Deserving of His Diamonds (19 page)

enough to make her feel totally at ease. The sense of living under a

microscope was petrifying at times. She wondered how big-name celebrities

coped with it. And yet Emilio seemed to handle it all in his stride. But then

he seemed to know what places the paparazzi frequented, cleverly managing

to avoid them. He took Gisele to quiet, off the radar restaurants where the

food was magnificent and the wines like nectar. As the days passed, she felt

she was gradually getting to know the real Emilio, not the super-successful

architect, but the real man. The man behind the mask he wore in public. He

was making an effort to lower his guard with her, perhaps because he had

sensed her closing off from him. It came home to her in a powerful way

when they were walking back from having dinner in one of the less trendy

suburbs of Rome. They suddenly came across a young girl who was

obviously stoned on some drug. She staggered up to Emilio, teetering on her

shabby and scuffed high heels, her skin-tight skirt showing more than was

decent of her scarily skinny thighs. She said something lewd in Italian and

put a hand out to Emilio‘s chest. He covered the girl‘s scabby hand with his

and pulled it off his chest, but he still held it within his. He spoke to her like a concerned father would do to a wayward daughter. Gisele watched in

amazement. Although she couldn‘t understand much of what he had said,

she could tell that he hadn‘t berated the girl. He took her to one side, out of

the way of passers-by, chatting to her for a minute or two before he made a

call to his homeless kids‘ hotline. Within a few minutes a van arrived and

one of the youth workers came over and escorted the girl into the vehicle,

presumably to take her somewhere safe. Gisele came over to where Emilio

was standing

watching as the van drove down the street. She looped her arm through his

and moved her body close to his. ‗You seemed to know her,‘ she said. He

drew in a ragged breath and released it. ‗Yes, her name is Daniela and she‘s

been in and out of our detox programme three times,‘ he said. ‗She wants to

beat the cycle but she‘s got so much going against her—the wrong family,

the wrong friends and the wrong beliefs about herself.‘ He turned and looked

at her, his expression haunted. ‗I‘m terrified I‘m going to find her dead in

some back alley one day. The police will write her off as just another

overdose.‘ He scraped a hand through his hair and continued. ‗Do you know

the thing that gets me the most? She could have been anything she wanted.

She‘s bright and beautiful but look where she‘s ended up. How can I stop

her from selfdestructing? How many young women are out there just like

her? Some of them have children. Do you realise that? Who is looking after

them while their mothers are out working the streets?‘ Gisele swallowed

tightly. He had been one of those little children. She knew it, even though he

hadn‘t said anything further about his childhood. She had tried to get him to

open up over the past week but he had seemed reluctant to reveal anything

else. ‗You‘re doing all you can, Emilio,‘ she said. ‗You‘re doing more than

anyone I know to try and help.‘ ‗It‘s not enough.‘ He stalked a few paces

away, his hand going back to his hair, making it stick up in disarray.

‗Goddamn it, it‘s not enough.‘ She went over to him and hugged him from

behind. He was so rigid with frustration, but eventually he softened and

turned to face her. His expression looked as if he had come to some sort of

definitive decision—a

decision he had taken a long time to make. ‗I want to show you something,‘

he said. ‗What?‘ she asked. He took her hand and led her down a side street

and then another and then another. It was a labyrinth of dark alleys and

shadows, of scuttling rats and strewn and rotting rubbish. Gisele‘s skin

crawled but she clung onto Emilio‘s strong hand, somehow feeling safe in a

world that she had never visited before. A world she had not even known

existed. She felt ashamed that she hadn‘t made herself more aware. How had

she lived for twentyfive years and not have known that life for some people

was a daily struggle for basic survival? It made her grievances over the lies

she had been told about her origins pale in comparison. Eventually they

came to a back alley that had only one working streetlight. The insipid light

it cast was just enough to show the disrepair of the buildings, the neglect that

spoke of desperate people in desperate times. Emilio led her to the front of a

run-down building that was abandoned. No lights shone from inside.

Graffiti-sprayed slats boarded the windows up. It looked like a soulless

body, a shell of something it had once been but would never be again, no

matter how much money was thrown at it. ‗This is where my mother left

me,‘ he said in a toneless voice. ‗I was a month or two off turning four. I

remember it as if it were yesterday.‘ Gisele gripped his hand, her throat so

tight with emotion she couldn‘t speak. She let the tears run down her face as

she looked at the worn step. She imagined Emilio as a little child, not even

of school age. What had he felt to be left here? To watch in bewilderment as

his mother

walked away, never to return? ‗She was a teenager, barely out of childhood

herself,‘ Emilio said into the silence. ‗She probably didn‘t know who my

father was. I‘ve heard since there were four or five possible candidates.‘

‗Oh, Emilio …‘ ‗She told me she would be back.‘ His hand suddenly

gripped Gisele‘s so tightly she felt her bones protest but she wouldn‘t have

indicated that for all the money in the world. She stood there silently,

watching as the memories flashed through his haunted gaze. ‗She promised

me she would be back,‘ he said. ‗I believed her. I waited for her. I waited for

her for hours. Maybe it was days. I can‘t remember now. I just remember the

cold. It was so cold.‘ He gave an involuntary shudder. ‗It crept into my

bones. Do you know, there are some times when I can still feel it?‘ Gisele

put her arms around him and held him close, trying to reach inside him to

the little abandoned, bewildered child he had once been. ‗Oh, Emilio,‘ she

said, her voice breaking over a sob. ‗I can‘t bear that you went through that.

I can‘t bear to think of you so alone and so helpless.‘ His arms were like

steel bands as they wrapped around her. He crushed her to him, his head

buried against her neck. She breathed in the essence of him, the pain and the

wretchedness, drawing into her being the lost, lonely soul he had hidden

from everyone for so long. After a long moment he set her from him. ‗I

don‘t want other kids to go through what I did,‘ he said. ‗I don‘t want them

to spend their lives wondering where their mother went to that night and

why she didn‘t come back—to not

know if she‘s alive or dead. I don‘t want them to wonder if every man of a

certain age they pass on the street is the father they never met.‘ ‗You‘re such

an amazing person, Emilio,‘ Gisele said, putting a gentle hand to his face. ‗I

don‘t think I‘ve ever met a more amazing person.‘ ‗I‘ve never shown anyone

this place,‘ he said gruffly. ‗Not even the shelter workers know this is where

I came from.‘ ‗Thank you for showing me,‘ she said. ‗It makes me admire

you all the more.‘ He gave her a twisted look and linked his hand with hers.

‗Let‘s get out of here,‘ he said. ‗This place gives me the creeps.‘ Emilio

closed the door of the villa when they got home and turned off the exterior

lights. ‗You go on up to bed, cara,‘ he said. ‗I‘m going to call the shelter to

make sure Daniela is settling in OK.‘ ‗I‘ll wait for you,‘ Gisele said. He

brushed the underside of her chin with his finger. ‗Wait for me upstairs,‘ he

said. ‗I promise I won‘t be long.‘ He watched as she made her way up the

stairs; every now and again she turned back to look at him over her shoulder.

Her grey-blue eyes were full of the longing he could feel pumping through

his own veins. Telling her about his childhood had felt good. It had felt

cathartic. It made him feel as if that part of his life was truly behind him.

Gisele had not been repulsed by his wretched background but rather had

embraced him with the sort of acceptance he had been hungering for all of

his life.

After he made his call he went upstairs and opened the door of the master

suite. Gisele had showered and was now wearing his bathrobe. It was way

too big for her, almost covering her from neck to ankles, but even so he

could tell she was naked beneath it. ‗You‘re wearing my bathrobe,‘ he said.

‗Yes,‘ she said with a coy smile. ‗What are you going to do about it?‘ He

pushed the door behind him closed. ‗I‘m going to take it off you.‘ Her eyes

teased his. ‗What if I put up a fight?‘ A glint of amusement lit his gaze as he

came towards her. ‗Then it will be twice the fun.‘ She gave a little squeal

when he scooped her up in his arms, carrying her caveman style to the bed,

where he gently dropped her. He stood back and dispensed with his clothes,

watching as her pupils flared as each layer hit the floor. He came back to her

and tugged the ties of the bathrobe free, watching as it fell away from her

body. He feasted his eyes on her beautiful breasts, the cherryred nipples

already tightly budded. He bent his mouth to each one in turn, tasting her,

suckling on her, delighting in her unrestrained response. ‗Some fight you‘re

putting up,‘ he said teasingly. ‗Maybe I can‘t resist you,‘ she said, toying

with the hair on his chest with her soft fingertips. Her hands moved lower,

tantalising him with her touch. He sucked in a breath as she closed her

fingers around him. How could one woman‘s touch work such intense magic

on him? He wanted her so badly it was like a raging fever in the surging

river of his blood. He pressed her back down and came over her with his

weight supported by his

elbows. ‗Am I too heavy for you?‘ he asked. ‗No,‘ she said, pulling his head

down so she could press her mouth to his. Her tongue danced with his,

darting away and then coming back for more. Her lips were impossibly soft,

like velvet against his. He stroked his hands down her body, delighting in the

silk of her skin before going to the heart of her womanhood. She was so

warm and wet and he was so hard and aching he couldn‘t resist sinking into

her. She gave a little gasp and he immediately stilled. ‗Sorry, did I hurt

you?‘ he asked. ‗No, it‘s just you‘re so big and I‘m still a little out of

practice …‘ Her cheeks took on a rosy hue that he found so incredibly

endearing. He went to pull out but she stalled him with her hands on his

buttocks. ‗No, stay,‘ she said softly. ‗I want you.‘ He took it slowly,

conscious of her tender muscles accommodating him. She felt so wonderful,

so silky and yet so tight. She lifted her hips for each downwards thrust,

urging him on, her hands caressing his back and shoulders, her mouth like

fire on his. He caressed her breasts, taking his time over each one, his tongue

rolling over her nipples, stroking along the highly sensitive undersides where

he knew her nerves danced triple time. She writhed with pleasure as he

continued his sensual feast on her body, his teeth and tongue working in

tandem to bring about maximum excitement for her. She became more and

more restless as her need grew, her body rising to meet his as he sank deeper

into her. He felt the tension grow in her, the way her thighs gripped him

around the waist, her body open to him in wanton abandon as she sought the

ultimate in human release.

‗Now …‘ she gasped brokenly against the hot damp skin of his neck. ‗Oh,

please now …‘ He played her with his fingers, his touch light but sure. He

knew exactly what she needed to go over the edge. He had taught her

himself how to relax into the whirlpool, to let it carry her into oblivion. She

had been hesitant in the past; she had been almost frightened of the

overpowering sensations clamouring in her body, but he had gently coaxed

her into embracing what her body craved. Now as he felt every contraction

of her body as she orgasmed, the pulses of her flesh triggered his own

cataclysmic release. He fell forwards, pumping through those precious few

seconds of bliss as her body welcomed him home. He lay in the quiet

aftermath, still with her in the circle of his arms, her silver-blonde hair

splayed out on his chest. He heard the rhythmic sound of her breathing, the

way on each soft breath out it blew across his chest like a feather dancing

ahead of a teasing breeze. He closed his eyes, sighing deeply as he breathed

in the fragrance of her hair and skin, the taste of her, vanillasweet on his

tongue. It was the closest he had ever felt that he had finally found

somewhere to call home.

WHEN Gisele woke the next morning she was disappointed to find Emilio

wasn‘t beside her. But as she lay there covered in fine Egyptian cotton, in

that richly furnished suite, she thought about why he worked so hard and so

tirelessly, why he drove himself day after day after day. Visiting the bleak

desolation of that back alley and finding out the true horror of his childhood