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“And yet,” Robert said, “here is the evidence that you have.”
“I seduced him,” Minerva proclaimed.
Both of them turned to look at her. Dante wanted to laugh. There she was, looking as she ever did, a university student in a sweater that was overlarge and a slouchy pair of jeans.
He couldn’t imagine her seducing a trembling virgin. Let alone a man of his vast experience and particular appetites.
“It was the night of my going-away party. Before I went to study overseas.” She gave her father a conspiratorial look and lowered her voice. “He was very drunk.”
Madre de Dios...
Dante remembered that night well. He was not drunk, and had in fact been in the company of a lush heiress who was much more age-appropriate to him.
“I’ve always had a crush on him,” she continued as the color rose in her face. “Yes. You see, I’ve always wanted him, and I thought that before I left I would get what I wanted. So I crept into his room and I... Well, I’m afraid I took advantage of him.”
“Min,” he bit out. “Stop helping.”
“It’s true! You were reduced. Your senses. I apologize for my predatory behavior. And I was ashamed. That’s why I didn’t... That’s why when I found out I was pregnant I hid it.”
“And why did you decide to announce it on TV today?” Robert asked.
“Well,”Minerva said, clearly hunting around for an excuse.
And if Dante weren’t so irritated he would be entertained watching her scrabble around for a reason why she’d chosen to reveal all today. And in public. She squinted. “I had been trying to talk to him. But he hasn’t been returning my calls. I assumed because he was embarrassed.”
“I was embarrassed?” Dante asked.
“Well, you were quite drunk,” Minerva explained, like he was a child. “I don’t know that you were up to your usual standards.”
He could strangle her. Cheerfully. If she weren’t holding a baby he might.
Her father, for his part, looked badly like he wanted to exit the conversation, and at least on that score he could give Minerva some points. She had successfully turned an uncomfortable situation into a horrific one, and Robert no longer looked angry so much as he looked utterly and completely appalled.
“You will, of course, do the right thing,” Robert said, directing that at Dante.
“Of course,” Dante returned.
“What’s the right thing?” Minerva asked.
“Obviously he’s going to marry you,” Robert said.
“In fact, I informed her of this only a moment before you came in,” Dante said. “She’s being stubborn. She has no concept of the consequences of her actions.”
“Well, then it will be up to you to ensure she does.”
“Dad,” Minerva said, her tone scolding, “stop playing the part of tyrant. It doesn’t suit you.”
“It does, however, suit me, cara mia,” Dante said.
She shot him a fearsome look.
He would never have ascribed a word like fearsome to Minerva before. She had always seemed timid to him. But standing there, cradling her baby as she was, her posture defiant and defensive, he found that fierce and fearsome were words that described her extremely well.
As irritating as he found the situation he was in, he could only admire it.
That she was a woman willing to do whatever it took to protect her child.
Along with that came the discomforting thought of her being touched by a man who was involved in organized crime.
