He looked up at her steadily and she had a prickling sensation across the back of her neck. She had a feeling that she wasn’t going to like what was coming.
‘You could do the right thing and say yes when I ask you to come back to Lake Como with me today and be my hostess for the duration of the meetings.’
Alicia’s hands gripped the back of the seat. ‘I’m … excuse me?’
‘I said—’
‘I heard you,’ she said shakily and came back around the chair to sit down. ‘Why on earth would you want me to do that?’
He glanced at the newspaper. ‘Because, thanks to your little mercy dash and dramatics, we’re now apparently an item.’ His mouth twisted with obvious distaste. ‘While I’ve never cared about how I might appear in the media, unfortunately at this moment it is a necessary evil. Buchanen comes from a conservative background; he’s a family man and has often made reference to the fact that out of all the particpants, I’m the only one who isn’t. In an effort to allay his fears we’ve encouraged all those involved in the negotiations to bring their families along for the last two weeks if they should so choose.’
A mocking glint lit his dark eyes, making him look rakish and dangerous. ‘He’s skittish at the moment, very aware of how his every move is being scrutinised. The world’s media is watching us with great interest to see if we can pull this merger off, not to mention every other construction consortium in the world. The presence of wives, children will help deflect the heat and hopefully reassure Buchanen.’
In an instant that mocking look had gone and he was coldly grim. ‘If he pulled out, needless to say the merger would be null and void. Millions that have already been invested would be down the drain and no one else would touch us with a bargepole. As we’re so inconveniently splashed across the tabloids, you are going to accompany me, be my hostess and put Buchanen’s fears of being associated with a playboy to rest.’
He had clearly jumped from asking her to telling her. Alicia was too bewildered to even get angry at his arrogant tone. ‘Yes … but even if I did go, wouldn’t that almost be worse? I’m not your wife.’
He shook his head and refrained from saying, No, because I’m never photographed with the same woman twice … That thought caught him up uncomfortably short for a split second.
‘No, because I’ve never involved a woman in any business dealings before, so he and the press would see this as tantamount to an engagement. The media will bay for my blood if I don’t turn up with you now, not to mention what it might do to Buchanen’s judgement.’
Alicia gasped, ‘You don’t expect …’
He smiled and it was cruel. ‘Oh I don’t think that’ll be necessary. Your presence will be enough to keep them happy and assure them that I’m not irredeemable. At least until the ink is dry on the contract.’
Alicia twisted her hands in her lap. She’d gone pale. Dante didn’t like how her reluctance was making him feel. She looked at him then and that act of vulnerability was back.
&
nbsp; ‘What about that … that woman?’ The image of the woman on the steps of the hotel the other night was seared on to her memory, the disparity between them huge to her now and she didn’t want him to know she’d seen them. ‘The woman the men mentioned …’
Dante frowned for a second and then a look of disdain came over his perfect features. ‘She is gone, not in my life.’
Alicia shuddered inwardly at how callously dismissive he was. Panic tinged her voice. ‘I can’t do it. I couldn’t go. I have to stay and take care of Melanie.’ Her eyes beseeched him. Surely he wouldn’t be that ruthless, that cruel? ‘Can’t you see? You saw for yourself how weak she is. As it is, I have to go out now and find enough work so that we can pay for her care. If we don’t …’
She looked genuinely distraught and it threw Dante for a second. She wasn’t looking at him; she’d gone inwards to a place of anxiety that he could only imagine. It had been so long since he’d had to worry about the mundanity of making ends meet, but the sting of it had never faded and he could see it in Alicia now. But he’d anticipated this.
He stood up and leant against the fake fireplace, his hand in his pocket. Alicia looked up and then stood too, hating his easy dominance.
‘Signore D’Aquanni, please believe me when I say how sorry I am that I mistook you … and that we’ve ended up in the papers …’
‘You owe me,’ he said quietly.
Her head snapped back. ‘I owe you? Maybe your business meetings should be about human relations, because if you can’t see that I need to be with my sick pregnant sister, then—’
‘Paolo is going to be with her.’
Alicia stopped in mid-rant. ‘What?’
‘I said,’ Dante said patiently, ‘Paolo is going to be with her. My house in London is around the corner from Harley Street. Paolo will stay in London and work in the office here again. He will be five minutes from Melanie’s side, and she will be near to all the possible amenities she could need. There is also a housekeeper who will make sure she doesn’t have to lift a finger. And a nurse has been arranged for the first month to come daily and make sure Melanie’s injuries are healing.’
‘But I’m a nurse. If anyone is qualified to look after her it’s me—’
He cut in ruthlessly. ‘I thought you needed to work. How are you going to work and mind your sister? The nurse I’ve booked is eminently qualified, specialized in obstetrics and gyneacology.’
Alicia reeled. This was all organized already? She knew Paolo had made the initial appointment, but now this smacked of Dante’s involvement. He had upped the ante spectacularly. How could it be this easy? Her vision cleared and she realized just how easy it could be. Her voice was hard and flat, eyes burning.
‘And I suppose this dream situation is available to Melanie if I comply with your wish that I should accompany you back to Italy today and play happy families at the conference.’