Deserving of His Diamonds (7 page)

more?‘ His expression remained inscrutable. ‗Owning a private jet is no

longer my measure of a successful person,‘ he said. ‗I have other things I

would rather spend my money on.‘ ‗Such as?‘ His hand dropped from her

face as he stepped back from her. ‗Good night,‘ he said. ‗I‘ll see you in the

morning.‘ ‗It is morning,‘ she said, just to be pedantic and annoying, but it

was a wasted effort on her part as he had already left the room.

OF COURSE she didn‘t sleep. Not even the chemical cocktail the doctor had

prescribed to help dull the nightmares about Lily had any effect on her

tonight. Gisele tossed and turned and watched as the clock went round, her

mind racing with thoughts of Emilio and the month ahead and how on earth

she was going to get through it. In the end she gave up. She padded over to

her suitcase and took out Lily‘s blanket and cradled it against her chest as if

her tiny baby were still alive and breathing, wrapped inside it. Tears rolled

down her cheeks unchecked. How many nights had she spent doing exactly

this? When was this searing pain ever going to ease? She must have dozed

off for she suddenly heard the rap of Emilio‘s knuckles on her door. ‗Time

to get up, Gisele,‘ he said. ‗It‘s 7:00 a.m.‘ ‗I‘m awake,‘ she called out as she

struggled upright off the bed. She put Lily‘s blanket safely back in her

suitcase before heading for the shower. Emilio was pouring himself a cup of

coffee when Gisele came in. She had a stoic look about her as if she were

being led to the gallows and was determined not to beg for last-minute

mercy. ‗Sleep OK?‘ he asked. ‗Out like a light.‘ He doubted it. She had

damson-coloured shadows under her eyes and her face was deathly pale.

‗You should have something to eat,‘ he said, waving a hand

towards the food he‘d had delivered to the suite. ‗I‘m not hungry.‘ He drew

in a breath. ‗You think by going on a hunger strike that it‘s going to help

things?‘ She shot him a glare. ‗I‘m not on a hunger strike. I‘m just not

hungry.‘ ‗You‘re never hungry,‘ he snapped at her in annoyance. ‗It‘s not

normal. You need food. You‘ll fade away to nothing if you don‘t eat.‘ ‗What

would you care?‘ she asked. ‗Your last girlfriend was much thinner than me.

It was a swimwear model you were dating last month, wasn‘t it? Or have I

got her mixed up with that London socialite with the big boobs?‘ She tapped

a finger against the side of her mouth as if trying to prod her memory. ‗What

was her name again? Arabella? Amanda? Ariel?‘ Emilio ground his teeth as

he pulled out a chair for her. ‗Sit.‘ She gave him a castigating look. ‗You

know you could have saved yourself a heap of money by buying a dog to

obey your commands.‘ ‗I thought it would be much more fun training you,‘

he said through tight lips. ‗Now, sit and eat.‘ She sat with a toss of her head.

‗At least I don‘t pee on the carpet,‘ she said. ‗I wouldn‘t put it past you,‘ he

muttered. She picked up a rasher of bacon and dropped it on her plate. ‗So

did you sleep?‘ she asked. ‗You don‘t look like

it. You look like hell.‘ ‗Thank you.‘ She stabbed the bacon with her fork.

‗You‘re welcome.‘ Emilio watched her as she nibbled at the bacon. Her

small white teeth and those luscious lips of hers had kept him awake for

what had been left of last night. He tore his gaze away and refilled his coffee

cup. ‗Do you want coffee or tea?‘ he asked. ‗Tea,‘ she said and, rolling her

eyes, added, ‗Sorry for being so un-Italian.‘ ‗You‘re not sorry at all,‘ he said, putting a steaming cup of tea in front of her. ‗Do you want milk or sugar?‘

She raised her brows at him. ‗You don‘t remember how I take my tea?‘ she

asked. ‗Or have there been so many women since me you‘re getting us all a

little mixed up?‘ Emilio pressed his lips together. He wasn‘t proud of how

many women there had been. It was just like her to twist the knife as much

as she could. ‗You take it black with one sugar,‘ he said. She pressed her

finger to the table and made a buzzing noise like that on a game show.

‗Wrong answer.‘ He frowned. ‗Are you sure?‘ She gave him a look. ‗Yeah,

I‘m sure.‘ ‗So when did you give up the sugar?‘ he asked. ‗I did that when I

was …‘ She stopped and dropped her gaze to her plate. ‗When you were?‘

he prompted.

She pushed back from the table. ‗I have to get my things together,‘ she said.

‗I haven‘t packed.‘ ‗You haven‘t unpacked,‘ he pointed out wryly. ‗I have to

do my … my hair,‘ she said, ruffling it with one of her hands. ‗It‘s a mess.‘

‗It looked perfectly fine until you just did that,‘ he said. ‗I have to do my

make-up.‘ ‗You‘re wearing make-up,‘ he said. She bit her lip and then

winced and put her fingers up to her mouth. Emilio felt his gut clench. ‗Does

it hurt?‘ he asked. Her eyes fell away from his. ‗I‘ve felt worse pain.‘ A little silence passed. ‗I‘m sorry,‘ he said heavily. ‗For what?‘ she asked, shooting

him another cut glass look. ‗Buying me back into your life or throwing me

out of it in the first place?‘ Emilio held her brittle gaze for a lengthy

moment. ‗I have already told you I‘m not proud of how I handled things

back then. This is my chance to make it up to you.‘ He let out a rough-edged

sigh. ‗It must have been terrible for you the night I asked you to leave.‘ ‗It

wasn‘t a highlight of my time in Italy, that‘s for sure,‘ she said, affecting a

couldn‘t-care-less pose. ‗But what doesn‘t kill you makes you stronger,

right?‘

Emilio swept his gaze over her thin frame. ‗You don‘t look stronger, cara,‘

he said softly. ‗You act it but you don‘t look it.‘ She seemed to be actively

avoiding his eyes. ‗I‘d really prefer it if you didn‘t call me that,‘ she said. ‗I always called you that in the past.‘ ‗This is not the past,‘ she said tightly.

‗This is now. It‘s different now.‘ ‗Not so different,‘ he said. ‗We are together

again.‘ She flashed him a defiant glare. ‗Only for a month.‘ He picked up his

coffee and took a sip before he responded. ‗Maybe you‘ll like it so much

you‘ll change your mind and stay.‘ ‗And do what?‘ she asked. ‗Hang off

your arm and your every word like some besotted bimbo with no mind of

her own? No, thanks. I‘ve grown up. I want more for my life than to be a

rich man‘s plaything.‘ Emilio buttoned down his anger with an effort. ‗You

were going to be my wife, not my plaything,‘ he said. Her eyes clashed with

his. ‗Why did you ask me to marry you, Emilio?‘ she asked. ‗Why not one

of the many other women you‘d been involved with before me? Why was I

so special?‘ He put his coffee cup down with a little thwack. ‗I think you

already know the answer to that, Gisele.‘ ‗It was because I was a virgin,

wasn‘t it?‘ she asked. ‗What a novelty in this day and age to have a woman

no one else had ever had. I was a perfect candidate as your

future wife. I was perfect until that scandal broke and then suddenly I wasn‘t

worth anything to you. I was soiled. Used goods. Imperfect. And there‘s

nothing you like less than imperfection, is there?‘ Emilio pushed himself

away from the counter, the set to his mouth grim. ‗We need to leave in less

than an hour,‘ he said. ‗I hope I don‘t need to remind you that your

behaviour towards me will be under intense scrutiny as soon as we leave the

privacy of this hotel. I will not tolerate your insults or your childish attempts to pick a fight in front of any member of my staff, or the press, or indeed the

public. If you want to have a showdown with me, then at least have the

decency and poise to keep a lid on it until we are alone.‘ Gisele looked at

him in alarm. ‗You don‘t expect me to act as if I‘m still in love with you, do

you?‘ He gave her a look that would have sliced through steel. ‗That‘s

exactly what I expect,‘ he said. ‗We‘re meant to be trying to resurrect our

relationship.‘ She felt her stomach shift uneasily. ‗I can‘t do it,‘ she said. ‗I can‘t pretend to feel something I no longer feel.‘ ‗You will have to,‘ he said

implacably. ‗I‘m not paying two million dollars for you to look daggers at

me while the whole world looks on. If you can‘t meet the terms, then tell me

now and I‘ll tear up the agreement. It‘s up to you.‘ Gisele hesitated, caught

between wanting to walk away and wanting to prove something to him and

to herself. Could she do it? Could she act the role she had played for real

with such embarrassing enthusiasm in the past? It was just a month. Four

weeks of playing for the press. In private she could be herself. She could

hate him a thousandfold and no one would be the wiser. ‗All right,‘ she said,

mentally crossing her fingers that she was

doing the right thing. ‗I‘ll do it.‘ Thankfully, the Australian press had not

been present when Gisele and Emilio left the hotel for their flight. But it was

a completely different story when they landed in the Leonardo da Vinci

Airport in Rome. As soon as they stepped through Customs the paparazzi

swarmed like bees. Gisele felt under siege as it brought back horrible

reminders of the time when the scandal had broken. The camera flashes

made her flinch, and her heart was racing so much she felt as if she was

going to faint. She had pretended to sleep on the plane rather than try and

make polite conversation with Emilio, but it was all catching up with her

now. She felt tired and sick and way too much out of her depth to cope with

the barrage of comments firing like machine gun bullets at her. She had

always found the intrusion of the press rather daunting from the moment she

became involved with Emilio. She had felt as if she was under scrutiny all

the time. The speculation on what she wore, how she looked or whether she

was smiling or frowning was something she had never got used to. Rumours

about their relationship would appear from time to time, which Emilio had

laughed off, but Gisele—although she had pretended otherwise—had been

distressed by the lack of privacy. Emilio spoke in Italian, asking the press to

keep back to give Gisele some room. His arm came around her protectively,

and if it hadn‘t been for their terse exchange before they left the hotel, Gisele would have been tempted to believe he truly cared about her welfare rather

than his reputation. ‗Signor Andreoni—‘ a journalist pushed through the

cluster of cameras with a microphone ‗—does this mean you and Signorina

Carter will be getting married as soon as possible?‘

‗We are enjoying some time together before we make any firm plans,‘

Emilio answered. Gisele had learnt a bit of Italian while she had lived with

Emilio but it wasn‘t enough to follow every rapidly spoken word, although

she did hear the word matrimonio— marriage. What exactly was he telling

the press? ‗Signorina Carter?‘ The same journalist turned the microphone in

Gisele‘s direction but this time spoke in English. ‗Is it good to be back with

Signor Andreoni?‘ Gisele stumbled over her reply. ‗Urn … I‘m very happy

…‘ ‗It has been two years since your very public break-up,‘ the journalist

continued. ‗You must be feeling very relieved the truth has finally come out

about who exactly it was in that sex tape.‘ Gisele felt uncomfortable talking

about her sister‘s private life. Sienna had seemed reluctant to go into any

details other than to say the press had blown it up to be much more than it

actually was. Gisele suspected that ignominious incident had been

devastating for her twin, although Sienna pretended otherwise. ‗I‘m happy

that I‘ve found my sister,‘ she said. ‗That‘s been the most important

outcome of such a difficult time.‘ ‗Is your twin sister planning on spending

some time with you now that you are going to be living in Italy?‘ another

journalist asked. ‗I‘m not planning on stay—‘ Emilio cut Gisele off. ‗We are

both looking forward to spending time with Sienna Baker. Now, if you will

excuse us, we have to get moving.‘ ‗Signorina Carter, one more question …‘

Yet another

journalist rushed after them.

‗Basta,‘ Emilio said and then repeated it in English.

‗That‘s enough.‘ He spirited her away to the waiting car, physically blocking

the swarm of press as she got in. ‗Remember what I said earlier about what

you do and say to me in public,‘ he said. Gisele caught the driver‘s watchful

eye in the rear-view mirror. A glass partition separated her and Emilio from

the front of the car but it was hardly what one would call being in private.

She forced herself to sit with a relaxed pose beside Emilio even though she

wished she had the courage to thrust open the door and throw herself out of

his life, both literally and figuratively. She drew in a sharp little breath as

she looked out at the scenery passing by. The Colosseum suddenly appeared

and a tight ache settled in her chest. She could still remember the excitement

of her first trip to Italy after she had met Emilio while she was doing a

needlework course at the London School of Embroidery. They had met at an

art exhibition she had been invited to by one of the girls she had met doing

her course, whose boyfriend couldn‘t make it at the last minute. Gisele had

been in two minds whether or not to attend but in the end had decided to go

so that her new friend wouldn‘t have to go alone. Within minutes of walking