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He shrugged negligently.
‘So, in effect, you are blackmailing me, Signore D’Aquanni. You’re punishing me, and Melanie.’
He stood then, moving away from the fireplace, and his eyes became dark and hard. Wasn’t this exactly what she wanted? ‘You are the one who is responsible for that lurid tabloid splash. And tell me, please, how is providing your sister with the medical care she needs, a luxurious roof over her head, someone to wait on her hand and foot, a punishment? Could you deny her that?’
‘Of course not,’ Alicia almost wailed, everything in her rebelling against the pull to succumb, to give in. How could she even consider spending a minute more than necessary with this man?
‘Look, you don’t have to do this. We … I’ll look after us.’ She thought feverishly. ‘Now that Paolo is here, he will be supporting Melanie too. We can find somewhere to live and with his wages …’
‘Dio!’ Dante spat out, incensed that she was intent on keeping up this charade of injured innocence. Didn’t she know how futile it was? ‘Have you really counted the cost of what it would mean to live in the centre of London for up to four months, on top of the medical costs? Do you even know what this man charges?’
Alicia shook her head miserably. She was ashamed to admit that she’d been too scared to check it out properly yet. She’d known it would be astronomical.
He pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Alicia. She blanched when she saw the amount; it exceeded even her worst fears. And then it got worse.
‘That’s just to cover the doctor’s basic hourly fee per week for a month. It doesn’t even go into any extra kind of care if she might need an operation, not to mention accommodation, food, travel expenses. The mounting costs of a normal pregnancy are considerable, not to mention one that needs constant surveillance.’
Alicia sat down again heavily and Dante sat down too at the end of the couch nearest her.
‘Paolo, the little fool, believes he is the father of Melanie’s baby, wants to play happy families—’
Alicia’s face felt like stone; she could feel her blood pressure rise. ‘You can believe what you want for now, but the day will come when you will be forced to face the fact that you are wrong.’
He didn’t say anything for a moment and then answered grimly, ‘Women are adept in the art of obfuscation, manipulation. They were having an affair … he left. She obviously met someone else when he left, then saw her chance.’
‘He was sent—’ Alicia started to speak furiously but he held up a hand.
‘All I’m saying is that I’m prepared to indulge them, for now.’
If it means I get you …
‘Paolo has agreed with me to wait until the baby is born and his paternity confirmed before getting married—that’s if they still want to. Until that time they can consider themselves engaged and will have the chance to get used to living together. I think even you can see the benefits in that.’
Alicia didn’t trust his reasonable tone for a second. She felt sick but also, conversely, had to acknowledge her own silent misgivings about how young Melanie was and also Paolo’s apparent youth and idealistic zeal. She had an uncanny feeling that both she and Dante were guilty of having sheltered their siblings from the harsher truths of the world. And in truth she was somewhat surprised at his own prescience in this regard.
She thought of something then. ‘Why, when you knew it was Melanie, did you never mention Paolo? You knew that they’d been seeing each other.’
He stood again and paced back and forth with taut energy. He stopped and looked at her, hands on his hips. ‘Because when you arrived, screaming all sorts of accusations about my involvement, I realised that Melanie was trying to set me up. You didn’t mention Paolo once. It’s obvious that she’d figured she’d get more out of me, and that you had gone along with her … but then Paolo arrived like an eager puppy, only too ready to accept responsibility.’
Alicia’s lips were bloodless. ‘That would be because she told him about the pregnancy and he came to be with her.’ She shook her head. ‘It’s frightening how cynical you are.’
‘Not cynical. Realistic, Alicia. That’s why I came. I had to see for myself, make sure neither of you were planning on some big kind of tabloid kiss and tell.’ His mouth twisted. ‘That photo and the speculation about us is just about salvageable. As you can appreciate, with the delicacy of the merger, it would have a very adverse effect for the media to be focused on me in any kind of negative way and they are going to be watching our every move. Now that Paolo is here I’m prepared to allow—for now—that it was a misunderstanding.’
‘That’s big of you.’
She looked up at him then with defiance and yet a curious look of resignation. The image that came into Dante’s head was of her asleep with her fists balled, ready to fight.
‘What if I don’t go back to Italy with you?’
‘Do you really want to risk that? Paolo is under the impression that he is the one driving this great plan. But it’s my house that they will be using, and ultimately my money that will be paying for Melanie’s treatment and recuperation—something Paolo seems to be quite happy to ignore. Needless to say, at any moment, that could all be gone.’
‘And you would really do that? Just to get back at me, at Melanie?’
A muscle twitched in his jaw. ‘It doesn’t have to descend to that, Alicia. I’m offering your sister everything on a plate, including the chance to be with Paolo and act her heart out. You just have to come with me today and be my hostess …’
And lover too.
Dante couldn’t stop the word reverberating in his head. He knew without a doubt that there was no way he’d be able to keep his hands off her if she came with him today and, even if she wasn’t acknowledging it yet to herself, she’d soon be made aware of it—this desire that even now pulsated through the air between them.
