Her Exquisite Surrender. Lucy Ellis
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was a long time for me.’
‘Only because you’ve been playing musical beds since you were a teenager,’ she said.
‘Now who’s talking?’ he asked, with a diamond-hard glitter in his gaze as it clashed with hers.
Natalie wasn’t ashamed of her past, but she wasn’t proud of it either. While not exactly a constant bed-hopper, like some of her peers, she had occasionally used sex as a way to bolster her self-esteem. But the physical sensations had meant nothing to her until she had met Angelo. Not that she had ever told him. While she had been totally open with him physically, emotionally she had always held him slightly distant. She wondered if that was why he had found her so attractive. He was used to women falling head over heels in love with him and telling him so right from the start.
But she had not.
‘Careful, Angelo,’ she said. ‘Your double standards are showing.’
His jaw tensed as he held her look. ‘How long did you date the guy you replaced me with?’ he asked.
‘Not long,’ she said.
‘How long?’
‘Is this really necessary?’ she asked.
‘I want to know.’
‘We went out for a couple of weeks,’ she said.
‘Who broke it off?’
Natalie found his intent look unsettling. ‘I did,’ she said.
‘So who have you dated since?’
‘No one you would know,’ she said. ‘I try to keep my private life out of the papers.’
‘Well done, you,’ he said. ‘I try to, but it’s amazing how people find out stuff.’
‘How do you stand it?’ she asked.
He gave a little shrug. ‘I’m used to it,’ he said. ‘My family’s wealth has always kept us in the spotlight. The only time it cooled off a bit was when I came to study in London. I enjoyed being anonymous—not that it lasted long.’
‘You lied to me.’
‘I didn’t lie to you,’ he said. ‘I just didn’t tell you I came from such a wealthy family. It was important for me to make it on my own. I didn’t want my father’s name opening any doors for me.’
‘You’ve certainly made a name for yourself in your own right,’ Natalie said. ‘You have twice the wealth of your father, or so I’ve heard.’
‘For someone who says they have no interest in what I do or who I see, you certainly know a lot about me,’ he said with a sardonic smile.
She ignored his comment and picked up her glass again, took a sip. ‘What have you told your family about me?’ she asked.
‘A version of the truth,’ he said.
Natalie’s eyes came back to his. ‘The truth about you hating me and wanting revenge?’ she asked with an arch look.
His dark brown eyes gleamed. ‘I could hardly tell my parents I hate you, now, could I?’
‘What did you tell them?’
His eyes kept on holding hers. ‘I told them I had never stopped loving you,’ he said.
She moistened her lips. ‘And they … believed you?’
‘They seemed to,’ he said. ‘Although the real test will be when they see us together. My mother, in particular, is a hard person to fool. You’ll have to be on your toes with her.’
Natalie felt her insides quake at the thought of interacting with his parents and other members of his family. How would she do it? How would she play the role of a happy bride without revealing the truth of how things were between them? How long before someone guessed? How long before it was splashed all over the newspapers?
‘Why do we have to get married?’ she asked. ‘Why couldn’t we just have an … an affair?’
Those unfathomable brown eyes measured hers. ‘Is that what you want?’ he asked. ‘An affair?’
She ran her tongue over her lips again. ‘No more than I want to marry you. I was just making a point,’ she said. ‘It seems a bit over the top to go to all the trouble of getting married when ultimately we know it’s going to end in divorce.’
‘You seem very sure it will end in divorce,’ he said.
Natalie’s heart fluttered like fast moving wings against her breastbone. ‘You can’t want to be tied to me indefinitely?’
His eyes moved over her leisurely. ‘Who knows? You might like being married to me,’ he said. ‘There will be numerous benefits to wearing my ring and bearing my name.’
She sat up like a puppet suddenly jerked backwards. ‘I don’t want your name,’ she said. ‘I’m perfectly happy with my own.’
A steely glint came into his eyes. ‘You will take my name,’ he said. ‘And you will be proud of it.’
She glowered at him, her whole body trembling with anger. ‘I will not change my name.’
Angelo’s eyes warred with hers. ‘You will do what I tell you to do,’ he said, his voice low but no less forceful.
Natalie stood up so abruptly her chair knocked against the one behind it. Every eye turned to look at her but she was beyond caring. She tossed her napkin down on the table and scooped her purse up with the other.
‘Find yourself another wife,’ she said, and stormed out.
A camera went off in her face as soon as she stepped outside the restaurant.
‘Miss Armitage?’ A journalist pushed a microphone close. ‘Can we have an exclusive on your current relationship with Angelo Bellandini?’
Natalie tried to avoid the reporter, but another member of the paparazzi cut her off as she tried to escape.
‘We notice you’re not wearing an engagement ring,’ he said. ‘Does that mean the wedding’s off?’
‘I …’
Angelo’s arm came around her protectively and he gently led her away from the throng. ‘Please give my fiancée some space,’ he said.
‘Mr Bellandini, do you have a comment to make on your engagement to Miss Armitage?’ the first journalist asked.
Angelo’s arm tightened around her waist a fraction. ‘The wedding is going ahead as planned,’ he said. ‘I have an engagement ring already picked out for Natalie. I am giving it to her tonight when we get home. Now, please leave us to celebrate our engagement in privacy.’
Natalie was ushered to Angelo’s car without further intrusion from the press. She sat back in her seat, her fingers white-knuckled around her purse.
‘Don’t ever do that again,’ Angelo said as he fired the engine.
She threw him a cutting glance. ‘I am not going to be ordered around by you.’
His hands gripped the steering wheel as tightly as she was clutching her purse. His knuckles looked as if they were going to burst through the skin.
‘I will not tolerate you flouncing out on me like a spoilt child,’ he said through gritted teeth. ‘Do you have no sense of propriety? You do realise that little scene will be all over the papers tomorrow? What were you thinking?’
Natalie gave her head a toss. ‘I’m not going to be bullied into changing my name.’
‘Fine,’ he said. ‘It’s obviously a sore point with you. I’m prepared to compromise. I should’ve realised how important it was to you. It’s your trademark.’ He paused for a beat. ‘I’m