Seducing His Enemy's Daughter

Face to face she read tension in his features. Far more tension than the sight of her in a wedding gown warranted.

‘I have to, Donato. Don’t you see? He’s still going ahead with these ridiculous wedding plans. Someone has to stop him.’ She breathed deep. ‘I will if you won’t.’

But Donato shook his head. ‘The wedding plans go ahead. Nothing is to be cancelled.’

Ella stared. Surely they’d got beyond this. Donato was going to help Rob. There was nothing to fear now. Surely there was no need to pretend any more.

Unless it wasn’t pretend.

What if he really wanted marriage?

What if, like her, Donato had fallen in love?

The thought no sooner surfaced than she dashed it, telling herself flights of fancy wouldn’t help, no matter how much she wanted them to be true.

Yet, peering up into Donato’s shadowed face, Ella couldn’t help but wonder.

A knock sounded at the bedroom door. ‘Excuse me, sir.’ It was Donato’s housekeeper. ‘There’s an urgent call for you.’

‘I’ll be there in a moment.’ Donato’s eyes didn’t leave Ella’s. When the footsteps retreated he spoke again, his eyes pinning her to the spot. ‘The marriage goes ahead, Ella. Don’t say anything to your father.’

* * *

Donato paced the study, the phone to his ear. He should feel triumph at this latest news. Soon Sanderson’s business, his finances and his reputation would be non-existent.

‘Excellent. You’ve done well bringing it together.’ Yet the words ground hoarsely from Donato’s constricted larynx. He felt winded, like that time in prison when he’d been ambushed and only just deflected a lethal punch to the throat.

Gone was his laser-sharp focus on retribution and Sanderson’s downfall. Only dimly did he hear the rest of his manager’s report. Donato’s mind was on Ella.

Beautiful, glowing Ella, breathtaking in that fairy tale dress. Like a princess waiting at the altar for Prince Charming to sweep her away to their happily ever after.

Donato yanked open another button on his shirt, trying to ease the tightness in his throat.

Seeing Ella in her finery, he’d been torn between wanting to claim her and the knowledge he couldn’t be the man for her. The chasm between them had never been more obvious.

He’d never contemplated taking a bride. Those everyday dreams most of the population shared—someone to love, to build a life and family with—those had never been his. They had always been the stuff of fiction, far beyond the reach of someone like him. He’d never let himself expect anything so temptingly, wonderfully ordinary.

Oh, he could have taken a wife. But the women he’d known hadn’t been the sort to spend a lifetime with.

Not like Ella.

His mind blurred as realisation hit.

With Ella he wanted things he’d never allowed himself to dream of.

He might have wealth and power and a driving purpose that had kept him focused for years. But for the first time, on the brink of achieving the one goal that had kept him alive through prison and through every setback since, he wanted what he could never have.

Ella.

He scrubbed his hand over his face.

He could have her body.

He could have her company and her laughter and her smiles for a short time. But blood would out.

He was a loner, born not even of a dysfunctional relationship but of a commercial transaction. He knew more about the ways people hurt each other than anything else.

And Ella...she wanted him now. Wanted their passion. But eventually she’d also want marriage. The white dress. The family. The settled life. The loving husband.

Love.

All the things that were foreign to him. All the things his birth, breeding and experience cut him off from.

He huffed out a hollow laugh that scraped his ribs. The ex-con as the ideal husband? Hardly.

And when she found out what he was really doing to her father...

She disliked Sanderson but he was still her dad. She’d never forgive the man who took him down. And as for the fact he’d used her to further his revenge scheme...

‘Sorry, Donato?’ It was his second in charge on the other end of the line. ‘I missed that.’

Donato stopped before the glass doors to the terrace, his jaw locked, his eyes on the horizon. Yet it was Ella’s face he saw in his mind’s eye.

‘The plans have changed. We’re bringing the date forward. Forget about waiting till the end of the month.’ He inhaled slowly. Once he would have savoured the moment. Now he simply needed to get it over. ‘I want everything finalised today. Yes, that’s right. Today. I’ll call later.’ He ended the call.