely?’

      ‘What did you expect?’ He spread his hands.

      ‘I thought…I thought you might go back to your original offer for the place?’

      Antonio made no reply, just shook his head and there was a steely expression on the handsome features now.

      ‘But you need me out of those premises, Mr Cavelli, you said so yourself.’

      ‘I can wait.’ His eyes held with hers calmly.

      Desperately she tried to swallow down the panic that was rising inside of her again. ‘Well, I’m not going anywhere without a fight.’ From somewhere she found the strength to hold her ground.

      Antonio couldn’t help admiring her spirit. But he really didn’t have the time or the inclination to be philanthropic and allow her to walk away. He wanted this deal wrapped up before his father got wind of his mistake and started to backtrack. Besides, this deal would benefit her in the long run.

      ‘Hard to fight without money, and believe me, Victoria, you don’t want to lock horns with me because you will be crushed.’

      The hard cold words hit her like a punch.

      In that moment she hated him—hated his arrogance and his confidence and his power. And more than anything hated the fact that he was right. She could bluster all she wanted but there was no way she could win a fight against this multimillionaire tycoon.

      He noted the vulnerable look flickering over her young face and knew with the experience born from many a successful business deal that it was now time to reel her in. ‘Anyway, your loss. I’ll get my secretary to show you out.’

      ‘No!’ She stopped him before he could reach for the phone and he smiled at her, a light of triumph in the darkness of his eyes now.

      ‘I thought you’d see sense.’ He lifted his pen and put a red X on the calendar. ‘I have two hours free next Monday afternoon. We’ll sign the paperwork at two…get married at two-thirty.’

      Victoria said nothing. The marriage wasn’t going to happen, she reassured herself fiercely. She was just agreeing with him to buy herself time. By next week she’d have found a way out of this. There had to be a way out—there just had to be.

      CHAPTER THREE

      ‘THAT gorgeous guy is here again in the restaurant.’

      Emma put her head around the door of Victoria’s apartment, a look of excitement on her young face. ‘And he says he wants to see you.’

      Victoria didn’t need to ask her receptionist which guy she meant—she knew full well there was only one man who could cause such a flurry of excitement and she felt an immediate thrust of nervous anticipation.

      It had been two days since she had seen Antonio. Two days and two sleepless nights since she had sat in his office and played for time by agreeing to his demand to become his wife.

      Since then she’d been going over and over her accounts, looking for a means of escape. She was still sorting through the paperwork now, desperately searching for some solution. But so far she had found nothing and she was starting to feel more and more hemmed in by the stark option that had been presented to her. She either married Antonio Cavelli or she lost everything that she had ever worked for.

      Icy cold panic swept through her at the thought. She wasn’t giving up without a fight, she told herself fiercely. Her glance moved from her receptionist back to the paperwork on her desk.

       But what could she do?

      ‘He’s not here on his own,’ the receptionist continued. ‘He’s got two other men with him and a woman. They are going to have coffee in the lounge area.’

      Maybe Antonio had changed his mind, she thought suddenly. Maybe he was here to see to other business. The idea made her feel much better.

      ‘Let me have a look.’ Victoria stood and went through to the hallway that linked her apartment with the restaurant. There was a small window in the doorway behind the reception desk and if she stood on tiptoe she could see Antonio Cavelli standing nonchalantly chatting with some other people.

      When she’d lain awake in the darkness of the night there had been a part of her that had wondered if she had imagined how attractive he was, how powerful he was. She’d even wondered if maybe she’d mistaken his ultimatum—got the wrong end of the stick. This couldn’t be happening for real, could it?

      But now, looking at him, she realized she hadn’t imagined anything. He was every inch the forceful, dynamic businessman in his expensive suit, his dark hair gleaming under the subdued lighting. The type of man who always got what he wanted. And, more worrying, even from this distance he seemed to exude a magnetising attractiveness that made her senses go into hyperdrive.

      Frankly he scared her to death. She dragged her gaze away from him to scan the people who accompanied him—one she recognised as the accountant, Tom Roberts; the second was a man in his late thirties who was also wearing a smart suit and wasn’t bad looking but nowhere in the league of Antonio Cavelli. The third was a woman in her early twenties. She was very attractive—probably just Antonio’s type—long straight blonde hair and a figure to die for encased in a tight black pencil skirt and short cropped jacket.

      Victoria looked away from her and back towards Antonio and as she did he glanced towards the doorway and their eyes met through the glass. The shock was intense and she stepped away from the window as if she’d been shot.

      Maybe he hadn’t really seen her, she told herself calmly. And even if he had—so what!

      ‘You OK, Victoria?’ Emma asked from behind her.

      ‘Yes, of course.’ She tried to smile. But she wasn’t OK; she was anything but OK. Her heart was racing; she felt completely panic-stricken.

      ‘Shall I tell СКАЧАТЬ