LITMIR.BIZ

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I’m sorry to disappoint.’ She couldn’t keep the spike of hurt from her voice, especially after she had already been making an effort. ‘I don’t happen to have a wardrobe of party clothes with me. It’s not what I had in mind when I came to Rome.’

      ‘No, I am aware of that—which is why I have arranged for some help.’ The firm tone of his voice brooked no argument.

      ‘Oh.’ The croissant she’d just taken one small piece from in the hope of settling her stomach became like dust in her mouth. So she wasn’t good enough for him as she was? Retaliation surfaced. ‘I hardly see the point when I’m not going to fit into things in a few months.’

      ‘The point—’ he fixed her with those intent eyes ‘—is that our engagement be believed genuine, and presently I do not think it will be. I have arranged for Elizabeth Young, a professional matchmaker from America, to come to Rome and assist you. Every woman loves shopping, and with my name and funds at your disposal I’m sure you will too.’

      So she was to be groomed into shape—moulded into the kind of woman who would fit the role of fiancée for the notorious Dante Mancini? And wouldn’t that be for the best, no matter how used it made her feel? If she played the role so convincingly that his business acquaintances believed that she and Dante were in love, that she was the woman who’d made him want to settle down and be a father, she would have done her part in their deal. It would leave him no option but to do his and be there for their child—long after their marriage had ended. As stipulated in the contract she’d signed, he would then pay his price.

      ‘Very well.’ Her voice was starchy and she saw a smile spread over his lips as she looked across the table at him, trying to remind herself why she’d agreed to this charade. Dante could never be the father figure her own father had been, but could she trust him to take even the smallest amount of interest in his child? If he didn’t there was no point in her being here now. ‘And when will we be putting this glamorous fiancée to the test?’

      His dark eyes sparked dangerously at her last words. ‘This evening. We shall attend a party here in Rome. And at the weekend we have been invited to Tuscany by Bettino D’Antonio, which will be the biggest test of our engagement. He is the man I intend to seal the business deal with, and this weekend will be the time to reassure him I am a reformed man with family values. He must know you are expecting my child, and that we are in love and engaged to be married.’

      She raised a brow haughtily at him, the feeling of being controlled and manipulated uncomfortable. ‘So my duties are very clearly defined? I am to look the part of one of the many women you’ve been pictured with this year alone, while at the same time convincing everyone that what is between us is enough for you to give up your scandalous playboy reputation and settle down?’

      The angry glitter in his eyes left her in no doubt that she’d hit the intended mark and was now in control—of this evening’s outing at least.

      ‘Elizabeth is the matchmaker Benjamin Carter used. She is currently in Rome and will meet with you this morning.’

      ‘Benjamin Carter?’ Wasn’t he also one of the bachelors named and shamed? She tried to recall the others.

      ‘Sì, he was featured in that article, along with Zayn Al-Ghamdi and Xander Trakas.’

      ‘And are those men also marrying to save their reputations?’

      Suspicion filled her. They couldn’t all be chasing a big deal, so what was it all about? If her memory served her right, one of them was the ruler of a desert kingdom.

      Exasperated with herself for not paying more attention to the piece simply because she’d stumbled upon the identity of the man whose baby she carried, she rebelled against Dante. ‘What if I don’t want to be turned into one of your women? What if I don’t want to change?’

      ‘It is not negotiable, Piper. Elizabeth has my list of instructions on exactly what I want.’

      ‘What you want? What about what I want?’ Already she had lost the small triumph of being in control. How had she ever thought a woman like her could be in control of a man like Dante Mancini? He was ruthless. Just the fact that he was prepared to marry in order to secure a business deal should have set alarm bells ringing. Worry crowded in on her. If Dante was so ruthless, what did this far-fetched situation make her?

      The answer came instantly. A mother trying to do the right thing by her child.

      ‘You gave up that privilege when you signed the contract, cara. Right now this is all about salvaging my reputation so that I can seal a deal I’ve wanted to make for several years.’

      ‘This is not what I intended at all. I should be back in London now, having informed you that you are to be a father—something I felt should be done face to face. I had not for one moment thought you would put forward such a preposterous deal and flaunt me like a trinket, luring someone into a business deal with exactly the kind of man he doesn’t want to do business with.’

      ‘Next time you read an article about me in a gossip magazine perhaps you will believe it when I am depicted as a mercenary businessman who lives hard and plays even harder.’

      He moved closer to her, his eyes hardening and she knew if she was sensible she’d heed the warning in them.

      ‘I have no scruples, Piper. I will always do whatever is necessary without a thought for anyone who stands in my way.’

      ‘This isn’t about you,’ she gasped, feeling her emotions boiling over in a way she now recognised as part of her pregnancy. ‘Or about your barbaric deal. This is about our baby. Your child.’

      ‘A child I had no intention of creating.’ His denial flew back at her, and the accusation in his voice was clear. ‘But right now you are due to meet Elizabeth. This discussion will have to wait.’

      He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialled, almost instantly giving instructions in Italian while he picked up papers and put them into his briefcase. He ended the call as he turned back to her, putting on the sunglasses she was beginning to understand were far more than just protection against the sun. They shielded him from everyone, hiding his cold, emotionless eyes.

      ‘My car is waiting.’

      The silence in the car as they negotiated the busy streets of Rome was intense to the point of being explosive. The brief conversation that had leapt unwittingly to life between them this morning had exposed all that was wrong with the deal she’d made with this man. They might have shared the most wonderful night of sex, and she might have given him her virginity in a spontaneous act of rebellion against the hand life had dealt her, but she had also fallen just a little bit too hard for him—and she would have to get over that quickly. Having any kind of feelings for a man such as Dante went against all her hopes and dreams for the future. The happy-ever-after ending her father had always promised her was out there, waiting...

      Dante was incredibly attractive even now, and his brooding presence dominated the interior of the car as they sat together in the back, where she was powerless to resist the temptation to glance at his handsome profile. How was it possible that she, an ordinary girl who’d led a sheltered, protected and happy life in Sydney until her father’s death, could fall under the spell of this undisputed pleasure-seeking billionaire bachelor?

      * * *

      Dante could still feel Piper’s scrutiny as the car pulled up at outside a boutique he knew first-hand was visited by women from afar. Elizabeth had suggested it when she’d contacted him by email after Benjamin Carter had put the wheels in motion.

      Dante hadn’t been able to hide his pleasure at Benjamin’s shock when he’d called to tell him about Piper and how very convenient it had been that she’d chosen that very day—the day he’d accepted that he needed a wife—to wait in his office, saving him the trouble of selecting a woman. But not only did Piper possess information about him that could destroy him professionally, she was carrying his child. He hadn’t told Benjamin he would do anything to protect that child—even give up his bachelor lifestyle.

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