Rafaello's Mistress

Struck by the revealing rawness of that final sentence, Glory gave him a shaken appraisal. It was almost three months since he had made that offer and he had never mentioned it again. But only now did she see that she had actually hurt and offended him. When he had voiced that grim assurance that he would marry her if she conceived he had been serious, much more serious than she had given him credit for being. And how had she reacted? She asked herself with a sinking heart. Offered what she most desired in the world but believing it was the most grudging of proposals, she had shot him down in flames.

‘You’re not being fair,’ she argued shakily. ‘I was angry and upset that night. I honestly didn’t believe you were serious! But I have to admit that I still wouldn’t want to marry anybody just because I was pregnant—’

‘Well, what you want and what you get aren’t always the same thing in this life,’ Rafaello drawled with icy precision. ‘But I can assure you that we are getting married just as fast as I can arrange it. We don’t have a choice.’

Glory took a very deep breath and then another. Maybe he was just really hopeless at proposing. In fact, he was a walking disaster on that subject, but on this occasion she had no urge whatsoever to utter a stubborn, proud refusal. She loved him to bits and he was the father of her baby and she was very, very willing to be convinced that they could marry and share a future together. Indeed, there was nothing she wanted more but at the same time she did not want Rafaello opting for that choice solely on the basis that she was carrying his child. ‘I can’t really agree that we don’t have any other choice. I just think I need to hear you give me some reasons why you think you should marry me—’

‘We’re in a bloody tight corner!’

Glory was bitterly disappointed by that response. He was gorgeous, he was clever, he was impatient to do ‘the right thing’ about two decades after so many men had abandoned such moral niceties, but being in a very tight corner was not the kind of reason she so much needed to hear. Were he to say that he still found her madly attractive or even fun company, she would be happily convinced that their marriage would have a chance of success. But then, possibly he did not think or feel either of those things and her being pregnant was truly his only motivation in proposing, she conceded wretchedly.

‘You want me to help you out, Rafaello? Babies have a right to know who their father is—how about that?’ Without the smallest warning, Sam’s voice broke in on an aggressive rising note that froze both Glory and Rafaello into stillness, for both of them had forgotten that the teenager was in the apartment and neither had noticed that Rafaello had neglected to close the door. ‘Why don’t you try that one out on my sister? That reason would be a real good laugh for a Grazzini!’

Glory barely had the time to absorb Sam’s startling interruption before her brother launched himself off the threshold and literally threw himself at Rafaello. As she had never seen her easy-going brother even lose his temper before, she could not credit the violence that just seemed to explode from him. Sam hurling abusive swear

words was another new experience for her and she sat there, rigid with shock at that physical assault, terrified that Rafaello might lose his temper and fight back.

‘Sam…please, no!’ Glory pleaded brokenly, torn apart by guilt at her brother’s distress at what he had overheard.

‘I trusted you!’ Sam shouted at Rafaello. ‘I thought you were different from your—’

‘I am.’ Breathing heavily as he finally got a restraining grip on Sam, Rafaello was strikingly pale beneath his bronzed complexion, his strong bone-structure hard-edged, his dark eyes mirroring the reality that Sam’s aggression had shocked him every bit as much as it had shocked Glory. ‘I was just being a smart-ass, Sam.’ Forced to pin her struggling brother against the wall in an effort to cool him down, Rafaello was suddenly talking very fast. ‘I love your sister…OK? I really do want to marry her!’

Sam’s still furious dark gaze was nailed to Rafaello as if he was searching for the proof of those far-reaching reassurances. ‘Glory doesn’t need you just because she’s having a baby…’

‘No, but I need her,’ Rafaello stated with hard conviction.

As Rafaello stepped back and released Sam, Glory could not look at either of them. She was aghast that her brother had overheard their conversation and horribly ashamed that her behaviour and her condition should have upset him to such an extent. Rafaello was equally shaken and naturally he had endeavoured to come up with the only sort of response likely to calm Sam down.

‘You needn’t think I’m apologising for trying to hit you either!’ Sam hurled in a last burst of defiance in Rafaello’s direction before he backed warily out of the room as though he was still waiting on some form of violent retaliation.

Sam left a silence in his wake that seemed endless.

‘I’d better go and talk to him,’ Glory muttered tightly.

‘No, let him cool off for a while. He’s too upset to handle either of us right now. Anyway, your father’s waiting for you,’ Rafaello reminded her, raking a not quite steady hand through his luxuriant black hair in a gesture that revealed just how shattered he still was by what had occurred. ‘I think we need a special licence, bella mia—’

Glory squeezed her anguished eyes tight shut. ‘Rafaello—’

‘We’ve done enough damage. Sam’s right. Every baby has a right to know who his father is,’ Rafaello said with a quality of raw regret in his dark deep drawl that cut her sensitive soul to the bone.

And, on that note, he left her.

CHAPTER EIGHT

ARCHIE LITTLE had been moved out of the ICU into a private room.

Maud Belper was waiting outside that room with a troubled look on her face. ‘Could I have a word with you before you go in, Glory?’

‘Dad’s all right, isn’t he?’

‘Yes, he’s doing fine.’ The older woman sighed. ‘But Archie’s taken it into his head that he must talk to you now. It’s a lot to ask but, for his sake, could you try to stay calm whatever he tells you? He’s still very weak.’

Glory stared at her and then nodded, her colour heightening. No matter how hard she tried not to, she resented Maud’s interference. She also felt uneasy about the obvious fact that the other woman was already acquainted with what her father wished to discuss with her. In the awkward silence, however, a sudden rueful smile of comprehension flashed across Glory’s face and she leant forward and gave the older woman an impulsive hug.

‘Of course, we haven’t yet discussed the fact that you and Dad are going to get married! I’m really pleased for you both. I’m not saying I wasn’t a bit taken aback when I first heard,’ Glory admitted with her usual frankness. ‘But when I saw you and Dad together, and realised just how much you care for each other, I was truly happy for him.’

‘You’re a dear girl.’ In spite of her answering warmth, Maud’s tension remained undiminished ‘But I can’t let you go in there thinking that that’s what Archie wants to get off his chest. It’s not.’