LITMIR.BIZ

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are you?’

      ‘I’m … um, out of town.’

      ‘Where out of town?’ Claudia asked.

      Bella drew in a little breath and carefully released it. Would it hurt to tell her mother where she was? Maybe if she were a little more open with her, Claudia would start acting more like a mother towards her. She longed to have someone to talk to who would understand. She was tired of feeling so isolated and alone. ‘I’m at Haverton Manor.’

      ‘With … with Edoardo?’

      ‘Yes … Well, not with him as such,’ Bella said. ‘I hardly see him. He does his thing. I do mine. He’s—’

      ‘I suppose he’s told you a heap of lies about me, has he?’ Claudia said. ‘Your father was a sentimental fool to let him take control of your affairs. How do you know if he’s ripping you off or not? He could be selling off your assets behind your back and you wouldn’t know a thing about it.’

      ‘He’s not ripping me off,’ Bella said. ‘He’s managing everything brilliantly.’

      ‘How can you possibly trust him to do the right thing by you?’ Claudia asked. ‘Don’t forget he would’ve gone to prison if it hadn’t been for your father vouching for him. He’s got bad blood.’

      ‘I don’t think you should judge someone on where or how they grew up,’ Bella said. ‘He had a difficult start in life. He was an orphan at the age of five. I think it’s amazing how well he’s done, given how hard things were for him.’

      ‘Goodness me,’ Claudia said. ‘This is a turn up for the books, isn’t it?’

      Bella frowned. ‘What do you mean?’

      ‘You springing to Edoardo’s defence,’ Claudia said. ‘You sound positively chummy with him. What’s going on?’

      ‘Nothing.’ Bella could have kicked herself for answering so quickly. Too quickly.

      She could almost see her mother’s snide smile. ‘You’ve slept with him, haven’t you?’

      ‘What on earth makes you think that?’ Bella said, injecting her tone with as much disdain as she could. ‘You know how much we’ve always hated each other.’

      ‘Hate doesn’t stop people having sex with each other,’ Claudia said. ‘Some of the best sex I’ve had was with men I positively loathed.’

      Bella hadn’t planned on telling Claudia about her engagement until it was official, but she would do almost anything to avoid an account of her mother’s lurid and colourful sex life. ‘I’m getting engaged,’ she said.

      ‘Engaged?’ Claudia gasped. ‘Oh, dear God, not to Edoardo?’

      Bella frowned as she tried to imagine Edoardo putting a ring on her finger—or any woman’s finger, when it came to that. She couldn’t quite see it. He would never be one to declare his feelings if he had any. He would never admit to needing someone.

      He certainly would never admit to needing her.

      He wanted her, but that was different. He didn’t need her in an emotional sense. He didn’t need anyone. He was like a wolf that had separated himself from the pack. No one would ever see what he felt on the inside. ‘No, not to Edoardo,’ she said. ‘To Julian Bellamy.’

      ‘Have I met him?’

      ‘No, we’ve only been dating for three months.’

      ‘Is he rich?’

      ‘That has nothing to do with anything,’ Bella said. ‘I love him.’

      ‘When did you not love a boyfriend?’ Claudia asked. ‘You fall in and out of love all the time. You’ve been doing it since you were thirteen. What if he’s only after your money?’

      Bella rolled her eyes. ‘You sound just like Edoardo.’

      ‘Yes, well, he might not be from the right side of the tracks but he’s certainly street smart,’ Claudia said. ‘Your father wouldn’t have a bad word said about him.

      I think he secretly hoped you would make a match of it with him.’

      ‘What?’ Bella asked, her stomach doing a little free fall. ‘With Edoardo?’

      ‘Why else would he have written his will the way he did?’ Claudia asked. ‘I bet he put Edoardo in control so you would have to see him regularly. He was hoping you’d fall in love with each other over time.’

      ‘I am not going to fall in love with Edoardo,’ Bella said.

      ‘You’d be the icing on the cake for a man like him,’ Claudia continued. ‘It would make his rags-to-riches tale complete, wouldn’t it? The well-born trophy bride to produce some blue-blooded heirs to dilute the bad blood flowing in his veins.’

      Bella felt a strange tingle deep in the pit of her belly when she thought of her body swelling with Edoardo’s child. She put a shaky hand over her abdomen, trying to quell the sensation. ‘Mum, I have to go,’ she said. ‘I’ll send you some money as soon as I can. I’m … in the middle of something right now.’

      ‘I suppose you’ll have to ask Edoardo for permission,’ Claudia said sourly. ‘Don’t let him come between us, Bella. I’m your mother. Don’t ever forget that.’

      ‘I won’t,’ Bella said, thinking of the day, all those years ago, when her mother had left with her lover without even bothering to wave goodbye.

      Edoardo found Bella almost buried in a ditch fifty metres from the front gate to the manor. She wound down the window as he stepped off the tractor. ‘If you’re going to say I told you so, then please don’t waste your breath,’ she said.

      ‘You don’t do things by halves, do you?’ he asked.

      ‘Can you get me out?’

      ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘Stay in the car and keep the wheels straight while I tow you out.’

      She sat and glowered at him from behind the steering wheel as he hitched the towrope to the bumper bar. He towed the car out, and once it was out of the ditch, he got her to join him on the tractor for the journey back to the house. ‘Are you warm enough?’ he asked as he made room for her beside him on the seat. ‘You can have my jacket.’

      ‘I’m f-fine,’ she said through chattering teeth.

      He shrugged himself out of his jacket and wrapped it around her slim shoulders. ‘You don’t have to fight me just for the heck of it, Bella,’ he said.

      She bit her lip and looked away. ‘It’s a habit, I guess.’

      ‘Habits can be broken.’

      Edoardo drove the tractor with the car towed behind all the way back to the manor. The snow kept falling but even more heavily now. It cloaked everything as far as the eye could see in a thick white blanket.

      The air was tight with cold.

      Every breath he or Bella exhaled came out in a foggy mist in front of their faces. He glanced at her and saw her huddled inside his coat, her hands gripping the edges together across her chest. She looked small, defenceless and vulnerable. ‘Hey,’ he said gently, bumping her shoulder with his.

      She blinked and looked at him. ‘Sorry, did you say something?’

      ‘Penny for them.’

      ‘Pardon?’

      ‘Your thoughts,’ he said.

      ‘Oh …’

      ‘What’s wrong?’ he asked.

      ‘Nothing.’ She looked away again and huddled further into his jacket.

      Edoardo brought the tractor to a stop

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