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His eyes flashed. ‘Don’t knock it,cara. The desire we feel for each other is off the scale.’ He dragged her into his arms, ignoring how she held herself stiffly, and threaded his fingers through her hair. ‘You won’t find such passion with anyone else.’
‘It’s not enough for me.’ She would give up her entire fortune to be able to kiss Daniele’s stubbled jaw and have him claim her lips in a kiss that came from his heart. But his heart would never belong to her, and so she eased away from him, and he slowly dropped his arms down to his sides.
‘I thought I could be content with a sexual relationship,’ she said huskily. ‘But you taught me that I deserve better than second best. I deserve love, and one day I know I will find it. I can’t make love with you any more and pretend that it’s meaningless, that the pleasure I feel when you are inside me is just a physical response. I have to be true to myself. I’ll sleep in my own room from now on, and I don’t give a damn what the staff make of it.’
Daniele heard the snick of the bedroom door as Paloma closed it quietly behind her. If she’d slammed the door, it would have been easier to dismiss her shocking outburst as overemotional—and emotions on any level were guaranteed to send a shudder through him. But it hadn’t been histrionics. He’d heard the hurt in her voice, and he felt guilty that he was responsible.
Dio!She lovedhim. Why, he couldn’t imagine. He was not the man for her, and one day she would realise it when she met someone more charming and gracious, someone more suitable for the granddaughter of a marchese than a gruff soldier who saw love for what it was—an illusion.
He ate dinner alone in the grand dining room and asked the housekeeper to take a tray up to his wife, who had a headache and would not be joining him. Was this how things would be from now on? he wondered. Separate meals, separate bedrooms and separate lives.
When Paloma had asked if he had missed her, he’d allowed her to think it had only been sexual frustration that had kept him awake at night. But the truth was that sex was only part of her allure. He liked her smile and her fierce intelligence, her dry sense of humour that caught him off guard, and her boundless compassion and determination to use her fortune to help others. There was a lot of her grandfather in her. Thinking of Marcello reminded Daniele that his old friend had hoped his granddaughter would marry well.
The next morning, Paloma was already sitting at the breakfast table on the terrace when he stepped outside. It was another glorious summer’s day, but Daniele did not notice the cobalt-blue sky or hear the cheerful birdsong in the garden. He had the feeling that it would always be winter now. Paloma’s coolness made him long for the warmth of her smile.
‘Tio Franco has called an extraordinary meeting of the board of trustees and the shareholders to take place this morning. Do you know what it’s about?’
‘I have no idea.’ He watched her pour coffee from the jug and add a sugar cube to the cup before she handed it to him. The simple intimacy of her action evoked an ache in his chest that he assured himself was indigestion.‘Cara...’he began.
Paloma pushed away her uneaten roll and stood up. ‘We should go. The meeting is due to start at nine o’clock.’
She ignored him in the car on the way to the office. Daniele allowed himself to feel righteous indignation. He had never asked for the complication of emotions in what had started out as a marriage bargain, but their relationship had developed into more than a business arrangement, he acknowledged.
Extra chairs had been set out in the boardroom, and there was a tangible sense of curiosity among the shareholders and board members when they took their seats. Daniele collared Franco Zambrotta when he walked into the room. ‘What’s all this about? The agenda simply states there is an urgent matter to be discussed.’
Franco looked worryingly pleased with himself. ‘You’ll find out very soon, Berardo. I never understood why Marcello put so much faith in you. His plan to leave the company in the hands of an inexperienced girl could have been disastrous.’
Daniele looked around for Paloma and saw her sitting in the front row. He strode towards the vacant seat a few places along from her. Franco walked to the head of the room and faced the assembly.
‘I called this meeting because an extremely serious matter has come to my attention. Namely the conduct of the two people who hold the highest authority in Morante Group that, in my opinion, constitutes moral turpitude.’
‘Are you saying you called the meeting to express a personal opinion?’ Daniele asked curtly. He glanced across to Paloma and guessed from her frown that she felt as perplexed as him by Franco’s statement.
‘I believe it is an opinion that most people in the room will share after hearing the recording I am about to play.’ Franco was holding a tablet and Paloma’s voice suddenly emerged from the speakers around the room.
‘I can’t keep up the pretence and let you think that my marriage is wonderful when it’s all a lie.’
‘Wait a minute.’ Paloma jumped to her feet. ‘How did you get hold of a conversation that took place on my personal mobile phone? I demand you turn the recording off.’
Franco ignored her plea, and another voice that Daniele recognised belonged to Paloma’s friend Laura came through the speakers.
‘What is a lie? You love Daniele, don’t you?’
‘God,yes! I love him. I wouldn’t have agreed to marry him if I didn’t love him with all my heart.’
‘That’s enough, Zambrotta. Turn the damn thing off.’
Daniele saw that Paloma had paled, and her stricken expression made him want to sweep her into his arms and carry her out of the meeting. Her voice from the speakers reverberated around the room and inside his head.
‘Daniele doesn’t love me, but I hoped he would grow to care for me. He suggested that we should marry to stop my great-uncle Franco from trying to seize control of the company.’
Paloma made a muffled sound. ‘Please, Tio Franco, turn it off.’
‘I think we have all heard enough,’ Franco said smoothly. ‘It is clear that the marriage between Daniele Berardo and Paloma was a deliberate ploy to mislead the board and shareholders. I believe the trustees have no option but to terminate Berardo’s position on the board and replace Paloma with myself at the head of Morante Group with immediate effect.’
‘Not so fast.’ Daniele leapt to his feet and turned to face the crowded room. ‘I will tell you exactly why I married my wife.’
CHAPTER TWELVE
