‘You have enough money for a thousand lifetimes,’ Giovanni Baresi had bellowed down the phone, drowning out the disturbing sound of music and laughter in the background. ‘Time you started really finding out what life’s all about!’
That had been before he could tell his father that it wasn’t the exalted love affair he seemed to believe it was, but an honest mistake that carried consequences. After that bracing, booming, slap-on-the-back response, Luca had held his tongue, and the weird thing was that there was a part of him that had been secretly pleased to have heard genuine admiration in his father’s voice.
He had made more money for the family than could be counted in gold coins...he was respected and held in awe by financiers the world over...and yet, telling his dad that he had had a three-week fling with a girl in Cornwall, had got her pregnant and was going to marry her, had elicited more joy and pride than anything he had ever done in his life before.
‘I want us to be married,’ Luca began with rough sincerity. ‘You think it’s because I’m a dinosaur. You think I’m mired in pointless tradition that’s past its sell-by date because who needs marriage these days when a baby is involved? There are countless single mothers bringing up kids while fathers get a look-in now and again before moving on to have their own families.’
He paused and Cordelia looked at him as his words sank in. Single mothers. Visiting fathers. And then, naturally, those visiting fathers would move on to perhaps have another family. She thought of Luca having children with another woman, Isabella. Children who would be born to roam on these vast estates while on the other side of the ocean...
Her heartbeat sped up and she gulped.
‘And maybe,’ he continued quietly, ‘I am a little old-fashioned when it comes to family. Maybe it’s beyond the pale to see duty and responsibility as things to be worn proudly on one’s shoulders. Yes, I have sometimes yearned to be free to do whatever I want to do but, mostly, I have been content and proud of my heritage and my legacy. Is that a bad thing?’
Luca allowed the rhetorical question to hover in the silence between them.
‘I will love our child with everything in me. I will protect him from every sling of every arrow and he, I feel, will learn to love his inheritance the way I have. You tell me that you can’t consider marriage without love. Love you may not have, but respect you will, and in abundance.’
But he would never love her. He had just confirmed that, in case she started getting any ideas. She could see the way his brain was working. But was the search for love, if it ever happened anyway, enough to compensate for their child being torn apart from a father who dearly wanted him?
And what about her feelings for Luca? They ran deep. Deeper than he could ever imagine and it was no use pretending otherwise. Who would catch her when she was falling hard for a guy who wasn’t going to be truly emotionally available to her? The balancing act between her head and her heart made her dizzy.
‘And think of that one thing you’ve always wanted, Cordelia. To see the world. That would be what our child would have were we to marry. There would be no corner of the globe left unexplored. Great wealth, I’m driven to say, can buy travel to the four corners of the world...’
‘I... I’ll think about it,’ Cordelia said helplessly, knowing that he had struck below the belt but unable to resist the glorious image of planes and ships and foreign lands and her child—their child—being exposed to all the adventure that went along with that, adventures she had never had.
‘Say yes,’ Luca urged, leaning forward and taking her fingers in his hand, an absent gesture that made her skin tingle with forbidden pleasure.
‘But surely you would eventually resent me? Resent the fact that I had stopped you from marrying Isabella?’
‘You haven’t stopped me from doing anything,’ Luca murmured. ‘This decision is my choice. How could I resent you, that being the case? Say yes and here is what will happen next. I will tell Isabella and her family. Tomorrow. And then we will get your father over, tell him face to face. Together. But not just yet. In the meanwhile, I will show you my land, show you my country, show you...what our child will enjoy. What do you say, mi tesoro?’
Caught on the horns of a dilemma, she breathed in deeply and sank into the earnest intent in his eyes.
‘Okay. I’ll say yes—even though...’
‘Shh.’ He placed his finger over her mouth. ‘Yes is enough. No need to qualify it.’
CHAPTER SEVEN
THE FOLLOWING DAY Luca had had his chauffeur drive him the lengthy three-hour round trip to Isabella’s parents, where he’d presented the situation as a fait accompli, no questions asked, no room for manoeuvre.
He had sat in a living room as grand and as formal as his own, where he had been served delicate morsels and strong coffee in china cups and watched his hosts’ disappointment as he’d broken the news. There had been no formal engagement but, between families, the unspoken understanding had been almost as strong, and, while they had politely congratulated him on a marriage no one had foreseen, they could scarcely contain the fact that they had been badly let down.
‘It would have been so good for Isabella,’ Maria, her mother, had said, shooting a glance at her husband, who had looked away. ‘She...’
‘Maria!’ Alberto had said sharply. ‘We do not need to trouble Luca with our regrets. It is as it is. Naturally, we will continue to work harmoniously together. Our great wines benefit from this close relationship, not to mention the other avenues for development that are in the making.’
