Modern Romance September Books 1-4. Julia James

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СКАЧАТЬ very modern,’ she commented.

      ‘When Cristiano first had it built it didn’t have electric or heating. He liked to come here to unwind after a demanding week at the bank. I talked him round and my company installed the windmill and the turbine in the stream and the solar panels.’ As Belle gazed around the tall woodland trees and savoured the tranquillity, she said, ‘Wasn’t it rude of us to leave Eddie and Krystal behind?’

      ‘No. Krystal said she’d seen enough countryside to last her a lifetime and Eddie wants to take her shopping to put her in a better mood,’ Dante retorted, unlocking the cabin door. ‘It’s not very large...’

      Belle wandered into the cosy interior, surprised to see a picnic basket and a chilled bottle of wine awaiting them on the table near the stone hearth. ‘Who are these for? Where did they come from?’

      ‘The staff brought over food for our lunch. You have to eat,’ Dante reminded her. ‘Inside or outside?’

      ‘Outside,’ she said, glancing round the cabin, recognising that there was little to see but the walls and the furniture because it had been stripped of any personal possessions. ‘Anywhere there’s shade.’

      Dante spread the rug. Belle removed her shoes and sank down cross-legged to investigate the contents of the basket and lift out plates. Breaking open a soft drink, she murmured, ‘It’s a beautiful place. Did you come here a lot to see Cristiano?’

      ‘Often,’ Dante said gruffly, poised between her and the sun, a lean, powerful figure with a shock of black hair and the golden eyes of a tiger. ‘He used to sleep outside on the roof during the summer and he made a point of not using the electric I had installed for him. He preferred lanterns. He was at peace here...at his best.’

      ‘The dogs must’ve loved it too,’ Belle mused, wondering why he had yet to sit down and why his lean, darkly handsome features were so tense.

      ‘We have to have a serious discussion,’ Dante informed her tautly.

      ‘I thought we were waiting until Eddie and Krystal were gone.’

      ‘Last night I realised it couldn’t wait any longer,’ Dante incised. ‘We have a child to plan for now.’

      ‘I’ll deal with the baby stuff,’ Belle parried firmly, nudging the filled plate she had prepared for him in his direction. ‘Aren’t you hungry?’

      ‘Not really.’

      An uneasy little silence fell.

      ‘It’s my child too.’ Dante, it seemed, was still set on making his point. ‘Naturally I want to be fully involved.’

      Belle frowned. ‘Do you?’ she asked, her incredulity unhidden.

      Dante crouched down lithely on a level with her, black denim stretching taut across his muscular thighs, and a current of hunger rippled through Belle, which she tried to suppress. ‘A child doesn’t have to be planned to be wanted,’ he murmured with assurance. ‘I want to marry you, Belle...’

      ‘No, you don’t,’ Belle told him with complete confidence, even as her heart squeezed tight with stress and heartfelt regret that that should be the case. ‘I know the gossip columnists went mad over you moving me into the palazzo with you only because you’re famous for being a commitment-phobe. A man with that outlook is unlikely to welcome a child into his carefree life, because there is no bigger or more lasting responsibility than a child. Please don’t tell me polite untruths to impress me.’

      His stunning eyes shimmered, his wide, sensual mouth compressing. ‘I’m not trying to impress you. Everything changed when you came into my life—’

      ‘Yes, I screwed it up,’ Belle broke in sharply, steeling herself against his arguments. As she saw it, she was protecting them both from the possibility of making a terrible mistake. Marrying a man who only wanted to marry her because he thought he had to and who didn’t love her would be a disaster. ‘I fell pregnant. You feel responsible.’

      A raw glitter lit his eyes. ‘I do not.’

      ‘You feel so responsible you’re willing to go against your own nature and offer a solution you have never wanted,’ Belle condemned tightly, anxiety and pain licking cruelly at her because she considered a proposal made out of pity and the conviction that she couldn’t cope alone truly humiliating. ‘But I am perfectly capable of returning to the UK and making my own life and bringing up my child.’

      ‘Of course, you are, but that’s not what’s best for either of us. I want to be with you. I want to be with my child,’ Dante bit out impatiently, angry that the dialogue was going even worse than he had expected. He hadn’t expected enthusiasm, nor had he expected the level of resistance she was giving him.

      ‘You should know me well enough to know that I would never try to keep you away from our child and that I will happily agree any reasonable access arrangements,’ Belle protested.

      ‘That’s not enough.’ Dante vaulted back upright, poured himself a glass of chilled wine and leant back against the cabin to study her. ‘I won’t give up on this, you know. I’m very stubborn when you challenge me.’

      Belle breathed in deep and slow. Her eyes were prickling and stinging with the tears she was holding back. She blinked hard and angled her attention away from him into the trees. She couldn’t bear to marry him because she was pregnant, couldn’t bear to reach that position in his life and then watch as whatever physical attraction she held for him slowly waned until finally they had nothing left but their child to share. He deserved better than to have to marry a woman he didn’t love, and she deserved better than a man who didn’t love her.

      ‘You’ve until tomorrow evening to think over my proposal,’ Dante breathed tautly. ‘I have a funeral to attend in Brittany tomorrow. I’ll be leaving in the morning.’

      ‘The employee who died?’

      ‘Such a waste of a good man.’ Dante sighed. ‘There were other positions he could have gone for. He didn’t need to work at heights.’

      And that was why she loved Dante. He genuinely cared about his employees. Even though that workforce ran into quadruple digits, he sincerely regretted the loss of one. He had a heart even though he didn’t acknowledge it. That was why she had to withstand his innate desire to do ‘the right thing’. He felt he had to marry her because she was pregnant and that was an outdated idea, and unnecessary. She would manage fine on her own. It would make her much unhappier to marry him and then lose him again.

      * * *

      Krystal and Eddie departed early the next morning and Dante left not long after them, a new distance in his attitude to her. He was annoyed with her for refusing to marry him, she conceded ruefully, because he had decided that that was the magical solution to the baby he saw as a problem. But a marriage wouldn’t solve the baby complication, it would only create more problems.

      Belle went to visit Cristiano’s dogs that afternoon and arrived back at the palazzo to be informed that she had a visitor waiting for her.

      Consternation gripped her when she walked into the elegant drawing room and saw Tracy comfortably ensconced in an armchair, flicking through a fashion magazine over a cup of tea.

      ‘Well, СКАЧАТЬ