‘Now that he’s old, he knows his time is limited,’ Vito continued. ‘I believe that has brought his remaining wishes into very sharp focus.’
‘I agree,’ Lily said. ‘I thought that’s what we were talking about.’
‘We are talking about his desire for a grandson.’
‘That’s what we are giving him,’ Lily said.
‘That’s what he thinks we are giving him.’ Vito spoke through gritted teeth. ‘The fact that for the sake of my grandfather’s happiness I am prepared to publicly accept the child as my own does not mean I have forgotten the truth.’
‘Nor have I,’ Lily said quietly. She pushed her curly hair off her face with an exasperated gesture.
‘I thought we’d got past this,’ Vito said. ‘The pretence that the baby is mine is for the rest of the world. Don’t insult me by acting like I don’t know the truth.’
‘You don’t seem to,’ Lily said simply. ‘And I don’t know why you won’t give me a chance. I agreed to your wishes not to mention it any more, because I knew there was no chance we’d ever sort things out if we kept arguing. But I thought a bond was growing between us now, and I don’t understand why you keep shutting out what I’m saying.’
Vito clenched his fists and dragged in a controlled breath. No matter what he said, she just kept on claiming innocence. It was starting to grate on his nerves. He would not put up with it any more.
‘I know he’s not mine,’ he said. ‘Because I know that I can’t have children.’
CHAPTER ELEVEN
LILY stared at him in shock. His expression was tightly controlled, but she could see the strain he was feeling by the lines of tension around his blue eyes. Suddenly, despite the fact she knew he could father a child, she realised that he really did believe that he couldn’t.
‘Of course you can,’ she said at last. ‘You are. I mean, I’m pregnant and you are the father.’
‘For God’s sake!’ Vito exclaimed, surging to his feet and raking his fingers through his short hair. ‘It’s time to let that ridiculous charade go.’
She looked up at him carefully, trying to see what he was keeping hidden beneath his rigid expression. She was still sitting on the rug in the meadow and he towered over her, his white shirt and black hair outlined by the blue mountain-sky.
A light breeze tugged his fringe forwards, and he scraped it back from his face again with an impatient jerk of his hand. The gesture revealed just how tightly wound he was.
Lily got to her feet, her aching back and increased size making her feel awkward, and stood in front of him. Instinctively, she reached out a hand and placed it on his forearm. The skin was warm and supple beneath her fingers, but his muscles were as hard and immovable as steel.
‘I can’t let it go, because it’s the truth,’ Lily said simply.
She saw the change in him instantly and, despite the tight rein his was keeping on his temper, she knew he was about to explode if she didn’t say something to defuse the anger that was building in him.
‘Why do you think that?’ she asked gently. ‘Were tests done?’
Vito took a shuddering breath and turned to stare in the direction of the crystal-clear lake. Lily knew he wasn’t really seeing the spectacular view. He was deep in his thoughts and memories.
‘Capricia and I were unsuccessful when we tried to start a family,’ he said, startling Lily with his sudden candour. ‘After a time we submitted ourselves to fertility testing.’ He paused for a moment, but when he continued Lily could hear the strain crackling in his voice. ‘I was the one who could not have children.’
‘A mistake must have been made,’ Lily said automatically.
‘There was no mistake,’ Vito said curtly. ‘Sit down and eat so
mething. Then we’ll pack up and leave.’
He pulled his mobile phone out of the back pocket of his dark jeans and pressed a speed-dial number, presumably for his assistant. Without another glance for Lily, he turned his back and walked away a few steps as he talked, effectively shutting himself off from her.
She sat down on the rug, watching him with a troubled expression. Suddenly everything that had happened was starting to make sense.
He believed that he was infertile—so when she’d become pregnant he’d assumed that she’d been unfaithful. In his mind, that was logical. He thought there was no other way she could have conceived. That explained his anger towards her—but it did not excuse it.
If he had told her the truth that Easter weekend, she would have tried to reason with him, persuade him that there’d been a mistake. He could have had the results of his fertility tests double-checked. Obviously there must have been a mix up. Or maybe something had changed. She wasn’t an expert on fertility, but she knew that she was pregnant, and that he was the only one who could be the father.
She looked at him talking on his phone. Standing there with the awe-inspiring backdrop of the Dolomite mountains behind him, he looked as magnificent as the noble terrain. But he was also as cold and uncompromising as those harsh, jagged peaks that soared above the verdant valleys.