Tall, Dark... Collection

‘Mummy?’ Toby prompted eagerly.

Bella drew in a ragged breath before answering. ‘We’ll see,’ she finally said non-committally.

‘That usually means yes,’Toby confided as he looked up at Gabriel conspiratorially.

‘It does?’ The darkness of Gabriel’s gaze was mocking as he glanced across at Bella.

‘It means we’ll see,’ she insisted. ‘Now it’s time for you to go to sleep, young man,’ she told her son firmly as she moved to tuck him more comfortably beneath the covers. ‘G—Daddy and I will just be in the other room if you should need us, Toby,’ she added reassuringly before bending down to kiss him.

Toby reached up to wrap his arms about her neck as he hugged her. ‘It was a lovely day, wasn’t it, Mummy?’

Emotion caught in Bella’s throat as she looked down into her son’s happily beaming face.

Could she endanger that unclouded happiness by subjecting Toby to the trauma that a legal battle with Gabriel was sure to cause? Could she really put Toby into a position where he would almost be forced to choose between the mother he had lived with all of his young life and the father he had only just met? Could she do that to him?

Surely the answer to all of those questions was no…

‘Lovely,’ she answered Toby brightly before kissing him again.

‘I’ll see you in the morning, darling.’ She ruffled his dark curls before stepping away from the bed.

‘We will both see you in the morning, Toby,’ Gabriel added pointedly as he moved to receive Toby’s hug goodnight.

Gabriel’s arms were gentle, but his emotions were not. Toby, his son, now represented everything to him, the past, the present, and most definitely the future.

‘Sleep now, little one,’ he said huskily as he released Toby to step back.

‘You promise you’ll come back in the morning?’ Toby’s eyes were anxious.

Gabriel doubted that Toby heard the sob in his mother’s throat as she stood just behind him, but Gabriel certainly did. ‘I will come back in the morning,’ he assured the little boy. Whatever it took, Gabriel was determined to be in Toby’s life every morning!

‘What would you have done about this situation if you had already been married to someone else when you learnt of Toby’s existence?’ Bella challenged once the two of them had returned to the sitting-room.

Gabriel’s mouth tightened. ‘Fortunately, that problem does not arise.’

‘But if it had?’ she insisted.

He shrugged. ‘I refuse to answer a “what if” question, Isabella.’

She gave a little huff of frustration. ‘Doesn’t it bother you that I don’t want to marry you?’

It should, and it did. But Gabriel knew from Bella’s response to him earlier today that on one level, at least, she did want to be with him…

Other marriages, he was sure, had begun with less.

‘Not particularly,’ Gabriel dismissed curtly.

Bella continued to glare at him for several more seconds before she gave a sigh of defeat. ‘All right, Gabriel, I will agree to marry you—’

‘I thought that you would,’ Gabriel murmured as he moved to sit in one of the armchairs.

‘If you will allow me to finish…?’She raised dark, expressive brows as she stood across the room from him.

‘By all means.’ Gabriel relaxed back in the armchair. He had won the first battle—and the most difficult, he hoped—and so could now afford to be gracious in victory.

‘Thank you,’ she accepted dryly. ‘I will agree to marry you,’ she repeated, then went on more firmly, ‘but only on certain conditions.’

Gabriel’s gaze narrowed as he easily guessed, from the calmness of Bella’s expression, that he wasn’t going to like those conditions. ‘Which are?’

‘Firstly, if we married I would like to continue living in England—’

‘I am sure that can be arranged.’ He nodded, having already considered this problem earlier today when he had decided that marriage between himself and Isabella was the only real solution to Toby’s continued welfare.

It would be a simple enough process to put a manager in charge of the vineyards here, with the occasional visit from him to make sure they were being run properly.

‘The Danti business interests are international, Isabella,’ he informed her. ‘I will simply take over the running of our London office. Your second condition…?’

‘Toby will attend schools of my choice—’

‘As long as that choice eventually includes Eton and then Cambridge, I do not foresee that as being a problem,’ Gabriel drawled.

‘Eton and Cambridge?’ Bella echoed disbelievingly.

‘The Dantis have been educated at Eton and Cambridge for several generations.’

Bella shook her head. ‘Toby will begin attending the local school in September. Following that he will be a day-pupil at another local school.’

Gabriel quirked one dark brow. ‘Then I suggest we ensure that we have already moved into a house close enough so that he can attend Eton school as a day-pupil.’

He looked so damned smug, Bella fumed inwardly. So sure of himself.

As he had no doubt been sure of what her answer to his marriage proposal would be. Proposal? Hah! Gabriel didn’t ask, he ordered; he was arrogance personified!

But, while Toby had been enjoying himself as the centre of Cristo Danti and Gabriel’s attention, Bella had spent most of the day considering her options. Her limited options, she had very quickly realised, considering there was no way now of denying that Toby was Gabriel’s son—even if Bella did attempt to deny it, a simple blood test would prove her a liar!

Just as there was no denying that the Dantis were a very rich and powerful family, both here and in Europe. In reality, what possible chance did she have of ensuring that she and Toby—especially Toby!—came out of a legal battle unscathed? The answer to that was only too clear. Against Gabriel Danti she had no chance.

But if she was forced to agree to this marriage, then Bella was determined to have at least some say in what she would and would not agree to!

‘Thirdly,’ she snapped, ‘the marriage will be in name only.’ She looked across at him challengingly, her eyes widening in alarm as he suddenly stood up.

Gabriel slowly shook his head. ‘I am sure that you are already well aware that will not be possible.’

Because of their response to each other earlier today!

A response that still made Bella cringe whenever she thought about it—which she had tried very hard not to do all day. She never responded to men in that totally wild and wanton way. At least…she never had until Gabriel. Both five years ago and then again today…

Which was why Bella was making this the last condition to their marriage. She could imagine nothing worse than becoming a slave to the desire that Gabriel seemed to ignite in her so easily.