‘But why would we even want to go to Italy?’ she prompted. ‘I know it’s your home and I wasn’t being rudebut—’
‘My grandfather has signed over to me the property in Calabria where I spent every summer growing up,’ Tore countered. ‘It’s a wedding gift, a big gesture when you consider that this is not the usual marriage and he knows that.’
‘So, if he knows that why is he making the big gesture?’
‘He witnessed our exit from the church,’ he reminded her, with that beautiful mouth of his compressing, emerald eyes narrowing, only making her more aware of the lush curling black lashes he rejoiced in. ‘I would imagine he doesn’t want us to be at each other’s throats for the next three years and he’s done it forourbenefit. He’s a kind, thoughtful man.’
‘Something my grandfather doesn’t suffer from,’ Violet remarked helplessly, her eyes clouding with bad memories. ‘He cut off my mother when she was only a teenager and never forgave her for marrying someone he didn’t approve of. Although history proved that he was totally right to make that judgement, my mother suffered a lot without family support when we were little.’
‘Some of us find it equally hard to forgive mistakes,’ Tore commented drily, his tone shaking her back out of the past to the present. ‘We’ll be leaving for Italy tonight as soon as my pilot can find us a slot at the airport.’
‘I don’t want to go to Italy,’ Violet reiterated, tilting her chin, standing her ground. ‘Right at this minute it’s out of the question. I have responsibilities.’
‘And what about your responsibilities in this marriage?’ Tore cut in with lethal bite. ‘You’re my wife. We only got married today. I believe I’m owed more than the hour the church ceremony took of your time.’
Violet paled. That wordowedreminding her of the enormous sum of money that her sister had demanded from him before she signed on the dotted line of matrimony. She was equally aware that the agreement they had signed had taken for granted thatshewould fit in withhislife and not the other way around. That would’ve suited her twin but unfortunately, Violet had less freedom. ‘Yes, you do have some grounds for believing thatbut—’
Tore slanted her a hard, glittering green glance. ‘No objections. Even if you’re not the original intended bride, youwillmeet the obligations you agreed to. It can hardly escape your attention that your business difficulties are nothing to do with me, and my offer to take care of those problems was exceedingly generous of me in the circumstances.’
Violet sucked in a deep breath. ‘Yes, but this is my livelihood and Belle’s,’ she pointed out uneasily.
‘My staff will nail down a replacement for you and you will fly to Italy.’
Involuntarily, Violet spoke again. ‘But not in the middle of the night, not with a baby in tow. It’ll upset her. Couldn’t we leave in the morning?’
Tore clenched his teeth together on the desire to maintain his schedule as he had already decided. As a rule, he was not flexible. But while it may not have been his choice, yes, he now had the needs of a baby to consider. He wasn’t so stubborn that he would punish a baby, too…Washe?He knew very well what it was for a child to suffer a guardian’s mistaken choices. That was the life he had lived unhappily with his mother’s kid sister. He might not want to be a stepfather but he would not make an innocent child pay for Violet’s sins. He was neither that selfish nor cruel.
‘We’ll make it an early departure first thing in the morning,’ Tore decreed, still irritated that he was even making that concession. Violet had chosen to replace her sister and had inherited her commitments and that was definitelynothis problem.
Chapter Three
Violet looked aroundwith interest as the SUV that had collected them from their flight delivered them into a green, elegant space sheltered by towering stone walls and filled with a beautiful traditional Italian garden complete with low box hedging, fountain, shaped beds and gravel walks.
‘Is this a hotel?’ she asked automatically.
‘No, this is the property.’
‘But it’s a castle,’ she pointed out gently as though he might not have noticed.
‘So?’Tore shot back at her, far from reasonable after a four in the morning departure from his London home.
Slap it into you, Violet reflected with satisfaction. He deserved to be irritable after losing a night’s sleep, particularly when there had been no logical reason for such a very early departure. There was no emergency, after all. She had simply married a very strong-willed, stubborn guy. Compromise,sensiblecompromise, was still a skill he had to learn in personal relationships but so far, it seemed that Tore was the type who only forged a straight line between objectives and was aghast at the prospect of accepting the smallest change to his routine. And she just bet that routine was set in stone.
Belle had adjusted by going straight back to sleep within minutes of being roused. Violet, accustomed to predawn starts but used to working them, had finally dozed off during the flight. Tore, however, nowhere near as sensible, had worked throughout.
‘You could’ve mentioned that your grandfather’s property was a castle.’
‘Would it have made any difference to your attitude towards coming here?’
‘Probably not,’ Violet conceded equably, for work also always came first in her world. That said, however, Violet was thrilled to find herself on the grounds of an inhabited castle by the sea and on the edge of a small town in Calabria.
‘Castello di Renzettiwas my grandfather’s ancestral home and birthplace,’ Tore imparted grudgingly.
‘Lucky man,’ she remarked, gazing out at the pristine gardens and the spick-and-span outer walls, eager to see the interior and what she imagined would be spectacular views.
‘He wasn’t. The family were penniless back then and the castle was pretty much a ruin,’ Tore admitted curtly. ‘Once he began to make money, he poured back as much as he could into this place. It’s very important to him. That’s why we had to immediately visit and demonstrate our appreciation.’
That was interesting news. Cold, judgemental Tore turned human and sympathetic and mindful of other people’s feelings once his grandfather entered the picture, Violet noted, suppressing a grin with difficulty. So there were limits to that almost robotic outlook on life in general.Some of us find it hard to forgive mistakes. Yes, and one of them was sitting right beside her. Unluckily for him, Violet had grown up facing male disapproval and criticism and she was proofed against it. First had come her grandfather’s longstanding rejection of his daughter, Lucia. How much better all their lives might’ve been had their grandfather responded more kindly to his daughter’s pleas for help!
