Tall, Dark... Collection

Deservedly so!

Whatever claims Janine Childe had made against him five years ago did not change the fact that Bella hadn’t so much as attempted to inform him she was expecting his child, that she had actually borne him a son, or that she had then brought Toby up with no knowledge whatsoever of his father or his father’s family.

‘Your own family are all aware now of Toby’s paternity?’

Bella was glad she was wearing sunglasses to hide the sudden tears that had welled up in her eyes at the emotional breakfast she had shared earlier with her parents and siblings.

There had been no words of rebuke or disapproval from her parents, only their gentle understanding as she explained the situation of five years ago to them—and Claudia’s demand, as the two sisters had returned to their hotel suite once the meal was over, that Bella ‘tell all’ about the night she had spent in Gabriel’s bed. A curiosity Bella had chosen not to satisfy.

She didn’t even want to think about that night, let alone relive, even verbally, how completely she had been infatuated with the darkly seductive Gabriel Danti five years ago!

‘Yes,’ she confirmed huskily.

Gabriel nodded in satisfaction as he accelerated the black sports car down the driveway to the house that was just as grand as Bella would have expected of this prestigious area of San Francisco. It was large and gabled, slightly Victorian in style, with its redbrick structure and the white frames to the stained-glass windows.

‘You’re sure this…visit…isn’t going to give your father a relapse?’ Bella hung back reluctantly on the gravelled driveway once they were all out of the car.

Gabriel had removed his sunglasses and left them in the car, his expression mocking as he glanced down at her. ‘On the contrary, I believe its possibilities will achieve the opposite.’

Bella looked up at him, a little confused by the cryptic comment. ‘Sorry?’

His mouth tightened. ‘Later, Isabella,’ he said curtly. ‘You and I are going to talk again later.’

Bella didn’t much like the sound of that.

And she was really starting to dislike the way Gabriel kept calling her Isabella in that coldly contemptuous way!

Once Gabriel had left the previous night Bella had thought long and hard about his claim that he hadn’t made love with her five years ago, or spent the night with her, in an effort to make Janine Childe jealous. After hours and hours of going over the situation in her head, Bella had finally come to the conclusion that it really didn’t matter what Gabriel’s reasons had been.

They had spent only that single night together. Admittedly it had been an intensely passionate, even erotic night, but nevertheless that was all it had been. On Gabriel’s side, anyway. That Bella had experienced strong feelings for him after that night didn’t change the fact that Gabriel hadn’t felt that way about her.

As the last five years of silence on Gabriel’s part showed…

He had never made any attempt to contact her again after that night although that had been his promise. Admittedly Gabriel had been involved in the car crash later that day, but he hadn’t suffered memory loss. Once he had recovered enough to be able to talk, to receive visitors, that needn’t have stopped him from getting in touch. Not too much to ask if Gabriel really had been interested in seeing her again. Which he obviously hadn’t…That was not the kind of man she wanted as a father for her child!

She shook her head. ‘I don’t think we have anything left to talk about, Gabriel,’ she told him firmly.

Gabriel gave a brief, humourless smile. ‘We have not even begun to talk yet, Isabella!’

His father was waiting for them in the warmth of the plant-filled conservatory at the back of the house, Gabriel appreciating that the informality of such surroundings was exactly what was needed to put a four-year-old boy at his ease.

That his father found the meeting highly emotional Gabriel had no doubts, Cristo’s voice husky with suppressed tears as Toby joined him and he allowed the little boy to water the orchids for him.

‘I am neglecting your mother, Toby,’ Cristo apologised some minutes later as he straightened. ‘You may continue to water if you wish, Toby, or you may come and sit with us while your mother and I talk.’

Bella knew exactly which choice her young son would make; like most small boys, Toby had absolutely no interest in the conversation of adults!

‘Bella.’ Cristo Danti’s voice was deep with emotion as he crossed the room to where she had sat in one of the half a dozen cane chairs watching him and Toby together. He took her hand in his to raise it to his lips as she stood up. ‘Thank you for bringing Toby to see me,’ he told her, his eyes slightly moist as he looked at her.

Bella felt her own tears clogging her throat as she looked at Gabriel’s father, not able to discern any reproach in the directness of that brown gaze, only the slight sheen of the tears that he made no effort to hide from her.

Bella was very aware of the menacingly silent Gabriel standing beside her. ‘I—’ she moistened her lips nervously ‘—I really don’t know what to say,’ she stuttered, aware that statement was painfully inadequate and yet totally true.

‘Gabriel has already explained all that needs to be explained.’ Cristo Danti smiled at her reassuringly. ‘All that really matters is that you and Toby are here now.’

Bella, besides feeling the heavy weight of guilt at Cristo Danti’s complete acceptance of a situation that yesterday evening had caused his collapse, also wondered exactly what Gabriel had explained…

‘You’re very kind,’ she told the older man as she squeezed his hand before releasing it.

‘Obviously Isabella and I have much to talk about yet, Papa,’ Gabriel spoke abruptly beside her. ‘If you and Toby will excuse us for a few minutes…?’

Bella felt a sense of rising panic at the suggestion, not sure she was up to another confrontation with Gabriel at the moment. She hadn’t slept much during what had been left of the previous night, and the morning had already been traumatic enough with the conversation with her family, followed by Gabriel’s arrival at the hotel and their explanation to Toby, and now this meeting with Cristo Danti.

But a single glance at the grim determination of Gabriel’s set expression was enough to tell Bella that she didn’t have any choice in the matter!

‘Toby…?’ she prompted lightly to gain her young son’s attention from watering the plants. ‘Will you be okay while I just go and have a little chat with—with—your father?’ That didn’t get any easier with actually saying out loud!

‘Of course.’Toby beamed across at her unconcernedly.

Bella wished at that moment that her young son weren’t quite so gregarious; obviously she wasn’t going to get any help at all from Toby in avoiding another confrontation with Gabriel.

To Toby, Bella knew, this was obviously all just a big adventure; he had absolutely no idea of the underlying tensions—or the possible repercussions!—of Gabriel Danti being his father and Cristo Danti being his grandfather.

Bella wanted to make sure it remained that way…

‘I am sure Toby and I will be able to keep each other amused, Bella,’ Cristo assured her.

She gave him a grateful smile, that smile fading as Gabriel stood back politely to allow her to precede him into the main house. Polite, even coldly polite, Bella could deal with—she just didn’t think that politeness was going to last for very long once she and Gabriel were alone together!

‘He’ll probably drown your poor father’s orchids for him,’ Bella murmured ruefully as Gabriel moved ahead to open a door further down the hallway.

Gabriel glanced back at her, his gaze hooded. ‘I doubt my father will mind, do you?’ he said pointedly as he pushed open the door to the room before standing back to allow her to enter.

It was a book-lined room, Bella noted with dismay, much like the study in the Danti’s English home in Surrey where she and Gabriel had first met.

Gabriel was also aware of the irony of their surroundings as he quietly closed the door behind them before moving to sit behind the green leather-topped desk, his gaze narrowed on Bella as she chose not to sit in the chair facing that desk—and him!—but instead moved to look out of the huge picture-window, her back firmly turned towards him.

She had pulled her hair back today and secured it up in a loose knot at her crown, her exposed neck appearing fragile in its slenderness, her shoulders narrow beneath the soft material of the cream blouse she wore with black fitted trousers.

She appeared slight, even delicate, but Gabriel knew that appearance to be deceptive—Isabella Scott was more than capable of defending both herself and Toby if the need should arise. In Toby’s case, as far as Gabriel was concerned, it didn’t. Bella herself was a different matter, however…

His mouth firmed in exasperation. ‘Ignoring me will not make me go away, Isabella!’

She turned, her smile rueful. ‘If only!’

Gabriel regarded her coldly. ‘You have had things completely your own way for the last five years—’

‘What things?’ she came back tartly, her body tense. ‘I was twenty-one years old at the time, Gabriel. Only twenty-one!’ she emphasised. ‘Having a baby wasn’t in my immediate plans back then, let alone one whose father wasn’t even living in the same country as me when that baby was born!’