‘We need to talk.’ Her husky words surprised him. Usually the last thing Ella wanted in his bed was to talk.
Did she want to rehash his past? Delve into the nitty-gritty detail? Instantly his lassitude disintegrated.
‘What do you want to talk about?’
Ella planted her hands on his chest and raised her head, looking down at him. Her hair was a froth of dark honey silk and her lips were the colour of crushed strawberries. She looked like a woman who’d been thoroughly bedded.
Donato’s arms tightened as possessiveness sideswiped him. He didn’t want any other man seeing her like this. Ever.
She smiled, that teasing tilt of the lips that he felt in the hollow place at the base of his belly.
‘No need to be so wary. I wasn’t going to pry.’
Was he that obvious? Donato frowned.
‘Okay then. What is it?’
The smile slipped off her face and she looked away. ‘My father.’
Now this was a first. Ella talking about her family, and especially her father, without prompting?
‘You want to know how the business plans are proceeding?’ That would be another first. As far as he could tell, Ella wasn’t interested in her father’s business. Originally he’d put that down to a sense of entitlement, thinking she lived off his money but didn’t bother about how he got it. Now he knew the pair led separate lives.
‘No. I wanted to tell you...’ Her brow furrowed.
‘Yes? Something about your father?’
She drew in a shuddering breath that rubbed her breasts against his chest. Her face swung back and he saw the unhappy cast of her mouth, the tension in every feature.
‘I can’t give you any insights into his business. I know nothing about it, and I’m sure your investigators have been thorough tracking down his commercial interests.’
‘They have.’
‘I know you far outclass him in wealth and, I assume, business capability. But there’s one thing you don’t know. Something you need to know.’
‘What is it, Ella?’
She met his eyes. Her own blazed. ‘If there’s a loophole he’ll take it. If there’s a way he can feather his nest at your expense he’ll do it. Whatever the deal is on paper, whatever you’ve agreed, don’t trust him.’
Donato stared up into her taut features, the twisting line of her mouth, as if she’d swallowed something foul, and began to understand.
‘It’s all right, Ella. I take precautions. He won’t get the better of me. The contract will see to that.’
‘You don’t understand. I’m not talking about him jockeying for the best deal on paper.’ Her gaze slid away. ‘I’m talking about him breaking the rules, even the law. Don’t trust him an inch. He uses people to get what he wants.’
Donato read her pain, felt the tension in her and wanted to smash Reg Sanderson’s face.
‘Ella?’ He kept his voice soft as he brushed her shining hair back. ‘What’s he done to you?’
‘This isn’t about me. It’s about you. You need to be prepared. I don’t understand why you want to do business with my dad but you deserve to know he’ll cheat and lie and use you any way he can. If I were you...’ She looked away. ‘If I were you I wouldn’t do business with him at all.’ The hoarse conviction in her voice told its own story.
‘Why are you sharing this?’
She frowned. ‘Don’t you want to know what you’re dealing with?’
What. As if Reg Sanderson were a thing not a person. Donato’s pulse quickened. ‘Has he hurt you?’ He wrapped his arms around her, lashing her naked body to him.
‘You think I’m telling you this out of spite?’
‘Of course not.’ He just wanted to know what else to add to Sanderson’s account. He was sure there was something, probably many somethings. His jaw tightened. ‘But I’d give a lot to know why you are telling me.’
Her brow wrinkled. ‘You’re not the man I believed. You’re decent and real and... I care for you.’
It felt as if an unseen fist smashed through his ribs to pummel his lungs and heart.
How long since anyone had cared about him?
How long since anyone had looked out for him?
The rarity of it had to explain this overfull sensation.
‘Can you give me an example?’ He didn’t need one but he wanted to know what Sanderson had done to Ella.
Her eyes when they locked with his were the colour of a stormy sky, her features pared back as if her flesh shrank on her bones. ‘He stole from my brother. Rob inherited money from our grandfather which Reg invested for him. Now Rob needs his money for a project he’s co-financing. But most of the funds have disappeared, stolen by our father. He says he can’t pay it back till his deal with you is finalised.’