“Isn’t that what I just said?”
“Well, let’s see. You got someone to offer me a commission decorating these offices. He mentioned a budget big enough to make my head spin. Oh, and he said there’d be an apartment with the rent a perk of the job.” Tally tugged her hand free and put her hands on her hips. “If those aren’t false pretenses—”
“The offer is real. All of it. The commission, the budget, the place to live.”
Everything from shock to distrust to outright utter disbelief showed in her face. He tucked his hands in his trouser pockets and kept his tone as flat as his eyes.
“It’s all yours, if you want it.”
She stared at him. “Why?”
“There’s an old saying about not looking a gift horse in the mouth.”
“I know the saying. Maybe it lost something in the translation. What it means is that an unexpected gift is a gift to beware of.”
Dante took a deep breath. “The child,” he said.
“What child?” Tally felt her heart beat quicken. Did he know? Had he somehow learned the truth of her pregnancy? “You mean—you mean Sam?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“What about her?”
“I’ve had time to think.” A muscle flexed in his jaw. “And I realized that it’s wrong to punish her for your behavior.”
He didn’t know. Tally almost sagged with relief.
“Your daughter is innocent of all that happened. You deceived me. You left me. But none of that is her doing. The world is filled with children who suffer because of the behavior of adults. I see no reason to add to their number.”
She stared at him. Dante Russo, showing compassion to a little girl he thought had been fathered by another man? Why would he show compassion at all? All the months they’d been lovers, she’d waited, she’d yearned to see some show of human emotion in this man.
She never had.
Oh, he supported charities. Smiled at things that were amusing. Frowned at things that were annoying.
But he never lost his composure. Not even in bed.
Not that he wasn’t an incredible lover. He was. Alert to her every sigh, her every unspoken desire. He’d given her more pleasure than she’d ever imagined possible.
The way he moved inside her.
The way he brought her to climax.
And yet, he’d always been in control. Always, except that one night when he’d been as tender as he was wild, when she’d asked him to stay with her.
When she’d conceived Samantha.
“Well?”
Tally blinked. Dante was looking at her with barely veiled impatience.
“You asked me why I’d offer this assignment to you and I told you the reason. It’s your turn now. Will you accept it? Or will you turn it down because I’m the man making the offer?”
Something was wrong. She felt as if she were looking at a jigsaw puzzle with one piece—the key piece—missing.
“Yes or no?”
She almost laughed. The imperious tone of voice. The straight posture. The cold eyes that said, “I’m in command.”