Her expression hardened. ‘I didn’t know until you told me what my father was truly capable of, but I knew enough to fear his actions if thwarted. I planned to get a job elsewhere. But I also knew it would be tough. I’ve got virtually no savings because I’ve never been properly paid. I’ve got few friends who’d stand by me because he did his best to isolate me.’
Gio frowned. ‘Marrying a rich banker was a way out?’ Stella moved to pull her hand free but he held it. ‘I’m not judging, just trying to understand.’
She huffed out a breath. ‘I met Eduardo as a courtesy, to tell him I didn’t want marriage. It turned out he wasn’t keen either. The idea had been hatched by others who wanted him to settle down before he took over the family company. Unexpectedly we found we liked each other.’
Stella looked towards the glittering lake. Gio disliked the feeling of being excluded. But then she turned back, her open expression drawing him in.
‘We met several times. As friends. Eduardo is a good listener and I needed that.’
It was a gut punch. Gio wanted to be the one she’d shared with, the one she turned to.
‘So when, later, he suggested marriage, I reconsidered. He had his own reasons to want marriage. For my part I knew he and his family had the power to keep my father at bay. My baby would be safe.’
And Stella would be safe from her father’s temper. It made sense yet Gio’s skin crawled as she spoke about marrying Morosi.
‘You’d have been happy with such an arrangement?’ He growled. ‘Did he know about the child?’
He knew why Morosi had proposed. He’d get Stella and his family’s bank. Money, power and a remarkable, gorgeous woman.
Stella nodded. ‘He was happy to be a father.’
Over Gio’s dead body! The idea made him see red. But before he could say more she continued.
‘At the time I saw it working. I like and trust him. He’d do his best by me and the baby.’ Each word was an arrow to Gio’s chest as she freed her hand. ‘But no, long-term it wouldn’t work.’
‘Why not, if he’s such a paragon?’
Stella heard the edge in Gio’s voice and wondered if that was jealousy.
Yet he’d never admitted to more than wanting her physically. Even going so far as to destroy her wedding, his explanation was urgent need, the physical, not emotional.
She stiffened her determination. There was no point being coy. Better that they both knew where they stood.
‘I realised I wanted more than a convenient marriage. That’s why I ran from my father’s proposition.’ She looked at the white linen tablecloth then to the magnificent view. ‘After my mother died, I bent over backwards to meet his expectations. Because I craved what I’d had with my mother. Love.’
Without turning, she sensed Gio tense. She was so attuned shefelthis discomfort. Something inside crumbled at his reaction but she continued.
‘I want a partner who loves me and my child, whom I love in return. It’s that simple and that big.’ She swung her head around and met a shadowed stare. ‘You must understand. It sounds like you had that with your family. You know how precious, how vital, love is.’
But instead of assenting, Gio looked almost dismayed.Notwhat she’d hoped for.
After a long silence, he spoke, his tone bleak. ‘It’s what most people want. But…’ his eyes were stormy ‘…not me. I can’t offer you that. I wish I could.’
His words were missiles.
‘I don’t expect anything from you.’
It was a pride-saving lie. She’d hoped he felt more than lust. Surely the connection between them, the truths they’d shared and sense of rightness when they were together, meantsomethingto him.
Because they did toher. She’d fallen hard and fast for Gio, even when knowing it was a short-term fling. Then, when he’d hijacked her wedding, stupid hopes had risen. When they’d shared raw truths about themselves she’dfelthis emotional response.
Felt or fantasised?
‘I’ll support you and the baby. I’ll be a bulwark against your father. I won’t let him bother you again. But I can’t pretend to want love.’
His stare burned like molten metal. ‘You can count on me. But that’s one thing I can’t give you. You know my history. What happened killed something inside me. I don’t trust love. I haven’t been capable of it since I learnt how it destroys.’
Gio was thinking of his father who’d rejected him in favour of all-consuming revenge. Despite her pain, sympathy welled for this earnest man who believed love was something terrible.
