With a sigh of irritation, he picked up the morning paper in a bid to refocus his attention, turn it to anything but the woman he’d married, but what he saw made that impossible.
Antonio gritted his teeth against the anger which tore through him like a whirlwind as he read the article, before tossing the morning paper onto the glass table as if it were poison. He’d known the press would find his marriage to Sadie too much of a temptation when the truth of his divorce from Eloisa had never come out, but he’d never expected this revelation, not from Eloisa. Surely she hadn’t sold their story to the papers.
He picked up the paper and folded it, not ready for Sadie to see this, not until he’d got through the weekend at Sebastien’s English country estate. It would be the first time he’d seen Stavros and Alejandro since their challenges and, like him, they were now either engaged or married. No doubt this was just as Sebastien had intended, but he wasn’t about to let any of them know that it was possible he might just have failed the challenge.
He clenched his hand around the paper, the thought of failure unfamiliar territory. He’d never expected to see the truth of his first marriage staring out at him from the paper, each word making a mockery of his new marriage and the relative harmony in which he and Sadie now lived.
He didn’t try to delude himself as to what had caused that brief interlude of harmony. It wasn’t the time they’d spent on their honeymoon acting like true lovers; it was simply the happiness they projected for Leo’s benefit and he couldn’t go against that and upset his son. At the same time he couldn’t live a lie, not when his feelings towards Sadie were deepening. Hell, he’d even go as far as to say she was creeping into his heart.
His heart? Did he have a heart? He’d been stupid enough to think so for a while, to think that it was filling with the kind of emotions for Sadie he’d never known with another woman. Now this unsavoury piece in the newspaper made a mockery of all that.
‘Are you and Leo ready to leave for London?’ he asked Sadie, determined that for now at least he would put this aside. Today they would fly to London before heading to Waldenbrook, the sprawling country estate owned by Sebastien and Monika. It was their first anniversary party and there was no way he was going to arrive without Sadie.
‘Yes, we are.’ Sadie’s slightly breathless voice carried across the terrace as she went to meet Leo when he arrived with his nanny. He watched her ruffle Leo’s hair, crouch down before him and look at him, her face full of love. She looked so totally gorgeous he could almost forget the reality of their situation—almost.
She walked with Leo towards him and smiled at him, making him want so much for things to be different. More than anything else he wanted to be there for his son, but that would mean living a lie with a woman who could never love him. He’d lived through one lie of a marriage and now found himself about to do the same. He didn’t want to go through all that again, but if he didn’t, he’d lose Leo.
Maybe he should accept her suggestion of allowing her to live in London, but that would mean giving up on his son and, having missed the first three years of his life, that was something he wasn’t yet ready to do.
‘Are we going on a plane again today, Padre?’ Leo’s voice dragged his mind from the bitter discovery he’d just made and filled him with determination. There was no way Sadie was going to push him out of his son’s life, not when she’d already done that for the last three years. No, he wasn’t going to make this easy for her—even if it made things difficult for himself.
* * *
Despite the distance they’d travelled and the hours in each other’s company, Sadie could feel the cold animosity emanating from Antonio, although the warm smiles he bestowed on Leo offered a little respite. What had happened to make Antonio so distant? She tucked Leo into his bed, still shocked by the fact that Antonio owned one of those tall, elegant white houses in London which looked out over stunning parkland.
Thankful that Leo slept peacefully, she slipped quietly from the bedroom and pulled the door closed. A fizz of fury rushed through her. If Antonio thought his bad mood would make her take refuge in her room, he was very much mistaken. She’d seen the piece in the papers, which had only reinforced her theory that within a few months she would be surplus to requirements. After all, he’d made a similar deal with his first wife, then blithely played the field as his marriage disintegrated. He might do that to her, but she would never allow him to dismiss Leo from his life so easily.
He’d put a ring on her finger so that he could be part of Leo’s life and now, for her son’s sake, she would make sure that happened. Whatever the cost to her. After all, she’d lost her heart four years ago; what else did she have to lose?
‘We need to talk, Antonio.’ Finally she managed something other than polite conversation.
He looked up at her, a warning coldness in his eyes. ‘Then talk, mia bella.’
How she wished he wouldn’t call her that. ‘I’ve seen the papers, Antonio.’
‘Sì?’ His heavily accented reply was definitely a question and his dark eyes sparked with something close to fury, unsettling her, but she had to ask him, had to find out what it was all about, especially now that Leo had been drawn into it, named as his love child.
‘I know what they are saying about your first marriage. That Eloisa married you to cover up her secret, to keep it from her parents. Did you know? When you married her, I mean.’ As each question slipped innocuously from her lips his eyes became harder. The glint of steel in them should have unnerved her, should have warned her she was playing a dangerous game.
‘If you are asking if I knew Eloisa had a lover and that that lover was a woman, then sì, I knew.’
His answer totally blew her theory that he was madly in love with the beautiful brunette whose photograph graced the article. Or did it?
‘So why did you get married?’ The next question was out before she could stop it and she watched Antonio’s lips set into a firm line of anger.
‘As I explained on our honeymoon: duty and honour.’ The words were harsh and staccato, as if just admitting it was more than he wanted to do. ‘It was a marriage expected of us by our families.’
‘I don’t understand. Why would you, of all men, marry for anything less than love?’ Sadie couldn’t make sense of the concept of marrying for duty, just because his parents had expected it. But then hadn’t she done something similar, marrying Antonio for Leo’s sake?
‘Love serves no purpose but to make a person unhappy. I have never looked for love and neither have I ever wanted it. Anyone who looks for love will be sorely disappointed.’ He didn’t look in the slightest bit uncomfortable, making a declaration which shattered any ill-fated dream of something developing between them. How could it when she was married to a heartless man like this?
‘But to marry out of duty?’ She still couldn’t believe that anyone would do such a thing and she couldn’t help the question slipping out.
‘It was duty to my family name. A marriage planned to unite two old and powerful families of Milan.’ Each word was spoken with utter conviction, but something wasn’t quite right; there was an element of something else. Regret?
‘Just as marrying me became your duty. How long will our marriage last, I wonder, before you are seen dating new and glamorous women?’ The barb of her question flew at him, highlighting her true worry and fear.
* * *
‘Our marriage is different.’ Was it? The question raced in his head. He’d married her out of a sense of duty, because she’d laid down the gauntlet and had challenged him—and because she’d denied him three years of his son’s life.
‘You can’t fool me, Antonio. You married me for Leo and now I know why that was so important.’ Sadie paused briefly, her chin defiantly lifted as she stood there, blazing with anger and so very beautiful. ‘You and your family need Leo. You need your heir and after your first marriage you weren’t going to be denied that heir. You wanted Leo at whatever cost.’
/> Shock slammed into him and for a moment he experienced the first time ever he was lost for words. How could she say that after all they’d shared, not just on their honeymoon but four years ago?
Pride followed that shock. ‘You’re absolutely right. When you told me that the only man who had a right to say what happened in Leo’s life was the man who put a ring on your finger, I obliged. Or maybe that was what you wanted all along?’
‘How can you say that?’ The explosion of anger from Sadie made him smile. Passion and anger were closely entwined. Right now she was angry, but she had also been very passionate when they’d left the world behind and just been themselves, just a man and a woman who wanted one another in the most basic way.
‘And now you are hoping that I will do exactly the same as I did after Eloisa declared her secret to me. You want me to live up to my playboy reputation. You want me to date other women and leave you free and safe in the knowledge that Leo has a father who needs him. A father, I might add, who has missed out on the last three years.’
‘That is not fair, Antonio,’ she asserted hotly. ‘I tried to tell you about Leo, even before he was born.’
‘But I had to find out when I looked into his eyes.’
‘At that point you were not Antonio Di Marcello. I was hardly going to tell you anything when I believed you were Toni Adessi.’
‘If I could turn back the clock, I would, but I can’t, Sadie. But I’m damn sure you will not deprive me of my son any more. I married you to legitimise him, to give him my name, and now I want to be named on the birth certificate.’
‘You already are.’ Her words were a defeated whisper. The fire of moments ago extinguished and beneath his anger he felt sorry for her, sorry that she’d had to be alone bringing up his child for the last three years. Even more than that, he was ashamed that he, Antonio Di Marcello, had allowed that to happen.
‘Then I have almost everything I want.’ He said the words before he thought and as he stood looking at Sadie he wondered what else it was he wanted. He had a son and the mother of his son was his wife. What more could he want?
Still something was missing, still something eluded him. Sebastien was right. Money didn’t buy everything. If it did, he’d be happy right now. Was forcing Sadie to remain with him the right decision? Would she and Leo be happier if he was a part-time father, one who took him out at weekends and shared time with him at Christmas?
‘What is it you want from me, Antonio? I mean really want?’
‘I want you to come with me to Waldenbrook, meet Alejandro and Stavros. I want you to know that working undercover in the garage you worked at was not an underhand way of getting my son.’ He also wanted to prove that he’d succeeded, that he had discovered that money didn’t buy everything.
‘I don’t need to go to the party to do that.’ She glared hotly at him. ‘Am I to be paraded around as some sort of trophy for having completed two weeks undercover?’
‘È varo. You will come with me, Sadie, because, no matter what you say or do, you are my wife—in every way.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
THE DRIVE FROM LONDON, just the two of them in one of Antonio’s much-prized sports cars, tested Sadie’s resolve to ignore her ever-increasing feelings for him. The enforced proximity made her aware of every movement as she sat very close to him. He handled the car with expertise and she couldn’t help but notice how much he enjoyed it. When they turned off the main road, she was relieved that she would be able to create some space around herself and not have to be excruciatingly aware of every move he made, but when Waldenbrook came into view she seriously doubted her sanity at even agreeing to come to such a magnificent place. This was Antonio’s world and very different from hers.
‘Monika is looking forward to seeing you again.’ Antonio’s voice was heavily accented and all but caressed her unravelling senses.
She pinned a smile on her lips and looked at him as he pulled up outside the splendour of the front of the Georgian house, complete with footmen. He looked over at her, his amusement at her discomfort from their time together in the car apparent in the mischievous spark in his eyes.
‘It will be nice to see her again, and meet Cecily and Calli.’ She was looking forward to seeing Monika again, but she was also anxious about meeting Antonio’s friends and their partners. Just how well would she fit in when she’d been brought up in a very different world to the luxury and glamour she now found herself in?
Antonio smiled, his brows raised a little in that sexy way he always seemed to do when she was trying her hardest to keep her distance. ‘It will be a weekend of many firsts.’
‘Oh?’ she asked casually, knowing it was pointless asking him directly what he meant. He wasn’t a man to share secrets. That had become painfully apparent as he’d guarded Eloisa’s secret until she herself had given it away. Had she done that for Antonio? For the child he’d needed as an heir, the one now being dragged into the media spotlight? Or was there an ulterior motive on her part? So many questions remained unanswered.
‘Sì, sì. We have never all been together with wives or partners. It will make the whole weekend a new experience.’ He held her gaze briefly, his dark eyes full of questions, but she just smiled at him, a smile which slipped as he opened the car door and got out, the gravel crunching beneath his shoes. Following his lead, she swung her legs round and slipped from the car as gracefully as possible in the white pencil skirt she’d teamed with an azure-blue blouse that morning in an attempt to be the kind of stylish woman Antonio would be seen with.
Her stiletto heels tapped sharply on the marble floor as they entered the most magnificent hallway, decorated in shades of cream, white and pale pink, with tall pillars and glittering chandeliers giving it a regal air. She’d never been in such a house and nerves filled her, backing up her ever-increasing sense of not belonging to this world her husband lived in.
Deep down she knew it was more than that. She was falling in love with him all over again and each day she had to work harder at keeping her distance from him. All she wanted to do was go to him, walk into his embrace and be kissed with the same desire and passion she’d experienced on their honeymoon. She was fooling herself if she ever thought that would happen. Antonio didn’t love her. She and Leo were simply a trophy for a silly challenge set by Sebastien.
‘Hi, you must be Sadie?’ A dark-haired woman came from one of the rooms off the hallway, her accent hinting at a Mediterranean background. ‘I’m Calli, Stavros’s wife. It’s so good to meet you at last.’
Sadie hugged and kissed Calli on both cheeks, trying to put on a show of confidence, and then stood back as Antonio did the same, using his most disarming smile. ‘So, I finally meet the woman who tamed Stavros Xenakis.’
Sadie didn’t know where to look as Antonio stood back and surveyed Calli. She was dark-haired and beautiful and beside her Sadie’s confidence slipped a little lower. Thankfully Calli laughed, her hand reaching impulsively towards Sadie’s arm as if they were already good friends.
‘You, Antonio Di Marcello, are exactly the kind of man I expected Stavros to be close friends with.’
Antonio raised a brow at her fiery response, his smile lingering on his lips. ‘So where is he?’
‘In our suite.’
‘I’ll leave you two ladies to get acquainted.’
Before Sadie could say anything, he was taking the white marble stairs two at a time, his footsteps quietening as he moved out of sight. Sadie looked up after him for a second or two, then back to Calli, putting on the smile of a woman in love, the kind she knew she would have to perfect during the course of this weekend.
‘They are like boys who have just broken out of school,’ Calli said, a warm smile on her face. ‘Never mind, I’ll walk you to your suite.’
Beside the happy and relaxed Calli, Sadie’s nerve wavered. Could she pull it off and pretend to be happily married and in love? From the requests—no, the demands—that Antonio had made, she already fulfilled
all but one. She was married and, despite her efforts not to be, she was in love with the man she’d married, but happiness was the elusive bit. As for Antonio, he was merely married and that had only been out of duty.
‘I hear you have a little boy?’ Calli tentatively asked as they walked past enormous gold-framed paintings from days long since gone, hanging perfectly against the stunning white of the walls. Calli turned off the main corridor and through an archway and Sadie caught a glimpse of immaculate lawns and a large white marquee between the house and a lake. ‘Is he here, in England?’
Sadie realised she’d been so wrapped up in the magnificence of the house she hadn’t responded to Calli’s first question. Her mind rushed to her son and a pang of guilt raced through her. She hadn’t wanted to leave him in London. That had been at Antonio’s insistence.
‘Yes. Leo is in London with his nanny.’ She couldn’t help the sadness slipping into her voice.
‘First time you’ve left him?’ Calli asked, as if she knew exactly how guilt-ridden and lost she was feeling right now.
Sadie looked at Calli and for the briefest of moments thought she saw the confident and in control woman slip away, revealing one as unsure of herself as she was.
‘He’ll be fine. And it is only a weekend, is it not?’ Calli laughed lightly and Sadie was taken aback. She must have imagined the vulnerability she’d seen in Calli’s eyes, the sadness. Maybe she was projecting her own feelings onto the lovely Greek woman.
‘Yes, I know he will and, in the meantime, Antonio and I will enjoy a weekend of adult company.’ Sadie fought to lighten her mood, lifting her chin and infusing herself with a confidence she didn’t feel but must show.
Calli smiled at her. ‘This is your suite. I will see you later—or at breakfast tomorrow.’
Sadie walked into her suite, stunned once again by its magnificence. It also backed up her earlier worry that Antonio’s circle of friends was far different from her—that they were worlds apart and she doubted she could truly be a part of it all.
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