‘What—being married to you?’ That tantalising smile curved his lips, all arrogance.
She blushed furiously. ‘Having revenge on them.’
He pressed his hand to his heart in mock distress. ‘You really don’t think much of me, do you?’ he said slowly, but that edge was still in his eyes.
‘You don’t want to take something from them when they took something from you?’
That glint sharpened. ‘What do you think they took?’
‘Your father’s company.’ She swallowed, remembering that fight and the fury with which Alessandro had stormed out of White Oaks.
There was a moment of pure stillness. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking behind those fiercely burning eyes. She only knew that he was thinking rapidly—but what he was thinking was clear only to him.
‘Hasn’t all your research told you I’m more successful than they are now?’ he asked sharply, standing up and stepping back from her. ‘I don’t waste my time thinking about the past. I don’t need their business. I don’t need your sauces. And I certainly don’t need your insane proposal.’
His rejection hit her in a low, dulling blow. Of course he didn’t. Of course she couldn’t convince him. She was a fool for having thought this could work, but it had been her only plan. She’d been desperate. She still was desperate.
But in the face of his displeasure she fell back into her automatic safety mode. ‘Sorry,’ she muttered tonelessly. She’d been conditioned for years to apologise when confronted with conflict. ‘I’m so sorry.’
Angrily, he muttered something in Italian. Something that sounded viciously impolite. ‘What did you think was going to happen here today?’
She had no clue. She’d not really thought at all. The mad idea had come to her in the middle of the night. He was the only man she knew with the resources, maybe the motivation, and truthfully he had been her only hope. So she’d sneaked out early in the morning and caught the first train to London.
‘What does Carl say about it?’ Alessandro almost snarled. ‘Does he know the bride he’s buying is so unwilling? Can’t you bargain a better deal with him?’
‘He came to see me last night.’ Her skin crawled at the thought of Carl and what he’d said to her. ‘I’d hoped he meant for us to be married in name only, but...’
‘He wants you to have his babies?’ Alessandro’s whole demeanour seemed to sharpen.
It wasn’t funny, it was foul, and it made her escape all the more imperative. ‘He said he’ll take what he wants.’
And apparently he did want her...like that.
Alessandro swiftly strode further away from her. ‘But you don’t want him?’
‘Of course I don’t!’ The thought repulsed her.
Alessandro stood on the other side of his desk, leaning on it. There was a moment as he studied her. She saw him take a careful breath.
‘What if you were to marry me?’ His expression turned speculative. ‘You wouldn’t want to—?’
‘No!’ she interrupted vehemently.
‘No?’ He smiled at the interruption, and that crooked curve to his mouth was sinful. ‘What if I wanted to?’
It was horrendous how attractive his smile was—and that lightness to his eyes...
‘Really? Does your ego need to get any bigger?’ She glared at him.
He’d already said no to her. She already knew he wasn’t interested. He was just teasing her now—his amusement was audible.
‘We both know you have millions of other options,’ she said, completely flustered. ‘I wouldn’t get in your way.’
His eyebrows shot up. ‘Wouldn’t you?’ he asked dryly, before a soft laugh escaped him. ‘You as my wife would be willing to just stand by and watch me with other women?’
She flushed, her brain sending her that one image she’d successfully blocked for years—until today. Because she had watched him with another woman once.
She’d come across them accidentally. She’d been walking through the orchards, alone as always, when she’d spotted them lying in a grassy patch beneath a heavily flowering apricot tree. He had been shirtless and his jeans had been undone, slipping down his thighs. The muscles of his broad, bronzed back had moved powerfully as he’d bent over the pretty student who’d been arched beneath him.