‘Yes, you were just gasping to have a mini demon throwing toast at the table!’ she framed, her entire body reeling in sensual shock from the sheer heat of his lean, powerful physique wrapping round her chilled body.
‘Belle’s still very young, still very much a baby, even though she’s walking but she’s incredibly independent for her age,’ he commented with pride.
Warmth feathered through her heart as she recognised that pride. Tore was fond of her daughter and she could not credit that he would do anything to wreck the stability of Belle’s life. Had she made a mountain out of a molehill in her eagerness to follow through on her conviction that they should sleep apart? It seemed to her at that moment that she had overreacted and had failed to consider how much closer they had become in recent weeks. In effect, she had shot herself in the foot, forcing a separation long before it was necessary and far too late to stifle the strong feelings she already had for him.
‘You staying with me tonight,mia lucciola?’ Tore murmured huskily, one giant hand spread across her curvy derriere as he scrutinised her delicate face, watching her smile up at him, revelling in the warmth of her, triumphant that she hadn’t been able to stay away. ‘Tomorrow, hopefully, we’ll get the both of you moved into this wing. That will be a much more comfortable arrangement. No more divisions.’
‘And you’ll be totally faithful?’ she checked.
His slashing, still-boyish grin lightened his lean, dark features. ‘One hundred percent with you in my bed.’
‘Do you trust me now?’
Tore frowned. ‘More than I’ve ever trusted a woman.’
‘And you’re not going to complain when I get up in the early hours to go off and bake?’
‘Aside of the fact that I start my working day at dawn as well, I do think we’ll be discussing the potential in the hire of a competent baker to free you of that necessity on a daily basis. I’m not trying to take you out of the kitchen. But for you to be free to travel when necessary, you’ll have to have a suitable stand-in ready,’ Tore pointed out calmly, pulling her closer to make her maddeningly aware of the long, hard erection against her stomach, setting off all the little ripples of arousal and anticipatory thrills that such contact usually brought her.
And when she got up in the morning, Tore was in the best of moods because he was setting out on his working day as well and delighted to share a shower with her…at length, so that she almost ducked having breakfast with him because she was running late. With Stella looking after Belle, however, she would have more time to bake, she reminded herself while she got dressed on the other side of the house in her own suite of rooms. She hurried downstairs to the grand dining room on the ground floor where she had never eaten before and wandered in, suddenly self-conscious as the hovering employee by the table shot her a surprised glance.
Her cheeks coloured as she dropped into the chair to Tore’s right, taking in his magnificence in a formal charcoal-grey suit and pale grey shirt and tie with a heady sensation of warmth blooming inside her chest. She decided to tell him about the question mark now hanging over Belle’s adoption case and launched straight into an explanation. She had to move fast now that she was back in London. She needed to phone Catriona and apologise for her oversights and set up a meeting.
‘Of course, it should’ve occurred to me that I needed to keep my circumstances updated and that a substantial change like getting married and moving house would be important and relevant.’
‘By the way you spoke, I had assumed that the adoption had already been finalised,’ Tore admitted, pouring her a fresh coffee.
‘It’s been months since my assessment was done, but there’s a backlog in the family court and we’re still awaiting a final court date for the case. I stopped worrying about it once I had the social workers’ approval but that was rash of me,’ Violet added ruefully. ‘So now I need to get all my ducks in a row in a hurry and I can’t do it without you.’
His brows pleated as he lounged back in his seat cradling his black coffee.‘Me?What do I have to do with it?’
‘Think about it, Tore.’ Violet looked at him in surprise because she thought she had already explained the situation. ‘As my husband,youhave to adopt herwithme for the application to continue. And that would entail you being interviewed about how you feel about Belle and becoming her father.’
‘But I’m not about to become her father. To become her father you would have to pretend that you intend to stay married to me for good. To say otherwise I would have to lie, and I’m not prepared to do that,’ Tore informed her with sudden bite.
Shock roared through Violet like an earthquake had shaken the ground beneath her off its sturdy foundations. She blinked in disbelief. She had been in no way prepared for his immediate refusal. She had simply assumed that he would agree to be added to the adoption application.
‘You’re not being reasonable, Tore,’ she said in a small voice. ‘It’s not like I can admit that we got married to fulfil my grandfather’s ambitions. Wehaveto lie. We have to pretend it’s a normal marriage…and right now, itisa normal marriage.’
Tore skated up an ebony brow. ‘Is it? When you’re going to walk away in three years? Yet, you’re asking me to take responsibility for Belle’s future. How could I do that? I won’tbethere. You could get tangled up with some thug who mistreats her and I won’t be there to guarantee her safety. Those are serious facts, Violet. I refuse to take responsibility for a child I will not be in a position to protect.’
‘I’m not going to get tangled up with some thug, for goodness’ sake!’ Violet objected in a strained undertone. ‘I haven’t evenhada man in my life since Damien, and I’m not even sure he counts because we were really only friends who briefly assumed we could be something more.’
‘I’m sure you’d be very aware of Belle’s security at all times but occasionally adults make wrong choices as I discovered during my own childhood. I was abused because there was nobody mature or decent enough within that home to supervise my welfare. For me to take full responsibility for Belle, I would need to know that she would be in my life until she’s a legal adult,’ he completed grimly.
‘And how am I supposed to accomplish that?’ Violet asked, her voice breaking slightly in her distress, a giant sob forming in her throat and making it difficult to breathe. She felt like he had cleaved her very heart in two, and the pain of that hollow agony inside her slivered through her. She had never believed that Tore would just say no to her request. He liked Belle, he made an effort with Belle; she had even thought he might be starting toloveher daughter. But without his support in the adoption application as her husband she might not be able to make Belle her daughter, after all. In fact, Belle might be taken away from her altogether and given to someone viewed as more suitable.
‘On the other hand,’ Tore mused, appalled by the pallor of Violet’s face and the desperation in her eyes, but characteristically reluctant to embark on delicate negotiations without encouragement from the other party. ‘Were you to declare that youwouldstay married to me until she’s grown up, I could possibly adjust my conscience accordingly.’
‘Whatever,’ Violet mumbled, barely having heard him speak but automatically assuming he had said something intended to be soothing because whatever else Tore was, he was not a cruel man. He was a forthright male with strong convictions and she knew she would never get him to change his mind on her behalf. Dear heaven, what was she going to do now?
‘I’ll see you later,’ Tore told her, more than a little disappointed by her failure to respond to that suggestion. Had he been too half-hearted? Or too enthusiastic? What he had proposed went so far beyond their marriage contract that it didn’t even fall within the same territory. In fact, his words would appal his legal team, who were already aghast at the realisation that thanks to it bearing Tabitha’s signature and not his actual wife’s, his prenuptial agreement was worthless.
Violet tottered blindly out of the dining room and headed upstairs. What was she going to do? And then the answer, theobviousanswer, came to her in a great upsetting surge. She could leave Tore and move back to her apartment. She could explain that the marriage had been an unfortunate mistake and then Belle’s adoption case could proceed just as it was with her as a single parent. True, it would make her look a little foolish that her marriage had broken down within a month, but stranger things had happened and she wouldn’t be the only woman who had fled their marriage in those first crucial weeks.
That huge decision made, Violet sat down and cried her eyes out. Just the idea of walking away from Tore crucified her. She didn’t want to do it, even if it would only be a temporary relocation. What if Tore didn’t want her back after the adoption was finalised? What if he felt that they had already done enough to fulfil the original contract? And that in any case, she had been the partner to drop out of their agreement?
Pulling the ragged pieces of her wretched self together, she splashed her swollen eyes with cold water and asked the housekeeper for her cases. She packed, taking only her original clothes. Stella was taking Belle out to the zoo and she wasn’t about to interfere with that treat. She would come back in the evening and collect Belle and all the baby stuff. She would have to talk to Tore then. She winced. It would be better by far to leave him a letter explaining her plan of action so that he could adapt to her sensible decision before she saw him again.
