Authors: Lynne Graham

Second-Time Bride (8 page)

BOOK: Second-Time Bride

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Daisy's cheeks coloured. For an instant, she had a dismaying image of herself hovering like a little girl obediently awaiting her instructions and Alessio taking control of the situation in his own good time. âCoffee,' she said tightly, and marched into the kitchen, leaving him to find his own way into the lounge.

So Tara and her father had got on like a house on fire. She was pleased for them bothâshe
was
! A good relationship with Alessio could only benefit her daughter. Now that Tara had met him, the ice was broken and they could all settle down into the kind of detached sharing practised by thousands of divorced parents. Alessio and Tara would form a relationship in which Daisy would play little part.

Maybe she was a bit jealous of that, a bit scared... well, possibly very scared...that Tara might start preferring Alessio to her. But that was childish, wasn't it? Love stretched. Tara was perfectly capable of loving them both. And thirteen years had to count for something, hadn't they? Having rammed down her own insecurities, Daisy entered the lounge, determined to be mature and reasonable regardless of how Alessio chose to behave.

She was taken aback to find Tara down on her knees in front of the bookcase, extracting the last of a pile of photo albums, most of which were already stacked suggestively at Alessio's feet. She gave her mother an anxious look. âYou don't mind if Dad borrows these for a while, do you? I said he could.'

Thirteen years of Daisy's life were documented in those albums. Daisy felt that her privacy was being cruelly invaded and had to bite back words of dismayed refusal. Those were Tara's records too. What could be more natural than that her daughter should want to share that pictorial account of her childhood with her father?

âI'll look after them.' Alessio's faint smile was sardonic and Daisy registered the fact that he knew exactly how she felt.

Flushed and uncomfortable, she set a cup of coffee in front of him.

âWe can go over them together after I come back from my school trip,' Tara told Alessio earnestly as she scrambled up again. “Night, Mum...Dad.' She stopped in the doorway, grinned widely at both her parents and slowly shook her head in bemusement. âIt sounds so weird to say that, to have you both here...like a real family.'

Daisy shrank deeper into her armchair as the door closed. Why did Tara have to go out of her way to sound like a deprived child within Alessio's hearing? she thought in distress. A
real
family!

âFamily... not a concept you ever knew a great deal about,' Alessio murmured. âSo in one uniquely selfish move you thought nothing of denying her her own family.'

Daisy thought of the family who had made her feel like a tarty little adventuress at her own wedding. Everyone had known she was pregnant. Bianca had made sure of that. And Alessio's mother had cried so much that people could have been forgiven for believing that she was attending her son's funeral. Taking the hint, the guests had stopped mouthing good wishes and had offered sympathy instead.

âIt wasn't like that,' she countered.

âYou know as well as I do that there would never have been a divorce if my father had known that you were still expecting a child. The subject would not even have been broached.'

Daisy thrust up her chin. âDo we have to keep harping back to the past?'

Brilliant golden eyes rested on her. âThat past formed the present and will undoubtedly alter the future. Did you really think that I could meet my daughter and then walk away from her again? She's tremendous!' Alessio acknowledged, with a sudden surge of appreciative warmth that sharply disconcerted Daisy. âHalf-child, half-woman, and she slides from one to the other between one sentence and the next.'

Her tense mouth softened. âYes,' she conceded.

âShe's funny and bright and very open...but do you know what I found hardest to take?' Alessio sprang upright and moved restlessly across the room before swinging fluidly back to her, his strong dark face taut. âAt first, it was like she was getting this one big chance to impress me and she was terrified that she might not make the grade. That's why she's exhausted. She's been living on her nerves all day.'

A lump ballooned in Daisy's throat. She focused studiously on her bare feet.

âI believe that I have set her fears at rest. I told her that I would have been there for her from the very beginning of her life had I been offered that opportunity.'

âI can see how popular I'm going to be,' Daisy muttered helplessly, but he wasn't telling her anything she hadn't expected. She was the fall guy in this newly formed triangle. Nothing would be allowed to come between Alessio and his desire to win his daughter's affection. No excuses would be made for Daisy. He would emerge from the debris of their broken marriage shining white and squeaky clean. After all, Daisy hadn't given him a chance to be a father.

âOn the contrary, you will be very popular, Daisy,' Alessio drawled in honeyed contradiction. âYou are about to play a leading role in fulfilling our daughter's painfully obvious desire for a
real
family.'

Her violet eyes were strained. âI'm more than willing to meet you halfway for Tara's sake. You can see her whenever you like.'

âI expect much more than that from you.'

Daisy paled at that uncompromising assurance and curled her hands together on her lap. âI know that you'll probably want to fly her over to Italy to meet the restâ'

âOf the cast of the horror movie you mentioned?'

Daisy reddened fiercely, finding that reference ungenerous when she was bending over backwards to be reasonable. âYou have to make allowances for the fact that I never knew that you would feel like this about Taraâ'

âAnd you have to accept that now I've found her I'm not letting go of her again.'

âI am accepting that.'

âAnd that either you share on my terms or risk getting left behind,' Alessio extended drily.

Daisy struggled to work out what it was he wanted that she had not already offered. âWhat are your terms?'

âAnother home, two parents and complete security for my daughter.'

For a moment, Daisy looked back at him blankly. Then her sensitive stomach churned.
Two
parents? He cold only be talking about marrying Nina Franklin. She vented a hiss of angry disbelief. âYou're planning to marry Nina and fight me for custody!'

âGive me one good reason why I would try to take an already insecure adolescent girl away from the mother she adores and give her a stepmother she would undoubtedly loathe,' Alessio invited with evident impatience.

âYou said that if it took you a lifetime you would punish me!'

âNot at the cost of my daughter's happiness.'

Daisy's brain felt as if it was functioning at half its usual capacity. If Alessio was not talking about marrying Nina...But then he hadn't actually mentioned marriage specifically, had he? He had referred to another home and two parents. So what was he talking about? He simply couldn't be talking about what was currently crossing her mind.
That
would be sheer insanity.

âWhen did you last have a good night's sleep?' Alessio asked.

âI don't remember.'

âIt shows. I feel as though I'm banging my head against a brick wall.

âWe were talking about Tara.' Daisy was still shaken and embarrassed by the mad thought that had briefly occurred to her and she reached out for her cup of coffee with what she hoped was an air of cool, detached composure.

âI've already made the decision which will best serve all our needs.' Alessio studied her with brooding eyes, his wide, sensual mouth suddenly setting hard. âWe will get married again.'

As her fingers involuntarily loosened their grip on the cup and hot liquid splashed down her jeans, Daisy vented a startled shriek of pain and sprang up, pressing her palms against her burning thighs. Alessio dealt her a split-second look of raw incredulity and then strode forward. Snatching her unceremoniously up into his arms and tumbling her down on the sofa, he proceeded to unzip and peel down her jeans at speed.

âWhat are you doing?' Daisy screeched in horror, endeavouring without success to evade his determined ministrations.

âI heard a scream,' Tara intervened. â
Mum
...?'

âYour mother has scalded herself. Where's the bathroom?' Alessio countered.

Thirty seconds later, Daisy found herself standing in the bath with Tara aiming the shower head at her bare thighs to cool the smarting flesh with cold water. Tears of mortification had now taken over from momentary tears of pain. Alessio was rustling, tight-mouthed with disapproval, through a first-aid box crammed with cosmetics.

âYou're really cool in a crisis,' Tara was saying appreciatively to her father. As she took her attention off what she was doing, the gushing water angled up to drench Daisy's T-shirt as well. âI did a first-aid course last summer but I wouldn't have remembered what to do so quickly.'

âI'm all right now,' Daisy murmured in desperation, cringing with embarrassment.

âYou need at least ten minutes of that treatment,' Alessio overruled.

âAt least ten minutes. He's right, Mum,' Tara added, sounding like a little echo.

âIt was a very minor scald. The coffee wasn't that hot.' Daisy was trying somewhat hopelessly to tug the too small T-shirt down over a pair of minuscule white pants which were probably transparent now that they were wet.

âYou screamed,' her daughter reminded her. âYou scared me!'

âDon't tell me Daisy hasn't done that to you before. She's accident-prone but wonderfully resilient,' Alessio put in reassuringly. âShe came off my motorbike twice without breaking anything.'

âMum just hasn't got very good spatial awareness,' Tara told him informatively. âAunt Janet thinks it's because she was born weeks before she should have been. That's probably why she's so small and skinny as well. It was a real miracle that she survived. I mean
thirty
years ago a lot of premature babies died! I was only a couple of weeks early. It didn't harm me but Aunt Janet said that Mum's development was definitely affectedâ'

âI thought you were tired,' Daisy slotted into the flood of chatter, feeling older, smaller, skinnier, clumsier and less adequate than she had in years.

âYes, you should go back to bed,' Alessio agreed, a slight tremor disturbing his smooth drawl. âI can handle this.'

Daisy wondered if her legs were turning blue. They were numb. The bathroom was freezing cold too. But it was no use; she couldn't block out that shattering announcement one minute longer. âWe will get married again.' Though every rational thought denied that Alessio could have said that, she knew he had said it. And that unapologetic arrogance was at least familiar. Only the last time Alessio had told her that they were getting married Daisy had had no problem with being told rather than asked...

She had been weak with relief and, indeed, it hadn't been very long before she'd begun feeling incredibly happy that she was going to stay on in Italy as his wife and share as many of his waking and sleeping moments as she could possibly manage. Sadly, her sunny belief that Alessio would soon reach that same blissful state of acceptance hadn't lasted much beyond their wedding night, when she had had the poor taste to joke that she felt like Cinderella.

Alessio had looked at her for the very first time as if he could quite happily have strangled her. His wonderful sense of humour had vanished when he'd put that fatal ring on her finger and it had not reappeared. But had she then sown the first seed of his suspicion that she had been plotting all along to acquire a share of the Leopardi wealth? Daisy reflected that she could truthfully put her hand on her heart and assert that the very last thing that had ever been on her mind when Alessio had been making love to her was money...

Daisy emerged from an undeniably erotic reverie to find her T-shirt being whipped off. She emitted a strangled moan of protest just as her equally sodden bra was tugged down her arms. Alessio wrapped a towel round her bare, pouting breasts, met her outraged eyes and said tautly, âYou're cold and wet. I couldn't undress you in front of Tara. It would have embarrassed her.'

He sank down on the corner of the bath and directed the shower head at her shivering legs, and then his smooth dark head angled down and a lean hand settled on her hip to twist her round. âWhere the hell did you get those bruises?' he demanded thunderously.

âOn the stairs at the bank.' Daisy was resigned to humiliation now but striving not to show that it mattered.

âDidn't I tell you to watch out?' Alessio gritted. âDidn't I warn you?'

âYes... you're
always
right,' Daisy muttered with a speaking lack of appreciation.

BOOK: Second-Time Bride

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