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This touching scene left him cold. These two women held such echoes of the past for him that he wanted to stop this charade at once. And yet his brother was looking at Melanie with such naked love and already, sickeningly, Dante knew the damage had been done. These women were wily operators, reacting to the changing circumstances, the arrival of Paolo, with sheer bold bravado. He was quite certain that the baby was no more Paolo’s than his … and Paolo was naive and silly enough to believe it.
History was being repeated …
Dante bit out curtly, ‘Paolo, I’d like to talk to you for a moment privately.’
The young man coloured and swallowed, but he followed his older brother out. Alicia felt a little sorry for him but sagged back with relief when they had left. The shock still reverberated through her body, numbing her to her churning stomach and brain.
Alicia knew instinctively from that short moment between the brothers that Dante was the supreme boss and she, in spectacular style, had no doubt blasted any sympathy Dante might have had for Paolo and this situation. What a mess. And it was entirely her fault. She focused on her sister. She couldn’t worry Melanie.
Quashing the looming worries—the thought of what Dante might do and feelings of intense guilt—Alicia got up to give her sister a quick hug and kiss. She was OK, that was the main thing.
‘Oh, Mel …’ tears threatened ‘… I thought I’d lost you.’
Melanie’s eyes filled too. ‘Don’t, Lissy. I’m not going anywhere. Especially not now that Paolo is here.’ Her cheeks did flood with colour then and, as glad as Alicia was to see it, she knew she had to be careful not to let her get overexcited. ‘Oh, Lissy, we’re going to get married! He’s asked me to marry him. And we’re going to move into town so I can be near Dr Hardy—’
Alicia looked at Melanie seriously, knowing that they were still not certain of anything. ‘Melanie …’
Melanie shook her head emphatically. ‘He’s the one—the one I couldn’t mention. When Mr D’Aquanni found out about us seeing each other he went beserk. He sent Paolo to the office in Tokyo. But we kept in touch. Then, a couple of months after he left, I found out I was pregnant. I’d been so upset about him being sent away that I hadn’t even noticed my periods stopping.’ She looked at Alicia sheepishly. ‘I had been planning on going out there too. I didn’t care if I’d have to leave the company, just so we could be together but then.’ she looked at her belly fondly for a second. ‘I couldn’t go. I want to have my baby here. I was going to beg Mr D’Aquanni to let him come back.’
Alicia looked at her and shook her head. ‘Why didn’t you tell me?’
Melanie sighed. ‘I couldn’t, Lissy. I tried calling the camp but couldn’t get through. I didn’t want to send it in an e-mail as you might have been worried … and I’d got your e-mail to say you were due home soon anyway. I wanted it to be a nice surprise, for me and Paolo to be together when you met him for the first time …’
Alicia smoothed back some hair from her sister’s forehead. ‘Oh, hon …’
At that moment the two men came back into the small cubicle. Dante looked dangerous. Paolo came back to Melanie’s side and took her hand again, staring at his brother belligerently.
Dante wasn’t happy. His expression was stony and remote. He looked at Alicia. ‘I’ll give you a lift home now.’
‘But I’ve just got here.’
‘Alicia …’
Something stopped her immediate retort. His voice seemed to act like some kind of hypnotic beacon to her weakened body and mind. She wasn’t ready to be alone with this man, to face the obvious recriminations coming her way, and yet … it seemed like the only thing she could do was to answer his summons.
She looked at Melanie and her younger sister suddenly seemed like the one in control, frail though she was. ‘You should go, Lissy, get some sleep. You haven’t had a moment’s rest since you came home …’
As Alicia hovered between getting up and staying where she was, Melanie pulled her towards her at the last second an
d whispered into her ear, clasping her hand, ‘Liss, you don’t have to worry about me any more; I have Paolo now.’
Alicia stood and swayed ominously. She felt as though she were on a dinghy that had been cut loose from the shore and was floating helplessly out to sea, everything she knew becoming a smaller and smaller dot in the distance. And, to compound this feeling, Dante was immediately there, his arm around her an unwelcome support. She tried to ignore its effect, looked across at Paolo and smiled weakly. ‘It was nice to meet you.’
He nodded soberly. ‘You, too.’ He promptly turned his attention back to Melanie.
And then she was walking away, with Dante’s arm still around her. It was only when they reached the main entrance of the hospital and the cool air rushed forward and embraced her that Alicia found the strength to pull away jerkily. Too much had just happened for her to process fully and her insides clawed with shame and guilt at how badly she’d misconstrued things.
She looked at Dante with her arms wrapped tight around her body. So many emotions were rushing through her that she didn’t even know where to start. She felt herself being pulled in a million different directions and a very scary feeling of relief, which she hadn’t had the courage to acknowledge yet because it wasn’t entirely to do with Melanie’s recovery.
Bravely she stuck her chin out, looking at Dante directly. ‘I’m sorry.’
Dante looked at her for a long moment and she had to fight not to look away from his penetrating gaze. He looked like an exotic Italian prince against the backdrop of the grey English hospital. A group of nurses passed and stared openly at him, their appreciation obvious as they went through the doors. He didn’t seem to notice. His expression was blank. Scarily blank. After what seemed like an age, he said simply, quietly, ‘Sorry?’
Something in his manner made the past rear its ugly head. Alicia could remember all too well what it had been like to see a foreign god on domestic soil. She had been one of those nurses in the not too distant past and, even though she knew it was irrational, that he was a different person, that it was projection, an ugly emotion rose up.
She felt it rise and welcomed it. ‘Yes. Sorry.’ She waved an airy hand, not knowing where this ability to act so nonchalantly had come from. A part of her was completely aghast at what she’d hurled at this man by way of insult and accusation—all unfounded. But … something else was driving her.
‘I had very good reason for believing that you were the father of my sister’s baby. I’d just got off a long flight, had come home to find my sister in hospital, five months pregnant, apparently abandoned by the father. I had no idea who her lover was and the only name she mentioned then was yours. She was in need of expensive medical care. How do you think I came to the conclusions I did, given how I felt?’
