During the long hours before dawn, he had found himself dreaming of a future with her, of them living together at Haverton Manor as husband and wife. Of her happy laughter filling the empty rooms and halls of the house. He even thought of other laughter—the laughter of children, their children, running through the house, turning it into the home it was meant to be.
He tried to blink away the thoughts but they came back like moths circling around a light.
He could have it all.
He could have Bella and Haverton Manor.
They could build a family together, a solid, happy future.
She could leave him just like her mother had left Godfrey: devastated, alone, miserable.
The old panic seized him. How long before Bella wanted the bright lights of the city instead of his company? How long before her interest in him waned—a week? A month? A year? How could he live on that knife-edge? Every day would be an agony of wondering if it was going to be the last. He was used to disappointment. He had taught himself to always be prepared for it. It was easier to have nothing than to have everything and then lose it.
But then an even more disturbing thought joined the others. What if she didn’t care for him at all? What if her little fling with him had been nothing more than payback all along? She had been vocal right from the start about her fury at him inheriting her childhood home. What better way to get back at him than pretend to be in love with him only to walk away so the press could pity or pillory him in equal measure?
He turned to his computer in an effort to distract himself, but as he pulled up the newspapers online, his eyes started to narrow in anger. It seemed he didn’t have to wait in agonised anticipation for Bella’s betrayal.
It was already there for everyone to see.
* * *
Bella came downstairs after sleeping in until ten in the morning. Edoardo had kept her awake for hours making passionate love with her. She could still feel the movement of his body in hers with each step she took. She wondered if he was feeling the wrench as she was about leaving for London the following day. Was that why there had been that edge of desperation in his love-making last night? He had held her for hours, his arms wrapped around her as if he never wanted to let her go. She had longed for him to say the words she most longed to hear, but he had said nothing. She was hoping her trip back to London would show him how much she had come to mean to him. Surely he would soon see how empty the days and nights were without her?
He was proud and private. It would take him a while to see what he was throwing away; it would take him even longer to admit to it. But after last night she felt a little glow of confidence burning inside her. It had felt like he loved her last night. He hadn’t said the words out loud but his body had said them for him. All he needed was some time to come to terms with his feelings. He was used to locking them away. He was used to denying them. But how long could he deny the powerful connection they had forged? It wasn’t just great sex. It was a connection that went far deeper than that. She felt close to him in a way she had never felt with anyone before. He had let her in to the most private part of his being. She knew him now. She knew his values, his strengths and weaknesses, his true self.
Bella pushed open the study door and found him standing stiffly in front of the window. ‘Edoardo?’ she said.
He turned and raked her from head to foot with his gaze. It wasn’t one of his smouldering ‘I want to make love with you’ looks. It was much more menacing than that. ‘I’ve spoken with the lawyer,’ he said in a cold, hard voice that was nothing like the deep, sexy rumble she had heard during the night and early hours of the morning.
‘Pardon?’
He shoved a sheaf of papers towards her on the desk. ‘You’re on your own,’ he said. ‘I’m no longer your financial guardian.’
Bella swallowed and took an uncertain step towards the desk. ‘What are you talking about? What do you mean? I don’t understand...’
His eyes were like blue-green chips of ice. ‘I want you out of here within the hour,’ he said. ‘Don’t bother packing. I’ll get Mrs Baker to do it when she comes back, plus everything else of yours left in the nursery. I want nothing of yours left in this house.’
‘Edoardo... What are you say—?’
‘It was a good plan.’ His hands were tight fists by his rigid sides. ‘Very convincing, too. Not many people manage to pull the wool over my eyes but I have to hand it to you—you came pretty damn close.’
Bella felt a chill freeze her spine. ‘What plan? I’m not following you. You’re not making sense. Why are you being so beastly all of a sudden?’