The Italian Single Dad

‘I can’t allow you to phone my aunt. I don’t want her to know that I bought—that I investigated her.’ He paused and cleared his throat, then said in a grudging tone, ‘I want a chance to get to know her without business matters getting in the way.’

Again that reference to a hunger for family. It confused Bella, and all of a sudden she wanted the comfort of her family, of hearing her sisters’ voices. Her hand reached for her bag beneath the counter, for the cellphone within. She could get either of them with a single press of a button. Then she stopped herself.

Later she could talk to Chrissy and Soph. Right now, if she tried to talk to either of them, she would say too much. Give too much away.

They knew about that ill-fated trip to Milan, but Bella had downplayed its impact on her, left out several vital bits, had not revealed the near-devastation of that whirlwind week when she offered her heart and Luchino seemed about to take it before she discovered the truth about him. She’d been nineteen and so gullible.

‘Prevarication is a waste of time, Arabella. The agreement is stacked in your favour. Maria is in financial danger because you pushed for the purchase of your gowns. Whether you knew her financial situation or not, your demands were unacceptable and I intend to see that you make up for your actions. These are the facts. Now, I’ll give you two choices to repair the damage.’

The planes of his face sharpened as he stared at her. ‘The first choice is you pay back every cent she gave to you, and you walk away.’

He had to be kidding. Bella almost laughed, but the expression on his face stopped her. Utter determination. ‘This isn’t just about money, Luchino. Maria has agreed to help me launch my label, my name. If I took out a loan to buy the gowns back, I wouldn’t be able to afford to re-establish myself elsewhere.’

Bella’s feeling of panic deepened. ‘I don’t have the money any more. I invested it in fabrics and notions for new gowns.’

‘Then I guess that leaves choice number two.’ He took a step towards her and she backed just slightly until she could sense the presence of the service counter behind her.

‘Oh? And what is that?’ Bella tried not to think about his closeness, tried not to feel threatened and confused by him.

Luchino fired his answer at her. ‘It’s quite simple, Arabella. You see to it that every gown my aunt bought from you sells quickly and for a good price.’

‘Sure. I’ll just make that happen.’ She would look up a fairy godmother in the yellow pages and get her to wave her magic wand. ‘Speed isn’t the key ingredient in my work plan. Maria knew that. It’s why we agreed on five years.’

What if he’s right? What if Maria goes bankrupt?

‘Five years is no longer an option. You must go out and attract buyers, attend the best functions, rub shoulders with the most élite of the fashion set, anything it takes to get their interest and sell every last one of those gowns, and sell them fast.’

What did the man want? I’m just a girl from the suburbs, Luchino. I don’t have those kinds of friends. She lifted her chin to a proud angle. ‘Sorry to disappoint you, but I don’t have entrée to that crowd.’

‘At my side, those doors will open to you.’ His grim smile made apprehension claw at her insides. ‘You will walk through them, and when you do I will be there. I will stick to you until Maria’s financial losses are recouped, one way or another.’

‘No.’ Close contact with Luchino? Do as he said, dance to his tune? No, no, no! The man must be mad, anyway. Mad about all of it. ‘I don’t even know if you’re telling the truth.’

The locked-up hurt and anger buried in her soul suddenly welled up. ‘After all, hiding the truth is what you do, isn’t it, Luchino? You pretended you had no wife. Tell me, did it hurt to lose her? Or were you simply glad to be rid of her so you could pursue your affairs conscience-free?’

CHAPTER TWO

‘I’M SURPRISED you know about my divorce.’ Luc made the observation as his gaze roved Arabella’s face. He couldn’t seem to take his gaze from her, and the unwelcome resurgence of the old attraction infuriated him.

Bella was as bad as Natalie, out to get what she could by any means available. Bella had proved it in Milan and he almost fell for her act there. She was doing the same thing to Maria now.

Luc would not be taken in a second time. He had no patience for faithless women and their untrustworthy ways.

So why the sudden flare of interest in Arabella after all this time? He had more important things to focus on.

Luc released his hold on Arabella’s arm and instead fingered the photo of his daughter that he carried against his heart. Familiar guilt rose up, followed by fierce determination. He would make things right for his daughter somehow. He had to.

‘I went to Italy for another modelling shoot five years ago.’ She looked as though she wished he would go back to Italy this instant and stay there, too. ‘Someone talked about you. I didn’t go looking for the information, trust me.’

‘Unfortunately, Bella mia, I no longer trust anyone, and certainly not you.’ In truth the ability to trust had been stripped irrevocably from Luc, stolen away by unexpected betrayal not once, but thrice.

Bella. His brother. His ex-wife. They had all played their part.

Tendrils of ash-blonde hair caressed Bella’s neck where they had escaped the knot of hair there. Eyes the colour of rich coffee shone as she seemed to gather herself.

Her anger arced, like light refracted from the planes of a sharp-cut diamond. He shouldn’t care, shouldn’t picture her with his own Montichelli jewellery designs gracing the long, slender neck. It was the appeal of her physical looks, nothing more. His mouth tightened.

Was it worth it, Arabella? What did the show manager give you in exchange for the use of your body? Money? Help to climb the ladder to greater modelling success?

Perhaps Bella simply felt no remorse. After all, his ex-wife had felt none. In the face of Luc’s agonised questions, his brother had shown none.

No more. No thoughts of the past to interfere with the present. No bitterness in this new life.

Australia was a deliberate choice. For…his daughter. For Grace. For a fresh start where betrayal could be if not forgotten, at least pushed back into its harsh, dark corner. And Luc had chosen Melbourne because he wanted to get to know the elusive aunt the family had spoken of always in whispers.

‘My car is parked a couple of blocks over. The proof of Maria’s situation is in it.’ Luc snarled the words out as he fought his memories, fought memories of Arabella that still had the ability to move him, even though he knew them to be utterly false. He strode towards the front of the shop. ‘Let’s go.’

‘I’m more than ready to see this so-called proof.’ Her hips moved provocatively beneath the silk dress as she collected a matching bag, stalked to the door and flipped the panel of light switches to leave only the night lights burning.

Luc burned, too, in anger, yes, but still with a hint of that old attraction and he didn’t want that.

Bella punched a button to arm the alarm system, and waited to hear the series of dull clunks as everything locked behind them. ‘The sooner we get to the end of this, the better.’

‘I agree.’ He took her arm, steered her along the busy footpath. His fingers burned where they connected with soft bare skin. Memories. Unfulfilled desire from six years ago. That was all. ‘Except this is only the beginning.’

Was he mad to choose this path? He had already made sure Maria couldn’t actually go bankrupt. Why not leave it at that and forget about Arabella?

Because you don’t want her to get one cent out of your aunt that she hasn’t worked for.

Let her squirm under his scrutiny while she worked to set things to rights. She deserved that, and he could easily control this physical awareness, even if it had taken him by surprise.

‘It’s just ahead.’ Luc produced a set of keys from his pocket and pressed the button to disable the central locking system of the top-of-the-range sedan.

Bella’s gaze followed his to look at the car. As she did so, she removed her arm from his grip. ‘Good. Show me the papers.’

Controlled, instructive, as though she had any say in this.

He opened the rear door and retrieved his briefcase. ‘Brique’s restaurant should be quiet. It’s only another block. We’ll look at the papers together.’

‘Why not here? And what if I want to check that the papers are authentic?’ Bella angled one hip and waited.

‘If you need to check once you’ve looked, you can keep the papers.’ Then in case she thought he would be so foolish, he said, ‘Naturally, I have copies.’

He waved a hand towards his car, challenged her. ‘If it suits you better to sit in the middle of this busy street…’

Bella glanced at the tinted windows of his car, seemed to size up her options. Her mouth firmed. ‘I suppose Brique’s will do.’

When they entered the restaurant, Luc ordered drinks and a platter of cheese, fruit and crackers. He considered it recompense for the use of the table, and he hadn’t eaten since lunch.

‘OK, so now we’re in civilised surroundings.’ Bella sipped her mineral water, and spread a portion of brie onto a cracker. The tremble in her hand was barely noticeable. ‘If you want me to admit that you do “civilised” quite nicely, I suppose it’s true. And I am hungry.’

As he was. Bella had a fiery spirit that called to something in his make-up. Luc forced himself to admit that. But he could and would control his awareness.

‘I like good things.’ He said it mildly enough and helped himself to brie and a cracker, too. ‘I’m not ashamed of that.’

Bella ate a morsel of the food. She closed her eyes. ‘Mmm. It may not be Pont l’Eveque, but it’s nice, just the same.’

Luc snapped his briefcase open and tried not to watch the movement of her mouth, the soft lips. He spread the relevant documents out for her to view.

Bella read for a couple of minutes in silence. Then looked up, gaze narrowed. ‘You say your finance manager obtained these?’

‘They’re the real thing, Arabella.’ As real as the woman seated across the table from him, her mouth, lush, lovely, deceptive, pursed in a combination of suspicion, and dread.

Luc welcomed the reaction, wanted her to realise she had no control in this any more, would have to cede it to him. ‘The information comes from a reputable investigative firm. As you can see, Maria’s purchase of your stock was beyond risky for her.’

He indicated the cover page attached to the report. Thought about the other papers tucked safely away at home. ‘You can ring the firm right now if you want. They’ll confirm everything you see there.’ They would once he gave them the go-ahead to reveal a certain level of information to her.

‘It just can’t be true.’ Bella whispered the words, and bent her head again. This time she didn’t come up for air until she had pored over every page. Her fingers trembled as she stacked the papers together and passed them back across the table to him.

Only then did she meet his gaze. ‘But it is true, isn’t it? Maria has extended herself too far to hope to climb back, and she’s taken my gowns and the beginnings of my reputation as a designer with her.’ Her breath faltered. ‘I should have checked, shouldn’t have simply assumed her financial status.

‘We’re both ruined. I don’t see how she can even hope to recover financially, let alone allow for my gowns to be a success. My five-year plan is over before it even got started.’

‘Crocodile tears, my dear?’ Luc didn’t buy them. He wouldn’t buy them. He knew better than that now. Maybe Arabella hadn’t confirmed Maria’s financial status. That wasn’t his problem, and it didn’t exonerate her from pushing for the highly unreasonable deal in the first place.

‘I can’t buy the gowns back.’ Bella’s gaze dropped to her hands. She hardly seemed aware of him. ‘I’m—I’m in too deep already.’

‘Yet you were quite happy for Maria to be in that deep.’

‘I knew it would work over time.’ Unease pooled in the depths of her eyes. ‘Perhaps I should have built in an escape clause for Maria.’ She hesitated. ‘I didn’t think of her side of it.’

‘You thought only to use Maria, and walk away without any responsibility if things didn’t work out. Do you really believe I’ll stand back and leave the future of my aunt’s business in your hands now I know what you’ve done, Arabella?’ He had bought up Maria’s debts as a secret backer in order to protect her while he sorted this out with Bella. That was his business, but Bella would not be allowed to shrug off her responsibility.

‘If Maria had been wealthy as I imagined…’ Bella rose, stepped away from her chair and gathered her bag to her. Her movements were mechanical, but she couldn’t seem to smooth them out.

Luchino believed she only wanted to use Maria. It wasn’t true, but she hadn’t considered Maria in the agreement, only herself. Bella hadn’t wanted to run any risks, but Luchino wouldn’t understand that, especially now!

‘You will work with me to set things to rights, Arabella.’ Luchino decreed it, like a god speaking from the peak of Mount Olympus. ‘You’ll wear your gowns at Melbourne’s most élite functions, at the theatre and opera, in homes and at gala evenings, to dinners and parties. Anywhere your prospective clientele gather.’

‘It’s one thing to put on a nice dress and go to the theatre with my sisters.’ They had all enjoyed such times, and nowadays the heavily pregnant Chrissy came with husband in tow and Bella liked Chrissy’s husband, mostly, but Luc Montichelli wanted too much. ‘You can’t just decide this and say I have to do it. Why would you want to be with me, anyway?’

‘I can say it. I can make you do it. And I don’t want to be with you. I want to see to it that you comply with my demands. That my aunt doesn’t suffer because of you.’ His arm brushed hers as they moved out of the restaurant and stepped along the pavement. ‘I want your agreement to do everything necessary to make this work, and to do it quietly and discreetly.’

‘Without telling Maria about it.’ Bella believed Luc’s proof of Maria’s financial status. She still wanted to discuss the problem with Maria. Most of all she wanted Luc to forget all this and go away. ‘If I insist on speaking with Maria?’

He simply kept walking, turned that dark, exotic profile until his gaze met hers, and told her. ‘If you fail in any way to comply with what I want, I will retaliate by ruining your reputation as a designer so you’ll never work in that field again.’

‘You would do that?’ One glance into Luchino’s dark, angry eyes told Bella he would. His wealth and status as an international jeweller meant he could.

‘Don’t doubt it, Arabella.’ But instead of more anger at her, Luchino looked up, ahead of them, and his steps slowed.

Such an expression of anguish came over his face then that Bella almost stumbled at his side. ‘Luchino? What…?’

But he didn’t seem to hear her.

She followed his gaze, realised they were near his car again. Saw…a little girl and a middle-aged woman standing beside that car. A girl with curly black hair and olive skin who clung to the woman’s hand while her gaze followed Luc’s every movement.

Luc’s daughter?

But here? With him? How? Why? Bella struggled to comprehend even the possibilities but all she saw was a scared little girl, clinging to the older woman’s skirt, her face pinched and anxious as she watched Luchino’s approach.

Thoughts came. Memories. Her sisters’ faces had borne the same scared, confused expressions this child wore now. Over and over and over for years until Bella finally managed to rebuild enough of a life for them, enough security for them that they began to recuperate from the loss of their parents.

Bella had given her sisters all the love her parents refused to give. Had given and given it. Now her throat tightened and a stifling, smothering feeling suddenly swept over her.

‘Papa?’ The little girl took a few tentative steps towards them. ‘You were gone a long time. Nanny Heather was scared you wouldn’t come back.’

This statement brought raised eyebrows and a solemn look from the woman who stood at the child’s side.

‘Grace.’ Luc murmured the child’s name as though it hurt somehow to say it.

The air hummed with emotion.

‘I accept your terms.’ Bella blurted the words and knew she had no choice. ‘I’ll work to get all my gowns sold as quickly as possible, I’ll attend functions with you until Maria’s finances are in a better state, then I’ll go on without you.’ How long would it take to get to that point?

Luchino inclined his head. ‘A sensible choice.’

When he started to move forward again, Bella remained where she was. ‘I have to go now. I’ll miss my tram. It’s—it’s that way.’ She pointed randomly in a different direction. ‘I’ll be in contact about our…arrangement.’

‘You don’t have my number.’ Luchino drew a business card from his pocket and handed it to her.

‘OK. Now I have it. Goodbye.’ Without waiting for his response, Bella rushed past Luc, blended into the pedestrian traffic and took the fastest possible route away from his daughter and the nanny.

CHAPTER THREE

BELLA made her way to the flat, tried to pull her emotions back under control but too much had happened too fast and she didn’t know where to begin to try to come to terms with it all.

‘I’m home.’ She called the words out, stepped through the door, closed it and leaned on it as Soph came out of the kitchen area to greet her.

‘Hi. How do you like this hair colour? It’s supposed to be a rinse-out but it seems rather…’ Soph stopped. ‘You look like you’ve seen a ghost.’

‘Yes.’ A laugh escaped Bella and she snapped her mouth shut because it held an edge too close to hysteria to be comfortable. ‘I’ve seen a ghost, and if I don’t do what he wants he’s going to take my lifelong dream from me.’

Soph peered at her for all of a second, then grabbed the cordless phone off the coffee-table and punched a speed-dial number. ‘Can you come? I think we need a family council.’

‘I’m fine, Sophia. There’s nothing to worry about.’ Bella stepped away from the door and tried to pull herself together.

But it was too late. Soph had already ended the call, and their sister arrived not long after, and Bella wasn’t pulled together, anyway.

Chrissy stepped inside the flat while Bella was brewing a pot of chai and trying to sort out her thoughts. Her sisters both stared at her, and Bella realised she couldn’t avoid this. She would have to explain.

Maybe it would help to talk about it…

‘I saw Luchino Montichelli today.’ She got through two cups of tea and half a Pilates routine in her comfortable black catsuit before she finished her story with an explanation about his child. ‘He—his daughter was with him. Not with him with him, but there, waiting by the car when we got back to it, with a nanny at her side.’

‘He’s taken the child back?’ Soph’s tone made it clear she found this incomprehensible. ‘Didn’t you just say he deserted her after his divorce?’

Bella fought to overcome the upsurge of pain Soph’s simple question invoked. ‘I find it hard to believe, too, and I have no idea if the girl is with him permanently or what. With everything else, I’d had it by then and I just left.’ In fact, she had reacted in a blind panic. Bella still didn’t know why she had rushed off like that!

‘I wonder if he loves the child now.’ Chrissy’s hand caressed her distended tummy in a gentle, circling motion, but her gaze was fierce as she asked the question. ‘Because a child needs to be loved and if a parent can’t give it that, they have no right to even be near it.’

Soph slid her arm around Chrissy’s shoulders and squeezed. ‘You love your baby to bits. We all do. I can’t wait to be an aunty.’

‘What are you going to do, Bella?’ Chrissy accepted her sister’s hug, but her gaze remained fixed on Bella. ‘You can’t accept his ultimatum. You’d have to see him constantly, put up with his ridiculous view that you’re money-hungry and used Maria.’

‘I don’t see that I have any choice.’ Bella began to pace the floor in front of the TV.

Chrissy stepped towards her. ‘Nate and I can buy your gowns back so you can leave Maria’s altogether. We can set you up on your own, Bella, so you can start again. Your own shop, any location, whatever you want. I’m sure Nate would see it as a good long-term investment, and at least then you wouldn’t be beholden to this Montichelli man.’

‘It’s either that, or the three of us all get loans for whatever the banks will lend us, and pool it to take care of the problem.’ Soph nodded so that her bright pink hair flew in all directions around her face. ‘That’s doable as well.’

‘That might work to get Bella out of Maria’s.’ Chrissy pushed her glasses up her pert nose as she considered Soph’s suggestion. ‘But I don’t think we’d get enough money to set her up in a new shop. It would be rather a lot.’

‘I suppose so.’ Soph turned her face up and blew at a strand of hair, then looked directly at Bella. ‘I guess it has to be Nate, then, and I know you and he didn’t get off to a great start what with him getting Chrissy pregnant and everything, but look how well it turned out. Anyway, he’d help, and the main thing is, we don’t want you back near the creep who hurt you when you were in Milan.’

‘One of the creeps,’ Chrissy reminded her. ‘Remember the show manager lured Bella to his room that final night, too.’

‘You should have told us the whole truth when you came back from that trip.’ Soph launched into a protective tirade over the sleazy show manager’s behaviour.

Chrissy added her voice to it.

Bella stood between her sisters and ached inside. She loved them. They wanted to help her but ultimately she couldn’t let them. And why was it so hard to have them try to care for her?

Because the order’s been reversed and you don’t know how to cope with that.

‘Have you told us everything now, Bella?’ Chrissy’s eyes behind the glasses sparked with demand for the entire truth.

‘Yes, that’s all of it. I know I could have told you much more about what happened in Milan at the time, but I wanted to put it behind me.’ She hadn’t learned of the divorce and Luc’s abandonment of his child until almost a year later, either, and by then, hadn’t wanted to talk about it ever again.

Now her sisters knew everything, except just how much of her heart Bella had given to Luchino in that whirlwind week overseas.

Bella drew a deep breath. ‘I appreciate the offer to help me out, Chrissy, but it wouldn’t be right to ask you and Nate to tie up so much money that way. It would be bucket-loads, much more than even just the cost of repurchasing the gowns, and I admit I got a good price out of Maria for them.’ When she named the figure, both sisters gasped.

Bella shrugged. ‘I put every spare cent into creating that stock of gowns, and they are designer-wear.’

She hesitated as she considered her situation, and then admitted in a low tone, ‘Right now I’m wondering if I should have given up modelling. It’s true it was never my dream job, but maybe I miscalculated the risks in branching out into fashion. Just because I’ve created all our clothes for years—’

‘You’ve created the most amazing outfits on a shoestring budget. Anything from jeans to stunning stuff fit to wear to a palace. You have the talent, Bella,’ Chrissy insisted.

And Bella remembered that even Luchino admitted she had ability. She had to believe that, too. Now was not the time to doubt! Bella held Chrissy’s gaze. ‘I can’t let you and Soph get loans to help me, either, although I appreciate both thoughts very much.’

‘But you have to get out.’ This came from Soph.

‘No. Luchino said I have no choice, and he’s right. I have to sell the gowns quickly. If working with Luchino is the only way to do that—’ she shrugged ‘—I’ll have to cope, that’s all.’