Coercion to Love (9 page)

Daddy bites too, thought Cass drily, feeling the warm blush mount her cheeks all over again.

'I think it is time we allowed you to settle the little one down,' Mrs Valenti inserted ruefully, the look she sent her telling Cass that she was aware that Terri was becoming over-excited.

'Goodnight, Teresa dear.' Bending low on her sticks, she placed a kiss on the child's brow, her brown eyes darkening when Terri put up a small hand to touch her cheek. 'Dinner will be served in an hour, Cassandra,' she informed her huskily, her face averted so that they couldn't see how moved she was by Terri's little gesture. 'Maria will come and sit with the little one so you may eat with a peaceful mind.'

But Cass refused dinner that evening. With Terri safely asleep, she decided that she had a lot to think about, and there was no way she was going to set herself up for another confusion by having to endure another couple of hours of the Valenti’s unique brand of company.

A frown creased her smooth brow as she sat cross-legged in the centre of the luxurious bed. She was dressed once again in her own shorts and T-shirt, having put them back on the moment they were dry enough to wear. And that in itself had been an act of defiance, she admitted. As though she was making some kind of personal stand against events she had so quickly lost control

Five years of well-shored prejudices were beginning to tumble down in a matter of a few hours of being in the company of the man they had been so firmly erected against. It felt as though weeks had gone by since their eyes had first clashed outside Giuseppe's garage, instead of a mere half a day!

The few things she actually knew about Carlo Valenti  only what she had read in the articles written about in the newspapers. And those had left her with a picture of a man who lived, breathed and slept in his ego. Yet the man she had come to know  had shown her a completely different person.

Certainly, the ego was there. A man couldn't dress, look, speak and behave as he did without there being a serous dollop of egotism in his make-up. But she'd seen compassion in him today, and a surprising part of understanding—plus a real sense of fair play.  He had actually backed down about that awful file of about Liz because he had come to accept how unfair he was in using it.

He'd had her beaten with that file because there was no way she could risk Terri hearing any of those lies about her mother. And she sensed he had known it. Yet to remove the threat he had—or promised to do, which, with another frown, Cass found she trusted him to do.

Sure, he had a temper, she argued with herself, but so did she! And they did seem to spark each other off quite spectacularly.

But would he be a good father for Terri?

A picture, of a golden-haired little boy running into his father's waiting arms, shot like a pain across the forefront of her mind, followed quickly by a woman, as fair and lovely as Liz had been, smiling tenderly at the man she loved...

He must be attracted to women with blonde hair, she mused with a grimace at her own bright red tresses. That put her right out of the running.

Now, why had she thought that?

Because you are attracted to him, she answered, then dived off the bed to stand wide-eyed and trembling with shock at that telling confession.

One kiss and you're anybody's, she accused herself with a feeling of near hysteria that had her suddenly prowling relentlessly around the room. Perhaps that's your biggest problem, she decided bitterly. Not enough of those said kisses in your life to learn the art of indifference. You're just a push-over for a practised rake like Carlo Valenti! You've been too busy playing mother to bother with men, and now look where it's got you! Perhaps, she followed that thought through, it was time she did something about it!

And that kind of thinking was just asking for trouble, she told herself derisively, and it did nothing to solve the dilemma she was in about Terri.

Carlo was right, she allowed—Terri needed the reassuring strength of a father's love to support her through the growing years. She now had a grandmother to offer her the female support she would need. Here, this place, she had all the opportunities the world could possibly offer her, waiting within a fingertip's reach.

Little Miss Cassandra Nobody could never begin to compete with that. And, if Carlo was determined to take a serious interest in his daughter's life, which, she conceded firmly for the first time, he was definitely going to, with or without Cass's approval, then her own importance in Terri's life would diminish steadily...

A long sigh shook her, and she folded her arms across her body in that age-old search for comfort. Maybe it was time to let go completely. Go back to England, leaving Terri where she knew she would be happy and safe. Maybe, she followed on, she hadn't been doing the child any favours at all by keeping her away from these people who so obviously wanted to love her...

A knock at the suite door brought her swinging around d frown at it. 'Come in,' she invited, irritated by the intrusion.

Carlo stepped quietly inside, putting her instantly on the defensive as a warm flow of embarrassment swept through her body.

Maria tells me you have declined dinner,' he said, his expression strictly polite.

'Yes.' As an answer, its clipped tones verged on the rude, but Cass couldn't do much about it when the mere sight of him was enough to disturb her now. Her hooded gaze flicked restlessly over him. He was dressed semi formally, in black silk trousers and a pure white silk shirt that accentuated the richly tanned colour of his skin and did little to hide the cluster of dark hair she could see shadowing his rock-solid chest.

Her mouth went dry, and she spun away, wishing to God she'd never set eyes on him.

Her curt reply had made his face harden fractionally, and the way she turned her back on him brought a stiff frown in his face. Carlo seemed to be hesitating over something; she could sense his thoughts fixed broodingly on her, and tiny shivers began chasing themselves up and down her rigid spine.

'Is Teresa asleep?'

Cass nodded in mute reply. So that was it, she was thinking. He was here because he was concerned about his daughter, and not her own refusal to eat with them. For some reason that annoyed her even more, and, rudely keeping her back to him, she stared down at her bare feet curled into the cool creamy tiled floor.

Really, a less arrogant man would have taken the hint and left her alone with her black mood, but he didn't. Instead, and after another brief silence which had the fine hairs on the back of her neck tingling disturbingly, he stepped further into the room and quietly closed the door behind him.

'I realised, only a moment ago when Maria came to me, that I had not made it clear to you that you are no longer being held here under duress. You are free to leave whenever you want to, Cassandra,' he informed her deeply.

'Both you and Teresa,' he then made clear. "Though I would consider it an honour if you would both accept the hospitality of my home for the remainder of your stay in Italy...'

Such a very gracious speech, delivered by a man who must pride himself on his good manners. But Cass had to force herself to respond, turning to face him with a cool smile.

'Thank you for saying it,' she acknowledged, 'but I had come to realise that.'

His slow nod accepted her generosity. 'Then why do you refuse to eat with us?'

'I'm—tired...' she invented weakly. Well, what else could she say? she thought in frustration as his sleek brows arched in wry disbelief. That I simply don't want to be anywhere near you? That you upset and confuse just by being here? That I'm frightened of you and I think it's best that we steer well clear of each other because I am becoming dangerously attracted to you? And you, Mr Valenti, have only one use for women like me.

Liz's image swam up to taunt her. The kind of woman Carlo Valenti went for. The kind of woman her sister must have been.

She spun away again, restless confusion in every line of her slender frame.

'My mother informs me that Teresa likes her room.'

'Who wouldn't?' she snapped, then realised just how badly she was behaving, and gave herself a mental shake.

‘I’m sorry. There was no call for that.' Spinning around again, she grimaced in apology. 'But, as you can no doubt appreciate, I have a lot of things on my mind at file moment, signore, and I'm afraid I'm not good company tonight.'

He smiled at the signore, but made no remark on it. "And    I    intrude,'     he    graciously    understood.

'Please-----' he offered her one of the formal bows he could use to such devastating effect '—forgive me. I will leave you to your—thinking.'

'No!' The word was out before she could stop it, and a heart clattered in her breast. But he was turning back to the door, and suddenly she didn't want him to leave! Oh, God! she thought wretchedly, not understanding herself any more. It was a bit like being on a balance one moment she was eager to see the back of him, next, wanting him to stay.

'Y-you can go and see Terri for yourself if you would like to,' she offered awkwardly. 'Y-you won't disturb her once she's fast asleep...' dark gaze levelled thoughtfully on her for a moment whatever he was thinking hidden behind the mask he was wearing tonight.

"Thank you,' he said at last, and warm colour flooded her cheeks again—why, she just didn't know!

With the smooth grace of a man who was in total control of his own body, he moved across the creamy floor to the connecting room where his daughter lay sleeping the enviable sleep of the innocent.

Cass followed slowly, unable to stop herself. She had a morbid desire to see that love he had claimed for Terri confirmed. It might be like hammering another nail in her own coffin, but she needed to do it anyway.

He was squatting down beside the bed, his harshly handsome profile thrown into stark relief against the soft glow of the small lamp left burning close by.

Terri was curled into her usual ball. The only thing showing among the mound of bright yellow was the thick silken mass of jet-black curls. Carlo put out a hand to gently stroke them, his expression so fiercely tender that Cass couldn't drag her eyes away from him.

'My son was very like his mamma,' she heard him murmur huskily. 'But this little one is so like me -----' He swallowed, and there was a suspicion of a glitter in his eyes as he turned them on to Cass, and her heart squeezed in her breast in aching sympathy. "There is something almost reverential in seeing oneself recreated in another human being-----' his gaze slid back to his sleeping daughter'—like the achievements of one's karma. I am fulfilled.'

Cass felt unutterably moved by the words, by the rare compliment he was paying her by revealing such deep and personal feelings to her. 'Your wife must have felt the same sense of fulfilment when she looked at your son,' she offered softly.

He nodded, sending the sleeping child one last lingering glance before straightening to stride swiftly from the room. 'I will have Maria bring you a tray,' he informed her over his shoulder, his long stride taking him quickly to the suite door, 'and I wish you goodnight.'

'Goodnight, Signor Valenti,' Cass whispered to the closed door. He had already gone. Left so swiftly that she knew he'd had to get away before she witnessed his emotional breakdown.

That man, she found herself thinking positively, is no more capable of harming another human being than I am.

Which left her feeling even more confused. What had really gone on between him and Liz?

The next morning, Cass went in search of Carlo Valenti.

Maria had served them breakfast in their room, then taken Terri off to visit her grandmother who, apparently, did not leave her suite until noon.

Cass was back in her T-shirt and shorts, hair pulled into a simple pony-tail. Maria had waved her towards the terrace when she'd enquired where Carlo was, and, sure enough, she found him lounging over coffee and his newspaper, looking cool and relaxed in a cream short-sleeved shirt and buff-coloured riding breeches.

He stood up as she approached, his expression smiling but guarded. 'You slept well?' he enquired, moving swiftly to hold a chair for her to sit down.

'Yes, thank you.' She hadn't, but it seemed churlish to say so. In fact, she'd had an awful night, battling with herself. 'I want to talk to you,' she told him bluntly. Baring reached some firm conclusions around dawn this morning, she was now determined to tell him what they were before she changed her mind.

Dark eyes sharpened on her, his long hands pausing heir folding of his paper. Without asking her, he poured some coffee into a clean cup and pushed it across the table towards her.

'I am due back in England in just over a week.' His nod told her that he was already in possession of that information—how, she didn't know, and couldn't be bothered going into right now. The man had his ways; she already knew that from experience. 'I would like to use those days left to see how Terri responds to you. And...' she took in a deep breath before going on, because this next part was going to be difficult to say 'and if, during that time, I can feel reasonably sure that she is prepared to accept your presence in her life, then we will talk terms, as you call it—try to come up with a solution which will suit all of us, but mostly Terri.'

Her slender shoulders lifted and fell, sun-kissed and shining in the early morning sunlight. 'I am prepared to bow to whatever Terri decides she wants-----' even if that means my leaving her here with you, she added bleakly to herself '—so long as you are prepared to do the same.'

'Her welfare is of paramount importance to you, isn't it?'

'Of course!' she declared, ruffled by his dry tone. 'Do you think I have taken care of her all this time out of some morbid sense of duty? She's my sister's child, please remember! My blood runs in her veins just as your own does! I love her, and of course her welfare is paramount!'

'I was actually referring—badly, I admit-----' he smiled a little at her display of temper ' —to the fact that you put her needs way above your own. Don't you ever wonder what your life would have been like without the responsibility of a small child to dominate it?'