Scandal and the Runaway Bride (Heirs to an Empire 1)
She sipped, enjoying the taste of the liquid on her tongue. “Grazie,” she said softly. “It’s very good.”
“You don’t speak Italian much.”
She smiled. “I do when I’m angry. And with family. But business...that’s mostly in English.”
“You’ve been working for the family business for some time now.”
She sipped again, and then casually responded, “As have you.”
“Did you always want to?”
How could she answer that? Truthfully, no. She hadn’t grown up with this burning desire to take over her father’s business. In fact, the agreement with Stephen had benefited her as well as her father. With Baresi under the Aurora, Inc., umbrella, she would have been free to move on once their marriage ended, if she wanted to. Now she was going to be responsible for the company whether she liked it or not.
She shifted uncomfortably.
“It’s a big world,” she finally answered. “But I also love my family and it’s a good job.”
“But not your calling.”
She sighed. “You’re talking about something different, a vocation, yes? A higher purpose?” A frown tipped her lips downward. “I don’t know. Running the company has never been a driving force for me.”
“If you could do anything, what would it be?”
She met his gaze. “I don’t know. I figured that if I found it, I’d know.”
He nodded, his brows pulling together. “I think we might be more similar than we thought,” he murmured. “Both of us love our families. We’re in the family business. And yet we wonder if there’s something more.”
“There’s not for me, not right now, and that’s okay.” She figured she might as well be honest, just in case Stephen hadn’t given him all the particulars. “My papa...he’s very ill. The doctors say the survival rate is promising, but the treatments...without him, Baresi can’t survive. He is Baresi. Now that I’ve messed everything up, I’m going to have to go home once this PR nightmare is over and do my best to keep it alive until he returns.” She swallowed against the lump in her throat. She refused to think the words if he returns.
William’s keen gaze locked on her face. “Maybe that’s a way to ease out of the engagement publicly. Say that you’ve returned home to care for the family business while your father is ill.”
“It would tie it up neatly, but no. I’m not using my papa as a...what’s the word? A scapegoat.”
His eyes glowed. “Damn, Gabi. That made me like you a little bit.”
She laughed in response, because it was so unexpected. “You didn’t like me before?”
“I didn’t know you. I just had impressions and what Stephen told me. But I’m forming my own opinion. As much as you’ve landed us in this mess, I cannot argue with your principles.” His lips turned up in a smile. “Just your timing.”
“I’m so glad my principles measure up,” she replied. And took a healthy sip of wine, because the twinkle in William’s eyes made her think they had somehow made the switch to flirting. How could she be doing that a mere twenty-four hours after fleeing the Chatsworth chapel? And when they didn’t trust each other?
His phone buzzed and she watched as he leaned forward and removed it from his pocket, then swiped his finger over the screen to unlock it. His smile turned to a frown and he sighed. “I asked my assistant to keep me updated on what’s happening online.”
He handed her the phone so she could see. His assistant, whoever she was, had included links. So many that Gabi had to scroll with her finger—twice—to see them all.
“So many,” she whispered.
“It’ll go from here to some of the tabloids by tomorrow, I think. And within a week or so it’ll quiet. We have to outlast the news cycle, and not create a new one.”
“It’s a lot. But I’m a nobody. Why is anyone interested?”
“Because Stephen is an earl and because our mother is Aurora Germain. She’s known all over the world.”
“She must hate me right now.”
“Not hate. My mother doesn’t hate people. But I can guarantee she’s not happy.”
“Should I talk to her?” It was the last thing she wanted to do, but she’d been the one to make the mess. She should be the one to reach out. Even if the thought made her the teensiest bit sick to her stomach.