Ravelli's Defiant Bride

she would like to, she could not avoid the subject of Betsy. That had to be discussed and she had to come to terms with it, she registered unhappily. The worst possible stance she could take would be to hold Cristo’s feelings against him and poison every other part of their relationship with her bitterness. But it was so very hard to suppress the resentment, jealousy and hurt bubbling up inside her every time she looked at him.

‘That sounds sensible,’ her grandmother commented with approval and deftly changed the subject to bring Belle up to date on what had been happening in her family since her wedding.

Dinner was served out on the terrace at a big table Umberto had retrieved from a storeroom. The meal was an uproarious affair with all the children talking together, exchanging insults, pulling faces at Franco’s table manners, and Belle could see that Cristo was disconcerted by the sheer liveliness of their over-excited siblings. Pietro and Lucia could barely spare the time to eat before they, with Tag in hot pursuit, chased off to explore the gardens again, with Franco trying desperately to keep up with them and breaking down into floods of tears when he was left behind. Cristo went to retrieve the toddler left sobbing at the top of the steps.

‘Time for bed, I think,’ he murmured quietly. ‘I’ll call Teresa.’

‘No, I’ll take him up,’ Belle interposed, holding out her arms to take her little brother. ‘A bath will soothe him.’

‘I’ll carry him,’ Cristo countered flatly, stunning dark eyes hard and challenging as he studied her set face. ‘I’ll be back down in—’

‘Oh, don’t worry about us,’ Isa cut in hastily, glancing at Bruno and Donetta. ‘The three of us have a date with the television Umberto has most kindly set up for our use.’

Belle stomped upstairs in Cristo’s wake, wondering what was wrong with him, her face still burning from that hard, impatient look he had angled at her.

Teresa greeted them on the landing and lifted Franco from her employer’s arms. ‘Poor little pet…he’s exhausted. I’ll put him straight in the bath,’ she announced.

Belle turned on her heel but a strong tanned hand closed round her forearm to prevent her hurrying back downstairs. ‘I’d like a word in private,’ Cristo breathed.

Temper sparking fast in the strained mood she was in, Belle rounded on him, her green eyes flashing a fiery warning. ‘What on earth is the matter with you?’ she hissed.

‘You’ve been avoiding me and ignoring me since this morning,’ Cristo pointed out.

Belle’s face flamed. ‘I’m only trying to keep things polite for the family’s benefit.’

‘Then you can’t act worth a damn,’ Cristo told her succinctly, his hand on her forearm sliding down to engulf her fingers instead in a firm grip as he dragged her down the corridor with him. ‘And we need to clear the air.’

‘I don’t want to talk…I’m not ready yet,’ Belle exclaimed with more honesty than she had intended, because she had not yet reached the desirable stage where she could consider his feelings for Betsy without raging resentment infiltrating her every thought and reaction.

‘Too bad. I’m ready now,’ Cristo decreed, shoving wide the door of his bedroom and urging her in ahead of him.

‘Is that why you’re suddenly acting like a cave man?’ Belle demanded furiously.

‘No, that’s entirely your fault,’ Cristo fielded without hesitation. ‘If you want to argue with me, argue with me, don’t go all passive-aggressive and do it from behind a fake smile.’

‘That is not what I’ve been doing!’ Belle protested angrily.

‘That’s exactly what you’ve been doing and I’ve had enough of it. I made the mistake of admitting that at one stage I thought that I had fallen for Betsy—’

‘No, you said you had fallen for her!’ Belle contradicted.

‘You mustn’t have been listening,’ Cristo told her severely. ‘For a while before I met you I did believe I’d fallen for her, but once I met you I soon realised that I’d misconstrued my response to her.’

Belle abandoned her angry pacing round the room and fell still. ‘Misunderstood?’ she questioned sharply, turning her head back to look at his darkly handsome face.

His lean, strong features taut, Cristo expelled his breath in a rueful hiss. ‘You have to understand how I felt at the time Nik and Betsy’s marriage broke down. I felt unbearably guilty and accountable because—’

‘You told some secret of Nik’s to Zarif and he talked when he shouldn’t have and let the cat out of the bag,’ Belle interposed impatiently. ‘Yes, I remember—’

‘And Betsy was devastated and she turned to me as Nik’s brother, believing that I might know or understand why Nik had done what he had done. That was why she came to me. Unfortunately I didn’t know or understand, and I couldn’t help, but I felt extremely sorry for her. For whatever reasons, Nik had treated her badly. I felt very protective towards her and angry with Nik and I honestly assumed that those feelings were love.’

While she listened to what Cristo had to say, Belle was slowly breaking out in a cold sweat of relief because she was finally recognising that somehow in her hot-headed emotional response she had got the wrong end of the stick. Cristo had misinterpreted his feelings for Betsy and then recognised his mistake. Belle could understand how confused Cristo must’ve felt at the time, torn between guilt and responsibility for his brother’s marriage breakdown while feeling both disloyal to his brother and strongly sympathetic towards Betsy’s plight.

‘I can understand that. You felt responsible so you tried to be helpful and provide a supportive shoulder.’

‘I did still think I loved her when I asked you to marry me even though I’d never been attracted to Betsy the way I was to you,’ Cristo admitted with a twist of his mouth. ‘That sounds ludicrously naïve, doesn’t it?’

Belle was frowning in surprise. ‘You weren’t attracted to her?’