LITMIR.BIZ

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      The terse statement made Mia realise there were depths of feeling and conviction to Alessandro’s stance that she hadn’t anticipated. Hadn’t remotely begun to guess. ‘So what exactly are you suggesting?’ she asked faintly.

      ‘You and Ella live at my villa in Tuscany. It is comfortable, in the country, the perfect place to raise a child. I will live there as well, and commute to Rome or wherever else as needed.’

      ‘So…we’d live together?’ She hadn’t expected that, somehow. She’d anticipated him tucking her away, controlling her as her father had her mother. But now it almost sounded as if he expected them to play at happy families, something she really could not envision, and she doubted Alessandro had thought it through entirely.

      Alessandro’s frown deepened. ‘Of course we’d live together.’ He made it sound as if she’d asked something so obvious as to be absurd.

      Mia shook her head slowly. ‘That’s not a given, Alessandro. I mean…we don’t even know each other.’

      ‘We have a baby together.’

      ‘Yes, but…we’re strangers.’ It hurt to say it, because she’d never, ever have wanted to bring a child into the world the way she had with Ella, and yet she didn’t regret her daughter for a single second.

      ‘Then we’ll get to know each other.’ Again he made it all sound glaringly obvious. ‘All the more reason for you to come to Tuscany, Mia.’

      ‘So you expect me to follow you to Italy, to live in your house, without even knowing you?’

      ‘You know enough, surely.’

      ‘What I know I don’t even like! You’re ruthless, Alessandro, completely ruthless when it comes to the companies you take over—’

      ‘That’s business, and in any case, I’m not as ruthless as you think.’ He almost sounded hurt. ‘I thought you realised that.’

      Memories of that night flitted through her brain, the man she’d started to dream he was, as well as what she’d learned about Dillard’s former employees. No, he wasn’t as ruthless as all that. And yet…

      ‘Still, you’ve been incredibly overbearing since you blasted back into my life,’ she persisted, ‘demanding everything and making no compromises—’

      ‘Because I’m right.’

      She rolled her eyes. ‘Of course you are.’

      ‘And because this is important to me.’ He lowered his voice, his hands clenched together, as he struggled with a depth of emotion Mia had never seen before. ‘I grew up without a father, Mia. He chose to walk away before I was born. All my life I’ve wondered…’ He paused, cleared his throat. ‘I cannot abide the thought of my daughter thinking I would do the same thing, even for a moment. I cannot countenance for a second that she might wonder why I don’t see her more often, or why I don’t live in the same country as she does. I cannot stand the prospect that she might think I don’t care.’

      Tears, unexpected, unwanted, crowded Mia’s eyes. ‘I’m sorry,’ she whispered. ‘I didn’t realise.’

      He nodded jerkily. ‘Now you know.’

      ‘But surely you can still see how much you are asking of me.’

      ‘I am asking just as much of myself. Together we will be parents for Ella. We will put aside our own desires and needs for her sake. It is what any good parent would do.’

      And how on earth could she argue with that? Mia felt cornered, and yet she could hardly blame Alessandro for it. She agreed with him…she just wished she didn’t. That there was another way, and yet there so clearly wasn’t.

      ‘So you want us to live together?’ she surmised hesitantly. ‘In the same house? What about…what about all your women?’

      Alessandro looked at her as if she had sprouted horns. ‘I would not have women.’

      ‘At least a woman, then,’ Mia clarified impatiently. ‘I’ve seen the photos, Alessandro—’

      ‘The only woman I will have on my arm is you,’ Alessandro returned, his silver gaze snaring hers and pinning her in place. ‘As my wife.’

      For a second Alessandro thought Mia might faint. Her face drained of colour and she swayed where she sat, her lips bloodless as she parted them and tried to speak.

      ‘What…?’ The word was a scratchy whisper. She shook her head, looking as dazed as if she’d been hit on the head. ‘What…are you talking about?’

      ‘I thought it would be obvious.’ Although he realised now what had been set in stone in his own mind had not even crossed Mia’s. He’d been so sure of the way forward he might have skipped a few rather crucial steps in their conversation. Well, he would cover them now. ‘I thought I’d made it clear. For Ella’s sake, we will marry. You would live in Tuscany as my wife.’

      ‘Was that a proposal?’

      Her scathing tone caught him on the raw. He’d just offered to marry her, and she was acting offended. ‘It was a fact,’ he stated rather shortly. ‘I accept that neither of us expected or even wished this, Mia, but surely we can put aside our personal preferences for Ella’s sake. It’s the right thing to do.’

      ‘But you’re talking about my whole life.’

      ‘And my whole life.’ He met her gaze steadily, refusing to be moved. Mia still looked as if she didn’t know what had hit her.

      ‘Alessandro, I can’t marry you.’

      ‘I’m not asking you to marry me this very minute.’ He tried to ignore the sharp needling of hurt he felt at her blunt refusal. ‘I understand we’ll want to get to know another before we say any vows, although the sooner we make this official, the better, as far as I am concerned. Again, for Ella’s sake.’

      ‘I… I can’t.’ She looked agonised, strangely torn. ‘Alessandro, I can’t.’

      ‘Why not?’ His voice sharpened. ‘Are you already married?’

      ‘No, of course not.’ She rose from the sofa, rubbing her arms as if she were cold. ‘I just can’t. I can’t be married. I can’t be married to a man like you.’

      ‘A man like me?’ His tone had turned icy. ‘What is that supposed to mean?’ A man of low birth? A bastard? He’d heard it all before, of course, but it still hurt coming from her.

      ‘Just…’ Mia shrugged helplessly. ‘Someone so…rigid and in control. You’ve done nothing but order me around since I met you, Alessandro, and I can’t live like that. I can’t let myself live like that.’

      Alessandro absorbed her words, as well as the despairing conviction behind them. ‘I understand your concern,’ he said finally. ‘I don’t want you to feel as if you’ve been railroaded into anything. We can leave the discussion about marriage for now. I’m not about to force you to the altar.’ The very thought was distasteful. ‘But I hope you can see the rightness of coming to Italy with me.’

      ‘For ever?’ Mia flung at him.

      Startled, Alessandro shrugged. ‘At least for an…interim period.’

      ‘How about three months?’ she challenged. ‘I can just about live with that.’

      ‘Three months,’ he repeated. It wasn’t so long, but hopefully long enough. ‘So we can get to know one another and make sure a relationship between us will work.’

      ‘A relationship?’ She frowned. ‘Are you saying that we’re…dating?’ She sounded disbelieving.

      ‘If

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