“We should join the others.” The family had taken drinks out to the patio, where the breeze was refreshing, and Gabi turned on her heel and walked away. William followed her outside and took a seat with everyone else. But his earlier joy had dissipated. Gabi had followed his guidance impeccably—friends, business, but no intimacy at all. It was what he wanted, and what had to happen.

But it left him distinctly unsatisfied, because his heart didn’t always follow logic a hundred percent. After this afternoon, his heart wanted more. He was dangerously close to falling for her, and he wasn’t entirely sure it wasn’t because she was supposed to be off-limits. Worse, he knew she could be a huge distraction, when he’d carefully built a new life and wanted to keep on the right course. All in all, Gabriella Baresi did not fit into his life.

So he stared into his cup and frowned, and after a few minutes, excused himself to go back up to his room.

* * *

Gabi wasn’t sure what to expect when she saw Stephen again, and her chest was cramped as anxiety took hold on Tuesday morning. He was scheduled to arrive around eleven. The last time she’d seen him, the last time they’d spoken, was the night before the non-wedding.

Will had been the buffer all this time. She hadn’t even had to speak to Stephen on the phone. And today Will had offered to be there for her first meeting with his brother. But Gabi said no. She had to face Stephen on her own, if she were to have any self-respect and any agency with him at all.

Besides, she and Stephen had been friends. Their friendship demanded she be honest and up front with him, and not hide behind his brother. It wasn’t fair to put Will in the middle any more than he already was.

Ever punctual, Gabi saw the cloud of dust announcing Stephen’s arrival at precisely seven minutes to eleven. Her stomach was in knots. Will had agreed to remain upstairs until Gabi had a chance to talk to Stephen, and Giulia had gone to work. That left her parents, and the awkward realization that they still thought that Gabi and Stephen were going to set a new date. Things had been easy between her and Stephen before. She hoped they wouldn’t be overtly awkward now.

Oh, mea culpa.

Stephen parked his rental and she stepped to the doorway, feeling as if she might throw up. What a stir she’d caused. And now he’d come all the way out here. There was no way he was happy about it.

When he stepped out of the car she remembered how different he was from Will. Only slightly taller, but with darker hair, darker eyes and a squarer jaw. When he smiled he epitomized tall, dark and handsome. But right now he wasn’t smiling. He wasn’t really showing any emotion at all as he looked at her. Then he shut the door and stepped around the hood to approach the house, and his mouth softened the smallest bit.

“Gabriella.”

“Hello, Stephen.” Always Stephen. Never Steve. Or any other endearment. That just occurred to her now, and yet in a short amount of time she’d found herself shortening William to Will...in her head, and sometimes that’s what came out of her mouth, too.

He leaned in and they bussed cheeks. “Do your parents know?” he murmured, before pulling away.

She met his gaze, her stomach quaking. “No,” she whispered.

His dark eyes cooled. “So they think we’re still engaged.”

Gabi swallowed against a growing lump in her throat. “Y-yes. Are you able to...you know...pull that off?”

He smiled then, warm and lovely. “My dear Gabriella, I’ve spent a lifetime smiling at people I don’t know or don’t like. It won’t be a problem. The bigger question is, will you be able to act like a convincing fiancée?”

She wanted to weep. His words were delivered with a smile but were so sharp and cutting. “Stephen, we were friends, remember? I’d like us to stay friends.”

“You left me at the altar,” he said quietly. “I deserved better.”

She held her tongue because, first of all, he was right. And secondly, she desperately wanted to call him out on insisting on the marriage in the first place, but right now she needed him on her side. Tonight her father would be admitted into the hospital. Later tomorrow he’d have surgery. The question of the company needed to be settled.

“Let’s not talk out here. Come inside to the library where we can have some privacy.”

They entered the house and right away her mother was there, greeting Stephen, offering refreshment. He switched on the charm and accepted a drink of something cold; Massimo came forward to shake his hand and the two spoke warmly. It couldn’t all be an act, could it? Stephen was angry with her but he’d always been so great to her parents. When Massimo mentioned how good it was for him to be here for Gabi while he had his operation, Gabi wanted to choke. She didn’t want solace from Stephen, not anymore. But she’d love to have William beside her, she realized. How things had changed in such a short time.

After pleasantries, Gabi led him into the small library, which was really a home office with several bookshelves. She shut the door and let out a breath. “Thank you.”

“I have no problem with your parents, Gabi. They’re innocent in all this.”

“But I’m not.”

“No, you’re not.” He put his glass down on a table and turned to face her. “If you were going to bolt, why the hell did you say yes in the first place?”

It was hard to breathe, but she had to own up to everything. “Because I wanted security for my family. Because we were friends and I trusted you. And because I’d had my heart broken and my dreams shattered and I thought I could have what I wanted without the messiness of being in love.”

His mouth dropped open. “What?”

It was the thing she’d confessed to William, but hadn’t to her own fiancé. “I loved someone, Stephen. I thought I was pregnant and while the timing wasn’t great, I was happy. I want a partner and babies. When I told him about it, he was so angry. You see, he was already married. Thank God the test was negative.”

Tags: Donna Alward Heirs to an Empire Billionaire Romance
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