VITTORIO'S MISTRESS (The Vittorio Series) (20 page)

“We should…join the others,” Paige said in a breathless whisper when he finally came up for air.

“If you insist,
bella
,” he dropped one last kiss on her sweet lips, “but we will continue this after they have gone.”

Paige didn’t bother trying to argue with him, it would have been a waste of breath anyway.
 
She didn’t offer any resistance when he put his arm around her and ushered her outside either because she didn’t want to create a scene, but if Dante thought for one minute she was just going to capitulate every time he decided he wanted to kiss her…

“Are you done kissing now, Mama?”

Paige’s face turned ten shades of red.
 
“Finish eating, angel,” she said with a thin smile.

Daniella popped the last piece of fruit from her plate into her mouth.
 
“I wanted to come and get you but…” she swallowed the fruit, her expression one of complete innocence, “
Chantel
said not to
innerupt
you.”
 

“Is that so,” Paige shot a wilting look at
Chantel
.

“Yep,” Daniella continued.
 
“
Chantel
said you
needed
to be kissed and then Nana
shooshed
her and said it was time to eat.”

Paige didn’t think it was possible to be any more embarrassed than she already was, but that was before Dante decided his daughter’s comment deserved a reply.

“
Chantel
is right.
 
And since it appears that I have been neglecting my duties in the department,” he smiled down at Paige, “I plan on kissing your Mama every chance I get from now on.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
***

“Don’t even think about it,” Paige said testily when Dante came down to breakfast the next morning.

Ignoring her warning, Dante leaned down to kiss her good morning.
 
“Kiss me properly,” he ordered when she kept her lips pressed tightly together.

Paige glared up at him.
 
“This is ridiculous.
 
If I don’t want to kiss you then
I
…”
 
Damn
.
 
She should have known he’d swoop in for the kill if she opened her mouth to speak.

“Much better,” he said with a satisfied grin.
 
Dante took his place at the head of the table and poured a cup of coffee from the carafe.
 
“Where is Daniella?”

“
Chantel
came by early and got her.
 
She insisted on buying Daniella a new dress for the dinner with your family tonight.”

“You should have told me she needed new clothes.
 
I will order a charge card in your name immediately.
 
In the meantime, you can use mine.
 
Just tell me where you want to take her and I will call ahead to authorize it.”

“Daniella doesn’t need any more clothes, and I’m perfectly capable of paying for them myself if she did.
 
Chantel
just wanted to buy her something special for tonight.”

Dante eyed her over the rim of his coffee cup.
 
“I will get the card for you anyway.
 
Anything my daughter needs,
I
will pay for, is that understood?”

“Fine, if that’s what you want,” she said crisply.
 
“Just don’t expect me to deck her out in designer labels.”

Dante bristled.
 
“Daniella will have nothing but the best…”

“Are you two at it again?”
 
Mireia
set Dante’s breakfast in front of him.
 
“
Madre di Dio
, I have never seen such a pair!”
 
She turned a stern gaze on Paige.
 
“You will do as he says and buy nothing but the best for Daniella because she is a Vittorio and because she deserves it.”
 
Mireia
leveled the same hard look at Dante.
 
“And
you
will stop bullying the mother of your child and show her some respect or she will never consent to be your wife.”

Dante and Paige exchanged guilty looks.
 
“I’m sorry,” they said in unison after
Mireia
had gone.

“Forgive me,
cara
, I am only trying to be a good father.”

“Oh Dante, you
are
a good father, the best.
 
Daniella loves you and it’s not because you buy her things.”

“I know, but I
like
giving her things, and I like the way it makes me feel inside.
 
She reminds of you,” he said wistfully.
 
“I remember how your face lit up when I bought you all those pretty clothes.
 
It made me happy to know I was the one responsible for putting that smile there.”

“You told me you bought them because you didn’t want anyone to think you couldn’t set your mistress up in style.”

Dante grimaced.
 
“I must have sounded very arrogant, and for that I am sorry.
 
It had nothing to do with you being my mistress, Paige.
 
I just wanted to…take care of you.”

“Why?”

“Why do you think?”
 
Dante reached across the table and covered her hand with his.
 
“I love you, Paige.
 
Even when I thought all I wanted was revenge, deep inside I always knew the reason I could not let you go was because I still loved you.”

“But you did let me go, or at least you would have if you hadn’t seen me with Marc.”

“No…no,
cara
mia
, that was just another excuse.
 
We were bound to each other from the very beginning and there is no use pretending otherwise.
 
And if I had been honest about the money, you and I would be married by now and probably working on a second child.”

Paige’s heart fluttered.
 
“You really believe that?”

“Yes.

“So if…if we got married, you’d want another baby?”

Dante’s fingers curled more tightly around her hand.
 
“More than anything,
mio amore
.
 
I want to be there for you this time, to watch your body change while my baby grows inside of you.
 
Marry me, Paige,” he pleaded.
 
“I want you with me always, as my wife, as the mother of my children.
 
Please…say yes.”

“Dante…”
 

She shook her head, too overwhelmed by the enormous love she had from him to even speak.
 
As the silence between them dragged on, something in Dante’s eyes dimmed.
 
Oh God, he didn’t understand what he’d done to her, what he was still doing to her.
 
Paige tried to smile, but her lips were trembling and she didn’t think it looked much like a smile at all.
 
She rose to her feet and went to him on legs that were as wobbly as her quivering insides then shocked him by planting herself on his lap when he pushed his chair back.

“
Yes
,” she managed to whisper before locking her arms around Dante’s neck and drawing his mouth down onto hers.

Dante was still kissing her when he rose to his feet with Paige in his arms, and he went on kissing her all the way upstairs to his bedroom.
 
He hadn’t even considered the possibility she wouldn’t say yes…eventually, but hearing that one little word from Paige’s mouth was more incredible than he could ever have imagined.
 
But what really made Dante’s heart soar, what made him believe she was truly his was the sound of her trembling voice when she told him she loved him.

“Say it again,” he whispered as he slowly sank into her.

“I love you, I love you,” she murmured over and over.

This was what she’d dreamed of night after night while she'd slept alone in the room next to his.
 
It had taken her some time to forgive him for lying about his finances and it was only because it dawned on her that she’d been dishonest too.
 
Granted, the inheritance she’d kept a secret from him wouldn’t have altered Dante’s perception of her because of his own vast wealth, but Paige hadn’t known that at the time.
 

The truth was
,
he had far more reason to resent her than she did him and yet he hadn’t tried to make her feel guilty or withdrawn his affection from her.
 
Instead he’d jumped into his role as a father and done everything he could to make a place for her and Daniella in his life.
 
They
were
a family, just like Dante said, and there would be more children, more love,
more
happiness, more of everything.

“I do not want to wait long to be married,” Dante told her as they lay in each other’s arms afterwards.
 
“And I do not want to wait to have more children either.
 
Would you object to throwing out those birth control pills as soon as we are married?”

“I don’t object to any of it.
 
My parents and
Chantel
will be ecstatic but…what about your family?
 
You haven’t really said how they feel about me living here.
 
I mean, they have to accept Daniella into the family because she’s a part of you, but what if they don’t like me?
 
What if…”

“They will love you, Paige, just as I do.
 
It is true they were upset to learn you had kept Daniella a secret all these years, but after I explained why you did it they were more upset with me than you.”

“I’m a little nervous about meeting them,” Paige admitted.

“Just be yourself,
cara
mia
, and they cannot help but like you.”

“I hope so.
 
I suppose we should get dressed.
 
Chantel
will be back with Daniella soon and I was planning on stopping by the daycare center this morning to make sure everything is running smoothly.”

“Are you anxious to get back to work?”

“I thought I would be.
 
I love being around all the children and teaching them new things but…” she tilted her head back and gazed into his dark eyes, “I love being here with you more.
 
I know this can’t go on forever, not when we both have businesses that need our attention, but I don’t want it to end just yet.”

“We still have two weeks before I have to return to work.
 
If you think the center can do without you for that long, what do you think about taking a little vacation together?
 
We could go to the beach house for a week, just the three of us.”

“It sounds wonderful.”

“Then we will do it.
 
We can leave tomorrow and once we have settled in, you and I can discuss the wedding.”

The wedding
.
 
Paige couldn’t wait to be Dante’s wife.
 
Would his parents be as happy about it as hers were going to be?
 
A twinge of nerves made her stomach flutter.
 
Dante had already endeared himself to her family,
Chantel
and Marc included, and he’d probably never doubted for a moment that they’d like him.
 
Paige, on the other hand, felt as if she was going before a firing squad.
 
Besides his parents, Dante had four brothers, a sister, and two sisters-in-law who’d all be studying her and wondering what kind of woman she was to deprive him of his daughter for three years.