‘Once, whenever I said anything like that to you, it really used to spook you,’ Milly reminded him helplessly.
His lean, dark features clenched hard, the dark, deep flashing eyes chilling to polar ice. “‘Once” is not a barrier we want to cross. I don’t want to rake over the past.’
The sudden freeze in the atmosphere raised goosebumps on Milly’s over-sensitive skin. She tore her strained and shadowed gaze away. She got the message. Three years ago he had denied her the chance to give her version of what happened the night he had found her with Stefano. And now he was telling her that she would never get that chance. Never, ever. Only Gianni, so practised at keeping unpleasant or awkward things in tight little separate compartments, could fondly imagine it possible for her to respect such an embargo.
‘For Connor’s sake, we need to move on,’ Gianni added with cool emphasis.
Honest communication? Why on earth had she got her hopes up? They were to move on without ever having paused to consider. Gianni hadn’t changed one iota. And Gianni was far too proud to confront an episode that had undoubtedly savaged his ego. So their entire past had now become a conversational no-go area. For Connor’s sake. That phrase had an almost pious ring of superiority. Naturally it did. Gianni thought Connor’s mother was the immoral slut who had lured his kid brother into bed with her.
‘I’d like my son to have my name,’ Gianni admitted.
Milly raised dulled eyes, wishing he could look ugly to her just once, wishing his flaws would shriek at her loud enough to destroy the dangerous emotions swilling about inside her. But, no, Gianni lounged back against that desk looking drop-dead gorgeous, relaxed and in spectacular control of the situation.
Milly rose to her feet. She parted her lips, and with a defiance she could not withstand
breathed raggedly, ‘Your brother assaulted me.’
Gianni froze. A kind of incredulous outrage laced with black fury flared in his brilliant eyes.
‘Just thought you should know,’ Milly completed shakily.
‘Keep quiet…’ All cool ditched, Gianni studied her with glittering rage and derision, every line of his big, powerful body poised like a predator about to spring. ‘I won’t listen to your lies. I will not discuss this with you, capisce? One more word and I walk out of this room—’
‘Go ahead.’ Milly stood her ground. Indeed, all of a sudden she felt as if she was wedged in concrete, ready to hold steady through any storm.
‘And I head straight for my lawyers and I throw everything I’ve got at you and fight for custody of Connor!’
Milly’s stomach lurched as suddenly as if Gianni had thrown her off a cliff. White as milk, she gazed back at him in horror.
‘Now you’ve got the message,’ Gianni murmured grittily, his anger back under lock and key as he recognised her response.
The shock of that unashamed threat savaged Milly. And suddenly she couldn’t bear to look at him any longer. She was too damned scared of him. Scared of Gianni for the first time in her life. Before, she had only feared his hold on her emotions. Now she feared a whole lot of other things as well. His innate ruthlessness, his enormous wealth, the dangerous power and influence he had at his fingertips.
She was shaking, and she hated that he should see that. But she didn’t need a crystal ball to guess the sort of weapons which might be used against her in any custody battle. A woman capable of spending three years living another woman’s life might well fail to impress a judge as a stable mother figure. In fact, her recent past would put her at a distinct disadvantage, Milly reflected bitterly.
‘But I wouldn’t do that, to you or Connor. I think you’re a great mother. I have no intention of trying to take him away from you. OK?’ Gianni breathed tautly.
Her arms protectively wrapped around herself and her back turned to him, Milly continued to stare blindly out of the window. His words meant nothing to her. She knew she would never forget the way Gianni had just turned on her. His façade of civilised cool and control had dropped to let her see the cold menace that still lay beneath. Why was she so shocked? Hadn’t she always known that Gianni was totally incapable of forgiving her for what he believed she had done?
‘I suppose I should’ve expected you to come out with that sort of stuff today,’ Gianni continued flatly. ‘But you have to accept that I’ve put all that behind me.’
Her supposed betrayal. Like a gun he concealed behind his back, always primed to shoot.
‘To the extent…’ Unusually, Gianni hesitated. ‘You’ve really messed this moment up, Milly.’
‘What moment?’ she muttered in confusion.
‘I was about to ask you to marry me. Accidenti, I am asking you to marry me!’ Gianni rephrased, with more than a suggestion of gritted teeth.
Milly went from shock into bigger, deeper shock. She had to consciously will her feet to turn around so that she could look at him again. She had to look at him to believe the evidence of her own ears.
A dark line of colour accentuating his stunning cheekbones, Gianni subjected her to a grim, glittering appraisal. ‘In spite of everything you’ve done, I’m willing to give you another chance and make you my wife.’
‘Wife…’ Milly could hardly get her tongue round that astounding word. ‘But you hate me…’
Gianni raised two lean brown hands and spread them at truly impressive speed to indicate his distaste for that subject. ‘I don’t want to get into emotions here. They’re quite irrelevant.’
‘Irrelevant…’ Milly stared at him with huge wondering eyes.